Marvel Phase 4 Titles

Marvel Phase 4 : We Do What We Want. You Can’t Stop Us

San Diego Comic Con and Hall H saw the announcement, and confirmation of everything we will see for the next two years of Marvel movies and Disney+ shows.  It’s Marvel Phase 4. It’s time to get goddamned weird.

Black Widow (Film, May 1 2020)

This will be set before the events of Infinity War and Endgame, with the setting apparently following Captain America: Civil War.

Florence Pugh (Recently much applauded for Fighting With My Family) will be taking the role of Yelena Belova, the second person in comics to bear the name Black Widow. Footage shown shows her brawling with the current Black Widow in a nasty looking fight.

Throw in scenes in Budapest, and the introduction of the Villain Taskmaster, and this looks like it’s going to be setting up quite a lot of pieces moving forwards with Marvel Phase 4. This will also be the first Marvel Movie solely directed by a Woman with Cate Shortland.

Falcon and The Winter Soldier (Disney+, Fall 2020)

This is going to be the first project in Phase 4 set after Endgame, and so expect this to deal with the fallout of that film for the titular characters. Legacy is a theme that Phase 4 is probably going to be running with, so keep it in mind.

Footage shown at the panel shows Daniel Bruhl will be returning to the role of Zemo and apparently putting on the purple balaclava mask that his comic counterpart wears. Expect this to be another espionage and superfighting romp as the series hits Disney+ as the first marvel product on that service.

Abandon hope all ye who read on. It’s about to start getting WILD.

The Eternals (Film, November 8 2020)

And this is where we start. The Eternals are a cosmic marvel team (A la the Guardians of the Galaxy) but instead of lovable misfits and rogues, think a pantheon of godlike beings with a messed up family relationship. In terms of popularity, think of it this way. The Guardians and Iron Man would have been considered B tier popularity comics before their films came out. The Eternals probably lie somewhere around the D/E Range.

Due to the presence of this wild seeming premise, you’re seeing a cast made up of incredibly heavy hitters, led by Angelina Jolie. Yep. The only guidance we have for this film so far is the statement that this is going to be “completely Jack Kirby” who was famous for his cosmic, psychedelic art and storytelling.

The director is going to be Chloe Zhao, making this only the second Marvel film to be solely directed by a woman. Her previous works have focussed on interpersonal relationships and interesting character interactions. I can see how she ended up here directing the longest of the long shots for Marvel Phase 4.

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Film, February 12 2021)

Shang Chi is the martial arts expert for the Marvel Universe. Being played by Simu Liu, with Awkwafina in a co star role, this is likely to be Marvel’s attempt at making a martial arts film with their usual high budgets. Destin Daniel Cretton takes the directors chair, and he has experience directing family drama.

The tone for the film follows in the family drama as the titular character, Shang-Chi, devotes his entire life to bringing down his father’s criminal empire.

Accordingly, the legend of Hong Kong Film Tony Leung will be playing the villain of the piece, The Mandarin. If you are not familiar with the work of Tony Leung, here is a link. This is casting you should be excited about.

That name, and the name Ten Rings, might sound familiar. This is because they previously appeared in the Iron Man films. Ben Kingsley played a version of The Mandarin who was a fake villain in Iron Man 3. As teased in one of the many one shot Marvel dvd extras, there is in fact a real Mandarin. So that’s who Tony Leung is playing in Marvel Phase 4.

Keep up. It’s not going to get easier from here.

WandaVision (Disney+, Spring 2021)

So we knew Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany were getting a tv show. We knew it would focus on the relationship between Scarlet Witch and The Vision. We still don’t know how that’s going to work following the events of Infinity War. If a pair of twin boys appear at any point, remember those, they’ll be incredibly important later on.

What we didn’t know was that this show would be the first place we would see Teyonah Parris’s Monica Rambeau character. Again, that name may sound familiar. Her mother, Maria Rambeau, was Carol Danver’s best friend in Captain Marvel. In the comics, she has also been Captain Marvel, but mainly goes by the energy based hero name of Spectrum.

In (Incredibly) recent comics, Spectrum and Vision have had an ongoing storyline where she helps him deal with Synthetic Human issues, so maybe that’s what’s going on here? I have no idea, this is absolutely not where I expected Monica Rambeau to turn up in Marvel Phase 4.

Loki (TV Spring 2021)

Something we did know, but actually expected a lot sooner, is the upcoming Disney+ Series Loki. Tom Hiddleston returns as the God Of Mischief.

Alright. This is going to follow the Loki from Endgame. The one that escaped with the Tesseract in 2012. We already know it’s going to be at least partially set on earth in the 1970s. Other reports suggest there’s going to be lots of time hopping. This means the Loki on screen will not have gone through all the redemption of The Dark World or Ragnarok or Infinity War. (That Loki is Dead)

Got it?

This series is probably going to have Tom Hiddlestone in lots of fun costumes as he time travels, moralising over his villainous past as the writers adapt the incredibly popular Kieron Gillen run on “Journey into Mystery”. If Loki at some point reincarnates as a greasy looking child/teen, you all owe me money. I will explain why way below.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Film, May 7 2021)

I Object. That is not a movie title. That is the name of a themepark ride.

Well, I hope you caught up on WandaVison, as Scarlet Witch will be joining Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange as they venture into the Multiverse.

Supposedly the plot of the former will lead straight into the latter, and if Marvel want to make any changes to canon, explain away inconsistencies or just plain do weird stuff, this is the film to do it.

Director Scott Derrickson says this will be the first Scary film in Marvel Phase 4.

Expect Grisly Cosmic Horror, mind altering visuals and since this is a multiverse movie, probably where the Mutants and X Men will slip in.

(Disney has to make money off that Fox Deal somewhere. Simpsons alone won’t cover it. You can only close so many studios)

If a flying Latina Girl appears to punch a hole in space in the shape of a star at any point, hold on to her, we’ll need her later.

What If…? (Disney+ Summer 2021)

Now that you’re comfortable with the idea of Multiverses, let’s explore in a nice safe manner.

What If…? Is a long running Marvel Comics brand which sees writers tackle fun ideas like what if Peter Parker was the Punisher? What if Tony Stark became Doctor Doom?

As such, an animated series that allows writers to have a fun time spitballing is a perfect fit. A whole host of MCU actors will be returning to pick up their roles already, so this will feel accessible to all.

The only one of these we know of ahead of time is What If Peggy Carter became Captain America? Expect this to be loosely based on the critically acclaimed Saladin Ahmed run on Exiles, where Peggy Carter did in fact become Captain America, and kicked ass accordingly.

While this may in fact be one of the lowest stakes MCU products of Marvel Phase 4, it’s likely to be the one with the most free potential.

Hawkeye (Disney+ Fall 2021)

Now you might be thinking to yourself, Do I really want to watch a show where Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton shoots arrows at things for ten episodes?

The answer is probably no. Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is not that interesting.

But this isn’t about Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. This is about Kate Bishop. Who has the official, and universally acknowledged, title of Better Hawkeye. (LEGACY is a theme you should be remembering)

Would you like to watch a show about a Teenage Girl rebelling against her family, learning how to shoot arrows real good and generally being incredibly cool as she does so? While soundly making fun of Jeremy Renner the entire time?

Yes? Good. So do I. So did this crowd:

The Title art also suggests that this is going to be based (Probably very loosely) on the truly excellent Matt Fraction Comics run, which features a very different (and likable) Hawkeye compared to the MCU.

Otherwise, in the comics Kate Bishop is really quite famous for being the de facto leader of the Young Avengers.

I wonder if that will become more and more relevant as we gather more teenage and legacy heroes, hmmm i wonder.

Thor: Love and Thunder (Film, November 5 2021)

I’m gonna need to pause a second. Just look at that title. There is a hair metal band weeping somewhere as nothing they ever do will come close to that title.

Alright. Taika Waititi returns, Chris Hemsworth returns, Tessa Thompson Returns. All three of these were integral elements to how good Thor Ragnarok was. It is good news that they’re back.

Tessa Thompson has “joked” that Valkyrie’s first act as the new King Of Asgard is to find a Queen. (This is likely not a joke)

All very positive for the tone of the films, though hopefully without the (kinda unpleasant) gags about Thor and body image this time.

Big news is, Natalie Portman, who famously was not happy with the role of Jane Foster in Dark World, returns.

Now Ragnarok was pretty great, and I imagine that buoyed confidence for Portman to come back. But what specifically drew her to the role this time?

Well I imagine it’s that she’s getting to be Thor. They literally had her raise a Mjolnir prop in the panel.

Adapting the Critically acclaimed Jason Aaron run on The Mighty Thor, this film will see Jane Foster imbued with the power of Thor. As she is worthy.

The wail you can hear in the distance is thousands of gigantic man children wailing “Thor can’t be a girl!?!”
Those people are wrong and you should mock them.

Specifically, this seems to lend credence to the theory that Marvel is comfortable using their comics as a testbed for the films. Good. There’s a lot of fun stuff in there to work with. Marvel Phase 4 will be all the better for it.

THE FUTURE

So we also had a few things pop up as appearing past 2021. 2022 and 23 will see multiple big tentpole productions including the likes of Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2 and the previously announced Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Kevin Feige also dropped the news that during that time, we should absolutely be expecting the Fantastic Four and Mutants to be showing up.

Now, these are likely the films, but I’d also put money on Marvel Studios and Disney+ wanting a bunch of tv shows as well. From that, I’d be expecting all of those teen characters to be gathering under the Young Avengers banner, for a start.

Oh, and then he dropped one more piece of news, that is interesting to say the least, in the context of wanting to pull the Marvel Series from Netflix.

Yep. The Half Vampire, Vampire Hunter Blade will be joining the MCU and being played by Mahershala Ali. I would expect some oblique references to the 1998 Wesley Snipes film. Potentially something about skating uphill.