10 Surprising MCU Phase 4 Decisions No One Saw Coming
Some of these decisions are mind-blowing...but not necessarily in a good way!
At this point, it feels like Marvel Studios can do no wrong, and it's not hard to see why given the stellar track record of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, heading into Phase 4, there's a lot to be excited about, and definitely some major surprises we didn't see coming!
Some of those are very good, while others could be described as being disappointing in nature. For example, while things are looking up for some characters and franchises, others are being overlooked. There are also a lot of very risky creative decisions which could be among Marvel Studios' best decisions...or some of the dumbest they've made to date.
It's still early days, but Phase 4 is clearly going to be unlike anything we've seen before, especially after the game-changing events of Avengers: Endgame. It's an entire new era of storytelling, and with big names like Iron Man and Steve Rogers now M.I.A., an opportunity exists for other heroes to step up and fill that void...which may be easier said than done!
Regardless, as you'll soon be able to tell, Kevin Feige and company have made some drastic and unexpected decisions we could have never foreseen in this next Phase of storytelling, and they all shed some at least some light on where this shared world goes next...
10. Bringing Back The Mandarin
When The Mandarin was introduced in the Iron Man comic books, he was the very definition of a character created to reflect the time's "yellow peril" attitude about Asian characters. As a result, no one was really shocked when Sir Ben Kingsley was cast to play a reimagined version of the villain in 2013's Iron Man 3.
What no one saw coming was that he was actually an English actor called Trevor just posing as the leader of the Ten Rings! Later, Marvel Studios would go into damage control mode by revealing that there was a real Mandarin, and we now know that we'll meet him in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (where he'll be played by Tony Leung).
This is a legitimate surprise considering some of the negative connotations surrounding the character, but with a primarily Asian cast and a diverse creative team behind the scenes, the studio clearly feels comfortable taking another crack at this villain. The question is, will he wield those alien rings of his? Well, if certain plot leaks are to be believed, yes!