Or "Why is Ant-Man the last movie of Phase 2, rather than Avengers 2?"
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the series of movies involving characters from Marvel comics and produced by Marvel Studio/Disney Studio. The series of movies is decomposed into phases, that are different steps in the studios' production plan.
Phase 1, entitled Avengers Assembled, is composed of all movies from Iron Man (2008) to The Avengers (2012). This phase relates the origins of each Avenger and how these mighty superheroes came to fight as a team.
The narrative purpose of Phase 2 is less clear to me. At first, I thought it was about Thanos' story arc but Thanos doesn't seem to appear in Ant-Man, the last movie of the Phase 2. Actually, Thanos will most likely be the main antagonist of Infinity War, which is a part of Phase 3.
Therefore, what story arc will be concluded at the end of Ant-Man? I believe it can be answered before the movie is released, as the purpose of Phase 1 was clear before the release of The Avengers. Marvel Studio may also have commented about the organization of the movies. In other words, what narrative elements unify the movie of Phase 2?
Answer
TL;DR: Ant-Man is sort of the epilogue of Phase 2
Screenrant posed this very question to Kevin Feige, and whether or not Ant-Man is acting as a sort of bridge.
Feige explained:
“Ant-Man does a little bit. What it mainly does is introduce another aspect to the cinematic universe, with Hank Pym and his Pym particles, and the shrinking technology, and his lineage within the Marvel universe in the ’60s and ’70s and ’80s which we explore a little bit. And certainly, with getting to know Scott Lang and seeing how he could become the most unlikely Avenger.
So, it pretty much is about that story but you’ll see very clearly where that lays in between those two films.”
SlashFilm asked about the Phases, in specific, Feige continued:
“It’s not [an after thought]. The truth is the phases mean a lot to me and some people but… Civil War is the start of Phase Three. It just is. And Ant-Man is a different kind of culmination of Phase Two because it very much is in the MCU.
You meet new characters and you learn about Hank Pym and his lineage with the MCU over the years. But at the same time, it also picks up the thread of Age of Ultron in terms of heroes – major heroes, Avengers – coming from unexpected places. Whether it’s prison in the case of Scott Lang or being a very disgruntled Sokovian Twins as Wanda and Pietro are in Age of Ultron. And in that way it connects a lot.
Also, Hank Pym’s attitude towards Avengers, towards S.H.I.E.L.D, and kind of the cinematic universe in general, is much more informed after the events of Age of Ultron, and in a certain way, before the events of Civil War.”
Specifically, what the phases are defined as by Marvel is a little unclear, as they've never really stated anything officially. It is all muddied in part by many thematic elements crossing over between the first two phases.
One could argue that Phase 1 was about single characters coming together, while Phase 2 is about them dealing with the knowledge that the universe is much larger, and more dangerous than anyone imagined, as well as learning to rely on each other. How (if at all) Ant-Man will fit into this is obviously unknown at this point.
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