How Marvel’s New Release Dates Impact Phase 5 of the MCU

As Marvel is forced to make changes to its slate of MCU Phase 4 movies, it continues to impact what Phase 5 was supposed to be – and what it might be now. This, in turn, offers the biggest opportunity yet for Marvel to up the narrative ante and cement the shared universe’s filmic legacy for decades to come.

Phases 4 and 5 – the first two “seasons” of the MCU to take place after the overarching Infinity Saga, which covered Phases 1 through 3 – were always meant to be something different, but what, exactly, that difference is has changed remarkably since they were first announced back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Originally, the two storytelling chunks were, essentially, two halves of one unified whole; whereas previous phases incorporated sequels to all the previous franchises as well as brand-new properties, 4 and 5 divided them roughly in half. As such, the next installments of Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Thor were announced to be in the former, while Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel were seemingly reserved for the latter.

Now, however, with the myriad and repeated delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the deck seems to have been completely reshuffled, resulting in one giant Phase 4 that looks remarkably similar to the previous Marvel heavyhitter, Phase 3 (which consisted of a whopping 11 films). Although nothing has been conclusively announced as of yet, it now looks like Phase 4 will contain nearly all of those sequels – along with most of the brand-new entries, as well, such as Black Widow and, more than likely, the rebooted Blade. This would also mean that Phase 5 has to up its game, tacking on lots of extra series (and calendar years) to its suddenly depleted run.

What MCU Phase 5 Was Going to Be

As originally announced all the way back in July 2019, Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was supposed to start in February 2022 and go at least until November 2023, spanning no fewer than eight movies. When incorporating the only confirmed date of Black Panther 2, here’s what that release slate initially looked like:

February 18, 2022
May 6, 2022 (Black Panther 2)
July 29, 2022
October 7, 2022
February 17, 2023
May 5, 2023
July 28, 2023
November 3, 2023

The first four of those release dates have remained the same now that they’re part of Phase 4, with the added inclusion of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on March 25, 2022. Marvel did also (separately) announce what most of those eight entries would be, even if the titles weren’t attached to a specific date: Fantastic Four, Captain Marvel 2, Blade, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, Ant-Man 3, and some kind of mutant-related property now that the studio had just acquired those rights from Disney’s Fox acquisition, whether it be a retooled X-Men or Deadpool 3. (The eighth and final item on the list was, and continues to be, something of a mystery.)

Such a roster would go a long way to solidifying the new approach to the MCU’s phases that Marvel had attempted to adopt for the post-Infinity Saga period, with roughly half of the films continuations and the other half originals (at least, to the shared cinematic universe, that is). This balance, in turn, grew out of the company’s desire to pair old and new franchises together within a given calendar year, an effort that had begun in 2014; Marvel Studios was now just expanding the time frame from months to years, making the phases themselves the central element of its release strategy. (Note that this accounting of either Phase Four or Five doesn’t include the Sony spinoff movies, like Venom or Morbius, since it is yet to be seen just how canon they really will be on the Marvel side.)

When Phase 5 Could Start and What Movies It Could Have

Now that all of 2022 has been sliced off and made part of Phase 4, it completely changes the filmic landscape for 5. For starters, this chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will now more than likely see an official start in February ‘23. Using the freshly remolded Phase 4 as the new template, fans could be looking at a total of 10 installments – assuming that Marvel sees success with sending an unprecedented five movies into theaters in ’22, and that the studio would be more than happy to continue that practice in the years to come. This would probably mean an extra release slot in March ’23, with the final one of the phase arriving sometime in November ’24.

As to what items could fill those dates, it's possible that Fantastic Four will release on February 17, 2023, since that month has become positively ripe for Marvel to introduce new franchises. That would make Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 a shoo-in for May 5, ’23, given that Vol. 2 was a big May release previously; Ant-Man 3, then, would follow it on July 28, ’23, seeing as how this series has always hit theaters in July. That’s a good start, both figuratively and literally, to Phase 5, but its follow-ups still need to be rounded out with new and returning projects.

Right off the bat, it’s a pretty straightforward assumption that the studio will turn to its just-introduced films from Phase 4 and offer up continuations of them all: that means Black Widow 2, Eternals 2, Shang-Chi 2, and Blade 2 would take up the next four release dates. Since there is still some level of balancing out going on between these next two upcoming phases (Guardians and Ant-Man, for instance, skipped 4 entirely to land in 5), it’s also probably safe to say that Marvel would hold off on doing Doctor Strange 3, Black Panther 3, and Captain Marvel 3 this go-round. And, lastly, it’s impossible at this particular point in time to make a prediction either way regarding both Spider-Man 4 and Thor 5, since the former is the product of intense negotiations between two different Hollywood power players and the latter keeps breaking new ground as the longest-running MCU franchise.

When factoring X-Men into the mix, there is probably room for one more all-new installment in Phase 5. Even though Marvel maestro Kevin Feige has already implemented most of his favorite comic titles into the cinematic proceedings, there still is a wide variety of possibilities here, ranging from the likes of Nova or Captain Britain to yet another converted Fox entry, such as Silver Surfer. That just leaves one final matter: The Avengers.

Marvel’s Phase 5 Needs to Be Different

One of the keys to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s success has been its ability to constantly rope in new characters, storytelling styles, and, even, (sub) genres, keeping long-term viewers engaged and always attracting a subset of new fans. The phases themselves need to keep up this variety, as well, to ensure that it’s not just another Infinity Saga-esque narrative that plays itself out again, only this time without the presence of Iron Man or with the mantle of Thor being passed to a new bearer. In fact, this could be one of the big reasons why the comic book industry has continued to shed readers, especially over at the House of Ideas, specifically – regularly churning out one mega-crossover event after another leaves fans feeling burnt out instead of committed.

One gets the sense that Marvel Studios was keenly aware of this – hence the original attempt to make smaller, nimbler phases starting with Black Widow, along with the injection of the Disney+ TV shows (well, that and Disney’s desire to make its new streaming platform as successful as possible). But it’s not too late to salvage the more-or-less standardized Phase 5 that now seems poised to happen, and the company’s ultra-successful team-up series can be the perfect conduit to do so: with Phase 4 not featuring its own Avengers – the first time in Marvel history that this has happened – the films can come back bigger than ever in Five. Indeed, it can take a page right out of the Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame playbook and go for multiple chapters, though not necessarily in the same fashion.

Instead of doing an one-two continuation, with a break in between for a few side movies, the next cluster of Avengers chapters could be spinoffs from one another, each tackling a different aspect of the ever-expanding MCU – a wise move, especially since practically every last character, major or minor, in the shared universe became an honorary Avenger in Endgame’s climactic final battle. There’s the opportunity to do an A-Force installment, in which Captain Marvel leads an all-female squad, particularly on more intergalactic quests (something which the presence of the Fantastic Four and, maybe, Silver Surfer could help burnish); there’s also Midnight Sons, which would feature the more supernatural members of the Marvel roster, headed, of course, by the Sorcerer Supreme himself and featuring Moon Knight, who will be getting his own Disney+ miniseries. (Or, perhaps, one giant-sized Avengers film could feature all of these multiple teams on multiple assignments, borrowing much of the structure of Infinity War.)

Conversely, if Marvel wanted to continue holding out on doing the next Avengers for Phase 5, as well, the studio could still employ this multi-aspect approach but in a different field: the X-Men franchise could instead be broken up into a similar number of constituent parts. In this way, just as Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, and the other major MCU superheroes were introduced individually before teaming up for the inaugural Avengers, perhaps Wolverine could get resurrected first in his own solo outing, followed by, say, the long-awaited Gambit or, just maybe, Iceman.

Either of these scenarios (doing multiple X-Men or Avengers spinoffs) would probably necessitate going over the 10-film number for Phase 5, but the amount of excitement it would generate – and the far bigger scope it would create – would be well worth the extension. And it would help make Phase 5 the most epic, awe-inspiring “season” of the MCU yet.

Next: MCU Theory: There Will Be 4 Avengers Teams By Phase 5