The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps getting bigger and better. Although we've seen 13 movies over the course of eight years, the scale of the MCU has only continued to grow. Captain America: Civil War brought together characters old and new, and delivered an outstanding airport action sequence in the midst of a story with real heart. And the cumulation of Marvel's various franchises will get even bigger with Avengers: Infinity War, which will see almost every major character from the MCU teaming up to stop an apocalyptic scale event. But how will Phase Four start after the two Avengers movies (hopefully) blow all expectations out of the water?
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently sat down with the folks at Vulture about the present and future of the MCU. Regarding what comes after Infinity War, he said the following:
I think it's possible to have more intimate movies after that. Or to have more interesting, unexpected combinations of characters after that, absolutely. It never is intentionally about 'being even bigger.' To us, it's less about continuing to go bigger with spectacle, although in some cases, we will, and more about continuing to go deeper with those character interactions.
Well, that's good. Despite the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the folks in charge are still interested in keeping future stories intimate and grounded, despite the massive scale of past installments.
Avengers: Infinity War is sure to be one of the most impressive superhero movies ever, at least in regards to scale and overall visual affects. The MCU has accrued quite the mass of superheroes that will all be able to team up against Josh Brolin's Thanos and his forces. Between the two teams of Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange, there's a ton of A-list stars to assemble, and a crap ton of super powers to portray on the big screen. It'll be years and years in the making, validating the fans who have consistently shelled out cash and headed to the movie theaters.
But there are still intimate stories to tell after Infinity War flies into theaters. Immediately following the team up is Ant-Man and the Wasp, which will give more of a role for Evangeline Lilly's Hope/Wasp- introducing another female superhero into the universe. Additionally, we have Brie Larson's introduction as Captain Marvel to look forward to afterward, which will likely be an origin story that will require us to take a step back and pay attention to one character, rather than 40.
This focus on even and focused storytelling is a great way for the MCU to avoid superhero fatigue. If major crossovers were happening in every movie, they wouldn't be special anymore. Marvel will apparently go back to basics in the tail end of Phase 3 and the mysterious Phase 4, which is exactly what they will likely need to keep audiences interested.
The next venture into the MCU is Doctor Strange, which soars into theaters November 4th.
