4. The Great Balancing Act
A shared movie universe like the MCU has never been attempted before, so I'm going to cut Marvel some slack here. Still, a common criticism lobbied against the latter Phase I films (particularly
Iron Man 2) was that they felt more like full-length trailers for
The Avengers as opposed to complete films that stand on their own merits. Of course, the studio almost had to include
Avengers tie in material to their first batch of films but some felt they went a little overboard in that department. After many critics and fans believed that the main story of
Iron Man 2 was undermined by Marvel references, the filmmakers went to the other extreme with
Iron Man 3, which carefully picks and chooses shared universe elements. There were a few passing references to the Battle of New York and Thor, but Tony Stark was largely on an island in his third solo feature. Ironically, this was a problem some had with the film (I enjoyed the standalone nature of it. I had other problems with the movie). While the absence of Hulk or Captain America is somewhat understandable (this is what happens in the comics), some fans took issue with the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't investigate Extremis or Stark's Malibu mansion being destroyed. Marvel has said this will be
addressed in future films, but whether or not that was the plan all along... we'll never know. As Marvel moves forward with their universe, they will need to do a better job at balancing out the needs of a solo franchise and the greater world it inhabits. Solo films like
Iron Man 2 and
Thor need to have some autonomy, as they are about the one character and not the Avengers as a group. Still, it's important for the studio to introduce important elements in the MCU as Phase II progresses. The trick is to create a film that both stands on its own and services the shared universe. It won't be easy, but it's something that needs to be done.