Marvel Has Rights To 7,000 Characters, Future Movies Will Explore New Worlds

Even though we still have 5 more movies left of Phase Three – including Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel – fans are already eager to find out what the next stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will consist of. With the ongoing plotline of the threat of Thanos set to be wrapped up soon, there were fears that the franchise might be ending. However, new comments guarantee that there’s a lot of life left in the MCU yet.

While talking with Vanity Fair, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Marvel Studios has the rights to a mind-boggling 7,000 characters. It’s uncertain if he’s referring to separate properties or not, but it’s clear that the House of Ideas isn’t going to run dry anytime soon. And that’s even without the rights to the likes of X-Men and Fantastic Four.

Iger then went on to tease the direction that Phase Four might go in. Intriguingly, he revealed that he and the minds of Marvel Studios are looking to expand the franchise beyond present-day New York City, which forms the basis of much of their output, and explore new times and places.

“We’re looking for worlds that are completely separate—geographically or in time—from the worlds that we’ve already visited.”

Though we haven’t had this plan laid out for us before, it does make sense with the movies that are coming up in the next couple of years. Black Panther, for example, moves the action to the African nation of Wakanda while Captain Marvel will travel back to the 1990s. Likewise, cosmic films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok are proving very popular.

This approach will also allow Marvel to relax a little on the shared universe front, which had previously been hinted at. While this might mean next to no Avengers movies in the near future, it should produce a greater variety of films and prevent any talk of that dreaded phrase – superhero fatigue.

Tell us, what Marvel films do you want to see in Phase Four and beyond? And what other areas of the Marvel universe would you like to explore? Let us know in the comments section down below.