The MCU keeps copying the Star Wars prequels

polygon.com:

With every wave of summer blockbusters that goes by, the more obvious it becomes that Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace is one of the most important movies of the last 40 years. Not just for its pioneering use of (light) digital photography and effects, or for reviving a decades-old franchise, but because George Lucas’ direction provided a model for big action scenes that modern blockbusters still copy to this day. And that’s especially true of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which echoed Phantom Menace’s third act throughout the Infinity Saga films. One exception to that rule is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which advances things a little by taking its ending from Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones instead.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.]

The Phantom Menace wasn’t the first movie to end with three parallel battles fought in three different places (there are even shades of this in Return of the Jedi), but it’s the movie that cemented the format’s slickness in a CG-enabled sci-fi setting. A young Anakin Skywalker lights up Trade Federation ships above Naboo while the Gungans fight to repel the battle droids from the planet’s surface. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn fight the acrobatic Darth Maul. But what makes this finale work for Phantom Menace is that these characters themselves never get lost in the scale of their conflicts.

Lucas’ first prequel is a master class in letting specific characters shine during the action — whether you like those characters or not. Jar Jar Binks takes out an entire army of droids by accident, and young Anakin says stuff like “I’ll try spinning, that’s a good trick!” It’s a constant lighthearted tonal balance