MCU: Your Guide to What's Next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Director: Cate Shortland

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, O.T. Fagbenle, Ray Winstone

Release Date: Confirmed for May 1, 2020.

What It Might Be About and What Could Be Next:At Comic-Con, Marvel announced that the film will be set after the events of Civil War and will delve into Natasha Romanoff's past, including her time in Budapest. Florence Pugh will be playing Yelena Belova, a rival spy who in the comic books also went by the name Black Widow. A trailer screened at the event showed a fight between Yelena and Natasha, Black Widow returning to Budapest, and fighting Taskmaster. It also could flash back to her early days as an operative. What Could Be Next: Since Romanoff is off the table in the present-day MCU, Belova could potentially step in as the new Black Widow for movies through Phase 4 and beyond.

Hot Rumor: That David Harbour is playing the Red Guardian, the Soviet version of Captain America. At Comic-Con, it was revealed that Harbour is playing Alexi—the same name of a character in the comics who portrayed the Red Guardian—and when he was interviewed he said that he has "complicated feelings" for Captain America and that "we'll understand a bit of that "later. UPDATE: Harbour is confirmed to play this character. 

Hotter Rumor: That Robert Downey Jr. might be back to appear one more time as Iron Man, through older footage. Read our report on the rumor here.  

Here's the first trailer:

Director: Kari Skogland Head Writer: Malcolm Spellman

Cast: Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / the Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, and Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent. 

Release Date: Coming to Disney Plus in August 2021.

What It's About: "Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson/Falcon and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience—in Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The all-new series is directed by Kari Skogland; Malcolm Spellman is the head writer. Debuts on Disney+ this fall.”

Here's the first look:

Director: Chloe Zhao

Cast: Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.

Release Date: November 6, 2020.

What It Might Be About and What Could Be Next: Richard Madden put it this way at Comic-Con: "The Eternals are a race of immortal aliens sent here by the Celestials to save humankind from the Deviants.” As the Marvel website describes them, the Eternals are “a race of god-like beings locked in a millennium-old conflict with the less-evolved Deviants and their originators, the Celestials. Each Eternal has watched civilizations burgeon and die from their domain of Olympia – they are immortals blessed with strange, sometimes monstrous, powers.” Yeah...that’s a lot. This movie could explore the origins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how these characters have influenced past events. 

Laying the Track Already: Celestials have been mentioned in the Guardians of the Galaxy series multiple times, and some of the Eternals are originally from the planet Titan, the same home world of Avengers bad guy Thanos (Josh Brolin), who himself is a Eternal–Deviant hybrid in the comics.

Director: Taika Waititi - who is now an Oscar winner!

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman

Release Date: November 5, 2021. Confirmed at Comic-Con.

What It Might Be About and What Could Be Next: Natalie Portman is returning to the series to play Jane Foster—and a female Thor. It'll be based on Jason Aaron’s Mighty Thor storyline in the comics. Thompson returns as Valkirye and will be looking for a "queen" as the leader of Asgard. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson likely done with MCU movies apart from potential cameos in the future, Hemsworth is being positioned as one of the central characters from the original Avengers team. Expect a very Thor-focused story moving forward. 

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UPDATE: Spidey is back in the MCU and he's returning for more films! After Disney and Sony previously couldn't agree on a deal to bring Tom Holland's Spider-Man back for future Marvel films, the two studios agreed to a new deal that includes Spider-Man 3, as well as another Marvel film. So he's staying afterall! 

Director: Likely Jon Watts after he directed Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Tony Revolori, Angourie Rice 

Release Date: Now confirmed with a July 16, 2021 release. 

What It Might Be About and What Could Be Next: The most consequential moment of Far From Home came after the credits started rolling: Spider-Man hater and “journalist” J.J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, reprising his role from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy) reveals to the world that Peter Parker is actually Spider-Man. The movie will almost certainly deal with the fallout, although Marvel could have it both ways: The story could play things out at the beginning with Parker’s identity out there, but later on have an event/situation play out that makes everyone forget (in the comics, Doctor Strange cast a spell that made everyone forget this fact, so there’s precedent.) Michael Keaton’s Vulture and Mac Gargan a.k.a. The Scorpion (Michael Mando) could also be featured as villains after sitting out Far From Home. 

Hot Rumor: That Miles Morales, the popular Spider-Man from the comics and animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, could appear. In Homecoming, Donald Glover was featured in a small role as Aaron Davis, who in the comics is Miles’ uncle. 

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Director: Scott Derrickson has dropped out, a new director will be announced soon. For more, here's the news from Variety. And once again, here's Variety with the news: Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is in talks to take over the film.

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Tilda Swinton. Rachel McAdams isn't expected to return.

Release Date: May 7, 2021

What It Might Be About and What Could Be Next: Doctor Strange opened up the idea of the multiverse and the mystical, and this film is leaning into that. Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch, will be tagging along for the ride to add some more power to the mix. Derrickson has been quoted saying that he’d like to have Nightmare in the next film and that could be a potential villain for him to explore. Derrickson also said he wants to make it the first "scary" Marvel movie at Comic-Con. WandaVision will also directly lead into the events of the film.