It feels like Marvel announced a lot, but really they just
filled in the gaps for the next two years with five movies and five streaming
series. This doesn’t compare to the
Phase 3 announcement that included nine films within four years.
Black Widow
Confirmed to be the next Marvel release, still a year away
on May 1, 2020. Scarlett Johansson gets
to finally play the lead. She will be
joined by the already announced Florence Pugh (playing Yelena Belova, Black
Widow 2 in the comics), David Harbour and Rachel Weisz. The Taskmaster will be the antagonist. Hall H got to see footage, we will probably
get to see that around the time Maleficent comes out. The articles I was skimming don’t seem to
mention it being a prequel, this announcement seemed upstaged by other
projects. At least in terms of social
media coverage.
The Falcon and Winter
Soldier
The first of the Disney+ limited series. And Disney’s new streaming service received
the best possible promotion with that final scene in Endgame. Anthony Mackie referenced the Captain America
shield. He will reunite with Sebastian Stan
as well as Daniel Bruhl’s villainous Zemo.
This series seems to be the direct sequel to Civil War’s main
characters.
Eternals
Chloe Zhao’s announced Eternals film gets the next slot
(November 6, 2020). Which is a good
release date for a fantasy film. The
cast was confirmed with the rumored Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail
Nanjiani and Don Lee. The addition of
Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff and Lia McHugh were confirmed
with Hall H appearances. Interestingly
there is no actress cast for Sersi, long rumored to be the main character. It is hard to imagine a better fit for Sersi than
Jolie or Hayek, so they might be changes to the characters. I don’t know much about the Eternals however.
WandaVision
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany’s limited series for
Disney+ was discussed as being pretty weird.
Fan guesses that it will be based on Tom King’s Vision series seems to
line up. Although Teyonah Parris has been
cast as an adult Teyonah Parris. From
here Olsen goes on to co-star in the second Doctor Strange. It seems like characters can go back and
forth between the streaming series and films.
Shang-Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings
The recently announced Shang-Chi gets a primary cast, full
title and release date of February 12, 2021.
Simu Liu gets the title role with Awkwafina also cast. Most interestingly Tony Leung Chiu-wai is
playing the Mandarin (Ten Rings is a reference to the character). Both Shang-Chi and Mandarin have long been
problematic in the comics, a version Mandarin already appearing in Iron Man
3. I hope this movie isn’t just
addressing fanboy whining from an 8 year old movie (the Mandarin twist
works). But the traditional comics
version would work as a good foe here.
Remember how Black Panther was a phenomenon last February? Expect a similar moment here.
Loki
Officially confirmed to follow Loki when he escaped with the
Teseract during Endgame. Again, Disney+
already had their marketing with Endgame.
These series are all tying in with the films in some direct capacity,
which makes them matter. The way Disney
is spreading them out will help increase subscriptions (the goal of a streaming
service). It will also alleviate the
amount of active characters in the movies.
Doctor Strange in the
Multiverse of Madness
We knew that Derrickson was working on a second Strange
movie, but I don’t think we could have imagined the title. The Multiverse has endless possibilities and
definitely ups the stakes of this franchise.
Elizabeth Olsen is announced as a co-star as Scarlet Witch, taking place
after her Disney+ series. This is
supposed to be the first scary Marvel film.
So they are going horror.
What If…?
A previously announced Disney+ animated series based on
alternate takes of famous film moments.
This is the first time an animated series has tied in to MCU. Many familiar stars will reprise their famous
roles with Jeffrey Wright as the voice of Uatu the Watcher (narrator for the
series).
Hawkeye
Officially confirmed for the first time, Renner will star in
a Hawkeye limited series which focuses on Kate Bishop. Seems to be setting up Young Avengers.
Thor: Love and
Thunder
A few days ago it was announced that Taika Waititi was
returning for a fourth Thor alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. But nobody thought Natalie Portman’s Jane
Foster would also be coming back. Her
appearance in Endgame was a huge surprise. Love and Thunder will adapt the
recent Jason Aaron run where Jane Foster becomes Thor. It is interesting that comic book people are
constantly concerned about adapting too much from the movies. But I think we are seeing a lot of recent
comics inspire the movies, when they were never intended to be a movie
pitch. Valkyrie’s sexuality was also
mentioned.
Blade
The final big announcement was the appearance of Mahershala
Ali who will star as Blade. No release
date or director. Blade has been rumored
for a return, Wesley Snipe’s name often being included. Mahershala was previously on Luke Cage season
one. It seems with Alfre Woodard’s
appearance in Civil War that Marvel Studios is not concerned about lining up
with the Netflix shows.
At the end Kevin Feige mentioned other projects that are
being worked on like Black Panther 2,
Captain Marvel 2, Guardians of the
Galaxy vol. 3. All of which we knew
were coming. Feige also said they are
working on movies for Fantastic Four
and Mutants. I have
seen so many clickbait articles on those last two, but nothing is
announced. I would say we have at least
one more phase until the Fox properties are integrated.
The only sequels not mentioned were a third Spider-Man, but that has been discussed
elsewhere and is a given after that Far from Home post-credits scene. But nothing about another Ant-Man and the Wasp. Looking at Marvel’s incredibly full slate it
would not surprise me if they are in a 2022 Disney+ series.
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