And so we continue in the Infinity Saga.
Phase Two:
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Right off the bat, Tony lives with the aftermath of becoming an international phenomenon after the events of The Avengers in NYC. What people don’t see is Tony’s OBVIOUS PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). PTSD for Tony looks like insomnia, panic attacks, creating tons of new iron suits, and lying to himself. Iron Man 3, in my opinion, is the only movie to humanize Tony.
Tony Stark is an arrogant SOB with a brain and bank account to back up his diva-like behavior. But, after dealing with aliens almost destroying the Earth, taking a more humble approach to life in the way only Tony knows how to do, he is faced with a new “villain” from the 10 Rings.
Tony Stark battled mental enemies while Iron Man had to battle physical enemies that changed the trajectory of Tony’s character arc. We’ll learn a bit more about the 10 Rings in Phase 4 so stay put!
We all know what it’s like to be ghosted by someone, maybe even someone special. But to be ghosted by a god!?!?!? oof. In Thor: The Dark World, Jane (Thor’s boo) is relocated to London with Darcy Lewis (science partner and comedic relief) to study scientific anomalies having to do with the Convergence (alignment of the Nine Realms). Jane hadn’t heard from or seen Thor after the first movie and was a little peeved since she saw he was in New York not too long ago (Battle of New York, The Avengers). I mean, he could’ve at least said hey or something.
When Jane stumbles upon a portal in an abandoned warehouse in London’s outskirts, she is transported to a place where a relic was hidden for eons. Because of her curious nature, she got near the object, touched it, and POOF! Some magic is placed inside her. This magical object, referred to as the Aether, is our first introduction to Infinity Stones. This one is red and its power is the ability to alter/control reality. We’ll learn more about them soon but here’s a simple explanation from Guardians of the Galaxy. No spoilers, I promise.
With that, Jane is transported back to earth and Thor is notified that she’s outside of Heimdall’s view, which is pretty bad since he sees everything in the Nine Realms. Thor shows up at Jane’s location with a well deserved slap to the face that is also given to Loki when she’s taken to Asgard for evaluation.
The rest of the movie is basically Thor and Jane trying to save the world from an evil elf that wants to destroy the realms with the Aether taken from Jane’s body. There are other plot points that are pretty funny and also sad but I won’t waste your time here. Go watch it for yourself! We have other movies to get to!
My personal favorite of Phase 2 is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I bet you can guess why.
Here we have a proper superhero movie. It has everything: action, comedy, new character introductions, old character comebacks, secret government ploys, population control disguised as “defense”, and so much more!
Our buddy Steve (Captain America) is in DC working for S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Battle of New York, fighting any possible terrorist threat to the US. While working for S.H.I.E.L.D., he reports to Nick Fury who has a growing suspicion that the organization is corrupt and acting in their own self interest. Because of this suspicion, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. sends in the Winter Soldier to handle the situation. And by handle I mean get rid of.
The Winter Soldier is another Super Soldier like Steve but with a slightly altered version of the original serum. He also has a metal arm so there’s that. Since S.H.I.E.L.D.’s inception, whenever a problem should arise, the Winter Soldier is sent in and completes his missions without a trace and the world keeps spinning. His latest mission: Captain America.
What we don’t expect is the face behind the mask. Of course, I won’t say who it is if you don’t already know it, I’m no spoiler. I remember seeing the movie in theaters and audibly gasping when he turned his head without his mask and being just as surprised as Steve.
We then learn of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secretly (but not so secret) evil plan to basically rule the world with fear and weapons of mass destruction. Cap, being the true patriot he is, recruits a new Avenger known as The Falcon along with Natasha Romanov to take down the agency they once worked for.
The Falcon. and the Winter Soldier. Get it? I’ll get to that later.
Taking S.H.I.E.L.D. down from the inside was the only way to get a foot in the door and proved to be much harder than expected. The aftermath of this movie leads perfectly into Cap’s third movie Civil War in Phase 3 and one of the most important movies in the MCU. But before we can get there, we’ll be introduced to another infinity stone in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Guardians is about Peter Quill’s intro to the MCU since he’s gonna be a major character in Infinity War. We’re also introduced to Gamora (Peter’s love interest and Thanos’s daughter), Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. What really gets my goat with these characters is both Rocket and Groot are 100% CGI and voiced by the least expected people to be apart of a superhero movie. Bradley Cooper voices Rocket and I forget every time I see his character. And Groot? I’ll give you a hint: it’s all about family.
It’s Vin Diesel.
Anyway, here’s the synopsis from Fandom:
An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand–with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.
Because this movie and its sequel takes place in space, far far away from earth, there isn’t a specific place where it lands in the MCU timeline. Only that it happens before Infinity War since the Power stone (capable of great destruction) is put into play. This Infinity Stone is purple.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is described as such from the official Marvel website:
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
All you really need to know about these movies is that Gamora is one of Thanos’s adopted daughters along with Nebula and they’ll both be integral parts in the end of Phase 3.
With Phase 2 coming to a close and wrapping up the OG 6’s sequels, we end with Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Avengers are on the task of completely dismantling “S.H.I.E.L.D.” (actually Hydra in disguise) by going all over the globe and taking down their strongholds. Starting the movie in Sokovia, we are introduced to two new characters Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, a.k.a. the Maximoff Twins.
If you’re like me and love the 90s cartoon shows, you know that the Maximoff Twins make their appearance in Marvel’s original X-Men show. And if they’re affiliated with the X-Men … they must be MUTANTS!
But that word isn’t uttered in the movie. Why, you might ask? If the X-Men are from Marvel, why haven’t they made an appearance in the official MCU? I’ll give you one word: Fox.
Before Disney acquired 21st Century Fox starting back in 2017, the X-Men rights were under their umbrella.
It’s no secret that the mutants have a special place in my heart since the early 2000s and when the reboots were announced, I had hope they’d be intertwined in the MCU but that didn’t happen either. And this time wasn’t an exception.
In the beginning of the movie, it is explained that the twins’ advanced powers were given to them by scientific experimentation with the Mind stone (yellow), the fourth Infinity Stone we’ve encountered so far. All of the Avengers are dead-set on finding out what the hell is going on that they keep running into bad luck after bad luck. Thor in particular sets off to do some research on the stones and why they’ve made their appearance.
Tony’s way of dealing with all the fighting is creating an AI program named Ultron with the intent of having it being a “suit of armor around the world”. But, of course, even something made with the purest intent can easily have the opposite impact. We are also introduced to Vision, Tony’s solution to their villain problem. Vision is created using the Mind stone, Helen Cho’s Regeneration Cradle, and vibranium. A very special metal from a very special place.
This movie sets up what I call the beginning of the end of the Avengers. Each member is forced to face themselves and their greatest fears while also trying to save the world from a villain they themselves created with a lot of Easter eggs about the adventure they are yet to embark on. Or, as Deadpool calls it, a huge bowl of foreshadowing.
Since this is the last movie in Phase 2, you can feel an obvious shift from good ole superhero saves the day movies to ones with nuance and villains that make you think twice about the meaning of “evil”.
KrashingWaves 
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