Think MCU Phase 4 Is Bad? Blame Avengers: Endgame
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.
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:
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