Marvel Cinematic Universe films released

It turns out that Americans' commitment to both spandex-based self-improvement and multiverse-based entertainment has been moving in perfect synchronisation for nearly a decade, which suggests either that Marvel films contain subliminal messages about the virtues of elliptical machines, or that we are all simply mirrors held up to each other's inexplicable life choices. The correlation sits at 0.901, which is to say that gym memberships have been following the MCU around like an extremely fit shadow.

Both cratered in 2020 because both depend on people willingly sharing enclosed spaces. Marvel's release slate was pushed back by a year or more as theatres closed, while gyms shuttered en masse and memberships — already softening — fell off a cliff. The correlation isn't about superheroes and squats; it's about every part of life that requires breathing the same air as strangers.

We have created two separate industries that feed on our desire to become different versions of ourselves, and they have inexplicably decided to grow and shrink in lockstep, as if governed by a force we haven't yet identified. This tells us nothing about causation and everything about our species' willingness to find meaning in the numerical dance of totally unrelated things. Perhaps that is enough.