It’s time to reset our expectations for Marvel Phase 4. Marvel Studios has been the king of blockbuster entertainment for over a decade now since The Avengers first hit theaters, but more than that, it’s been a feat of interconnected franchise storytelling that was once only dreamed about. The culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Infinity Saga in that third act battle of Avengers: Endgame is a moment that will rightly live on in movie legend – but the magic of that moment has definitely faded, and it’s time to reset expectations, accordingly.
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This op-ed comes – with purpose – in the wake of the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as that was (for many Marvel fans) supposed to be culminating “event” of this first wave of Marvel Phase 4 projects, on both the movie and TV screen. And yet, even with the big success of Doctor Strange 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home at the box office – and Marvel’s pop-culture dominance of TV with the launch of its Marvel Disney+ series – the reaction from fans has been noticeably more lukewarm.
To be clear: Marvel has never stopped scoring hits as it rolls out Phase 4. Each film release (Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) has done anywhere from reasonably well (Black Widow, Eternals) to smashingly good aft the box office (Spider-Man). The fan enthusiasm never wanes, as theaters continue to be packed on opening weekends, while streaming and home releases of those movies have shown great returns. Marvel has been the sole biggest influence in getting people back into movie theaters following the COVID-19 pandemic, without a dispute. It’s even more clear from social media buzz how Marvel’s Disney+ series (WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, Hawkeye, Moon Knight) captured and held the TV zeitgeist during each of their respective runs.
Marvel has also continued to excel in one area during Phase 4: introducing new characters. Shang-Chi has arguably been the most overall satisfying project for fans in Phase 4, as fans have embraced the character, his world, and hype for the future of both. Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Florence Pugh’s Yelena/Black Widow, and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop are all breakout stars; Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter character remix is a hit; Oscar Isaac put on an acting clinic for Moon Knight, and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) is currently gaining favor thanks to Doctor Strange 2. Even Jonathan Majors thrilled fans with just the first hints of his Kang the Conqueror villain. Marvel has given fans a lot of new reasons to be excited.
It’s the after-effect of experiencing MCU projects that seems to have changed quite drastically. The MCU Infinity Saga was masterful in the way it thrilled fans with the project and propelled them right into excitement for the next – right from the very beginning, with Iron Man’s post-credits scene. It was the larger sense of one over-arching story guiding things and making each investment of time and viewing worth it that distinguished Marvel from every other franchise before it. It’s also exactly what’s been missing from this Phase 4 story arc: a large sense of purpose and cohesion.
At this point, some hard facts are clear: the pandemic cost Marvel (like every other product in Hollywood), much more than we may have first assumed. While fans had idealistic visions of Marvel Studios using the pandemic shutdown as a boon of time to better strengthen and polish its productions, the complete opposite has proven true. Each Phase 4 project has arrived with more and more hints of scrambled and chaotic production efforts (delays); story issues that are vaguely mixed with revisions and reshoots; and hard crunches to get visual effects finished and polished (to middling success). More than anything, Doctor Strange 2 and its own muddled place in this Phase 4 multiverse arc have left a lot of fans asking questions like “What’s the point of all this?” and “Where are we going?” And that level of collective ambivalence is certainly a first for the MCU.
While it was a comforting thought to believe that Marvel Studios would be impervious to the same life-ills that we’ve all been through the last few years, it’s beginning to feel more like the franchise and the people behind it are just like us: just trying to get through all this, in any way possible. Never lose faith in the magic Marvel has created through the MCU – but for now, until productions can fully shake off the bluster of the pandemic efforts – it would probably be wise to temper your expectations (see: Thor: Love and Thunder).
