With Avengers: Endgame having the potential to unseat Avatar as the new all-time box office champion, the MCU has never been more popular. It seems that everyone is talking about the events of the movie, with cinemagoers reduced to tears after saying goodbye to characters they’ve spent the last decade with. For now, Marvel Studios can rest on its laurels, with Spider-Man: Far From Home beginning to look like the summer blockbuster equivalent of the victory lap. But what exactly lies beyond for the rest of Phase 4?
Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked just that during the Walt Disney Company’s quarterly earnings call. His answer was cautious, with Iger explaining that Marvel Studios are preparing their own announcement on what’s in the pipeline, which will take place this summer (presumably soon after Far From Home hits cinemas). He also teased that we should look at Disney’s recently announced slate of movie release dates, which feature eight slots reserved for “Untitled Marvel” films. There’s going to be two in 2020, and three apiece in 2021 and 2022. But what could these be?
Well, the 2020 releases are all but confirmed. Black Widow reportedly started filming earlier this week and will most likely hit theaters on May 1st, 2020, while The Eternals is finishing pre-production and should occupy the November 6th, 2020, slot.
Beyond that we have three release dates in 2021: February 12th, May 7th and November 5th These three films will probably be Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2 and possibly Black Panther 2. Things get hazy in 2022, though. February 18th may see Captain Marvel 2, with May 6th taken up by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. There’s one final date, July 29th, 2022, that’s as yet unspoken for, with my bet that it’ll be a brand new property rather than a sequel.
But, as Iger said, we don’t have to speculate for too long, as Marvel will confirm all this very soon. I doubt there’ll be too many surprises in the announcement, but who knows what rabbit they might pull out of their hat?