Kevin Feige and Marvel showed up at Comic-Con International in San Diego and revealed their entire plans for Phase Four of the MCU. Unlike the past, where a Phase would last for four years, this one only lasts two but includes both movies in theaters as well as series on Disney+.
What is surprising is that the sequels most fans expected are not coming in Phase 4. Captain Marvel, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy all will be Phase Five productions. However, Thor, Doctor Strange, a Black Widow period piece, and new movies about Shang Chi and The Eternals are coming, as well as shows called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, What If...?, and Hawkeye are coming to Disney+. Here is a look at how what we saw in Avengers: Endgame will play into MCU's Phase 4.
THANOS LEADS TO ETERNALS
The first movie hitting theaters for MCU Phase 4 is a Black Widow movie that will focus on her past but the second will be The Eternals, coming on Nov. 6, 2020. This is a new property that most mainstream MCU movie fans know nothing about and takes place in the Marvel Cosmic Universe that Guardians of the Galaxy took place in.
The movie also has an all-star cast, including Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek in lead roles. There are a lot of ways for this movie to launch in the MCU. One thing fans should know is that Thanos is an Eternal in the comic books, so this movie might have his brethren dealing with the outcome of his actions in Infinity War and Endgame.
GUARDIANS MEET ETERNALS
When Avengers: Endgame concluded, Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy left together for cosmic adventures and in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter learned that Thor was still "off-planet" so there is no telling where these characters headed off to. With that in mind, there is always a chance that they could end up crossing paths with The Eternals.
James Gunn has made it clear that he hasn't planned to use Thor is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but since both The Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder come out before that movie, it gives the MCU a couple of chances to have the God of Thunder leave the group. Could it happen in The Eternals?
SCARLET WITCH DISTRESS
The second Disney+ MCU release will hit in Spring 2021 with WandaVision. As the title suggests, this is a series that will be based around Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, and The Vision. However, what fans saw clearly in Infinity War, Vision died at the hands of Thanos when the Mind Stone was removed from his head.
So, how does Vision come back to the MCU? Tony Stark is not around to remake him, and while Professor Hulk is there, another option is for Scarlet Witch to use her reality-altering powers to bring him back, something she has shown she is willing to do in the comics. This also sets up her appearance in the next Doctor Strange movies.
DOCTOR STRANGE KNOWS THE FUTURE
The second Doctor Strange movie is also coming in 2021. The film is titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The biggest rumor about this movie is that it will deal with Scarlet Witch. The fact that "madness" and "multiverse" is in the title of the Doctor Strange movie makes it sound like something is about to happen that will severely alter reality.
If Scarlet Witch brings back Vision from the dead, could she bring back others as well? Could she try to change reality to make things better? According to the director, the next Doctor Strange movie will be Marvel's first "scary" movie and if Strange saw this coming when he looked into the future in Infinity War, could the deaths in Endgame send Wanda to a bad place where she creates the MCU version of M-Day?
THE REDEMPTION OF HAWKEYE
Hawkeye went to a very dark place in Avengers: Endgame. He lost his family and took on the role of Ronin. He killed many people, and while they were bad guys, Clint has a lot of blood on his hands. In Endgame, he was willing to give his own life and then watched as his closest friend Natasha gave up her life instead.
This should lead Hawkeye, who got his family back, on the road to redemption. This should play out in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, which Marvel revealed will include the character of Kate Bishopp. This looks like a good time for Clint to pass on his bow to a new hero and retire to live out his life with his wife and kids.
THE TEN RINGS
When Black Widow was trying to find Hawkeye to bring him back to The Avengers to go after Thanos, she found him on the streets as Ronin. He killed a ton of bad guys in a rage because Clint's family died, and these bad men were allowed to live. While Mandarin was a red herring in Iron Man 2, it was shown that he is real -- just not the character AIM created.
The Ten Rings organization is also real, as shown in Ant-Man. With Hawkeye killing as many organized crime figures as he could in Endgame, it likely means the surviving organizations are even stronger -- and since Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings comes out in 2021, Hawkeye could have inadvertently made them more powerful than ever.
VALKYRIE FINDS HER QUEEN
In Avengers: Endgame, Thor gave up his role as the king of Asgard and placed Valkyrie in charge of the survivors, who had relocated to Earth. As the new leader of the realm, Valkyrie has a lot to do to shape it up into what she considers to be the best possible home for the Asgardians.
However, in talking about Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel said that the first thing that Valkyrie needs to find as the new King is her Queen. That was words straight from the mouth of actress Tessa Thompson, making one wonder if the fourth Thor movie will finally reveal what people knew all along -- that Valkyrie is bisexual.
LADY THOR
More big news about Thor: Love and Thunder is that Natalie Portman is coming back as Jane Foster and the movie will finally introduce her as Lady Thor. Of course, for those unaware, this comes from the comics where Thor was found unworthy of Mjolnir, and Jane ended up taking up the role of Thor.
It was an amazing storyline that resulted in Jane developing cancer and realizing that every time she took on the role of Thor, her cancer progressed at rapid speed. Thor felt very unworthy for most of Avengers: Endgame. Is it time for Valkyrie to give Mjolnir to a new Thor to help protect the people of Asgard?
LOKI
Remember at the start of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos killed Loki. However, when Captain America went back in time in Endgame to get the Tesseract and try to gain the ability to bring back everyone in the future that was snapped out of the world. However, things went wrong, and Loki grabbed the Tesseract and disappeared.
At Comic-Con, Kevin Feige revealed that the Loki TV show would deal with where Loki went after he disappeared. Interestingly, they also said that the Loki that had grown into a hero by the time Infinity War rolled around was now, once again, the Trickster from The Avengers.
A NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA
The first movie for MCU Phase Four is Black Widow, which is a period piece like Captain Marvel was. However, the first present-day story in the next phase of the MCU is actually a Disney+ series in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The filmmakers behind Avengers: Endgame revealed a while back that Winter Soldier knew that Captain America stayed in the past and was obviously a person Cap had contacted in the new timeline. This is why he just smiled and let Falcon go to old man Steve and take the shield. In this series, the story of Captain America that ended in Endgame will start a new chapter with Sam Wilson as the new Captain Amerca.