SDCC 2019: All the Marvel Studios films announced

Marvel’s Kevin Feige took to stage at San Diego Comic-Con and revealed what we can expect from the fourth phase of the MCU.

Avengers: Endgame has come and gone and Spider-Man: Far From Home officially closed Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga, but that’s not the end for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.

During this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige went on stage to reveal what’s coming next for the juggernaut franchise.

Looking forward to the next chapter of the MCU? Here’s a list of all the films coming our way in the next few years.

Black Widow

• Release date: May 1, 2020
• Directed by: Cate Shortland

Over the years, we’ve gotten a good sense of who Natasha Romanoff is, but we’ve never gotten the chance to know her full backstory. That’s about to change with Black Widow. The film will explore Natasha’s past and feature the live-action debut of Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh.

The film is currently in production, and Marvel brought some footage from the spy adventure. It begins with Black Widow in Budapest, encountering and later fighting Yelena Belova, who’s revealed to be a sort of sister for Natasha. The action-packed footage ends with Natasha coming face to face with Taskmaster.

That’s right, the cruel mercenary is making his way into the MCU, and going by his fighting style, he’s poised to join the infamous hall of fame of Marvel’s most dangerous baddies. The film also stars David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov, a.k.a. Red Guardian, Rachel Weisz as Melina and O-T Fagbenle as Mason.

Eternals

• Release date: November 6, 2020
• Directed by: Chloé Zhao

Marvel Studios’ Eternals has been a pretty open secret throughout the past year. Now it has finally been made official.

The cast features some impressive talent with Richard Madden (Bodyguard) as Ikarus, Salma Hayek (The Hitman’s Bodyguard) as Ajak, the leader of the Eternals, Lia Mchugh as Sprite, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos and Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, the MCU’s first deaf hero.

For those unfamiliar with the comic book, Eternals will center on a race of super-powered individuals created by the Celestials. This eclectic group of heroes is tasked with protecting Earth from the Deviants, who’re essentially darker versions of our heroes. Of course, every superhero film needs a villain, and this role will be filled by Gilgamesh, a.k.a. The Forgotten One, played by Don Lee.

Shang-Chi And The Legend of The Ten Rings

• Release date: February 12, 2021
• Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton

Get ready for some sweet martial arts moves and action. Shang Chi’s first big screen adventure will see the hero, played by Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience), face off against the Mandarin, portrayed by Tony Leung. As diehard MCU watchers will likely remember, the idea of the Mandarin and the Ten Rings was introduced in 2008’s Iron Man.

A version of the vicious villain then appeared in Iron Man 3, played by Ben Kingsley. That, however, turned out to be a fake version of the character, and Marvel went on to clarify that the real Mandarin was still out there during the 2014 One Shot “All Hail The King.” It looks like we’ll finally see what the Mandarin is capable of. Aside from Liu and Leung, Awkwafina was also confirmed to star in an unspecified role.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness

•  Release date: May 7, 2021
• Directed by: Scott Derrickson

Doctor Strange defended the Earth from the Dark Dimension, helped Thor find his father and aided the Avengers in their fight against Thanos. That’s a pretty impressive résumé, but he will presumably encounter his greatest challenge yet in this film, directed once again by Doctor Strange helmer Scott Derrickson.

According to Benedict Cumberbatch, who made an appearance in Hall H during the announcement, the aim of the film is to “Destroy [Stephen Strange] a bit.”

Prior to joining the MCU, Derrickson made a name for himself in the world of horror with movies like The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister. Now he’s bringing those creepy sensibilities to the world of Doctor Strange, as he promised the sequel to be the first true scary Marvel film. But wait, there’s more. This movie will tie directly into the events of WandaVision and will feature Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch.

Not much else is known about Strange’s next adventure, but it’s shaping up to be quite a wild ride.

Thor: Love And Thunder

• Release date: November 5, 2021
• Directed by: Taika Waititi

Earlier in July, it was revealed that Taika Waititi was returning to the MCU to direct Thor 4. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film was officially unveiled during the panel.

Thor: Love And Thunder will see the return of Chris Hemsworth as the sparkly superhero and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. During the panel, the actress confirmed Valkyrie’s sexuality, stating that she needed to find her queen.

Just as Ragnarok presented a major status-quo shift for the God of Thunder, Love and Thunder will rock his world once again. The film will borrow from Jason Aaron’s The Mighty Thor comic books, and will reintroduce Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster as (drumroll, please), the new Thor.

This is awesome news, and we can’t wait to see Foster presumably carry on the Thor mantle moving forward.

Blade

• Release date: TBA
• Directed by: TBA

Well this came out of nowhere. After a years-long absence from the big screen, Blade will be making his triumphant return, portrayed by none other than Mahershala Ali. This likely came a surprise to Marvel fans, as the actor previously played Luke Cage villain, Cottonmouth, in the first season of the Netflix series.

There was no word on a release date, but going by the logo shown and Ali’s casting, the film should be with us sooner rather than later.

That wasn’t all. As their presentation came to a close, Kevin Feige offered a final bit of excitement, casually announcing that Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and projects for Fantastic Four and X-Men were in development. Endgame may have been the end of an era for the MCU, but there’s a lot more to come.

Are you excited by the future of the MCU? What did you make of all the major announcements? Let us know in the comments below!