Comic-Con: Marvel Studios Announces Phase 4 Titles Including BLADE, SHANG-CHI, ETERNALS and More
"The Infinity Saga is complete," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige declared at Comic-Con Saturday. After 11 years and 23 movies, the Marvel boss pulled back the curtain on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's future as it enters Phase 4 following the events of
Avengers: Endgame. (Scroll to the bottom for the full slate he revealed.)
After touting that
Endgame will
soon overtake Avatar as the No. 1 film of all time, not adjusted for inflation, Feige set dates for a number of movies and Disney+ shows.
But at the end of the panel, just when fans thought he was done, Feige caused a new uproar by casually telling fans there were films he didn't have time to talk about, such as
Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2 — and more importantly,
Fantastic Four and movies about mutants (code for
X-Men). He also unveiled an A-list casting, revealing that Mahershala Ali would be joining the MCU as Blade, the vampire hunter that was played by Wesley Snipes in three movies previously.
While those films don't have dates, earlier in the panel Feige revealed that up first will be Scarlett Johansson's
Black Widow, which will open May 1, 2020 and is directed by Cate Shorthand.
"What's more exciting than the mythology of Marvel movies," asked Rachel Weisz, on stage with the movie's cast.
Johansson, meanwhile, commented, "I couldn't have played this iteration of the character 10 years ago...I get to play her as a fully realized woman with many facets."
The Eternals will follow on Nov. 6, 2020 and Feige brought out the cast, including Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikarus, as well as Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek as Ajax, Lia McHugh and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
Chloé Zhao is directing the film, which Feige described as "full on Jack Kirby," a reference to the cosmic property's creator.
Nanjiani described Marvel as being "throwback" movies. He refereed to
Casablanca and other movies that had various tones to them, made in a time before everything was split into definitive genres. "Marvel is a throwback to those old movies. They have action, romance, comedy. They have everything!"
Hayek, meanwhile, underscored the representation angle of the movie, saying
Eternals will be as diverse as the Hall audience itself.
While the studio
no longer has Robert Downey Jr., it does have a new weapon in its arsenal: Disney+, the upcoming streaming service that will
feature Marvel shows that connect to the films. Feige revealed
Falcon & Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, will bow in the fall 2020.
Mackie, whose Sam Wilson was given the mantle of Captain America at the end of
Endgame, came out on stage with the Captain America shield. Meanwhile, a video message from villain Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl) appeared on screen, with the villain saying he looks forward to seeing the heroes soon.
Next up, Feige revealed the title for
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which he revealed will star Simu Liu as Marvel's first Asian leading man. It will open Feb. 12, 2021 and also star Tony Leung as the real Mandarin (Ben Kingsley played an imposter version in
Iron Man 3). Awkwafina is also to star in the film from Destin Daniel Cretton.
Cretton gave Feige and Marvel props for pushing non-white acting for the forefront. "Kevin and MCU reflect all the beautiful colors that I see in this room. To be a small part of that is very special to me."
Those two post credits scene tho were just HOLY SHIT and almost overshadow the movie tbh. I don't think Spidey's secret identity being exposed is going to be as big of a deal as we expect unless they have proof bc I could see him getting out of that if not especially if Mysterio is really dead and can't really defend the claim (hopefully he isn't tho bc he was a great villain), but THEY BROUGHT BACK JK SIMMONS AS J. JONAH JAMESON HOLY SHIT 
That was the biggest thing I got out of the scene bc he was by far the best casting from the original Spider-Man movies and I can't imagine anyone else playing the character as well as he did. The next scene was crazy too but fuck yeah my boy Talos is still going strong after Captain Marvel 
