You know, the MCU has had some missteps here and there. Not BAD missteps, but more "ho hum". The first 2 Thor movies. Iron Man 3. Undeveloped villains. But now that we're at the tail end of it, Phase 3 has been knocking it out of the park. Each movie is at the very worst, "pretty good." Each villain has been compelling in their own way, with realistic motivations. Each movie has its own distinct style. Even the soundtracks have stepped it up. I remember discussions during the lead-in to Phase 2 that we might start feeling fatigue for the MCU. But here we are in Phase 3 and I think I'm more invested now than I was when the idea was novel.
I think the biggest turning point for them where everything really came to a head was Age of Ultron (and Ant-Man to a lesser extent). Age of Ultron was the peak of Marvel's interference with a director's vision on one of their films. What I think they have been really well at doing since is finding director's who are in line with their vision, but let them do what they want within that sandbox. Their voice can still shine through. People always speak of "superhero fatigue," which is something Marvel has been doing so well at avoiding, especially with the start of phase 3. Part of the way they do this is to make each film almost a genre film in of itself. You can see this kind of course correction when you see the Thor: Ragnarok they were pitching in Age of Ultron, versus what they actually ended up doing. One thing that I think is extremely remarkable about phase 3 (Guardians 2, Doctor Strange, and possibly Captain Marvel aside), each film in some way is connected to and/or set-up by the events of Civil War. That's really fucking cool.
For a post-Edgar Wright Ant-Man era, I'm surprisingly enjoying a lot of the visuals here. It seems Peyton Reed is improving a lot.
Not phase 3, but whatever. Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to play Mysterion in the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel. https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/05/jake-gyllenhaal-spider-man-mysterio/ I was really hoping they’d go for this villain for the sequel!
I need some awesome mind fucks and VFX to go with Mysterio or it just won't feel right. Also Fish Bowl, or else!