In slightly over two weeks, Avengers: Endgame will arrive in theaters and bring the current era of the Marvel franchise to a close, at which point, fans will be left asking, what’s next? And while Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is reluctant to officially announce any movies beyond this year’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, he has at least teased that what’s coming our way will be very different from what we’ve already seen.
In an interview with io9, the producer offered a few vague hints on their plans for Marvel’s Phase 4, including the claim that they’re hoping to go in a notably different direction for the next five years:
“The slate that we’re building over the next five years [is] not apples to apples,” Feige said, when comparing their plans to what’s come before. “It is two very distinct things and I hope they’ll feel very distinct.”
Nonetheless, Feige went on to explain that the Marvel team is essentially asking themselves the same questions as they plan out the franchise’s future.
“But there is a similar mentality going into it, which is ‘How can we continue to tell stories with some of the characters that audiences already know and love in a unique way, in a different way, in surprising way, of which we have a lot of plans and ideas and work already going into it?’ [Then] ‘How can we introduce new characters that even hardcore fans, comic fans, have barely known or barely heard of.’ That’s really exciting too.”
Once Far From Home has kicked off the MCU’s next phase, it’s expected that 2020 will see the release of the Black Widow solo movie and The Eternals. After that, 2021 is thought to be the year of Black Panther 2, Doctor Strange 2 and the Shang-Chi film, before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 most likely comes out in 2022.
What happens beyond the release of James Gunn’s threequel remains shrouded in mystery, though in the same interview, Feige warned that “it will be a very long time” before we see any X-Men in the MCU, explaining that Marvel had their five-year plan worked out before last month’s Disney/Fox deal came into effect.
No doubt we’ll receive a little clarification on what’s next on the agenda once Marvel has completed its 2019 slate. But in the meantime, Avengers: Endgame will be wrapping up Phase 3 of the franchise when it comes out on April 26th.