Into ItWith Sam Sanders
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(Green Bookended up winning that year.)
All considered, its one of the most successful movies of the entireMarvel Cinematic Universe.
Seriously.No, this is dangerous territory because Marvel fans are likeStar Warsfans.
But now were inPhase Four, a decade into Marvel, and its just theres a lot of it.
Thats understandable becauseAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgamewere ten years of storytelling.
And they also get to do, like, weird stuff.
Theyve just released something onDisney+ I dont know if youve seen it but its calledWerewolf by Night.
How is that Marvel?
You mentioned the thing that I want you to unpack: Phase Four.
The second phase of movies was gonna add more heroes.
Those are your big heroes.
And then the second phase of movies added more heroes: theGuardians of the Galaxyand a few other players.
And then in Phase Three, we got Black Panther, we gotCaptain Marvel.
Phase Three ended withEndgame, andEndgamewas basically Oop, everyones kinda dead or retired except for Thor.
So were at a critical juncture for the MCU.
Because in Phase Four, you say, theres a lot of stuff in flux.Youve totally got it.
Do you follow sports?
LOL, youre funny.Its like if a team lost all of its stars to free agency.
And then youre reloading this year.
He needs a team.
Gotcha.He needs a team.
Its like if you follow politics and you dont follow the Supreme Court.
Thats how big Marvel has become.
Okay.You could say you dont follow Marvel, but what doesDisneyown?
Disney ownsABC,Hulu, and has its hands in so many different pockets.
TV as well.Like, you dont see a midsize movie anymore.
And thats kinda disturbing.
That matters, yeah.It makes me sad because I love a good mid-budget rom-com.
How are you gonna get anotherHangoveror aSuperbador something in the middle?
The bar has to be higher for any film to get me into a theater.
It is different than it was 15, 20 years ago.
One of the recent examples isBros, right?
It was just kind of a disappointment.
I was doing the work.
But, yeah, go ahead.But, like, no …
Especially when you haveNetflixmaking a new rom-com every week.
And its decent.Or theHallmark Channel.
And its just like,What makes this one special?
In the music industry, only the biggest brands survive.
Theyre just gonna say, She managed to ride the wave and survive this era of flux.
But is that all executives lack of creativity?
Or is it also the audience being that dumb and continuing to go to those superhero-movie sequels?
c’mon, give me something new.
So then how does the newBlack Pantherrelease play into the state of the MCU?
I just assume that it will inevitably leave the MCU stronger and bigger and more well liked.
Am I wrong to assume that?Its in good hands.
I have to see it still, but I think people are genuinely excited.
It kinda feels like a restore-to-order moment.
No one wants to see this movie do badly.
Because Im Filipino; Im a brown kid.
People need a hero sometimes.
This interview excerpt has been condensed and edited.
