With this weekend’s release, Ant-Man (review coming soon) brings to a close the second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This grand experiment in creating a shared media experience to mirror that of the comics has now spanned 12 films and three television series. If the theme of the first phase was “Origin”, the theme of the second phase was “Expansion”. Everything got bigger in Phase Two from the stakes to the literal size of the Marvel Universe as we were introduced to its cosmic aspect. Captain America: Civil War will kick off the third phase, which I think we can safely say is going to be themed “Explosion”. Things are about to get very dark for our heroes, so perhaps it’s appropriate that a light-hearted film like Ant-Man closes chapter two.
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Thor: The Dark World
4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
5. Ant-Man