by Nathaniel R
Queen Bassett contemplates the future of Wakanda (as we contemplate the future of the MCU)
We try not to care about the MCU because it's become so dominant as to be oppressive on movie culture BUT we did grow up reading Marvel comic books so it's hard to look away. Phase Four of Marvel's Cinematic Universe has brought (comparatively) mixed reactions with people griping that the work is getting sloppier, particularly vfx and action-wise, in their rush to have literally dozens of subfranchises under the overall MCU umbrella. We'd also argue that they're getting a bit lazier in character development, trusting that comics lore and general fan culture will sell everything rather than putting the personality onscreen where it needs to be.
We hope it improves soon and if it's going to, Wakanda Forever (trailer below just dropped) would be the ideal place to right the ship what with a strong proven director and cast (Ryan Coogler and several cast members returning), a beloved property, and one of Marvel's most intriguing characters (at least on the page) being introduced...
Before we get to the timeline of future stuff, a quick recap of where Marvel is. In phase four the concept of the "multiverse" launched via WandaVision and Loki, and a ton of new characters were introduced as Marvel faced four simultaneous challenges: First, somehow replace three major departing movie stars with major screen presence (RDJ, Scarlett, and Chris Evans) post Endgame without losing the potency they brought; Second, diversify beyond casting handsome 30something white men named "Chris". Third, manage interconnected storylines as well as before with the now added difficulty of twice as many projects and thrice as many characters to braid into it; Fourth, create a whole new universe-sized threat to live up to the expectations set by "The Infinity Saga".
Marvel used to give us about two or three movies a year (without connecting tv series) but now we're getting four movies plus five shows per year. When will they reach oversaturation point? Who knows. For now the audience is still there even if the naysayers are getting louder. Here's is the timeline of the rest of Phase IV, plus some Phase V and Phase VI plans.
PHASE IV (remaining)
She-Hulk, Attorney at Law (Disney+) Aug 17th
Characters being introduced: Tatiana Maslany stars as the other Gamma-Radiation made green giant. Jameela Jamil plays her arch-enemy Titania. Various other Marvel actors reprise their roles. Nine episode series.
Werewolf By Night (Disney+) October 31st
Characters being introduced: Gael García Bernal leads this "Halloween Special" as Jack Russell while Laura Donnelly (The Nevers) plays Elsa Bloodstone. We love both those actors so we hope this is good. Rumors are we get "Man-Thing" for the first time, too.
Prince Namor (Tenoch Huerta) goes to war with Wakanda in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (d. Ryan Coogler) Nov 11th
Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett reprise their roles as the other members of royal family of Wakanda. Despite the loss of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman RIP) they must forge ahead. Major characters being introduced: The villain is Namor, the Submariner (Tenoch Huerta) who, like the X-Men's Magneto, has waffled between being a hero and a villain for decades in the comics. We'll also meet the teenage hero ReRe Williams (Dominique Thorn) who will become Ironheart (essentially a young female Iron Man).
P.S. on Phase IV. It's worth noting that both She-Hulk and Namor are often mixed up with The Fantastic Four in comic book stories so this could be a further way to set up that team's big introduction as the MCU makes the... fourth (yikes) attempt to bring their particular magic to the silver screen in a couple of years time. Is the property just unadaptable or will Kevin Feige and whoever is hired to direct / write / visualize / and act find a way?
PHASE V
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (d. Peyton Reed) Feb 17th, 2023
Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer all return to reprise their roles as the titular duo and their predecessors. Corey Stoll (who played Yellowjacket in 2015's Ant-Man) is returning, too, even though his character was kinda killed in the original. Bill Murray joins the cast as well in a villanous role though which role has not yet been revealed. Potentially major characters being introduced: (rumors) villains Modok and Krylar
Secret Invasion (Disney+) Spring 2023
Captain Marvel introduced to the shapeshifting "Skrulls" and in this series, SHIELD reacts as the Skulls live among us, disguised. Samuel L Jackson leads the cast as Nick Fury while Cobie Smulders, Ben Mendelsohn, and Don Cheadle all reprise their roles from previous Marvel movies. Characters being introduced: We don't know yet know who they're playing but Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami) is in a villainous role and Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Killian Scottt, Christopher McDonald, and Carmen Ejogo are also in the cast.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (d. James Gunn) May 5th, 2023
The third and supposedly final Guardians film will have everyone back to reprise their roles including Elizabeth Debicki as the golden-skinned villain Ayesha. Potentially major characters being introduced: Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).
Echo (Disney+) Summer 2023
Alaqua Cox reprises the titular role after being introduced in the Hawkeye series. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are returning as Matt Murdoch/Daredevil and Kingpin, though possibly only for cameos. We don't know. Potentially major characters being introduced: Unknown.
Loki Season 2 (Disney+) Summer 2023
Everyone is back for another round - six episodes again. Potentially major characters being introduced: Rafael Casal will play a "major" role but that role is not announced yet.
The Marvels (d. Nia DaCosta) July 28th, 2023
Brie Larson leads the cast as Captain Marvel while Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Paris) and Ms Marvel (Iman Velleni) also reprise their roles from Wandavision and Ms Marvel respectively. Potentially major characters being introduced? Unknown but the very talented Zawe Ashton (who is now engaged to Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston) is a villain and rising Korean star Park Seo-Joon (Itaewon Class) is also in the cast in an undisclosed role.
AFTER THIS POINT NOTHING HAS STARTED FILMING YET SO DETAILS ARE SCARCE.
Ironheart (Disney+) Fall 2023
ReRe Williams gets her own series. Anthony Ramos, Harper Anthony, Manny Montana, and Alden Ehrenreich will all be in it. Six episode series.
Blade (d. Bassam Tariq) Nov 3rd, 2023
Mahershala Ali takes over the role originally played by Wesley Snipes in this reboot about the adventures of a half vampire vampire hunter. Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre are also in the cast
Agatha: Coven of Chaos (Disney+) Winter 2023/2024
Kathryn Hahn reprises her Emmy nominated role. One wonders how this one will fit into the ongoing Marvel story since her evil role was obviously intended as a one-off until audiences went crazy for Hahn (as well they should).
Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+) Spring 2024
Charlie Cox returns as Matt Murdock / Daredevil. This series will be 18 episodes long ... which is triple the size of a normal Disney+ Marvel series! Just give Cox his own movie, damnit. He was perfect as Daredevil.
Captain America: New World Order (d. Julius Onah) May 3rd, 2024
Anthony Mackie begins headlining the Captain America franchise. (Technically he already picked up the shield in in the miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier but this will be the big screen outing to cement that promotion).
Thunderbolts (d. Jake Schrier) July 26th, 2024
We find this puzzling as a choice for a feature film but perhaps the MCU saw the success of the DCEU's Suicide Squad and thought 'why not a movie about villains /reformed villains/anti-heroes teaming up?' No cast or even characters have been announced though in the original interation of the team Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl in the MCU) was their leader. But really they could take this one in any direction (other than the many Spider-Man villains which Sony still owns) since practically 100 heroes/villains have cycled through this team including multiple characters from recent MCU movies and TV series. Potentially major characters being introduced into the official MCU: Who knows but we could see any of these: Moonstone, Man-Thing, Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike, Elektra, Songbird, Nighthawk, Goliath, Photon, Juggernaut... the list (seriously) goes on and on.
PHASE VI
...which concludes "The Multiverse Saga"
Was John Krasisinki's Reed Richards (aka Mr Fantastic) in "Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness" a one-off or will he reprise the role in "Fantastic Four"?
Fantastic Four (No Director Yet) Nov 8th, 2024
Avengers: Kang Dynasty (No Director Yet) May 2nd, 2025
Nothing is known yet beyond the fact that Jonathan Majors will play Kang the Conqueror since we already met him in the Loki series.
Avengers: Secret Wars (No Director Yet) Nov 7th, 2025
Obviously those will not be the only Marvel titles in Phase VI, given the size of the previous "phases".
PREDICTIONS/HOPES: We'll make a prediction though that by 2025 they won't risk having two Avengers movies arrive in just six months of each other in the same calendar year (especially after such a long wait between "team-ups"). So we're guessing Avengers Secret Wars doesn't arrive until May 2026 at the earliest to conclude this chapter. At any rate expect at least two (maybe three) more movies and three or four more Disney+ series in this time frame -- in particular a reboot of the very popular X-Men franchise now that it's part of the MCU. We're also hoping to see a sequel to Shang-Chi in here given that that was the best Phase IV movie to date.
Will Kit Harrington (The Black Knight) or Gemma Chan (Sersi) reprise their "Eternals" roles before this is all over?
A FINAL QUESTION: Will The Eternals come back before this phase ends, given the relative lack of success for that movie in the grand scheme of Marvel? Or will they just settle on developing Starfox (Harry Styles) or Black Knight (Kit Harrington) via their own Disney+ series or something since stories involving them were set up in the end credit tags.