The Marvel Cinematic Multiverse (MCM) has arrived. That's right, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has received an upgrade of sorts in Marvel Phase 4, with productions like What If...?, Loki and WandaVision teasing its arrival before Spider-Man: No Way Home landed in theaters.
With the webslinger's third (and potentially final) solo MCU movie now launching in cinemas – in the UK at least, it's getting released in India and Australia on December 16, and the US/worldwide on December 17 – the MCM is officially here. Things will likely never be the same again, then, which means our 'how to watch the Marvel movies in order' article could start to get very complicated indeed.
Regardless, Spider-Man: No Way Home – the 27th MCU film – brings Marvel's 2021 slate of films and TV show releases to an end. But, there's still lots to look forward to in 2022 and beyond: Marvel Studios is showing no signs of slowing production down on its TV shows and movies so, if you're after a full rundown of the Marvel Phase 4 schedule, we're here to help.
Below, you'll find more information on every forthcoming MCU movie and TV show, including any recently changed release dates, multiversal crossovers, cast additions and more. Pull up a chair and let's take a look at every Marvel Phase 4 project together.
Marvel Phase 4 release dates
Marvel Phase 4 release dates: movies and TV shows coming soon
Many of Marvel’s forthcoming productions have official launch dates, though some key releases are ambiguous for now.
Below, you’ll find a list of confirmed launch dates for the studio's 2022 slate of movies and shows, as well as tentative launch windows for other MCU projects.
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8, 2022)
- Ms. Marvel (summer 2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022)
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (December 2022)
- Moon Knight (expected 2022)
- She-Hulk (expected in 2022)
- Secret Invasion (expected in 2022)
- The Marvels (early 2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (July 28, 2023)
- Fantastic Four (TBA)
- Blade (TBA)
Marvel Phase 4 movies
Marvel Phase 4 movies: every MCU film releasing by the end of 2023
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Release date: May 8, 2022
Doctor Strange 2 arrives in theaters five months after Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it’ll provide us with a clearer look at the MCM.
Benedict Cumberbatch will reprise his role as Stephen Strange, and he’ll be joined by Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Benedict Wong’s Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo and Rachel McAdams’ Christine Palmer from the first movie. Newcomer Xochitl Gomez will also portray America Chavez, a relative newcomer to Marvel comics' superhero line-up.
Little is known about Doctor Strange 2’s plot, save for a brief synopsis (per Backstage.com), which suggests we’re in for a mind-boggling, horror-style superhero flick that’ll reshape everything we thought we knew about the mainline live-action universe. But, as our No Way Home ending explainer reveals, that movie's post-credits scene gives us our first look at Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, hopefully, the teaser will drop online very soon.
The film is currently undergoing six weeks of intense reshoots, which is why its release date was recently pushed back.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Release date: July 8, 2022
The only Avenger to receive a fourth solo movie (so far, anyway), Thor’s MCU arc will continue in July 2022. Thor: Love and Thunder will be a mini-Avengers movie of sorts. It also stars the Guardians of the Galaxy, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and sees Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster return as alter-go Mighty Thor.
Like Doctor Strange 2, we don’t know much about its plot. According to director Taika Waititi, it’ll draw inspiration from Jason Aaron’s Mighty Thor comic series, which sees Foster gain superpowers similar to Thor while undergoing cancer treatment. We also know that Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, Vice) will portray Gorr the God Butcher, the movie’s antagonist, while Waititi calls Thor 4 the “craziest film [he’s] ever done”. Fingers crossed that’s genuine and not hyperbole.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Release date: November 11, 2022
Perhaps the most poignant Marvel film currently in production, and with good reason. Black Panther’s MCU journey will continue without the iconic Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in August 2020 after a four-year battle with cancer.
With Marvel Studios choosing not to recast T’Challa in honor of Boseman’s portrayal, Wakanda Forever’s plot has since been reshaped five times by director Ryan Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole. Filming is currently underway, so it seems that the duo have found a way to preserve Boseman’s legacy while moving Black Panther’s story forward.
So what do we know so far? Lupita Nyongo’s Nakia, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Angela Bassett’s Ramonda and Danai Gurira’s Okoye are all returning from the first film. Martin Freeman and Winston Duke, too, are back as Everett Ross and M’Baku respectively. I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel has also been cast in an undisclosed role.
Finally, Wakanda Forever will introduce a live-action version of Ironheart, aka Riri Williams, a genius inventor and MIT student who creates her own Iron Man-style armor suit. Expect Tony Stark’s MCU successor to play a big role in proceedings, then, as well as one of the established cast assuming the mantle of Black Panther at some point.
Filming is currently on hold after Letitia Wright suffered numerous injuries on set, but is expected to start up again in the New Year.
The Marvels
Release date: early 2023
While technically a Captain Marvel sequel, this Nia DaCosta-directed Phase 4 film will see a trio of female superheroes team up on the big screen for the first time.
Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers will reunite with Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau, the daughter of Danvers’ best friend Maria (Lashana Lynch) from the first movie. The last time we saw Rambeau, she had acquired her own superpowers in WandaVision, so expect an awkward family-style reunion between the pair.
Elsewhere, Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel will also make her live-action movie debut. Vellani’s Kamala Khan will star in her own Disney Plus show first, which is apparently slated to release in early 2022. So we’ll be introduced to her before her appearance in The Marvels.
Zawe Ashton (Velvet Buzzsaw) has been cast as the movie’s villain, with filming currently taking place in the UK after stints in Los Angeles and New Jersey. After Marvel moved its release schedule around, though, The Marvels doesn't have an official release date anymore.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Release date: May 5, 2023
One of three movies that are now set to arrive in 2023, Guardians 3 will bring the curtain down on the trilogy that James Gunn has helmed since 2014.
Guardians 3 will be set after Thor: Love and Thunder and the Guardians’ forthcoming Disney Plus Holiday special. But, outside of some potential line-up changes – David Bautista won’t return as Drax after Guardians 3, while Gunn has teased some major character deaths in the threequel – we don’t know much about this flick.
Filming began in November 2021 and is expected to end in April 2022, so some things may leak out during this period. Thankfully, Guardians 3's release date wasn't moved as part of Marvel's schedule restructuring, so it's still slated to arrive in May 2023.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Release date: July 28, 2023
Another production that’s shooting in the UK right now, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania could properly introduce us to the MCU’s next big bad after Thanos in the Infinity Saga.
Again, little is known about this film’s plot, but we do know that its antagonist will be none other than Kang the Conqueror. The time traveling genius will be played by Jonathan Majors, who portrayed one of Kang’s time variants – He Who Remains – in Loki season 1. And his official arrival could have huge repercussions for the MCU moving forward.
Majors’ Kang aside, Ant-Man 3 will also see the return of Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathryn Newton as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Hope van Dyne/Wasp, Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne and Cassie Lang. Peyton Reed, who directed the first two Ant-Man flicks, also returns in the hot seat and has hinted that the Quantum Realm will play a big role in proceedings.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will now arrive after Guardians 3, too. It's unclear if this is due to scheduling issues or if the latter's plot will tie into this somehow. Either way, watch this space.
Fantastic Four
Release date: TBA
This Phase 4 movie is a biggie. That’s right, a Fantastic Four MCU film is on the way, but there’s very little in the way of information surrounding it at the moment. And that includes when it'll be released.
Jon Watts, who has directed all three Spider-Man MCU films, will take charge of its production. There are no other official announcements outside of Watts’ hiring but, hopefully, that’ll change once he’s finished conducting press for Spider-Man: No Way Home later this year.
Blade
Release date: TBA
Currently, we don't know much about Blade's MCU movie. It'll star Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire hunter, will be directed by Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) and is being written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen, Hunters). Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods, The Harder They Fall) was also recently added to its cast.
That aside, though, there's no word on when filming will begin and when the movie will be released. Hopefully, it won't be much longer before Marvel reveals more details about its Blade flick.
Marvel Phase 4 TV shows
Marvel Phase 4 TV shows: every Disney Plus series releasing in 2022
Ms. Marvel
Release date: Summer 2022 (July to September)
Originally expected in 2021 but now set to land in summer 2022 (that's between July and September in Disney's fiscal year), Ms. Marvel introduces Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) to the MCU – its first Muslim superhero, and also the breakout star of the Marvel's Avengers game released last year.
She's a breath of fresh air as superhero characters go, with a Spider-Man-like origin story that makes her feel very complete from the off. As mentioned, this show will tie in to The Marvels, with Vellani reprising her role in that movie.
Filming concluded in May 2021 but, save for some brief snippets at Disney's Investor Day in December 2020 and during the recent Disney Plus Day reveals, we haven't seen anything of the series. Fingers crossed we get a trailer soon.
Moon Knight
Release date: 2022 (expected)
Moon Knight is about Marc Spector, a superhero dealing with dissociative identity disorder. The big news here is that Marvel has landed superstar Oscar Isaac for the role, with Ethan Hawke playing the show's villain. Expect Isaac to inhabit multiple versions of his character, and expect Egyptian iconography to play a big part in the show's visual direction.
Production wrapped on Moon Knight's TV show in mid-October, and we were finally given our first glimpse of the series during November's Disney Plus Day celebrations. It looks like Moon Knight could be a more mature, violent offering from Marvel, which we expect to see arrive in 2022.
According to Kevin Feige, the character will appear in future MCU films, too. We're waiting to hear more on this front, however.
She-Hulk
Release date: 2022 (expected)
She-Hulk should bring a different flavor to the MCU. Tatiana Maslany plays Bruce Banner's cousin, Jennifer Walters, in what's been described as a half-hour legal comedy, similar in vein to the Dan Slott comic from the mid-2000s that drew a lot of acclaim.
Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk will turn up in this new series, too, along with Tim Roth's Abomination. Don't be surprised if more deep cut MCU characters arrive to be put on trial, based on how the comic went down. Jameela Jamil will also play the show's villain Titania who, like Abomination, is a perfect match up for Walters' She-Hulk.
Like Moon Knight, we received our first look at the show during the Disney Plus Day announcements. And, hopefully, we'll see more soon.
Secret Invasion
Release date: 2022 (expected)
This show could be huge. Secret Invasion will focus on the Skrulls, as seen in Captain Marvel, with Ben Mendelsohn's Talos and Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury being the show's leads. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman and Emilia Clarke are all part of the cast too, according to reports, and we expect this to mark the next Avengers-level event in the MCU.
"It's about a sect of Skrulls who have infiltrated every level of life on Earth," Kevin Feige said about the series back in December 2020. According to Jackson, filming has begun and, during Disney Plus Day, we were treated to a brief shot of a grizzled-looking Fury, complete with grey beard and no eye patch. Excited for this one, we are.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Release date: December 2022
Expected to be under 40 minutes long, this special will likely evoke the notoriously bad Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978, of which writer and director James Gunn is a fan. The main Guardians cast will feature, and it sounds like it's going to be canon – it's set before the third Guardians movie and after Thor: Love and Thunder.
Filming is taking place alongside Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so we can expect principal photography to begin soon. If it does, the Guardians' Holiday Special should arrive in time for December 2022.
Marvel Phase 4 other projects
Marvel Phase 4: what other projects are in development?
None of these projects have release dates yet, but they're all confirmed to be in the works:
Ironheart
Its release date is yet to be announced, but an Ironheart Disney Plus series is on the way. The six-episode TV show will be written by Chinaka Hodge (Snowpiercer) and will star Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, who will make her live-action debut in Black Panther 2. No other details are currently available about the show.
Armor Wars
Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes/War Machine will appear in his own Disney Plus show in the future, too. Based on the comic series of the same name, filming is expected to begin in 2022 and will explore the aftermath of Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame in some capacity. Girls screenwriter Yassir Lester is on board to pen the scripts.
Untitled Wakanda TV show
Announced in February 2021, a Wakanda spinoff show – developed by Black Panther writer-director Ryan Coogler – is also in the works. Danai Gurira has signed a deal to reprise her role as Okoye in the unnamed TV series, but it’s unclear if other Black Panther stars will feature, too.
What If…? season 2
What If…? season 2 is already being developed at Marvel Studios. According to head writer A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrew, one episode is ready to go (a Gamora-centric episode that didn’t make it into season 1), some are nearing completion and others require more work.
Regardless, don’t expect the next instalment in Marvel’s animated anthology series to arrive before mid to late 2022.
Loki season 2
The trickster god’s return was teased during the season 1 finale, but there’s no word on whether it’ll be filmed before other Disney Plus shows or not.
Tom Hiddleston is almost certain to reprise his role as the god of mischief. Owen Wilson, Wunmi Mosaku, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Sophia Di Martino could also return, while season 1 head writer Michael Waldron has signed on to write season 2’s screenplays.
I Am Groot
Announced in December 2020, I Am Groot will follow the fan favorite Guardians of the Galaxy character as he grows from the sapling we saw in Guardians 2 into the teenage character we see in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
The show will consist of a series of shorts as he explores the galaxy alongside new and unusual characters. As you'd expect, Groot will get himself into some challenging situations, so we can expect a few laughs and thrills along the way.
Featuring a photorealistic animation style, I Am Groot began production in August 2021. It's being directed by Kirsten Lepore, whose previous work includes Adventure Time and Summer Camp Island. The series will be part of Marvel's Phase 4 slate, but there's no launch date to speak of yet.
Marvel Phase 4: Disney Plus Day show announcements
As we mentioned in our intro, Marvel announced a spate of new Disney Plus shows that are set to enter production in the future. There's no word on when they will do so, or even a sniff of when they'll be released.
Still, it's good (if a tad daunting) to see so many new Marvel shows on the way. You can see what else is coming up in the MCU in the future below:
- Agatha: House of Harkness – a spin-off show centered around the fan favorite WandaVision character
- Echo – a spin-off show that focuses on the upcoming Hawkeye supporting character
- Marvel Zombies – a reimagining of the Marvel universe where a new generation of heroes battle against a spreading zombie threat
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year – an animated series that will follow Peter Parker during his college days, and celebrate his early comic book roots
- X-Men 97 – a revival of the classic 1990s X-Men animated series, which picks up events right after the show's final episode
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