Severna Park’s Gen Z praised the MCU in interviews, and it’s all because of the incredible scale the franchise has been developing since 2008. 2020 was a rollercoaster of a year to say the least, but 2021 is looking up, especially for any fans of the MCU. 

After the record breaking and epic conclusion to the Infinity Saga in “Avengers: Endgame,” followed by the end of Marvel’s Phase 3 in “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” fans were suffering from withdrawal from any Marvel-related content with the pandemic putting production and release to a halt, delaying the much anticipated “Black Widow” movie by two years. This year, however, with two wildly popular new TV shows, “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” followed by trailers for both the upcoming Disney+ series “Loki” and the upcoming movie “Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings,” Marvel fans have much to look forward to.

 “I am really excited about the continuation of phase 4,” James Fallon, a sophomore at Severna Park High School said. “So far, the movies and the series, wandavision and the falcons and the winter soldier, are amazing. I cannot wait for the Shang-Chi movie to come out because it looks like a movie in which I would really enjoy.”

The continuation of Marvel’s Phase 4 is highly anticipated, bringing new faces like Shang-Chi, the first Asian lead role in a Marvel movie, as well as spotlighting some fan favorites, such as Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes and Wanda Maximoff.  However, despite their great success, Marvel critics have always denounced their movies as soft, and child-centric. Nevertheless, MCU fans are still excited about the future projects.

“I think they’re going to be great as long as Disney doesn’t make it kid friendly,” Roey Sabasa, a sophomore from Old Mill High School said.

Disney, which owns Marvel, has often been criticized for watering down the violence in movies to make them more marketable and kid-friendly, and Marvel is not their first project to be labeled as such. The controversial, heavily criticized Star Wars sequel trilogy is an excellent example of this. Marvel has always tried to make their movies appeal to younger generations as well as older comic book fans. So why does Generation Z in particular love these movies so much?  

“I believe our generation likes the MCU so much because it is something that has never been done before to the scale the MCU is at,” Fallon said. “It is something different than what other movie universes are like and I think that is one of the main reasons our generation loves the movies.”

The MCU has been around for quite a while, since 2008, when their first movie, “Iron Man” was released. The years of newer movies released built a foundation for the franchise, creating lovable characters that Generation Z, in a certain sense, grew up with.