Black Widow Is A Weird Choice To Start Marvel Phase 4

Black Widow Is A Weird Choice To Start Marvel Phase 4

Black Widow has taken the slot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to kick off Phase 4 of the MCU. Here’s why it’s a strange choice to do so.

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Black Widow Is A Weird Choice To Start Marvel Phase 4

Black Widow is set for a November 2020 release to kick off Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s a strange choice to do so. Originally planned to debut for May 1st, Scarlett Johansson’s first solo picture under Marvel Studios was pushed back due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, Black Widow now occupies The Eternals former release date of November 6, 2020, pushing the rest of Phase 4 back by a couple of release dates. Following the twin-release of Phase 3 finale Avengers: Endgame and minor epilogue Spider-Man: Far From Home, fans were quick to theorize about Phase 4 and what it would look like. The ultimate inclusion of Black Widow as a starting point is confounding, considering Natasha Romanoff’s demise in Avengers: Endgame.

Giving her life in order to secure the Soul Stone for the Avengers, Black Widow’s death apparently didn’t warrant a funeral, other than a short memorial scene which featured Smart Hulk throwing a bench into the sky in anger. Now, the character is premiering the launch of Marvel’s Phase 4, in a prequel set after the events of Captain America: Civil War which looks to be setting up ‘younger sister’ Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) as the next Black Widow. Where the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been about teasing the films yet to come with its post-credits tags, a prequel seems to be a weird choice for the start of the next, grand phase of producer Kevin Feige’s master plan. Why go backward when Marvel can move forward?

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For example, the beginning of Phase 3 was marked by Captain America: Civil War, a film that made huge reverberations throughout the MCU for the rest of that phase (and beyond), both for stories and characters. The Avengers split up (“Like The Beatles?”) and Cap and his crew became fugitives, leading the Earth to be under-prepared when Thanos’ goons came calling for the Infinity Stones; which as fans know, led to the extinguishing of half of all life in the universe. The beginning of Phase 2 before it had Iron Man blowing up all his suits in Iron Man 3, becoming so overly-confident in himself that he would go on to arrogantly create ‘murderbot’ Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Black Widow is to be a prequel set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, so likely will not have the same impact on the rest of Phase 4; especially as its main character is dead (a storytelling decision which may have been the wrong one) in the present day of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was originally intended as the start of Phase 4 of the MCU, a move that would’ve made more sense – the Guardians often find themselves at the forefront of cosmic battles with consequences for the entire universe (be it fighting Ronan and his Power Stone or Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet). However, director James Gunn’s temporary firing from Marvel Studios ended up waylaying the trilogy closer, resulting in Gunn stepping over to the other side of the aisle to direct The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros and DC. Whilst fans don’t know for sure what Phase 4 would have looked like with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at the forefront of it, it most likely would have made for a much different amount of table-setting for the rest of Phase 4 as opposed to Black Widow.

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Black Widow’s plot looks to be a deep-dive into Natasha Romanoff as a character and her ties to her Russian super-soldier ‘family’, with a view to introducing her successor in Yelena Belova. It’s hard to see how a prequel with a currently deceased main character could be a ‘table-setter’ for the rest of Phase 4, as Marvel are fond of doing, making Black Widow a weird choice to start Phase 4.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/black-widow-movie-marvel-phase-4-begin-weird/

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