By Jocelyn Olmos
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in its 5th phase. What is a phase? It is a period of time where the comics are finally having their cinematic adaptation being edited and released out in theaters for all marvel fans to enjoy. Phase five started off with the release of the film Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantinmania. This film had many stars reprise their old roles such as Pual Rudd as Scott Lang, Evangeline Lily as Hope Van Dyne, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michelle Pfieffer as Janet Van Dyne, Jonathan Majors as Kang Dynasty, and Kathryn Newton who now plays the daughter of Scott Lang as Cassandra “Cassy” Lang.
The introduction of Kathryn Newton’s character being more involved in the film could be a possible hint towards the fact that in future films she will have a much bigger role in the MCU considering that she did fight alongside her parents the whole film. Along with Cassy becoming a more prominent character in the MCU, Kahn Dynasty is now the biggest and baddest role in the MCU because he is the new antagonist. In the original comics Kang Dynasty is just as bad if not more than Thanos who was the main antagonist behind the past MCU films.
Now just because there is a new antagonist does not mean that this new phase of MCU films are going to be brooding and immediately trying to stop him. The first appearance of Thanos was in The Avengers in 2012 but he was not an entire threat or main character until Avengers: Infinity War in 2018. That was 6 years apart and 12 films that were released in that time period. Some were very brooding and serious such as Avengers: Civil War and Doctor Strange but some had very light hearted jokes or characters or soundtracks that made the film feel less brooding such the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Phase five started with Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantinmania and while yes it was a very serious movie with a new antagonist and many people in the theater could not help but laugh at the unexpected jokes that are always made in the Ant-Man films.
This new phase has five films aligned to be released after Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantinmania these films are Guardians of the Galaxy Vol: 3 (May 5th, 2023), The Marvels (November 10, 2023), Captain America: New World Order (May 3, 2024), Thunderbolts (July 26, 2024), and Blade (September 6, 2024) along with many shows premiering on Disney plus in between these films. This phase will have lots of new heroes and characters introduced but with all of the amazing back stories that have been created in the last four phases.
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