Marvel has been meticulously constructing a movie universe for itself over the period of many years and so far, the studio has been successful in connecting the plot strands introduced in various films – a remarkable feat, considering that many of the films are helmed by different directors and take place in different time periods. But with great franchise comes great responsibility, and Marvel continues to have its work cut out to keep all of their properties making sense.
The next Marvel film on the dock is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, hitting cinemas on April 4. We already know that it will be closer to an Avengers-style film than a standalone, but that’s no surprise given how integral the characters have become to each other’s plot-lines. Now, Disney CEO Bob Iger claims that the second Captain America will “set critical events in motion” that feed directly into the next Avengers movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Iger’s claim is not really a surprise, all things considered. Most of the post-credits sequences in recent Marvel films have related directly to the other entries into the franchise. The Marvel films have been impressive in their ability to introduce important plot elements that will come into play later without ruining the integrity of the individual films. Hopefully Iger’s statement about Captain America: The Winter Soldier means simply that the film will reference elements that lead into Age of Ultron, rather than introducing plot threads to be left unresolved until much later.
The danger with all of this referentiality and world-building that Marvel engages in is the difficulty that the lay viewer might have in trying to keep everything straight. While I’ve seen all of the Marvel films, there have still been moments when I’m lost in a knot plot threads that were introduced in one film and suddenly become important in another. As more and more Avengers and Avengers-related films are tossed into the mix, Marvel must continue to keep all of this explicable to us poor viewers.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier will hit cinemas on April 4th, 2014.