Yeah, that's really all that we can do in the end. I respect your opinion and I enjoy conversations as to the opinions and theories of film- getting someone else' perspective is a good way to broaden your own perceptions of a film. However, I don't think the Marvel films are timeless- I feel like they are, in more ways than one, going to date themselves very quickly. I view this Marvel conundrum as a trend. Whereas, every film post-Dark-Knight attempted to subsequently BE The Dark Knight, in terms of style and grit; nowadays, most films try to emulate the Marvel standard. Even The Force Awakens has some very cringeworthy parts where humor is attempted that feel wholeheartedly out-of-place in a franchise like Star Wars merely because it is in the same style to emulate their Marvel counterparts. I think the perfect example of this are the two most recent Ninja Turtles Films. Where as the more recent reboot tried to frame itself in the Dark Knight "gritty reboot" light, the sequel, "Out of the Shadows" tried the more Marvel-esque approach with excessive banter and a more lighthearted tone... Ultimately, neither of these films worked because both such efforts were made after their respective emulations had already peaked. In a few years, I feel like people will look back at the Marvel films and wonder what they saw in them.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a prime example for how quickly Marvel films can lose their luster. GotG is a movie that I very much enjoyed upon it's first viewing. However, upon rewatching it- I ended up giving away my Steelbook to a friend because with each time I rewatched the film- I valued it less and less until I grew to dislike it. Comedy is difficult, likewise, GotG is a hard film for me to rewatch because unlike most competently directed Comedies, there are usually other aspects of which a viewer can inspect upon rewatching the film- a good example of this would be a director such as Edgar Wright, where as there are many components to each of his films all working in tandem to sell each scene- not just solely relying on one particular aspect of the film. GotG is a film that relies on it's breaking of tropes- while simultaneously embracing each of these tropes shamelessly. Unlike most comedy films, GotG (in my opinion) does not stand on its own once all of the punch lines have been exhausted, because there is no other substance in that movie to enjoy other than the punchlines delivered. It is for this reason that I have already written off Volume 2, because it merely looks like more of the same. And while James Gunn's influence can be seen throughout the development of GotG, I fail to see any style that the Russo brothers may have implemented in either Winter Soldier or Civil War. Both Captain America Sequels are very competently made, but lack any sort of "directoral influence"- in a manner of which reminds me of Director Doug Liman- of whom is a perfectly capable Director- but is interchangable with most other directors of his caliber in the sense that they don't really bring anything specific to the table.
You said that these origin stories laid the ground work for better films to come, and I disagree. Winter Soldier is completely watchable without having seen The First Avenger. The Avengers is easy to grasp without having seen Thor or The Incredible Hulk. Each of these films lay their own groundwork and establish these characters well enough for the film to function independently of these origin stories. I don't need these origin stories to get excited for future films, in fact, I detest Iron Man 2, The First Avenger, and Thor- yet I was still excited for the Avengers. Why should we be confined to the traditional means of first establishing an origin in a film? When I show Marvel films to friends, I usually skip phase 1 almost entirely and just start with Winter Soldier... well... Really, all I end up showing them is Winter Soldier.... because that's a film where the origin is covered, and the motivations and origins of the character are made clear when the story necessitates it. Instead of Doctor Strange having a slow-moving and uneventful first half, with the back half of the film quickly thrown together to take down the obligatory bad-guy- the film could have easily removed the love interest of the film and covered Strange's origins in a 5 minute prologue and instead focused the bulk of the film on the motivations of the Villain and Strange having to deal with the responsibility of becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, and the relationship with the character Mordo slowly becoming corrupted and "estranged" (see what I did there?) to give him a more concrete standing for him to turn against his prior allegiances. The simple restructuring of the narrative could've drastically improved the structure of the film in to making it a little less cliched, and could have presented the audiences with a strong introduction to the character with Winter Soldier-esque levels of execution... instead of getting a predictable, rehashed, reskinned origin story... again.
Even so- I hated Man of Steel, and I also hated Suicide Squad- yet these films are themselves very different types of movies- each of them tried to do something different with the material to which they handled, and while they failed in many ways- I can applaud their effort. With each passing Marvel film, I'm growing increasingly more suspicious that each of these films are written and shot by studios and machines of which have no creative aspects taken in to consideration when crafting their newest project. While I did not enjoy Suicide Squad, I at least did not know what to expect going in to the film- whereas with Doctor Strange, I couldn't really feel any sort of emotion at all while watching the film, because it all felt so painfully generic.
I guess that what I'm really saying is that I want Marvel to take a chance. I will sit through failures on Suicide Squad proportions if they at least attempt to give me a Dark Knight. But I feel like Marvel is so complacent with their consistency that they won't ever feel a need to venture outside of that established working formula.
Finally, I also very much enjoyed the Ultimate Cut of BvS. While the theatrical cut was an unmitigated disaster spurning from the studio reneging on their promise that the Director would have full creative control- there are a lot of aspects in BvS that tackle deeper meanings and themes intrinsic to inner turmoil and character philosophy that challenge the established ideals of what a "Superhero" can be and what moral obligations they should have. The script was utterly fantastic with each characters action being reverberated from their own insecurities, driving the plot forward not by set-pieces, but rather by emotion- giving the film far greater depth than I could find in Captain America Civil War (a film that was completely enjoyable but had about as much depth as a pancake).
This art above is a definitive WIN for both steel and slip in those who contain Full slip or lenticular release,
