Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home marked the close of Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s movie release schedule. But at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday, the studio confirmed more than a dozen projects they’ve got cooking up, including the 10 movies and television series of Phase Four, all set to debut between May 2020 and November 2021.
The films that will be released are Black Widow (May 1, 2020), Eternals (November 6, 2020), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (February 12, 2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 7, 2021), and Thor: Love and Thunder (November 5, 2021).
Black Widow sacrificed herself in Endgame, so the character’s film is a prequel that costars Rachel Weisz, Midsommar’s Florence Pugh, and Stranger Things’s David Harbour. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson will reunite with Ragnarok director Taika Waititi for Thor: Love and Thunder. They’ll be joined by Natalie Portman, who originally portrayed the thunder god’s human love interest, and who becomes Mighty Thor, a female version of hammer-wielding deity.
Shang-Chi and the Eternals are scheduled to make their MCU debuts. Shang-Chi first appeared in comics in 1973, and the character is a hero trained in martial arts. He’ll be played by Canadian actor Simu Liu, best know for his role in the sitcom Kim’s Convenience. The Eternals also made their first comic appearances in the ‘70s, and are a team of superhumans tasked with defending earth. The film has some very big names in its cast, including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, and Kumail Nanjiani.
Studio president Kevin Feige also confirmed other film projects that don’t yet have release dates, including Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Panther 2, and Captain Marvel 2. Thanks to Disney’s merger with Fox, characters formerly owned by the latter company are now fair game for Marvel, and Feige confirmed that the Fantastic Four and the X-Men will feature in upcoming movies as well. He also announced that there will be a new Blade film, starring True Detective’s Mahershala Ali as the vampire vanquisher.
The televisions shows will live on Disney’s streaming platform, Disney+, which is slated to launch in November. Marvel’s Phase Four TV offerings will be The Falcon and Winter Soldier (fall 2020), WandaVision (spring 2021), Loki (spring 2021), What If…? (summer 2021), and Hawkeye (fall 2021). While most of the shows follow familiar characters from the Avengers in their post-Endgame lives, What If…? is an animated series that explores the Marvel multiverse.
Though Marvel dropped a ton of info at San Diego Comic-Con, we can also expect more news to debut soon with Disney’s D23 Expo next month.
