Phase 4

Phase 3 of the MCU wrapped things up so nicely and yet set up so much for the next 10 years. Now I talked a little bit about this during my Endgame review and video but with what's slated for Disney+, this year alone I thought it was time to revisit this topic. They could have easily set up the next 3 phases of superhero experiences and with all the announcements that have been made for not just films but for Disney+ shows, there are worlds of potential regarding our remaining heroes as well as heroes we have yet to meet.

Let's start with the open ended questions that Phase 3 left us with, unfinished story lines that have yet to be paid off as well as what they set up so clearly for the future of the MCU.

A story line i’m sure we were all hoping would be paid off before the end of Phase 3 is Secret War and because Marvel loves to combine story lines, Secret Invasion, however the door is not closed. As was teased during the end credit scene of Spiderman there are Skrulls on earth and now the open ended question is for how long? How long has Nick Fury been off-world, and how long have the Skrulls been on earth? How many are there? This is a story line I do believe that they will pay off, and I think the way they did it allowed for an easier transition between phases. By carrying a major story line over from one era to another, they have bridged what is going to be a major gap.

They teased the introduction of a multi-verse in the last Spider-man movie, however as this would obviously make no sense this is not where the MCU executives decided to introduce the X-Men. However in the upcoming movies of phase 4 we have a very obvious choice for who will usher in the new characters essential to the universe. Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange will be teaming up in Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness. We may get a version of House of M, they may make Wanda the villain, who knows but one thing for sure (because I refuse to believe that the MCU execs are stupid enough to miss this opportunity) this is the movie to introduce the X-Men.

Young Avengers; Several versions of the Young Avengers exist in the comic book world but what we have in the MCU does seem to be a pretty good team. Spiderman as an obvious leader, Shuri which in my opinion is the only logical choice for Iron Heart however she has also been rumored to be taking over as Black Panther (which is beyond dumb but whatever), Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie, Hawkeye’s daughter; Hawkeye who is getting his own Disney+ Series where he is supposedly passing the torch to Kate Bishop, Harley the young man that bonded with Tony in Iron Man 3, And Wanda’s children who have been teased as part of the plot of WandaVision. We are also getting Ms. Marvel as a Disney+ series who, though would be an interesting addition to the Young Avengers I think the better way to use her would be to make her a protege for Captain Marvel. I think that the Young Avengers would play better as a series then it would be a movie (with crossovers obviously) so we may get that on Disney+ in upcoming phases.

The future of the MCU is promising but there is no way to replace the 10 years that built the characters we lost. We had to say goodbye to too many people that we loved but the transition characters are now who has to carry the future of the franchise. It might be a rough transition but hopefully we will have just as many amazing moments in the next 10 years as we did in the first decade.