By Morgan Martin

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Phase four was announced in early December. Four years of Marvel films and series titles have been released, sending the comic book world into a frenzy of excitement and speculation. The films set to be released are “Black Widow” (2021), “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021), “Eternals” (2021), “Spider-Man 3” (2021), “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022), “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022), “Black Panther II” (2022), “Captain Marvel 2” (2022), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (2023), “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”, “Fantastic Four” (TBD) and “Blade” (TBD). 

The quantity of TV series have also increased: “WandaVision” (2021), “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021), “Loki” (2021), “What If...?” (2021), “Ms. Marvel” (2021), “Hawkeye” (2021), “Moon Knight” (2022), “She-Hulk” (2022), “Secret Invasion” (TBD), “Ironheart” (TBD), “Armor Wars” (TBD) and “I Am Groot” (TBD).

The horizon of the MCU has been bright since 2012 when “The Avengers” shattered box office records and solidified comic book adaptations as a lucrative money-making industry. The capstone to phase three, “Avengers: Endgame,” was a monumental feat. Endgame went 26 heroes deep despite half the universe being turned into dust after the cliffhanger ending of “Avengers: Infinity War.” In Endgame, we watched as the MCU’s most prominent villain to-date, Thanos, and two of its greatest heroes in Ironman and Captain America, saw their legendary story arc’s come to an end. All of this in less than 3 hours of runtime? Impossible for most, but not for Marvel.

The end of Endgame marked a new chapter in the MCU and with the announcement of phase four of the MCU, the new frontier of the Marvel universe is reinvigorated. With big characters like Black Widow, Captain America, Thanos, Iron Man and Vision canonically dead, there is more room for side characters and new faces to take over. 

With the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, who played Black Panther and brought the African nation of Wakanda into the forefront of pop culture in 2018’s “Black Panther,” the highly anticipated sequel “Black Panther II” is now in limbo. Should Marvel decide to continue production on the film, they will need a new character to take over the Wakandan mantle. 

Despite the uncertainty regarding the Black Panther saga, Marvel still has plenty more to offer for phase four of the MCU. Upcoming films appear to fit the Marvel formula, slating to big-name sequels and introductions to new characters and stories. The most tantalizing of the lot being “Spider-Man 3,” which includes the potential return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to the Spidey world, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” which will showcase Marvel’s first Asian superhero, and “Thor: Love and Thunder” which will see the return of brilliant writer/director Taika Waititi. 

Through the years, the MCU has listened to their fans and delivered Avengers favorites to the silver screen. Fan favorites like Wanda Maxim a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, Loki, Winter Soldier and Falcon will now have more screen time than ever before. Sebastian Stan, who made his MCU debut as Captain America's best friend Bucky Barnes a.k.a. The Winter Soldier in “Captain America: The First Avenger,” and has reprised his role in multiple MCU films since he was crowned Tumblr’s most popular actor in 2016 despite only being in supporting actor’s role. Bucky, who only had a total of 102 lines of dialogue throughout the Captain America trilogy, will now have an opportunity to shine as he stars alongside Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

With so much new content to consume, will fans need to watch the TV series to understand the movies? Marvel’s series have typically strayed away from the storylines of the films. Netflix’s “The Defenders,” comprised of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Daredevil, and ABC’s “Agents of Shield” garnered massive fan support but made no cameos in the movies. 

While we can see a world where characters like Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel will be a part of Avengers 2.0, is Marvel expecting viewers to keep up with every title released? At what point does the average Marvel fan begin to lose track? Die-hard Marvel junkies are thriving, but could this overwhelming amount of content leave some fans behind? If any franchise is too big to fail, Marvel will be the first to know.

It seems apparent the MCU has perfected their brand of intertextuality with nods to other films and the intertwined nature of their characters and stories, and it’s something they’ve been taking advantage of for years. Not a Doctor Strange fan? Well, you might have to be because he’ll pop up in the next Thor film and ten more films after that. Marvel is an all-in kind of franchise.

One of the biggest concerns is that with such a huge collection, Marvel runs the risk of being repetitive. Can Shang Chi and the Eternals break new creative ground or will viewers decide it’s too familiar? Long-time fans are foaming at the mouth with the announcement of phase four, but only time will tell if Marvel will be able to recreate the magic of the last decade with its new stories and characters. 

With all the new films, television shows, characters, and stories, we’ve arrived at a point where we’re either at the start of the steady decline of the MCU or we’re perhaps on the verge of a new decade of incredible storytelling and filmmaking that will make an already massive fan base even larger.

Morgan is a culture writer for La Tonique.