A grand total of 13 MCU movies are releasing after Marvel’s What If…? The coronavirus pandemic made audiences wait more than a year before the release of any new MCU content, but 2021 is just starting to feel like business-as-usual. And with the addition of Disney+ shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Solider to the lineup, the MCU is keeping the year stocked with new characters, worlds, and stories.
Marvel’s What If…? season 1 ending makes it the sixth completed installment in the MCU’s Phase 4 so far. That being said, Marvel is not even being closed to being finished with Phase 4, as there’s still plenty left to see. Hawkeye, which is releasing in November and ending in late December, will close out 2021 for its TV show schedule, and will be followed up by Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and more in 2022. Similar to its Disney+ plan, Marvel has a loaded plate of MCU movies that will roll out over the next few years. Even though it’s already October, the studio still has two more left before kicking off its 2022 slate in March.
In comparison to what’s ahead in 2022 and 2023, Marvel’s 2021 movie schedule has been a bit light, with Black Widow not arriving until late June and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hitting theaters in September. Because of that, most of the MCU content consumed in Phase 4 has come from the shows, but that’s about to change in a big way, starting with Eternals.
The MCU isn’t done dealing with the fallout from its last major crossover, Avengers: Endgame. Based on an obscure Marvel Comics property, Eternals will bring about “The Emergence”, a new MCU threat caused by the team’s efforts to beat Thanos. But this time, it won’t be the Avengers who save the world. Instead, it will be up to a group of super-powered, alien immortals who have existed in secret for thousands of years, quietly sharing the Earth with humanity. The movie that introduces these characters – and classic Avengers hero Black Knight – will take viewers on a deep dive into the ancient history of the MCU.
Following adventures that paired him with Iron Man and Nick Fury respectively, Spider-Man will be back for a team-up with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Unlike all other Spider-Man movies preceding it, this particular struggle will involve magic, alternate timelines, and multiversal shenanigans. All of these differences aside, No Way Home will still feature some iconic Spider-Man villains, albeit from franchises outside the MCU. Spider-Man 2’s Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Electro (Jamie Foxx) are among those confirmed to appear.
After helping Spider-Man with his problem, Doctor Strange will get a team-up of his own via Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which will align him with Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. Exactly who they’ll be facing off against hasn’t been revealed yet, but the movie’s main antagonist will apparently put the fate of the entire multiverse at stake. To win, Strange will have to rely on help from Scarlet Witch, Wong (Benedict Wong), and new MCU hero America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). So far, Doctor Strange 2 is shaping up to be Phase 4’s biggest movie.
In May 2022, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor will become the first MCU character to have a fourth solo film. Serving as his eight big-screen outing, Thor: Love and Thunder will put him in the crosshairs of Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, a Marvel Comics villain with a grudge against the gods. Also joining the fray in Thor 4 are Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). After being absent from the MCU since 2013, Jane Foster will return with a bang by following in the footsteps of her comic counterpart to wield Mjolnir and become the Mighty Thor.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is an interesting project for Marvel Studios, given the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Somehow, the MCU’s Wakanda story will move forward without T’Challa, meaning that the new film will have to focus on his supporting cast and find a way to address his absence. As for what the people of Wakanda will be dealing with in Black Panther 2, the villain is reportedly Namor the Sub-Mariner, a Golden Age comic book anti-hero and the ruler of Atlantis. As one of the strongest characters Marvel has to offer, Black Panther 2’s heroes will need all the help they can get if the reports about Namor are true. It looks like some degree of assistance will be provided by Ironheart (Dominque Thorne) ahead of her Disney+ show.
It seems that team-ups are a common theme in Phase 4, as yet another one is happening in The Marvels, which will unite Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Ms. Marvel’s Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani). This will mark the first theatrical appearances for Monica, who developed super powers in WandaVision, and Kamala, who is expected to acquire a superhero alter ego in her Ms. Marvel show.
Arguably the most exciting element of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the main villain: Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Just how important Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne’s next story will be to the wider MCU was foreshadowed by Majors’ shocking guest appearance as He Who Remains in the Loki season finale. As a result of his death, Kang is now free to begin his long-awaited invasion. As one of the greatest villains in the Avengers’ massive rogues’ gallery, the 31st century time-traveler is sure to be a challenging – if not impossible – foe to defeat without the presence of a full Avengers team.
Star-Lord’s team of space-faring adventurers have three confirmed roles in Phase 4, the first of being the aforementioned Thor: Love and Thunder. Next up is James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which will release in late 2022. Finally, the Guardians will appear in the third and final installment in the arc for Gunn’s MCU characters. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will likely tie up the remaining loose ends, including the search for the 2012 Gamora (Zoe Saldana) from Avengers: Endgame.
2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the last Marvel movie with a set release date, but it won’t be the only movie releasing that year. It may be joined by Blade, which will star Mahershala Ali as the Marvel Comics vampire hunter. Ali’s take on the character that was made a household name by Wesley Snipes promises something different for the MCU, especially since the supernatural side of the Marvel Universe is one corner of its world that the movies haven’t really touched on yet.
An MCU adaptation of Marvel's First Family is officially in development and even has a logo and a director in Jon Watts, who will make this his next MCU project after No Way Home. Details are still forthcoming about the release date, the plot, and the cast. Even so, expectations are high, considering that a Fantastic Four movie set in the MCU is what fans have wanted for years. And now that Disney has the rights, it’s finally going to happen, potentially in 2023. Marvel has release dates open for July, October, and November.
If Fantastic Four and Blade are arriving in 2023, that last slot could end up going to Deadpool 3. Because of Deadpool being a 20th Century Fox character, Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth was previously part of the X-Men franchise, but now that the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the existing MCU characters all share the same roof, Deadpool 3 will officially be a Marvel Studios project. Plus, it’ll be R-rated, just likes its two predecessors. According to Reynolds, Deadpool 3 might begin filming in 2022, but nothing is certain.
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) fulfilling Steve Rogers’ wish and becoming Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wasn’t a one-and-done story. Instead, it would appear that the Disney+ series was actually setup for Captain America 4, which will be co-written by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman and one of the show’s staff writers, Dalan Musson. Depending on what the plans for the story are, Sam Wilson’s Captain America movie could also bring back other characters from the series, such as U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp), and of course, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Since the movie hasn’t been in development for long, it may be a while before anything comes to fruition.
The only thing that’s been confirmed about the MCU’s mutants is that they are getting a movie – eventually. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige teased "mutants" during SDCC 2019, but naturally didn’t offer any other information. There’s a chance that Marvel will build toward them slowly by introducing the mutant concept in a movie like Eternals, or perhaps work in a few individual X-Men characters in some of its upcoming films. Obviously, it could tie in well with Deadpool 3 on account of its heavy X-Men connections. Either way, a team of mutant superheroes is bound to come together sooner or later.
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