Everything We Know about Marvel Phase Four Movies
At Comic-Con 2019, Disney revealed its plans for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). We previously discussed the upcoming television series. Now, we’re ready to talk about the films that will dominate the box office in the coming years. Here is the new Marvel Phase Four movies schedule.
Author’s note: I’ll stay as spoiler-free as possible here, but you should read at your own risk, especially if you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet.
Black Widow
When we last saw Natasha Romanoff codename: Black Widow, she was <redacted>. While that seems problematic from a storytelling perspective, the MCU will finally get its much-anticipated standalone Black Widow story.
The film will debut on May 1, 2020, and it will star Scarlett Johansson. Also, the co-stars are noteworthy. The biggest news is that David Harbour of Stranger Things will portray Alexei Shostakov, aka the Red Guardian. Harbour’s recent run as Hellboy was a bust, so I’m sure he’s ecstatic to join the MCU.
Florence Pugh of Fighting with My Family is onboard as Yelena Belova, who is another Black Widow in the Marvel universe. I’m not going to speculate here, but I think we’re all thinking the same thing about this character. Oh, and Rachel Weisz, O-T Fagbenle, and Ray Winstone are part of the cast as well.
While the filming of Black Widow was an open secret earlier this summer, Disney’s been tight with the details on this one. The Taskmaster, an antihero and mercenary in the comics, is the villain here. The belief is that the film takes place before The Avengers, but nobody’s sure about the timeline.
Eternals
Make no mistake. The most significant release of Phase Four is Eternals. Based on the comic book, The Eternals, this story is a sweeping tale involving a series of immortals.
These beings are supremely powerful, and I can put that into perspective by saying that Thanos is the child of Eternals Sui-San and A’lars. So, yeah.
Before comic book fans freak out, I’ll add that Thanos was a special case since he was born with the Deviants gene. Yes, that’s a statement that will confuse the rest of you. Sorry.
Anyway, Eternals will tell the story of next-level powerful individuals, ones who could squash Thor like a bug. Specifically, it’s about Eternals named Ikaris and Sersi, played by Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden (the Stark who hates Red Weddings).
Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Lauren Ridloff, and Brian Tyree Henry are also confirmed. Rumors persist that Keanu Reeves and Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven on Stranger Things) are up for other roles, but both of them have denied it.
The most recent run of The Eternals comic was written by a guy you know, Neil Gaiman. So, these characters have historically received the red carpet treatment from Marvel. Expect the same of the film, which has a release date of November 6, 2020.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Look, I read some comics (I Hate Fairyland and Saga are highly recommended), and a dear friend owns a comic book store. So, I try to keep up. And when I don’t know stuff, I ask him.
However, I’m kind of caught flat-footed on this one. The character of Shang-Chi actually goes all the way back to 1973, but I’ve somehow missed him for the most part. He’s apparently a Kung-Fu master, but a different kind of Kung-Fu master from Iron Fist aka Danny Rand.
Shang-Chi is apparently human but so preternaturally powerful that he can dispatch super-powered foes quite easily. Marvel thought enough of the character’s box office potential that they included him in their original film deal with Paramount, the one that led to Iron Man in 2008.
Destin Daniel Cretton, who started Captain Marvel Brie Larson’s ascent in Short Term 12, will direct. The star is Simu Liu, who anchored the award-winning Kim’s Convenience series.
Most importantly to Marvel fans, the title hints at the arrival of the Mandarin. You may remember this character as the one Ben Kingsley <redacted> in Iron Man 3. My beloved Tony Leung Chiu-wai, star of Infernal Affairs, will portray this character.
Amazingly, the Mandarin has been a confirmed part of the Marvel universe since 2014. But we won’t see him for the first time until February 12th, 2021. That’s a prolonged payoff, my friends.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Well, that certainly wins the award for most comic book-y name for an MCU title thus far. Doctor Strange has actually had only one movie of his own thus far.
However, Benedict Cumberbatch has portrayed the character in three films thus far. He was integral to the plot of Avengers: Infinity War and was also in <redacted>. (It’s really hard to talk about the MCU without using spoilers, folks.)
Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange will finally return in a sequel to the 2016 film. This title is scheduled for release on May 7, 2021. As previously mentioned, it will have some connection to the WandaVision television series. It must because Elizabeth Olsen will co-star in the film as Scarlet Witch.
Director Scott Derrickson, the genius behind the “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain” scene from the first film, will return as director. He’s promised that he’s making “the first scary MCU film.” Derrickson has actually directed two successful horror movies, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister, so I’m inclined to believe him.
Notably, only Cumberbatch and Olsen are confirmed thus far. Chiwetel Ejiofor was certainly positioned as the future nemesis of Dr. Strange at the end of the first film. He hasn’t been mentioned in casting yet. Similarly, Rachel McAdams played the once and presumably future love interested, but she hasn’t signed on yet, either.
Thor: Love and Thunder
The Thor franchise is about to go somewhere that no other Marvel character has gone before. It’ll get a fourth movie. To date, only The Avengers has released four films. Thor will join it on November 5, 2021, four years and two days after Thor: Ragnarok.
I mention the third Thor film because the band from it is getting back together again. Director Taika Waititi will return, which means that the character he voiced, Korg the Gladiator, will also be back. Waititi’s performance on Thor: Ragnarok turned him into a Hollywood sensation, and expectations are way-high for this project.
Called Thor: Love and Thunder, it’s about to set the internet on fire, too. Disney revealed that Natalie Portman, who was famously on the outs with Marvel, will return. The shocker is that Portman’s character, Jane Foster, will become Thor.
Yes, Lady Thor is a go in the MCU! Tessa Thompson aka Valkyrie and Chris Hemsworth will both return. Given the events of Avengers: Endgame, it’s difficult to say when/where this film will take place in the MCU.
Blade
The final three films are the ones about which we know the least. All of them were either bombshell announcements or rumored films shrouded in mystery.
The most intriguing one is Blade. Box office historians view Blade as proof of concept for the current comic book superhero reign of supremacy. Back in 1998, the Wesley Snipes film grossed $70.1 million domestically, the equivalent of $135 million today. It also did exceedingly well overseas and spawned two sequels.
Given the success of the title at a time when comic book movies were a punchline, Blade has a soft spot in the hearts of Marvel executives. They’re bringing the character back in a big way.
To prove the point, Disney’s cast two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali in the title role. Marvel wouldn’t confirm a release date for this or the next two projects.
However, vampires are definitely coming (back) to the MCU! Alas, they apparently won’t arrive until Phase Five. According to Marvel, Blade is the start of it rather than the end of Phase Four.
Fantastic Four
During the 2000s, the Fantastic Four hasn’t been a part of the MCU. This happened because Fox owned the film license for the character. Now that Disney’s gained those rights, they’re ready to launch their own version of the famed superhero team.
Fans have already demonstrated that they’ll watch a Fantastic Four movie. Tim Story directed a pair of thoroughly mediocre ones that earned a combined $620 million worldwide, which was terrific for the time.
Then again, fans have also shown that they’ll totally ignore a disastrous Fantastic Four project. Josh Trank directed a 2015 reboot that was one of the punchlines of that film year.
So, Fantastic Four needs to be good. And it should be. Disney knows this, as the characters are in the upper echelon of Marvel comics. At Comic-Con, MCU leader Kevin Feige did confirm that a Fantastic Four project will happen, but he said nothing about timeline or casting.
In other words, we know that the fourth Fantastic Four film is coming. That’s about it, though. Disney’s only got one chance here to redeem a franchise that became a punchline in 2015.
“The Mutants”
The X-Men franchise is one of the most successful movie series of the 21st century. Almost all of the films save for the last debacle were Fox releases, though. Disney kind of buried Dark Phoenix, a terrible movie.
At the time, analysts speculated that the lack of support was due to insider knowledge about the quality of the project. Disney didn’t want the first MCU version of X-Men to be a stinker.
For the same reason, they’ve put New Mutants on the shelf. That X-Men spinoff filmed in 2017 but won’t see the light of day until 2020…and maybe not even then. Rumors of a straight-to-Hulu release persist.
Why is Disney so protective of this franchise? They want “the mutants” to matter in the MCU. And they’ve now confirmed that a film based on “the mutants” is in the pipeline. When it arrives, it will instantly become one of the most important titles in the history of the MCU.
The main question is how Disney will handle the cast. Fox had young and famous actors like Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult playing X-Men. Disney may use them, or they may reboot.
Either way, the rumored announcement of the next Wolverine didn’t take place at Comic-Con as expected. The conclusion that I draw from this is that Marvel wants to get this project right. So, they’re not in a hurry to fill Hugh Jackman’s shoes until they’re absolutely sure that they’ve found the perfect next-generation Wolverine.
Okay, that’s all we learned officially. However, Marvel said that they didn’t have time to talk about Black Panther 2 or Captain Marvel 2. That’s a back-handed way of acknowledging that these two projects are the slam dunks of MCU Phase Four. Disney doesn’t need to hype them.