by Nick Ferro, Contributing Writer
Now that Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially concluded, everyone has their opinions regarding the overall quality of the product we were presented. Phase Four has, in my opinion, been the most ambitious phase to date. In addition to following up the two biggest movies of all time, they decided to launch a TV branch of the MCU with new series and special presentations on Disney+. On top of that, there was a laundry list of actual real-world obstacles they were forced to contend with. A global pandemic shut down Hollywood, which forced the heads at Marvel to shuffle the schedule, delay some projects, switch dates for others, push everything back, and re-write scripts. The pandemic also caused effects houses to be short-staffed and extremely taxed with work to bring these spectacles to life. On top of that, the deal with Sony to share Spider-Man ended causing Marvel to have to renegotiate a new deal that, in my opinion gave Sony WAY too much power. Finally, to make matters worse, they had to suffer the death of Chadwick Boseman, and more recently, William Hurt, two actors whose characters were set to take on much larger roles in the coming years. Overall, creating stories and content for the MCU became a whole lot more challenging.
My purpose here is to take a look at the Phase Four movies of the MCU and determine if it was the failure that many have made it out to be, or if it is merely the opening chapter of a new saga of Marvel movies that was dealt a bad hand. I want to focus on just the movies, because trying to work in the TV shows would take another 3,000 words.
First thing’s first: I think Marvel made a misstep calling this phase, Phase Four. This implies that it’s a continuation of the Infinity Saga. Rather, I think they should have rebranded the whole phase idea and retitled this next slate of movies and TV, Phase One of the Multiverse Saga. Like any opening chapter of a story, it’s important to set the stage and the characters. With the exception of Eternals (which should have been a TV series), I think they did an admirable job introducing us to all the major players for the upcoming slate of films. We were recently informed that everything from now until 2026 (or possibly later) will be leading up to the MCU’s version of Secret Wars, a huge multiversal saga involving Kang the Conqueror as the primary antagonist. Unlike the Infinity Saga, they seem pretty keen to make sure that Kang doesn’t just sit around waiting for his own movie to finally get involved. He has already made an appearance of sorts in Loki, and we are going to see him in action very soon in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This new approach, to me, is refreshing, and a sign that they aren’t just looking to copy and paste the same beats from the Infinity Saga.
There were definitely highs and lows of this phase, with 16 new entries, almost doubling the total number of entries in the MCU. The reason I want to focus on just the movies is because I feel they most closely resemble Phase One of the Infinity Saga. The word around the internet is that Phase Four is a failure, yet each of the movies in this new phase plays a similar role that all of the Phase One movies played in setting up the overall Infinity Saga. There are several differences, as at the time the MCU was new and playing things very carefully. Now after 24 movies they are able to take bigger swings and shed some of that cautiousness from their earlier entries. This may have resulted in some bigger misses, but it shows they aren’t afraid to be bold. In fact, if you break down each movie in this phase, they have a direct counterpart from Phase One. It was this realization which caused me to interrogate this idea further.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is this phase’s Iron Man. Although I don’t believe he will play a similar role to Tony Stark, Shang-Chi is this phase’s equivalent of a “C-tier” hero that some people knew of, but wasn’t popular enough to have his own movie 10 years ago. Shang-Chi, like Iron Man, has a strong focus on one new main character, and is pretty self-contained, with only some hints of what is to come regarding the greater MCU. It’s also a nice touch that there is involvement with the Ten Rings organization. Definitely the best solo outing of this phase, Shang-Chi introduces us to a ton of new character who I personally am excited to see make more appearances. We even get a post-credit scene where a beloved character informs our hero that he’s “become apart of a bigger universe, and he just doesn’t know it yet.”
Black Widow is this phase’s The Incredible Hulk. The reason I compare these two is mainly because of real world reasons. Black Widow’s biggest flaw is that it’s a Phase One movie set during the Phase Three timeline that should have released during Phase Two, and the whole endeavor feels too little, too late. This is the movie that people will probably skip when they revisit this phase, because it feels more like a coda to the Infinity Saga. Likewise, The Incredible Hulk was overlooked by so many people that there is a legitimate debate on the internet as to whether it is even MCU canon. I personally was never confused, but there are many out there who were. From a character perspective, Black Widow actually resembles Iron Man 2, in that we are introduced to new characters who will play a larger role in the MCU in the future, and will eventually get their own properties.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was a tough one to place at first. The whole real-life situation of losing Boseman was unfortunate, and it had to have changed Marvel’s plans. However, after seeing it for a third time the other day, it hit me: Wakanda Forever’s story is almost beat for beat Iron Man 2. It is a sequel to a hugely successful original film, where the central antagonist shows up with a “weapon” that up until now the hero believed only they possessed (Arc Reactor/Vibranium). The main character is dealing with their own personal demons, and with the help of a dead relative (Howard Stark video/Shuri’s Vision) they discover a way to heal from the trauma they are suffering. The hero also must synthesize a new version of the item that gives them their power (replacement for palladium/synthetic heart shaped herb). They even both have a new friend that helps defeat the villain in an Iron Man suit. Namor wants the scientist, Vanko wants his “bord;” the comparisons are endless. Joking aside, Iron Man 2 is one that holds up better on rewatch due to the developments in the MCU which happen later, and I really believe that when we look back on this phase, Wakanda Forever will also be considered a pivotal movie in the series, as well as required viewing when doing re-watches to prep for the big Avengers team-up.
Eternals most closely resembles the first Thor, mainly because both movies in the phase allowed an extremely talented director to add so much of their own flair and stylistic choices to the films. Back when Thor came out, they were so afraid that people wouldn’t be able to grasp the idea that a Norse god with “magic” could exist in this world that they had to tiptoe around the word magic and essentially say it was super advanced science. Now, they are totally cool to give us a story about beings created by celestial gods who created the universe. If this doesn’t prove just how far the MCU has come, I don’t know what will. Eternals is definitely the weak link in this phase due to its overambitious story that includes more than 10 main characters. I am one of those who felt this should have been one of the Disney+ series and not a movie, but regardless, Eternals took the biggest swing, much like Thor did back in 2011.
Next up is one the one where I need you to suspend your disbelief for the comparison to work, but Thor: Love and Thunder, to me, most closely resembles Captain America the First Avenger. This is mainly because the villains are portrayed by phenomenal actors who I can almost guarantee will never come back to the MCU to reprise their role. Christian Bale and Hugo Weaving both knock it out of the park with their respective roles, and are given great scenery-chewing dialogue. They are both essentially in their own movie, save for the few scenes throughout where they briefly interact with the hero, as well as the final confrontation. Both movies have a lead female character who is so underutilized that a big critique is that they should have either been given more to do or their own movie (Peggy Carter was lucky enough to get her own show; fingers crossed for Jane Foster). These movies have our heroes not really having much of an arc either; they end mostly in the same place emotionally, with a new element of responsibility on their shoulders (being in the future/caring for a child). Regardless of their actual differences in tone, style, and content, these two movies serve an interesting role in the greater MCU, in that they do a lot of world building. The only difference is that Captain America ended up being an entry that aged like fine wine and is very important for the Infinity Saga’s Story. Whereas Love and Thunder will most likely not play too heavy a part in effecting the overall universe.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the one unique entry in this phase in that it actually shares qualities of different Phase One films. Doctor Strange is very much a Tony Stark-type of figure, and in this movie, he is dealing with his decision from Infinity War to let half the universe die. It is never directly spoken, but I got the impression when Strange saw the different ways to defeat Thanos, there wasn’t only one way to defeat him, but there was only one way in which Strange, himself, didn’t die as a result. His arrogance is much like Tony’s arrogance that his weapons weren’t being sold to the bad guys. MoM also shares a similarity with Thor in that the villain is really a misunderstood ally who was blinded by their own desire for power and love. A villain who is definitely not dead at the end, but the movie would have us think otherwise.
Finally, Spider-Man: No Way Home is very much The Avengers of this phase. I am on record as having the first Avengers movie as my favorite movie in the MCU. I acknowledge that the first half is considered by many to be quite boring, as it is mostly set up for the third act. Not liking No Way Home as much has left me with the realization that they both have that problem. The first half of No Way Home is a really rough watch once you’ve seen it a few times. The movie spends way too much time on the setup, with not a ton of payoff. However, from the moment the worst kept secrets in Hollywood show up in Ned’s abuela’s living room until the end, the movie really pops. I have an extreme dislike of the Sony Spider-Man movies, but even I love every second that the Spider-Men are on screen together. Just like the original Avengers movie, seeing a big team up at the end reminds us why we love the MCU version of these superhero movies so much. It also made all the money and broke all the records, just as the original Avengers movie did back in 2012.
In addition to these movies being similar in story structure to the Phase One Infinity Saga movies, the MCU for the first time took the notes from its most vocal critics and started to address the number one complaint: Everything in the MCU looks and feels the same. This phase brought in the most diverse group of directors to date. Each movie truly felt like it was an extension of that director’s style over the cookie cutter style of the previous entries. However, they still managed to maintain their feel of being in one connected universe. The movie that took the most risk was Doctor Strange, as Sam Raimi’s style is all over this movie. In fact, even though I wouldn’t count it as one of my favorites due to some story inconsistencies and plot problems, the Raimi style bumped it up a lot for me because of how unique and creative he makes his movies. Likewise, Chloé Zhao, who is know for beautiful cinematography, brought her own unique style to Eternals. Eternals may have been the example of how a director and the studio’s styles can oppose one another; however, I don’t think anyone can accuse Eternals as feeling the same as the rest of the MCU. Taika Waititi was back for Thor, and love his style or hate it, he was definitely unchained for this entry. This movie most reminds me of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where they allowed James Gunn to do whatever he wanted. Both movies resulted in a polarized audience, but they also were unique in their own ways. The one director whose previous work I am unfamiliar with is Destin Daniel Cretton; however Shang-Chi was my favorite movie of this phase, and the care and respect he had for the fight choreography was so refreshing that I was over-the-moon excited to hear he would be taking on several additional MCU projects.
Overall, in my ranking of the MCU, almost all of the Phase One lineup were at the bottom of my list when they first came out. Over time, as more entries were added and the story became clearer, the list changed, and those movies played differently for me with new understanding. Most notably, Captain America and Iron Man 2, because of how the future Avengers movies played out. I am hopeful that what comes in later phases will have the same effect on this phase. Currently there are three Phase One movies in my top 20, and three in my bottom 20, and likewise for this phase, of the movies, there are three in my top 20 and three in my bottom 20, with one in the dead center. To me, this is incredibly impressive simply due to each of these movies having a giant asterisk on them thanks to COVID. At the end of the day, I think the reason this phase of movies is the most divisive is because they were the most unique, and when something leans to far to one side or the other it is natural to appeal to a smaller audience.
My only hope is that audiences will still be accepting of the MCU, and be more willing to give it a chance and look at the greater picture. Likewise, I hope that behind the scenes they don’t scramble to change their original plans to appease a vocal minority online. I am glad to hear that they want to focus on quality over quantity moving forward, and as always are willing to make the appropriate adjustments when something isn’t working. I for one am still very excited to see where the MCU storytelling takes us, and will definitely be there opening day for each new entry.
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