4. Each Movie Has A Different Feel
With Phase One officially underway, Marvel were presented with a unique problem releasing six movies in the space of four years (three of which were origin stories) in an interconnected universe featuring multiple recurring characters without creating audience fatigue. The solution? Make each one completely different from the others. The Iron Man series was initially grounded in a slightly heightened present-day reality, featuring technologies that could conceivably exist in the near future (then of course we had Guy Pearce breathing fire). The Incredible Hulk began as the story of a tragic and reluctant hero being hunted for a power he has little control over, before it descended into a CGI-heavy smackdown by the third act. Thor was a Shakespearean story of two bickering brothers competing for their father's attention, becoming a fish-out-of-water comedy after the hero is banished before he learns humility through exile. Captain America: The First Avenger was a World War 2-set adventure about a hero coming to grips with his new found power. And The Avengers is simply the ultimate team-up movie; two of the most entertaining hours you could want at the cinema. Giving each movie a different aesthetic while maintaining continuity is one of the great successes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; each follows their own story and characters within a distinctive world, yet they also act as part of a greater story arc. It seems that the studio is continuing this refreshing trend throughout Phase 2. Iron Man 3 was more about Tony Stark than his alter-ego, and even became a buddy movie of sorts involving both a 10 year-old boy and Don Cheadle's Jim Rhodes. Thor: The Dark World seems to be an intergalactic war movie featuring the Dark Elves and their attempt to enslave the Nine Realms, forcing the God of Thunder to forge a reluctant truce with his imprisoned brother Loki. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is being billed as Marvel's take on the espionage movie, with a hero struggling to adapt to a world he doesn't recognize and dealing with a government he doesn't fully trust. Of course, we can't talk Phase 2 without mentioning the studio's most ambitious movie yet: Guardians of the Galaxy. As a premise, an intergalactic superhero team whose members include a genetically-engineered talking raccoon and a sentient tree that can only say three words sounds like a tough sell but if anybody can pull it off, it's Marvel. Despite the potential for ridiculousness, reaction to the footage screened at this year's Comic-Con was hugely positive and the space opera will add another different genre to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following the culmination of Phase 2 with Avengers: Age of Ultron, Phase 3 will begin with Edgar Wright's Ant-Man in 2015, a long-awaited movie that has been in development since 2006. It has recently been described by the director as something akin to a heist movie, but details are still under wraps. This is the only Phase 3 movie currently announced, although the studio has release dates set for May 6th and July 8th of 2016, and May 5th of 2017.