MCU Planned Out Through 2026/2027 Says Marvel Head Kevin Feige

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has revealed his team currently has the Marvel Cinematic Universe planned out five to six years from now, taking the franchise all the way to 2026/2027. At the recent Disney Investor Day, Marvel Studios and Feige announced a few additional theatrical MCU projects, like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the Jon Watts-directed Fantastic Four reboot. MCU Phase 4, which begins after the events of Avengers: Endgame, officially kicks off with the premiere of WandaVision on Disney+ this week.

The MCU is currently in its longest gap between releases. Since 2013, Marvel Studios has released no less than two films a year. Spider-Man: Far From Home, acting as the epilogue to Phase 3 of the MCU, was released on July 2, 2019. However, there won't be another theatrically released Marvel Studios film until Black Widow opens on May 7, 2021. Despite that, Marvel has stayed remarkably busy and has a very good idea of where it's going beyond even what was announced at San Diego Comic-Con or the Investor Day.

While promoting the release of WandaVision, Kevin Feige spoke to Collider about Marvel's future plans and how far it's plotted out the future of the MCU saying, “To varying degrees of specificity, it’s always about 5 to 6 years out versus what we’ve announced. So whatever that takes us to.” That would mean around 2026/2027 for release dates and possibly all the way through Phase 5 of the MCU.

Just because Marvel has all plans sketched out this far in advance though, doesn't necessarily mean they are all etched in concrete; Inhumans was a film that got as far as being officially announced and was eventually transitioned into an ABC series. Additionally, though Feige indicates Marvel traditionally maps out five to six years in advance, it stands to reason the studio has even more on its plate given Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. In addition to its own existing titles and characters to work through, Feige and Marvel Studios now have to figure out a way to integrate characters like The Fantastic Four, X-Men and Deadpool (who was recently confirmed to now be a part of the MCU going forward). Says Feige later in that same interview regarding the introduction of the X-Men, "we have a good feeling of where it’s going and when it’s going."

With only MCU Phase 4 titles announced at this point and Feige unwilling to disclose when Phase 4 will end and Phase 5 will begin, it's hard to predict exactly what will come next for Marvel Studios, especially with COVID-19 still wreaking havoc on theatrical release dates. Feige did recently reveal a fifth Avengers movie is coming "at some point" and if he's speaking publicly about that now, it could be a part of the five-to-six year plan he's referring to. Whatever happens and whenever it happens, it seems certain there are a lot of exciting things happening in the MCU in the years ahead.

Next: How Marvel Phase 4 Is Already Incorporating X-Men Into the MCU

Source: Collider