(Updated 12/10/2024)
Marvel's Phase Four — beginning with BLACK WIDOW and running through BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER — explored worlds and people who were ravaged by the effects of Thanos's attacks. New heroes debuted and everyone tried to come to terms with the understanding that we are just one of many planes in the multiverse.
Now Marvel is pushing deeper into the Multiverse for Phases Five and Six. That began with ANT- MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA and moved through to THE MARVELS. Marvel has movies planned out through the Spring of 2027, when AVENGERS: SECRET WARS will close out not only Phase Six, but the Multiverse Saga.
That said, thanks to the dual strikes that shut down movie productions for much of 2023, Marvel's plans have changed. Many movies have been pushed to later release dates. It's a lot to take in, so let's break it down simply. Here are all the new Marvel movies coming in 2025 and all the way to the middle of 2027.
Phase Five
Marvel's current story cycle began with the studio's first movie of 2023 and will run through the beginning of 2025. Here's what's still to come.
Captain America: Brave New World
Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson officially became Captain America in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," and he will topline the new Captain America movie, as well. Harrison Ford plays General Thaddeus Ross in the movie — and Ross has become the President of the United States, setting up the potential for interesting conflicts between Captain America and the President. Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson, who were key writers on the streaming series, are scripting the movie, too. Read more about CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD here. [February 14, 2025]
Thunderbolts*
THUNDERBOLTS might be a bit like Marvel's version of SUICIDE SQUAD, as it is about villains taking on secret missions for the government. The lineup features Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow II, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as USAgent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as Contessa. Jake Schreier (ROBOT & FRANK) is directing based on a script by Eric Pearson (THOR: RAGNAROK). And, yes, the asterisk at the end of the title is officially part of the movie's name — which suggests that "Thunderbolts" might not be the team name by the end of the movie. Read more about THUNDERBOLTS here. [May 2, 2025]
Phase Six
Marvel's next major story cycle begins with the studio's revamp of the Fantastic Four, and will almost certainly culminate with a contraction of the massive Multiverse.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Fantastic Four launched Marvel Comics as we know it in 1961, and this movie will be the first time Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have direct control of Marvel's "first family." Pedro Pascal ("The Last of Us") plays Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby (the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series, "The Crown") plays Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach ("The Bear") plays the Thing, and Joseph Quinn ("Stranger Things," A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE) is Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. At least some of this movie is set in the 1960s — likely in a different universe from the main MCU — but at this point everything other than the core cast is up in the air. Read more about FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS here. [July 25, 2025]
Avengers: Doomsday
Details are very thin about this movie right now — we don't even know who the Avengers will be by the time this one rolls around! (Maybe they'll be a version of the Thunderbolts… but maybe not!) But that doesn't matter because Joe and Anthony Russo are back to direct, and Robert Downey, Jr. is returning as well. But he's not back as Iron Man. Instead, he's playing Doctor Doom, the classic metal-masked Fantastic Four villain. Now we also hear that Chris Evans is coming back to the main storyline in the MCU. We don't yet know what that means, however. Obviously we saw Evans in DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, playing Johnny Storm, but we don't know what that means for DOOMSDAY. Read more about AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY here. [May 1, 2026]
Avengers: Secret Wars
Take what we know about AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY and cut it in half. That's still more than we know about SECRET WARS. But the subtitle here gives us clues, too. The first Secret Wars took place in 1985, in a big Marvel Comics crossover event. A sequel followed a few years later, and then in 2015 a "spiritual sequel" greatly compacted Marvel's comic book multiverse. Since this is the final movie (that we know about) in the Multiverse Saga, expect a lot of big changes by the time the credits roll. The Russos are directing this one, too. Read more about AVENGERS: SECRET WARS here. [May 7, 2027]
More Marvel Movies to Come
In addition to the movies listed above, Marvel has many titles in development. Some are not publicly known, but many are. Here are the titles we know are in the works.
Armor Wars
With only five movies set between now and May 2027, this is one of Marvel's lighter movie lineups. Right now, 2026 and 2027 only have one film scheduled for release. That could change, however. One title could be ARMOR WARS, the Don Cheadle spin-off which should take his War Machine character in new directions, and which will probably incorporate WAKANDA FOREVER's Ironheart character, too. (An "Ironheart" streaming series has been in production and will likely arrive in 2025.) Originally, ARMOR WARS was set to be a streaming series, but it was bumped up to feature film status. It just doesn't have a date yet.
Spider-Man 4
Following the success of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME: and SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, sequels have, unsurprisingly, already been confirmed for both films – although little is known about either of one beyond what can be surmised from the end of each character's recent movie. SHANG-CHI director Destin Daniel Cretton was expected to make a sequel to that film. But now he's making SPIDER-MAN 4 instead! While that leaves SHANG-CHI 2 very much up in the air, at least we have some sense that the fourth and probably final Tom Holland Spidey movie will be on the way soon. Read more about SPIDER-MAN 4 here.
New Mutant Movies
Finally, the Fantastic Four aren't the only classic characters coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel's mutant characters, presumably including the X-Men, will be reborn on the big screen. The process has already begun, with mutants appearing in BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER and THE MARVELS. Obviously, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE helped get the ball rolling for mutants in the MCU. As to what happens after that…? We just don't know when or how or with whom. The moment we do know, you'll know too!
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All images courtesy of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.