Yesterday, Marvel fans rejoiced when it was announced that Disney and Sony have come to a new agreement that will allow Spider-Man to remain in the MCU for at least a couple more movies. Mainly, Spider-Man 3 will be produced by Marvel Studios and is set to drop in July 2021. What with all the celebration of Tom Holland sticking around the franchise, though, another major benefit of the deal has been overlooked. And that’s that we now have four MCU films coming in 2021.
Marvel revealed their initial slate for the year back at this summer’s Comic-Con. As such, we know that in February arrives Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Liu and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, while May brings us Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, featurning Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme alongside Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff.
In the original line-up, the next MCU entry would’ve been Thor: Love and Thunder from Taika Waititi, featuring Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman. But now, Spider-Man 3 will step in between DS2 and T:LAT to fill the vacant summer blockbuster slot.
To be honest, this scheduling works out so well for Marvel that it seems likely that Kevin Feige and the studio deliberately left the space free just in case negotiations went well and Spidey remained part of the family. The date also fits with the release pattern of Homecoming and Far From Home, which both came out in July, two years apart.
The funny thing is that 2021’s four releases also equals things out with 2020’s slim schedule of just two MCU movies. Along with Black Widow and The Eternals, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was supposed to drop next year but has been held back due to James Gunn’s brief parting with Marvel. Fans might’ve felt that they were cheated out of a movie, but not anymore thanks to the Spider-Man deal and as Thanos would say, the cinematic universe is now perfectly balanced once again.
Oh, and let’s not forget the four TV shows that are coming to Disney Plus that same year, too.