Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 Revealed

The next chapter after Endgame and Far From Home.

Jul 23, 2019

By: Noah Friscopp

San Diego Comic-Con 2019 kicked off this weekend and with it came a ton of announcements for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home marked the end of the 23 film long "Infinity Saga." Now we know what's next for the biggest collection of heroes, villains and cosmic adventures ever to hit the big screen. This new set of movies will be the fourth phase, with a fifth already confirmed. Even though Thanos is dealt with, the MCU isn't going anywhere any time soon. New movies and TV shows will be coming to both theatres and Disney's new streaming service, Disney+. There are SPOILERS ahead.

The Eternals

The Eternals might be one of the lesser-known Marvel series', but not for long. A new movie based on the comic series created by legendary Marvel artist Jack Kirby was announced. The Eternals follows a race of near-perfect people (the Eternals) that live forever and are engaged in a battle throughout history against their opposite, less perfect foes the Deviants. The Eternals have several different powers, including the basics like super strength and flight. What makes the Eternals special though is the ability to meld together and combine their abilities to create a transformation called the Uni-Mind. In the Uni-Mind form, each Eternal's abilities can be used at once, making them very powerful. The movie will star Richard Madden as Ikaris, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo and Maleficent's Angelina Jolie as Thena. The movie is coming next year on November 6^th, 2020.

It is about time for the lesser known Eternals to get some spotlight

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

We knew this one was on the way, but Marvel Studios' panel hosted in the famous Hall H of Comic-Con helped shed some light on the new series coming to Disney+. The show follows Sam Wilson AKA The Falcon, who now holds the responsibility of being the next Captain America after Endgame. Steve Rogers' best friend Bucky Barnes AKA The Winter Soldier is along for the ride, and if you remember Civil War, they didn't always see eye to eye with each other. The pair will be thrown into all-new adventures and battles against evildoers in the world after Endgame, and Civil War's villain Baron Zemo is set to return. The series will be airing on the service on November 12^th this year.

Will Falcon and the Winter Soldier be able to set aside their differences for the greater good?

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi is a Chinese Kung Fu master and has even joined The Avengers in the comics. In addition to his master martial arts skills, he also can create exact copies of himself. The last time we heard about the infamous terror organization The Ten Rings in the MCU was in Iron Man 3, where the group kidnapped Tony Stark. The leader of the group, The Mandarin is one of Tony's most dastardly villains in the comics. Iron Man 3 portrayed him as little more than an actor made to scare the world with threats. This apparently isn't the case, and the real Mandarin exists and is nearly ready to reveal himself. This one is a little way out, releasing on February 12^th, 2021.

A martial arts movie isn't something we have seen before in the MCU

WandaVision

WandaVision is a DIsney+ series starring Scarlet Witch and Vision. Not much else is known about the series, other than it is coming out the Spring of 2021.

How will Vision come back?

Loki

The God of Mischief Loki is also getting his own series. Since we saw him fall at the beginning of Infinity War, this Loki will most likely be the one that escaped with the Tesseract during the "Time Heist" of Endgame.

Tom Hiddleston returns to play Thor's brother and the God of Mischief in his own series

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The Multiverse first introduced in Doctor Strange will be in full swing in Phase Four, with Doctor Strange's second full-length adventure arriving in 2021. This time, Dr. Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme will team up with Wanda AKA Scarlet Witch in a mind-bending journey through time and space. This movie also promises to bring some scares along with the incredible magic we saw in the first movie.

Multiverse of Madness promises to be the first scary MCU movie

What If...?

What If...? is the first animated series taking place in the MCU.This that will look at different possibilities of the Marvel Universe and it's various timelines to see what would change if things happened differently. Many of the movies' stars are returning to voice their famous roles, including Josh Brolin as Thanos.

There are so many possibilities for this new series, like what if Tony Stark never became Iron Man?

Hawkeye

Marvel's deadeye archer is getting a series of his own, with the comics' Kate Bishop joining the fray. Kate Bishop inherits the title of Hawkeye after Clint Barton died (for a while) and when he was brought back to life, Clint trained Kate in all of his skills. With Clint still being alive in the MCU, things are bound to happen a little differently. With Phase 4 being about passing on the responsibility of the older heroes to a new generation, there is no better time for Kate to enter the MCU and see which archer is the better shot.

The title of Hawkeye will be passed down from Clint Barton to Kate Bishop

Thor: Love and Thunder

The follow-up to the hilarious and action-packed Thor: Ragnorok is coming November 5^th, 2021 from writer/director Taika Waititi. With Thor leaving Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Endgame, there will be no doubt be plenty of cosmic hijinks as well as the return of Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman. Thor's former romantic interest will become worthy of the Hammer Mjolnir and become The Mighty Thor just like in the comics.

Another adventure for Thor, Valkyrie, and his friends to embark on, along with the return of Jane Foster

Black Widow

Natasha Romanoff is finally getting her own movie in Black Widow, the very first movie in Phase 4 coming on May 1^st, 2020. The film is taking place in between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War in the time when Widow, Cap, and Falcon were on the run. Famous Marvel villain Taskmaster is in the movie, who you may recognize from Spider-Man PS4 and the trailer for next year's Avengers video game.

The second prequel in the MCU after Captain Marvel, we'll see what Black Widow was up to after Civil War

Blade

A surprise announcement came as Mahershela Ali was revealed to be playing Eric Brooks AKA the famous vampire hunter Blade in a new movie. This one is a bit further out and will be apart of Phase 5 so don't expect it for quite a while. Ali approached Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige with the idea, and nobody could refuse. The idea of vampires existing in the MCU is hardly that far-fetched in a world full of superpowers and aliens, but it will still be an interesting new threat that we haven't seen before in the MCU.

Adding vampires to the MCU will certainly shake things up

The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and Other Projects

Kevin Feige teased the idea of Marvel's first family, the Fantastic Four as well as mutants joining the MCU at the end of the panel, but no official details were said about any movies or shows being made just yet. I would not doubt the possibility of both of these groups appearing sometime during Phase 5, but with mutants not being present (that we know of) in the MCU up to this point, it is difficult to say how the X-Men will be introduced. This isn't even accounting for the other movies not listed here that we know are coming eventually like the sequels to Black Panther and Captain Marvel. The Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man are also getting new movies, we just don't know when. Either way, even though we are now pastthe colossal event of Endgame, there is still a whole lot of Marvel left to check out in the years to come.