Ever since it began in 2008 with Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dominating the world of superhero films for almost eight years and with films like Doctor Strange and Captain America: Civil War hitting our screens this year, we brace ourselves for the beginning of MCU's third phase. Phase one began back in 2008 with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk and continued with such films as Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger before finishing off with Avengers Assemble. It's safe to say that phase one had Marvel fans everywhere pretty satisfied, especially with Avengers Assemble rounding things off. Then phase two kicked in with a bit of a rocky start with the rather disappointing Iron Man 3 and for a while, myself and other fans of the franchise began to lose a little faith. However this was restored by memorable films such as Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and last years Ant-Man. The second Avengers film Age of Ultron and Thor's second solo outing The Dark World still felt like they were lacking something however. This year, phase three begins with Civil War and with numerous titles announced for the next four years there are many things us fans are hoping for.
5. The REAL Mandarin
Iron Man 3 for me was full of disappointments, disappointments which all spawned from that one dreadful plot twist in which (SPOILERS) Ben Kingsley's formidable Mandarin turns out to be nothing but a drugged up actor called Trevor Slattery while Guy Pierces Aldrich Killian claimed to be the real Mandarin. Why was this so disappointing you may ask? For those of you who know Iron Man you will know that The Mandarin is one of his greatest foes, an ancient Chinese sorcerer who uses the power of the ten rings to give him immense power. Initially, the film portrayed The Mandarin in a more realistic fashion, a terrorist leader obsessed with the culture of ancient China who also sported ten rings. For the first half of the film I was quite impressed with this version, however it all went downhill after that plot twist and I felt extremely let down. In comes the Marvel one shot All Hail The King which featured the character of Slattery where it is mentioned that a real Mandarin does in fact exist, but will we ever see him? I would love to say yes but it looks unlikely seeing as there are no Iron Man solo films scheduled for phase 3. However, a man can dream.
4. Thanos starting some shit
Ever since we all pretended to know who he was in the credits of Avengers Assemble, Thanos has been a bit of a background figure in the MCU, having small appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy and a cameo in the credits of Age of Ultron. However, for such a formidable looking villain, he hasn't really done much. Josh Brolin voices the mad titan and I am excited to see the actor use his talents to fully bring this bad guy to life, but why is Thanos so formidable? Well in the comics the brutal Thanos gets hold of the infinity gauntlet and wipes out almost all of Marvels superheroes, this is later undone by his daughter Nebula (played by Karen Gillan in the MCU) and Thanos is neutralized by Adam Warlock. As the whole MCU seems to be building up to The Infinity Gauntlet storyline coming together in Infinity War parts 1 and 2, it is fair to say that we may see Thanos (temporarily) destroying some of Marvels most beloved heroes. Only time will tell with Thanos as we still have just over 2 years until the first half of Infinity War, but until then expect plenty more teasers of the mad titan.
3. Less disposable villains
Over the past few years we have seen a variety of memorable villains in the MCU, from Tom Hiddleston's Loki to.. em..yeah. The majority of these villains were never seen again after their first outing which is such a shame because a lot of them didn't even have much time for development. Ultron was destroyed, Emil Blonsky was beaten half to death and Red Skull just kind of teleported(?) and since their initial appearances we have not seen them again. These villains have just been kept for one installment before being disposed of at the end and being replaced by another disposable villain in the next installment, this has become a common trend for Marvel and hinders character development. Sure, Loki has had plenty of time to develop, but Malekith was severely underdeveloped despite the potential he had. Mickey Rourke even criticised Marvels lack of villain development when he starred in Iron Man 2 as Whiplash, he stated that Marvel just wanted a "one dimensional bad guy" which is evident in the film. I want to see more of Red Skull, I want to see more of The Abomination, I want more villains in the MCU with the level of depth that Loki has. Hopefully phase 3 will have these but again, only time will tell.
2. Spidey!
I was thoroughly excited when I heard that Spider Man was coming to the MCU, making his debut in this years Civil War played by actor Tom Holland. Spidey is undoubtedly one of Marvel's most popular heroes so to see him finally join the MCU is a real treat for fans such as myself. The only thing is, how will this one differ from the previous two big screen web heads? If they're bringing him in they need to make him count, not just another pointless reboot like The Amazing Spider Man, he needs a reason to be here. Luckily for him, he plays a major role in the Civil War story arc in the comics, but how will his role in the film differ from that of the comics? Holland himself is also faced with a challenge as taking on the role of Spidey is essentially taking on two roles. One being the awkward and nerdy Peter Parker and the other being the wise cracking web slinger. Tobey Maguire nailed the Peter Parker side but as Spider Man he didn't seem as charismatic as we had hoped. Conversely Andrew Garfield was great as the humorous Spider Man, but his Peter Parker just seemed too cool. Hopefully Holland can find the balance between the two and give us a memorable portrayal as Spider Man.
1. Better use of female characters
One of the advantages that DC has over Marvel is Wonder Woman. She is without a doubt one of the strongest female heroes ever and as of now the MCU doesn't really have anything to match her. In fact, the MCU has been quite male dominated over the years despite its existing female characters. Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow has proven herself to be just as powerful as her male teammates in The Avengers, similarly Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) has proven that she is well able to fend for herself in combat. Last year we saw Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch take down Ultron himself which makes her one of the most promising newcomers in the MCU. However, there has been no female solo film as of yet which is really disappointing as the MCU is entering its eighth year. Characters like Black Widow and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) have only appeared as supporting characters and have yet to see their own solo outing. Phase 3 has teased at the character of Captain Marvel getting her own solo film which would be a milestone for the MCU, Evangeline Lilly is also set to return but as The Wasp alongside Ant-Man so we have those to look forward to. Hopefully before then the MCU will make more extensive use of its already established female characters but for now all we can do is wait.
So those are some things that I, and a lot of fans would like to see in the next phase of the MCU. We may not get all of that as it is a lot to ask for, but if we get a few better developed baddies and more prominent female characters then Marvel will be going in the right direction. The next MCU outing we have to look forward to is Captain America: Civil War which will be released in Ireland and the UK on April 29th and a week later in the US and it's looking out to be one of the biggest films of the franchise yet. In my next post I will be addressing one of the shows I left out of my Top 5 post so stay tuned for that, until next time!
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