Doctor Strange 2, Wakanda Forever, Miss Marvel, she hulk : So, did Marvel’s Phase 4 measure up in 2022?
Marvel Phase 4 was completed in December 2022. While the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) rarely fails to entertain us strictly speaking, the intrinsic quality of the works proves to be highly variable. Phase 4 was particularly irregular in 2022, an often disappointing year, but not without some small wonders that have been good.
The Marvel tops on the movie side
Doctor Strange 2
The list of top Marvel movies is short this year: only one film was convincing. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessFollowing Doctor Strange and series Wanda Vision, is directed by Sam Raimi. The film outclasses the majority of Marvel works on the directing side. Less focused on “entertainment” than usual, the staging is polished and creative. The scenario also stands out, managing to move with an antagonist who is not yet another big overpowered thing that just wants to stupidly destroy things, but rather a constructed, endearing character, eaten away by demons on a more intimate level. The cast is impeccable — with Benedict Cumberbatch, Elisabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez and Rachel McAdams.
Where the film fails is on the Illuminati, brought in like patches in the script and (too) quickly evacuated. But Doctor Strange 2 will remain as one of the rare Marvel films offering a unique story and staging.
Marvel’s worst movie flops
Thor 4: Love & Thunder
Yes, we gave 7/10 to Thor 4, but we still rank it among the flops. Concretely, Taika Waititi’s film has the merit of being funny. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll comedy in space, with a lot of gags at all costs. In fact, we must not be too hard on him, in that the film fulfills its mission quite well by making us laugh.
Despite everything, we have to face the facts: the film does not fly high, the screenplay has no depth, the relationships are skimmed over, and, no, it is not by stripping Chris Hemsworth that you convince otherwise. It’s a very nice nanar, but it’s far from the top of Marvel: immediately seen, immediately forgotten.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Wakanda Forever is not a successful film. The promise was too great for too mediocre a result, which only increases the disappointment. We imagined a film with political dimensions, when Marvel finally gives us 2h47 of fight. We were hoping for epic action, when Marvel rather sinks into the bim paf boom (hop a slow motion to make believe that it’s stylish) tac vlan. Admittedly, the treatment of mourning is rather not bad, but apart from Iron Heart, no character really attracts attention, the emotions are only skimmed over.
Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special
To miss a Christmas comedy based on the Guardians of the Galaxy (whose quality has nevertheless been constant since the first appearance), it had to be done. We do not know what happened under the pen of James Gunn, but the 40 minutes of this Christmas Special were terribly sluggish and much less funny than usual. And the story does not even provide decisive elements on the continuity of the MCU (except on the relationship between two characters… but this point will be addressed in the next film). Fortunately, we had, shortly after, the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 to console ourselves.
Marvel tops in the series
Miss Marvel
Even though Miss Marvel struggled on the audience side, the series had a well-deserved success with the curious and curious who watched it – and a great critical success as well. I have to say that the Disney+ mini-series had all the qualities as teen show. Nicely done, rhythmic, funny, touching, the series Miss Marvel also presented a luminous heroine with Kamala Khan, whose actress, Iman Vellani, is a revelation.
Moon Knight
Here again, Moon Knight did not have a huge echo. And yet, difficult not to salute the excellent artistic risk-taking that is this mini-series. With an impeccable acting cast (Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, May Calamawy), Moon Knight offered a mature, original story, a little disturbing at times. The art direction was also excellent. It was weird…and cool. We like it when Marvel goes a little off the beaten track. And the appearance of Scarlet Scarab, at the end of the season, was damn badass.
Marvel’s Biggest Playoff Flops
she hulk
she hulk divided a lot. The creator, Jessica Gao, actually tried to produce a work that broke the 4th wall in an original way. The series had a huge audience success and was much more commented than the others. From a strictly narrative point of view, however, the recipe is struggling to work. Despite a palpable irony, the episodes were confusingly inane. she hulk is ultimately a very empty, overexcited series, and it’s quite disappointing given the potential of the character and the actress, Tatiana Maslany.
Baby Groot
Little soulless scenes follow one another in the animated mini-series Baby Groot. If, from an aesthetic point of view, the quality is there, this work is only a commercial product that is strictly useless. As a result, it wasn’t even cute.
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