Finally, the full line-up of Phase 4 was revealed during Marvel‘s massive Comic-Con panel on Saturday. The slate differs from previous phases though thanks to the incoming arrival of Disney Plus, which will be home to TV series made by Marvel Studios that’ll contribute to the overarching story of the franchise. Overall, Phase 4 will cover 2020 and 2021 and comprises five movies and five TV shows. But none of them will star the Avengers.
Yup, Phase 4 will be the first phase in the MCU not to feature an Avengers movie. As widespread as the franchise has been for the past 10 years, what anchored it was the fact that each phase was either building towards or defined by a big team-up movie starring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. 2012’s The Avengers was the culmination of Phase 1, Avengers: Age of Ultron was the penultimate entry in Phase 2 and, obviously, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame acted as the finale of the Infinity Saga in Phase 3.
The reason behind this change, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has explained, is because Phase 4 is all about “beginnings.” Following Endgame, the studio felt it was important to press the restart button on the franchise.
“We had a movie this year called Avengers: Endgame and we wanted, and it is, very much an ending, as you saw, to so many of those characters. So Phase 4 is about beginnings. And Phase 4 is about learning new things about characters you already think you know, like Black Widow, meeting incredible new characters, like the Eternals and Shang-Chi, going on new adventures with Doctor Strange and Thor and these Disney+ shows which, I promise, will be spectacular and not what anybody is expecting.”
But the Avengers aren’t gone for good. Feige went on to promise that the team will return in either Phase 5 or beyond. It’s just that they’ll be “very different” when they do, with the group consisting of some familiar heroes and a few new ones.
“It will be a very different team than we’ve seen before, that’s what [Avengers: Endgame] was all about. It will be a very different incarnation of the team with some people you’ve already met and some people you haven’t met yet.”
The five movies in Marvel‘s Phase 4 are Black Widow and Eternals, both coming in 2020, with 2021 bringing Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder. When Avengers 5 eventually does arrive though, tell us, who do you want to see as part of the team? Let us know in the comments section down below.
