Avengers: Endgame is the reason the MCU's Phase 4 feels so disconnected. The MCU's phased approach is loosely inspired by the comic book "Civil War" event. Each Phase features a major event, that serves as the launchpad for everything that follows. Phase 2 explored the direct consequences of The Avengers, with each hero's life transformed after the Battle of New York; the destruction of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron ultimately led to the passing of the Sokovia Accords, which drove the narrative of Phase 3.

But Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were undoubtedly the most spectacular events in the MCU to date. Thanos erased half the living creatures in the universe, and it took the Avengers five years to find a way to reverse it. According to Marvel producer Richie Palmer, those events drive the story of Phase 4. "Phase Four is all a reaction," he explained, "and I don't mean on our part as filmmakers, I mean the characters...It's a reaction to the trauma of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. We're still feeling those effects in these movies years later."

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Ironically, in the case of Phase 4, the approach doesn't seem to have been quite so successful, with many complaining the MCU has lost its sense of narrative momentum. The core problem is that Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame operated on too great a scale, and involved too many characters, for the arc to be a simple one. It feels rather more disjointed, simply because there are so many different ideas to explore.

Why The MCU's Phase 4 Feels So Disjointed

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The issue is best illustrated by looking at the various narrative arcs that have been launched off the back of Phase 3's event movies. The major deaths in Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War drove character arcs in WandaVisionSpider-Man: Far From Home, and Hawkeye, while Steve Rogers' departure from the present day led to Sam Wilson becoming the new Captain America in The Falcon & the Winter Soldier. Thor's character journey continued in Thor: Love & Thunder, which also featured the Asgardian community of refugees. And the Avengers' time travel led to the (re-)birth of the multiverse in Loki, setting up Marvel's What If...?Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It's not surprising viewers have been confused as the sheer range of ideas spinning out of Avengers: Endgame is so vast.

It's interesting to note that the MCU's new Phase 4 superheroes have always tended to debut in stand-alone adventures. That's been true ever since Phase 2, when Doctor Strange and Ant-Man launched new franchises that were largely disconnected from the main narrative (indeed, Doctor Strange's precise placement in the timeline remained a subject of debate until Disney+ released an MCU chronology). Phase 4 has followed the same approach, with EternalsShang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Moon Knight feeling like stand-alones. Ms. Marvel has been an exception, simply because Kamala Khan is a huge fan of Captain Marvel, with Carol Danvers' heroism serving as her inspiration. This last show is, surprisingly, probably the most important in the MCU to date - simply because Ms. Marvel's ending introduced some very important new concepts into the shared universe.

Unfortunately, all this has only helped make the MCU's Phase 4 seem much more scattershot in approach. The lack of a clear narrative, accompanied by a number of standalones without direct ties to the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, have just left viewers feeling confused. It seems Avengers: Endgame was simply a little too spectacular for Marvel to take their typical approach this time.

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