For the past decade, the D23 expo has been hailed as the place where all of the magic of the “past, present, and future of Disney entertainment comes together under one roof.” And if a new rumor is to be believed, this month’s event is exactly where the House of Mouse will announce the forthcoming fifth phase of the MCU, which is slated to have deeper ties to its past franchises.
Under the watchful eye of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Marvel film announcements have become tantamount to rock concerts, filled with surprising revelations and guest appearances. Just last month, the studio revealed their upcoming Phase 4 at San Diego Comic-Con in a presentation filled with tons of shocking moments, so anticipation could not be higher for their post-Infinity Saga plans.
Considering all of the hype their SDCC panel generated, a new rumor from Cosmic Book News posits that Marvel is now going to do the same for Phase 5 later this month. Apparently, since the studio has so many films in development, they’re hoping to announce the next slate of projects as soon as possible.
Keep in mind, we already know Marvel has revealed an upcoming Blade pic, and Feige has also hinted that Fantastic Four and X-Men movies are in the works, too. This is on top of the fact that Captain Marvel and Black Panther sequels are in development, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which James Gunn will helm after he wraps The Suicide Squad.
Yet, it should be said that many of these titles are in the very early stages of pre-production. While Marvel has been sitting on the GotG Vol. 3 script since before Gunn’s controversial firing/re-hiring, it just now sounds like the script for Black Panther 2 is coming to fruition. Meanwhile, we don’t have any idea about a possible Captain Marvel 2 outside of the rumor that Michael Korvac will be set up as both the sequel’s villain and the larger over-arching antagonist for the next phase of movies.
Of course, even if Marvel doesn’t reveal its post-2021 film slate, it should be expected that the House of Ideas would at least provide some sort of surprise announcement at D23. Maybe the rumored Phase 4 Spider-Man 3, or more information about Blade or those “mutants” Feige hinted at before? Until we know for sure, the only certainty is that the MCU isn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon.
