Last week, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" was released globally simultaneously. This is Ant-Man's third independent film, which marks the official entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into its fifth phase. However, after experiencing a cliff-like decline in the quality of Marvel in the fourth stage, it is still unknown whether the fifth stage can return to the previous level.
Regarding the evaluation of "Ant-Man 3", many people still hold a negative attitude, and the voices of Marvel at home and abroad are still endless. But I still feel that since the last movie "Black Panther 2" of the fourth phase returned to the cinema, the quality of Marvel movies has shown a slight recovery.
In 2020, the global epidemic broke out, and this was a year when Marvel movies were completely absent.
In Marvel, more than ten years of careful layout has been used to build the movie universe step by step. The 2019 "Avengers 4" undoubtedly pushed this huge story structure to a climax. This great work has delivered a perfect answer to fans all over the world, and it has thrown the DC movie universe next door out of reach.
The first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were successful. This success comes from the careful launch of each superhero and quickly became the backbone of the Avengers. It also comes from the spider web connection between these superheroes. cosmic relationship.
Since the first movie "Iron Man" became a hit in 2008, the three stages of the Marvel Universe centered around Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, with Thanos as the ultimate goal, used 23 movies Created a real Marvel movie universe.
Compared with the superheroes of the DC movie universe, each superhero is independent, relying only on the loose structure of the nominal Justice League gathering, the intricate but tightly built relationship between the characters is the most attractive factor for the Marvel movie universe.
However, when Marvel entered the fourth phase, they lost this most precious thing. Maybe it's because the death of Stan Lee, the soul of Marvel, also took away the soul of Marvel, maybe the directors of Marvel have forgotten how to tell a good story in the raging epidemic. So in the fourth stage from 2021 to 2022, the Marvel universe has become the object that fans have been unable to complain about.
The fourth stage is complicated. On the basis of Marvel movies, Marvel dramas were also launched. Movies and dramas were supposed to complement each other and jointly open up a larger cosmic space. But since Thanos was wiped out, the heroes of all walks of life seem to have completely lost their way. Let the fourth stage be reduced to a useless stage where nostalgia is not like nostalgia, and transition is not like transition.
What did Marvel do wrong with Phase 4?
Let's talk about the introduction of the new superhero first. In the first three stages of the Marvel Universe, there were only eleven independent superhero movie series: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Marvel team leader. These heroes have been combined and expanded through the four Avengers, and often appear intertwined with each other throughout the timelines of their respective film series. This is the core of the construction of the movie universe.
In the fourth stage of the Marvel Universe, six new superheroes were launched in one go: Shang Qi, Eternal Race, Moonlight Knight, Surprise Girl, She-Hulk, and Night Werewolf. Except for the surprise girl and She-Hulk who can see some connection with the previous characters, the other four are completely playing on their own in their own worlds, and they are like timelines that cannot overlap at all.
The loss of the big story framework is a failure of DC. The failure is that Marvel, which was successful in the past, has stepped in the footsteps of DC.
It loses structure in the introduction of new characters, and is equally miserable in movies with old characters.
The nostalgia for the lost "Black Widow" makes people drowsy, "Spider-Man 3" seems to be just to fill in the pits caused by selling characters many years ago, "Doctor Strange 2" overthrows Scarlet Witch in "Wanda Fantasy The self-salvation achieved in the TV series "Thor" once again blackened Wanda, and "Thor 4" completely drove the former supreme Thor into the abyss of uselessness. Instead, the Christmas special of Guardians of the Galaxy was a breath of fresh air, at least adding some warmth to the holiday season.
In contrast, however, Marvel episodes are a bright spot in Phase 4. "WandaVision", "Rocky", "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "Eagle Eye" have become the core of promoting the development of the plot. If the fourth stage is the transition of the Marvel universe to a new stage, then these four episodes are the main force supporting the fourth stage of innovation and universe expansion.
"WandaVision" introduced another possibility of the world, "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" paved the way for Captain America's successor after his departure, "Hawkeye" made Hawkeye's magical skills succeed, " "Rocky" clearly introduced the concept of parallel universes and put Kang on the stage of history for the first time.
These four episodes have simultaneously achieved the connection with the past and the introduction of new story lines, which is the core of the Marvel Universe. And I think "Black Panther 2" is not as bad as the evaluation said, it is precisely because this final work of the fourth stage not only allows the role of the Black Panther to be inherited, but also further leads to the development of the next generation. Brought the birth of a new character, Iron Heart.
Similarly, "Ant-Man 3", as the opening chapter of the fifth stage of the Marvel Universe, while introducing the birth of the second-generation Ant-Man, completely opened up the theme of the multiverse in Marvel's next chapter, and also opened up various timelines. The title page of Kang's Dynasty online. It's been a smooth start.
For superhero movies, we can't demand how profound life connotations they can contain, let alone how much practical significance they can bear. In the past two years, when everyone seems to have habitually criticized Marvel movies, the quality of these two return works needs to be tolerated calmly.
To be honest, after laying the groundwork for the various plots of the multiverse in the fourth stage, I am a little worried about the subsequent development of the Marvel universe. Under the complex system of various timelines intertwined in parallel, although various possibilities are provided, but Also planted the foreshadowing of chaos.
But perhaps, we can wait and see for the Marvel Universe that has already planned for 2027.
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