The Unfortunate Problems With Marvel's Phase Four

The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. The MCU has taken superheroes from being the laughingstock of Hollywood to the most financially successful genre in global media. And yet now, with super producer Kevin Feige at full command of everything Marvel, you'd expect things to be chugging along swimmingly. And they are, on one level. However, a closer look reveals a significant problem with Marvel's Phase 4. The MCU started in 2008 with the release of the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle Iron Man. I am Iron Man. The first film in an interconnected web of feature films spanning multiple studios, characters, and franchises. In case you're unfamiliar, the eras of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are divided up into what mega producer Feige and company have termed phases. Phase 1 is six films, Iron Man to Avengers. Phase 2 is six films, Iron Man 3 to Ant-Man. And Phase 3, acting as the climactic third act of the initial movement of the universe, is 11 films, Captain America Civil War to Spider-Man Far From Home. These 23 films act as a complete story, more or less. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Millions of people from across the globe have thrilled to the exploits, and triumphs, and failures of the iconic Marvel superheroes. All of these films lead up to the crescendo of the twin capstones to the story, Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame. These two films, directed by the Russo brothers, pulled in close to $5.5 billion. Wait, wait, wait, wait. What'd you get? $200. Boopies. Which is? They are an achievement in the craft and business of filmmaking that has never been paralleled. They were a definitive end to the story that was jumpstarted all those years ago in 2008. And then, you got to move on. Marvel and the rest of the world had to move on. No, I don't think I will. Marvel's hotly anticipated Phase 4 promised new characters, new twists and turns in the ongoing plot, and even more excitement. And now, with a new element thrown into the mix, Kevin Feige would be overseeing TV projects for Phase 4. Meaning not only would Phase 4 include numerous films, but it would also include eight TV show projects, each roughly 10 episodes in length. And here's where we get to the problem with Phase 4. Simply put, it's not learning the lessons it needs from the comics. It's overly convoluted, requires literal homework from the audience, and has major structural issues on a storytelling level. She recast Pietro? There's been a lot of chatter online about how certain people in the Marvel fandom are frustrated by the fact that there isn't enough forward movement happening on the core story of the MCU. They feel that the MCU is just treading water and has a pacing problem, compared to the breakneck speed that Phases 1 and 2 had. On the overly convoluted front, the film side of things has become so linked to the TV side that there are massive story beats happening behind a paywall on an app that the general public may or may not have access to. I like your plan, except it sucks, so let me do the plan. And that way, it might be really good. Sure, the first three phases of the MCU were a lot to keep straight, but it was 23 movies. It was a linear story. If you showed up to the theater, you got the narrative. Now, you have to juggle the feature films and the vital continuity in the TV shows. Does Doctor Strange 2 make any sense if you haven't seen WandaVision? Not really. Last time we saw Wanda on the big screen, she was reeling from the death of Vision. And now, she's a villain talking about children? If you haven't seen the Disney Plus show, you're out of luck. This doesn't make any sense. Nah, nothing makes sense here, man. The only thing that doesn't make sense is that nothing makes sense. Structural issues have always plagued the MCU. Whether their offerings are deemed as too formulaic or struggling with pacing, there always seems to be some common flaws with the different phases of the MCU. For phase 4, one of the common complaints is that the shows bottom out during the middle of the series. Everything tends to grind to a halt on a plot level. Look at Moon Knight. Yes, the best episode of the series takes place in the middle, with Mark running around an Egyptian temple. But then, the ensuing three episodes are just extended scenes of Oscar Isaac talking to himself. How is this possible? I don't know. Loki and Falcon and the Winter Soldier suffered from similar issues as well. It's a lot to ask of a viewing public to not only sit through all these shows in order to understand a movie, but it's even more to ask when they're not up to the standards the movies have set. Another reason that people are upset at phase 4 is something comic book fans are very familiar with, but the general public might not be as much. Narrative de-escalation. After a crossover event, big arc, or a significant creative team's run comes to an end, the book typically goes back to basics. It's a way of refreshing the status quo. After Dan Slott's Spidey run ended, you get Nick Spencer taking over Amazing and the literal title of his first arc being Back to Basics. It's a tried and true tradition in comics. You tell your story, you take the toys out of the play area, and then you reset everything and start building something new. That's what phase 4 really is. It's a back to basics phase. Things are about to get weird. Keep your phone on. Which isn't as fun as the grand scale of the climactic events of Endgame, undoubtedly, but still important. Simply put, they're not going to make an Avengers movie anytime soon. They're focusing on these smaller characters and universe building. These narrative tropes aren't as apparent to filmgoers as comic book readers, so some people have false expectations of what phase 4 is going to be. I tell you what happens. These back to basics storylines are important for the lifeblood of a comic book universe. It's how you establish new characters and new threats. Are the stories being presented in Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, and the other standalone projects the most impactful or mind-blowing? No, but if executed correctly, they have the potential of increasing the texture of the universe and endearing the audience to the characters. Only issue being, it's kind of hit and miss currently. The MCU isn't learning the right lessons from the comics. They're in a back to basics era, but they're pitching themselves as still being in full-blown crossover mode, which is leading to audience dissatisfaction and pacing issues. Marvel Comics went through similar issues in the late 1990s. The most infamous example of this is the Clone Saga. This story involved Peter Parker maybe, or maybe not, being a clone. It ran across all four Spidey titles from October 1994 to December of 1996, and was predominantly featured in literally 160 comics. Can you imagine trying to read 160 comic books to try and understand if Peter Parker was a clone? None of these decisions have anything to do with the best way to present a story. They're business choices, and because of that, they make story pacing really hard to make satisfying. Kind of sounds similar to how Disney is shoehorning all the MCU shows onto their new streaming platform and having pacing issues, doesn't it? We're trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart. And that's how you get some fans saying that Phase 4 feels disjointed and clunky, and that it's not going anywhere, even though it's obviously leading towards Secret Wars. Secret Wars, by Jonathan Hickman and Asaad Ribich, and loosely based on the original crossover by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck, features multiversal drama on a Shakespearean scale. In the book, and in Hickman's Avengers run, the Illuminati uncover the fact that the multiverse is collapsing. Dimensions are colliding into each other, killing all of the inhabitants. Our heroes band together in order to stop these tragedies, referred to as incursions, only to fail. The multiverse collapses, with only Dr. Doom able to save shards from different realities on a dimensional plane called Battleworld. There, all of our heroes attempt to band together in order to defeat Doom and establish a world that doesn't have zombie Thanos running around. Secret Wars is arguably the best mainstream crossover of the past 30 years. The fact that Marvel is obviously building towards it means their eye is on the prize. All of the clumsiness and strange pacing of Phase 4 will be forgotten once we get to Secret Wars. It's a little bit of a bumpy ride, but we'll get there. Just watch. It'll all be worth it if we get to hear Doom on the big screen say, that appears untrue. OK, that didn't really make sense, but you know what I'm trying to say. Phase 4 is already the size of phases 1 and 2 combined in terms of watch hours. There's a sense of urgency with some people where they want the payoffs now. If anything, it's a testament to just how successful Infinity War and Endgame were. The payoffs and conclusions in that film were unlike anything else completed in mainstream cinema before. And because of that, there's a hunger to experience those feelings again. But what so many refuse to acknowledge is that setting up an ending takes time. And that's all we have this week. What do you think? Are the Russo brothers coming back to direct Secret Wars? Will it be a trilogy of movies? Will it see Chris Evans play Cap again? Let us know in the comments below. And as always, please subscribe to the Nerdstalgic channel in order to stay up to date.