At Comic-Con last Saturday, Marvel Studios laid out their entire Phase 4 plan. The plan encompassed five series (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If…?, and Hawkeye) and five movies (Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder). However, Marvel plans things out much further than just two years, and they even proved that on state by announcing a new Blade movie for Phase 5.

Speaking to Kevin Feige after the panel, MTV’s Josh Horowitz asked what they have planned out. “We debated what we should announce today,” Feige said. "Should we announce 4 and 5? We've planned them out, we've got five years down the road and I was like, I think eleven projects in two years is plenty. Having not mentioned anything for two or three years.” He also said that the next Avengers team will be “very different team than we’ve seen before,” and will include characters we haven’t even met yet.

What’s interesting about the panel on Saturday is what wasn’t announced. There were no announcements for movies that we definitely know are in the pipeline like Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and Spider-Man 3. That’s not to mention Feige’s nod on stage to a Fantastic Four movie, so Phase 5 could be pretty well packed since you could get another six films out of it (including Blade) and still not have another Avengers movie in the mix.

I’m also curious to see how Marvel develops in the next several years. Endgame was a concrete ending, and while you can rely on characters people know like Thor and Doctor Strange, you also need to get people excite for Eternals and Shang-Chi. It’s a tricky balancing act, but I’m excited to see what happens in the MCU in the years ahead.

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Image via Marvel Studios
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Image via Marvel Studios