This Is How the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Phase 4” Will Start

We’ve still got almost a year to go before Avengers: Infinity War kicks off the fated battle with Thanos that’s been building for the entire run of Marvel movies, but the Marvel braintrust has already hashed out how the connected universe’s next “phase” will begin—a necessity with so many interconnected parts. Details of what phase 4 will be like will likely remain under wraps for some time, with the MCU likely going through some unusually big changes, but we know one thing for sure: Spider-Man will help introduce us to the rearranged MCU.

Speaking to io9, Marvel’s Kevin Feige explained that it’s no coincidence that the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming is set to debut almost back-to-back—a relatively short two months later—with the fourth Avengers movie in 2019. Bringing the wallcrawler back into the Marvel fold will serve to ground things for viewers as Peter Parker comes to terms with a wild summer of battles with cosmic villains, just like the rest of us:

“So much happens in [the 3rd and 4th Avengers movies], as you can imagine, and so much is affected by it that we felt what better person to hold your hand and lead you into the next incarnation of the MCU, in a grounded, realistic manner, than Peter Parker? So, coming out two months after Untitled Avengers, [that’s what] much of what the next Spider-Man film will be about.”

Feige went on to say that this has all been baked into how Peter’s solo movies will each take on a year of his high school career, with his junior year showcasing how the world is changing in phase 4, much like Spider-Man: Homecoming deals with a post-Civil War world and a plot involving technology salvaged from the Avengers’ battles. We’ll see how this method of using Peter Parker to put the MCU in an everyday human perspective pays off in just over a week when Spider-Man: Homecoming debuts on July 7.

(via /Film, image: Sony, featured image: Marvel Entertainment)

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