Marvel Studios is set to roll its curtain down on Phase 4, and has revealed future plans for its cinematic universe at the recently concluded San Diego Comic-Con 2022. The studio announced an exciting line-up of live-action and animated projects in its next phases from 2023-2025.
Phases 5 and 6 feature new titles with familiar faces, starting with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and leading up to not just one but two back-to-back Avengers movies with much to explore in between in the Multiverse.
If you’ve missed those announcements and want more information, here is everything you need to know about Marvel’s latest slate of projects set to release on the big screen:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Release date: February 17, 2023
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be the beginning of Phase 5. That film is expected to reveal more mysteries of the pivotal Quantum Realm universe; it will be the first official introduction of Jonathan Majors as Kang (the big bad of this Multiverse Saga) and will debut a new young hero when Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) suits up as well.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Release date: May 5, 2023
James Gunn will be ending his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy with this film – and he and the cast and crew are letting fans know in no uncertain terms that it is going to be an ending. The movie will be introducing some key cosmic figures – Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) – and it’s here that we begin to see a possible pattern forming in Phase 5: powerful villains rising in ways our heroes may not be ready for.
The Marvels
Release date: July 28, 2023
The Captain Marvel movie franchise will meet the Ms. Marvel TV series (with help from WandaVision’s Monica Rambeau) to form a new trifecta of cosmic-powered superheroines in the MCU. Plot details are unknown, but Ms. Marvel left us with a place-switching connection between Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), so that’s something. Based on other projects like Secret Invasion, The Marvels could have some serious Kree/Skrull drama to resolve – and again, we could be looking at a major shakeup in the cosmic order, as a result.
Blade
Release date: November 3, 2023
The Marvel Knights supernatural side of things has been teased through Moon Knight and Eternals’ post-credits scene, but Blade is the film that will really open the door to it all. Blade could be a pivotal dark horse story whose significance we can’t yet fully understand.
Captain America: New World Order
Release date: May 3, 2024
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has taken up the shield and mantle, but it sounds like the timing could be rather unfortunate. In the comics, the New World Order organization was founded by Red Skull in a clandestine plot to take over the world. There have been many similar stories in Marvel lore since then (Leviathan) that could be streamlined into the premise of Captain America 4. Either way, it sounds like Sam will find out there are some truly seedy (world threatening) things happening in the world of politics and espionage.
Thunderbolts
Release date: May 3, 2024
The end of MCU Phase 5 will be Thunderbolts – a series that started as a team of villains posing as heroes. Given everything we’ve seen in Phase 5 leading up to it, Thunderbolts makes us wonder if Phase 5 will end with a new world order of villains holding the reigns, and heroes left on the run.
While those Marvel Phase 5 plans took their rightful place in the spotlight at Comic-Con 2022, Marvel also announced the first three projects in its Phase 6 slate
Fantastic Four
Release date: November 8, 2024
MCU reboot of the Fantastic Four will be released in November of 2024, marking the first movie in Phase 6 and kickstarting the road to Secret Wars. This movie will be necessary to get to the final film of The Multiverse Saga as Marvels’ first family play a major role in that storyline.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty
Release date: May 2, 2025
The summer of 2025 will kick off with Avengers 5, subtitled The Kang Dynasty and set to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. What’s unclear about the film is…who will be part of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in this movie? One guess is that Captain Marvel and Hulk have continued the team, as seen at the end of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Avengers: Secret Wars
Release date: November 7, 2025
The Multiverse Saga will officially conclude with this title, as the Avengers: Secret Wars will seemingly draw from the Jonathan Hickman-penned reboot of the title from 2015, one that combined multiple different Earths/timelines/universes into one planet, the all-new Battle World.
Sources: Techradar, Comicbook.com and Boxoffice Pro
Women – directors and actors, are set to take charge of Hollywood in 2020!
According to World Economic Forum, the number of women behind the camera on Hollywood movies jumped to record levels in 2019, with 12 directing top-grossing films including Frozen II, Captain Marvel and Hustlers.
Additionally, a study by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California found that women made up 10.6% of directors of the top movies last year, more than double the percentage in 2018 and the highest percentage of female directors in the past decade.
2020 is already off to a good start with five of the year’s most anticipated blockbusters – Bird of Prey, Mulan, Black Widow, Wonder Woman 1984 and Eternals – all directed by women.
Birds Of Prey
Director: Cathy Yan
Release Date: February 6, 2020
Birds of Prey, will be DC’s first venture in 2020 and the first movie from the studio to come after Todd Phillips’ acclaimed Joker movie. The movie stars Margot Robbie – reprising her famous role of Harley Quinn, and will feature a few other leading ladies such as Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Rosie Perez (to name a few).
Mulan
Director: Niki Caro
Release Date: March 26, 2020
Disney’s next live action remake will not be a musical and is missing the indestructible Mushu in its first trailer. However, audiences need not fret, as this version of Mulan from Niki Caro is paving its own path and staying clear of mimicking the 1998 animated classic.
Black Widow
Director: Cate Shortland
Release Date: April 30, 2020
One of Marvel’s big releases this year will be by a female director – Cate Shortland, and follows a leading superhero – Natasha Romanoff (also known as Black Widow) played by Scarlett Johansson. Black Widow’s solo movie has been a long time coming as a result of Scarlett Johansson’s character being a popular in the Avengers series. The story of Natasha Romanova should give audiences a real chance to see her in action and outside the realm of an ensemble movie.
Wonder Woman 1984
Director: Patty Jenkins
Release Date: June 4, 2020
As a sequel starring a popular DC comics character, it’s no real surprise that Wonder Woman 1984 – directed by yet another leading female director Patty Jenkins, is topping the list of most anticipated movies in 2020. Gal Gadot will also be back to reprise her role of Diana Prince, with Kristen Wiig taking on the role of Barbara Minerva (better known as Cheetah) – the archenemy of Wonder Woman.
Eternals
Director: Chloé Zhao
Release Date: October 29, 2020
In April 2018, Marvel Studios announced that they will be developing a film based on the Comic book series Eternals. Directed by Chinese film director Chloé Zhao – known for The Rider, the film will star leading female actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Gemma Chan, alongside Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington and Richard Madden. The Eternals are immortal aliens who should possibly offer much to the cosmic side of Marvel’s Phase Four.
According to a list of the most anticipated movies of 2020 by Fandango, around half will be led by women. It’s also worth pointing out that from this list, the top four movies are female-directed.
Visit the Movie Planner section of our website to watch trailers of other upcoming movies in 2020.
Sources: Variety, World Economic Forum and Fandango.
