Why Marvel Is OK Making MCU Phase 4 Feel Smaller (For Now)
The minds behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe are fine with Phase 4 being under the radar, not really promoting any of its upcoming movies — at least for now. For the past several years, the MCU produced some of its biggest films thus far, culminating in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. As the MCU gears up for Phase 4, however, there doesn't seem to be much fanfare going into the next chapter of its storytelling — but chances are, Marvel Studios is just playing the long game.
After the Infinity Saga, Marvel Studios laid out what comes next for the MCU, which includes a string of movies that mix familiar and new properties. On top of that, Marvel is officially dipping its toes into making TV series, confirming a handful of upcoming shows exclusively for Disney+. Fans have been excited for the future of the universe after Endgame, but since then, there has been barely any major promotional push for these endeavors, except for Cate Shortland's Black Widow.
Admittedly, the lack of any hype from Kevin Feige and his team makes it feel like Phase 4 is much smaller compared to previous slates. Granted that the MCU is coming off of two milestone years with the last two Avengers sequels, not to mention that the upcoming projects are standalone movies — but the perceived lack of a collective enthusiasm about the future of the universe might be something that should worry Marvel Studios. The MCU could rectify this by actively promoting the next few movies; however, instead of doing this, it's held off any marketing activities and even skipped this year's (virtual) San Diego Comic-Con.
Marvel Studios' silence on its upcoming endeavors might be a cause for concern for fans too, but looking at the MCU's next few films, this lack of marketing makes sense for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the franchise's upcoming films are indeed smaller and lesser-known. Black Widow will more likely do very little for the future of the franchise except for officially setting up Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) as the next iteration of the character. Meanwhile, despite the importance of — not to mention the impressive ensemble cast assembled for — both The Eternals and Shang-Chi and The Legend of Ten Rings, the films focus on more obscure characters with very little brand recognition outside of the comic book reading community. Since it's difficult to gauge how people are going to react to new heroes in general, it's best to manage people's expectations by not overselling these projects.
Secondly, the pandemic not only delayed MCU's Phase 4 slate, but it also halted its filming schedules. Out of its confirmed projects, only Black Widow and Eternals have finished principal production, while Marvel TV shows for Disney+ such as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision at the tail end of their respective filming. That means that at this point, Marvel Studios doesn't have enough content to use for marketing for now. While it can begin promoting Eternals as it's already in post-production, the future of cinemas remains uncertain, so it's still possible that ultimately, another round of rescheduling could take place. Marvel Studios already overstretched its promotions for Black Widow, leaving them not much else to release but the movie itself. This is something that the studio shouldn't repeat for other projects, as this scheme makes it difficult to maintain the hype for upcoming projects. This may be why there's the perceived lack of enthusiasm coming from the studio: because its holding off beginning promotions for other projects until the future is more clear. The same can be said with the upcoming Disney+ series, since they, too, still don't have respective release dates.
Things will start to pick-up when already established sub-franchises with sequels like Spider-Man 3, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness near their release dates. By that point, chances are that the coronavirus pandemic will be under control. Nonetheless, it's also worth noting that there's nothing wrong with the Marvel Cinematic Universe going small as they begin Phase 4 — that way, it can slowly rebuild towards another culminating event.