Marvel faces its next big challenge as it tries to go through a Phase

The idea of a Marvel Cinematic Universe has from the beginning given its movies an operatic flavor, where the interlocking template was bigger than any one title or character. Yet the studio's formal unveiling of new "phases" of its grand plans at Comic-Con underscored how the challenge of connecting multiple movies into one sprawling organism might have become, to borrow from another Disney franchise, a trap.

Marvel assiduously built toward "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Endgame," delivering a massive two-part, five-hour-plus, every-hero-imaginable conclusion to the Thanos saga in 2019. The result was a staggering commercial success, bidding farewell to a pair of signature characters who helped launch this run of movies in the process.

What could the studio possibly do for an encore? Phase 4, the latest chapter in Marvel's cinematic march, was intended to address that, serving as what amounted to a multi-movie palate cleanser while resetting the table by introducing new characters and capitalizing on existing ones.