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Marvel What's upcoming in the MCU, from X-Men to Venom to the Fantastic Four and beyond

Learn about all of the new Marvel movies and TV shows, plus everything we know about the Multiverse Saga

Image credit: Disney+

Marvel has become a bit like one of its cult favorite characters - a juggernaut. This is especially true after Marvel Studios announced the cast for the 2025 return of the Fantastic Four to the big screen, in the same week that first trailer for Deadpool 3 dropped, along with its new title. Things are certainly on the move for the MCU once again, as it prepares for Secret Wars. But what else should fans be looking out for from Marvel across the next few years? You have that question, and we have all kinds of answers. Read on and get yourself an education.

It’s not just this summer’ s Deadpool and next year’s FF reboot that fans should be paying attention to: this year along, Marvel Studios is going to be working on a whole host of features for 2025 and beyond, with Thunderbolts, Captain America: Brave New World, and much more waiting in the wings of theaters the world over. With all this activity, you might think that you need some kind of guide to what’s coming up in the world of Marvel. Guess what? That’s exactly what you’re reading!

If you’re reading this, then chances are you’re already up to date on the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. (If not, click on that link; we’ll help you catch up.) By this point in time, fans have made it through no less than four-and-a-half “phases” of storytelling, from the debut of Iron Man back in 2008 through the rise and fall of Thanos and the aftermath that followed.

Part of what followed included setting up the next few years of Marvel projects. We’ve had the introduction of Kang the Conqueror, who may or may not be the new big bad to threaten reality, as well as the establishment of a multiverse in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with last year’s The Marvels really underscoring what that might mean going forward.

Marvel has been calling the next few years worth of storytelling ‘The Multiverse Saga,’ but what does that mean in practice? Keep reading and we’ll make everything clear.

Upcoming Marvel movies and TV show schedule

If you're looking for a quick rundown of everything with a date (or at least a year), we have that for you here:

Release Date Project Type Platform
March 20, 2024 X-Men '97, season 1 Animated series Disney+
July 26, 2024 Deadpool & Wolverine Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
August 30, 2024 Kraven the Hunter Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
October 25, 2024 Venom: The LKast Dance Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
Fall 2024 Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, season 1 Live-action series Disney+
TBD 2024 Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, season 1 Animated series Disney+
TBD 2024 Eyes of Wakanda, season 1 Animated series Disney+
February 14, 2025 Captain America: Brave New World Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
May 2, 2025 Thunderbolts Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
July 25, 2025 Fantastic Four Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
November 7, 2025 Blade Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
February 13, 2026 Unannounced Marvel Studios movie Live-action movie Theatrical
May 1, 2026 Avengers: The Kang Dynasty Live-action movie Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)
July 24, 2026 Unannounced Marvel Studios movie Live-action movie Theatrical
November 6, 2026 Unannounced Marvel Studios movie Live-action movie Theatrical
May 7, 2027 Avengers: Secret Wars Live-action movie Theatrical

There are two things to note about the above list. Firstly, not all of the projects on there are part of the official MCU timeline: Kraven the Hunter is notably part of Sony’s separate shared universe filled with Spider-Man supporting characters, and the animated Spidey and his Amazing Friends and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man shows exist in their own separate continuity apart from everything else.

Secondly, there are some high profile projects missing from the above calendar: In terms of movies, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse has been officially taken off Sony's release schedule altogether. (It's still coming, it's just that Sony isn't willing to say when.)

Similarly, Ironheart and Daredevil: Born Again (as well as the previously unscheduled Wonder Man) are no longer on the official release schedule for Disney+ as Marvel reconsiders its calendar. The announced (with a preview clip released already, even!) third season of What If...? is also not included on the above list, because it's also undated in terms of release.

Want more information about all of this? We’re here to help, and we’ll even break it down by where it falls in the larger scheme of the MCU.

MCU Phase Five: The Multiverse Saga Part One

X-Men ‘97

X-Men '97 Teaser
Image credit: Disney Studios

Before the X-Men arrive in the MCU proper, Disney+ is doing a sequel to the super-popular ‘90s Fox Kids show X-Men: The Animated Series. The show stars Rogue, Beast, Gambit, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Jubilee, Storm, and Wolverine on an X-Men team led by Magneto, with lots of fan fave guest stars. A number of the voice actors from the original series are returning, too, including Cal Dodd (Wolverine) and Lenore Zann (Rogue).

A trailer for the show was released in mid-February, giving fans a glimpse of what to expect from this particular exercise in nostalgia.

Cover image for YouTube videoMarvel Animation's X-Men '97 | Official Trailer | Disney+

Expected Release Date: March 20, 2024

Platform: Disney+

Deadpool & Wolverine

After years of manifesting it to the universe and putting it on a note under his pillow, Ryan Reynolds’s deepest wish has come true: Hugh "SNIKT!" Jackman is going to guest star as Wolverine in a Deadpool movie. Even crazier, the movie is going to be part of the MCU proper (we suspect multiverse shenanigans), making the almost-certain-to-be-VERY mature audiences-skewing Deadpool 3 the MCU’s first proper mutant story.

Cover image for YouTube videoDeadpool & Wolverine | Official Teaser | In Theaters July 26

What does that mean? Where does this fall in Wolverine’s timeline? Will we also see Dafne Keen’s X-23, or a foul-mouthed Professor X? How about Cable, Domino, Colossus, Dopinder and Blind Al? Seriously, what the fuck is happening here?

The only thing I can say with any certainty at this point is that my parents have clearly been lying to me about a lot of things, because July 26 has got to be my real birthday.

Release Date: July 26, 2024

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Agatha: Darkhold Diaries

After stealing the show (and the radio waves) in WandaVision, Kathryn Hahn’s suburban soccer mom/immortal nightmare witch lady Agatha Harkness has been given a series of her own on Disney+. What that series is about is unknown, but includes a number of Wanda and Agatha’s neighbors from Westview, New Jersey, and also Joe Locke (Heartstopper), Aubrey Plaza (White Lotus), and Patti Frickin’ LuPone (um, everything).

Expected Release Date: Fall 2024, leading up to Halloween

Platform: Disney+

Eyes of Wakanda

A second Black Panther spin-off with Ryan Coogler involved, the animated Eyes of Wakanda was recently announced quietly by Marvel. No information is known about the series outside of the official description released by Disney: "Throughout Wakandan history, brave warriors have been tasked to travel the world retrieving dangerous vibranium artifacts. This is their story." Start your speculation engines.

Release Date: TBD 2024

Platform: Disney+

Captain America: Brave New World

With the Falcon and the Winter Soldier TV series resolving the question of whether Sam Wilson should become Captain America after Steve Rogers told him he should become Captain America (Answer: Yes, he should), we’re finally getting a Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) Captain America film. The big bad is going to be the Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), who in Marvel's comics is a gamma-irradiated genius with an enormous cranium. That could be fun! Harrison Ford is also joining the MCU as Thunderbolt Ross after the death of actor William Hurt.

The movie also brings back Bucky 'Winter Soldier' Barnes (Sebastian Stan); Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), the original recipient of the Super Soldier serum, as introduced in the TV series; and Joaquín Torres (Danny Ramirez), a soldier who helped Sam in the series, who is expected to become the new Falcon.

And for anyone wondering why the graphic above says "New World Order," that's what the originally announced title of the movie was; the change was announced months later.

Release Date: February 14, 2025

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Thunderbolts

So you know how Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been making these kind of weird cameos in Marvel TV shows and movies where you’re like, She’s clearly a villain, but then it turns out she’s also the head of the CIA and the ex-wife of Everett Ross?

Well, apparently all of that has been building to this movie, in which some of the more messy characters of the MCU are brought together by Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to do… super hero stuff, I guess? Details about just what the cinematic Thunderbolts are remain tightly guarded, but the team includes the Winter Soldier and John Walker (Wyatt Walker), the crazy Captain America wannabe from Falcon/Winter Soldier; Black Widow’s sister Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh, who rocked in last year’s Hawkeye) and her sort-of dad Alexei (aka Red Guardian) (aka David Harbour) and their enemy Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko); and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), the spy with Kitty Pryde-ish powers from Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Release Date: May 2, 2025

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Blade

Say it with me: Mahershala Ali is Blade! So cool, right? But what’s the story, you ask? And who’s directing it? And when’s it coming out?

Details on this highly anticipated in-continuity Blade film have been kind of all over the place. In San Diego last year Marvel announced it was coming out this November; a few months later it was pushed back a year, and a new writer and director were brought on board. The film is only happening because Ali called Marvel after he won an Oscar for Green Book and asked them if he could play Blade. So he is definitely in. Hopefully the film will reward his (and our) patience.

Release Date: November 7, 2025

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

MCU Phase Six: The Multiverse Saga Part Two

Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four
Image credit: Marvel Studios

At San Diego Comic-Con in 2022, Kevin Feige announced a new Fantastic Four movie, and Disney definitely teed up the possibilities in November’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, when John Krasinski showed up as an alternate-universe Reed Richards.

That said, the FF of the MCU proper isn't going to feature the Quiet Place creator, with Marvel announcing a team made up of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. So far, all other casting and all plot details are under wraps, but we have some theories based on the key art for the casting announcement...

(Yes, we're aware that as thing currently officially stand, Fantastic Four launches Phase 6 ahead of the official end of Phase 5; don't be surprised if Blade gets officially moved into Phase 6 before too long.)

Release Date: July 25, 2025

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty

The first Avengers film in 7 years was originally titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but reports are now suggesting that Marvel is moving away from that title - and may, in fact, be moving away from the Kang storyline it's been building to over the past few years, due to Jonathan Majors being found guilty of assault and harrassment of a former girlfriend. What does that mean for the upcoming movie? We'll have a better idea in a few years - including whether or not the team will still include Hawkeye, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Thor, or the Guardians of the Galaxy. After all, the end of The Marvels suggested the formation of a far younger team... Keep your eyes peeled for more information as things continue.

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Avengers: Secret Wars

Kevin Feige has laid out extensive plans of what we’re going to see in this film: the live action Captain Carter joining the Avengers! The arrival of the X-Men (and they’re led by Magneto)! Tom Cruise as Iron Man (finally!). And six different versions of Thor, including Throg! Just kidding. We really don’t know anything about this film, and that's probably the way things are going to stay until some years from now, if Marvel has its way.

Release Date: May 7, 2027

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

TBD

Between Fantastic Four and Avengers: Kang Dynasty, Disney has allotted three spots for other Marvel films, on July 25th 2025, November 7th 2025, and February 13, 2026. There are many possibilities as to what might fill those slots (see the end of this article for some possibilities) Given that these films are coming in the middle of the MCU’s Big Multiverse Event, we should probably expect those films to somehow play a role in that.

Marvel has alsoannounced slots for two films between Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars, on July 24, 2026, and the other November 6, 2026. At this point we reallyhave no idea what those might be — they’re coming out in between the two big Avengers movies! — but may I just say, TO ME MY X-MEN!

Not Part of the MCU at all

Kraven the Hunter

In the next entry into what seems to be Sony’s slow-brewing Spider-Universe build to the Sinister Six, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kickass, Avengers’ Quicksilver) stars as one of Spider-Man’s greatest nemeses, big game hunter Sergei Kravinoff. Like Venom and Morbius, it's believed that Kraven will offer an origin story that takes Sergei from deposed Russian aristocracy to enemy of Spider-Man, with the twist that instead of being a hunter, the Sony Kraven is, in Taylor-Johnson's words, “an animal lover and a protector of the natural world”).

The cast includes Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Ariana DeBose, as well as Christopher Abbott and Fred Hechinger as Spider-Man villains the Foreigner and the Chameleon and Alessandro Nivola in an unknown role. Screenwriter Richard Wenk has frequently namedropped J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck’s Spider-story Kraven’s Last Hunt, considered by many to be one of the greatest Spider-Man stories of all time. True believers, stay tuned!

Release Date: August 30, 2024

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Venom: The Last Dance

Image credit: Sony

And speaking of Sony, 2024 will also see the conclusion to the Venom trilogy, with the just-recently-titled Venom: The Last Dance. Once again starring Eddie Brock, the film will be the first time we've seen the symbiotic superhero on screen since he made a cameo appearance in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

So far, details as to the plot of the film are scant, but we do know that the movie will star (along with Hardy) Juno Temple, Clark Backo, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who MCU fans will recognize as Dr. Strange's frenemhy Baron Mordo. Kelly Marcel, who cowrote the script for the first two Venom films, will make her directorial debut with this third entry.

Release Date: October 25, 2024

Platform: Theatrical (Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets)

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

A little over a year ago Disney+ announced a new Spider-Man animated series set in a slightly alternate universe just before the events of Captain America: Civil War, with Peter a freshman in high school. At San Diego Comic Con it was revealed that the cast will involve a wild arrangement of characters that includes many classic Spider-Man villains, a number of teenage characters that have yet to be seen in the MCU proper (hello, Amadeus Cho, Wave, and Finesse!), and the Kingpin and Matt Murdock/Daredevil, voiced by their live action counterparts.

The series was originally titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year, with a follow-up titled Spider-Man: Sophomore Year reportedly in development; the new title will consolidate the two projects.

Release Date: TBD 2024

Platform: Disney+

Movies & TV Shows With No Dates Yet

What If…? Season 3

The third season of the animated series set in the heart of the Marvel Multiverse was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, with an official preview released after the conclusion of the second season at the end of 2023. According to Disney+, the season will be “streaming soon,” although no further details were given.

Platform: Disney+

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse

How is Miles Morales going to escape not just his alternate reality villainous self, the Prowler - it's just like that Mirror Universe episode of Star Trek, but with more costumes? - but also the wrath of the Spider Society and Miguel O'Hara? We'll have to wait to find out; what had initially been set for a spring 2024 release was entirely taken off Sony's release schedule last year, in light of production slowdowns and the writers and actors strikes.

Platform: Theatrical

Ironheart

Wakanda Forever introduced Chicago tech genius and super hero Riri Williams to the MCU. In the six-episode Ironheart coming to Disney+, we follow Dominique Thorne’s Riri home, where she goes head to head with the Hood, who in the comics is a small-time criminal who uses a magic hood stolen from a demon to become a serious gangster.

Platform: Disney+

Daredevil: Born Again

The internet pretty much lost its mind after Spider-Man: No Way Home brought Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil into the MCU. And the few fans that didn’t, definitely lost their marbles after seeing him on last fall’s She-Hulk. (As Jen Walters might say: "Hubba hubba.")

Now Daredevil is getting a new series of his own on Disney+, with a whopping 18 episodes and named after the most famous Daredevil comic book run of all time, in which the Kingpin learns Daredevil's identity and uses it to pretty much destroy his life.

There’s no word yet how the TV series might follow this story, or on whether the series might include anyone else from Marvel’s Netflix shows, like Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, Mike Colter’s Luke Cage, Finn Jones's Danny Rand, Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page, or Eldon Henson’s Foggy Nelson.

But recently Ritter posted shots of herself working out in a gym, wearing a Daredevil T-shirt and with a lot of purple in the background. Hmmmm.

The show was originally announced for a Spring 2024 release, but its production was put on temporary indefinite hiatus due to the WGA strike, meaning that it's currently unclear when it will debut. Given its previous placement in the MCU timeline, if it maintains its position, it would still come out in 2024, ahead of Thunderbolts in December of that year. A new report has suggested that Marvel is retooling the show, replacing head writers and directors, which would delay its release even further.

Platform: Disney+

Armor Wars

Marvel originally announced Armor Wars in 2020 as a TV mini-series to star Don Cheadle’s James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, aka War Machine. Word on the street now is that it’s going to be a movie instead. According to producer Nate Moore, the project just got too big for a series. “When you’re talking about a show that wants to be about seeing all the cool armors and, you know, Don Cheadle interacting with all these armors and sort of the legacy of Tony Stark, that became kind of cost prohibitive to do as a show.”

Kevin Feige has indicated that the series will somehow follow on the events of Secret Invasion, and that it will involve War Machine having to deal with Tony Stark’s tech falling into the wrong hands.

Platform: Disney+

Wonder Man

In November Marvel announced a Wonder Man TV show is coming, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman, HBO’s Watchmen) as stunt man/movie star/super hero Simon Williams. Ben Kingsley is also due to return as bad actor/fake super villain Trevor Slattery.

Platform: Disney+

Shang-Chi 2

The sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been greenlit since December of 2021. So far that’s all we know.

Platform: Theatrical

Spider-Man 4

Sony producer Tom Rothman says there will be another Spider-Man movie. But he gave no details as to when, or whether Tom Holland, Zendaya, Maria Tomei, and Jacob Batalon will be involved.

Platform: Theatrical

Untitled Wakanda/Okoye Show

Marvel hasn’t officially announced this, but in 2021 Ryan Coogler announced he’s working on a Wakanda TV show for Disney+. A few months later Hollywood Reporter reported that the series will be an Okoye origin story. And recently on the Late Show Okoye actress Danai Gurira told Stephen Colbert that she can "gently allude to this possibility."

Platform: Disney+

Marvel Zombies

In What If…?'s first spinoff, the universe in which Marvel super heroes and villains became zombies will get its own four-episode animated show. Reports from the panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 indicate that it will involve many of the new generation of Marvel heroes—including Kate Bishop, Yelena Belova, Shang-Chi, and Ms. Marvel—fighting zombie versions of Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel. Also, somehow, Galactus?

Platform: Disney+

Thor 5

No one at Disney has said anything about a fifth Thor movie, but Love and Thunder did end with Jane Foster’s surprising death, Thor adopting a super-powered daughter, and the introduction of Hercules, who is missioned by Zeus to destroy Thor. So there’s a lot there...

Chris Hemsworth has said he might be open to doing another one, but only if it takes a very different tone from the last two.

Platform: Theatrical

The Uncanny X-Men (!)

Yeah, nothing on this yet. But they're definitely coming!


What’s coming out next for Marvel?

If you’re wondering what the next movie set in the MCU is going to be, that’s Deadpool 3, which hits theaters July 26, 2024; it’s actually Marvel Studios’ only theatrical release in 2024, although it’s not the only movie featuring Marvel characters: Madame Web, produced by Sony but featuring supporting characters from the Spider-Man comic book franchise, will get to theaters first, on February 14… but officially, that movie has nothing to do with the MCU. It’s part of Sony’s own universe, alongside Venom, Morbius, and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter movie.

Look, sometimes these things are confusing.

Will Tony Stark return?

Ever since his tragic demise at the climax of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, fans have wondered if there could ever be a return for Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU — a question that gained extra weight with the introduction of a multiverse that presumably includes worlds where Tony Stark didn’t sacrifice himself for the good of reality. A 2023 Vanity Fair profile of Downey offered what looks like a definitive answer, and it might not have been what people were expecting: Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that there would not be a reversal of the character’s death.

“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige was quoted as saying, seemingly closing the door on Downey Jr.’s return as Iron Man. Thankfully, War Machine is still around to keep the armored fight going…

Is Kang still in the MCU?

Following Jonathan Majors’ conviction of of 3rd degree assault, 2nd degree harassment, and recklessly causing physical injury in late December 2023, Marvel officially cut ties with the actor — despite his having appeared as Kang or variants thereof in Loki seasons 1 and 2, as well as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, all of which were intended to set up the next major story arc for the MCU, which would culminate in the two movies Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Quite what this means remains open to question, especially in light of reports that Marvel has removed the “Kang Dynasty” subtitle from the fifth Avengers movie, which is currently being rewritten. Will the role of Kang be recast, or will the entire storyline be reworked to replace the character entirely? Right now, nobody knows outside of Marvel… and I suspect that’s just how Marvel would like things to stay.

Will Loki return?

There’s no denying that the Trickster God proved his worth to the MCU — and reality as a whole — at the end of the second season of his Disney+ series, but his fate at the end of that season left a lot of people curious about whether or not we’ll ever see Tom Hiddleston’s version of Loki ever again. After all, surely he’s going to have stay the keeper of time for awhile to stop reality collapsing, right…? Of course, that doesn’t mean that Hiddleston can’t show up as another Loki from elsewhere in the multiverse when we least expect it. After all, the Loki of the Disney+ series was himself a variant of the original…

Will there be an Echo season 2?

One of the most recent projects from Marvel Studios was on Disney+; Echo — the first Marvel Spotlight project, which is the banner to signify projects intended to have more of a character focus than a connection to the larger MCU storyline.

In fact, the show was developed as a miniseries that could very well stand on its own - perhaps this is why there's been no official word of an Echo season 2 heading to streaming. However, fans of Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk (who appears in Echo), will show up in the MCU again, as the character is confirmed to be a part of Daredevil: Born Again.

What will Secret Wars be about?

As things previously stood, it was expected that Avengers: Secret Wars would mirror the 2015 Secret Wars comic book series, with the incursions of multiple Earths resulting in one patchwork planet made up of different timelines being all that remained of all reality, with one villain controlling everything as an omnipotent despot… before things go wrong and the good guys try to restart existence itself. With Avengers 5 now being reworked, it’s entirely unclear how much of this plan will remain, if it was even what Marvel was intending in the first place. In other words… situation hazy, ask again later.


While we wait for what's to come, make sure you've watched everything so far - with a little help from our guide to how to watch all the Marvel movies in order.

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Graeme McMillan avatar

Graeme McMillan

Staff Writer

Popverse staff writer Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.

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