Marvel put on quite the show during its San Diego Comic Con panel in Hall H on Saturday with the reveal of the company’s next timeline of movies and Disney+ series, a collection they’re calling The Multiverse Saga. November’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be the final installment of Phase 4, and Ant-Man: QuantumMania will kickoff the MCU’s much anticipated Phase 5.
Most of these phase 5 projects have been in the pipeline now for a while, with some new projects rumored to be getting their own announcements. Others will be revealed at the D23 expo in September. These projects may be subject to change of course (remember Captain America: Serpent Society???), but it seems the entirety of Phase 5 is plotted out, along with three huge movies for Phase 6.
As usual with the MCU, there’s a lot of stuff coming out. Here’s the calendar so far:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: QuantumMania (Feb. 17, 2023)
Credit: Marvel Studios
Kicking off Phase 5 is the third installment in the Ant-Man series, bringing back Peyton Reed as director along with Kathryn Newton now playing Cassie Lang (Scott Lang’s daughter). QuantumMania will also serve as a sort of re-introduction of Jonathan Major’s Kang the Conqueror, albeit a different version of the character than the one we saw in Loki. Plus Bill Murray is in here too if you’re into that sort of thing.
Secret Invasion (Disney+, Spring 2023)
Credit: Marvel Studios
The upcoming Disney+ series will see Nick Fury and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn’s character from Captain Marvel) team up to unravel a conspiracy in which the shapeshifting aliens known as Skrulls have invaded the highest levels of Earth’s governments. The series will have a six-episode run and will be directed by Thomas Bezucha (Big Eden) and Ali Selem (Sweet Land), and written by Kyle Bradstreet (Mr. Robot). The cast for this one is absolutely stacked with Don Cheadle, Martin Freeman, and Colbie Smulders all reprising their roles as James “War Machine” Rhodes, General Ross, and Maria Hill respectively.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
Credit: Marvel Studios
After some slight controversy that saw him briefly let go from Marvel, James Gunn will return for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3. This will also be the last film for this particular team according to Gunn. In addition to Will Poulter (Midsommar, The Maze Runner) making his MCU debut as Adam Warlock, Guardians 3 will also explore the tragic origin story of Rocket Racoon.
Loki Season 2 & Echo (Disney+, Summer 2023)
Production is underway for both Season 2 of Loki and the new Disney+ series Echo, a spinoff from Hawkeye following Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez. Loki was confirmed to be getting a second season a while ago but at least now we have a release window.
The Marvels (July 28, 2023)
Credit: Marvel Studios
The sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel will see the return of Brie Larson as the titular Captain Marvel. Along with Larson, Teyonah Parris returns as Monica Rambeau as the movie explores what happens to her character in the aftermath of WandaVision. Directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman), much is unknown about the plot other than Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan will finally get to meet her idol, Carol Danvers.
Blade (Nov. 3, 2023)
Credit: Marvel Studios
Blade is back baby! WHOOOOOOO. No, Wesely Snipes will not reprise the role of the iconic half-human vampire hunter but Mahershala Ali is more than an excellent replacement. Bassam Tariq (Ghosts of Sugar Land) will direct with Delroy Lindo co-starring. Ali has been in the MCU, having previously played the villain Cornell Stokes aka Cottonmouth in Netflix’s Luke Cage series. His disembodied voice as Blade also makes an uncredited appearance in the after-credits scene of Eternals.
Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, & Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+, Fall and Winter 2023 & Spring 2024)
Credit: Marvel Studios
These three series will be coming to Disney+ in late 2023 with Daredevil to return to the MCU in 2024. Ironheart will focus on Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams aka Ironheart. Filming began in early June with Sam Bailey (You’re So Talented) and Angela Barnes set to direct.
Agatha: Coven of Chaos will serve as a “dark comedy” spinoff from WandaVision with Kathryn Hahn reprising her role as the titular witch Agatha Harkness. According to Deadline, Coven of Chaos is part of a larger deal with Hahn set to portray her character in additional shows and movies. Not much is known so far about the show as it hasn’t even hit production yet.
Finally, Charlie Cox will return to the MCU again after the unfortunate canceling of the Netflix Daredevil show as Disney tried to further distance its properties from the streaming service and drive viewers toward their own. The good news is that this new Daredevil show will consist of 18 episodes with Vincent D’Onofrio is also set to co-star to reprise his role as Kingpin.
Captain America: New World Order (May 3, 2024)
Credit: Marvel Studios
In the fourth entry in the Captain America franchise, Sam Wilson will don the shield once again in his MCU movie debut as the new Captain America. The movie’s title comes from the first episode title from Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and apart from that, not much is known about the plot. Julias Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) is set to direct.
Thunderbolts (July 26, 2024)
Credit: Marvel Studios
Thunderbolts is basically the Avengers, but if the Avengers committed morally questionable acts of violence in the name of justice (actually in hindsight, that also sounds like the Avengers). In the comics, they’re a team of “superheroes” meant to replace the Avengers after that group was declared dead — the twist being that the Bolts were actually villains in disguise. Regardless, the appearance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in Falcon and the Winter Soldier should have made it quite obvious that this team-up of villains would happen sooner or later. Thunderbolts will serve as the end for Phase 5 and previous MCU villains rumored to appear are Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker aka U.S Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Abomination (Tim Roth).
Phase 6
Fantastic Four (Nov. 8, 2024)
Credit: Marvel Studios
Marvel finally has the rights to the Fantastic Four! Maybe they can make a fantastic movie out of this property considering all four of the previous F4 movies are garbage (that’s not true we love 1994’s Fantastic Four, SERIOUSLY). After a recent cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that I wouldn’t want to spoil, it’s reasonable to wonder if that actor will play Mister Fantastic. In any case, the MCU’s Fantastic Four will kick off what seems to be a HUGE Phase 6.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty & Avengers: Secret Wars (May 2, 2025 & Nov. 7, 2025)
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced at Comic-Con that Phase 6 will have TWO Avengers films within six months of each other and will serve similarly as a two-part Multiverse Saga finale a-la Infinity War and Endgame. Going by title alone, Secret Wars has the potential to absolutely outclass Endgame in its sheer volume of cameos and appearances. That storyline in the 2015 Marvel comics series involved the collision of the main Marvel universe colliding with an alternate universe, which destroyed both and created the “Battleworld.” Given how close the release dates are for these films, let us pray Marvel and Disney don’t underpay and overwork their talented team of VFX artists to make all this movie magic happen.
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