Warning: This post contains spoilers for all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
The superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have taken over 2018. Together,
Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and
Deadpool 2 account for about one-third of the total movie box office this year.
Ant-Man and the Wasp , which hit theaters on July 6, continued that trend, bringing in $76 million at the domestic box office on its opening weekend. Infinity War ’s shocking end will likely drove fans hoping to suss out clues about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline to the Ant-Man sequel, which takes place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War . But though the movie did answer where Ant-Man was during Infinity War , it offered little information about how Infinity War’ s cliffhanger might resolve. The future of the Avengers team remains a mystery although fans will likely get a hint in the upcoming Marvel movie
Captain Marvel, out March 18, 2019.
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Given recent studio shakeups, a lot could change in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We could see X-Men fighting the Avengers or Fantastic Four villains invading upcoming Marvel movies.
A little over a decade ago, Disney bought Marvel Studios. At the time of Disney’s purchase, Marvel Studios was struggling and had already sold off the rights to its most popular characters: They dealt Spider-Man to Sony and the X-Men and Fantastic Four to Fox. Disney was left to build a franchise out of lesser-known characters like Iron Man and Thor.
Over the course of 10 years, they built the most bankable film franchise in the world by building an interlocking universe of characters, teasing future movies with post-credit scenes and experimenting with different genres to shake up the superhero formula. They did this over the course of several “phases:” Phase One ended with The Avengers , and Phase Two with Ant-Man. Phase Three will end in 2019 with the release of the yet-unnamed Avengers 4.
Disney was so successful, that they are now able to buy back those fan favorite Marvel characters owned by other studios. Last year, Sony and Disney teamed up to make Spider-Man: Homecoming . Sony will continue to make other movies about characters in the so-called Spiderverse, like Venom , but will allow Disney to use Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in upcoming Marvel movies like Avengers: Infinity War . Neither studio has confirmed how much crossover there will be between the two universes.
Meanwhile, Disney and Fox have announced that they are merging. Disney will likely try to incorporate Fox’s X-Men and Fantastic Four characters into the Avengers reality and recreate popular storylines from the comics, like fights between Wolverine and Captain America or a romance between Black Panther and Storm.
We’ve outlined all the upcoming Marvel movies, and even teased a few sequels and spinoffs that are still in the works. Here’s a list of upcoming Marvel movies in order:
Venom (Oct. 5, 2018)
Universe: Spiderverse
Even though Sony and Disney teamed up to release Spider-Man: Homecoming last summer, Sony will independently produce a series of films based on characters from the Spider-Man comic books in a separate universe. Venom is the first.
Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a man who has been infected by an alien symbiote called Venom. Spider-Man actor Tom Holland will not appear in Venom, and Spidey isn’t even mentioned in the film. Venom turns into something of an anti-hero in the film, battling the villain, Riot. A mid-credits teaser suggests that Venom will probably get a sequel, despite its lukewarm critical reception.
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (Dec. 14, 2018)
Universe: Spiderverse
On the big screen, Peter Parker has always been Spider-Man. But in the comic books, several people have swung from rooftop to rooftop in the Spidey suit, including Miles Morales. When Disney and Sony announced they were rebooting the Spider-Man franchise after the lackluster Andrew Garfield films, many fans lobbied for a Miles Morales movie. The studios cast Tom Holland as another Peter Parker instead, but they hinted in Spider-Man: Homecoming that Miles may be added to one of Disney’s upcoming live-action movies.
In the meantime, Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are developing an animated film featuring Morales—and several other Spideys—for Sony. Dope’ s Shameik Moore stars as the Brooklyn teen-turned-superhero. Mahershala Ali and Liev Schreiber will also lend their voices to the movie.
Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Brie Larson will star as Captain Marvel, the first woman to get her own film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The upcoming Marvel movie, set in the 1990s, will trace Carol Danvers’ evolution from fighter pilot to flying superhero who can shoot beams out of her hands.
Captain Marvel has teamed up with both the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comic books. A teaser at the end of
Avengers: Infinity War hinted that she would have a role to play in the Infinity War sequel after her solo film debuts. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have confirmed that some familiar faces, like Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser, will also appear in the film.
Larson revealed the movie’s trailer on Good Morning America in mid-September. The short clip highlights the movie’s 90s setting (remember Blockbuster?) and offers fans a quick look at youthful versions of Jackson and Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson.
Avengers 4 (May 3, 2019)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Okoye (Danai Gurira), Black Panther/T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlet Johansson) and Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in Avengers: Infinity War Chuck Zlotnick—Marvel Studios
The fourth and yet-unnamed Avengers movie will complete “Phase Three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie will have to
resolve Infinity War’s cliffhanger ending.
Ever since he first appeared in a Guardians of the Galaxy post-credit scene, Thanos (Josh Brolin) has been after the six Infinity Stones, powerful gems that could allow him to destroy the universe. Marvel fans will recall these gems from previous Marvel movies, like the Time Stone in Doctor Strange or the Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy . In Infinity War , he got his hands on all six stones—with
dire consequences. Now the Avengers team must figure out what to do next.
Expect few of the original squad to survive this next film. Several of the stars’ contracts will expire with that movie, including Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye).
Evans has been open about wanting to leave the franchise. On Oct. 4, Evans tweeted that he had wrapped filming on Avengers 4 and that playing Captain America “over the last 8 years has been an honor.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1047896966410190849
Hemsworth has also said he won’t play Thor again after Avengers 4. Johansson will presumably survive the film since Disney has finally hired someone to write a standalone Black Widow movie. Still, fans have speculated that one or more heroes will meet their end in the upcoming Infinity War sequel.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has confirmed as much. “Certainly as we get to
Infinity War there is a sense of a climax if not a conclusion to, by the time we’re at untitled
Avengers 4 , the 22 movies that will have encompassed the first three phases of the MCU,” he told Collider. “And what happens after that will be very different. I don’t know if it’s Phase 4, it might be a new thing.”
The Russo brothers, for their part, have kept the details of Avengers 4 entirely under wraps. But note that both Ant-Man and the Wasp and
Captain Marvel are set before the events of
Avengers: Infinity War, which means the 2019 sequel to Infinity War can pick up at the exact moment the previous film ended or shortly thereafter.
Whether or not fans must say goodbye to Cap and Thor, Marvel certainly has plenty of new characters to play with, including Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel and the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters if they decide to incorporate them into the universe. The studio could also promote some of the sidekick characters to lead roles: Anthony Mackie’s Falcon could become Cap or Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie could replace Thor.
Dark Phoenix (June 7, 2019)
Universe: X-Men
Game of Thrones‘ Sophie Turner took over from Famke Janssen as the younger version of the formidable mutant Jean Grey in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Next year, she’ll star in her own movie about Jean Grey’s evolution from superhero into the villainous Dark Phoenix. The story will be set in the 1990s, and Jean will have to contend with the dark forces in her own mind.
Fox tried to bring the beloved Dark Phoenix saga to the screen in the much-maligned X-Men: The Last Stand. Simon Kinsburg wrote that film, but has since criticized the studio for relegating the Dark Phoenix story to a subplot. Now, he’ll return as director of Dark Phoenix to make the movie he always envisioned. Jennifer Lawrence will return as Mystique, Michael Fassbender as Magneto and James McAvoy as Professor X. Jessica Chastain will play a mysterious villain.
In the first trailer for the film, it seems that Professor X may have modified Jean’s memory so she would forget that she caused the car accident that killed her parents. Jean may break from the X-Men after discovering this betrayal. The trailer also features a funeral, but it’s unclear who has died. Considering that Disney and Fox will soon merge their universes, every mutant—really, the entire universe—is at risk. Disney may decide it wants to reboot the X-Men entirely and thus kill off all the characters from this franchise to wipe the slate clean.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
(July 5, 2019)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming
Chuck Zlotnick—Sony Pictures Entertainment
Spider-Man will definitely survive the Infinity War movies because he’s contractually obligated to star in another two Spider-Man
films. Tom Holland will return as geeky teen Peter Parker and Zendaya will also appear as Mary Jane. Disney and Sony have released few details about the film, except that Peter and his friends will be headed to Europe for summer vacation (hence the title Far From Home .)
Peter will face off against classic Spidey villain Mysterio, played by Jake Gyllenhaal (who once auditioned to play the web slinger himself but lost out to Tobey Maguire). Though Robert Downey Jr. played a major role in the first film as Spider-Man’s mentor, Holland has confirmed that Iron Man won’t appear in Far From Home.
The New Mutants (Aug. 2, 2019)
Universe: X-Men
Fox has slowly been building a cohort of young actors to take over the X-Men movies when actors like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence inevitably exit the franchise. (They are already the second group of actors to play the X-Men. Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry were among the first group.)
They introduced new actors to play younger versions of the characters from the original X-Men movies like Sophie Turner as Jean Grey and Alexandra Shipp as Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse. But they also are pulling characters from the comics and giving them big screen debuts, like Dafne Keen as X-23 in
Logan .
The New Mutants is no exception: The movie adds a slew of new actors into the franchise, including Split’ s Anya Taylor-Joy, Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton and 13 Reasons Why’ s Henry Zaga. And like Deadpool and Logan before it, the movie will test the bounds of genre in superhero filmmaking, this time with a horror spin.
Gambit (March 13, 2020)
Universe: X-Men
Getty Images; Marvel
Channing Tatum has been trying to get a Gambit movie made for years. The Magic Mike actor plans to star as the New Orleans-based thief with the ability to charge inanimate objects (like playing cards) with explosive power.
The movie was initially supposed to start production in 2015, but Fox placed it on the back burner after two different directors dropped out. Tatum has said he wanted to do something edgier and more original with the character. Recent superhero movies like Logan
and Deadpool , which experimented with genre, have opened up the door for Gambit to take big risks.
The studio has yet to announce a new director for the upcoming movie after Gore Verbinski dropped out in January. Fox has subsequently pushed the movie’s release date.
Black Panther 2 (TBD)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marvel Studios 2018
Marvel Studios head Feige has already confirmed that Black Panther 2 is definitely happening and that he hopes director Ryan Coogler will stay on for the sequel. Presumably, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o and the rest of the first film’s stars will likely sign on for a second movie.
Feige also teased possible spinoff films for some of Black Panther’ s standouts, including Black Panther’s genius younger sister Shuri (Letita Wright) and badass warrior Okoye (Danai Gurira). “I think Shuri’s astounding, and you’ll see much more of her in our universe,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Okoye, I think I’d watch three action films just Okoye.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
(TBD)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
©Marvel Studios
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was set for 2020 until Disney fired James Gunn, who directed the first two Guardians films, in July after reviewing several of his old tweets. Despite the fact that the cast released a joint statement in support of Gunn, Disney has says they will not rehire the director and postponed filming indefinitely.
However, if Disney does manage to convince the cast to return—and finds a new director—the final movie in the Guardians trilogy could launch at least one spinoff. In a post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, ravagers played by Sylvester Stallone, Michelle Yeoh and others talk about reuniting a fractured team of heroes.
Silver and Black (TBD)
Universe: Spiderverse
Despite reports that Sony had scrapped this movie, or even divided it into two different solo movies for Silver Sable and Black Cat, a producer of Venom recently said that the movie was still a-go, but that the writers are
revamping the script.
Sony recruited Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball , Beyond the Lights) to make the movie about Silver Sable and Black Cat. It’s unclear if she’s still attached to the project. Plot details are scarce, but Silver Sable, the head of an elite squad, will likely be hunting down the talented burglar Black Cat—until they join forces. Prince-Bythewood has cited buddy movies like Thelma & Louise as her inspiration for the film.
Black Widow Movie (TBD)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Scarlett Johansson in 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' Jay Maidment—Marvel/Walt Disney/Shutterstock
Black Widow is getting a long-overdue solo movie. Scarlett Johansson has appeared in six Marvel movies, beginning with Iron Man 2 in 2010, but she has never gotten to play the lead.
In January 2018 Marvel hired Jac Schaeffer to write a script. Chris Evans dropped hints that a solo Black Widow movie was underway while promoting Infinity War , and in July, the studio announced that Cate Shortland would direct the film.
Marvel hasn’t released any details about the plot, but in March, Johansson speculated on what a Black Widow origin story might look like: “I think that there’s definitely an opportunity to explore Widow as a woman who has come into her own and is making independent and active choices for herself, probably for once in her life. She hasn’t always had that possibility.”
Doctor Strange 2 (TBD)
Universe: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Marvel has not officially confirmed an upcoming Doctor Strange sequel. But C. Robert Cargill, who wrote the first film, and director Scott Derrickson recently revealed at a screening that they already have a concept and villain for the second movie. They also hinted that Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) would play a major role in the story.
It’s unclear what will become of Strange in
Avengers 4 , but Derrickson has been dropping
cryptic clues about the future of the character on Twitter.
Logan Spinoff (TBD)
Universe: X-Men
Dafne Keen in 'Logan' Moviestore/Shutterstock
Logan surprised just about everyone: The dark and poignant superhero movie set in 2029
earned critical praise and an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. It’s no wonder, then, that
Fox is working on a script that would center on Laura, the little girl Logan shepherds across the country in that movie.
Laura could essentially pick up Wolverine’s mantel in future films. She, and the other young mutants who are the victim of experimentation in Logan , could represent a new, much more diverse future for the X-Men and superhero movies in general.
Ms. Marvel (TBD)
Ms. Marvel Comics Marvel Studios.
Fan favorite Ms. Marvel—Marvel’s first Muslim superhero—is making her way to the big screen, according to Marvel head Feige. Kamala Khan, a shapeshifting teenager inspired to fight crime by Captain Marvel, made her debut in the comic books in 2014.
Though Feige didn’t confirm how or when Ms. Marvel will make her debut, a solo movie about a female, Muslim-American superhero would be a massive step forward in the still very white, very white Marvel universe. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel could likely play a mentor role in Ms. Marvel’s movie, much like Iron Man dropped in on Spider-Man in
Homecoming .
The Eternals (TBD)
Feige has confirmed that Marvel would make a movie featuring the Eternals. The studio has since hired indie director Chloe Zhao (T he Rider and Songs My Brothers Taught Me ) to direct the film, though they have not cast anyone yet.
In the comics, a race called the Celestials (the gold people from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) create the Eternals, a superhuman and immortal people. The Eternals have the powers of flight, telepathy and manipulation of matter, among other things. The Eternals are tasked with protecting Earth.
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