The last time Marvel studios had a year to themselves without a new release, they were just putting finishing touches on an ten year, triple phase plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
This plan began with 2008’s Iron Man and concluded with 2019’s Endgame, spanning 23 movies over 11 years. Now, thanks to the pandemic, the studio have just gone the entire 2020 without a new release. So what’s next?
We’ve already seen signs that Kevin Feige and the rest of the Marvel team have tried to make up for lost time fast. 2021 has been chuck full of Marvel material. This year alone, we’ve gotten WandaVision, Loki, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Black Widow. It’s just July.
So once again, what’s the plan?
Allow me list out what’s coming for the rest of 2021 so you can go set your reminders. This is the start of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What If...?
Marvel’s first animated series with a collection of alternative storylines.
From the trailer above, we see Peggy Carter took the super-soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, Yondu and T’Challa are traveling the cosmos together, and Killmonger saves Tony Stark from the explosion we know makes him Iron Man. There’s just a lot in this trailer and we can’t wait for Marvel to wow us with all the possibilities.
What If…? starts streaming on DIsney+ from August 11 2021.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
Yet another first from Marvel studios. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be first MCU film centered on an Asian lead, played by Simu Liu. The movie will also be the first from Marvel with an Asian filmmaking team: director Destin Daniel Cretton and screenwriter David Callaham.
Quick tidbit, the Ten rings is a terrorist organization in the MCU. The same organization hired by Obadiah Stane to kidnap Tony Stark while in Afghanistan back in the first Iron Man movie. The rumored villain is the Mandarin so maybe we finally get to see the real Mandarin.
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is scheduled to hit cinemas on September 3, 2021.
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Ms Marvel
2021 seems to be full of firsts for the studio. In Ms Marvel, we’re introduced to the first ever Muslim lead in an MCU film. Also the studio’s first Pakistani character. Iman Vellani will star as 16-year-old Kamala Khan. Khan is a big fan of superheroes, especially Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. When she gains her powers, she decides to emulate Danvers.
Ms Marvel will be a miniseries on Disney+ and premiere sometime late in 2021, there’s no official date yet.
Eternals
This movie follows a group of immortals that have seemingly been living on earth for thousands of years. We all have the same question, did they live through the Thanos snap? Why didn’t they help? Did they let the Avengers handle a full on Invasion in New York by themselves? We’ll have to wait to find out.
The movie boasts a star studded cast. With Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Kit Harington, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee and Lia McHugh all starring.
Eternals is scheduled for release on November 4, 2021.
Spiderman: No Way Home
The sequel to 2019’s Spiderman: Far From Home, this movie promises a multiverse of web slinging goodness. That’s if the rumors and fan theories are to be believed. We know that Jamie Foxx will return as Electro and that Alfred Molina would reprise his role as Doctor Octopus from everybody’s favorite Spiderman movie (Yes, I said it. I don’t care), 2004’s Spiderman 2. It remains to be seen if we’ll also get Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would both return as their versions of Spiderman but I guess Marvel would want to hold on to a couple secrets.
There’s no trailer yet but we got this fun teaser playing on Tom Holland’s loose lips.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled to be released on December 17, 2021.
Hawkeye
Yet another series for the streaming giant, Disney+. You would be wrong if you think this series would mainly be about Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton.
Yes Barton is the titular character Hawkeye but according to reports, this show is mainly about Kate Bishop, to be played by Hailee Steinfeld. Bishop becomes Barton’s mentee and eventually takes over as Hawkeye.
No trailer or official date have been released for Hawkeye yet but Marvel say this series would premiere in late 2021.
There’s more of Phase 4 coming in 2022, but let’s get through 2021 first. We’ll be right back here with the breakdown for you guys.