Robert Stewart
Well, here it is MCU Phase Four: the dreaded “Post-Endgame” Marvel Cinematic Universe that we all hear so much about.
With the admittedly exemplary third phase of the MCU in our rearview mirror, it’s time to look at just how the cinematic juggernaut shook out in its wake. And let’s be very real about two things here before we start:
First, Phase Three, as we examined, was top-to-bottom greatness even at eleven movies in length. And after absolutely crushing the climax to all the building with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, almost nothing was going to positively compare to that phase.
And second, Phase One and Phase Two are straight-up overrated. They are noteworthy in what they accomplished and built towards, yes, but they each also had some stinkers to go with their peaks. So to call the whole of the Pre-Endgame MCU a roaring accomplishment is a bit revisionist.
With all that said, let’s get into the MCU Phase Four and see what it did wrong and what it did right!
7. Eternals
Marvel Studios’ Eternals | Final Trailer
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For my money, Eternals is the worst movie of Phase Four, but at about 2.5 or 2.75 out of 5, I’d still prefer it to movies like Iron Man 2 or Iron Man 3. And possibly The Incredible Hulk or Thor: The Dark World.
Eternals swings BIG by bringing in Chloe Zhao to direct, giving her almost three full hours of runtime to work with, and introducing a brand new cast of lesser-known characters, a la what James Gunn did with Guardians Of The Galaxy. It was a very impressive “Go big or go home” moment for the MCU.
Unfortunately, Eternals mostly went home. The movie was DRY, and the first act in particular is a slog to get through, as it weighs itself down under far too many flashbacks, some of which don’t even matter. By the time the ship is righted and we get some decent third act action, a lot of the audience had already checked out.
Now, in the plus column, the film is gorgeous, and the acting is good-to-great. And the story of a birthing Celestial is grand in scope. It’s truly not a “bad” movie, it just never made its new characters feel as alive as Guardians did with its own.
For more in-depth analysis, click here here.
6. Black Widow
Marvel Studios’ Black Widow | Official Trailer
“At some point we all have to choose between what the world wants you to be and who you are.” Watch the new trailer for Marvel Studios’ #BlackWidow. In theaters May 1.
In the wake of Thunderbolts*–more on it next time!–Black Widow is a movie that has only increased in relevance and value in hindsight. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still not a very good movie for a few reasons.
It was always unfair that we didn’t give Natasha a solo film until after she was forever-dead from Avengers: Endgame. It stuck this poor movie with accusations that it had no stakes since it was set in the past. Throw in some typically weak MCU antagonists (I vaguely recall the villain of this piece being an old man who controlled the Red Room Widows, but I couldn’t tell you his name or anything) and an unnecessarily long runtime (at over two hours and ten minutes), and you’ve got a movie with middling potential.
Luckily, this picture gave us both Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova and David Harbour as Alexei, The Red Guardian. And, as hinted at above, Thunderbolts* furthered both of those characters’ story in strong and positive ways. Does it suck that Black Widow’s biggest contribution to the MCU is its secondary characters and not what it does with its title heroine? Probably. But it’s better than being stuck in the dustbin of Marvel history.
For more in-depth analysis, click here.
5. Thor: Love & Thunder
Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder | Official Trailer
“Let me tell you the story of the space viking, Thor Odinson…” Watch the brand-new trailer for Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder and witness it only in theaters July 8. ► Watch Marvel on Disney+: https://bit.ly/2XyBSIW ► Subscribe to Marvel on YouTube: http://bit.ly/WeO3YJ Follow Marvel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marvel Like Marvel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marvel Watch Marvel on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/marvel Reward your Marvel fandom by joining Marvel Insider!
People big hate this movie, it seems. I tend to not be one of them. But it might be a stretch to say I truly like it, either. So it settles in here, in the worse half of Phase Four.
Hilariously, I remember thinking this might be my Movie Of The Year for 2022 before it was released. I was amped for this one when it finally hit cinemas. Given how much I loved Thor: Ragnarok and the fact that Taika Waititi was returning, I figured it had all the promise in the world.
And then I sat down and watched it.
I’ll never forget the thought I had in the late first act of this one: “Is this a bad movie? How can that be?”. It’s true, though; the first act of this flick is abhorrent. The Guardians of the Galaxy are quickly written out after we were given the promise of their working with Thor in Endgame. The humor just completely doesn’t land. And the action is unimpressive.
I will say, however, that I think the movie picks up substantially the longer that it goes. As we dig into Jane Foster’s cancer story, we get some real heart, and Christian Bale does his standard good job as Gorr the God Butcher. There is some really nice cinematography, too, when Waititi removes the color from the movie for a confrontation against Gorr.
So I don’t know… I ended up coming out of this one feeling positive after a terrible, horrible start.
For more in-depth analysis, click here.
4. Wakanda Forever
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Official Teaser
WAKANDA FOREVER – 11.11.22 Wakanda Forever Prologue – New Music Available Now – Stream here – https://Hollywoodrecs.lnk.to/BPWFP ► Watch Marvel on Disney+: https://bit.ly/2XyBSIW ► Subscribe to Marvel on YouTube: http://bit.ly/WeO3YJ Follow Marvel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marvel Like Marvel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marvel Watch Marvel on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/marvel Reward your Marvel fandom by joining Marvel Insider!
Remember when Angela Bassett did not win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the queen of Wakanda here? That was a damned shame. Admittedly, 2022 was an incredibly strong year in that particular category, but Bassett was still my favorite going into the Oscars, and I say that as a huge Everything Everywhere All At Once fan.
The worst thing I can say about Wakanda Forever is that it’s entirely forgettable. I totally saw this movie! But if you asked me what happened, I’d say “They buried Black Panther, and then… some stuff with Namor?”. It’s not a movie that really stuck with me. And then you throw in the big Phase Four weakness of the MCU–a bloated, huge runtime–and that’s a problem. I should remember more given how much movie there is.
This picture also suffers under the weight of all of the controversy over whether or not Marvel should have recast the Black Panther character when Chadwick Boseman passed. Look; that’s way over my pay grade, and I think both sides make compelling arguments.
Still, the rest of the cast gives an emotional goodbye to their friend in the early going of this one.
3. Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
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Enter a new dimension of Strange. Watch the official trailer for Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Only in theaters May 6. In Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before.
For me, this is where we cross over into definitively good territory. I ended up liking Dr. Strange In The Multiverse of Madness a fair amount, actually.
There is some argument to be made that this movie performed some character assassination on Wanda Maximoff’s part, and if you are a fan of The Scarlet Witch, I can understand the frustration on your part. Making her a one-off villain for a mid-tier movie like this is kind of insulting; if they were going to go the dark side route with her and the Darkhold, she could have been the nemesis of a whole phase. But it was not to be.
I did enjoy Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, and I hope we end up seeing more of her going forward, whether it’s in the next two Avengers movies or with whatever they may be doing with the Young Avengers. I really enjoyed seeing the alternate reality Illuminati with all of the guest spots we got in those roles. And this really ended up feeling like Sam Raimi making a superhero film, with the undead Dr. Strange body and bits like that.
For more in-depth analysis, click here.
2. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
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Watch the brand new trailer for Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and experience it only in theaters September 3. ► Watch Marvel on Disney+: https://bit.ly/2XyBSIW ► Subscribe to Marvel on YouTube: http://bit.ly/WeO3YJ Follow Marvel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marvel Like Marvel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marvel Watch Marvel on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/marvel Reward your Marvel fandom by joining Marvel Insider!
We take another leap forward here, as Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings takes us from solidly good to absolutely great, in my opinion. I genuinely loved this movie a huge deal, and it took a downright Herculean effort from the MCU to supplant this as the best movie of Phase Four for my money…
The fight scenes are glorious in this one, and the cast rules. I love Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, and I love Awkwafina as pretty much anything. Tony Leung’s performance as Wenwu helped alleviate some of the MCU’s bad guy problems; he had tremendous depth and characterization.
Sure, the movie devolves into an MCU CGI smash-up in the third act, but no matter: I had already loved the movie by the time that happened. I’m all the way in for more Shang-Chi going forward in the MCU.
For more in-depth analysis, click here.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME – Official Trailer (HD)
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It could have been so easy.
When Marvel committed Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to contracts to appear in the third MCU Spider-Man flick, all they had to do was fart out half a movie and let the money roll in, regardless, because of the crossover everyone wanted to see.
Instead, Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers gave us a very entertaining and engaging movie that utilizes all of its characters brilliantly. It soulfully killed off Aunt May in a very powerful moment, and the resolution to the plot takes Peter away from his emotional support core, setting up a future for Peter Parker where things are very uncertain.
Oh, and yeah, Tobey and Andrew are there, giving us a priceless third act where we have our three live-action Spider-Men playing off of each other and fighting a collection of rogues.
For more in-depth analysis, click here.
All told, I think the MCU Phase Four is very comparable to Phases One and Two. All three phases have two legitimately great movies, two solid mid-tier efforts, and the rest are definitely at the bottom of the MCU barrel–though as I noted here, I think the worst of Phase Four is better than that of One or Two.
And that’s it for the dreaded Post-Endgame Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But those are just my thoughts! Give us yours; what is your ranking of these seven flicks? Let us know in the comments.
Until next time… take care!
