What’s happening in Marvel Phase 4?
Beyond Avengers: Endgame…
BY HUGH ARMITAGE 23/04/2019
How is it possible that Marvel Phase 4 is nearly here already? It seems like only yesterday that the Avengers were getting together in Phase 1.
Time keeps moving on, and if you thought that the first three Marvel Cinematic Universe phases all blurred into one, Disney is preparing for a major shakeup in the wake of Avengers: Endgame.
When does Marvel Phase 4 start?
While Endgame is being billed as a big finale, the final movie of Phase 3 has been revealed to be Spider-Man: Far from Home, which will arrive on July 2, 2019.Tom Holland stars in first trailer for Spider-Man: Far from Home (Sony)by Digital Spy GBPrevious VideoPauseNext VideoUnmuteCurrent Time 0:34/Duration 2:46Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%FullscreenPlaylist VideosCLICK TO UNMUTECLICK TO UNMUTE
While we have some idea of the films that are coming after the Homecoming sequel – in Phase 4 and possibly beyond – Marvel is yet to make any official announcements about them or when we will see them.
There has been no news of any movies beyond Spider-Man going into production, so it is looking unlikely that Phase 4 will kick off in 2019. Unless Marvel is even better at keeping secrets than we thought, or can pull off a super-fast production, Phase 4 will have to wait for 2020.
Which films will be in Marvel Phase 4?
What movies can we expect to see in Phase 4 and beyond? The long-awaited Black Widow solo movie is finally in development, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed Doctor Strange 2 for ‘some point in the future’. Black Panther 2 is bringing director Ryan Coogler back to the MCU for more tales of Wakanda.
As for Guardians of the Galaxy 3, the rollercoaster ride that was James Gunn’s firing and re-hiring has delayed the movie, but it’s in development too.
When it comes to new properties, the superpowered beings called the Eternals are on the way, and a film starring martial artist superhero Shang-Chi is also in development.
Disney has been a bit shy on announcing other Phase 4 films, with Feige saying that they will be keeping it that way for as long as possible.
Still, we can make some educated guesses as to what else might be heading our way. Marvel loves a sequel, so we would expect Captain Marvel 2 and maybe another Ant-Man and the Wasp film to be strong contenders for Phase 4.
How will Marvel Phase 4 be different?
You probably noticed that we didn’t mention any Iron Man, Captain America or Thorsequels as potential Phase 4 films.
Speculation as to when the MCU’s biggest stars – especially Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans – will bow out has been a popular pastime among Marvel fans for years now, and Avengers: Endgame is widely expected to mark the end of the road for several characters.
Feige has hinted that some stories will be coming to an end at the “unprecedented conclusion to a 22-movie overarching narrative”, and Endgame co-director Joe Russo said at Comic-Con that “everything has to have an end at some point in order for it to have value”.
Still, the basic format of storytelling established in the MCU is likely to continue for the most part. “We do know what’s coming,” Feige told io9. “We have ideas of the shape of what’s to come.
“But that structure that you laid out was from the comics, right? Everyone had their individual stories. They meet up for a mega event and they go back to their individual stories changed from that event.
“I think that’s a wonderful structure that’s worked for decades in the comics, has worked for us now for a decade, so I think it’s a good model. But it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to stick to it in stone.”
Some actors will likely stick around, but we’re expecting major change, with characters dying or retiring (ie Sebastian Stan’s Bucky or Anthony Mackie’s Falcon could be primed to replace Captain America) and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man clearly being set up as a central character as the MCU enters Phase 4.
Meanwhile Anthony Russo teased “radical” changes for Thor, explaining that “he’s gone through a radical transformation, and he’s moving forward in a way where he could never go back”.
“I think the overall mythology will begin to [grow], as you’ve already started to see with Guardians and certainly now with Panther and with Doctor Strange,” said Feige.
“I don’t think we’ll ever leave our past behind necessarily, but I think the new elements and the new inroads and, by the way, places that we haven’t explored yet from the comic universe, will become more and more at the forefront.”
The MCU has always had a global aesthetic, but if New York City has served as its nominal centre so far, it sounds as though Wakanda could take its place moving forwards.
We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that Marvel continues to embrace diversity as it moves deeper into Phase 4.
2018’s Black Panther was the first MCU film to centre on a non-white hero, and they kept us hanging until 2019, the last year of Phase 3, before finally giving us a female lead in the form of Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel.
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Popular characters from the comics who could move Marvel away from the white-guys-called-Chris model include long-time fan favourite She-Hulk, the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s breakout starMiles Morales, and the newest Ms Marvel – Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teenager from New Jersey.
And apparently Nova is another favourite too.
Feige has also made noises about the possibility of embracing other genres, such as horror – taking a leaf out of Fox’s more recent and experimental successes like Deadpool and Logan. He’s also keen on “space stuff”, and has promised that Marvel has plans “20 films or so”, some of which could “introduce characters that people might have heard of”.RELATED STORYMarvel boss confirms that Miles Morales exists in MCU
And with Disney’s purchase of Fox, there is the potential for incorporating the X-Men and Fantastic Four – somehow – into the MCU, although according to Feige it could be some years before that is a serious consideration, so might not affect Phase 4 at all.
Marvel has the material – now we just have to wait and see how it chooses to use it.
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