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.