Movie Magic - Celebrating the marvelous achievement that is the MCU (part 2)

Continuing the exploration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU), we move into Phases 2 and 3 (so once again my "part 2" does not coincide with the MCU Phase 2). 

Whereas we could have considered the Phase 1 (+ Captain Marvel) movies the warp of the tapestry that is MCU, with its series of origin stories for the principle heroes - and their first coming together to form the Avengers - as the foundation of the MCU, the movies in Phases 2 & 3 should be considered the weft, filling in the story further, adding colour & texture (sometimes through further developing familiar character and places, others by introducing new ones), making the overall design more apparent, while of course each movie is still telling its own story. Each film is designed as its own thing, but woven into it are the threads that connect back to the larger cinematic universe.

With regards to the order of viewing, and wanting to keep it in chronological order within the MCU (as opposed to release date), it was a bit difficult to figure out which events took place before which others. Doing a bit of online research (a.k.a. Googling), I came upon a proposed order by AMC Theatres that makes a lot of sense to me, both in terms of organizing them chronologically and thematically. They propose going straight into the second Thor movie after the Avengers, as it directly takes up Thor and Loki's storylines. Then continuing with the two Guardians of the Galaxy films (the second is set mere months after the first), to continue with the cosmic side of the MCU, before coming back to Earth to look into the consequences of Avengers for the Earth-bound characters, leading into their next team-up.

So that means for part 2 I'm going with: Thor: The Dark World (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014); Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). This order brings a Phase 3 movie into the grouping (GotGvol.2), and pushes a Phase 2 movie (Ant Man) into Part 3. Although, to be honest, Ant Man should have always been considered a Phase 3 movie since it was released (and takes place) after Age of Ultron. Just saying... 😉 (that or you could consider it a coda to Phase 2, setting up a new plane - the quantum realm - for Phase 3)

Of course, SPOILERS BELOW!

Movie Magic - Celebrating the marvelous achievement that is the MCU (part 1)

Whether you're a fan or not... I don't think one can help to be impressed by what Marvel Studios has achieved in the past decade with the MCU. They have interwoven 22 mostly distinct films (some more, some less - or so it appeared at first - connected to the rest) into a vast tapestry that really is a cinematic universe! Each movie has its story to tell, and while for some of them it would be highly recommended you see other related ones (in particular the sequels), they can all be enjoyed independently of the other. Of course the experience is much enriched by having seen all of them and keeping track of the threads that weave in and out and tie so many of them together.

Tony Stark, the epitome of "cool"

Marvel put together this universe with a collection of characters from its wide roster of superheroes and villains, some who were already well-known to the general public (Hulk!), others were more familiar only to comic book fans (Iron Man). They took these characters and the traits that made them who they are, but often tweaked their origin stories or current ones in order to better meld them into an over-arching coherent cinematic universe and bring the stories into the 21st century. They even started enriching this cinematic universe with TV outings (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, the Netflix shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist - culminating in the team-up Defenders, and the Punisher etc.), but between 2 separate branches of the studio responsible for movies vs TV, and the differences between the chronology to put together a TV show and a movie, there's almost no connection or references between the TV/movie outings. The movies definitely don't reference the TV shows (although we'd love to see some of our favorite TV characters get at least a cameo!), and the TV shows only reference the movies obliquely (e.g. calling the Avengers-set "Battle of New York" as "the incident"), except for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which in its first season does bring in a few elements of Captain America Civil War and Thor 2, and in its fifth season has side references to what's happening in New York and Wakanda... In any case, for the present I'm centering on the movies.

Of course with a collection this vast, with a diversity of characters/actors (although to be fair not enough gender or racial diversity - it took them 10 years to have a film with women either as the main lead or directing) and different voices of scriptwriters and directors, playing with different genres, well quality varies somewhat from one to another, as well as people's tastes. For me the highlight of the MCU, what keeps me coming back, are the characters (ok, the awesome spectacle on the big screen as well). Even in the movies that aren't that great, there's always some saving grace thanks to the lead characters and many of the supporting ones! Iron Man 2 and Thor 1&2 are generally agreed to be duds, but Tony Stark, Thor and Loki still shine in them! The exception might be The Incredible Hulk, none of the characters seemed to be allowed to meaningfully grow or let the viewer connect with them...

So, let's dive in, shall we? I started out planning on doing one overall post, but as I've been writing it I realize with 21 movies it's much too long! So dividing it in 3 parts - and NO the "parts" do not 100% coincide with the MCU "Phases" because I've decided to re-watch these chronologically according to the in-universe timeline, not order of release, so Captain Marvel is shifted to the top of the list. Oh! And as I said, I won't review/re-watch the TV shows (not enough time!), but I will include a mention of when they would be set...

The Phase 1 movies were mostly everyone's origin story, and getting them where they need to be to team up in later - so Captain Marvel is a perfect fit!

So for Part 1 we revisit: Captain America (2011) - becoming a super-soldier but retaining that sense and ability to do what's right, Captain Marvel (2019) - discovering who she truly is, and claiming her power through that self-knowledge, Iron Man (2008) & Iron Man 2 (2010) an egotistical billionaire learns he can't go it alone and his actions have consequences, The Incredible Hulk (2008) - not sure really, since so much was ignored later, I guess acceptance of the beast inside, and a beginning of control, Thor (2011), and then of course The Avengers (2012).

Needless to say, SPOILERS BELOW!