10 Problems With Marvel's Phase 4 (And How To Solve Them)

It’s alarming that Marvel Studios claims to understand the importance of representation and diversity; to see how powerful it is to have these hugely successful Captain Marvel and Black Panther properties on their books… and then chose to prioritise literally everything else over their sequels.

Now, Phase 4 is only two years, and it’s almost certain that Phase 5 will feature both a Black Panther sequel and a Captain Marvel sequel… but that’s not good enough.

Assuming that Black Panther 2 arrives early in 2022, that will be a minimum of four years since the first film. How do you have that movie in your back catalogue, have seen the reaction to it… and then put the sequel on the back burner?

Even if you don’t care about representation, Black Panther is the biggest non-Avengers superhero movie of all time. It made more than Avengers: Infinity War in the USA. This is not a difficult decision.

Similarly, the importance of a female character like Captain Marvel to the MCU going forward requires that you prioritise it over less relevant characters. A 2022 sequel would mean three years between movies, and it seems likely that it’ll be later than that.

Now, it’s possible that we’ll see Wakanda before Phase 5. The Vision’s resurrection is likely to be tied to Shuri in some way. However, that’s absolutely not going to cut it. The 2021 slate needs amending to include a Black Panther sequel. Four damned years is too long to wait for something of such cultural relevance.