I get that, but it would be pretty weird to have the first check-in with a character post-Endgame have that character (or characters around them) not reference the time very recently when 50% of the population turned to dust and then reappeared 4 years later. Now that every character has had their turn, you’re…

I’ve read fans complaining about too much cross-over and now not enough. I think fans need to sit back and, uh, marvel at just what an amazing thing Marvel Studios has created over the past 15 years. They spent 5 years getting flagship characters together, they spent 10 years assembling some deep dive characters into a…

The movies were always hit or miss, the good ones were just good enough to compensate for the lesser offerings. Phase 4 just happens to be the time they went 4-13.

I realize why they didn’t talk about The Blip in BP2 — because it was dealing with (and somewhat contextualizing) the real-life death of the person who was supposed to be starring in the film — but... it was really missing in this film.

After seeing BP2, I’m a little worried that they’re stepping away from the implications of the Blip, which should still be, like, the go-to reference establishing the substance of the ongoing narrative, that this isn’t just a bunch of episodic stuff that doesn’t affect the characters in the long term. Like, on the…

It’s frustrating the way Black Widow got shuffled around, because it was really a film that should’ve been made and released years ago, but it took forever for them to actually make no doubt to internal politics of too many male executives (*cough*Perlmutter*cough*) insisting we couldn’t have a female-led movie. Fans…

I’ve heard some hints at that but my issues were more with some of the directional choices, like having the villain smile like a sociopath whenever she faced down the titular characters but then trying to portray her as someone who is displaced that feels forced to act as she does in other scenes. Or having Sharon do…

the real question is are audiences going to put up with the wait. i know they’re setting a bunch of things up, but i haven’t enjoyed watching that setup.

TFATWS was the one absolutely messed up by Covid

moon knight is a great example. it wasn’t exactly bad, per se, but what did i get out of watching it and what did the larger mcu get out of its existence?

Yes, the central theme had definitely been of everyone dealing with the aftermath, while this multiverse threat grows because everyone is too self-involved to be paying attention. There’s a sub theme of heroic legacy, with lots of new heroes taking up the mantles of old ones.

in the same way that the comics are ‘all separated’ until they aren’t. nothing more frustrating than picking up a spider-man comic and realizing you needed to read 2 months of moon knight to understand it.

Phase 4 is just the perfect storm of bad luck, bad execution, and scripts that could have used a draft revision or two. If we think of a phase like a football season, sometimes things go in your favor, sometimes things go really wrong. People can be putting their best effort, but sometimes that’s not enough, and…

Was Loki low stakes? I thought the existence of all histories hung in the balance by the end of that.

Agreed, and I think that’s the plan — I mean, it seems like we’re on the upswing since Quantumania starts Phase 5, and (the beginning, I’m guessing what we see in the trailer) is him doing his book / podcast tour, etc.

It is weird we’re waiting that long for the next Avengers title.

Shang-Chi was a real standout this phase too in retrospect. The bus fight. 

I actually agree with most of this article. I don’t think Phase 4 was bad, it just didn’t have much of a common thread keeping it together. Add in a pandemic, a ton of Disney+ content, and Marvel’s noble (but somewhat neutered) attempts at social commentary, and you get whatever Phase 4 was supposed to be.

“But the TV shows have mostly felt separated from the films, which is a problem from a structural standpoint.”