Upcoming Marvel Movies: Here’s What’s Next in Phase Four and Beyond
Black Widow
Status: In post-production
Director: Cate Shortland
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Rachel Weisz, Florence Pugh, O-T Fagbenle and David Harbour
What We Know So Far: Marvel Studios has been developing a Black Widow spinoff movie for a long time, and they were finally ready to pull the trigger after Avengers: Endgame. The studio worked with Scarlett Johansson to find the right director, interviewing hundreds of candidates for the job before landing on indie filmmaker Cate Shortland. The plot is under wraps, but the film is said to chronicle Natasha Romanoff’s time as a spy before the events of Avengers: Infinity War, even delving into her life pre-The Avengers. Harbour is playing Red Guardian, which in the comics was the USSR equivalent of Captain America. Pugh, meanwhile, is playing Yelena, a character who in the comics took on the mantle of Black Widow after Natasha. The film was set for release in May 2020 but was delayed due to coronavirus concerns, first to November and then to 2021. It will be released in theaters.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Release Date: July 9, 2021Status: In post-production
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Writer: Dave Callaham
Cast: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, and Tony Leung
What We Know So Far: With Shang-Chi, Marvel is looking to produce its first superhero movie with an Asian lead. The film is based on a comics character created in the early 1970s by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin and was born out of Marvel Comics’ desire to acquire the rights to the TV series Kung Fu, which they were denied. Instead, they acquired the rights to the villain Fu Manchu and created Shang-Chi as a son of Fu Manchu. In the comics, Shang-Chi was raised and trained by his father in martial arts, but when he learned his father was actually evil, he turned against him. Marvel intends to fill out the ensemble with a mostly Asian cast, looking towards Black Panther as a template for how this kind of movie should be put together. Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton won the directing gig over other candidates that included Alan Yang (Master of None) and Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian).
The film will introduce the MCU's real Mandarin, to be played by Tony Leung, following the fake-out of the character in Iron Man 3. Filming was taking place in Australia but was shut down over coronavirus concerns. As a result, the film's release date was pushed back from February 2021 to May, and then to July.
Eternals
Release Date: November 5, 2021
Status: In post-production
Director: Chloe Zhao
Cast: Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, and Kit Harington as Dane Whitman (aka Black Knight), with Angelina Jolie as Thena and Barry Keoghan.
What We Know So Far: Eternals is based on a comics series created by Jack Kirby and revolves around a group of superpowered and nearly immortal beings. Marvel enlisted acclaimed The Rider director Chloe Zhao to take the helm. Filming began in Fall 2019 and was completed in 2020. The film was set for release in November 2020 but was delayed due to coronavirus concerns, first to February 2021 then to November 2021, swapping places in the MCU order with Shang-Chi.
Untitled Spider-Man: Far from Home Sequel
Release Date: December 17, 2021
Status: Filming
Director: Jon Watts
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, Andrew Garfield, Kirsten Dunst, and Jamie Foxx
What We Know So Far: Just as Spider-Man: Far from Home was hitting theaters worldwide, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures were locked in contentious negotiations regarding the extension of their partnership on future Spider-Man films. Briefly, Sony still holds the license to Spider-Man, but starting with Spider-Man: Homecoming brought Marvel Studios and its president Kevin Feige onboard to serve as the lead creative producer to help steer the direction of that film (a reboot), and subsequently its sequel given how well Homecoming performed. In summer 2019 talks between both sides broke down over how to proceed (Disney wanted a bigger cut of the box office in exchange for paying for some of the production, while Sony wanted to keep the status quo), but in September the two sides came to an agreement on at least one more Spider-Man movie starring Holland (who will also appear in one more unnamed MCU film). Far from Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are reportedly returning to pen the screenplay, with Jon Watts back in the director's chair.
Filming on this sequel was due to begin in Summer 2020, and the expediency with which Sony was moving forward forced a delay on another Holland project, Uncharted, which subsequently forced that film's director Travis Knight to depart. After the coronavirus, all that changed. Holland shot Uncharted first, in Summer and Fall of 2020, before moving directly into shooting Spider-Man 3. In April 2020, we learned the third Spider-Man movie was saddled with a new November 2021 release date, which was then pushed further to December after COVID delayed filming.
But as filming began, huge news started to break and it became clear that this sequel will open up the multiverse. Jamie Foxx is playing Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Alfred Molina is returning as Doc Ock from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, and even previous Spider-Men Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire are expected to have at least cameos in this thing. Now it makes total sense that Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange has a mentor-like role in the film, akin to the role Tony Star played in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Release Date: March 25, 2022
Status: In pre-production
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor
What We Know So Far: While 2016’s Doctor Strange was no doubt intended to start a new franchise, the follow-up was put on the backburner so Benedict Cumberbatch’s character could take a key role in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. In December 2018, it was revealed that Derrickson had quietly closed a deal to return and direct the Doctor Strange sequel, and at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 Marvel confirmed that Derrickson and Cumberbatch would be returning for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Derrickson described the sequel as the first "scary" MCU film, and it will co-star Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, with events that tie directly into the Disney+ series WandaVision releasing months before Doctor Strange 2. Jade Hailey Bartlett is onboard to write the screenplay.
However, in January 2019 it was announced that Derrickson was departing the project over "creative differences," although he will maintain an executive producer credit. It was reported that filming is still on track to begin in May 2019, with Spider-Man and Evil Dead filmmaker Sam Raimi entering negotiations to take the helm.
Filming was due to begin in June 2020, but that was scrapped after the coronavirus shutdown. The movie was first pushed back from its original release date of May 2021 to November 2021. In April 2020, it was announced Doctor Strange 2's release date had once again been pushed back to March 2022, and filming is due to begin imminently in the UK.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Release Date: May 6, 2022
Status: Filming
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Christian Bale
What We Know So Far: Marvel signed Thor: Ragnarok filmmaker Taika Waititi to return to write and direct Thor 4 in July 2019, but at Comic-Con a few weeks later Marvel broke the big news: the film will feature the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, who becomes the MCU's first female Thor! She'll co-star opposite Chris Hemsworth as, well, Lebowski Thor I guess and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, who was deemed King of Asgard at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Filming is due to begin in August 2020 in Australia.
We exclusively reported that Christian Bale joined the cast, and he will play the villain Gorr the God Butcher.
Filming was due to begin in late 2020 for a November 2021 release, but coronavirus concerns caused Marvel to shuffle its release date calendar and push this one's release to 2022. Production finally began in January 2021.
Black Panther 2
Release Date: July 8, 2022
Status: In development
Director/Writer: Ryan Coogler
Cast: TBA
What We Know So Far: Sadly, this highly anticipated sequel is in flux right now. In August 2019, Coogler turned in his treatment and spent the following year writing the script for Black Panther 2, only for star Chadwick Boseman to tragically pass away on August 28th. Filming was tentatively slated to begin in 2021, but no one at Marvel knew the extent of Boseman's illness and thus they are now taking their time to consider how to proceed. Kevin Feige revealed in December 2020 that the role of T'Challa will not be recast, and Coogler is currently hard at work on the script.
Captain Marvel 2
Release Date: November 11, 2022
Status: In development
Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris
What We Know So Far: The Captain Marvel sequel will be set in present-day, but directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are not returning behind the camera. Marvel subsequently enlisted Nia DaCosta, director of the Candyman remake, to take the helm. Iman Vellani, who will play Ms. Marvel in her own Disney+ series, will have a supporting role in the film while Teyonah Parris will reprise her role as the adult Monica Rambeau, first debuting in the Disney+ series WandaVision.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
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Image via Marvel Studios
Release Date: TBA 2023
Status: In development
Director/Writer: James Gunn
Cast: TBA
What We Know So Far: The third Guardians of the Galaxy movie was originally supposed to start production in early 2019, but writer/director James Gunn was fired off the film last fall following the resurfacing of some bad jokes he made on Twitter years ago. Unbeknownst to the public, Gunn continued to meet with executives at Disney in the interim period, after he took a job writing and directing The Suicide Squad for DC, and it was announced in March 2019 that Gunn was being re-hired to direct the film. The intended 2020 release date was pushed back, and production won’t begin until after Gunn finishes The Suicide Squad, but through all the turmoil Marvel Studios kept Gunn’s completed script. So he’ll get to close out the trilogy as he originally intended. Filming is expected to begin in 2021, and the film will be released in 2023.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Release Date: TBA
Status: In pre-production
Director: Peyton Reed
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors and Kathryn Newton
What We Know So Far: In November 2019, Marvel Studios announced that Peyton Reed would return to direct a third Ant-Man movie. Rick and Morty screenwriter Jeff Loveless was subsequently hired to write the script, and Kathryn Newton has joined the cast as an older version of Scott Lang's daugther Cassie while Jonathan Majors will play the villain Kang the Conqueror.
Fantastic Four
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Release Date: TBA
Status: In development
Director: Jon Watts
Cast: TBA
What We Know So Far: In December 2020, Marvel announced that Jon Watts — who directed Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and the upcoming third Spider-Man movie, will be directing a brand new reboot of Fantastic Four to introduce the characters into the MCU.
Blade
Release Date: TBA
Status: In development
Director: TBA
Cast: Mahershala Ali
What We Know So Far: Almost nothing, but Oscar-winning Moonlight and Green Book actor Mahershala Ali was the surprise guest at Marvel's Comic-Con 2019 panel, announced as the new Blade with no further details revealed.
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