What’s next for Marvel Studios? Who’s recently joined the cast of your most anticipated series or film? Where can you find the teasers and trailers? Look no further, true believers. Everything you need to know about the future of the MCU has been collected for you here. Click on each logo to learn what we currently know about the upcoming MCU projects.
Iman Vellani is slowly becoming the face of Marvel Studios’ iconic franchise. Robert Downey Jr. held that mantle for a long time and any inclusion of him in a film was a big selling point and if she keeps it up, she is slowly building up that role. She just recently appeared in The Marvels and while her next major live-action appearance is uncertain, she does have an animated project on the horizon.
We still don’t know when we can expect it to release but Marvel Zombies is one of the next animated features set to release. First teases hinted at the same animation style as What If and highlighted it’s likely a unique what-if scenario from the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe. In an interview with The Direct, Vellani reveals that not only did she already finish her work on the project but Kamala Khan will have a major role in it.
We’ve done the whole thing. It was amazing. It was so much fun. And I love—there are a lot of cool characters in the ‘Marvel Zombies’ show. And Kamala is kind of the center of the show. They described it to me, it’s like, ‘She’s basically the Frodo of the story.’ And I was like, ‘That’s amazing.
Iman Vellani
She also highlights the excitement of having the character she started playing get to interact with various new characters through this animated style. Though, sadly, it seems they didn’t get a chance to record in a bigger group.
And I get to interact and meet all these people along her journey. And, yes, they’re only the voices, and I don’t get to hear their voices in real-time. But just, it’s my fantasies, right? Like, knowing Kamala is going to interact with some really cool people, even if it’s just animation, is so special in a lot of ways.
Iman Vellani
So far, we know very little about Marvel Zombies which was at one point touted as the first major R-rated project by Marvel Studios. While Echo has seemingly already taken that mantle with its upcoming January release, it’s still exciting to get another hint at what’s to come and the inclusion of these actors in the animated adaptation of the beloved comic book series. Here’s hoping they might be allowed to include Ash at some point.
Source: The Direct
Despite a less-than-impressive box office, the majority of critics gave The Marvels a thumbs-up though not everyone was on board with Marvel Studios latest entry; however, it seems that very few, if any, critics had anything other than praise to heap upon Iman Vellani in her return as Kamala Khan. The young actress, who first appeared as the character in 2022’s Ms. Marvel, served both as the heart of the film and the film’s eponymous team and made quite the impression in her big screen debut. Though the SAG strike kept her from promoting the film and appearing at the premiere, Vellani was able to make a public appearance at a post-strike screening at the El Capitan and talked to THR about her experience.
Ironically enough, despite social media’s derision of the film, The Marvels has done more to excite audiences about the future of the MCU than any other film in 2023. While that certainly calls into question the studio’s continued use of post-credit scenes to drive hype (the movie’s final scene and it’s tag are by far the most talked-about moments of the film), the reality is that The Marvels, as Vellai indicated in her interview, is hardly as disinteresting as you might think.
“There was a version of this in an old script, but we never shot it,” explained Vellani about the film’s final scene in which she recruits Hailee Steinfeld‘s Kate Bishop to serve as one of the MCU’s Young Avengers. “And then there were rumors that we were going to get to it in additional photography, but with a different Young Avenger,” continued Vellaini, “So I never really got the script until right before additional photography and then I flipped out.”
The film’s final scene serves as a fun imitation of the MCU’s first post-credit scene in 2008’s Iron Man in which Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury invited Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark into a larger universe. For an MCU superfan like Vellani, having the opportunity to relive that excitement was important. “I immediately rewatched Iron Man and texted Nia in all caps,” said Vellani. “I was like, ‘I cannot believe the honor that I am getting right now. This is crazy!’ I did not need to rewatch that entire movie, but it didn’t hurt. So I was giddy the entire time. All of us were freaking out. It was also the last scene we shot for the movie, and it is the last scene of the movie.“
As exciting as that scene was for fans of Marvel Comics, the film’s post-credit scene served up an even bigger tease as it revealed that Teyonah Parris‘ Monica Rambeau landed in an alternate universe where the X-Men seemed to be a prominent force. Given that Kamala was revealed as the MCU’s first mutant in Ms. Marvel, the scene, which featured Kesley Grammer‘s Beast, seemed to carry some added significance.
“They shot the mid-credit scene during principal [photography],” explained Vellani. “They shot it earlier, so they knew what they were doing. But I thought it was going to be something else. I did not realize Beast [Kelsey Grammer] was in it. I knew they shot it, but I was expecting to see something else. And lo and behold, they kept the secret even from me,” added the actress who has a famously open-door relationship with Marvel Studios’ head honcho, Kevin Feige. “I literally jumped and had a heart attack on my bed when I watched it for the first time. I literally texted every single person we worked with, and I was like, “How could you keep this from me?” But at least I got to experience it as a fan, which was so cool. I’m just so excited to see what they do with that in the future.“
When pressed as to whether or not the scene was included as a tie-in to Ms. Marvel’s reveal that Kamala was the MCU’s first mutant, which Vellani called “an honor”, the actress fell back to the old MCU axiom that it’s all connected. “Yeah, I think they’re connecting a lot of things,” said the actress. “They’re sprinkling in the mutants here and there. We saw [Charles Xavier] in Multiverse of Madness. So I honestly am not privy to what they’re doing with the X-Men and how they’re going to incorporate them, but it is extremely cool and a really big flex to have one in our own movie. Well, two, if you count me.“
Given Marvel Studios’ less than stellar track record on following through with their post-credit tags and the recent turmoil that has seemed to leave some of the studio’s plans up in the air, it remains to be seen just what importance, if any, the tag will have. However, it’s clearly something that has gained some traction in the minds of fans of the MCU and with the recent struggles the studio’s projects have had, it’s safe to assume they’ll enjoy the online debate about exactly what’s going on in the stinger.
On the topic of things that seem safe to assume, a second season of Ms. Marvel seems a fairly safe bet despite the uncertainty currently permeating Marvel Studios’ future. Though she certainly didn’t confirm it, Vellani is quite hopeful that the sophomore season will happen, especially given the positive vibes her performance in The Marvels has received. “I am patient, and honestly, I hope all the love that Kamala is getting from this movie inspires people to be more vocal about wanting a season two. I would absolutely love to continue this story, and Kamala and her entire community has so much story left to tell. I want to see Bruno [Matt Lintz] again. I want to see Nakia [Yasmeen Fletcher] again, and that’s just me. So it would be really amazing to have a season two, and there’s so many different directions we can go with it.”
The Marvels is now in theaters and all episodes of Ms. Marvel are available to stream on Disney Plus.
Source: THR
Currently, projections are down for The Marvels given that the presales didn’t pick up much speed over the course of the last few weeks. It remains a surprise that Marvel Studios didn’t risk pushing the project back further given the current climate and uncertainty surrounding the SAG-AFTRA strike ending anytime soon and how important the main cast is to the film. Yet, it could also be that pushing it back again would’ve made the project even more expensive moving forward.
Initial local projections went from $60M down to $50M, though some even had it at a potential $70M – $80M. BoxOfficePro has also lowered expectations at a potential $45M to $65M opening weekend with a domestic total of $109M. That would put it on track where The Flash ended up and could mean that the film will definitely not make up its $250M production budget at the box office alone.
Is it superhero fatigue? At this point, it doesn’t really matter what it is as the box office in general is struggling. Five Nights at Freddy’s second weekend plummeted in the worst weekend we’ve seen in a long time after a big frontloading by fans. It had a strong forecast going by early presales which is why The Marvels is currently faltering as it seemed to not pick up any pace in the earlier weeks, but also hasn’t had a lot of output by Marvel Studios or Disney outside of a big final trailer push yesterday.
The strikes are definitely hurting this film as its main selling point was the trio cast at the forefront, which was a no-show during any of the film promotions. That means no showcase during talk shows, interviews, or anything else one would hope to promote their film with. Even the long-awaited prequel to The Hunger Games is looking at a soft $38M to $50M opening currently. Who knows if this fall is going to be just a depressing reflection of the summer box office?
Globally, the predictions stand at a $140M opening worldwide, which is on par with what The Flash had in the summer (taking into context an off-season release it hurts just a smidge less than one of the expected biggest blockbuster releases). The big questions in the room are the initial reactions to the film, which are expected to drop some time tonight, and the reviews. As mentioned previously: people are a bit more frugal with their money and after going all-in with Barbenheimer, viewers may be a bit more cautious going into the rest of the year as inflation and the cost of living crisis is a big factor in decision-making nowadays. Plus, if it releases on Disney+ in the coming months it hurts far less than spending upwards of $40 bucks to go to the movies.
It’s not an excuse and it will stand to reason that The Marvels could potentially end up as the worst box office opening for any MCU release so far. Even lower than Eternals which had to fight off COVID during its initial release, but also benefitted from far fewer releases in theaters. It all depends on those previews as if they open to around $6M on Thursday, the film could face a $40M opening weekend. It all depends on word-of-mouth and reviews ahead of time; something Marvel Studios hasn’t been dependent on in a long time.
A big point is that men in the age range of 18 to 34 are the key factor for most Marvel releases, but, oddly, expectations are purely on this demographic given the film’s very strong female leads. If the film hits the right cords with its core audience, women between 17 and 34 could make up for that fact as they are closer to what the film is aiming for going by its leads and core demographic. That may also be one of the reasons its unusual presales core audience isn’t really invested given the current (depressing) political climate. Perhaps showing a special trailer ahead of Taylor Swift’s films may turn out as a surprise push for the release. For now, we have to wait and see just a few more days until the numbers give us a clearer picture.
Source: BoxOfficePro, Deadline, The Numbers
At the current rate, The Marvels‘ may be facing the lowest opening since The Eternals,w which opened to $71.2M during the pandemic. Of course, it’s not definite but the presales are currently tracing behind Black Adam and The Flash according to a new piece by Deadline. It’s the first MCU film truly affected by the strike, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was still able to promote with its cast before SAG went on strike as well. There’s also the hot debate regarding Marvel and superhero fatigue with the latter showing its fangs with other releases like Blue Beetle, Shazam: Fury of Gods, and The Flash.
Marvel normally pulls in viewership and has strong openings with bigger drops going into its second weekend. So, it’s unclear if it’ll pick up the pace going into its final week, especially with hopes that the SAG strike is wrapped this weekend and the cast can start promoting the film. Whether that’ll make a major change is a different point of discussion and remains surprising that Marvel Studios has yet to postpone the release.
Some are pointing to the “homework” aspect which is a hot debate online. It’s hard to believe that those expectations are set by non-online viewers given that we’re introduced to a variety of characters in films for the first time and not everyone watches every single MCU project faithfully.
Of course, there’s also the potential that current film visits are closer to a “wait and see” approach rather than going all-in with presales. While Five Nights at Freddy’s managed to pull in strong numbers, they were above the initial expectations due to strong word-of-mouth. The same could also go for the MCU’s latest entry. So, all eyes are going to be on those reviews which are also only going to drop shortly before the release. For now, we can only wait until the film releases with the first Thursday preview numbers and its Friday box office hinting at where the film will end.
Source: Deadline
The headlines surrounding The Marvels are surprisingly harsher than you’d expect from a tentpole summer release like The Flash. DC’s general struggle this summer has led to some mixed feelings on what the future has in store for the superhero genre yet other releases seem to hint that the genre isn’t fully out. At the same time, there are enough examples throughout the entire summer that blockbuster fatigue is a bigger issue looming over cinemas going into a strike-affected 2024.
The current projection for The Marvels have been a bit all over the place. Box Office Pro has a more subdued $50M with a high point of $70M. Its pre-sales trackings are quite a bit behind other Marvel tentpoles, especially 2023 releases. It also simply be a showcase that the frontloading era these films have enjoyed fizzled out early on, as even Elemental proves there are still some legs for Disney releases.
Projections by The Hollywood Reporter are a bit more positive with a potential high of $80M for the Marvel Studios release, which may be quite a bit behind the initial Captain Marvel with its $153.4M. Three female leads are a big selling point of the project, especially after the success of Barbie a few months back It also grew from its initial $70M prediction but word-of-mouth is going to be the deciding factor here. However, the fact that its leads can’t actually promote the film is likely a huge factor.
What also seems to be easily forgotten is that Captain Marvel enjoyed the build-up towards Avengers: Endgame and her potentially major role in that franchise “ender” as some claim it was. So, we might be seeing what the film originally might have opened to plus the name-change could also be a factor that people aren’t seeing it necessarily as a sequel even if trailers try to highlight that aspect (to be fair, barely any MCU entry acts like a true sequel but rather just an additional chapter for a specific character).
Is it the end of Marvel Studios? Who knows at this point, but they are still holding on better than DC is with a questionable reboot. What everyone believed was the “biggest flop” of the year with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania turned out to be a high bar barely any major release would reach. Even after the summer blockbuster, the film remains the eight highest-grosser of the year domestically.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie were the exceptions rather than the rule this summer which saw major franchises like The Flash, Dungeons & Dragons, Shazam, Transformers, Indiana Jones, Blue Beetle, and even Mission Impossible fizzle out with huge post-COVID budgets. Exhibitors should be more scared that going to the movies is becoming a rarer occurrence and relying on two or three tentpoles per year is not going to keep the box office afloat long-term; even if some are hailing the end of superhero movies and its fatigue discussions.
Source: Box Office Pro, The Hollywood Reporter, The Numbers
There’s always been a lot of discussions surrounding what makes a show successful on Disney+. We have very little insight outside of third-party analysis like Samba sharing various viewership numbers from the first five days. Marvel Studios’ latest show, Secret Invasion, has been released and it looks like the show has outpaced Ms. Marvel’s initial release.
According to Samba TV, the show has been watched by 994K US households within its first five days. That is, as they point out, above Ms. Marvel’s 775K but below the last Diseny+ series, She-Hulk which pulled in around 1.5M. While the difference is big when compared to the sitcom that released last year, it does make sense given that there’s no major character name in the title and it’s more subtle marketing strategy.
It’s easy to point to the AI drama surrounding its opening title to be a reason it has lower viewership, but we tend to overanalyze these types of discussions in the offline world. Plus, Ms. Marvel is a showing of how not every Marvel show is going to be a massive multi-million release in its first five days; especially as this is just an estimate based on external data. It’s an easy connection point but not hard to say if it truly is a causality; similar to how we underestimate how few know about Ezra Miller’s history when it comes to The Flash’s box office.
What will be interesting is to see if the viewership numbers rise over the coming weeks, especially with how the series focuses on twists and turns throughout its six-episode season. Shows like Apple TV+ have different metrics, why The Crowded Room opening to 192K households over three days could be a success for that streamer but detrimental to others. A lot of Marvel shows saw viewership rise throughout its multiple episodes and could do the same here as word-of-mouth kicks off from what happens in the latest episodes but only time will tell.
Source: Twitter, The Direct, Twitter (Crowded Room)
The Internet will often point to “quality over quantity” in regard to lower-than-usual performing Marvel movies. Though they still dominated most of 2022, their only “shortcoming” so far was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperforming with 470M. Yes, it didn’t make its money back but it’s still an amount most people would dream of in such a competitive market after running for 10+ years. Still, the vocalization of the Internet’s displeasure has also been very openly pointed at Disney+.
Some say the shows aren’t good enough quality, constantly dragging down the viewership numbers based on 3rd party tracking, and hatred from being too “woke” by a specific crowd. Last year, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Ms. Marvel took the brunt of it, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige left with a strong message during Disney’s Upfronts by pointing out that their shows have reached “often two to three times the numbers of viewers” from the “buzziest shows on competitive services.”
Thanks to Disney+, we’ve expanded the Marvel Cinematic Universe into genre and formats new to us that we haven’t done before. We’ve been able to introduce exciting new heroes and villains, locations and storylines into the MCU. And I’m pleased to share that when you compare our Marvel series to some of the buzziest shows on competitive services, even our smallest series are reaching much more international audience – often two to three times the number of viewers.
Kevin Feige
We can’t really prove it and streaming services continue to share very little outside of Netflix, but it’s definitely an interesting perspective to offer. And it’s not like they are inventing numbers, it may be a showcase of the international audience embracing these shows more, and discussions on quality are much more diverse than they appear to be; especially if you see how the Internet reacts toward the existence of shows like The Good Doctor.
We’ll see what the future holds for these shows, but Marvel is definitely taking a step back and changing up their strategy, such as Echo becoming a binge release. For now, it feels like we’re about to enter a new era as the pandemic has been left behind and theatrical releases are finally a viable strategy again.
Source: The Direct via Twitter
Here’s a surprise, but it looks like Marvel Studios wasn’t lying about giving their projects more time to breathe. The Marvels has finally received its first poster as many theorized we’d see a trailer soon given its July 28th release. Yet, the poster reveals comes with one major addition: the film is delayed by quite a few months. It looks like The Marvels won’t release until November 10th
It does seem like a smart move, as it spaces out their projects more evenly throughout the ear. While Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige always talked about having four films a year, their Disney+ ventures may have shifted that plan to a three-films-a-year cycle moving forward. It would give them some strong box office contenders, and stretch out the future phase while balancing it out with whatever series they have planned.
It should be noted that Disney isn’t keeping that July date open, as they have seemingly decided Haunted Mansion is ready for a summer release. That is quite bizarre given it’s commonly an October/Halloween-centered release for these types of films, but they may just believe it’ll offer the right amount of summer zaniness.
Marvel Studios is still set to make a splash at the box office and still remains a good seller for anyone wanting to follow along. We’ll expect a sizable drop in Quantumania‘s second weekend, as per usual but could also be a bit lower due to the box office not being as grandiose as last year. Interest in Kang the Conqueror will keep people interested and perhaps even if word-of-mouth isn’t hitting an A on the CinemaScore, it could boost future releases. Whatever it might be, it will be interesting to keep an eye on the releases of this year.
Source: Twitter
Trying to predict what 2025 might look like when changes to 2023 are still happening is just ridiculous! But here we go…
*NOTE* we are no longer tracking animated projects nor including them on the hypothetical calendars.
Though this has not been officially announced by Marvel Studios, rumors suggest that this is in the works and that it will stream on Disney Plus ahead of Fantastic Four. For now, Fantastic Four is slated for Valentine’s Day so giving the Sentinel of the Spaceways his own project a month or so out would allow plenty of time for audiences to get to know him.
Fantastic Four was shuffled into 2025 since our last update, but with Matt Shakman on board to direct based on a script from Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, it seems like things are headed in the right direction! Fans are understandably hungry for this movie and by the time it releases, nearly 6 years will have passed since Kevin Feige announced it at SDCC ’19!
Nova has a writer and is rumored to be a project that’s destined to become a Special Presentation. It’s time for The Man Called Nova to enter the MCU.
Reiterating old news here, but way back in the day the word was that the studio expected whoever it was that ultimately took on the role of Kamala Khan to shoot Season 1, a movie and Season 2 all in a fairly short amount of time. Iman Vellani is that actress and she’s going to be pretty busy as it’s expected she’ll play a rather vital role in the overall story of the Multiverse Saga, too.
This is one of the bolder moves on the calendar, but since it’s hypothetical, it doesn’t really matter. I know absolutely nothing about the plot of this movie and the only thing I’ve ever heard was that it would arrive before Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Until I know something else, I’ll stick with that nugget. That means shuffling around the slate a bit and bumping The Kang Dynasty to a new spot even though Marvel Studios has it slated for May 2nd.
Oscar Isaac and Mohamed Diab seem to want everyone to know a second season of Moon Knight is in the works and we believe it is. Logistically, placing it on the slate before The Kang Dynasty makes quite a bit of sense as it would allow the character to emerge from his own shadowy world into the larger shared universe and help audiences understand how he might get involved with the Avengers.
Tom Holland will have a new deal with Sony and Marvel Studios. Spider-Man 4 is happening and some rumors suggest it could happen as soon as 2024. However, if it really will involved Daredevil and Kingpin, it will have to happen after Daredevil: Born Again streams on Disney Plus and as indicated in version 4 of our 2024 hypothetical calendar, that series may not roll out until mid-2024 and that would have a domino effect on this film. Sony’s done the July 4th long-weekend release before with Spider-Man: Far From Home, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see them do it again. Of course, if they do release it then Marvel Studios would have to shuffle one of their release dates just a tad.
Originally intended to be the May 2025 film, we’ve moved Avengers: The Kang Dynasty down the road a piece as a result of the shuffling of other projects. As it currently stands, August 1st isn’t even on the slate, but if Spidey 4 does drop in early July, Marvel Studios could push the July 25th date a week to let Spidey 4 do its thing before dropping the fifth Avengers film. One would think Spidey will certainly be in it, so having his story first is fine and all nonsense aside, it doesn’t matter when Marvel Studios releases this film. It’s going to make its money in any month on the calendar.
As of our last update, this project was totally unknown, but given the rush to put together a writer’s room for it before the end of 2022, it would seem like a project that could easily stream on Disney Plus in 2025. We like to think of this one as a little Young Avengers, a little West Coast Avengers and a little “let’s keep Paul Bettany around because he’s that good.”
This wasn’t even a film the last time we ran this exercise! As far as we know, the story of Armor Wars has always had a role in the Multiverse Saga so until we hear otherwise, the project will stay part of it even as the winds have shifted. Its connection to the events of Secret Invasion also helps us place it here, where it’s not too far away from the 2023 streaming series.
