With a franchise as vast and rich as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is always something exciting to look forward to. In recent years, the movie juggernaut has expanded to include television, animation, and standalone specials in its line-up, making each year of the MCU stacked on all fronts.
Just this year alone we have had three MCU movies in Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, three animated TV shows in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Eyes of Wakanda, and Marvel Zombies, and three live-action Disney Plus shows in Daredevil: Born Again, Ironheart, and the upcoming Wonder Man. Now that's a stacked deck, and multiple releases like that makes each year that much more enjoyable for Marvel fans.
However, as the franchise continues to navigate its way back into the less-is-more era, next year will see a first for the Multiverse Saga as the MCU officially drops a staple of its movie and TV release calendar.
With sequels, spinoffs, and second seasons, 2026 will be the first year in which Marvel doesn't launch a completely new TV show
As pointed out by The Direct, 2026 will mark the first year since 2010 that the MCU's line-up won't feature a completely new Marvel title in either the film or TV department. On the movie side of things we have Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday, which are both sequels, while the TV side of things features Daredevil: Born Again season 2, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2, X-Men '97 season 2, as well as WandaVision spinoff Vision Quest and The Punisher Special Presentation, which is technically a Daredevil spinoff. All of these titles are based on returning characters and they all serve as sequels on some level. And this is quite disconcerting for Marvel fans.
After a number of recent failures on Marvel Studios' part, the MCU's new strategy is clearly doubling down on what's working, and that's certainly a good thing, but it shouldn't be at the expense of launching new stories too. After all, Thunderbolts* may have slightly underperformed at the box office, but it ended up being widely regarded as one of the MCU's best movies ever. Similarly, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was well-received by audiences and went on to become one of the biggest movies of the summer.
But there won't be any of that in the year ahead as Marvel places a focus on sequels, spinoffs, and second seasons. And, yes, it's understandable, but it's also disheartening for those looking forward to what the future of the MCU could entail. This messaging would suggest that the experimentation is over and that we're simply living in the moment until the end of the Multiverse Saga can bring about a different, more successful chance for experimentation. At least we hope that's the case.
But the most disheartening thing about it all is that there is no genuine first season among the Disney Plus shows. This is the first time we've seen that as Marvel always launches new shows on the streaming service throughout the year (starting all the way back in 2021 with the likes of WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye and more), but that won't be the case this year. Granted, Vision Quest is a new series but it's also a spinoff. Not only does it focus on the well-established MCU veteran Vision, who has been a part of the franchise for a decade, it also serves as a sequel series to both WandaVision and Agatha All Along, continuing on stories that were significant to both shows.
This is representative of the changes that took place at Marvel Television, which is now moving away from launching miniseries after miniseries and instead honing in on specific characters who can front a show for multiple seasons. We're seeing that with Daredevil: Born Again (which will return for at least two more seasons), as well as the animated shows X-Men '97, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and potentially Marvel Zombies (which was originally planned as a miniseries but could now return for a second season).
The Punisher Special Presentation will be the first time that Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle headlines a Marvel Studios project, but it also serves as a sequel to Daredevil: Born Again's first season, as well as a long-term follow-up to the Netflix Daredevil and Punisher series (not-to-mention that Bernthal will also appear in next year's Spider-Man: Brand New Day). So, it's clear that Marvel is investing in more long-term storytelling, playing with the range of characters they have already introduced and building out their worlds. And, as a result of that - and the impending conclusion of the Multiverse Saga - there are no 100% new shows planned for next year.
It's definitely a new era for Marvel Studios and Disney and it will hopefully lead to more success, but there is a concern that the lack of new, original titles will dry up the franchise's TV slate. After this year's Wonder Man and Vision Quest, there are no ongoing live-action shows in the MCU's immediate future (outside of Daredevil: Born Again's upcoming seasons). There is hope that Hawkeye season 2 will happen at some point while there are multiple new shows rumored to be in development, but with no definitive answers, it could be a quiet few years for the Marvel TV front in terms of new releases. And it all starts in 2026.