After being absent from SDCC for a few years, Marvel Studios took to the stage at the world’s biggest pop culture event to announce the next stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4.
Marvel super producer Kevin Feige took to the stage, to announce BLACK WIDOW (1 May 2020), THE ETERNALS (6 November 2020), SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (12 February 2021), DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (7 May 2021), and THOR LOVE AND THUNDER (5 November 2021). “This is Phase 4,” declared Feige.
Things got even more surprising when they casually threw out BLACK PANTHER 2, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, CAPTAIN MARVEL 2, FANTASTIC FOUR…and Mutants?
Oh yeah: Marvel Studios’ BLADE with Mahershala Ali in the titular role. Dear. Lord. Yes.
BLACK WIDOW (1 May 2020) has already been filming for a month. ScarJo will return to play Black Widow in Cate Shortland’s long-awaited solo film. Hellboy’s David Harbour as Alexei, while Florence Pugh is Yelena, a “sister figure” to Widow. O. T. Fagbenle will play a figure from Widow’s past. Rachel Weisz is the powerful character of Melina. There’s no explanation as to how she’s here after the events of Endgame, but we can worry about that later. Taskmaster was also seen in the footage shown at SDCC.
THE ETERNALS (6 November 2020), directed by Chloe Zhao will star Richard Madden as Icarus, Lauren Ridloff as Ikari, and Kuma, Bryan Tyree Henry as Blastos, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Angelina Jolie as Thena, and Kumail Nanjiani.
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (12 February 2021), directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, will bring the “real” Mandarin to the screen as Tony Leung! Shang-Chi himself is Simu Liu, and was cast only days before the announcement. Awkwafina will join as an unnamed character. The 10 Rings were introduced in Iron Man 3, of course, and hinted at during Ant-Man.
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (7 May 2021) will be the “first scary MCU film,” promises director Scott Derickson. Scarlet Witch will co-star, and it will tie in directly to the events of the Disney+ series WandaVision.
THOR LOVE AND THUNDER (5 November 2021) will reunite the Thor Ragnarok team of Taika Waititi, Chris Hemsworth, and Tessa Thompson. Allegedly pulled from the excellent The Mighty Thor storyline by Jason Aaron, it will see Valkyrie as the new King looking for a Queen. Natalie Portman will also return to the MCU as Jane Foster – and the new Thor?
BLADE was biggest surprise was left until last. No details, but Mahershala Ali will take on the role of the Daywalker. Holy. Hell. That was a surprise to say the least. If you are in the vicinity of Wesley Snipes, be kind.
The panel also elaborated on the plans for Disney+ programming: Falcon & Winter Soldier (Fall 2020), Loki (Spring 2021) WandaVision (Spring 2021, and will take place after Endgame and include Monica Rambeau), and animated What If…? (Summer 2021) series that will tie in directly to the characters created under the MCU. Jeffrey Wright will voice the Watcher, along with many of the film actors reprising their roles. Hawkeye (Fall 2021) will also feature Jeremy Renner and introduce alternate Hawkeye Kate Bishop. We can only hope for Pizza Dog.
The Marvel Studios panel was always going to be the most anticipated of the season. Following the Earth-shattering success of Avengers: Endgame, and the revelations of Spider-Man: Far From Home, it seemed that Marvel Studios were ready to reveal their next batch of films following the end of The Infinity Saga. The crowd was so huge that Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo were in the audience, something that got a huge cheer by itself.
A number of the films we already knew about: THE ETERNALS has been in production for some time but never officially announced, for example, SHANG-CHI was announced in China, and BLACK WIDOW is already filming.
Yet it’s also the first confirmation of sorts that Fantastic Four and the X-Men will join the MCU in some form. Lest we forget that Disney announced an additional three “Untitled Disney Marvel” in 2022 that have not been confirmed yet. With the ink barely dry on the Fox/Disney merger, it’s safe to say that at least a couple of those will involve our favourite mutants and perhaps (As)gardians of the Galaxy. Plus: Disney’s D23 Expo is only a month away, with some speculating there might be even more announcements there.
For now we have a roadmap for the next few years of Marvel – and all we have to do now is strap ourselves in and enjoy the ride.
