Thanks to this past weekend’s Comic Con presentation (with an indepth breakdown of every announcement here), the world now has a much clearer idea of what the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) has in store for us beyond Phase 4. Phase 5 will introduce a host of new characters to the mix as well as further explore some old favourites, all of it culminating in another two-part Avengers crossover event of multiversal proportions in Phase 6.
Phase 4, meanwhile, will be wrapping up with Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, in November this year, and while I’m confident that Ryan Coogler will bring it home in style, I’m more than a little frustrated at how thiscurrent Phase has played out in the meantime.
A lot of Phase 4 seems to focus on dualities, or the concept of multiple versions of self. You have two Visions, three Moon Knights, plus multiple Lokis, Doctor Stranges and Spider-Men, and the list goes on. We got a whole multiverse introducing us to omnipresent forces, Eternals, and cosmic beings of untold power. Suffice to say, it’s all been quite interesting, and yet I keep coming back to the thought that Phase 4 didn’t really know what to do with the MCU after the excellent Phase 3 ended.
For me, while yes I enjoyed the multiverse antics, I struggled with the constant sense of confusion I felt throughout Phase 4. Part of this is down to the new television entries, all filmed well before the movies were, and so manipulated their characters like chess pieces into positions the films weren’t quite ready to deal with. Part of this is also down to the fact that a bunch of the heroes need therapy after the events of Endgame, but are being forced to revisit the quip-heavy comedy of Phases 1 and 2, as if even Disney refuses to accept the darkness overhanging this mega franchise now.
It’s frustrating. We have baggage, both the viewers and the characters on-screen. Please stop telling so many jokes, and let’s give everyone time to breathe, maybe?
Phase 4 recap
I want to largely keep discussion of the Marvel TV shows out of this article as they increasingly felt separate from the big screen outings, but I think it’s important to note that the current Phase started out well enough with the excellent WandaVision, which to this day has some of the most original television concepts yet seen from a Disney franchise. It continued with Sam’s first foray as the new Captain America. And then with Loki… I mean yes the tease was cool, but turning the god of mischief into a blithering, bumbling buffoon, and turning the infinity stones into a punchline absolutely serves to kill the past (Phases 1 through 3). If you’re going to go that far, by the gods own it. Lean into that evolution.
We’ll disregard Eternals and Shang-Chi because they were both experimental but fundamentally new entries into the MCU. They also both mostly worked, and I have no gripes with them other than their being mostly forgettable, but still watchable enough.
When I walked out of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, though, I remember feeling unease over how casual MCU fans would receive it. There will always be those who blindly praise the MCU, but I wondered about those unable to experience WandaVision, either due to regional unavailability or just not getting around to it due to the different time commitment demanded by a TV series versus a two-hour movie. Either way, as expected, people were confused about MoM.
Meanwhile, I felt Marvel were pulling their punches, and we could have easily reached House of M levels of world impact and epicness with Wanda fully going evil before being brought back to earth by certain compelling factors. Instead, we got a wishy-washy will-she-won’t-she approach to making Wanda a villain. Ruthlessly burn someone alive one moment, let someone else live for plot armour reasons the next, and repeat until she realises the damage she’s done, which is a lot. Underwhelming, but still a decent showing.
Then Thor: Love and Thunder releases, and in the space of ten minutes it walks back the truly thrilling premise of Thor being a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, instead reverting him to the same level of blithering, bumbling buffoon that they’d done with Loki – only this time, I believe, entirely unironically. In a massive step backwards from Ragnarok, Thor hadn’t learnt any lessons, and was instead simply a caricature of himself. Jane is back, and shares the title of Thor, but serves only as tragedy fodder, as if our Asgardian hero hasn’t had enough of that in his life already.
Once again, I felt Marvel were pulling their punches. We could have had a movie in which Jane was the protagonist, while Hemsworth’s Thor shifted to an advisory role, keeping him in the Guardians for now. The rest of Lady Thor’s arc could remain exactly the same, down to teaching the (outstanding) villain lessons about love and mortality, making for arguably a better foil to the antagonist and his machinations about the indifference of the gods. Again, though, the end result was something that ticks boxes, sells 3D tickets and popcorn, but is pretty much it. Underwhelming, but still a decent showing.
Looking forward
When the MCU wants to be good, it can be truly, truly special. We were left stunned to silence after Infinity War, and we cheered the roof down in Endgame. Since then, we’ve needed the time and space to catch our collective breaths, but the MCU wants to push on relentlessly forward without affording us that in all cases. Instead, especially on the big screen, we have this weird mix of call-backs and nostalgia hits, and “Hey, remember when?” moments. And I mean, sometimes it works! Spider-Man: No Way Home was an extravaganza of fan service, even if it didn’t quite make sense after more than a few minutes of thought (I mean somehow Electro didn’t know Spider-Man was Peter Parker).
Thus far, as I’m sure you’ve heard from most of the internet by now, Phase 4 has been, you guessed it, underwhelming, but still a decent showing. I remain hopeful for the greater MCU. As I’ve stated, the next Black Panther is going to put us all back into therapy. From there, things get truly wacky and wild with Phase 5 starting out strong courtesy of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and the new Guardians entry (featuring my favourite Marvel character, Adam Warlock) in quick succession. That will be ollowed by the heroine-heavy The Marvels shortly thereafter. Later, a Phase 6-initiating Fantastic Four movie will undoubtedly set up key events for the Avengers’ Secret Wars crossover coming in 2025.
I’ve loved cosmic storylines for as long as I’ve been reading comics, so this really excites me. All Marvel needs to do is lean hard into its rich source material and stop shying away from heavy themes, consequences and emotion. Meanwhile, all I need to do is remain alive to experience all of it. Shouldn’t be too difficult; the planet’s doing fine, right?