How much life does the MCU have left on the big screen? This powerful machine that was created between Marvel and Disney has been a staple of the 10’s and now we are in the 20’s (Albeit a bit of a rough start) the question is, when will this fade end? how will it end? what is there ultimate endgame.
Not that i would want it to end, i have enjoyed this journey through so many films they have achieved something amazing in such a short period of time. Its masterful and something that is ingrained into history of film making.
Now the interesting thing about the MCU is that it breaks alot of rules. All models that exist successful or unsuccessful franchises have nothing to compaire to the MCU. Franchise either die or die then reboot and at a stretch die-rebirth many years later. But MCU doesnt fit into this, the core source has been going since the 60’s and still going strong. The films have an infinity of storylines and material to keep this fresh for many many decades. Yes i said decades.
But it is unlikely that we will see this, trends occure because of th people keeping focus and well the MCU achieved an impossible with Infinity War and Endgame. They created the ultimate end to something but it wasnt the end. Now we enter into Phase Four which we can only speculate where this is going. Now 2020 could be damaging towards the interest but in a time when people needs focus they are looking at this more than every. The expectations are high for the next chapter in this fable.
So when does all this end? if there is anything to look towards, i would say the MCU is its only model and they already gave us the three phase approach, so what we can expect from Phase Four is set up for Phase Five and Phase Six which we know this is where they are heading.
The question is, by time they get to Phase Six will they continue the franchise? will there be interest and what would it look like? I find it very unlikely that when we get to Phase Six ending that we will see a Phase Seven. This is mostly because of two things, the people that are making the films probably at this point would of worked on the franchise for over 20 years so new blood would be promoted and with that comes unease. Secondly by time they get to the end of Phase Six, what franchise would be left to follow. All the big hitters would of had their story told, we would be introduced to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, probably Namor – what comes next?
You could look at something revolutionary like some of the lesser known characters of modern era being promoted up to the big leagues, but this is happening now with the likes of Ms Marvel. So really there is no vision of what a Phase Seven could look like.
In theory, Phase Six is the perfect time to end it. It gives the oppertunity to end this shared universe and they could then focus on smaller groups of stories splintered off not worrying about having to co-exist for a shared overal story arch. Plus by 2030 roughly when this phase will end its the right age for actors like Robert Downey Jr to reprise his role as Iron Man to have one last tip of the hat.
Ok seems bleak but it feels right to end it at Phase Six, i would love to see this go on and on until we reach Phase one hundred. but it wouldnt be benificial and like what Harvey Dent said in The Dark Knight you ether die a hero or live long enough to become a villain and if this franchise continues it will become hated. So really the best business plan they could have is to make the ending of Phase Six thee end of this.
So where would you go in a post Phase Six era?
Singular franchise stories, meaning no more shared universe. Continue with characters that can provide a series of epic films.
Good example of this is Fox’s X-Men – wither you like them or not they have had a successful run outside of this MCU and infact because of this is probably how we ended up with the MCU in the first place.
as we know The X-Men are being introduced, so are Fantastic Four, they would only have a chance to breath in phase six before the lights go out. But this is Marvels future.
After Phase Six. The X-Men could continue the frachise on away from the likes of Avengers. they have alot of stories and shifting the focus from Avengers to X-Men makes sense.
Professor X is going to be a big part of this new world unlike the fox’s x-men world Professor X is the MCU is going to be a focal point of rights, of protection, of debate. Between him and MrFantastic and the Avengers whoever will be the voice of the Avengers going forward you needd to stand out. The X-Men can continue what the Avengers started and played through during the Phase one to three. But all the big hitters will be gone, and replaced.
So you will need something powerful to carry it and that is The X-Men Franchise under Disney. And moving away from a shared universe is not exactly what i mean – when it comes to the big story its focus should be on the x-men world but doesnt mean characters from all over the franchise could appear. Its just the focus shifting.
This is where i see the future of the MCU, it will still be the MCU but it will be more heavily focused on the x-men, and any story marvel releases outside of it would still fit into this world but would be more individual stories.
There is a future out there but it might not be the future you invision.
