#THOR MARVEL SERIES#

For one, it brought back Vision and Loki, two characters whose deaths literally devastated Thor and Wanda Maximoff (and us), in order to keep them in play. Which is why it’s such a head-scratcher that Phase 4 has made a point of undermining the potency of death in the MCU. Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Thanos, Killmonger, Hela, Yondu, Odin… all big players who have remained dead, and we thank the MCU for making those big, permanent swings. In Phase 3, the MCU was far more committed to making death stick and there was a wealth of ugly-cry moments born of those tough decisions. Each movie/show ends with everything mostly resolved, yet with a bigger cast of characters to service and some dangling story threads left to flap in the breeze until the story cycle can get back to them.

Shang-Chi stopped the Dweller-in-Darkness from wiping out humanity the Eternals managed to give the Celestials some intense homework as a delay tactic to wiping out humanity Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes prevented the Flag Smashers’ terrorist attack Peter Parker (times three) stopped a rogues gallery of supervillains from destroying New York City, and so on.

#THOR MARVEL SERIES#

Outside of that, there’s been a lot of movies and series in Phase 4 relying on “It’s the end of the world!” events that get fixed in the final act. And then What If…? technically just portrayed a standalone worst-case arc of multiverse destruction. It had no impact on No Way Home or Multiverse of Madness, and vice versa. To summarize: Peter Parker took himself out of the superhero game to correct time Doctor Strange basically did a standalone mess around with an alternate timeline but there were no repercussions to his time and Loki introduced the TVA, who monitors timelines, and revealed a huge reality shift that hasn’t touched any other storytelling. But what’s been surprising is how none of those narratives actually connect or have any lasting implications yet. He didn’t fib because Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Loki and What If…? are entirely about the multiverse with sacred timelines vs. But from a storytelling perspective, we have to wonder: What’s it all heading towards?

So if you’re an MCU fan, it’s a great time to be alive. Phase 4 is already up to about 50 hours of storytelling with four more films and at least four more MCU streaming shows yet to debut this year. To put that in perspective, it took Marvel Studios eight years to release the first 13 movies, with approximately 27 hours of total storytelling time. On the Disney+ streaming side, there have been seven original series: WandaVision, The Falcon & the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms. Anyone feeling like there’s been a lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe storytelling but an overall pronounced lack of direction as to where it’s all going? We’re trying to follow the breadcrumbs, but we have to admit, it’s been tough.Īs of July, Marvel Studios is 18 months into what it calls Phase 4 of its interconnected storytelling, which consists of six films: Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the most recent release, Thor: Love and Thunder.

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