Tag Archives: Avengers: Secret Wars

Aug 16 2026

The MCU Surges Ahead At D23

Perhaps all the talk about superhero fatigue in fims and TV shows may have been premature. At this weekend’s D23 Expo, Marvel Studios surged ahead with impressive announcements for its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and this comes fresh off the studios’ massive success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

In the past few years, the MCU and other live-action superhero franchises have struggled with general audiences as many films and TV shows failed to capture the stunning success they experienced in the 2010s, as seen with Marvel Studios’ films last year. While that idea may have some merit, what is becoming clear is that at least with Marvel Studios they have course-corrected and laid the foundation for its comeback, which is starting to bear fruit.

It is true that recent MCU projects (putting aside the new Spider-Man film) were not resounding successes, they were well received by critics and fans as seen with Daredevil: Born Again, Wonder Man, Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four: First Steps, which helped to rehabilate the MCU’s reputation. By the time these properties made their debut, the MCU had developed a lukewarm reputation thanks to subpar films and TV shows like The Marvels and Secret Invasion. Marvel Studios in the early 2020s was forced to produce a glut of projects that were not well executed and the MCU suffered as a result. But thankfully, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pulled back on output and emphasized quality over quantity and that is now starting to pay off. More importantly, people began to realized that MCU films and TV shows were back to being great.

The clearest sign of Marvel Studios’ renewed success of course comes from Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The latest Spider-Man film has astonished everyone by how successful it has become as it has just eatned over $2 billion in the box office. The film clearly proves that superhero film fatigue talk was premature and demonstrated that the only fatigue that existed was for mediocre films. While in the past, the film studios could get away with putting out inferior films, that no longer works. Put out a quality film with a popular character then it will be successful. Spider-Man: Brand New Day established that the character is one of, if not the most popular superheroes around and the film could be heralding a new golden age for the MCU. It has helped reignite interest in the MCU, which bodes well for Avengers: Doomsday and beyond.

There was a lot of doubt that Marvel Studios could inspire much interest in the upcoming Avengers film and questioned how the film’s villain, Doctor Doom, did not have the kind of lead up that Thanos had with the early MCU films. These questions appear to have been dispelled as seen with the reaction to the new trailer released during D23, which was previously shown at Comic-Con, and focused on Doctor Doom. There is a lot of intrigue behind the villain and the reason for his crusade, not to mention with his power scale as seen in the new trailer when he effortlessly brushed aside Thor’s attack and raised an army of robotic sentinels to attack the Avengers. Right now fans are pouring through every frame of the trailer and every nugget of leaks and rumors to find out what happens in the film and with its sequel Avengers: Secret Wars, not to mention which characters will appear in both films. But one set of characters has everyone especially excited.

Ever since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and the rights to the X-Men, Marvel and MCU fans have salivated over the idea of the mutants joining the MCU…and grown impatient. Despite having the rights to the X-Men, Marvel Studios was slow with introducing mutants into the MCU, but that has changed and started with the introduction of….Spoiler Warning for anyone who has not seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day….

Jean Grey, one of the founding members of the X-Men and portrayed by Sadie Sink.

At D23, Feige introduced the director of the upcoming X-Men film, Jake Schreirer, who was rightfully rewarded for his work on Thunderbolts* with this plum assignment. Sink was introduced on stage as one of the stars of the X-Men film and more actors were presented, such as Kit Connor as Cyclops/Scott Summers, Maya Boyd as Storm/Ororo Munroe, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Anna Marie/Rogue, Christopher Abbott as Professor X/Charles Xavier, and Adam Driver (appearing on video) as Mr. Sinister/Nathan Milberry. The announcements left out other characters like Beast, Iceman, Angel and Magneto, though it’s not known at this time if they will appear in X-Men, which comes out May 5, 2028. What was refreshing about Driver plaing Mr. Sinister is that the film won’t go with the usual route of Magneto being the main villain.

Expect a full cast for X-Men to be revealed later on, perhaps with another day-long YouTube video featuring chairs with names on them. Or that may be reserved for Avengers: Secret Wars which is expected to have an even larger cast than Avengers: Doomsday. Speaking of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, once again we were teased with Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds possibly appearing in the film as Wolverine and Deadpool. This has not been officially announced, and there is no word if Tobey Maguire will appear as the OG Spider-Man, but this is driving everyone insane by now.

Even though everyone is excited by the coming slate of MCU films, many are concerned about the apparent demise of MCU TV shows on Disney+. After VisionQuest and the third season of Daredevil: Born Again there have been no announcements at D23 of anymore live-action MCU TV shows. This was made worse with the recent cancellation of Wonder Man even though a second sesaon was announced a few months following the positive reception it received. It has been reported in the Hollywood trades that Disney is pivoting away from live-action MCU and Star Wars TV shows because they appear to be diluting the brands and affecting the box office numbers for the films and the costs for producing them are too high. This is regrettable because Marvel Studios has produced some genuinely terrific TV shows. The problem they had goes back to the early 2020s with the Disney mandate to produce a glut of product which led to many terrible TV shows being produced. This clearly hurt the MCU brand and could have been remedied by cutting back and concentrating on producing permium TV shows like HBO does. This can work as we saw with Daredevil: Born Again and VisionQuest which looks like it will be great as well. There are rumors that Marvel Studios will produce one-off special presentations like Punisher: One Last Kill or Werewolf By Night, and will supposedly feature the Defenders and Strange Academy, as well as a sequel to Werewolf By Night. At least it’s something, but Disney is foolish if they completely abandon MCU television.

On a more positive note, it’s a relief to feel genuine excitement for the MCU and its upcoming projects. Any doubts about the MCU have been thankfully dispelled for now. Of course, helping to get rid of any concerns for good is if Avengers: Doomsday turns out to be great and makes a ton of money, which it will, as long as the film is well received by fans and critics. Otherwise, it could wind up like Avengers: Age of Ultron, which while it was financially successful, it dampened enthusiasm for Avengers films until Avengers: Infinty War came along. If Avengers: Doomsday ends up being a hit, and who knows if it can match or exceed the runaway success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, expect enthusiasm to go into overdrive for Avengers: Secret Wars and beyond.We can’t wait!

José Soto

Mar 28 2025

Avengers: Doomsday Announcement IOW Avengers Vs. X-Men!

On March 26, 2025, Marvel Studios painstakingly announced the cast of next year’s Avengers: Doomsday with an online stream that lasted over FIVE hours. The marketing team behind this event can be either commended for increasing anticipation and publicity for Avengers: Doomsday or slammed for coming up with this idea of using chairs to slowly announce cast members and stretching this out for several long hours.

Many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) woke up that day with news that Marvel Studios was making a big announcement later in the morning. They speculated about what would the news be about. More MCU films announced? The cast for the new X-Men? At first, when the stream began and an obscure figure entered the screen and placed a chair with Chris Hemsworth’s name on it, people guessed it may have been a revelation that a new Thor film was coming. Then 12 and a half minutes later, another chair was revealed with Vanessa Kirby’s name on it, and we all knew by then the announcement was about the cast for Avengers: Doomsday. It was inevitable since the film was scheduled to begin filming around this time and the finale of the stream declared just that. These were the following cast members announced for Avengers: Doomsday in the order they were announced:

  • Chris Hemsworth as Thor
  • Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman
  • Anthony Mackie as Captain America
  • Sebastian Stan as Bucky/Winter Soldier
  • Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther
  • Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
  • Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent aka dime store Captain America
  • Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing
  • Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
  • Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
  • Kelsey Grammer as the Beast
  • Lewis Pullman as the Sentry
  • Danny Ramirez as the Falcon
  • Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch
  • David Harbour as Red Guardian
  • Winston Duke as M’Baku
  • Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
  • Tom Hiddleston as Loki, most likely the God of Stories
  • Patrick Stewart as Professor X
  • Ian McKellan as Magneto
  • Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
  • Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
  • James Marsden as Cyclops
  • Channing Tatum as Gambit
  • Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic and
  • Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom

That is an impressive and surprising line up for what will be the biggest and most important MCU film in years. The announcement certainly generated excitement among fans and much of it was positive although there were many questions that went unanswered. Here are a few takeaways:

Drawn Out Announcement

On paper it seemed like a good idea to slowly announce the cast with intervals that lasted several minutes. With a cast this large it took over five hours for the announcements to be completed and this tried the patience of many online viewers who wanted (and screamed) for the announcements to hurry up.  For others however, the announcement built up anticipation and created something of an event as many wondered who would be announced next. Some announcements had excited reactions while a few others were obvious.

The event also for all intents and purposes spoiled Thunderbolts* since most of the cast from that upcoming film will survive and appear in Avengers: Doomsday. The Fantastic Four will play an important role in the film which is natural since Doctor Doom is their main enemy. The question remains is how big a role will they play? Most likely the team will be on the level of co-stars and function the same way that the Guardians of the Galaxy did in Avengers: Infinity War.

Finally, given the latter cast announcements, this film not only reunites a few actors from the original Fox X-Men films, but the film will probably be a loose adaptation of the Avengers Vs. X-Men comic book series event from the last decade.

Who Was Left Out

A lot of the buzz generated by the stream was about who was not announced, and it was surprising that some characters apparently won’t be a part of Avengers: Doomsday. These characters include the Hulk, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, War Machine, Captain Marvel, Photon, Star-Lord or the new Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Wolverine, Wong, and finally the Young Avengers.

Some of the absences are puzzling given how integral some heroes are to the Avengers like the Hulk, have been set up in other MCU projects like the Young Avengers were, and how popular others are like Spider-Man. After all, at the very end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, a title card announced that Star-Lord would return. If not in this film, then were else? Well, Avengers: Secret Wars, of course.

A few weeks ago, some concept art was leaked that showed images of these missing characters and a few others like Vision and Doctor Strange in what looks like Batttleworld, the location of the Secret Wars comic books. In the first issue of Secret Wars, the main Marvel Universe collided with the Ultimate Marvel Universe and both were destroyed. Doctor Doom managed to scrape together segments of many realities into an artificial world called Battleworld and the Marvel characters were re-imagined. The same thing will probably happen with Avengers: Secret Wars and the absent characters will turn up in that film. This is similar to what happened with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame where Ant-Man and Hawkeye were featured in the latter film but not the former one.

Keep this in mind, however. After the stream ended, Marvel Studios cryptically announced on social media that there would be more announcements. This can be welcome news but truthfully, Marvel Studios has to be careful not to bring in too many characters in order to focus on a few important ones.

Avengers Vs. X-Men

The biggest surprise in the announcement was that of the Fox X-Men film characters returning. This was very welcome news by fans of the early X-Men films, and some of the announcements were stunning. Cumming had such a miserable experience with the blue makeup when filming X2: X-Men United that he refused to reprise his role as Nightcrawler even though his character was very popular. Channing Tatum proved that if a performance is earnest and strong enough it can win you a return ticket to a major franchise. His appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine was among the best and he injected that role with lots of vigor and enthusiasm; frankly he deserved to come back to an MCU film in some fashion.

Among the most notable absences were Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm and Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/Phoenix. Janssen’s absence is puzzling since it brings up the question if the film will have anything to do with the Phoenix Force story from Avengers Vs. X-Men. This implies that the Avengers film will only loosely adapt Avengers Vs. X-Men and focus more on Doctor Doom. It seems likely that instead of the main Marvel Universe battling the Ultimate Marvel Universe, this film will have the MCU characters confronting the Fox X-Men film characters. It is questionable if these X-Men will be those featured from the early films and might be variant versions. It is hard to tell and given that the timeline of those Fox X-Men films is confusing, it’s for the best not to think too hard about it.

The most logical assumption is that the MCU will meet the X-Men seen in the alternate universe seen at the end of The Marvels when Monica Rambeau wound up stranded in that universe. Her appearance will set off an incursion event that will have the two universes collide and lead to Avengers: Secret Wars. But then, if that is the plot, then why wasn’t Teyonah Parris announced? Maybe she will, later. Maybe Marvel Studios wants to keep some appearances as surprises to make up for spoiling Thunderbolts*.

There are many questions that have been raised by the streaming event, which is great for Marvel Studios and Avengers: Doomsday. This demonstrates that there is still interest and excitement about the MCU. To think, all this buzz is for a film that is over a year away and we still haven’t seen a trailer or set photos or anything official aside from a bunch of chairs and Robert Downey Junior motioning us to be silent. All this will be for nothing if Avengers: Doomsday doesn’t deliver, but given the talent behind the film, that seems unlikely.

José Soto

Aug 11 2024

Top Ten Cameos & Appearances In Deadpool & Wolverine…Spoilers, DUH!

By now most fans have seen Deadpool & Wolverine and enjoyed all the cameos and appearances of the characters and actors that appeared in numerous Marvel films including the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Here is a top ten list of cameos and appearances in Deadpool & Wolverine, and as a bonus there will be a mention of cameos that never materialized in the film but should have.

Obviously, there will be major spoilers in this list for anyone who hasn’t seen the film yet (What are you waiting for? It’s the best MCU film of the year! Actually, it’s the only MCU film for the year. Spend a few bucks and see this already in theaters!).

10. Thor

Thor’s brief appearance where he cradled a dying Deadpool in archival TVA footage from the future was just repurposed footage from Thor: The Dark World with Deadpool swapping out Loki.  However, it set up a gnawing mystery that was never resolved in Deadpool & Wolverine and left us wondering if this was a scene from the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars or some other film.

9. Pyro and the Evil Mutants

It was a blast seeing many of the evil mutant characters from the Fox X-Men films, which included Pyro, Toad, Juggernaut, Azazel, Psylocke and more. For the most part they were good foes and deserved to be seen again. It was also great seeing Aaron Stanford reprising his role of Pyro again, who was a scummy as ever and one of the more developed villains.

8. Elektra

Jennifer Garner’s reprisal of the assassin may not have been wanted by those who hated the Fox Daredevil and Elektra films. Yet, her strong performance and off-color remark about Daredevil (once portrayed by Garner’s ex-husband, Ben Affleck) being killed, not only gave her character credibility, but provided some mischievous meta humor.

7. The Deadpool Corps

For a film that is about the main character jumping around the multiverse, it was only natural that he would encounter outlandish versions of himself. And this film certainly did not disappoint us. From Lady Deadpool to Kidpool, to Dogpool and Nicepool, the Deadpool variants were hysterical and imaginative. It’s guaranteed that we’ll be pausing the scenes when all the Deadpool variants appear together whenever the film hits home media.

6. The Hulk

The green giant made a quick appearance during Deadpool’s visit to a timeline where the events of The Incredible Hulk #181 (the debut appearance of Wolverine for you non-fans) were taking place. Sadly, we did not get to see the epic throwdown between Hulk and Wolverine, but it was a tantalizing tease. Maybe this can happen in Avengers: Secret Wars? We fans can only hope.

5. X-23

Having Dafne Keen reprise her role as a now-adult X-23 was an appropriate way to follow up Logan and reunited her with Hugh Jackman. The two actors have a natural chemistry and their scenes together provided Wolverine with needed emotional growth and a means to embrace his humanity. Keen was also such a kick-ass when she ripped those evil mutants apart later in the film.

4. Gambit

Channing Tatum was thisclose to having his own Gambit solo film before the project was canned during the time when Disney acquired the rights to the Fox X-Men films. It was a passion project for the actor and thankfully Deadpool & Wolverine gave him the chance to show off how awesome he would’ve been as the Cajun mutant, who was comic book-accurate down to his thick Cajun accent. Remember it!

3. Wesley Snipes as Blade!

The original Blade is back, baby! With all the behind-the-scenes headaches in trying to reboot Blade for the MCU, having Wesley Snipes return as Blade was a great surprise and a fitting tribute to the actor. After all, his films ushered in the modern Marvel films and his appearance has now sparked calls for Marvel Studios to forego the character’s recasting with Mahershala Ali and allow Snipes to reclaim the role for future MCU films.  

2. Cavillerine!

Henry Cavill’s brief appearance as Wolverine was the most unexpected cameo in the film and the best Wolverine variant to appear (though the comic book-accurate Wolverine was hysterical). Not only did it allow fans to see someone else credibly play Logan, but it was a well-deserved middle finger to Warner Bros. for the way they mistreated the actor during the entire DCEU debacle.

1. Chris Evans…as the Human Torch!

The funniest and most out-of-left-field appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine was Chris Evans who did not reprise his role as Captain America, as Deadpool and many audiences expected, but as the Human Torch from the Fox Fantastic Four films. The way he was introduced was misleading and ingenious, and a nice call back to those films. Evans’ appearance also contributed some of the best laughs in the film, especially the line by Deadpool that the actor was too expensive to keep around for too long, hence his untimely death.

The Unrealized Cameos

Given the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine deals with the multiverse, the possibilities of variant characters were endless. Unfortunately, the realities of filmmaking precluded some possible cameos and appearances, some of which were planned but never materialized.

The Avengers

Aside from archival footage at the TVA we never see the team appear, much less have them interact with Deadpool. At one point, this was supposed to happen but the logistics of gathering the actors together was too much.

Robert Downey, Jr.

He was supposed to appear in the scene were Deadpool visits the MCU timeline and tries to get a job with the Avengers. But unfortunately, the actor turned down the opportunity and then wowed us when it was revealed that he would portray Dr. Doom, later on.

Ghost Rider

Speaking of actors who turned down the chance to reprise previous Marvel roles, Nicolas Cage was asked to appear as Ghost Rider. The actor was approached with the opportunity but for reasons unknown he passed on the offer. Blame the crappy Ghost Rider films.

Spider-Man

As much fun as it would have been to have Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine the fact that the film rights of Spider-Man are owned by Sony pretty much nipped that idea. They’ll probably appear in Avengers: Secret Wars.

Alternate Castings

Tom Cruise as Iron Man? How about Daniel Radcliffe or Tom Hardy as Wolverine? Sorry, these variants do not appear in the film nor was there any indication that this was considered. But given how busy Deadpool & Wolverine with its cameos, appearances, references and Easter eggs, it is probably for the best that these additional cameos did not happen.

José Soto

Nov 27 2023

The MCU Woes, Part II: How To Correct Itself

The latest online trend has been to bash Marvel Studios and its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Toxic trolls have been pouring out with uncontrolled glee proclaiming Marvel Studios is too woke and deserves to fail. They point to the disappointing reception for many of the MCU’s latest offerings as proof that the brand is dead. Further adding fuel to the fire, Marvel Studios has delayed many of its productions to improve them.

It is undeniable that the MCU brand has taken some hits and is not regarded as highly as it was during its heyday, to call the brand dead or beyond repair is a gross exaggeration.

Thankfully, Marvel Studios and its parent company Disney have recognized the situation and are taking concrete steps to course correct and ensure the MCU regain its reputation for quality superhero films and TV shows. Sure, the MCU has taken its lumps, but what brand is not immune to this? Many times it is good to take a tumble, this gives one the chance to learn from mistakes and improve. This is what is going on with the MCU.

First of all, Marvel Studios has shown the willingness to scrap what they have worked on and start over. One example is the Daredevil: Born Again TV show which has been scrapped and been redone. Another example is that Captain America: Brave New World has been delayed in order to rework it due to a poor test screening. Then there are the rumors that Kang will be written out of the future films and TV shows in favor of Doctor Doom. This would take care of the situation with Jonathan Majors facing trial for domestic abuse, especially if he is found guilty. These examples demonstrate that Marvel Studios is willing to take the necessary steps to take the time to produce the best projects possible.

Better Scripts Needed

However, the first and most important step that needs to be taken is to devote more time to the scripts. Allow the writers to tell proper stories and DO NOT GO INTO PRODUCTION UNLESS THE SCRIPTS ARE COMPLETED TO EVERYONE’S SATISFACTION. This would largely take care of the problem of realizing a film is not working and having to do major retooling with it in post-production. This is why recent projects like Secret Invasion fared so poorly. It’s been reported that Secret Invasion had major overhauls and rewrites in the middle of its production, which is why the end product seemed so underdeveloped and rushed. On the other hand, look at two recent MCU successes: Loki Season 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3. Both productions had well-crafted scripts that were full of heart and flowed well. More importantly the stories logically reached their conclusions while servicing the characters. This is a major reason why both projects received so much acclaim and performed well.

Even though it is important to follow a certain narrative as dictated by the higher ups and to meet deadlines, the screenwriters should be given more autonomy with their scripts. It is also important at this point with the MCU to hire great writers who have a record of turning in terrific and solid screenplays.

The same should go with directors. This is a difficult task given that Marvel Studios is more hands on with their productions than normal. Still, the past has shown us that great directors like James Gunn and Ryan Coogler, and the Russo Brothers can work within the confines of an MCU production and deliver great films. Oftentimes, Marvel Studios hires relatively unknown directors who wilt under the pressure and demands of the studio and turn in mediocre films or TV shows. Marvel Studios has to make sure that the best possible directors are hired for their projects. If they want to go with lesser known (and cheaper) directors, have them feel their oats with some of the TV shows. Michael Giacchino is a prime example of this. Known only for his film scores, Giacchino blew everyone away with his directing duties in Werewolf By Night.

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Feb 11 2023

The Eve Of Marvel’s Phase Five

Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) launches this week with the wide release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The film is supposed to help pave a firm direction for the MCU with the introduction of the next big bad of the MCU, Kang the Conqueror, and will culminate with the next Avengers films, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. What should be noted is that the next Avengers films will be part of Phase Six, so Phase Five will serve to set up the grand finale of the so-named Multiverse Saga.

Many MCU fans are hoping that after the mixed results of Phase Four that Phase Five will course correct for the MCU and keep the cinematic universe on top. There were many issues with Phase Four such as a lack of focus, films and TV shows that were not as high in quality as the previous MCU offerings, and so on. There were also many successes and material that Phase Five and Six will build upon, especially with the introduction of the Multiverse concept. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is rumored to dwell on this with the inclusion of Kang, who is a time-traveling villain.

There are many reasons why Phase Four of the MCU was not as revered as previous phases. Given the success of the MCU, there has been increased pressure by Disney to Marvel Studios to create more films and TV shows (the TV shows were a new feature for the MCU beginning with Phase Four) at a faster rate. This overstretched the capability of Marvel Studios to maintain the level of quality with previous MCU projects. Adding to the release pressure was the COVID-19 pandemic which severely affected productions and created delays, which we’re are still grappling with today. Then there were the expectations of fans and the fact that many of the MCU products simply were not as appealing since popular characgters like Iron Man and Captain America were absent. Many of these issues still remain as Marvel Studios plows ahead with Phase Five of the MCU, but hopefully they are better prepared to meet the challenges.

When being critical of Phase Four it is important to realize that it did a lot more to help set up the Multiverse Saga. Films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness were important to the Saga, as well as TV shows like Loki and What If…? Phase Four also set up plot lines and characters that will be further explored in Phase Five and beyond. Both TV shows will have second seasons as part of Phase Five, which will dive even deeper into the concept of time travel and alternate realities. The second Doctor Strange film also introduced the plot line of Incursions, where traveling to different realties will ultimately cause them to collide and destroy one another. This was a major plot line in Marvel Comics that culminated with the second Secret Wars mini-series event. With a title like Avengers: Secret Wars it is certain that the upcoming film will be a loose adaptation of the comic book mini-series. By now, given how well received Marvel Comics storylines were adapted in MCU films, even if they were adaptations in name only, the Secret Wars film will also be acclaimed.

Aside from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania the only Marvel film that directly deals with the Multiverse will be Deadpool 3, which is due next year. This film is technically not part of the MCU or Phase Five, but it reportedly will deal with Deadpool and Wolverine traveling through alternate realities and it’s fairly certain that the two will visit the MCU. There are also rumors that a third Doctor Strange film is in the works, which will deal with Incursions as seen in the post-credits scene of the last Doctor Strange film. But if this film is made it most likely will be a part of Phase Six as the Multiverse storyline starts to ramp up.

The remaining Phase Five films and TV shows will either be about new characters (Blade, Daredevil: Born Again and Thunderbolts) or continue individual stories that, as far as we know, doesn’t involve the Multiverse (Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, The Marvels, Captain America: New World Order, Echo, Secret Invasion, Ironheart and Agatha: Coven of Chaos). However given the subtitle of Coven of Chaos, it is possible the Agatha Harkness TV show might have something to do with the Incursions or the Multiverse.

There is also the wildcard to consider for Phase Five: another MCU Spider-Man film. In the past, Spider-Man films have never been part of official MCU film announcements. That is because the film rights to the superhero are held by Sony Pictures, who is off trying to launch their own cinematic universe based on Spider-Man characters. But given the huge success of Spider-Man: No Way Home and that many consider it to be the best Phase Four film, it is obvious that Sony is planning a fourth MCU Spider-Man film. Will it be produced in time to make it part of the Phase Five slate? That is unknown at this time. If filming starts later this year, it is possible the film will be completed in time to be scheduled for a 2024 release and be part of Phase Five. Otherwise, the fourth MCU Spider-Man film will be part of Phase Six.

Given that Phase Four of the MCU was not as well received as previous MCU films, Phase Five of the MCU will be subjected to greater scrutiny by fans. In other words, Phase Five of the MCU has to deliver much more than Phase Four. The people behind the films and TV shows are aware of this and will do their best to deliver the same quality product that were so revered by fans in the past. While some expectations have been lowered for the MCU and superhero films and TV shows it is unwise to count out Marvel Studios and the MCU at this point.

José Soto