Tag: Phase 4

Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 Gamble in a Post-‘Endgame’ World

In 2022, Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 ended after a volume of projects were released in theaters and on Disney+. It wasn’t going to be easy moving beyond the Infinity Saga, as it would always be in the shadow of Avengers: Endgame wrapping up what some may have felt was the franchise’s true end and the weight of expectation that erupted from it. Going by the Internet’s usual reactionary tale, there have been some mixed emotions at times in regard to how exactly Phase 4 has wrapped up. There have been highs and lows, but there’s something curious about the way the franchise has been developing for over ten years in.

Lightning in a Bottle

Cinema has been dominated by superhero films; there’s no denying that fact. Not just by Marvel Studios but any other studio trying to replicate the style and base concept that led them to what they are today. The Cinematic Universe remains a distant dream for some studios even as others built their own take that allowed them to at least attempt a similar style of world-building to make use of that glimmer of replication they’d been searching for.

Even Sony struggled to somehow get the Marvel license to work in their favor with various strange choices in characters to headline their own Spider-Man spinoff. After the DC Extended Universe failed to truly get going, they now are simply wiping the slate clean with Peter Safran and James Gunn spearheading the entire cinematic universe. As of now, they are Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav‘s only hope to create what Kevin Feige kickstarted back in 2008.

Going by how desperate the attempts have been throughout the years, it’s easy to just forget how insane it’s been that Marvel Studios’ held up a cinematic franchise for over ten years. It even ends in a grand finale that wraps up so many stories in a way that almost seemed impossible to accomplish a few years ago. Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were game-changers for this approach and only Marvel could pull it off.

Limitations of a Studio

Imagine you’re in the same shoes as a production study that already managed to do the impossible. They build a cinematic universe and managed to wrap up its initial storylines in a way that had many come together in joy. What do you do next? They pretty much have to set up a sequel that not only welcomes a new era of heroes with some legacy actors leaving their respective roles behind while also paying tribute to what came before. It’s not an easy task for any studio to just whip up while still trying to leave one legacy behind.

Wherever one feels about Phase 4, Marvel Studios took on way more risks going into the latest generation. Not only did they have Disney+ but also had the opportunity to reshape the way we view what makes a Marvel film what it is. The Marvel formula trope has been around since the first Phase of the MCU, and just doing the same thing over and over again would not always yield results.

Don’t forget: Marvel Studios only has Marvel. The Internet may complain about the number of projects they put out and have the IP Marvel brand slapped onto it, it’s all this one production studio can use. They aren’t Lucasfilm that developed other projects based on various IPs besides their anchor of Star Wars. They aren’t Warner Bros. that can publish Don’t Worry Darling and Black Adam in the same year as distinct projects. Marvel is in their name and it’s all they can use.

Disney’s Plus on Pressure

Plus, the expectation of any project being part of the MCU adds to that pressure. Disney+ is a Disney-owned streaming service that needs to become competitive fast. It would’ve been dumb not to make use of your biggest brand to ensure its growth can compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and more. So, Marvel Studios now stands at the challenging crossroad to help Disney grow its streaming service while remaining bound to its MCU structure.

Marvel Studios didn’t just up their production without any forethought; no matter how some tried to paint that very picture. They absorbed Marvel TV, who had barely any projects moving forward and facing challenges long before they entered the streaming game, to make use of their experience. They had long-time employees that were involved since the early days take on producing roles to help these developments.

Now, they wanted to offer something unique while former Disney CEO Bob Chapek tried to shape the streaming service with his own unique team; something Bob Iger‘s return swiftly wiped out. There’s a lot that happened behind the scenes throughout the years that definitely made Phase 4 way more challenging than it truly needed to be. We don’t know all the details but somehow Marvel Studios still managed to produce some high-quality productions as they adapted to a new format under very challenging circumstances.

A Pandemic of Issues

Speaking of, we can’t forget that there’s another elephant in the room that is still showing its fangs to this day. COVID-19 changed everything we know and hampered many productions throughout the years. It forced the newly developed Volume technology, made popular through The Mandalorian, to take on a much bigger role for projects like The Batman, Thor: Love and Thunder, and more. VFX artists are forced to work from home trying to keep up the usual pace we saw before the pandemic.

Productions like Black Adam pushed back its release to work on its VFX longer, but this still led to the similar issues anyone has accused Marvel of throughout the year. There’s a bigger issue at play with how VFX artists and the industry’s general abuse of its systems, but it’s not a singular problem even if the most popular franchise became a quasi-popular choice to point it out. Productions like Moon Knight or Falcon and the Winter Soldier couldn’t film in locations due to travel restrictions, forcing them to adapt as quickly as possible.

All these small issues add up and can be seen in some productions. Not just that, Marvel Studios even with its TV merger was still new to this game. They not only had to adapt their usual structure to a format they weren’t adjusted to but during times when you’re not given many choices in how you adapt. Most productions that have released up to this point were all still filmed during the high point of the pandemic. There’s an interesting irony in how two of the only productions to beat box office expectations in 2022, Minions: Rise of Gru and Top Gun: Maverick, are holdovers from 2020.

Phase 4’s Gamble

Under all these circumstances, there’s something fascinating about how Phase 4 felt the most creatively free of any phases. Fittingly, it felt like a callback to the early days when Marvel Studios was still learning the ropes during Phase 1. The studio took a gamble with Phase 4 by simply diversifying rather than relying too much on what worked in the past. In a way, they may have worried that the superhero fatigue would set in eventually; even if it has been mentioned since Avengers: Age of Ultron all the way back in 2015.

So, they seemingly took more chances with their projects. She-Hulk had a very specific audience in mind that opens up their portfolio to new viewers. Moon Knight was an actor-driven project while Secret Presentations introduced a more open concept for further exploration of the MCU in short film form. Even the films had some rather strong director-driven elements like Chloé Zhao introducing indie filmmaking elements with Eternals, Sam Raimi doing his thing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Taika Waititi going full comedy in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Playing the Long Game

As much as people want to focus on the now, this gamble is something more for the long term. If they diversify and try out new things now, they’ll benefit from it further down the line as the new Saga, confirmed to be the Multiverse Saga, finds its legs. Still, they haven’t lost all their momentum and power at the box office, especially after a harsh year like 2021.

2022 was the first year of recovery for the box office since the pandemic hit and Marvel Studios still stands strong at the box office with most of its entries pulling in strong numbers. People tend to point to them not passing a billion with any of the projects as one warning sign, but it’s not too surprising given China’s exclusion, two key markets currently at war, still adjustments post-pandemic, and a generally dead year for releases.

Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun Maverick are the only films this year showcasing any strong legs; ironically both being the same type of nostalgia-driven entry building upon a long absence combined with good word-of-mouth. Marvel is still going strong and all that in a post-Endgame blues phase that would require some reshaping and reorganizing to keep going.

Phase 5 and Beyond

We’re about to enter Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it’s got a lot of interesting projects that seem like they continue this trend of what we saw before. The projects may continue to get more interconnected moving forward as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania builds upon the main antagonist of the saga, who may also appear in the second season of Loki. Secret Invasion and The Marvels may build upon each other reshaping our understanding of the world; perhaps even past projects. Daredevil: Born Again and Echo act as a pair further exploring more grounded elements of this world with Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts‘ rumors hinting at the MCU continuing to expand in creative but exciting ways.

The MCU is not going to end anytime soon and we may slowly see a shift back to those elements that people fell in love with. Marvel Studios may also adapt its pacing with the shows and films; especially after taking some lessons from what they learned. Bob Iger is back in charge at Disney and he may give some more freedom back to the studios that were lost during Chapek‘s reign and the needs built around Disney+. We may also see some lessons learned from the pandemic on how to best optimize and further develop their projects.

Change isn’t something immediate, just like how the Phase 4 gamble may not pay off for everyone right now. While the outcry machine that is the internet remains the way it is, there’s more to what is currently happening. Fatigue may be building up for some but others may have just found themselves joining a world they only heard about from friends. Maybe everyone is just waiting for that one project to catch their attention like the franchise used to; especially with our nostalgia for what once was many years ago. Like any long-running franchise, we sometimes remember “what once was” with different glasses than when it was released especially after the emotional rollercoaster that was Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps there’s a good reason why there hasn’t been another Avengers film since and won’t be until 2025.

January 3, 2023
The Case for More ‘Marvel Studios Special Presentations’

With the release of Werewolf By Night, Marvel Studios has given us yet another format in which to experience and further explore the MCU. Following feature films, one-shots, and TV shows, fans have now been treated to its first Special Presentation, with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Marvel’s second go at the format, just a few weeks away. And one thing is certain: if it ends up being as well received as Werewolf By Night has been, the demand for further projects within the same framework is bound to rise.

James Gunn has stated that his upcoming Holiday Special will be under 40 minutes in length and considering that Werewolf clocks in at around 48 minutes (not counting end-credits) the basic parameters for this kind of project seem to be fairly straightforward. Tv-episode-length with a higher budget, and a more concise and focused script than a feature film. Could this structure become the go-to format for Marvel Studios when it comes to their Disney+ content? As with many debates, the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Considering how most Marvel Studios Disney+ shows have been a bit lackluster, there is no doubt that there is still work to be done when adapting the MCU to an episodic format. The Special Presentation type of show does allow Marvel to keep its feature film formula—a formula that works more often than not—a bit more intact, but while that may serve particular stories, there is still much that can be gained by giving certain characters and storylines additional room to breathe by going the 6+ episode route. If anything, Special Presentations allow Marvel to have a sort of middle-ground between a feature film and a TV show, so that when the story does ask for a shorter runtime but still not garnering sufficient relevance for the big screen there is still a way to make it work. It wouldn’t be hard to picture a series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier being developed as a one-hour tv special, telling the story of how both Sam and Bucky went from Endgame to Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts, respectively. The same case could be made for Hawkeye that, as FatWS, would take advantage of previously established characters to streamline the narrative, swiftly leading into the next project. WandaVision would perhaps be the exception since it took the episodic format to heart and made it intrinsic to its essence. As for all Marvel Studios series introducing titular heroes, along with their own set of side characters, from Moon Knight to Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk, the longer runtime provided by several episodes seems completely warranted. Taking time to properly explore their origin, in their own corner of the MCU, without all the noise provided by the evergrowing mob of characters that will eventually engulf them seems fair.

But while the story itself should be the main reason when choosing what format to go with, there are also more specific points working in favor of the new format. For one: talent availability. With the success of the Marvel formula, the franchise is either attracting A-listers to its key roles or turning unknown actors into household names. In either case, unless previously signed contracts so dictate, it will become increasingly hard to get the desired names to be completely available for the time that it takes to shoot the usual 6 to 9 episodes of a regular Marvel Studios series. By having the Special Presentation format available, the studios could keep production schedules shorter, stars happier, and probably even bring about a bit more of that Strange Alchemy that the Russo Brothers valued so much (something that happens when characters who never interacted in previous projects share the screen for the first time) by making everyone’s schedule a bit more team-up prone.

There is also another issue, especially relevant when it comes to streaming services, that the Special Presentation format sort of bypasses, not on its own but due to the sheer volume of premium original Disney+ content. The importance of keeping active subscribers all-year round is a big reason for investing in episodic series to be a good business model. But since Disney+ already has other equally massive franchises that are aiming at pumping out content frequently, there is no reason for Disney, when looking at the bigger picture, to not be ok with a few Marvel shows becoming glorified one-shots and not having to drive online discourse for several weeks since there are other shows that will keep subscribers busy for that same period.

What is perhaps a bit more dubious, but that could actually be a reality, is what the shorter runtime (when compared to a TV series) might do in terms of rewatchability and how that relates to the ease with which Marvel properties have been able to enter the cultural zeitgeist since 2008. For years Marvel Studios made…movies. Fans had to wait months in-between projects and what did they do when a new one was about to premiere? They rewatched the previous ones. And with that, everything about the movies permeated the discourse, from the biggest set pieces to the smallest of dialogue lines. It feels difficult for the same thing to happen when instead of 120 minutes that can be easily experienced over, and over again, fans have to sit through double that same amount of time, especially when there is always something new coming right up. By trimming the actual minutes of content being released, Marvel might be doing themselves a favor since instead of trending due to having constantly something new out, they might give fans the pause to reconnect with the material in a way that’s way more sustainable in the long run, thus imbuing Marvel Studios projects with what made them relevant to begin with.

As for what the future holds for the Special Presentation format, only time can tell. But things are seemingly on the right track for it to become an MCU staple on Disney+.

October 8, 2022
‘Werewolf by Night’ Adds New Weapon to Phase 4’s Ultimate Conflict

Much has been said about the apparent lack of connecting tissue uniting most of the MCU’s Phase 4. Even though the climax for Marvel’s post-Endgame storylines being pretty straightforward from the moment the Multiverse came into play, most fans only came to terms with it in July 2022. This was when Kevin Feige announced the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars, scheduled to be released on November 7, 2025, and in a single instant, it became easy to unite every separate storyline into a single narrative thread, in a way only the Multiverse can.

But there are levels to this. If on the surface, in terms of character movement, things should be moving in closer together for the foreseeable future, mimicking the final days of the Infinity Saga, there might be more assembling going on. And Werewolf By Night, even as detached from the usual look and feel of the MCU as it is, with little to no connection to other projects besides, you know, being set in the same universe, will probably have something to offer in that regard.

Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings (2022)

Phase 4 has been all about reinventing and reframing legacy characters all while introducing new faces, both heroes and villains, to an evergrowing canvas of intertwined stories. But it is also quietly revealing strange new artifacts, with apparent similar origins albeit vastly different capabilities, that might come together play a part in the multiversal war that is to come. And this is where Werewolf By Night’s Bloodstone comes into play.

Both in Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings and Ms. Marvel, we’ve been introduced to relics that have been slightly reinterpreted from their comic book origins, all while bringing them together in terms of origin. As for the Ten Rings, they were seen as too much like the Infinity Stones, as each ring initially had its own color and ability, and so not only their look but their previously mentioned origin was significantly changed, with the Shang-Chi post-credit scene hinting at an alien origin. As for Ms. Marvel’s bangle, it became the item that ultimately unlocked Kamala’s powers, unlike in the comics where she develops her superpowers when the Terrigen Mists are released. The bangle is, like the Ten Rings, also hinted at as having an alien origin since it’s mentioned that Kamala’s ancestor initially found it on the arm of a blue alien.

Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel (2022)

As for the Bloodstone (a.k.a. the Bloodgem), its comic book origin is, you guessed it, also alien. It is said to be the fragment of a meteorite that crashed on Earth somewhere around 8250 B.C, and that eventually founds its way onto the hands of Ulysses Bloodstone, who became immortal by being in possession of the stone. This could fit the powers of the Bloodstone as mentioned by Ulysses’s widow, Verusa, in Werewolf by Night:

What aspect of the Blood Stone are we after exactly? The strength it lends? The protection? Oh… longevity.
Verusa

Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night (2022)

The stone is described as a powerful supernatural relic, a weapon unlike any other, something that fits the profile—and likely the origin—of the other two artifacts mentioned above. If the future of the MCU will bring them all together to serve as instruments in the conflicts to come, remains to be seen. But whereas the Infinity Stones were meant to be wielded together, working in unison towards one single goal, having the Ten Rings, Kamala’s Cosmic Bangle, and the Bloodgem doing the same, even if achievable, might be a bit more tricky. But also incredibly more entertaining.

Werewolf by Night is now streaming, only on Disney+

October 7, 2022
Deep Thoughts: One Hypothetical Marvel Studios 2023 Release Calendar

With Marvel Studios finally revealing release dates for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (February 17, 2023) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023), it seemed like a good time to take a stab at how the rest of 2023 might shape up for the studio’s theatrical features and streaming series. We’ve played this guessing game before (here and here) and it’s been hit and miss; however, it’s still a fun game to play and can give us some idea of how things might turn out in a couple of years.

***NOTE***

Please read and share responsibly and don’t latch your hopes and dreams onto this. Don’t take it seriously and don’t start marking your calendars. This is one possible option with the only real intention behind it being to see if it could be done well.

One of the bigger surprises of 2021 so far has been the news that Marvel Studios was developing a solo Echo series. Newcomer Alaqua Cox was brought on board to bring Maya Lopez to life in 2021’s Hawkeye and must have made a huge impression as the studio quickly put together a writer’s room and greenlit the series. An Echo series could be an interesting way to reintroduce Kingpin and other Marvel Netflix characters to the MCU and her ties to Daredevil could leave open the opportunity for Matt Murdock’s adventures to continue on here. While this might seem like a pretty quick turnaround, I have a feeling this one is further down the development road than we think.

The Marvel Legends episodes have served as recaps and while they may seem a bit underwhelming to longtime fans of the MCU, they have proven to be effective in catching new viewers up on who everyone is. With that said, We should expect episodes for Scott Lang, Hope van Dyne and, I’d imagine, Cassie Lang, in the weeks leading up to the release of the third Ant-Man film. Given that production on this is set to begin before The Marvels, a lot of folks had this begged for a 2022 release.

I’ve consistently heard it was set for this date and that it was because it needed to come out when it did for storytelling purposes. I wish I had more context on that, but I just don’t and I guess we’ll all have to wait to see what stories needed to be told before we got this one. As it stands, we’re set to get a wild story that we know will include our second time meeting Jonathan Majors‘ Kang and some Quantum Realm shenanigans. As much as I still hope this is the first time we see the Young Avengers team up on screen, the fact that a new writer was brought on board since we first shared that info a couple of years ago makes me wonder if that’s no longer the case.

We are still a month away from the first season of Loki and we are already looking down the road at how they might summarize his adventures in that series before we get to season two in 2023. Who knows what adventures will befall the Trickster in season one…

Kevin Feige has made it clear that not all of the Disney Plus series are destined to have multiple seasons; however, before production on season one of Loki was underway, we knew a season two was part of the plans. Deadline later confirmed that Michael Waldron had inked a deal to work on season two and much like Echo has been fast-tracked, I think another season of Loki is closer than we might think.

Catching up on the adventures of the Guardians will be a necessity for new fans before the threequel lands in May. Some of them will have been on different adventures and one isn’t even from the Prime timeline. An episode or 6 of Marvel Legends might even do us long-timers some good as well, so expect quite a few ahead of May 5th!

By the time we see the Guardians on screen again, it’ll have been exactly 6 years since their last film and they’ll have been used in more films by other directors (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder) than by James Gunn. Gunn has been pretty consistent in saying that this film will wrap up the story of this version of the Guardians and that Rocket’s story will be a big part of the plot. Even though the script for this one has existed for quite a while, very little information about the plot of the film has gotten out though Gunn has debated Warlock’s presence in the film, that Earth-based heroes (like Nova) were on the table and, once upon a time, seemingly teased that it would include some version or another of Quasar. With production starting up this Fall, we might get lucky and catch a couple of leaks and get some idea of where this is headed.

Black Panther director Ryan Coogler inked a deal to develop original programming for Disney Plus and chief among those was a series exploring the World of Wakanda. Details on this one are…well, they just don’t exist yet, but given the fact that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is out in 2022, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Coogler and his team keep the tidal wave of momentum going from that film and deliver more Wakandan-based stories to audiences sooner rather than later.

It’s possible that we won’t see Sam Wilson, the MCU’s new Captain America, again before his upcoming and yet still unofficially announced solo film, but then again I know I’m not alone in saying I hope we don’t have to wait 2 years. Cap could show up just about anywhere now from Ms. Marvel to Hawkeye to Spider-Man: No Way Home or even Armor Wars. Let’s hope we get to see more Cap rather than less.

Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson have been reported to be working on the script for this one and I don’t believe for a second that two guys who spent so much time working together on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier together have only just started writing this script. Even though we all just found out about it a couple of weeks ago, I’m willing to bet this is much, much more together than we think and will be underway much sooner than expected.

This one is a pretty big stretch given that there’s no confirmation from Marvel Studios that they’re developing a Nomad series and even the guy who broke the story was unclear of what exactly this was but then again, we are doing hypothetical stuff here…
When last we saw Bucky Barnes at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he had finally moved away, at least personally, from his deeds as the Winter Soldier. With his past finally behind him, it’s possible that we could see Sebastian Stan back in the role as the character carves out a present and a future. Stan gave an incredible performance in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and reinvented the character. While we don’t know if Nomad is happening much less if it’s being developed for Stan, I don’t think too many people would frown upon it should it happen and a 6-episode run taking James across the country to deal with someone like the Scourge of the Underworld or, should they not appear in Captain America 4, the Serpent Socitey, would make for some great TV.

Of course, it’s also possible that this is one of the projects that Chris Evans is rumored to be returning for (perhaps something set during the time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War) or an entirely new character. With that last option on the table, I didn’t want to put a Legends episode on the docket, but if it’s either Bucky or Steve, we’ll certainly get one.

It wasn’t too long ago that I was hopeful that this film would end up in an unused October 2022 slot. According to the Disney Investor Day Fact Sheet, it wasn’t too long ago that Marvel Studios might have held that same hope. At this point, however, Blade won’t make that date and even though fans are already freaking out about why it wasn’t included in yesterday’s Phase 4 trailer, this is definitely still a big priority for the studio. The studio has some time now to work on a script and line up dates with a director and if we’ve learned anything from the COVID pandemic it’s that giving studios more time to prepare can never be a bad thing.

The Young Avengers are coming, of that, there is no doubt. What is entirely unclear is when. My guess: sooner rather than later. You can’t cast a bunch of young actors in roles and then wait 3-5 years between appearances, not without continually recasting at least. Marvel Studios has proven that they’re open to recasting, but at some point, you might like to hang on to some actors for a while, especially when the audience is supposed to be seeing a story in which they grow and develop together as a unit, such as the Young Avengers. My guess is that the actors being brought on board to play these characters will find themselves incredibly busy over the next 5 years (see Tom Holland) so that we don’t end up with some Harry Potter-esque growth spurts and suddenly have 30 year olds playing teens. So out of the pile of projects Marvel Studios has in development, this one could easily be near or at the top. I think it plays better as a Disney Plus series for a lot of reasons, so despite having absolutely no idea what the plan is for this, I’m rooting for the series route.

We know Jon Watts is directing it and we have a fancy logo. We think we know it’s filming under Solve Everything Productions. Other than that, we don’t know anything about Marvel Studios Fantastic Four reboot. It seems like it is certainly a part of the studio’s Phase 4 plans given that it showed up in the Phase 4 trailer, but it has no writer, no cast, no release date and I have yet to hear any rumblings about when or where it’s going to get going. With all that in mind, I think it would make a mint at the box office as a family-centric holiday film so I am crossing my fingers that we’ll get another release date in 2023 and that the First Family will be home for Christmas.

Obviously, the further out we get, the more liberties that have to be taken. We’re at a point where much of what we’re looking at trying to schedule here doesn’t even have known production schedules at the moment. Furthermore, I’ve picked a couple of properties that the studio hasn’t even acknowledged are in development yet so that I could get 5 D+ series in the calendar year. Whether I picked the wrong 2 projects or not isn’t much of a concern because the reality is that the studio has so many properties in development, I’m confident we’ll be able to see 5 series every year should they want to continue producing them at this clip. Let’s all bookmark this one and come back for a laugh in about 18 months.

May 4, 2021
‘WANDAVISION’ is Pivotal to the Future of Disney Plus and The MCU

WandaVision has a tall order to fill. It’s not only the first Marvel project of Phase 4, it’s the first MCU streaming series and the first project released after a longer-than-expected year-and-a-half hiatus for the franchise. All of that makes for a lot of weight riding on this show’s shoulders.

The scheduling for Phase 4 and beyond has gone through a lot of changes. Many of them have obviously been due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was shifting going on well before the crisis hit. For instance, had James Gunn not been fired (only to later be rehired) as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it would have shot in early 2019 and most likely been the first project to be released in May 2020 (you know, if the pandemic didn’t happen).

The third Guardians movie would have been a natural fit to open Phase 4, as the plan appeared to be for it to close the book on the current iteration of the team while introducing some new ideas as well (there was said to be some set-up for Eternals in the film’s original script, which has surely changed now that Guardians 3 is set to come out well after that movie). But the Gunn firing controversy happened, and now we have The Suicide Squad coming out this year and Guardians 3 postponed (presumably to 2023).

Since the early May (or sometimes late April) date is the prime one for Marvel Studios, the decision was made to drop the planned July 2020 release date and push Black Widow forward to the May one. To me, this never seemed like quite the right way to open Phase 4 (even though its place as the opener was circumstantial). Even though it would have worked in a similar way as Spider-Man: Far From Home to tie up some loose ends and set up some new stuff for the future, a midquel starring a character who has already died in the main timeline that appears to be a much smaller-scale project than the most recent ones being the big comeback after a relatively long break for the MCU just seemed a tad underwhelming. These concerns weren’t about the movie’s quality so much as the level of hype it could bring and “Marvel’s back, baby!” statement it could make not seeming as potentially impactful as other projects, for various reasons.

Here’s the thing: The MCU keeps setting the bar higher and higher for itself, and it’s going to be hard for them to top it in terms of scale a la Avengers: Endgame, at least for awhile; for now they need to try to work on other ways to dazzle and surprise audiences. So after Guardians 3 moved back a few years and we started learning more about the first batch of MCU Disney+ series, I honestly wished Marvel would be able to get one of those done in time to be the project to kick off Phase 4, even though the shooting schedules clearly didn’t allow for it. All three of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki looked to be exciting and future-building for the MCU, taking it to new places via new genres. And the new-to-the-MCU medium of streaming for these projects would help them get away from some of the inevitable comparisons to what we saw in the Infinity Saga and allow them to stand as their own sort of thing.

Of these three, I would have chosen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to be the first Phase 4 project out of the gate. (I know it’s because of production scheduling and the pandemic that it’s not going to be the first series anymore, but let’s pretend it was a possibility, okay?) There looks to be some level of focus on recovery from the Blip and setting things up for the MCU’s future. It looks like it’s going to be different enough to feel fresh and exciting, but not so different as to throw everyone into the deep end first thing and alienate potential viewers…which is a concern I have for what is actually going to be the Phase 4 opener, WandaVision.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited for WandaVision (even more than TF&TWS, actually). I’m glad the MCU is taking big swings with this show, and I expect it to be a critical hit. But those who have seen the first three episodes – including our own Charles Murphy – have said the episodes they were shown are very much focused on the domestic life of Wanda and Vision, and while that was pretty much what I expected based on interviews and promotional footage, I’m worried it’s going to be a turn-off to certain audiences. I can’t help but wonder what people who want a lot of action and big set pieces right out of the gate when getting their MCU fix, might feel when the first content they get in a year and a half is a 1950’s sitcom homage with no action and little supernatural or magical elements, especially when it seems like we’re going to be getting several weeks of these sitcom antics before getting to the more typical superhero fare.

As I said, I’m personally very excited for all of this, and am glad the MCU is exploring new formats and genres. But this particular project being the first taste of Phase 4 – an era that is already sort of “primed for hate” no matter what it produces because what came before it was so well-received – is definitely a big risk. I do think it’s a better fit for the opener than, say, Black Widow would have been precisely because it’s going big in certain respects (likely in ways that are atypical) and I can only hope that MCU fans will keep an open mind about WandaVision (and the rest of the upcoming slate) and that it may even draw in some new viewers to the franchise. If this works out well for Marvel, we’re sure to get an even wider array of stories in the future.

January 10, 2021