By the time Marvel had come up with 12 movies, the conclusion of phase two saw competition looming to grab a piece of the pie that is comic-related action movies.
DC Universe had started to slowly chip in with the introduction of movies based on Superman and Batman, two superheroes that need no introduction to children and adults the world over.
Not to be rattled by the oncoming of new competition, Marvel decided that it had to up the ante and decided it will do that with the next movie featuring Captain America and what a movie it was!
Captain America: Civil War (2016) had all that MCU films were famed for and then some more. With Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) on the run, a new villain arises. He is not a megalomaniac that wants to destroy the world, but one who is driven by vengeance.
Having lost his entire family when the Avengers kicked Ultron’s robots and subsequently (forcibly so) destroyed Sokovia, Helmut Zemo played by Daniel Brühl wants to avenge his family and decides that the best way to topple an empire is to break it down from within. He carefully studies the weaknesses of our heroes and plots a plan that results in Steve Rogers and Tony Stark going toe to toe against each other.
As mentioned before, Tony Stark is a genius of a man who is driven by fear. When you replace the fear with anger, he becomes a formidable force. But Steve Rogers simply takes it in the chin and says his best line of them all – “I can do this all day” – and wins, but does not win, for his family is broken and he is now an outlaw on the run.
The next movie in the list is Doctor Strange that featured Benedict Cumberbatch and introduced the fifth stone to the MCU – the time stone. Stephen Strange is a successful and arrogant doctor who meets with a fatal accident that renders his arms useless for performing surgery. He ends up going to Nepal, finds the Sorcerer Supreme (Tilda Swinton) who teaches him about different dimensions of reality and opens his eyes. By the time he learns the ‘trade’, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) summons Dormammu, a planet-devouring evil force. However, Doctor Strange ties Dormammu in a time loop and dies countless times, forcing the evil creature to leave earth alone, thus saving all life.
With Marvel stacking up more and more stories, one would imagine they would slow down a bit but the makers did the exact opposite, meaning they launched more movies, one after another.
On the far end of the galaxy, Peter Quill and the guardians are on their way, flying around space and minding their own business. Peter meets his father, Ego, who is actually a celestial being and a planet who goes about the universe, spreading his ‘seed’ so that when the time comes, he can overtake them. This is the storyline of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017). But unluckily for Ego, the Star Lord is one mom-loving guy and he ends up destroying his own father/planet in a Pac-Man style action sequence that was serious but not serious in Marvel’s own way.
Spiderman had his own outing in Homecoming (2017) that saw Peter Parker (Tom Holland) take lessons from Tony Stark while Thor: Ragnarok (2017) sees Thor take on his own sister, Hela the goddess of death, whom he had no idea about. In the end his own world gets destroyed. And yes, Odin, the allfather passes away too.
Black Panther that came out last year mostly played the role so that the invisible country that is Wakanda will be used next up during Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and what a movie it was.
The mighty Thanos makes a full appearance, kills half the population of Asgardians, smashes Hulk, chokes Loki to death and obtains the space stone. After obtaining the reality stone, he goes to Vormir, sacrifices his daughter’s life like a lamb, gets the soul stone (the sixth and final infinity stone).
Having transported himself to his home planet, he fights Tony and the Guardians and with Doctor Strange seeing all the possibilities that his team can win, Thanos gets handed the time stone on the pretext that Tony’s life is spared.
Then he comes to Wakanda, wreaks havoc and makes the snap, decimating half of the world’s living beings and defeating our heroes altogether, only to retire as a farmer in his garden proving he is inevitable.
The happenings of Avengers: Endgame (2019) are far too complex to explain but the gist is that the heroes win, somehow, as they use something called time travel and Cap gets to say the punchline ‘Avengers assemble’.
With the ‘Infinity Saga’ coming to an end, Endgame had one important thing missing, it had no post credit scene. However, had one observed patience, they would have heard three clangs alone.
The same sound that came in the first movie of the saga when Tony made his first armour out of scrap metal.
A fitting tribute to a fitting rollercoaster ride of a movie series. By the way, there is Spiderman: Far from Home coming this year. So, don’t count that one out eh.
(concluded)
This is the last post in a three-part series summarizing phase 1, 2 and 3 of Marvel Cinematic Universe.
To read part 1 of All about Avengers click here
To read part 2 of All about Avengers click here