Simple and Complex Depictions of Morality

My friend and I were talking about the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), and the Venom-verse (A series of connected films set in the same universe as the 2018 film titled Venom). We talked about where those film/show franchises are and/or could be going and/or where they probably should go. Through it all, I thought about simple and complex depictions of morality. 

The MCU presents fairly simple narratives. Usually, the heroes are clearly heroes, and the villains are clearly villains, and good always triumphs over evil (even if it takes them more than one film to do it). In the Venom-verse, things are (and perhaps should be) murkier. The main, titular character is Venom. Originally a villain in the Spider-man comics, Venom is a fusion of a human named Eddie Brock and a sentient, symbiotic, alien goo-creature. Now, I haven't seen Venom or its sequel, Venom: Let There be Carnage, but I understand that the protagonist, Venom, is not perfectly moral and has bitten off the heads of at least two people. Naturally, any movie with a comic book super villain as its hero (and have them actually come off as relatively heroic by the end of the film) will have an interesting and complex stance on morality. It's my opinion that the Venom-verse should explore some nuanced takes of morality, introducing multiple morally-grey characters and have them (and their differing takes on morality) come in conflict with each other. Through them, we could have a much deeper and richer discussion than just "good guys are good, and bad guys are bad."

Still, as important as it is to explore complex and perhaps unanswerable moral questions, it can also be fun and satisfying to have morally simple stories. Paragons are inspirational, and they can help set the standard for how we should behave. Granted, Jesus is our ultimate standard, but superheroes are more fun to watch.

I think that both simple and complex depictions of morality are important, and I think that both of them should exist, independent of each other. Trying to fit an anti-hero like Venom into the morally-straightforward MCU doesn't seem likely to work out well, since they have completely different tones. Heck, I think Deadpool would fit better into the MCU than Venom would, but that's a whole other conversation, and I actually haven't seen his movies either, so who am I to say? My point is that I think the MCU should maintain a simple take on good versus evil, while the Venom-verse and perhaps the DCEU should dig a little deeper than that. Both simple and complex stories have their place in the universe, and both kinds of stories deserve to be told.

Depending on how you look at it, our own universe can be either morally simple or morally complex, so we can certainly learn from both kinds of stories, and I would love to see more simple and complex depictions of morality.