What blockbuster Marvel movies are on the slate for 2024? Here’s everything we know so far.
Not content to simply blow away the competition at San Diego Comic-Con with its full schedule for 2023, Marvel Studios took things to the next level by unveiling the 2024 entries. There are some massive titles on the list, including Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four. While the details of each are sketchy at the moment, what we do know is that the 2024 lineup will close out Phase 5 and get us ready for the conclusion of The Multiverse Saga.
Marvel Studios isn’t the only production company with its finger on the Marvel fandom pulse. Sony Pictures has two Spider-Verse movies on the way as well, and they are…interesting. Here’s more.
Release date: January 12
Starring: “Bad Bunny” Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio
Here’s a movie that took everyone by surprise: El Muerto. Sony Pictures reached deep into the Spider-Man rogue’s gallery of villains for this one. Even the most devoted Spidey comic fans will have a hard time remembering the professional wrestler turned supervillain. That may be exactly the point, since filmmakers tend to prefer obscure comic characters because the fan expectations and demands are much lower. It leaves more room for the writers and directors to be creative and make a unique experience.
Not much is known about El Muerto besides the release date and star of the live-action adaptation. Almost as surprising as the title character himself, Sony tapped rapper and moonlighting WWE wrestler, Bad Bunny, to bring Juan-Carlos Sanchez to life.
In the comics, El Muerto is a wrestling title passed down through the Sanchez family. Juan-Carlos trained his entire life to inherit the magic El Muerto luchador mask that grants the wearer enhanced abilities. First, he had to defeat another masked wrestler, El Dorado. When Sanchez refused to fight, El Dorado tried to kill him. After the attempt failed, El Dorado gave his enemy an ultimatum: unmask a hero or face death. That led El Muerto to challenge Spider-Man, though the two would soon become allies.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Release date: March 29
Starring: Shameik Moore
Originally, this was going to be titled, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part II. Then came major Sony Pictures delays, which pushed the first half of Across the Spider-Verse to 2023. Apparently that also prompted Sony to change the name to Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Since Across the Spider-Verse is a year away from its release, Sony has been mum on the third Spider-Verse film. Since the two films are meant to connect into one overlapping story, we can assume it will continue the events laid out in ATSV. The trailer footage features the futuristic Spider-Man 2099, whom we met in the mid-credits scene of Into the Spider-Verse in 2018. Once again voiced by Oscar Isaac, the trailer shows him attacking Spider-Miles, aka Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales. They appear to fight through various dimensions, which was a theme from the first movie. Along with Spider-Miles and Spider-Man 2099, we will also see Spider-Gwen and obscure comic villain The Spot.
Which of these characters will we see in Beyond the Spider-Verse? Judging by the Multiversal themes from ITSV and ATSV, the film should be packed with more Spider-Man variants. There also should be some new villains thrown into the mix, and the Spider-Man comics have more than enough to keep audiences guessing as to whom we’ll see.
Captain America: New World Order
Release date: May 3
Starring: Anthony Mackey
At SDCC, Marvel released the scheduled premiere date and logo, but that’s all that has been made public about Anthony Mackey’s first starring role as the new Captain America. Mackey’s Sam “Falcon” Wilson famously took up the shield in Avengers: Endgame when Steve Rogers disappeared in the timestream only to reemerge as an elderly man. In real life, it was passed on because actor Chris Evans was ready to move on from the MCU.
Last year, Mackey and Sebastian Stan had a bromance in the Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. By the season finale, Wilson fully embraced his new role (and muscle suit), and he became the one and only Captain America in the MCU.
Marvel had said Mackey would star in an entire Cap franchise of his own, so this should only be the beginning. As for the plot, we can only speculate. Judging by the comics, New World Order (sadly, not the wrestlers) could reintroduce the Red Skull or another character using the title. The story is that the Marvel NWO is a Hydra spinoff founded and led by Red Skull. The last time we saw him, he was leading treasure hunters to the Soul Stone on Vormir. Since he has a daughter in the comic books, she could possibly take his place and spearhead her own New World Order.
Release date: July 26
Starring: To be determined
There are so many highly anticipated movies in Marvel’s Phases 5 and 6 that several can make a case for being the most anticipated, but a strong case can be made for Thunderbolts. Sure, it’s not going to have the same epic scale of The Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars, but fans have been waiting for Thunderbolts for years. When Julia Louis-Dreyfuss introduced herself as Contessa Allegra Valentina de Fontaine, otherwise known simply as Val, in FATWS and made a mysterious recruitment pitch to disgraced Captain America, John Walker, comic fans knew the implications for the team of anti-heroes.
Prior to SDCC, Marvel had made the official announcement that Thunderbolts was coming to theaters, and Val had indeed been building the team. What direction the story will take and who will join the crew remains to be seen. The comics have seen several versions of Thunderbolts, but the core concept is that they are a government-sponsored team of former supervillains. Much like DC’s Suicide Squad, these incarcerated bad guys are offered a deal: work for the Thunderbolts or stay in prison.
Since Val had been piecing the Thunderbolts together Nick Fury style, we can expect to see her recruiting more members to the team before the release date arrives. She’s apparently already added John Walker, aka U.S. Agent, and the new Black Widow, Yelena Belova, and the speculation is that Baron Zemo will join the crew as well.
Release date: November 8
Starring: To be determined
Again, there are so many MCU movies on the way that have fans salivating for their releases. Fantastic Four in particular has audiences rejoicing. The original superstars of Marvel Comics, the FF are legendary among the publisher’s legions of fans. We have seen them in live action before when the franchise was under the Fox banner, but those are the dark times. When Disney acquired Fox and all its properties, FF and X-Men fans celebrated because it meant the franchises would join the MCU. For FF, it meant forgetting the three previous misfires.
Very little is known about FF except that it will close out Phase 5. Since this will fall under The Multiverse Saga with Kang as the major villain holding the stories together, it is safe to assume Marvel’s First Family will be traversing the Multiverse. No castings have been made public, but the Multiverse itself leads to speculation that John Krasiniski will return as Mister Fantastic. We last saw him meet his brutal demise at the hands of Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
