With Iron Man kicking off Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, countless superheroes began finding a whole new life when they were plucked from print and brought to life on the big screen. For over ten years, die-hard comic book fans, along with casual movie-goers, would be in awe as they witnessed heroic characters achieve enormous feats in movie theaters all around the world. An exhilarating conclusion then came to pass in Phase 3 with Avengers: Endgame, which was released in April 2019.
As a result of the penultimate battle between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Thanos, Phase 4 of the MCU was packed with plenty of emotional aftermaths. Wanda Maximoff desperately clung to the fleeting memories of her family by trying to rebuild a destroyed Vision as well as creating mirages of her two unborn sons using Darkhold magic. As for Steve Rogers, he decided that it was the right time to hand over the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson and spend the rest of his waking days with his love, Peggy Carter.
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Calm Before the Storm
Marvel Studios
Soon after that, the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole fell into a much calmer state of affairs. Before settling in with multiversal friends back in NYC, audiences watched as Spider-Man had fantastical adventures abroad. Plenty of new characters were introduced, with Shang-Chi and The Eternals popping up in their own solo films. Kate Bishop, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk were just a few names shown for the first time through their own Disney Plus shows. But as we were soon to find out, peaceful times don’t last in the superhero world.
Kang The Conqueror was once just a prestigious human scholar who accidentally discovered the multiverse by experimenting with his peers. Trying to gather all of his variants in one place and time to discuss the impending possibilities of what they had just discovered, the most despicable Kang variant sabotaged the meeting of the minds. Just like his name implies, this evil variant now uses every technological weapon from the past, present, and future to conquer many timelines and planets.
MCU’s Phase 5 A-Team
Since the Avengers are now disassembled (with some even sacrificing themselves for the greater good), Phase 4 not only has the responsibility of bringing new Marvel characters to the forefront to face this threat but also showing the audience that these newcomers can fill the shoes with those from the past. Thanks to a now-deleted post from the Latin America-based Disney website, we now know the Marvel heroes who are allegedly going to be pushed into more significant and prominent roles as the MCU moves forward.
The first name mentioned was Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop. Bishop was trained by Clint Barton himself when she debuted in the Disney Plus miniseries Hawkeye. Already being in battles with the likes of Echo, Kingpin, and Black Widow’s younger sister, Yelena Belova, it comes as no surprise that she will inevitably be more in a more prominent place in the upcoming phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A deaf martial artist who made her premiere in the latter half of Hawkeye, Echo is also on the short list of characters that supposedly will have a more urgent position as the MCU evolves. Maya Lopez will stop at nothing to get revenge on Kingpin, the man who orchestrated the murder of her father. Her already established connection with other Marvel characters, as well as the fact that she’s getting her own solo Disney Plus show in 2023, shows that she is certainly one to look out for.
At first glance, 16-year-old Kamala Khan is like any teenager who idolizes a polarizing public figure. For Khan, Captain Marvel is that singular inspiration. She suddenly becomes just like her idol when she finds familial bangles, which give her superhuman-like abilities. Being the first Pakistani hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Khan ends up fighting not only djinns from another world but an agency that suppresses super humans called Damage Control. Given the fact that Ms. Marvel is the show in which the concept of mutants is introduced to the MCU, there is no second-guessing as to why she is going to have a more significant role going forward.
The much beloved Daredevil is also in this prestigious ranking. Lasting for three seasons even before the MCU was formally created, Matt Murdock was already very much present in his own Netflix show. After Disney bought Marvel, Murdock made a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home and has an upcoming role in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. Premiering in Spring 2024, he’ll have his own Disney Plus show too. Whether he leads in only street-level heroics or partakes in multiversal storylines, long-standing fans of his can’t wait to see the devil from hell’s kitchen return.
The most surprising hero to be given this unique spotlight is Ironheart. Even though MCU enthusiasts barely know much about this hero or her origins as of yet, the character of Riri Williams is to be the spiritual successor to the now deceased Tony Stark. She will make her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Considering that movie looks to be a smash hit already, she will not have a hard time finding her place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Noted as a bonus entry, the re-introduced Captain America is also mentioned in this statement as well. Seeing how quickly Sam Wilson took a heroic charge to stop hate in The Falcon and Winter Soldier, we, as fans, should welcome him with open arms in leading this new class of MCU superheroes.
Mosy can agree that having all of these characters promoted in the next upcoming phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will provide great stories for not only fans but also a great line of defense for any villains who wish to do society wrong.
