Marvel faces its next big challenge as it tries to go through a Phase
(CNN) The idea of a Marvel Cinematic Universe has from the beginning given its movies an operatic flavor, where the interlocking template was bigger than any one title or character. Yet the studio’s formal unveiling of new “phases” of its grand plans at Comic-Con underscored how the challenge of connecting multiple movies into one sprawling organism might have become, to borrow from another Disney franchise, a trap.
Marvel assiduously built toward “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Endgame,” delivering a massive two-part, five-hour-plus, every-hero-imaginable conclusion to the Thanos saga in 2019. The result was a staggering commercial success, bidding farewell to a pair of signature characters who helped launch this run of movies in the process.
What could the studio possibly do for an encore? Phase 4, the latest chapter in Marvel’s cinematic march, was intended to address that, serving as what amounted to a multi-movie palate cleanser while resetting the table by introducing new characters and capitalizing on existing ones.
Three significant events, however, followed “Endgame,” two beyond anyone’s control, and the other above Marvel’s specific pay grade: A global pandemic that threw the entire movie industry for a loop; the tragic death of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman ; and the late-2019 launch of Disney+, a streaming service that, as a major priority for Marvel parent Disney, became another very hungry mouth to feed.
As dazzling as the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” footage unveiled at Comic-Con looked, losing Boseman created a no-good-answers dilemma for the sequel, clouding the future of a franchise that after the first movie appeared poised to be a major linchpin of Marvel’s plans.
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