Marvel Studios' Phase Five ended this week with the season finale of Ironheart. There used to be a slightly more defined structure to these Phases, but wrapping up another undeniably hit-and-miss couple of years for the Multiverse Saga with Mephisto's debut is still a pretty noteworthy statement.
Phase 5 began with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, a largely disappointing threequel that dropped the ball on Kang...around the same time Jonathan Majors' career imploded. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made up for it with a worthy send-off for James Gunn and the team, only for Secret Invasion to earn the scorn of fans with a catastrophic adaptation of an event-level comic book storyline.
Still, Loki season 2 was a win for the studio (even with one of its leads mired in controversy), making it a shame when 2023 ended on a bum note with The Marvels and What If...? season 2. A year later, What If...? season 3 was no better.
2024 was a reset for the MCU after the previous year's Hollywood strikes, and only one movie was released: Deadpool & Wolverine. That broke records and helped the studio move on from what proved to be a forgettable "Marvel Spotlight" series in Echo. Agatha All Along shocked everyone by proving itself one of the better Disney+ TV shows, and while X-Men '97 isn't officially part of Phase 5, it, too, was widely praised.
That brings us to this year. Once again, Marvel Studios surprised us with an instant classic in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, but after being besieged by behind-the-scenes issues, Captain America: Brave New World was a messy let-down. Thunderbolts*, meanwhile, was phenomenal, but failed to attract an audience.
On the plus side, Daredevil: Born Again proved that Marvel Studios is excelling in R-Rated storytelling and action, which brings us to the PG-13 Ironheart, a series that's been sat on the shelf since 2022 and is very much a leftover from that quantity over quality era spearheded by former Disney CEO Bob Chapek. The show is good, not great, but should have major ramifications for the wider MCU.
Ultimately, only one Phase Five project failed to be released during this period. You guessed it, it's Blade. After several release date delays, it was admittedly pushed back to Phase Six after being scheduled for 2022, 2023, and 2024, but if it does ever happen, then it likely won't be until Phase Seven at this rate.
Back to Phase Six, that kicks off with The Fantastic Four: First Steps and concludes with Avengers: Secret Wars. This next wave of stories looks to be devoted to concluding the Multiverse Saga, with Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom taking over from Majors' Kang. Fans are ready to move on, as is Kevin Feige, we'd guess.
Phase 5 has been filled with highs and lows, but we may be on the cusp of turning a corner.
What did you think about the MCU's Phase 5? Let us know your thoughts below, and check back here tomorrow for the first part of our ranking of this Phase's movies and TV shows from worst to best.