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Assembling A Marvel Universe

Ant-Man-universe

Last night we got to step back and see where the Marvel Cinematic Universe started and where it is headed (including teaser footage from “Ant-Man”, which will be the beginning of “Phase 3”).

So, how do 12 movies, 5 short films and a TV show make cohesive sense and somehow fit it into an hour long special? Marvel chose to focus on two or three big stories and see how everything else fit together. “Iron Man” was the focus for the first part, being the anchor and beginning for everything else that followed and “Captain America: The Winter Solider” was the focus both because it sets up for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and because its coming to theaters in just a few short weeks. A smaller focus was put on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but the rest of the films were mostly looked at in terms of the big picture.

I loved seeing interviews with the cast of these films, especially when they were talking about movies that they weren’t in. Hearing Tom Hiddleston talk about Captain America and Robert Downey Jr. talk about Dominic Cooper’s role as Howard Stark really gave the sense that these movies are connected to each other, even outside of the stories themselves.

What stuck out to me the most (except for the brief concept art and footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man) was how different the Phase One movies (those that came before The Avengers) are in feel to the Phase Two movies (those that are between The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron). Phase One is all connected and all leading up to The Avengers, but Phase Two is less directly connected to each other and mostly about how these characters are dealing with the aftermath of The Avengers. That said, “Thor: The Dark World” will have a connection with Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Solider is our direct link to the Age of Ultron.

So, was Assembling A Universe worth having another break from AoS? I think so, but that may be, in part, due to the fact that I know I can look forward to the last seven episodes having no break.

What did you think of the special and what MCU movie are you looking forward to the most?