10 Things MCU Phase 3 Must Avoid (And Why)
Will Captain America come out?
The release of Captain America: Civil War of course signaled the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 3, which will include movies featuring Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, Ant-Man and Captain Marvel, before culminating in the 2019 Infinity War finale.
As successful as the MCU is, it's certainly not without its share of problems, from compromises made to appeal to a wide audience to nagging technical issues and flat-out lazy screenwriting.
With Phase 3 being by far the most ambitious and crucial stage of the franchise yet, Marvel Studios would do well to ensure that they don't repeat their past mistakes and make this the most robust, laser-focused era of the mammoth series to date.
If they pull it off, they'll continue their streak of critical acclaim and insane box office grosses, not to mention have fans salivating for the inevitable Phase 4.
Here are 10 things MCU Phase 3 must avoid...
10. Too Much Humour
One thing that last year's Age of Ultron made clear is that quipping in the Marvel Cinematic Universe had reached its breaking point, to the extent that numerous characters basically ended up sounding like the same Joss Whedon archetype.
The jokes were delivered in a rushed, perfunctory manner in-between action beats that felt massively forced and detracted from audience involvement in the set-pieces themselves.
Thankfully the Russo brothers have proven with the latter two Captain America movies that they can deliver entertaining, successful movies without so much comedy, so it seems that the Infinity War saga at least shouldn't suffer from these issues.
The comic tone suits films like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming much better and those two should really be the comedic backbone of Phase 3.
Doctor Strange and Black Panther in particular will hopefully play things a little more straight, while Thor: Ragnarok can find a comfortable middle ground, considering it's a buddy movie starring Thor and The Hulk.