Phase 3: A Dire Fan's Theory
Marvel has recently announced its planned series of films for what Kevin Feige referred to as Phase 3. It promises to be the most unique, dynamic, diverse, and possibly best grouping of releases by the studio to date. But the question has to be asked, what can Marvel do that we have not already seen? Tim Burton, a man familiar with comic book films, has recently gone on record to say that he believes the success of the Marvel films cannot last. And even James Gunn himself, the man responsible for Guardians of the Galaxy, has openly stated that he is not especially a fan of the idea of a shared universe. Add to that the planned releases of rival company DC comics, and audiences are sure to experience some level of fatigue in the near future regarding comic book and superhero films. As a quick summary of Phase 3, Marvel plans to begin it with Captain America: Civil War in 2016. This is a fantastic response, in my humble opinion, to DC's planned Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, due out in March of the same year. Following that, Marvel plans to release Doctor Strange, a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy, a threequel to Thor, introduce new characters like Black Panther (so excited for this one), Captain Marvel (and this one), Inhumans, and finally bring the Infinity War to live action with their two-part Avengers threequel. If you have lost count, that's a total of eight films in five years. Not that many in the grand scheme of things, right? I don't believe Marvel plans to saturate the market with comic books films, but unfortunately, they're not the only studios in the world with these characters. Sony still has Spider-Man, even if they have made a mess of the character. Fox Studios is finishing up production of the reboot of Fantastic Four as well as pre-production of X-Men: Apocalypse. So, it begs the question: what can Marvel do to maintain their position as the dominant comic book film studio? Here's what I think Marvel should do, and in some cases will do, to keep their burgeoning franchise alive and well.
1. Marvel films will contain more than just one character.
This one should be pretty obvious, as Marvel has already began to do this. But I believe moving forward, Marvel will begin to load their films with more than one character. There are several characters, like Black Widow, Hulk, Falcon, and Hawkeye, who are fan favorites and have sizeable followings, who were sadly left out of Phase 3's slate of releases. To keep the fans pleased, I theorize that Marvel will begin to find ways of pairing multiple heroes and/or villains together to give the audience more for their dollar.
2. Post-Credit Scenes that have more relevance to the MCU.
If there is one thing that is guaranteed to continue in the MCU, it's the post-credit scenes. Save for Guardians of the Galaxy and to a lesser degree Iron Man 3, all of the films had scenes that somehow fed into MCU as a whole. Going forward, I theorize that the post-credit scenes will take on far more relevance to the MCU than they already have. To the extent that plot points and character introductions will be made during them. This has already begun this year with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as we were given our first glimpses of Baron Von Strucker, Marvels' version of Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. As Phase 3 rolls out, Marvel will continue this as a way of adding depth to their overall narrative.
3. Villains with villainous intentions.
One of Marvel's shortcomings is their villains. Granted, they choose excellent ones to pair with their heroes. But the villains, save for Loki, have been mostly cannon fodder. While those of us who have seen the films can remember the villains, we might be a bit lost trying to determine their motivations. In Phase 3, Marvel needs to address this issue. Their choices of antagonists have been great, but now we need to have antagonists who aren't there simply to be defeated by the heroes. So few of them manage to survive the end of the films. If Marvel is planning to combine their heroes, it would be prudent of them to do the same with their villains. In order for us to take as much interest in their antagonists as we do their heroes, Marvel needs to do better work with them.
4. The repercussions of the films will be farther reaching.
One of the best things about a Marvel film is that they truly feel independent from their joint ventures. Iron Man 3's events were centered largely on that character. Thor's second outing had immense, universal stakes but still felt self-contained. And even The Winter Soldier still felt smaller than the Avengers, even with all of the characters and implications it had. I theorize that going forward, Marvel will start to make their characters more interwoven. With Doctor Strange on the way, who has a history of popping up everywhere in the Marvel Universe, and Kevin Feige promising to include characters like Hulk and Black Widow in forthcoming films, the actions of those characters will carry over from film to film. How have the events of The Winter Soldier influenced Doctor Strange, who we know now does exists in the MCU? Or have the actions of the Guardians of the Galaxy somehow played into the creation of Captain Marvel? To be successful in the future, Marvel needs to begin to unify these characters and their stories in such a way that even though they feel contained, they also affect other parts of the MCU. As with every point mentioned hitherto, Marvel does this already. But I believe it will have to occur to a greater degree moving forward. Otherwise, characters coming together will feel like a lucky happenstance rather than a collaborative effort.
5. Marvel's television universe will play into the MCU.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is amazing. I love the show. I love that they paired the events of The Winter Solider with the show. I love that they introduced characters like Quake and Mr. Hyde. But what I liked even more was that by altering Quake's origin to make her an Inhuman, we have been introduced to them. Not only that, but now we know that the Kree have been to Earth before. And they have left their influence on the planet. Marvel has a great opportunity with their television shows to introduce these lesser known characters to the world before their respective films are released. Inhumans is just the first example of this. But there are more series on the way, like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and a re-envisioning of Daredevil. The possibilities are endless for Marvel to teach their audience about these lesser-known heroes through their shows. And going forward, I theorize that they will.
What do you think? Will Marvel continue to be the upper echelon of comic book films? Phase 3 is almost upon us and only time will tell.
[EA] - "It's been a long way down."