MARVEL PHASE 4 FLMS BREAKDOWN

Today, at Sand Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios returned to Hall H and revealed their slate of films for phase four, in addition to all the tv series that they are developing. Also, there will be spoilers for Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame, and Spider-man Far From Home. There are a lot of insane projects that will be happening in the next few years, so let’s go through the timeline of films in Marvel Phase Four.

Black Widow
May 1, 2020

The first film we will be seeing in phase four will be the Black Widow solo film, which will be directed by Cate Shortland, which has been in development for a couple of years. Scarlett Johansson is returning for her role, however, since Natasha Romanoff died in Avengers Endgame, this film will be a prequel of sorts. It is revealed that the film will take place between the events of “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016, and “Avengers Infinity War” in 2018.

Within these two years, Natasha was on the run from the US government with Captain America, Falcon, and Scarlet Witch. These were the characters who never came to a deal with the US government about being under house arrest for their resistance of the Sokovia Accords- the law which required the Avengers to either register under the United Nations or retire from being vigilantes.

The film is said to feature new characters to the MCU, such as Yelena- the second Black Widow, being played by Florence Pugh- in addition to David Harbour as Alexi Shostakov, and the villain, Taskmaster.

The film seems like it will be a conclusion to the character of Black Widow, and flesh her out more as a character to send off the character.

I would love if the character came back, however, that does not seem to be the case. But anyway, I am very excited about this film. Black Widow is an underutilized character who I am excited to see lead her own film and adventure.

Eternals
November 6, 2020

The Eternals film was rumored last year by Marvel Studios and was officially announced, with the film being directed by Chloe Zhao. The film is to take place far in the past, as the Eternals, are a creation of the go like creatures, the Celestials, who possess many abilities, including, long life spans.

The film will bring to the big screen the ancient alien species, which includes characters such as Sersi, Ikaris, Makari, and other slightly obscure members of the species. The film is to have a star stellar cast, including Angelina Jolie as Thena, and many others. The characters announced for this film are Eternals who were born on Earth, however, there are other Eternals in the universe.

An example of this are the Eternals who live on the planet, Titan. The Eternals on that planet include Mentor, and Starfox, in addition to the mutated eternal, Thanos.

I am excited about this film because of its possibility to link to Thanos, and whether that could expand upon the character and his lineage. The film will also explain and set up different mechanics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, such as Celestials, and other species in the universe, and on Earth.

Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings
February 12, 2021

A character who has been teased to join the MCU for a while has been Shang-Chi, and he has been announced, and it going to portrayed by Simu Liu, who has been a few tv series, such as “Taken”, and “Kim’s Convenience”.

The character of Shang-Chi is a martial artist who was raised to become a deadly assassin by his father, who is a crime lord, which he later leaves, and decides to fight as he despises his father’s evil schemes.

What is interesting about this title is the inclusion of the Ten Rings. In the MCU, the Ten Rings organization has been involved in a number of events (mostly relating to Iron Man, like in the comics), which include the capture of Tony Stark in 2008, and is the organization lead by the Mandarin.

In “Iron Man 3”, Ben Kingsly played a fake Mandarin, however in a Marvel One-shot titled “All Hail the King” revealed that there was a real Mandarin somewhere in the world who would return to present a true form of himself. The fake Mandarin was essentially a terrorist, and it seems like the real Mandarin will be more mystical, like his comic book counterpart.

I am excited to see what happens with the introduction of Shang-Chi, and the real Mandarin, who will most likely be the villain of the film.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of madness
May 7, 2021

A sequel to Doctor Strange was announced, with the subtitle, “In The Multiverse of Madness”, which Scott Derrickson is back to direct. I did take a look at the Marvel backlog, and it appears as though that this title has not been used in any issues, so this seems like it will be free to not tread along too many comic book stories.

The title does tease Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) exploring the multiverse, and alternate realities, which was set up in Avengers Endgame and expanded upon in Spider-man Far From Home. The multiverse has infinite possibilities, so any amount of madness could occur in the film.

In the film, Elizabeth Olsen will be reprising her role of Scarlet Witch to aid Doctor Strange in his venture in the film. It seems like Scarlet Witch’s inclusion in the film will be similar to how the Hulk was included in Thor Ragnarok. I am so excited to see Wanda in the film, where she can be expanded upon as a character, in addition to her powers also be explored more.

The villain of the film is still unknown, however, will most likely link to Dormammu in one form or the other, and it is possible that Mordo will be included in the film.

Thor: Love and Thunder
November 5, 2021

A fourth Thor film felt kind of inevitable considering Taikai Waititi’s reconfiguration of the character and world of Thor when he helmed the director's seat of Thor Ragnarok. But it has been confirmed, Thor 4, or ‘Th4r’, is coming to theaters in 2021.

The subtitle of the film is not the name of any existing comic line or any that I could find, so it seems like the film will take lean away from direct comic storylines, and only touch on beats like most of the MCU films.

In the film, it seems like we will obviously see Chris Hemsworth return as Thor, in addition to other characters that Thor has become friends with such as Korg, and Miek, as well as the new Queen of Asgard, Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson. However, she will not be the one taking on the mantle of Thor, as it was revealed that Natalie Portman was returning to the MCU as Jane Foster, who would in this film become Thor, as the character did in the comics back in 2015.

This is one of the most surprising reveals from the panel, as most people thought that Portman was done playing Jane Foster, as the last time we saw her appear was back in 2013 in Thor the Dark World. I am guessing that the title is referring to the relationship between Thor and Jane, with Thor being the ‘thunder’ and Jane being the ‘love’, or the other way around considering that Jane will be gaining the powers of Thor.

In the film, there are other characters that I would like to see appear, such as Lady Sif, and also the introduction of Beta Ray Bill who has been rumored to appear in the MCU for several years.

Whatever this film has in store, I am so excited to see what happens.

Blade

Without a release date, a new film for the MCU was still announced, and that is Blade, who is going to be played by Marshalla Ali.

A side note, Marshalla Ali did play Cottonmouth in the first season of Luke Cage. This does not make the Netflix shows at not canon with the films, as it is possible that people will look the same in the MCU.

The character of Blade had a trilogy of films not made by Marvel Studios, with Wesley Snipes headlining the films as the half-human, half-vampire,  with the first two films having positive responses, and the third film not being the best.

However, Blade is coming to the MCU, introducing a world of vampires, and monsters. The character has been a fan favorite and has been on most peoples list of characters to be in the MCU, and it is finally happening. Not too much is known about the film, however, I am assuming that the film will take the February 2022 release date, considering that the character is not too big to headline a large May release, and will continue the tradition of the one new franchise, and two old franchise films.

Well, these were the six films that were announced at San Diego Comic-Con this year. I will do a breakdown of the tv series in a separate post, as it would get too long. So this is it for the next two years, and there is still more phase four films to come which have not been announced.

But until then, we still have all of this to look forward to, so subscribe for future content regarding all of these films. Comment below what film you are looking forward to the most, I’m looking forward to Thor 4. You can click on the left for more San Diego Comic-Con 2019, or on the right for more Marvel. As always, thanks for reading, take care.