I like to think of this as the Spider-man Phase of the MCU, since it covers Tom Holland's entire tenure as Spidey to date, from "Civil War" to "Far From Home." It feels like it's been a long time, but technically Phase Three covers the same timeframe that the Phase One films did - four years. However, with the ramping up of production, Phase One only had six films and Phase Three has eleven. It also had the biggest films of the franchise, including the last two "Avengers" films and "Black Panther."
Watch out for spoilers ahead. I'm not holding back today.
Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) - With the exception of "Spider-verse," this is my favorite Spider-man movie. I love how the character was modernized, localized, and integrated into the MCU. I love his interactions with Tony Stark and Happy Hogan. Michael Keaton's Vulture was arguably the best MCU villain we'd had at that point, finally ending a streak of lackluster baddies. And the reveal of Liz and Vulture's connection, quickly followed by Vulture figuring out who Peter Parker was, was so well executed and so satisfying to see.
Avengers: Endgame (2019) - I love this movie because it paid off so many things and made it feel like it was worth following all these characters through all their adventures over twenty plus films. Heck, it actually makes "Age of Ultron" seem better in retrospect thanks to all the callbacks. Best of all, it let the characters grow and change in ways that the series had been resistant to up until this point. And that made the final resolutions for Tony Stark and Steve Rogers all the more poignant. Natasha, not so much, but they still have a chance to correct that one.
Black Panther (2018) - The movie was a phenomenon for a reason, breaking so much new ground and providing badly needed representation. Ryan Coogler and company didn't simply create an African fantasy kingdom and superhero, but went and put the spotlight on current issues faced by Africans and the African diaspora. They not only didn't ignore the ties to the Black Panther movement, they embraced and incorporated it into the story. Yeah, the CGI was spotty at times, but this was a bold, wonderful movie released at exactly the right time.
Captain America: Civil War (2016) - This one is here mainly for the spectacle, but also its good introductions of Spider-man and Black Panther, and for trying to grapple with some of those nagging questions brought up by the previous films. Why didn't he Avengers have any oversight? Who was to blame for their mistakes and collateral damage? Alas, the Bucky storyline really did nothing for me, but it did solve the villain problem by pitting our heroes against each other. And it's always fun to have so many different MCU characters getting acquainted.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - On its own, "Infinity War" is not a very good movie. There are way too many characters, way too much sound and fury (but not enough Fury), and the only character who really has any depth at all is Thanos. As the set-up for "Endgame," however, it's vital, and I like a lot of the choices that they made here. I like that they showed the Snappening in full. I like the different groupings of characters, including Tony with Strange and Thor with the Guardians. I even completely bought Wanda and Vision and look forward to their spinoff.
Thor Ragnarok (2017) - After two lackluster movies, the God of Thunder finally got to be the goofy headliner we all knew he could be. I'm not as hot on the movie as the general consensus seems to be, because much of the humor never gelled for me. Still, Chris Hemsworth is better here than in any other MCU installment, and having Hulk along for the ride was so perfect. The stylized visuals and comedic tone supplied by Taika Waititi were also a nice break from form. I'd love to see Thor have a few more adventures in this vein before Hemsworth calls it quits.
Doctor Strange (2016) - A disappointment, considering the caliber of the cast, but still a pretty solid entry for the MCU. The visuals are dazzling, concepts like the reverse battle sequence are fun, and a couple of the characters are great. Unfortunately, I never found much reason to sympathize or become invested in the character of Steven Strange, who starts out as a pompous ass and never really seems to do the work of redeeming himself. He just goes and becomes a wizard, and gets caught up in all this other business, while personal growth gets totally sidetracked.
Spider-man: Far From Home (2019) - It's fast, it's fun, and it admirably tries to do a lot of things simultaneously. It just feels awfully slight, and doesn't really deal with most of the issues and ideas that it brings up in much depth. It's a great example of a connector piece movie, helping to process some of the fallout from "Endgame" while setting up future Spidey movies. Mysterio's great, but I didn't feel we got enough of him, and I will be very upset if this is the last we've seen of Gyllenhaal in the MCU. And I couldn't help rolling my eyes at those shameless credit sequences.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) - Yay for Yondu! Boo for just about everything else. Nearly everything in this movie felt like filler. Here's Peter Quill and Gamor's relationship not going anywhere. Here's Rocket having an insecurity-driven snitfit. Here's Drax behaving like a boor. Kurt Russell is diverting, Mantis is cute, and it's always nice to see Sly, but this one really tried my patience. Nice visuals and the last-minute save by Yondu make this worth watching, but not by much. Granted, I wasn't a big fan of the first "Guardians" movie either.
Captain Marvel (2019) - Where is the rest of this movie? Where is the rest of this character? If I were in the habit of giving out grades to movies, I'd be tempted to give this one an Incomplete. The whole thing feels like a cash-grab prequel to an epic film that doesn't exist. You have to do better than this, Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially after "Wonder Woman." You have to do better.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - I barely remember anything that happened in this movie, but the whole Hannah John-Kamen subplot was terrible. Wasp, despite being upgraded to a title character, clearly wasn't on equal footing narratively with Ant-man. Even the bulk of the action scenes were dull. If it weren't for the midcredits scene, this movie would have no reason to exist.
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