The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase ‘Four was too much at once, and it could have worked as two separate phases, all thanks to Spider-Man.
The following contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania marks the official start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Five. Because of this, now is the perfect time to look at Phase Four as a whole. With 17 titles — seven films, eight TV shows and two special presentations — this is the largest Phase so far. It is also the shortest, starting with WandaVision in 2021 and ending with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in 2022.
Because of this massive amount of content in such a short period, Phase Four tried to tackle too much at once, making any throughline between every title feel weak. Instead of trying to change the individual stories to fit some sort of overarching focus between every title, one way to tighten up this problem would be to restructure Phase Four into two Phases, with the first half kicking off with Phase Three’s final film, Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Spider-Man: Far From Home Kicks of the Post-Snap Era
While starting the MCU’s Phase Four with Spider-Man: Far From Home would add another film to an already massive phase, in this instance, it would set the stage for what Phase Four’s focus would be: recovering from the Snap. While the argument can be made that Far From Home is an epilogue for the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, Phase Four as a whole should have served that role.
Already, a majority of the shows in the first half of Phase Four try to lay the groundwork for the new normal in the MCU, as seen with WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye. Spider-Man: Far From Home would fit right in with this approach, as Peter Parker tries to return to some sense of normalcy while dealing with Tony Stark’s death. Plus, the politics of a post-Snap world are introduced here.
On the film side, Black Widow still works for this Phase, as it passes the torch from Natasha to Yelena. Similarly, Falcon takes over the mantle for Steve as Captain America, and Kate Bishop is set up as the new Hawkeye. While later titles –– She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Ms. Marvel — also feature legacy characters, those heroes are not directly taking over for the heroes that inspire them.
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Some shifting of other 2021 titles could also benefit this restructuring, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals suiting the second half’s focus on new heroes in the MCU more; however, they can still function in the first half if necessary. The biggest shift would be to hold What If…? until the next Phase and end Phase Four on Loki, thus introducing the concepts of the Multiverse and variants. By doing this, there is a clear direction for this theoretical Phase Five, and Spider-Man: No Way Home tackles this directly.
Spider-Man: No Way Home Eases Fans Into The Multiverse Saga
In this new, hypothetical Phase Five, the films could focus more on the Multiverse, thus teasing The Multiverse Saga that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off following it. No Way Home, What If…? and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all tackle the concept of the Multiverse and variants, thus setting them up to be the perfect prelude for The Multiverse Saga. As seen in Quantumania‘s post-credits scene, variants are going to be one of the biggest threats to the MCU, so having an entire Phase more centered on easing audiences into this idea and the Multiverse would tighten things up.
Along with that, the latter half of the current Phase Four introduces numerous new heroes who are either acclimated to the world post-Snap or did not directly address it in their respective titles, as seen with America Chavez, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Werewolf by Night. Established heroes in these later titles, like Thor, Doctor Strange and Shuri, also react to issues that go beyond Thanos and the Snap, marking how the MCU and audiences are shifting to this new era.
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Similarly, No Way Home marks this shift, as Peter gets a fresh start once everyone forgets him. Featuring No Way Home as the first film in this Phase commits to what the MCU is dedicating the next several years, which is the Multiverse, variants and a new era not too reliant on The Infinity Saga.
This new Phase Five could have also ended with the big bang of Kang’s official introduction in Quantumania. Like Phase Two, Ant-Man could have surprisingly closed out this Phase before a major shift in the MCU status quo. Plus, if Phase Four ended with Loki‘s introduction to a variant of Kang, Phase Five ending with Kang’s proper introduction, as well as the Loki set-up in Quantumania‘s end credits, would make for a solid parallel.
