OPINION - Marvel Phase 4 Is Not As Bad As the Haters Say. In Fact, It's Good. By Siri Sherrod

 Please enjoy this opinion article from DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class.

Many Marvel fans believe that Phase 4 is the worst Marvel phase. I disagree. I think Phase 4 is better at representing minorities. Phase 4 has more LGBTQ+ and racially diverse characters than the other phases had. 

Phase 1 consisted of all white male leads plus a team-up movie. Same thing for Phase 2. Phase 3 had Black Panther which was very progressive and successful and Captain Marvel which had a white female lead but was not received well.

 Phase 4 of Marvel is more diverse in terms of race, gender identity, religion, and sexuality. Some of these diverse projects include The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which deals with discrimination and racism, Loki, in which Loki came out as bisexual and genderfluid, Moonknight, which has a jewish main character, and other projects such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Thor Love and Thunder, Ms. Marvel, Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings, and Eternals. 

She-Hulk was not received well by Marvel fans seeing as it got a 5.2/10 on IMDb. Many fans criticized She-Hulk’s “bad writing” but the show She-Hulk deliberately made fun of male Marvel fans who dislike female superheroes causing male Marvel fans who didn’t like female superheroes to be outraged and claim they didn’t like it because of “bad writing”.

Just because a movie has diversity does not determine whether it's a good movie or not. Eternals for example, has great representation and amazing visuals but its plot is not great.There were too many characters and storylines to keep track of.

Overall I think Phase 4 does not deserve to be known as the worst Marvel phase. Its highs, such as Moonknight, because it is a mystery, Spider-Man: No Way Home, because it’s a crossover movie, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, because it’s sad, far outweigh its lows, such as Eternals, because it had too many characters and storylines, and it's very diverse and inclusive.

Siri Sherrod is a 7th grader at DMHS. She likes writing, reading, and watching movies.