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With Phase Three Announcements, Marvel Proves It Can Make All Fans’ Wishes Come True

By Nick Tylwalk

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If there’s something we all should have learned by now, it’s that you can’t overestimate what Marvel might have up its sleeve when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But we did it anyway.

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By we, I mean the staff here at Bam Smack Pow, where seven of us took a crack at predicting what would come out of the El Capitan Theatre today. Even as a group, we didn’t think big enough.

I also mean we in the collective sense, meaning Marvel fans in general. Even knowing that the company is dealing from a unique position of strength and that it’s already shown an uncanny knack for long range planning, I’m sure most of us came into today’s event expecting only a couple of announcements.

Instead, Marvel turned virtually every rumor into reality. Civil War for Captain America 3? Naturally, but only after a bit of serpent-aided misdirection.

Solo films for Black Panther and Captain Marvel? Yes to both. A two-part Avengers 3? Oh my, yes. Marvel even managed to get two more films in there, an Inhumans movie that could serve as the X-Men replacement it appears to want, and the awesome-sounding Thor: Ragnarok.

Just about the only thing that people wished for that didn’t come true is some sign that Spider-Man might show up in the MCU. The guess here is that it’s just a more complicated negotiation than most fans think, or Marvel is saving that one to give the hype machine more fuel down the road.

It’s almost unbelievable that it’s come to this, but Marvel is doing the movie equivalent of playing with house money when you’re on a gambling trip. It’s prior successes have given it the freedom to dream big, both creatively and financially, in a way that other studios simply can’t do.

And without picking a side in the box office battle between Marvel and Warner Bros./DC — I’m firmly in the camp that believes it would be great if every studio making super hero movies puts out entertaining films — it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for the Distinguished Competition, as Marvel used to call it. They had a chance to bask in the limelight of comic fans by announcing their slate of upcoming movies, but Marvel took it right back today.

Granted, there’s no guarantee Marvel Studios will continue to be the steamroller it is right now. Tastes could change, the general public could get burnt out on super hero films (something I do worry about at times) or something else could happen to make the wheels come off.

Until there’s some sign of that, though, we can’t limit ourselves the next time Marvel is ready to announce new movies. Come up with an even crazier wish list for Phase Four, because there’s a good chance Marvel will be able to pull it off.

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