When Marvel started dropping ominous references to “Phase Two” and “Phase Three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most right-thinking people assumed these were simply marketing terms that had nothing to do with anything in the films themselves. But give Kevin Feige a hand: In an interview with CinemaBlend, the MCU head revealed that all the disparate films in phase two — Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the forthcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man — are united by a common Star Wars reference: “Somebody gets their arm cut off in every Phase Two movie. Every single one.” Feige says the trend started by accident, but he likened the comparison to the most beloved Star Wars film: “Is Phase Two our Empire Strikes Back? Not really, but tonally things are a little different [from Phase One].” Feige admitted he was spoiling Ant-Man by spilling the beans, but since ants have six arms each, there will likely be a lot to choose from.
