Marvel Studios used the Phase 4 line-up to experiment with their formula and try out new things, but the end result was a string of lackluster projects that used the overall momentum of the MCU to barely thrive out there, as opposed to feeding off of each other like the Infinity Saga. Now, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania officially kickstarting Phase 5, Kevin Feige is here to assure the fanbase that the next few years will be much more coherent.
While most people could get on board with the absurdity of WandaVision, and even bear through The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s heavily politicized narrative, things started to really fall apart with Eternals and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder was the movie to follow up Sam Raimi’s swing, which is now considered the worst movie of Phase 4, if not one of the worst movies in Marvel history.
Things didn’t look so great on the Disney Plus side of things, either, with shows like Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel polarizing audiences and She-Hulk splitting them right down the middle.
Marvel has no doubt taken notice of this downward spiral, so Kevin Feige is here to tell you, in a chat with Entertainment Weekly, that the interconnected narrative of the Infinity Saga with its overarching motifs is making a proper return in Phase 5.
“It’s really a classification system for the audience that’s following along. It’s to keep track of how the pieces fit in place. I didn’t really talk a lot about the overarching themes or direction of Phase 4 until afterward — in large part because we are always adapting and weaving as creative demands and new ideas come up. But I would say in very generalized terms, as you see in Quantumania, it’s about setting up the big overarching thread that will go through the next phases.”
Feige seems confident in his creative team’s storytelling chops, but if Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s reviews are anything to go by, this is just another middling flick following the disastrous Phase 4 and setting a terrible precedence for the forthcoming Phase 5.
The movie has yet to open in theaters, so let’s hope the audience reception redeems Scott Lang’s latest big screens outing. You can read We Got This Covered’s very own review of Quantumania here.