The State of Phase 4: Is it comparable to the Infinity Saga?

By Sophia Doshi

“Part of the journey is the end,” said the late great Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame. This rings true for many areas of life, including the end of the Infinity Saga (Avengers through Avengers: Endgame). I am one of many who miss this legendary era of cinema, yet every end beckons a new, perhaps even more remarkable, beginning… or does it?

Feedback among fans has been mixed on this new beginning, dubbed as Marvel’s “Phase 4”. Some love the new mix of heroes (and popular anti-heroes) that are being featured across the new movies and TV shows, yet some miss the “old Marvel”. People like, for example, my dad and I look fondly on the days when the original six Avengers were all together, fighting everything from themselves to otherwordly threats. My dad grew up on Marvel Comics and enjoys conversing with me about the highs and lows of everything that has happened since the last issue he read. In fact, I have a collection of his favorite comics sitting on my bookshelf, which my family has come to know as “the Shrine” (not only are there many pieces of Marvel memorabilia, but Star Wars artifacts as well). Sometimes, I flip through a couple of comics late at night, imagining being my dad when he was reading them for the first time, anticipating what would come next for Marvel. Little did he know, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be created and a huge following of millions of fans would loyally watch every movie and TV show that it would release. 

My dad and I are two of those fans. Yet I admit, I have not been keeping up with everything that has been coming out lately. Naturally, people hate when their favorite things change, especially when they have no control over that change. That is no different for some Marvel fans—some of us miss the times when Cap and Tony had their little arguments, or when Nat had to calm down Bruce in order to avoid getting thrown across a room—literally. I remember those memories warmly. Sure, Phase 4 has been alright so far, but I don’t believe that anything will truly compare to the glory of the Infinity Saga. 

Right before we watched the latest episode of the new Star Wars series, Andor, I sat down with my father to talk about his opinions on Phase 4. When asked about how interesting Phase 4 has been so far, I received the typical fatherly response of “I’m not even sure what Phase 4 is, or what they’re doing with it. I forgot how they set everything up.” He’s getting old, that’s probably why. “I enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home. Nothing else has been particularly appealing, though.” I laughed at this, he’s always been pretty skeptical when it comes to anything new with Marvel, especially with Star Wars. 

When asked to reflect on some highlights from the Infinity Saga, he had a lot more to say. “The best part was when Captain America pickup up Mjolnir.” Mjolnir is Thor’s hammer, in case you forgot. “I also liked when Nick Fury used the pager to call Captain Marvel, and everything from the first Iron Man to Endgame was so well done. What I liked especially about Endgame was when they basically featured every character from every Marvel movie up to that point, and how they tied everything together.” Obviously, there is a distinguishable difference between his fondness for Phase 4 and the Infinity Saga. 

My last question for him was what he was looking forward to in Phase 4. He responded with something along the lines of: “I want to know who the big villain is going to be in Phase 4. Apparently, it’s Kang the Conquerer, but I don’t know much about him.” Shoutout to Neel Doshi for sitting down with me and letting me pester him with questions. 

As you can probably tell by now, my dad is a huge proponent of the original Avengers movies and is slightly put off by the path that Marvel has taken and is on currently. His opinions are similar to mine, but I think I know just a little bit more about what kind of storyline the MCU is heading towards. I enjoyed  Wandavision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Spider-Man: No Way Home was fantastic, but aside from that I am pretty indifferent to what’s been airing lately. 

“It’s an imperfect world, but it’s the only one we’ve got,” said Tony Stark in the first Iron Man. This quote pretty much sums up my and my father’s opinions on Phase 4. I am sure that there are others who would disagree, saying that Marvel has been branching out and experimenting with different characters and stories, and I respect that. I just miss the old MCU, the one with a close-knit team of heroes, character development, and the eagerness that came with sitting in front of the TV, rewatching the same movies over and over again. 

In the end, Phase 4 will never compare to the Infinity Saga, but it’s what we’ve got. 

Cover image from Reddit