The Marvel Cinematic Universe did not end with Avengers: Endgame, but it did take a big break, and its return has been shaky.
Phase Four saw Marvel take its first big steps into the multiverse with its movies, while it also began experimenting with mixing TV shows into the canon. Series like WandaVision and Loki have already tied directly into some of the MCU movies that have been released since, while others, like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Moon Knight, haven’t made the crossover just yet. And the whole thing has been pretty disappointing, at least according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Marvel Studios gave fans an idea of what’s on the horizon, laying out firm plans for Phases Five and even Six, including setting release dates for many previously announced films and announcing two new Avengers movies.
But with MCU movies not performing quite as well as Disney might have hoped, plans keep shifting, moving certain movies and shows around on the calendar stretching all the way out to the middle of 2026. Meanwhile, it seems that Iger is planning on fewer Marvel shows in general going forward.
With this new set of release dates — and some new titles and first looks — the MCU machine keeps on churning. From the introduction of Blade and the Fantastic Four to the return of Daredevil in his first official MCU TV series, here’s every planned future Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and Disney Plus show.
2024
Deadpool & Wolverine: July 26
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Marvel Studios has promised to continue 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool franchise with star Ryan Reynolds in the lead and Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine. A new, R-rated Deadpool film is currently filming, with Free Guy’s Shawn Levy directing.
Image: Disney Plus
The great Kathryn Hahn returns to the role of Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch who served as the eventual antagonist of WandaVision, in this Disney Plus series. Wanda cruelly left her trapped in the role of a suburban normie at the end of the previous show, so she probably won’t be in the best mood at the start of this new adventure.
Eyes of Wakanda: Undated
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Originally pitched as an origin story series for Danai Gurira’s Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje, Eyes of Wakanda is an animated series following the history of Wakanda, through the eyes of warriors tasked with safeguarding the country’s miraculous metal, vibranium. Gurira is still attached to reprise her role.
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After assuming the mantle — or rather, shield — left by Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers in the Disney Plus show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie headlines his own Captain America movie for the first time in 2025. The script is by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman, and the director is Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox). Tim Blake Nelson will return to the MCU as the Leader, who was last seen in The Incredible Hulk (2008).
Captain America: Brave New World (which was previously known as Captain America: New World Order) was pushed out of 2024 as part of a big release date shake up from Disney.
Photo: Marvel/Disney via Asad Ayaz
Marvel’s morally gray and more unconventionally heroic characters — including Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and the Red Guardian (David Harbour) — will join forces in Thunderbolts. In the comics, the team is essentially the Marvel Comics version of DC’s Suicide Squad, a group of villains pressed into working together for someone else’s cause on pain of death. Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank) is set to direct.
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Phase Six begins with the most hotly anticipated MCU debut this side of the X-Men. The fourth time is hopefully the charm for Marvel’s First Family, who have long suffered from lackluster cinematic adaptations. Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Jon Watts was originally set to direct, but after his departure, WandaVision and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia director Matt Shakman stepped into the role.
The Last of Us’ Pedro Pascal will lead the cast as the stretchy Mister Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible: Fallout) will be the force field-manifesting Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) stars as the Human Torch; and The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach will embody the Thing.
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Originally slated for 2023, the new Blade movie has been pushed a year. Following Wesley Snipes’ incarnation of the vampire hunter will be no mean feat, but Marvel couldn’t have recruited a better actor to do it: the brilliant Mahershala Ali. The great Delroy Lindo will also make an appearance, while Bassam Tariq directs.
Avengers: 5
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In 2026, Marvel Studios will return to its most successful sub-franchise, and also to the strategy that saw it close out Phase Three (with a pair of Avengers movies, Infinity War and Endgame). Announced as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2022, the movie is currently being rewritten, reportedly, and that was before Marvel Studios dropped Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang, from the studio’s roster, following his conviction of assault and harrassment.
Avengers: Secret Wars: May 7
Image: Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic/Marvel Comics
Delayed to 2027, Avengers: Secret Wars will close out Phase Six and end what Marvel is now calling the Multiverse Saga, the way Avengers: Endgame concluded the Infinity Saga. Again, there’s no cast or director attached yet, but the title refers to a cosmic comics crossover event about collapsing multiverses that could even herald a complete reboot of the MCU.
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After warming us up with a string of cameos, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil is the first character from Marvel’s Netflix shows to make the jump to headlining his own official MCU series on Disney Plus. Vincent D’Onofrio returns as his nemesis Wilson Fisk, alias Kingpin. While the last date we heard for this series was spring 2024, it’s starting to seem pretty unlikely to actually happen that soon, considering Marvel just scrapped the concept for the whole series and are starting over, with filming to begin in spring 2024.
Ironheart: Undated
Photo: Eli Adé/Marvel Studios
After taking her bow in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) gets her own series. The character is a brilliant young engineer who makes her own power suit, much like Iron Man’s, after reverse-engineering some of Tony Stark’s tech. Facing off against Riri will be The Hood (Anthony Ramos), a more magic-based villain. Ironheart doesn’t have a solid release date yet, but it completed filming in late 2022.
Armor Wars
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For the darker side of what happens when Iron Man tech falls into the wrong hands, Don Cheadle will return as War Machine in a film based on Marvel Comics’ Armor Wars. There’s no release date for the movie yet — but with a name like Armor Wars, it seems like a safe bet Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart will also be involved.
A Shang-Chi sequel
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A sequel to 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is in development at Marvel Studios, with little known about it so far, other than that Simu Liu will return in the title role.