Line #10 SerialEscalation/MarvelCinematicUniverse


1	Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, MCU set a very high standard for superhero films because of this trope.
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3	* Around half-way through ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'', Hawkeye almost crashes the helicarrier. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', [[spoiler:Cap, Black Widow and Falcon]] succeed in crashing ''three''.
4	* The climax of ''Film/IronMan1'' was ComicBook/IronMan versus a man in a giant PoweredArmor. The climax of ''Film/IronMan2'' is Iron Man and ComicBook/WarMachine against an army of robots plus a man in a giant PoweredArmor. Cue ''Film/IronMan3'', it's Iron Man, War Machine and an army of PoweredArmor (including a giant one, though it doesn't fight) against an army of superpowered humans.
5	* ''Film/{{Thor}}'' has somewhat big battles in isolated places (an ice world, a desert town, the Rainbow Bridge). Despite ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' retaining some action scenes in plains or wastelands, the big battles lay waste to both Asgard and Greenwich University.
6	* ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' was in both America and Europe, with the EvilPlan culminating in an invasion of [[BigApplesauce New York City]]. ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' doubles the continents (America, Europe, Africa and Asia) and has an even larger scale climax, [[spoiler:where a whole city is turned into a FloatingContinent so it can trigger an [[ApocalypseHow extinction-level]] ColonyDrop]]. ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' goes even further with Thanos, a villain who plans to kill half the universe [[spoiler:and succeeds]]. ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' goes up to eleven with a [[spoiler:alternate universe version of said villain who wants to rebuild the whole universe so no one will remember what he has done]]. ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If...?]]'' introduced a villain who killed Thanos in 5 seconds, and destroyed his entire universe. And Kang the Conqueror looks to be a villain that threatens not just one universe, but the entire multiverse.
7	* ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2014}}'' had the BigBad be a zealot who aspired to destroy a whole planet. [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 The sequel]] instead has a ''sentient planet'' who wanted to destroy the entire universe.
8	* Phase 3 itself is shaping up to be one before it even begins simply due to size -- the previous phases were each comprised of six films. Phase 3? ''Eleven''.
9	* Phase 4 ups the ante set by the Infinity Saga and then some. There are now TV shows and specials that are part of the main narrative. Instead of just one universe, we now have [[TheMultiverse a whole multiverse]] to deal with. We're introduced to an organization that dictated the whole of the Infinity Saga, and [[Characters/KangTheConqueror a villain]] primed to be even ''worse'' than Thanos. The FinalBoss of [[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 one of the installments]] is so powerful, he manged to one-shot Thanos, kill Captain Marvel, and effectively wipe out his entire universe. There's a CrisisCrossover with [[Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse three]] [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy seperate]] [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries universes]]. And that's only a third into the new saga!
10	* ''Film/{{Doctor Strange\|2016}}'' took place in one universe. ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' instead took place primarily in ''three'' of them.

Context SerialEscalation / MarvelCinematicUniverse