Looking Back At the MCU's Phase 4
Written by Adam Filipiak
After the amazing experience I had seeing Avengers: Endgame in theaters immediately followed by a solid Spider-Man sequel, my excitement for the MCU's Phase 4 was at an all time high. Then a little thing called COVID-19 happened which unfortunately pushed back the start of the new phase by a year and rearranged the release order as well. I found that in that year, Avengers: Endgame was the perfect send-off and my excitement for Phase 4 fell significantly. Now that Phase 4 is over, has my love for the franchise returned?
Creator: Kevin Winter | Credit: Getty Images
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In the words of Tony Stark, let's start at the beginning. WandaVision premiered on Disney+ January 15th, 2021. This show was something special. It showed the true horrors of the blip that was used for comedic relief in Spider-Man: Far From Home with the experiences of Monica Rambeau. The pure panic at the start of episode 4 was truly scary and was only made worse by learning that Maria Rambeau had died alone in the 5 years of the blip. I loved how this show really dug into Wanda's grief and showed her fall from grace. I didn't love the Mandarin bait-and-switch involving Evan Peters as Quicksilver nor was I a huge fan of the final episode cgi battle but those things do not make me love this show any less. At the end, I found myself relatively excited to get back into the MCU.
Following WandaVision, Disney+ released The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a show that really grounds both Sam and Bucky and shows the struggles that black people face in America. It had a strong and compelling villain with John Walker as the new Captain America. Unfortunately, the main villain of the show, Karli Morgenthau, came off as a whiney baby whose willingness to kill innocent people contradicted her motivations. Overall I still view this show positively even with it's faults.
Next up was Loki, by far my favorite Disney+ series of Phase 4. Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson stole the show and made me forget all about how the MCU can't keep anyone dead except for Quicksilver. Sylvie's motives were compelling and He Who Remains was a wonderful surprise nodding to the future. At this point, consider me excited to watch the MCU again.
The first movie to come out in Phase 4 was Black Widow. This movie should have either come out before Avengers: Endgame or not at all. As a spy thriller, it was fine. But all the weight of this movie was gone because of 2 things. 1) A cgi crap-fest for a finale and the fact that there is no emotional stakes for the audience because Black Widow died literally 2 movies ago. I was bored and not even Yelena or Red Guardian could help me feel better. Consider me underwhelmed.
What If...? released next on Disney+. The easiest way to break down this show is episode by episode so here's the speed round. Episode 1) Fine, I feel like the episode was rushed but had some solid potential. Episode 2) Great, this is what I wanted out of this show. It told a great, new story that would otherwise be impossible in the MCU. Episode 3) Good, this episode was entertaining and fun. Episode 4) Fantastic, by far the best episode. The writing was phenomenal, the voice acting was superb, all around amazing. Episode 5) Good, a really entertaining episode with a lot of great moments. Episode 6) Bland, very similar to episode 1 but somehow I cared even less.
Episode 7) Bad, Thor was truly annoying, the writing was bad, acting was bad, worst episode by far. Episode 8) Fine, this episodes only purpose is to set up episode 9. Episode 9) Great, a really cool concept with a lot of cool moments. All in all, I felt just whelmed by this show and started to feel drained by all the content.
Time for the second movie of Phase 4, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (what a mouthful). This movie was my biggest surprise. I thought I was going to hate it but ended up loving it despite the cgi finale (Again? I see a pattern Marvel.) The Mandarin was a phenomenal villain with proper motivations and Shang-Chi was the perfect balance of badass and loser. The character really rose to greatness and has now become a new favorite for me. As for how I'm feeling, I have high hopes but have been disappointed enough at this point to be weary.
Next up is probably the most divisive film in the MCU to date, Eternals. My review of this movie is the same as the first Avatar; visually stunning, one of the best pieces of visual filmmaking ever, horrible script. On a positive note, I was happy to see the representation and inclusiveness, I just wish the writing would do them justice.
As the year ends we were gifted with Hawkeye, a show set during Christmas that really embraced the holiday tropes in a new and exciting way. Clint's emotional journey mirrors that of the Grinch and Kate Bishop's ability to be the highlight of every scene really shows the possibility of what the MCU can do in the future. The reintroduction of Kingpin was also an exciting revelation that I hope will pay off in the future. Unfortunately, though, Phase 4's quantity over quality mentality is starting to drain me and it's becoming increasingly difficult to care as I become frustrated with the amount of MCU coming out.
The final film of 2021 was something magical. Spider-Man: No Way Home blew me away by bringing back both Tobey and Andrew as Spider-Man to star alongside Tom Holland. The inclusion of multiversal villains, especially Doc Ock and Green Goblin from the original trilogy, was thrilling to see and helped to completed the emotional arcs of every previous Spider-Man film. Seeing Daredevil again was also a welcomed surprise. After this movie, I am not back on board 100%, but I’m close.
After a much needed break, Moon Knight premiered on Disney+ in March of 2022. The show explored mental illness and Egyptian mythology in an entertaining and informative way that showed the struggles and hardships of living with multiple personalities. Oscar Isaac's performance blew my mind and I was glad to see some MCU content that wasn't immediately tied into the larger universe.
The first movie of 2022 was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (why are all these titles mouthfuls?). Sam Raimi's direction felt creepy and sinister and brought a new depth to the MCU that hasn't been felt before. Wanda's turn to the dark side was truly scary and provided a new take on the character that I felt flowed well from the ending of WandaVision. The multiverse stuff was fun but it didn't really feel like we were "in the multiverse of madness" and maybe extending the run time by 30 minutes and including a couple more multiverses would have made the film a bit better. But overall, I was very happy with the experience and can proudly say that I am 100% all into the MCU again.
Well that didn't last very long. I understand that I am in the minority here but I did not like Ms. Marvel. I was on board with the first 2 episodes but it slowly lost my interest completely. In my opinion, the show should've stuck to Kamala learning to use her powers and dealing with high school problems. All of the Pakistan trip and backstory and explanation on the origins of the bracelet should have been saved for a second season. It haulted the story and wasn't as interesting as the high school scenes. Unless it becomes intricately important to The Marvels, I will only watch episodes 1, 2 and 8.
And if I thought Ms. Marvel was bad, I was not prepared for the dumpster fire called Thor: Love and Thunder. I have never seen a character roller coaster in quality as much as Thor. Thor was fine. Thor was ok in Avengers. Thor: The Dark World was boring. Thor was fun in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Thor: Ragnarok was delightful new take. Avengers: Infinity War had my all time favorite Thor and Avengers: Endgame had a Thor overwhelmed by emotion whose depression got the best of him. But then we get this film. The funny moments from Thor: Ragnarok were dialed to 11 and any drama or seriousness was thrown out the window. I seriously considered walking out of the theater and waiting to watch the movie on Disney+. A true cinematic disaster where making a joke was more important than having any sort of story or consistency. When you are adapting 2 of the most serious Thor comic arcs to ever exist, you should probably dial down the comedy a whole lot. Natalie Portman was great as the Mighty Thor but we couldn't sit with the severity of her cancer because we need haha's. Christian Bale as Gorr was perfection, but his entire plot was dumbed down to 20 minutes of screen time with a bland ending. You introduce one of the most powerful being in the universe and diminish him down to a one wish genie. I am so happy Chris Hemsworth convinced Marvel to put his daughter in the movie just so she could be the laziest plot device of Phase 4. If you can't tell, Phase 4 has lost me now.
But what about the I Am Groot shorts? They were fine. I smiled at them.
At this point, the quantity of content has gotten to me and I'm exhausted. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was fine. I liked episodes 1, 2 and 5 the most. Other episodes fell flat. But I never had any big problems with this show. Just really MCUed out.
Now I know I've been pretty negative for a bit but I can say that without a doubt, Werewolf By Night was one of the best things I had watched in months. It was scary, it felt like a classic, the characters were well developed and it was amazingly written and directed.
Then we have Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Unfortunately, I'm in the minority again. I was not a fan of this movie. I'd like to preface this by saying, I do not like Shuri as a character, nor do I like the actress. This movie did not change my mind with her. It actually made me like her less. Ironheart felt thrown into the movie unnaturally even though Ryan Coogler has stated she wasn't. The whole movie felt disjointed. It felt like instead of rewriting the script from the beginning when Chadwick died, they just gave Shuri all of his lines and did the bare minimum to make it work. Then to top it all off, you introduce T'Challa's son at the end only to give him the exact same name. Talk about lazy writing. At least Namor was cool.
Finally Phase 4 concluded with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. I thought it was delightful. Kevin Bacon was great along with the Guardians cast. I am very excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after this.
Phase 4 has been a wild ride of the highest highs and the lowest lows. It has had some of the struggles both Phase 1 and 2 had. How do you continue on after your 3rd act? How to you start new after everything has finished? But I think Phase 4's biggest hurtle was time. Had the shows and movies been spaced out over 3 or 4 years I think most of us would've had a better time. But having to produce so much content so quickly dropped the quality of the content. Bad scripts went through to production. Bad ideas hit our screens. Even some of the projects I liked felt rushed. Marvel needs to slow down. If they don't, they run a chance of loosing their loyal fan base. But as fans, we need to give them time to fix it. They can't course correct in one year. When looking back at Phase 4, I see it as a dark time. It's like when your favorite baseball team has over a 100 year slump. But all you can do is look to the future. Phase 4 has some highlights that I will watch again and again but it also had things I will only half watch when I do my MCU rewatch. Let's hope the Multiverse Saga gets better.
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