The Marvel Cinematic Universe... 4 Phases Later

The Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU began in 2008 with Iron Man. In 2012, The Avengers came out and really began what we now know as the MCU. Over the past 14 Years, we have now gotten 4 Phases of the MCU and that includes 37 projects. How do all these projects hold up? In this video essay, I discuss The Marvel Cinematic Universe... 4 Phases Later

__CHAPTERS____
0:00 - The Marvel Cinematic Universe... 4 Phases Later
1:29 - Iron Man
4:09 - The Incredible Hulk
5:28 - Iron Man 2
7:26 - Thor
9:25 - Captain America: The First Avenger
11:05 - The Avengers
13:06 - Iron Man 3
14:59 - Thor: The Dark World
15:40 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier
17:39 - Guardians of the Galaxy
19:34 - Avengers: Age of Ultron
21:59 - Ant-Man
22:54 - Captain America: Civil War
25:38 - Doctor Strange
26:47 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
28:12 - Spider-Man: Homecoming
29:55 - Thor: Ragnarok
32:02 - Black Panther
34:02 - Avengers: Infinity War
36:25 - Ant-Man and The Wasp
37:15 - Captain Marvel
38:17 - Avengers: Endgame
40:48 - Spider-Man: Far From Home
41:57 - WandaVision
44:25 - The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
46:37 - Loki
49:00 - Black Widow
50:50 - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
52:53 - Eternals
54:49 - Hawkeye
56:30 - Spider-Man: No Way Home
57:54 - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
59:15 - Moon Knight
1:00:07 - Thor: Love and Thunder
1:01:46 - Ms Marvel
1:03:36 - She-Hulk
1:05:14 - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
1:06:59 - MCU Ranking

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The MCU now has 4 full phases and we’re gonna talk about it. What about the MCU are we gonna talk about? Well all of it. That’s right, I’m going to talk about every single movie and show in the first 4 phases of the MCU. I’m going to review them all and then rank them. Now for those of you more familiar with my work, you know I like to dive deep into stories and talk about them. But the MCU has 37 movies and shows and there’s no way I’m going to dive deep into all of them. So my rule for this video is to spend like 2-3 minutes on each of the stories and then just move on. This way I have enough time to explain my brief thoughts and then move on in a reasonable time. So the way I’m going to approach this is by going in release order, from Iron Man all the way to Wakanda Forever. And then at the end of the video I’m gonna rank them all. Now before I start, let me give some minor caveats. The MCU has a lot of specials that I could include but I’m not going to. Like there's all these 1 shots and that werewolf special, I haven’t watched those so they don’t count. And the other thing I’m not gonna include is what if. I haven’t watched it and I don’t want to either. Plus it’s an animated anthology series. That’s like including star wars visions in a ranking video. You just don’t do it. Hello everybody and welcome to another video, my name is the gold man and today we’re gonna talk about the Marvel cinematic universe, 4 phases later…

[whatchahowsya]

I didn't agree with all of your opinions, but thank you for giving Shang-Chi the love it deserves.

[CyberSonic-V.]

Honestly phase 4 has made me appreciate phases 1-3 more cause it just seems all over the place with no structure. Each movie in phase one built to Avengers, most of the movies in phase 2 built up to age of ultron and age of ultron lead into civil war with that movie leading into Black Panther, Homecoming and then Infinity War and Endgame. While the Infinity Saga wasn’t perfect I do think it had a better form of structure to it then whatever the Multiverse saga is doing. Now i’ll still tune in to watch these projects but I do get frustrated when it feels like i’m a comic book reader trying to read all these plot points when there’s so many and they seem to just be disconnected from on another.

[JohnCloccwork]

1:05:50 Namor’s motivation isn’t revenge on the surface world. Namor’s issue is that since Wakanda spilled the beans about Vibranium, colonizing forces are encroaching on his kingdom, searching for alternative sources outside of Wakanda since they couldn’t steal it. This puts his kingdom and people at risk, and he tries to get Wakanda on his side to present a United front again Western Colonial powers seeking to exploit their resources and people (as has been the case for the last 500+ years)

Furthermore, it doesn’t matter if they “moved somewhere much nicer”. They had to forcibly mutate themselves in order to leave their ancestral home since time immemorial due to being forced out by colonizers who enslaved those left behind. That’s what causes Namor’s hatred and the fear it’s about to happen again.

[lasercraft]

I would like to point out that Thanos in Endgame didn't _just_ want to destroy the world... He specifically realized that his original plan wouldn't work as well as he intended, so he planned to completely _remake_ the world instead. Not just destroy it, but tear it down and build it anew.

[thenewdoc]

Honestly guardians 2 is my favourite marvel film. It has every single character going through such an incredible in depth emotional journey and coming out as actually better people in the end. It really touched me emotionally.

[Yamineftis]

Moon knight is my fave series of the bunch because it's a super fun exploration of self love, trauma, cults and manipulation with a sprinkle of Egyptian mythology. Also it's probably the most faithful and respectful representation of DID in mainstream media, I recommend watching Cinema Therapy's video on the subject. The characters were fun and I think it's a good introduction of what will come with the character for all of those who haven't read the comics, I can't wait to see more of Mark, Steven and Jake.

[JeremyMaldonadoSTK]

Man, that GotG2 segment hurt in a personal level and watching movies like Black Widow and Ant-Man2 gettin ranked higher was devastating

[Colininja]

I think phase 4 should have focused all on the effect of the blip and not try to introduce other hero’s who we do not care about. That’s why I think that phase 4 should be, Spider-Man far from home, wandavision, falcon winter solider, Shang chi (Just a good movie to add a new character) Hawkeye, Spider-Man no way home, doctor strange and black panther (maybe Thor love and thunder if he griefed Loki).

[slurples]

The reason why Tony didn't go to jail for his actions is probably because the world wasn't aware that Tony created Ultron from the mind stone

[alexp.]

Maybe its just been a while since I've seen Love and Thunder, but I feel that you might have simplified Gorr's motivation a bit too much; he's not just angry at his daughter dying, he's angry at the entire system of all-powerful gods who can throw around people's lives on a whim. Bringing his daughter back wouldn't prevent all the other awful things that gods have done.

[janiboyy]

I think the knowledge from „what if“ makes age of ultron even greater… its almost some kind of horror just to imagine what could have happened if ultron got what he wanted

[alexandrefrauches]

While I do have problems with Captain Marvel film, I 100% disagree about the "I have nothing to prove" line since she is telling this to the guy who lied and manipulated her through her whole life, making her feel that she needed to obey the Supreme Intelligence and the Kree in order to be special (no different from abusive relationship), that she couldn't do anything without their permission. Her in the end just blasting him rather than fighting by his terms, is Carol finally letting clear she is done with Yog Rogg crap. She doesn't need the Kree approval to be brave and special. She can and is all those things by her own choice.

[alexandrefrauches]

Another detail about the first Avenger film: Much like She Hulk and Civil War, this film is also meta-reference/critic to super hero film at the time, since most of them were trying to just copy Nolan's Batman, being realistic, dark and gritty.
The scenes between Fury and those goverment representatives in shadows is basically Marvel Studios (Fury) interacting with other studios (the guys in the shadow), who claim how the idea of super hero team will not work. Coulson being fan Captain America makes him a representation of comic book fan, with his line of "people might needing of old fashion" basically the movie turning to the audience and saying "Not every film needs to be a TDK 2.0. Sometimes it's good to just be a simple classic super hero film".

[BSJ-Unparalleled]

Is nobody going to mention that the government tried to freaking NUKE Manhattan?! And then blame the Avengers for all of the people they’ve endangered!

[alpassione]

In MoM Wanda can’t go to a universe where her children are orphaned because she doesn’t know how to look for a universe like that since she doesn’t dream of it. You can only dream about your alternative versions that are alive in other universes.

I don’t think Wanda looked for Visions simply bcuz deep down she knows he wouldn’t approve of her methods. I mean she stated how her children would never know what excactly took place indicating that she understands the toll that this might take on them if they were to ever find the truth about her. Also we clearly saw how perceptive Vision was in WV about the hex so I’m sure he would be able to tell that she wasn’t the Wanda from his universe.

[jneumy]

I guess the best compliment to the acting in Endgame is that I never even stopped to realize how good it was because I genuinely forgot that it wasn't real at times, like with your example of Tony telling Cap that he lied.

[Akainu-is-OP]

This video was great, but you completely missed the mark on Gorr. His wish wasn’t just to get revenge for his daughter, his wish was to guarantee the gods could never hurt another person again by wishing them all away.

[jneumy]

The greatest quote/dialogue exchange in all of the MCU for me will always be in the first Avengers when the old man stands up to Loki when he tells them to kneel. (I would also say that the one good thing about Thor The Dark World is how it continued to show Loki does care about his family deep down by having that scene where Thor goes to his cell after their mother dies and at first, Loki is using an illusion to make it look like he's fine, but when he lets the illusion fall, he's a complete mess.)

[FireIceProductions-ib]

Sees him put FFH, Loki, Gaurdians 2, and MOM so low (or on Lokis case, not in the top 10): How Dare y....

Then sees him give Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, NWH, and Eternals the love they all deserve: All is forgiven.

[anthonyoliva]

Loki was my favorite show but I gotta agree with you on the infinity stones scene. I think infinity war was so so good because everything, like literally everything from the comics decades ago up to the release of the movie had a set ceiling of power, and that ceiling was the infinity stones. The second you have that scene in Loki, it nullifies that ceiling and makes the power scaling a complete mess