Eternals was not stand alone. they marketed the movie based on the back of Avengers and they had to spend time trying to explain how they never interfered when Thanos showed up. Shang Chi dropped all sort of unnecessary MCU reference and the movie looks just like this one. the same over done colourful appearance with obvious cgi. No Way Home is hardly stand alone, Dr Strange now seem to be hyped by the leftovers from Fox. I trust the rumours of Namor been in Black Panther 2 will turn out correct soon.
When I say stand alone, I mean The Batman kind of stand alone. this is what marvel needs now both in film making and story even if they are still part of a connected universe, the comics does not feature other crossovers at a rate of 90% like their movies does. Think Logan.
I always say the class should have graduated by now after Endgame but Disney seem to want to keep them in prep school forever, reason they cant let them stand on their own two feet without needing help. Thor does not need help from GOTG, to make him interesting or to put people in sits to make money. just even from the fact that he was an original member of Avengers. Not to mention his Norse mythology is rich. there is a lot of things to explore in his own universe. Every GOTG appearance here, feels like it is shrinking it and causing unnecessary distraction.