With The Fantastic Four: First Steps now out in theaters, MCU fans will now suffer a year-long drought of without new Marvel content. Well, on the big screen, anyway. There won’t be another Marvel Studios film until Spider-Man: Brand New Day next July, and then it’ll be another six months until Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters. So what’s Marvel’s focus once the two guaranteed hits of Spidey and Avengers are out of the way? According to a new Variety report, Black Panther 3 and X-Men are the top priorities for Marvel’s post-FF future. Poor Blade is sent to the back burner yet again. And even a no-brainer like Deadpool 4 isn’t a priority right now, which seems rather odd.
What is Marvel’s Mystery Movie in 2027?
At the moment, Marvel Studios has a release date for something on July 23, 2027. The film will presumably be set between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Logic suggests that whatever this movie is will take place on Battleworld, the hodgepodge planet made up of different realities.
So, which character would fit that backdrop? First on our list is Doctor Strange. His second solo outing, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, made nearly a billion dollars. It would make sense for Stephen Strange to round out his trilogy with an adventure set on Battleworld. Another character that would thrive in this scenario is Shang-Chi, whose sequel is long overdue. According to reports in 2022, the rumored subtitle of that movie was Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time
When Will Black Panther 3 Take Place?
With the rebooted X-Men film from Jake Schreier not arriving until after Secret Wars, our best guess is a Ryan Coogler-helmed Black Panther III. This is our top choice for what that potential 2027 mystery Marvel movie is, after Strange and Shang-Chi. Certainly, a Battleworld scenario allows for Shuri as Black Panther, or even an aged-up version of T’Challa II, who we met in the post-credits scene of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
What does the Kingdom of Wakanda even look like as a realm like Battleworld? We’ll see another side of Wakanda soon in the Eyes of Wakanda animated series on Disney+, which Coogler produced. With Sinners now behind him, Coogler might be itching to finish his Black Panther saga in glorious fashion. Now, let the speculating commence on just who will play the adult T’Challa II in this film!
As for that eventual X-Men project, the same Variety piece said that Marvel Studios was going to bring in fresh faces rather than A-listers to play the young mutants. Part of this is to keep the price tag down, which is how Marvel Studios did things back in Phase One. The emphasis will be on the X-Men being young characters, like the original Lee and Kirby X-Men. Or, for a more recent reference, as they were in the animated X-Men: Evolution. One thing is certain, MCU content may slow down, especially compared to the glory days of Phase III, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Content shared from nerdist.com.