There were six films in Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There were six more in Phase Two. Phase Three had 11 films.
Now Marvel is in the midst of Phase Four. To date, we’ve had five movies — Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — and seven TV series including WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, What If…?, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and the currently airing Ms. Marvel. And there are several more movies and shows on the way.
But where is this giant web of movies and shows going and when will Phase Four come to a head? Nobody outside of Marvel knows and thus far, Marvel’s Kevin Feige isn’t talking. But Feige did indicate that we Phase Four is already “nearing the end.”
In an interview with Total Film, Feige said fan will soon “start to see where this next saga is going.” He added:
I think there have been many clues already, that are at least apparent to me, of where this whole saga is going. But we’ll be a little more direct about that in the coming months, to set a plan, so audiences who want to see the bigger picture can see a tiny, tiny, tiny bit more of the roadmap.
At present, Marvel has five confirmed titles that, unless plans change, are intended as chapters of the MCU’s Phase Four: Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Marvels. And there are more shows too, including She-Hulk, Secret Invasion, Ironheart, and Armor Wars. So “nearing the end” oh Phase Four could still be a ways off. Add up those movies and series and you’ve got dozens of hours of story left to go.
Of course, Marvel could ultimately announce some of those shows and movies are actually part of Phase Five, with one of the more momentous upcoming films — like Quantumania, which will feature the return of Jonathan Majors’ time-traveling supervillain Kang — serving as the surprise conclusion of Phase Four. And basically however you categorize these “phases” at this point is ultimately pretty meaningless. Barring a major change, the different phases may end but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to continue for a long time.
The next Marvel film, Thor: Love and Thunder, opens in theaters on July 8.
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