Marvel Studios used Comic-Con to outline its next three phases for audiences. In 2019, Kevin Feige revealed the Phase 4 slate of films and Disney+ superhero shows, announcing more just a few months later at D23. The COVID-19 pandemic ended up delaying and shifting release dates out of order, and with no Avengers film announced many audience members were left sensing an aimless direction for the franchise over Phase 4, not knowing where it would build to.
Despite the MCU laying breadcrumbs for characters like Kang, the concept of the Multiverse, and a mysterious woman recruiting various antiheroes, it appeared some viewers were left wanting a clearer road map. At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Kevin Feige revealed that Phase 4 would end in 2022 with the final two entries being She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Feige then revealed the slate for Phase 5 and teased what was coming in Phase 6, which includes Fantastic Four and two new Avengers movies.
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Phase 5 is an interesting one for the MCU, as it features a wide variety of projects across film and television that double down on the multiverse and hint at a possible darker future for the franchise. Unlike Phase 4 which had Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Phase 5 features no original properties and instead are sequels or spin-offs of already established characters.
Since Phase 5 made up most of the announcements and will encompass the next two years of Marvel films, here is a breakdown of every film and television show in the next step of the Multiverse Saga. See how they could tie together, how they will help set up and build to one another, and lay the groundwork for Phase 6.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - February 17, 2023
Marvel Studios
Phase 5 kicks off with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In many ways, it is a fitting start, as the film will be the proper introduction of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) after being teased in Loki season one during Phase 4 and setting him up for his eventual role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in Phase 6.
The film has been teased as being darker than the previous two Ant-Man films and sees the heroes venturing into the Quantum Realm. At Comic-Con it was confirmed that MODOK would appear in the film, and Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has been given her super suit, similar to her Stinger costume in the comics.
What If…? Season 2 - Early 2023
Disney Platform Distribution
While not officially part of the Phase 5 announcement at San Diego Comic-Con, What If…? season one was listed as part of Phase 4 when it was unveiled and season two of the series was confirmed to appear premiere in early 2023 the day before during the Marvel Animation panel. With this next saga dubbed The Multiverse Saga, a show focused on exploring various corners of the Marvel multiverse seems like an important entry.
Season two will feature an episode originally set for season one that was delayed due to COVID-19, which imagines Tony Stark landing on Sakaar after destroying the ship at the end of Avengers, where he meets the Gamora who takes part in the season one finale of What If…? Other episodes will find Captain Carter partaking in a Winter Soldier-type story. Another episode teases a battle between Odin’s Asgardian forces against Wenwu and the Ten Rings.
Secret Invasion - Early 2023
Teased as a spy espionage series, Secret Invasion is based on the 2008 comic book event of the same name where the Skrulls infiltrated multiple points of Earth culture to take control of it. When it was announced as a series for Disney+, it seemed like an odd call as the Skrulls depicted in Captain Marvel were depicted as refugees and heroic characters in contrast to the villainous Kree. Then in Spider-Man: Far From Home Talos, who is disguised as Nick Fury, makes a reference to Kree sleeper agents implying that Kree would be the main villains of the series. Nick Fury is confirmed to be the lead of the series, and with his close relationship with the Skrulls established it seems some loyalty will be questioned.
However, the marketing for the series has leaned into the Skrull, and with the addition of characters like War Machine, Maria Hill, Everett Ross, and Marvel characters the studio might use this as a chance to shock audiences by revealing fan favorites might not be who they appear.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - May 5, 2023
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The long wait is finally over. Originally intended to be the start of Phase 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was delayed due to the firing of James Gunn, and while Marvel Studios eventually rehired him back they had to wait for him to finish filming and editing The Suicide Squad. Now, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will arrive almost 9 years after the release of the first film, and fittingly on the same date Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opened back in 2017.
The film is set to be the end of this incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy and will see the team go up against The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) who is responsible for the creation of Rocket Raccoon. Rocket appears to be the main focus of the film, but the movie will also explore the dynamic between Peter Quill and the variant Gamora from Avengers: Endgame. The film also sees Will Poulter step into the role of Adam Warlock after being teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The movie in many ways is being positioned as the end of an era and will likely be one of the most emotional MCU films yet.
Echo - Mid-2023
Spinning out of Hawkeye is Echo, with Alaqua Cox reprising her role as Maya Lopez. The series focuses on the character’s return to her hometown where she must come to terms with her past, reconnect with her Native American roots, and embrace her family and community. The series will also see the return of Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Noforio as Daredevil and The Kingpin. This will follow Daredevil’s appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, laying the groundwork for his television series the following year.
It will be interesting to see how exactly Echo ties into this larger multiversal story Marvel is building. It might just be a smaller-scale character piece which would be a refreshing change of pace, particularly following big cosmic scale stories like Secret Invasion and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
Loki Season 2 - Mid-2023
Disney
Loki is the first (and currently only) MCU live-action series to get a season two order, which it is currently filming and likely to premiere in the summer of 2023 in the gap between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels. Loki season one did huge streaming numbers for Disney in summer 2021.
Loki season one ended with the god of mischief finding himself in a rewritten timeline with a statue of Kang the Conqueror in the lobby of the TVA. Now that it is confirmed that Loki season two will premiere after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantuamnia, the series could be dealing with the fallout from that film and the proper introduction of Kang the Conqueror. With the next phase dubbed The Multiverse Saga, Loki has become a very important installment in the franchise moving forward.
The Marvels - July 28, 2023
The Marvels might not be an Avengers film, but it has the feeling of one in that it is a massive team-up film with Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) uniting three different segments of the MCU together. After the end credit scene of Ms. Marvel featuring Kamala and Carol Danvers swapping places, it raises a lot of interesting possibilities for the story.
Captain Marvel ended with Carol going to help the Skrulls find a new home, and with her next film following Secret Invasion that film also might inform the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel.
Ironheart - Late 2023
Marvel Comics
Audiences will first meet Riri Williams aka Ironheart in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022 a year ahead of her own series. In the comics, Riri Williams constructs her own Iron Man suit, and with Tony Stark’s death at the end of Avengers: Endgame, the world needs an Armored Avenger. Riri Williams fits the Multiverse Saga continued emphasis on young heroes taking on the mantle of past Avengers and grappling with their legacy.
Dominique Thorne will reprise her role as Riri Williams in Ironheart and will be joined by Anthony Ramos (In the Heights), Manny Montana (Good Girls), Lyric Ross (This Is Us), and Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) in currently unknown roles.
Blade - November 3, 2023
New Line Cinema
The Blade news was a long time coming, as the project and star Mahershala Ali were first announced at Marvel’s Phase 4 Comic-Con presentation in 2019. The film now is confirmed as part of Phase 5 and will open shortly after Halloween in November 2023. The movie will be directed by Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli). While plot details are unknown, the film likely will be picking up with the after-credit moment of Eternals which featured a voice cameo by Ali as Blade warning Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington) about the Ebony Blade.
Blade is one of many supernatural characters joining the MCU, following established characters Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch as well as recent additions like Moon Knight and the upcoming Halloween special rumored to be centered on Werewolf by Night. Blade might tie into the next Marvel Phase 5 project, Agatha Harkness: Coven of Choas.
Agatha Harkness: Coven of Chaos - Late 2023/Early 2024
Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness was the breakout character of WandaVision, so it makes a certain amount of sense that Marvel Studios would give her a spin-off project. WandaVision ended with Wanda locking Agatha as a prisoner in her own mind, however with Wanda’s supposed death at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness the spell could be broken and Agatha could be free. Agatha’s series could explore even more corners of Marvel’s supernatural world that has been laid out in the Doctor Strange films and the upcoming Blade movie.
Agatha Harkness: Coven of Chaos (formerly known as House of Harkness) could be one of the most important series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it could be the bridge between many various projects. Not only can it connect to the Blade reboot and build on both WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but Agatha’s villain status also makes her a prime candidate for the villain-centric film Thunderbolts.
Daredevil: Born Again - Early 2024
Netflix
Since securing the streaming rights to the Defenders characters, Marvel Studios has been taking full advantage, particularly of Daredevil and his alter ego Matt Murdock as played by Charlie Cox. The character first appeared in a cameo role in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Peter’s lawyer, and will appear in both Echo and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law all before his own series: Daredevil: Born Again.
The series is set to premiere on Disney+ in early 2024 arriving six years after the series was canceled on Netflix in 2018. In contrast to other Marvel Disney+ series which are six one-hour episodes (WandaVision was 9 half-hour episodes and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will be 10 half-hour episodes), Daredevil: Born Again will be 18 episodes. Returning will also be Vincent D’Noforio as Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin.
While the title is a reference to a popular Daredevil storyline, the series is likely using the name more as a meta-reference to the franchise being revived (similar to Spider-Man: Homecoming being a reference to him returning to Marvel), as opposed to a straight-up adaptation of the storyline since many elements of Born Again, were already adapted in Daredevil season three on Netflix.
Captain America: New World Order - May 3, 2024
Audiences have known Captain America 4 was coming following the season finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when the studio announced a fourth film. Now over a year later the title has been confirmed as Captain America: New World Order and will kick off the summer movie season of 2024. The film will be directed by The Cloverfield Paradox’s Julius Onah.
While few details are known about the plot, it will likely resolve the Sharon Carter villain reveal at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. New World Order is an organization in Marvel Comics that has ties to the Red Skull, a possible hint that the character will return or that the franchise will adapt the character’s daughter Sin into the MCU.
Thunderbolts - July 26, 2024
While past Marvel Phases traditionally ended in an Avengers team-up, Phase 5 will invert that with a villain team-up film in the form of Thunderbolts. While it is unknown who will make up The Thunderbolts team, Marvel Studios has likely been setting them up as early as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with the introduction of La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
Thunderbolts being the conclusion to Phase 5 raises a lot of interesting possibilities of where the MCU is heading. In the comics, The Dark Avengers (a reformed version of the Thunderbolts) rose to power shortly after the events of Secret Invasion. Secret Invasion indicated that the public perception of superheroes might be changing, and the villains might sneak in to take control, for a variety of reasons — the public thinking Spider-Man killed Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Wanda Maximoff taking a town hostage in WandaVision, and many people questioning why Doctor Strange gave Thanos the limestone. Thunderbolts being the end of Phase 5 implies this will be the dark middle chapter, a Phase where the heroes lose and the villains come out on top, setting the stage for the franchise’s big bad Kang the Conqueror to take control of the world.
