Back in 1939, the year that saw what is understood to be the first comic book adaptation in Mandrake the Magician, the idea of an expanded cinematic universe would've been unfathomable.

‘If I can open it up then it will be magic, but if I can’t it will be tragic,’ said Mandrake, real name Chanchal Lahiri, before the trick. An Indian magician who entered the Ganges river on ...