At this point, there is no doubt that MCU is a force to be reckoned with. Not only is it the highest grossing film franchise, but it is also a massive world of its own. The Infinity saga created a massive hype train which was boarded by fans and critics alike, and now all eyes are on its future. The question all of us are asking right now is, can MCU top the Infinity Saga? While Spider-man: No Way Home was great and Doctor Strange 2 looks promising, the MCU Phase 4 in totality seems like a giant mess.
The Biggest Problem With MCU Phase 4
The biggest problem with Phase 4 is that Disney has made Marvel Studios a huge money making factory. They are spreading their hands in every direction from teams like Avengers, Eternals, Guardians of the Galaxy, Midnight Sons, Illuminati to massive storylines like Secret Invasion, Secret Wars, Multiverse, TVA etc. It has become chaotic and there seems to be no system to it. Very strategically Disney and Marvel put teeny tiny cameos in every project, so that viewers have to watch everything. For example, they put Blade cameo in the Eternals, Kingpin in Hawkeye, and loads of characters from What If in Doctor Strange 2. I mean come on, viewers need to watch everything they make, good or bad, film or series anime or live action? Also, its not just 3 films a year like earlier Phases, but 4 films accompanied by 4-5 TV series, and anime. That aside, everything multiverse including Sony’s Spiderverse, Fox’s X-Men as well as Marvel TV is also unmissable now.
In my opinion, this is a very cheap way to make sure everything is being watched. The problem here is that it has no system, anything and anyone can pop up anywhere and that too not always in a good way. For example, they totally messed up Daredevil and Kingpin cameos and Black Knight had nothing to do in Eternals but to show that he is here. Coming to plot, there seem to be multiple massive storylines going on at the same time. On one hand, multiverse is being opened up in Doctor Strange 2, and on the other hand timeline has been messed up in Loki. Somewhere else, Eternals are about to go up against Celestials, and here on Earth, Secret Invasion is also taking place.
Too much CHAOS!
We loved Infinity Saga because everything in it was leading up to the same thing and an epic conclusion. Phase 5, on the other hand, is quite intricate and complex but at the same time, seems to be directionless and its just throwing every single Marvel character on our faces out of nowhere. The biggest example of this is Eternals as it was way too soon and totally out of place in the current MCU. The only thing in Eternals which seemed important for upcoming projects was Black Knight because Dark marvel is about to arrive. So, instead they could have introduced Black Knight in Moon Knight or Blade and introduced Eternals in Phase 5. Similarly they rushed into introducing Daredevil and Kingpin. Even after being a huge Marvel Netflix shows fan, I disliked these two cameos to my guts. This rush to cram up more and more characters will continue with She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Fantastic Four projects coming up. Undoubtedly, Phase 4 quite messy and we hope things start to sort out with the arrival of Doctor Strange 2 and Loki Season 2.
Moon Knight and Blade
While many fans are interested in the multiverse and big picture stuff, I find myself more pulled towards the supernatural side of Marvel. With the arrival of Black Knight, Blade, and Moon Knight dark and more mature side of Marvel is shaping up. But here’s the problem – they won’t let it be mature and dark. As you may know, Moon Knight as ruthless as it might appear in the trailer, is not R rated. Similarly, Marvel’s Blade isn’t R rated as well, when even the Blade which came out over 2 decades ago was R rated. Why? Cause being R rated will reduce their potential audience to half. The issue with not being R rated is that full potential of these characters will not be explored without mature concepts and approach.
Kingpin who wrecked the world of Netflix’ Daredevil was reduced to a joke in Hawkeye and that seems to be the future of these other characters as well. Imagine Punisher blowing people’s head off without any blood or without being darkly motivated to do so. Or Ghost Rider not being what we saw in Agents of SHIELD but again, a joke cracking skull on fire. It is my humble request to Marvel, to let the characters from Marvel’s Midnight Sons, Marvel Knights, and Marvel’s Defenders stay mature. All this has made many fans, me included, quite skeptical about the future of these characters. It’s better not to make this stuff at all if you are too afraid to go all out. As for the chaos mentioned in the above section, there is really nothing much we can do but hope its leading up to something. Do you agree with me? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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