F ans have been adrift in the Wonder Cinematic Universe . Since Avengers: Endgame , the epic finale to the so-called Infinity Saga , Marvel has released 12 movies and TV shows in what studio head Kevin Feige calls “Phase 4” of the MCU, none of which have felt particularly connected to one another.
The sheer length of the television series on Disney+ means it’s harder for casual fans to keep up with the goings-on from the MCU. And Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury no longer pops up in post-credits scenes of the particular films in order to connect the dots from movie to movie and hint at some looming threat. Many happen to be left wondering, where is this all going?
For over a decade, Marvel Studios has made a habit of revealing its future films at San Diego Comic-Con’s storied Hall H. And during Saturday’s Wonder Studios panel, Kevin Feige set out to assure fans that, yes, there is a plan. And, yes, the particular events associated with Moon Knight and Doctor Strange plus Loki and Wakanda Forever are all somehow related. And, yes, the Avengers will return in some form.
Feige teased Phase five and Phase 6 of the MCU, which he said will culminate in two ensemble Avengers movies: Avengers: The particular Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars . Plus don’t worry, Fantastic Four and X-Men fans. Those superheroes will invade the MCU soon enough.
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Here’s everything you need to know about the future associated with Marvel.
Wakanda Permanently will end Phase 4
Phase 4 has been a bit of the mess. After Avengers: Endgame , Marvel found itself without some of the marquee heroes—particularly Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), plus Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), who almost all retired from the superhero business. Unexpectedly, the particular studio also lost Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020 . Boseman, one of Marvel’s bright new stars, would have anchored the franchise.
Even as Wonder tried to create new characters to headline its collection, like Florence Pugh’s Yelena, and promote familiar ones, like Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch , to more prominent roles, fate intervened. The pandemic screwed upward Marvel’s planned release schedule. ( Doctor Strange within the Multiverse of Madness , for instance, was supposed in order to premiere before Wandavision , not after it. The switch-up fored the writers to change major plot points. )
Marvel tacitly acknowledged the worldwide chaos associated with the last several years in the opening seconds of its panel at Comic-Con. Miss Minutes, the insidious cartoon clock from Loki , greeted thousands associated with fans waiting for news on their favorite superheroes. “You survived a looping, endless apocalypse and made it here to a Comic-Con screen at the end of time, ” she said.
Feige echoed the sentiment. “This phase has been about resetting the particular MCU and meeting all these new figures, ” this individual said of Phase four. He added that Stage 4 may soon conclude with the final show and a film: The She-Hulk series starring Tatiana Maslany as Bruce Banner’s cousin and the long-awaited Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever .
Marvel concluded its -panel on Saturday using the Wakanda Forever trailer. Before he introduced the teaser, writer-director Ryan Coogler recalled Boseman grabbing his shoulder in excitement when Coogler debuted the first Black Panther trailer at Comic-Con in 2017. “I promise I can feel his hand on me now. Chad is no longer with us physically, but their spirit, his passion, their genius, his pride plus his culture, and the particular impact he or she made on this industry will be felt forever, ” the filmmaker said. “We put our love for Chadwick into this film. ”
The Wakanda Forever footage centered on character types like Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and Shuri (Letitia Wright) mourning T’Challa (Boseman). The truck gave audiences their first glance at Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a genius who builds her own Iron Man-like suit and takes on the Metal Man mantle. She can star within her own Disney+ series, Ironheart , in the next phase associated with the MCU.
In Wakanda Forever, all those characters will certainly gear up to fight a group of amphibious humans who dwell in Atlantis lead by Namor (Tenoch Huerta). In the comics, Wakanda has clashed with Atlantis before. It’s unclear what might bring them to blows in the particular new film.
At the very end of the movie trailer, we see the iconic Dark Panther claws come away, but not that has donned the match. Feige has been explicit that will Marvel will not recast the T’Challa role. But fans have theorized the Shuri, Nakia, or perhaps even the parallel universe Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan, who else played the particular role inside the original film and is a longtime collaborator associated with Coogler’s) might at least wear T’Challa’s old gear. (The gold piping upon the fit, which Killmonger had in Black Panther hints that the multiverse may bring Killmonger back to us. )
In an emotional moment, Coogler as well as the cast hugged 1 another onstage as the trailer ended.
Kang will be the following big bad in Phases 5 & Phase six
Thanos (Josh Brolin) tied the particular early Wonder movies together. Beginning with Avengers , the purple, genocidal alien loomed large as the main threat in order to the world. He popped up inside post-credits moments and produced cameos within Guardians of the Galaxy plus Thor: Ragnarok . Even when he didn’t appear in a film, the Infinity Stones he coveted did. The particular audience knew for years that, inevitably, the particular Avengers would have to fight him—and, in one of the best twists inside blockbuster cinema—travel back in time in order to fight him again. Each film slowly built toward that moment, and he gave all our heroes a reason to band together with each other.
During the panel at Comic-Con, Kevin Feige hinted that Kang the Conquerer may serve a similar purpose in Stages 5 and 6 of the MCU. He invited actor Jonathan Majors onstage and launched him since the villainous genius who wants to conquer the multiverse. Kang may serve as the villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , but that will be just the beginning of their quest with regard to power.
“There’s a very special reason this is kicking off Phase 5, ” Feige said associated with Quantumania . “And you just met your pet right there, Mr. Jonathan Majors. ” Feige then revealed that will the penultimate film in Phase 6 will be titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty . (More on Phase six later. )
So Majors is the future of Marvel. Given Majors’ stunning debut playing the Kang variant within the television show Loki , that’s great information. In just a single episode of that series , it became clear that Kang would pose a larger existential danger in order to the MCU than Thanos ever did.
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The title Avengers: The Kang Empire holds another essential clue to Marvel’s future. There will be another Avengers team. Who, exactly, will make up that team remains to be seen. But Phase 5 is usually setting the board.
The particular Thunderbolts will be our street-level villains
If Kang the Conquerer is focused upon conquering the entire multiverse, there must be some other villainous threats that are more local, right? Most likely that will team is going to be lead simply by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She has been recruiting a crew of anti-heroes and villains in the end-credits scenes associated with shows and movies Falcon plus the Winter Soldier and Black Widow .
Now we know that team will become named the particular Thunderbolts. The comics originally presented the Thunderbolts while a team of heroes who came together right after the Avengers were declared dead. But eventually they revealed themselves to end up being supervillains within disguise.
Given that Iron Man plus Black Widow are dead, and Captain America and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are usually retired, it makes sense that the particular Thunderbolts might arrive about the scene now to take advantage of the dearth of A-list Avengers on the picture. (Sorry, Hulk. )
Thunderbolts embers could include Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), Yelena (Pugh), plus John Walker (Wyatt Russell), among others. Given that Sam Wilson offers already butted heads with both Baron Zemo and John Walker in his show, it is safe in order to guess he’ll fight the Thunderbolts in one or multiple films.
The Fantastic Four and Secret Battles finally arrive in Phase 6
As fantastic like the Thunderbolts might sound, Marvel Companies knows that followers expect something even bigger through the MCU. Specifically, these people expect an Avengers movie. That’s why Feige went ahead plus teased three movies set to release within the far-off Stage 6 from the MCU: The particular long-awaited reboot of the Fantastic 4 franchise, the particular Avengers vs. Kang movie, and Secret Wars .
Now prior to you get too excited by the above photo, understand that no one from Wonder has confirmed that Steve Krasinski is coming back to play Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four films. In fact, Marvel Broadcasters seemed to cast Krasinski within the part of a parallel-universe Reed Richards inside Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Craziness just to gruesomely kill him and thereby send the (playful, if a bit dark) message to viewers about their own fan-casting fantasies.
On to the two announced Avengers film: The Kang Dynasty and Key Wars . We don’t know yet who can make up this particular new Avengers team, yet Marvel offers plenty of pieces in place, including Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) Doctor Unusual (Benedict Cumberbatch), and perhaps Spider-Man if Tom Holland decides to return as Peter Parker.
Based on the name of the film, we can expect Kang Empire to see Kang striving in order to accomplish his goal associated with conquering the multiverse. How Kang’s quest will set up Secret Wars remains to be seen. The Wonder Comics have written 2 Secret Battles storylines. In the 1980s version of Secret Wars , all the superheroes are teleported to a battle arena planet in order to fight. A 2015 iteration of the particular story gets a bit more complex: The action begins along with an incursion, or two timelines crashing into each other with devastating consequences. (We’ve already observed an incursion in Doctor Strange within the Multiverse associated with Madness . ) The particular characters which survive live in a post-apocalyptic universe called Battleworld that is policed by a bunch of different versions of Thor called the Thor Corps. And, yes, there’s lots of face-offs between favorite superheroes.
The X-Men are usually coming…soon…probably
What about the X-Men? Feige mentioned nary a mutant during the Comic-Con panel. That said, a variant Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) already appeared in Multiverse of Madness . And Wandavision planted the particular seeds for a storyline. (Wanda has canonically been both an X-Men and a good Avenger in the comics. Now that Disney owns Fox and thus the rights to the mutants, they will rewrote Wanda’s history to give the girl powers in birth, implying that she is a mutant. )
The particular era from the multiverse would seem the perfect time in order to introduce the particular X-Men since a group of young heroes that have been training from Professor X’s school in a parallel universe. Somehow, they get pulled into the main MCU plot. Yet Phase five seems to be full. So we likely won’t see any mutants again until Phase 6.
Phases 4-6 are now the “Multiverse Saga”
If Stages 1-3 were the “Infinity Saga, ” in which the characters and evil doers gathered up various Infinity Stones just before engaging in an Infinity War , Feige has dubbed phases 4-6 the “Multiverse Saga. ” The name makes sense: Increasingly the movies and TV shows wrangle with all the question of how the various parallel universes in Marvel intersect.
Within the comics, the Secret Wars storyline terminated many universes within the multiverse, save fan-favorite strands, essentially hitting the reset button on the whole of Marvel comics. Could Wonder be heading for a hard reboot as well? Perhaps. Or maybe they’re simply looking for a way to integrate the X-Men (a key part associated with the Key Wars storyline) into the particular saga.
All the dates and details for the future MCU movies and shows
Ant-Man as well as the Wasp: Quantumania (Feb. 17, 2023)
Marvel dropped a sneak peak of the third Ant-Man movie for enthusiasts at Comic-Con. At the beginning of the particular movie, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang (Ant-Man) has written a book about how he helped conserve the world. His family, which includes daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), girlfriend plus fellow crimefighter Hope (Evangeline Lilly because The Wasp), and her mother and father (Michelle Pfeiffer plus Michael Douglas) are rather sick associated with hearing your pet talk about their heroics. Then they just about all get sucked into the Quantum Realm, where they encounter Kang the Conquerer and some unknown character played by none other than Bill Murray.
Secret Invasion (Spring 2023)
Secret Invasion also got a Comic-Con exclusive teaser. The show is a spy thriller tv series dedicated to Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. Fans of Chief Marvel will recall the particular Skrull alien race who can disguise on their own as people. In this show, the Skrulls are usually impersonating heroes we know and love, plus it’s impossible to determine someone’s true identity. Fury, who also has already been avoiding earth since the particular events of Endgame , finally returns to deal with the Skrull invasion. The display also stars Emilia Clarke, Cobie Smulders, Olivia Coleman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Ben Mendelsohn.
Guardians associated with the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
Director James Gunn took the particular stage with Comic-Con in order to introduce the teaser trailers and reveal that Vol. 3 will certainly, indeed, be the last entry in the Guardians saga. Within the video footage, Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord finally reunites with a variant of Zoe Saldana’s Gamora. But this particular version of Gamora still doesn’t know who Star-Lord is, leaving our hero heartbroken.
But the main plot centers on the origin associated with Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper). We see that will as an adorable baby raccoon, poor Rocket was experimented upon and turned into the particular talking, blaster-toting creature he is today. Life type advancement seems to be at the heart of the movie: The main antagonists are Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a perfect Sovereign created by Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) in order to help her destroy the Adults of the particular Galaxy on the finish of the second Guardians film, and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a new character whose main purpose is definitely to advance lifeforms through experimentation.
Echo (Summer 2023)
Echo (Alaqua Cox) from Hawkeye is getting her very own spinoff. It’s a major milestone since Echo is the particular first deaf superhero within the Marvel Cinematic World. Given Echo’s involvement with the gangster Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), it’s likely that Replicate will crossover with Kingpin’s other business, Daredevil. Wonder has not yet verified whether Hailee Steinfeld, whom played Hawkeye’s protégé Kate Bishop, may also appear in the collection. Kate can be poised to be a major player in any kind of future Avengers team.
The Marvels (July 28, 2023)
Feige didn’t share much regarding the Captain Marvel sequel at Comic-Con. But we know that Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) will appear alongside Brie Larson’s Chief Marvel in the film. Candyman’ s Nia DaCosta is directing.
Loki, Season 2 (Summer 2023)
Aside from Miss Minutes, Marvel did not tease anything from Loki , Season 2 . No doubt Kang will end up being a connective tissue between this new season of Loki and films like Quantumania .
Blade (Nov. 3, 2023)
At the last MCU Comic-Con section in 2019, Mahershala Ali announced that this individual would play the iconic role of Blade, the particular vampire hunter. Ali has not yet appeared in the Marvel movie, though supporters heard his voice in an end-credits scene regarding The Eternals . That film seemed to hint at a bigger, darker underbelly to the MCU that would include characters like Black Dark night (Kit Harington).
Ironheart (Fall 2023)
After making her first appearance in Wakanda Forever , the personality of Riri Williams will star within her own Disney+ TV series. If the Wonder Studios folks are planning in order to rebuild the particular Avengers group, Ironheart seems an obvious inheritor from the Metal Man function.
Agatha: Coven associated with Chaos (Winter 2023-2024)
Wandavision breakout star Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) is getting the girl own television series. Marvel provides remained mum on the details, but the name suggests viewers will obtain to find out a lot more of the particular witchcraft that will the Scarlet Witch wielded in Physician Strange .
Daredevil: Born Again (Spring 2024)
Fans of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, rejoice! The fan-favorite character who have starred in his own Netflix series gets ported over to Disney+ for a whole new TV show. Feige revealed that the first season will have 18 episodes, a good unusual commitment for Marvel who tends to limit its shows to six or eight installments. Feige furthermore confirmed that Kingpin, exactly who appeared in that Netflix Daredevil series plus again within the Disney+ show Hawkeye , will be the primary antagonist inside Born Once again .
Captain America: The New World Order (May 3, 2024)
Right after the events of Falcon and the particular Winter Enthusiast , Anthony Mackie’s Mike Wilson has finally graduated towards the title of Captain America. That will show’s creator, Malcolm Spellman, is set in order to pen Sam’s cinematic first because the varied superhero. That he’ll become fighting is certainly unclear, though the Thunderbolts are good candidates.
Thunderbolts (July 26, 2024)
Phase five will end using the Thunderbolts, a villainous team that’s been gradually coming together in the end-credits scenes of various Wonder movies and Television shows.
The great Four (Nov. 8, 2024)
Zero word however on director or casting for the particular long-awaited Wonderful Four film. But considering the Amazing Four plus their nemesis Doctor Doom play an important role in the Secret Battles comics, there is a good chance this movie becomes the marquee franchise associated with Phase six of the MCU.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2, 2025)
Aside from Kang, we have absolutely no idea who may appear within this movie. Possible members of a future Avengers team include Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Chief Marvel, yet also newcomers like Yelena taking in her old sister’s role as the Dark Widow of the group, and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) taking over for her mentor, Hawkeye.
Avengers: Secret Wars (Nov. 7, 2025)
Secret Battles has historically served as a reset switch in the comic books, giving authors the opportunity to eliminate characters, storylines, and universes that weren’t working. Whether Marvel intends to reshuffle the deck in late Stage 6, since they do at the particular end associated with Phase 3, is unclear.
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