Writer Donald Richie suggested that a “midlife crisis begins sometime in your 40s, when you look at your life and think, Is this all?” The MCU is the biggest franchise in the world. There has been much written about how the current era of the MCU “ lacks direction,” and that is certainly fair. What comes after an “imperial phase”? What is left when a major studio has reshaped cinema in its own image? To quote classically educated philosopher Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.” Given the failure of would-be competitors like the DC Extended Universe or the Dark Universe, the only real competitor that Marvel Studios faces is itself. Taken as a whole, Phase 4 of the MCU suggests something close to a superhero midlife crisis. Indeed, there is something genuinely interesting about looking at the studio’s recent output as part of a single entity, in identifying unifying themes and recurring motifs. This post-finale continuance spans about 30 hours of television and over 15 hours of movies to date, which is nearly as long as the just-under-50-hour runtime of the “Infinity Saga.”Īs such, for all that Kevin Feige might tease viewers about the company’s plans for the “ next saga” of the shared universe, Phase 4 has lasted long enough to merit discussion on its own terms.
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However, while television shows end after their series finale, the MCU has not just continued, but exploded.
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There is an argument that the MCU is “ a giant TV show,” with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame serving as “ a season finale/series finale” to the story being told. What do we know about emperors? That they end up naked: The phase always ends.” As critic Tom Ewing noted, “There’s something double-edged about the concept: It holds a mix of world-conquering swagger and inevitable obsolescence. It applies to the period when an artist is at their commercial and artistic peak simultaneously. It might be fair to describe this run as the company’s “ imperial phase,” to borrow a phrase from music journalism. Marvel Studios grossed $5 billion in 2019 alone, setting a franchise box office record. This incredible run of movies found Marvel Studios dominating pop culture, earning strong reviews and impressive box office, while crafting a series of crowd-pleasing and era-defining superhero films. Phase 4 follows the end of the so-called “Infinity Saga,” the series of movies spanning from Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in 2008 to Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019. There is an interesting tension within Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This article contains various spoilers for the MCU Phase 4, most notably for Thor: Love and Thunder.
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