The Marvel Cinematic Universe has demonstrated how a larger story arc can be incorporated into over 20 movies spanning 13 years. It’s truly an unprecedented achievement in movie history. Just having that many films that hang together on a common theme may only be rivaled by the James Bond Franchise (25 films and going strong). But, the Bond movies were largely standalone affairs, while most of the MCU films were clearly leading toward the advancement of a single larger storyline.
The MCU broke down its films and official TV series into phases, with the first 3 phases working together to form The Infinity Saga. Those films officially ended with Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, although the major story was completed in Avengers: Endgame from just earlier that year. Once phase 3 ended, the question was, what’s next? How do you top destroying and then rescuing half the life in the universe? As stakes go, things don’t get much more consequential.
Marvel is also notoriously close-lipped when it comes to their larger plans. They’ve been pretty successful at keeping secrets for the last 13 years, so it’s no surprise that with phase 4 now just underway, we don’t really have a great grasp on where things are heading. So, let’s take a bit of a look at what might be coming from the MCU in phase 4.
What is Phase 4?
Phase 1 of the MCU was largely made up of origin stories and bringing together the Avengers. It began with Iron Man (2008) and culminated with The Avengers (2012). Phase 2 began to set the stage for the larger storyline of The Infinity Saga, but only just barely. It began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and was finished off with Ant-Man (2015). But, it wasn’t exactly clear that there was an overriding story behind it all until we reached phase 3. That kicked off with Captain America: Civil War (20160 and included the two key Avengers films, Infinity War and Endgame.
Phase 4 kicked off with Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, and most recently, Eternals (all came out in 2021). Phase 4 also includes a number of Disney Plus TV series. We have already seen WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki come out in 2021. Next up we have Hawkeye before the holidays and then a bunch of shows slated for the next few years. Upcoming films in phase 4 will include:
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
The Marvels (2023)
Guardians fo the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Fantastic Four (TBA)
So, we can safely assume that phase 4 will extend until at least 2024, based on the current movie and TV show lineup and release dates.
There are also a number of films in development that might end up in phase 4 or possibly phase 5, including Blade, a Deadpool sequel, a Captain America sequel, and a film that introduces the X-Men.
OK, so what are some of the potential main elements of phase 4 from a plot standpoint?
The Multiverse
From the recent Disney Plus show, Loki, we know the Multiverse is a pretty huge potential plot point for the entire MCU going forward. Another Disney Plus show, What If…? dealt with the concept of the Multiverse as the driver of its entire reason for being - introducing us to alternative universes where character and storylines diverged dramatically from the MCU that we all know. We also understand, with a fair amount of certainty, that the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home will focus on elements of the Multiverse, to introduce characters from previous Spider-Man movies (maybe even alternate Spider-Men). Then, the title of the forthcoming Doctor Strange feature film is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
As fully detailed in Loki and What If…?, the Multiverse includes a vast (nearly limitless?) number of alternate universes all existing simultaneously but separately. Some may be remarkably similar, but others could be wildly divergent (Zombie Avengers!). From a storytelling standpoint, it more or less means that all bets are off. Anything can, and technically has or will, happen in the MCU if you just find the right universe.
Put all this together and the Multiverse will clearly play a pivotal role in Phase 4 of the MCU. But, will it be the main storyline or just part of something else?
The Celestials
The Celestials were first introduced into the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (unless I missed an earlier reference), but they come to the forefront in Eternals. Based on the story from that film, the Celestials will absolutely play a part in the future of the MCU. However, whether that future is simply a key role in future Eternals sequels or as key characters (villains or heroes) in the general MCU is totally up in the air.
Eternals gave us a more clear picture of how important the Celestials are to the underpinnings of the reality that the MCU exists in. One of them (Arishem) basically created the universe and has shaped its evolution in many ways ever since - at least if we can take the backstory of the Eternals at face value. Assuming it is accurate, how do the Celestials fit into the concept of the Multiverse? Did they create all the universes or are their different sets of the same (or different) Celestials in each Multiverse? If they are the overarching creators of everything, then they could supersede the Multiverse as a plot point. But, if they exist in each universe separately, then the Multiverse likely takes precedence.
In either event, they beings can easily step in as villains that are greater than Thanos. In fact, they exist at such a level that it’s hard to imagine the Avengers standing much chance against them in a fight.
The Future of the Avengers
Speaking of the Avengers, what’s their future? There don’t appear to be any more Avengers movies on the schedule and it’s not really clear if they still exist as a group, following Avengers: Endgame. Most of the founding members are deceased or retired, so perhaps the days of the Avengers are over in the MCU.
If there are no Avengers, what group of heroes will team up to take on the next huge threat? Shang-Chi is likely to be part of that, along with Doctor Strange, the new Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. Beyond that group, we might see some of the new characters (Ms. Marvel, a new Black Panther, whichever Guardians of the Galaxy survive Vol 3, and eventually the Fantastic Four.
Spider-Man’s Exit?
Notice I didn’t mention Spider-Man in that above group. Since the character belongs to Sony, it’s uncertain what his future is in the MCU after the next film. Sony seems to have plans for its own Spider-Man-related franchise with Venom and the upcoming Mobius films. So, it’s possible that we won’t see much or any of Spider-Man after No Way Home in the MCU.
Let’s just say that phase 4 is likely to bring a lot of surprises to MCU fans!
