MCU Phase 4

Marvel won San Diego Comic Con.  All of the major coverage of Comic Con seems to center around Marvel's Hall H presentation for the reveal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4, aka how to we follow Avengers: Endgame.  With Spider-man: Far From Home out now and putting a bow on that story, it was time for Marvel to reveal what's next.

Boy did they.

Marvel revealed their film slate for 2020 and 2021, listing six film titles that will take them into 2022.  The list included expected films and a couple of surprises.

• Black Widow (May 1, 2020) - It's great to have this finally confirmed and for us to find out a bit more about it.  David Harbour as the Red Guardian, Russia's Captain America.  Yelena Belova, the other Black Widow.  Rachel Weisz as another Red Room spy.  The Taskmaster as the villain.  And a surprise role by Ray Winstone.  This should be good.  
• Eternals (November 6, 2020) - This is the one that has Guardians potential.  A race of alien gods essentially, played by a very diverse and interesting cast.  Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek.  It will have one of the first LGBT leads in the MCU, the first deaf character, etc.  This is one to watch. 
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (February 12, 2021) - Master of Kung Fu.  Marvel's first Asian lead, with a Hong Kong cinema legend as its villain.  Marvel has solved two of its problems in this film - how to present the Mandarin in a way that won't reek of Orientalism and how to avoid Fu Manchu as Shang-Chi's father.  By casting the Mandarin as the primary antagonist, I assume he will be Shang-Chi's father.  This will also help Marvel fulfill the promise of the All Hail the King short.
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 7, 2021) - Marvel's foray into horror.  Perhaps this will help premier a hero a couple of bullets down.  Promises to have a big part for the Scarlet Witch carrying over from her show.  This helps show how much faith they are putting in Disney+.
• Thor Love and Thunder (November 5, 2021) - Taika Waititi is back!  And Jane Foster will be Thor!  Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Chris Hemsworth. If this continues the feel of Ragnarok, it will be awesome.
• Blade (TBA) - for the "oh and one more thing" announcement - Mahershala Ali as Blade.  A reboot to bring the character into the Marvel universe.  If the main villain is Marvel's Dracula, I'm all in.  And it better be the original Dracula from Tomb of Dracula, not the new redesign.  Hopefully this could open up the Marvel Horror line.

Marvel also revealed how much Disney+ will play into their future plans, including their five named series for the platform in their presentation here.  A couple of surprise announcements were included here.

• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Fall 2020) - with Daniel Bruhl back as Baron Zemo with the purple mask!
• WandaVision (Spring 2021) - a lead up into Doctor Strange, building up Scarlet Witch.  If Vision comes back in the stark white design, this could be very interesting.  And it's going to introduce Monica Rambeau all grown up from Captain Marvel!
• Loki (Spring 2021) - Time traveling adventures of the Avengers era Loki.  Hiddleston is great in this role, so this will be fun.
• What If…? (Summer 2021) - An animated series exploring left turns in the MCU, with the first one being Peggy Carter as Captain America.  With the original actors as the voice cast!  And it will have the Watcher?!?  I always loved What If...? as a comic series and this should be just as fun if done well.
• Hawkeye (Fall 2021) - This will introduce the Kate Bishop character to take up Hawkeye and have Clint Barton still in Ronin.  If this borrows from the Fraction run, it could be great.  I would love to see a version of Rio Bravo at the Barton farm, with Clint's screw up brother and the rest of the family.  If we learned that Clint's wife was also a SHIELD agent and was a better marksman than he, all the better.

What's interesting is how this does not even include the real expected sequels on the slate, including ones with some form of announcement already.  Could these be held for D23?  Or will they reveal Phase 5 a little later?  We know it's planned out that far at least but there are still so many factors to consider.

• Black Panther 2 - We know this is already in production,  and I would think has to be the first film lined up for Phase 5.  With the gross that Black Panther brought in, it is a forgone conclusion.  I know they are trying to explore potential villains, Kraven the Hunter being one mentioned.  
• Captain Marvel 2 - Another forgone conclusion given the success of the first film this year.  It would be nice to see Captain Marvel truly fully integrated into the modern MCU age in something more than an extended cameo.  Perhaps this could be a backdoor for A-Force, or at least bring in the Carol Corps.
• Ant-Man and the Wasp 3 - This one has been mentioned as a potential new offering.  I like the Ant-Man films and would like to see them get their set of three.  Plus, the need to play with Cassie being aged five years since Scott last saw her and to potentially prepare her for Stature/Stinger.
• Spider-Man 3 - We know this is planned, with it potentially taking place in Peter's senior year.  This one also has Kraven as a potential villain.
• Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - We know this is coming as well, as James Gunn has been rehired to complete his trilogy.  Filming will start after Gunn completes The Suicide Squad.  This one should introduce Adam Warlock and really dive into Rocket's story.

Phase 4 looks great and beyond is so exciting.  The integration with Disney+ and how those will intersect is truly going to bring new meaning to the idea that it is all connected.  I know they want to bring back the one shots as well.  They continue to innovate ways to explore the story further and to expand this world.  

The future truly looks Marvellous!

Marvel Phase 4 - Updated

A first for the blog - an updated post from a year ago to reflect new information.  A lot of the material below was posted a year ago after Avengers: Infinity War, and I thought it would be interesting to share and update as needed with some thoughts following Avengers: Endgame.  Original text will be below in italics and blue.

First things first, slight spoilers, but nothing that can't be gleamed from trailers/promotional materials - #ThanosStillDemandsYourSilence - it is really worth it to go in knowing as little as possible

The review was handled in Wednesday's blog.  For today, I'd like to focus on my thoughts phase 4 Phase 4, i.e. what Marvel does now after Endgame.  Some of this fits in with the If I Were Disney CEO blog series for Marvel Studios, but this is a little more granular.

Here is what I would like to see in Phase 4:

New Heroes:  While there are definitely sequels in the works (Guardians 3, Spider-man 2, Black Panther 2, and maybe Doctor Strange 2), there is a great opportunity to add new heroes to the film schedule.  Make a Black Widow movie.  Make a Hawkeye movie.  Add Nova, Adam Warlock, She-Hulk, Captain Britain, Star Brand, Thunderstrike, and Ms. Marvel.  These do not have to be in individual movies, but can be added as supporting cast where appropriate.  Ms. Marvel in the Captain Marvel movie for that introduction.

I'm still in total agreement with the above.  There are great opportunities to keep expanding.  We know a bit of what is in production now - the sequels for Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Dr. Strange.  Captain Marvel 2 is certainly guaranteed with as much money as it first film made.  We also know Black Widow is finally getting her movie, as well as new entries for The Eternals and Shang Chi.  The interesting addition to this is the series for Disney+ streaming including The Falcon and Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Hawkeye, and Loki.  With further expansions on Hulu for Ghost Rider, Helstrom, The Offenders (M.O.D.O.K., Howard the Duck, Tigra, and Hit Monkey), things are looking bright for Marvel content.  I am still waiting for a Captain Britain movie.

New Imprints:  Marvel has published a lot of comics in its history and has covered a lot of different genres.  I would love to see a Marvel Edge line, maybe with a black background/red text logo, to cover the 1970s Marvel Monsters.  Give me a connected Blade, Tomb of Dracula, Castle Frankenstein, and Werewolf by Night movie series, that can occur in a side pocket of the cinematic universe.  It would be ironic if Marvel could beat Universal at its Dark Universe game.

Again, 100% behind this and would love to see a Marvel Edge line.

#ItsReallyAllConnected:  The early promise of the Marvel movies and television shows was that they were all connected.  And there have been small links, some more effective than others. The connection between Captain America: Winter Soldier and the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. really turned that series around.  The links have grown smaller and smaller over the years, with the suits declaring it to be a little too cumbersome.  The sad part of this is that it really just needs someone helping coordinate.  The ties do not have to be strangling, but a little can go a long way to make it all feel connected.  For example, if someone could have just suggested a throwaway line for Thunderbolt Ross to say that people are getting powers from fish oil in Avengers: Age of Ultron as a reason for the Sokovia accords, that would have made a great impact.

We've seen our first link (finally).  Hopefully, this can just get stronger.  Especially with the streaming options.  I think with Disney+ we truly are going to see this idea live to the fullest, exploring the stories in the format that serves them best.

Secret Invasion:  I know this will be the start of phase 4, but you can really look at it as the start of the third arc for the Marvel story.  Arc 1 runs from Iron Man to the Avengers.  It really reflects the founding of the Avengers.  Arc 2 runs from the Avengers through Avengers 4.  It's the build up of the Infinity Stones leading to Thanos in Infinity War.  There needs to be a shift in this upcoming phase/arc to have a different kind of approach.  A new macguffin and a singular new bad guy would just feel repetitive.  I would go with Secret Invasion.  This would allow for a completely different style of subplot that allows for a freer exploration in each individual movie, while still providing some great HOLY S^&*!!!!! moments and reveals.  Plus, the closing Avengers movie for it would be fantastic.

I still want Secret Invasion for the overarching theme for the next big chapter of the MCU, just because it would be a different macguffin from Thanos (a single big bad building toward) and could lead to a series of intriguing reveals.  I have heard other ideas about Kang given Act 2 of Endgame and that could be very interesting.

Fantastic Four: What better way to celebrate MCU Phase 4 and the integration of Fox into the Disney studios, than by adding Marvel's First Family to the film slate. I really want to seen the FF finally done well on the big screen and really need to have Dr. Doom presented as intended.  The best Marvel villain finally in the MCU - it's a no brainer.

Keep the X-men out: This will be an unpopular opinion, but I'm completely okay with keeping the X-men in their own sandbox.  The X-Universe and the metaphors it explores are a little hard to square with full integration into the Marvel Universe.  Why do mutants get mistreated when others who get their powers through accidents are celebrated, etc.?  I'd rather see a reinvigorated X-Universe and a thriving MCU, than needlessly trying to integrate them clumsily now.

I still do not know what is coming, and Marvel is being very tight lipped after what follows Spider-man: Far From Home.  I am definitely still there for the ride.  I'm all in.

Excelsior!

Marvel Phase 4

First things first, no spoilers - #ThanosDemandsYourSilence - it is really worth it to go in knowing as little as possible

I got to watch Avengers: Infinity War over the weekend and I am still amazed by what they have accomplished.  It was a ridiculously great experience in the cinema.  You can ask Jamie, I had at least one audible "YESSSSSSSSS" moment.  And while long time comic fans knew THAT moment was possible, I do not think anyone imagined they way it was implemented.  I cannot wait for next year to get here.

A few warnings about the film.  Despite Marvel's change of title, this is most definitely a Part I film with Part II not coming until this time next year.  Additionally, this is not a good film to jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time.  This is most definitely a culmination of the past ten years and eighteen films, even more so than Avengers (1) was.  In the first Avengers film, the previous solo films introduced you to the characters and one artifact, but did not dictate the story-line.  Infinity War pulls together characters and subplots to deliver one big payoff.  You are going to want some background coming into this.

With that addressed, my thoughts start going to Phase 4, i.e. what Marvel does after Avengers 4.  This is kind of what will be addressed in the If I Were Disney CEO blog series for Marvel Studios, but this is a little more granular.

Here is what I would like to see in Phase 4:

New Heroes:  While there are definitely sequels in the works (Guardians 3, Spider-man 2, Black Panther 2, and maybe Doctor Strange 2), there is a great opportunity to add new heroes to the film schedule.  Make a Black Widow movie.  Make a Hawkeye movie.  Add Nova, Adam Warlock, She-Hulk, Captain Britain, Star Brand, Thunderstrike, and Ms. Marvel.  These do not have to be in individual movies, but can be added as supporting cast where appropriate.  Ms. Marvel in the Captain Marvel movie for that introduction.

New Imprints:  Marvel has published a lot of comics in its history and has covered a lot of different genres.  I would love to see a Marvel Edge line, maybe with a black background/red text logo, to cover the 1970s Marvel Monsters.  Give me a connected Blade, Tomb of Dracula, Castle Frankenstein, and Werewolf by Night movie series, that can occur in a side pocket of the cinematic universe.  It would be ironic if Marvel could beat Universal at its Dark Universe game.

#ItsReallyAllConnected:  The early promise of the Marvel movies and television shows was that they were all connected.  And there have been small links, some more effective than others. The connection between Captain America: Winter Soldier and the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. really turned that series around.  The links have grown smaller and smaller over the years, with the suits declaring it to be a little too cumbersome.  The sad part of this is that it really just needs someone helping coordinate.  The ties do not have to be strangling, but a little can go a long way to make it all feel connected.  For example, if someone could have just suggested a throwaway line for Thunderbolt Ross to say that people are getting powers from fish oil in Avengers: Age of Ultron as a reason for the Sokovia accords, that would have made a great impact.

Secret Invasion:  I know this will be the start of phase 4, but you can really look at it as the start of the third arc for the Marvel story.  Arc 1 runs from Iron Man to the Avengers.  It really reflects the founding of the Avengers.  Arc 2 runs from the Avengers through Avengers 4.  It's the build up of the Infinity Stones leading to Thanos in Infinity War.  There needs to be a shift in this upcoming phase/arc to have a different kind of approach.  A new macguffin and a singular new bad guy would just feel repetitive.  I would go with Secret Invasion.  This would allow for a completely different style of subplot that allows for a freer exploration in each individual movie, while still providing some great HOLY S^&*!!!!! moments and reveals.  Plus, the closing Avengers movie for it would be fantastic.

I do not know what is coming, but I am definitely excited for the ride.  I'll be there opening weekend next year to see whatever Avengers 4 is called (No Surrender? Heroes Reborn? Avengers Forever?).  I'm all in.

Excelsior!