If phase 2 is all about looking inward and reflecting, I wonder if you could say phase 1 was all about looking forward/upward and becoming? (I don't know if that's just too simplistic though. I guess most movies have 'change' at the centre, particularly superhero ones.)
But, you could say IM1 and 2 were about Tony shedding his playboy persona and becoming someone better. Hulk is literally Bruce becoming something new. Thor becomes a person worthy of the crown. Cap 1, like Hulk, gets a literal transformation, but also on the personal, from a starry eyed recruit, to a soldier who has suffered losses in war. And the Avengers itself is about taking these disparate people and becoming a team.
no subject
But, you could say IM1 and 2 were about Tony shedding his playboy persona and becoming someone better. Hulk is literally Bruce becoming something new. Thor becomes a person worthy of the crown. Cap 1, like Hulk, gets a literal transformation, but also on the personal, from a starry eyed recruit, to a soldier who has suffered losses in war. And the Avengers itself is about taking these disparate people and becoming a team.