Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4 General Discussion (Spoilers discussed for All Films -- Please Read First Post) (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

Other interesting point: the "phases" are getting shorter again. In terms of just the movies:

Phase 1: 6 films (Iron Man to The Avengers)
Phase 2: 6 films (Iron Man 3 to Ant-Man)
Phase 3: 11 films (Civil War to Far from Home)
Phase 4: 7 films (Black Widow to Wakanda Forever)
Phase 5: 6 films (Quantumania to Thunderbolts)
Phase 6: 11 films [On edit: I just noticed one of the links previously posted gave the number of films for P6.]

I would assume the Disney+ shows are taking up the slack for the current and future phases.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Disney announced that Quantmania and The Marvels were swapping places a while back. The Marvels needed more time in post-production so they just decided to switch the two. I don't think is a huge deal because those two franchises traditionally occupy different corners of the MCU anyway.

 

[jayembee]

Never mind.

 

[jayembee]

More dates staked out (for films not yet announced):

Well, the last four are in 2026, so those would be Phase 7 dates.

At any rate, there are rumors (salt to taste) that Marvel is discussing a second Eternals film. Whether it will be one of the unannounced Phase 6 films or a Phase 7 film who can say?

 

[Malcolm R]

What is the point of the "phases"? I don't understand these groupings at all and I've seen every Marvel movie through Shang-Chi. I don't have any idea what movie belongs to which "phase" or why it's of any importance (and I'd imagine most moviegoers don't). But it seems to have some great importance to the press and die-hard Marvel fans.

 

[Sam Favate]

No mention of the Armor Wars streaming show at ComicCon. I hope it is still on the table and more will be revealed at D23. I recall Don Cheadle saying recently that he thought it was going to be filming soon.

BTW, what is the next Marvel Disney+ show after She-Hulk? Will there be one in the Oct.-Dec. period?

 

[Sean Bryan]

No mention of the Armor Wars streaming show at ComicCon. I hope it is still on the table and more will be revealed at D23. I recall Don Cheadle saying recently that he thought it was going to be filming soon.

BTW, what is the next Marvel Disney+ show after She-Hulk? Will there be one in the Oct.-Dec. period?

It’s still coming.

 

[Josh Dial]

What is the point of the "phases"? I don't understand these groupings at all and I've seen every Marvel movie through Shang-Chi. I don't have any idea what movie belongs to which "phase" or why it's of any importance (and I'd imagine most moviegoers don't). But it seems to have some great importance to the press and die-hard Marvel fans.

Each phase is intended to cover a larger story arc. Though phase 1 and phase 3 are largely more a collection of "origin" stories. In turn, the first four phases are "The Infinity Saga", while phases 4, 5, and 6 are "The Multiverse Saga".

 

[Sean Bryan]

Kevin Feige had some comments on the the Multiverse phases:

"You know, we realized that it’s very different than Phase 1, 2, and 3. That there are more projects and less years and therefore, it didn’t seem right to culminate...we’re not gonna culminate every 10 months in an Avengers movie," the executive explains. "And each of the films themselves now has become quite big and are crossover events in many ways."

"And after the creative experience we had with Infinity War and Endgame, it felt like it was about capping a Saga," Feige continued. "Saving back-to-back Avengers films for the completion of a saga. And that’s really what we wanted to lay out today."

"A lot of what we've been doing has been building to this larger story, obviously with The Kang Dynasty and the Multiverse Saga, and now I think people will, I hope, come along for the ride."

 

[Joe Wong]

I was discussing with my wife that if they’re building up to Secret Wars, coming out in, say, 2028-2029, given how it’s got pretty much everyone, imagine if Feige announced… the return of RDJ, Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson as variants of their 616 selves? Would that explode the MCU fandom? Or even if not announced, there are hints along the way, much like the anticipation for Tobey and Andrew in No Way Home.

But with Secret Wars slated for 2025, that’s probably put a stop to that idea. It’s too soon. If it was 2028-2029, enough time would have passed that audiences have accepted those 3 actors’ absence from the MCU. And then the nostalgia would get fans riled up in anticipation.

Gimmicky? Sure, but so was bringing back Tobey and Andrew for No Way Home. Of course the actors may not be interested in any event, but a fat paycheck could be the carrot.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

 

[Joe Wong]

What is the point of the "phases"? I don't understand these groupings at all and I've seen every Marvel movie through Shang-Chi. I don't have any idea what movie belongs to which "phase" or why it's of any importance (and I'd imagine most moviegoers don't). But it seems to have some great importance to the press and die-hard Marvel fans.

The 1st 3 phases built up to and were capped by Avengers event movies. Phase 3 took on additional meaning since it was the culmination of all 3 phases, aka The Infinity Saga.

You’re right in that there seems to be less of a distinction between these new phases, since there’s no Avengers movie to distinguish 4 or 5. But as @Sean Bryan’s post above quoting Feige says… he wanted 2 Avengers movies to cap the Multiverse Saga rather than have one for each new phase.

Based on what we’ve seen in Phase 4 so far, an underlying theme could be showing how the world is coping from the aftermath of Thanos’ actions and moving on. It could also be considered the phase that introduces the multiverse, with the likes of Loki, No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness front and center in this aspect.

It remains to be seen how Phase 5 ties together in terms of narrative or theme (even if loosely), but given how there were 3 phases for the Infinity Saga, it probably made sense to have 3 phases in the Multiverse saga as well.

 

[Jake Lipson]

BTW, what is the next Marvel Disney+ show after She-Hulk? Will there be one in the Oct.-Dec. period?

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has to be coming around the end of the year.

 

[Jake Lipson]

the return of RDJ, Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson as variants of their 616 selves? Would that explode the MCU fandom?

Speaking only for myself, that would just make me mad. No, I don't want to see that.

 

[Joe Wong]

Speaking only for myself, that would just make me mad. No, I don't want to see that.

Yeah, I don’t want to see that either, since their character arcs were fleshed out and complete. It was more me theorizing what Feige/Marvel might do.

But Secret Wars would give them that opportunity, since my understanding is that the story essentially brings in variants from multiple universes.

I mentioned that bringing back Tobey and Andrew was also gimmicky, but their final Spidey films did leave their arcs somewhat incomplete. So we could at least get some closure from seeing them again in NWH.

 

[Sam Favate]

It’s a rumor at this point, but…

 

[jayembee]

I certainly hope Patrick Stewart will be in Secret Wars, if for no other reason than that he'll still be alive at that point.

 

[Joe Wong]

It’s a rumor at this point, but…

It might be fun to see them again, but the novelty will not be there this time.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Seriously? Secret Wars is coming out in November 2025. I would be very surprised if it even has a script at this point. I think any chatter about actor deals for it is extremely premature. This is especially true of the Spider-Man characters, whose film rights Disney does not own.

 

[jayembee]

Seriously? Secret Wars is coming out in November 2025. I would be very surprised if it even has a script at this point. I think any chatter about actor deals for it is extremely premature. This is especially true of the Spider-Man characters, whose film rights Disney does not own.

Yeah. There's always way too much of a Wish It Were True element to these kinds of rumors.

 

[Sam Favate]

Yeah. There's always way too much of a Wish It Were True element to these kinds of rumors.

I agree. It’s way too soon for talking about who will be in it. It was just a striking fun rumor over on Twitter so I thought I’d share.