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Assembling cinema’s infamous Marvel cinematic universe
ARTICLE BY HAYLIE YEE • INFOGRAPHIC & DESIGN BY RIA PANDEY ho knew that Marvel Studios’ 2008 “Incredible Hulk,” thing better than the Infinity Wars storyline? Like where could it rated 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, would be the first mov- possibly go from here?’” ie in assembling the Avengers, “Earth’s Mightiest HePhase Four kicked off with the television miniseries “Wandaroes”? Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they de- Vision” in January of 2021. Pekar watched it when it was released buted in the 1963 comic “Avengers #1.” The comic was adapted but rewatched it with her mother in January of this year. into the live-action “The Avengers” film in 2012 by Marvel Studios “Although she’s not much of a superhero person, I think she’s as a part of their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise. actually really interested,” Pekar said. “So it’s cool because I can The MCU went on to become the highest grossing film-franchise have that introduction with new characters. It’s like the newer ones in the world. come with connection and the older ones come with a childhood Sophomore Dakota Pekar watched the debut of “The Aveng- memory.” ers” when she was six years old. Salcedo also shared a love for “WandaVision” and other Phase “The heroes seemed appealing to me because they went out and Four films, but still expressed concern for where it will lead with helped people,” she said. “And that’s what I like to focus on as a new additions such as the multiverse. The multiverse surrounds the person: to improve and help people.” idea that multiple universes coexist, and that different versions of From 2008 to 2019, Marvel Studios released 23 movies, 14 of universes include altered variations of the same people and events which starred the six original Avengers: Iron Man, Captain Amer- as the original universe. The multiverse appeared in Phase Four ica, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye. during “Loki,” “What If…?” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Marvel Studios organized the release of their films into phases. and is next set to be featured in May with “Doctor Strange in the The first three phases were an overarching storyline collectively Multiverse of Madness.” known as the “Infinity Saga.” Its name is derived from the six in“Anything goes now,” Salcedo said. “It’s so wide open that they finity stones collected by the main antagonist Thanos, who was can make anything a possibility and they have the storyline to do defeated in the two-part movies “Avengers: Infinity War” and it, and so that kind of worries me. Is it going to get old after a “Avengers: Endgame,” released in 2018 and 2019 respectively. while?” “Avengers: Endgame” became the second highest grossing film Along with those new concepts, Phase Four films and shows of all time. have made Marvel Studios history with their inclusivity. “EterMultimedia teacher Leo Salcedo collected Marvel comics be- nals,” released in 2021, featured LGBTQ+ representation with fore the beginning of the MCU and has been a fan ever since. their first openly gay superhero Phastos and his husband. The film “[‘Avengers: Endgame’] was nice closure,” he said. “And it also included Marvel Studios’ first deaf superhero Makkari played completed the stories of so many characters. Captain America’s by Lauren Ridloff. Actor Simu Liu starred as the titular character in story finished and Iron Man’s story finished, but at the same time, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as Marvel Studios’ they’ve left it open for the MCU to continue.” first Asian-lead superhero. The television mini-series “Falcon and Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, announced Phase the Winter Soldier” explored racism in America and introduced a Four—the next set of films after the conclusion of the Infinity Black Captain America. Saga—at San Diego’s 2019 Comic-Con. “It’s all about helping different sorts of people and minorities,” They introduced several films and, for the first time in Mar- Pekar said. “They are doing well starting to introduce minorities vel Studios, multiple television miniseries were released on the and giving them a face and a voice.” streaming platform Disney+. In Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man series, Spiderman’s best friend, Phase Four introduced new characters like Shang-Chi, the ten Ned Leeds, is Filipino. In the third film “Spider-Man: No Way Eternals, Yelena Belova in “Black Widow” and Kate Bishop in Home,” Leeds Lola—“Lola” meaning grandmother in Tagalog— “Hawkeye.” It also explored the untold backstories of previous was introduced and speaks unsubtitled Tagalog. Avengers like Black Widow in her first feature film. “I’m Filipino and Ned is Filipino,” Salcedo said. “And when I “I was skeptical,” Salcedo said. “After seeing the whole ‘Infin- was watching ‘Spider-Man,’ I could understand everything Ned’s ity Saga’ with the ‘Infinity War’ and all that stuff I was thinking, [Lola] was saying and I was just laughing in the theater like, ‘Oh ‘How are they going to top this? How are they going to do some- my God! Someone is speaking my language!’ I love that.”
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