Phase 4 Films Puns

When they announced phase 4 it went up to Thor Love and Thunder, but they were pushed back a year, so will films like Antman and the Wasp Quantumania or Fantastic Four be phase 4?

Since the phase 4 lineup announcement on Saturday I have seen a number of posts asking about the potential of the announced films. I decided to take a look at how each of the announced films have fared on social media since it is some of the only information currently available to make predictions based off of.

I understand this is a flawed data set, so nothing definitive can be concluded, but this could give a general idea of how the 5 dated phase 4 films could perform relative to each other.

Below you can find the total number of likes across different Marvel and Marvel Studios pages on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. I took the number of likes on the film title card and cast announcement post. This data set is not all encompassing since I only collected this information from Marvel related pages and measured only one post. This may not be reflective of general audience interests or feelings. These posts are now a few days old so the numbers should be pretty close to being set.

This second table shows what percent (expressed as a decimal) each films likes was to the highest like count on that page. IE Marvel's Instagram Post for Black Widow received 59.9% the amount of likes as Thor on that same page.

1- Thor Love and Thunder has the most likes on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. It has the second most likes on the Marvel Studios sub post announcing the film. (although the announcement Taika was returning has significantly more likes). None of the other films are within even 15% of Thor's likes on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Tho

During San Diego Comic-Con a few weeks back, I took a look at the amount of likes each named and dated film for the MCU's upcoming slate to gauge which ones people were most excited about.

This passed weekend, another film now fits that description of being named and dated... that movie being Black Panther 2.

Below is the same table as I shared in the previous post, now including Black Panthers numbers.

Please note, I removed Facebook since Marvel Studios did not make a post announcing the film and date for BP2.

The numbers collected represent the total amount of likes on the post announcing the film and date. (which is why Blade is not included). Numbers were collected at about 3 days after the posts were made, so actual numbers for the SDCC announced films may not be exact.

I find it interesting that BP2 is the most "liked" on Marvel Studios' instagram account but lags behind on other platforms.

Do you think the difference in likes is more reflective of the general hype for the film or a result of being announced at different Expos (D23 v SDCC)?

Does it make a difference how far in advance the film is? (BP2 is almost 3 years while the others are 2 or less)

Does knowing where BP2 stands in terms of Social media likes changes your ordering of which one you think will gross the most?

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Honestly i dont have one im looking forward to them all

Especially with the news that WandaVision won't be the only Disney+ miniseries to tie into the Doctor Strange sequel, but the Loki miniseries will as well!!

If Loki was going to tie into any of the MCU films I was expecting it to be Love and Thunder, but who knows just from the fact that he will most likely be in the Multiverse of Madness could also indicate that he'll also appear in the fourth Thor film.

How big do you think Loki's role might be in that movie, do you think it'll be as important as Scarlet Witch's since Feige also stated that she would have a key role in the film implying it's quite a big role.

Long story short:

• Kevin Feige, the executive producer and de facto "creative CEO/godfather" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is an admittedly huge Star Wars fan (who isn't?).
• Kevin Feige intended a recurring motif/scene to occur in all Phase 2 films as a "nod" to Star Wars, and considers Phase 2 to be akin to the "Empire Strikes Back" of the 3 phases.
• In Star Wars' first 6 episodes, at least one major character gets his arm or hand maimed (cut off/amputated) -- e.g., Luke, Anakin, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, General Grievous, Vader, et al.
• Phase 2 of the MCU includes Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and then Captain America 3: Civil War.

Iron Man 3 - Aldrich Killian gets his arm cut off by Iron Man

Thor 2 - Thor's hand gets "cut off" via Loki's illusion

The Winter Soldier: In flashbacks, Bucky loses an arm and is seen without it.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Groot's arm is cut off by Gamora, Nebula cuts off her own arm to get free.

Age of Ultron: Ultron maims Ulysses Klaue's arm clean off

Ant-Man: Yellowjacket's arm gets shrunk to the size of an insect's appendage

Civil War: Bucky gets his bionic arm beamed-off by Iron Man (Btw, this neatly bookends the consecutive motifs with Iron Man doing the maiming)

Kevin Feige had this to say about this "trend":

> "So I'm obsessed with 'Star Wars' - and it didn't start out as intentional, but it became intentional," Feige told Cinemablend. "It sort of happens in every 'Star Wars' movie, but I was sort of looking at it, 'Okay, is Phase Two our 'Empire Strikes Back'?' Not really, but tonally things are a little different. Somebody gets their arm cut off in every Phase Two movie. Every single one."

So, is this just a nod to Star Wars?

No.

This is the "long game" of foreshadowing to the ultimate climactic scene in Avengers 4 and the "END GAME" of the Avengers vs. Thanos and a foreshadowing to how the first "chapter" or "generation" in MCU ends.

THANOS WILL HAVE HIS GAUNTLET HAND CUT OFF TO (SELF)-FULFILL THE FORESHADOWED "PROPHECY." IN PARTICULAR, STORMBREAKER WILL BE USED TO CUT HIS GAUNTLET/LEFT HAND OFF

My theories on how it might go down and why:

• This will provide not only a perfect PG-13 fashion to Thanos

Kevin Feige wants it.

Brie Larson wants it.

MCU films with diverse characters can now make over a billion dollars.

They're clearly setting up The New Avengers.

It's time.

https://preview.redd.it/z7bzlh8y79w21.jpg?width=792&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d216c2c94346fa2f1ef0bbac077aafab4fbd89fe

POTENTIAL AGENTS OF SHIELD SPOILERS AHEAD

Since it looks like Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be ending after the 7th season, which is set to air next year (Season 6 premieres in May), I was thinking about next year potentially being the last season. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be awesome if they made an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. movie?

Imagine, Season 7 is the last season of the show, and it ends on an incredibly big cliffhanger—the biggest one S.H.I.E.L.D has ever had. And suddenly you’re looking at a dark screen, and then. . .

Bring back Coulson to where he started—on the big screen. It can be about the agents last big stand against a cataclysmic event. I imagine it as something having to do with a war of the Inhumans. Introduce the Inhumans to the film MCU and bring the characters into the fold that way.

You could have cameos from characters like Jiaying and Cal and even Ward (hallucinations, nightmares, what have you). Of course, Bobbi and Hunter would come along for the ride. Plus, you could get Maria Hill and Nick Fury in it in some sort of role. I would love to see Maria Hill get a bigger light shined on her, and this could be the way.

The end of the film would have S.H.I.E.L.D. fully brought back into the intelligence community while some of the characters might go their separate ways (FitzSimmons could get that ride into the sunset, happily ever after). I would love to see Coulson be the new director of SHIELD in the film series. Or, open up a comic book shop with May, where he shows off his vintage (albeit bloody) Captain America trading cards. Could go either way.

And then, early on—or in Endgame, who knows?—Tony Stark (presuming he doesn’t die in Endgame) finds out that Coulson is still alive. The whole film Stark keeps popping up to give little moments of aid, sort of like how Coulson appeared way back in Iron Man (2008). I think that would be a great role-reversal callback.

Because Stark knows about Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s activities, at the end of the film, he takes Daisy Johnson “to meet some of his friends,” bringing her into the Avengers. She can be an active member on the roster or a reserve.

The post-credit scene would have something to do with the Inhumans, setting up a thread for their solo movie. [And the inscription at the end says this.](https://gfycat.com/FamousRevolvingKingfish

Hans Zimmer has composed scores for the dark knight, Man of steel, interstellar, Gladiator

May 2023 has been voted as the release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with 13 votes (52%).

Films Remaining:

• Captain Marvel 2
• Fantastic Four
• X-Men
• Deadpool 3
• Avengers 5
• Spider-Man 4

Potential Release Dates Remaining:

• Unannounced fourth 2022 release date (likely November)
• Early 2023 (February/March)
• July 2023
• November 2023
• Early 2024 (February/March)
• May 2024
• July 2024
• November 2024
• 2025 or beyond

Films Voted Out

• Blade: 26 votes (41.9%): February 18, 2022
• Ant-Man 3: 22 votes (61.1%): July 29, 2022
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 13 votes (52%): May 2023

For the next round of this series, let's try to predict which release date Captain Marvel 2 will end up landing on.

Rules:

1. Vote for which release date you believe the aforementioned film will take.
2. This round will will close SUNDAY and results will be announced that day along with a link to the next round.

Link: https://forms.gle/3n6oSPHfUJshswM68

If I was to strategically place them I would say:

• 7/5/2019 - Spider-Man: Far From Home (Confirmed)
• 5/1/2020 - Doctor Strange 2 (May seems to have Marvel's their bigger releases, so bringing back a known character is key. Doctor Strange also has one of the older first films, dating back to 2016, so a four year gap makes it long over due. There has also been talk recently on which villains could possibly show up, which makes me believe this is coming sooner than later. Wong also said back in October of this year that he expects shooting to begin before the end of the year. Most marvel films start shooting a little over a year before it's release.)
• 11/6/2020 - Black Widow (This has been in the works since 2016 so I would say its an earlier film in the bunch. It is also one of the films Feige talks about the most. Scarlett Johansson's pay just got leaked for the movie, which goes to show that early production has started. Filming is due to start sometime in 2019, which is after Doctor Strange would begin shooting)
• 2/12/2021 - Eternals (This film also has been in the works for some time, I place it here as it is a new group of characters which follows suit with Black Panther, also a new character released in February. Captain Marvel is in the same time frame as well, that being in March. It also seems to be one of the next films marvel is looking to cast for as they just hired Chloe Zhao to direct. This gives her a year to prepare before filming would start.)
• 5/7/2021 - Black Panther 2 (The first Black panther would have come out three years prior. Most marvel films have on average a three year gap between squeals. This film also just got Coolger to sign on to write the film again. I also think because the film was so big before, Marvel will use their big May showing for it.)
• 11/5/2021 - Shang-Chi (I think this movie belongs here. For Marvel to just announce they have a writer for this follows suit with all the previous films I have listed out above, which all have writers assigned already. It also was just announced a month after Black Panther 2 getting a writer, suggesting that it may come after. November is also not unheard of having a spot for a new character, as Doctor Strange was released in Nov. '16)
• 2/18/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. (The original date was no doubt in my mind 5/1/2020 based on what James Gunn said. It has also been said that filming wouldn't begin until February 2021, which means a yea

Do you think we'll see the impact of Jameson's framing Spidey for the attack on London and leaking Peter's identity in shows and films before Spider-man 3's release? I was thinking maybe the Falcon & Winter Soldier show and Dr Strange 2 could both end with those characters seeing the news broadcast about Peter Parker, setting up for those characters to make cameos in the third Spidey film. I could even see Strange's Sanctum being the first place Peter goes for refuge.

What do you think? There's a gap in Phase 4 schedule in summer 2021 where they could release the third Spidey film (Sony seem to want to get them out every two years) and it'd be great if they could tease other Avengers reacting to one of their own being framed as a villain and if Peter's situation turns the public against other superheroes.

Before Phase 3 happened, there was a lot of speculation on series that people were hoping for. We all knew Infinity Wars (Well, we called it Infinity Gauntlet back then) was going to happen, but people were highly anticipating stuff like Black Panther, Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel, and of course, Civil War.

Thing is, I feel like everyone is clueless about what they want for Phase 4. What are the major storylines Marvel can do that would get the crowd cheering? What film's subtitle would have people going gaga like they did with Civil War?

The only one I'm picking up on is Black Widow being anticipated.

Feel free to share yours too.

Far From Home (against Mysterio, in the end Fury makes Spidey agent of SHIELD)

Black Widow (spy thriller alongside Winter Soldier and Hawkeye)

Eternals (Ikaris, Sprite, etc. show Alars father of Thanos and a bit of his origin)

BP 2 (Namor as the main villain, tease Storm at the end)

Doctor Strange 2 (Nightmare and Baron Mordo as the villains)

GOTG 3 (introduce Adam Warlock and form a new group)

Nova (Backstory of what happened on Xandar, use Richard Rider)

Captain Marvel 2 (Introduce Photon and Blue Marvel to lead to the Ultimates)

Fantastic Four (A familiy from the 60's who got lost in the Quantum Realm and adopted superpowers, main villain Molecule Man)

Thor 4 (Siege, Asgard on earth, get Enchantress and Beta Ray Bill)

Dark Avengers (the government hires Norman Osborn to recruit a group of outlaws)

Ant Man 3 (Action packed breakout of villains from prison 42, makes up space to introduce the young Avengers with a grown up Cassie Lang, main villains Whirlwind, Abomination and probably Zemo in comic accurate costume)

Avengers: Secret Wars (Can't really aport much to this one since I want to know what happens in Avengers 4 first)

Blade has been voted for the October 7, 2022 release date with 19 votes (76%).

Films Remaining:

• Captain Marvel 2 (0%), announced at SDCC 2019
• Fantastic Four (8%), announced at SDCC 2019
• X-Men (0%), announced at SDCC 2019
• Deadpool 3 (12%), rumored to be released by 2022
• Avengers 5 (0%)
• Voter inputed:
  • The Wolverine (4%)^(interesting)

Predicted Phase 5 Schedule

• Ant-Man 3: 12 votes (37.5%): February 18, 2022
• Black Panther II: May 6, 2022
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 15 votes (48.4%): July 29, 2022
• Blade: 19 votes (76%): October 7, 2022
• TBD: February 17, 2023
• TBD: May 5, 2023
• TBD: July 28, 2023
• TBD: November 3, 2023

For the next round of this series, let's try to predict which of the remaining films will be released on February 17, 2023. If you think another film that wasn't mentioned above has a better likelihood of being released on this date, please let me know in the "Other" option.

Rules:

1. Vote for which film you believe will take the aforementioned release date.
2. This round will will close THURSDAY and results will be announced that day along with a link to the next round.

Link: https://forms.gle/hayYqUQCazv2hbbs9