Whoa, Marvel Already Revealed A Bunch Of Phase 6 Movies
Phase 5 isn't even here yet!
Marvel fans are going to have a lot to watch in the next few years. The ever-expanding franchise made one of its biggest announcements ever at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, revealing not only its jam-packed Phase 5 slate of movies and shows, but also three huge Phase 6 movies that will bring the dimension-hopping, reality-bending Multiverse Saga to a close. It already looks like Phase 6 is going to include some of Marvel’s most epic stories yet, and introduce some beloved superheroes and villains that comic-book fans have been waiting years to see join the MCU. Before you get lost in a multiverse of madness, let’s break down Marvel’s Phase 6 movies and shows, so you’ll know their release dates, which stars are in the casts, and how everything ties together.
The big Phase 6 announcement at Comic-Con was a total surprise for Marvel fans, since the franchise usually takes things one “Phase” at a time and Phase 4 hadn’t even concluded at that time. It’s clear Marvel is thinking of Phases 4 through 6 as a package entity, dubbing the collection of movies and shows “The Multiverse Saga.” After the studio unveiled its complete Phase 5 timeline, running through 2024, Marvel treated fans to the announcement of Phase 6’s three tentpole films: Fantastic Four, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Fantastic Four
Marvel’s First Family is finally joining the cinematic universe officially. Past adaptations of the superpowered foursome are infamous for flopping (twice), but fans have high expectations for the third iteration of the team on screen. Marvel actually first announced its Fantastic Four movie in a 2021 teaser a couple years after Disney obtained the rights to the characters in its 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which had previously blocked the MCU from bringing in the Fantastic Four and X-Men.
The first Fantastic Four hero was introduced in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where John Krasinski cameoed as a parallel universe’s Mr. Fantastic. However, the cast for Fantastic Four is still a total mystery, since Krasinski wasn’t introduced as the core MCU’s Mr. Fantastic, so there’s a possibility another actor could play the part. It seems pretty likely that Krasinski will be back, though. Other than him, the other three heroes are question marks. There have been plenty of fan-castings for Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing, but Marvel has yet to announce any official Fantastic Four cast members.
Fantastic Four will arrive in theaters on Nov. 8, 2024.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty
The Infinity Saga had Thanos as its big bad, and it’s starting to look like the Multiverse Saga’s main villain will be Kang the Conqueror. Kang was first introduced in the Loki Season 1 finale, played by Jonathan Majors. As with Krasinski’s Multiverse of Madness cameo as Mr. Fantastic, it’s not totally guaranteed that Majors will play the core universe’s version of Kang, since the Loki Kang was technically a variant, but it does seem very likely Majors will be returning as the big bad throughout Phases 5 and 6.
There are no details about what The Kang Dynasty will be about, but it will likely draw inspiration from the early 2000s Marvel Comics story arc of the same name. In those comics, Kang became the first Marvel villain to successfully take over the world without the use of mind control. The arc also heavily focused on Kang’s son Marcus, also known as the Scarlet Centurion, so the movie may introduce him as well.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be released on May 2, 2025.
Avengers: Secret Wars
Marvel is pulling out the big guns to wrap up the Multiverse Saga. Phase 6’s final movie will adapt one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic installments: Secret Wars. This was a massive comic-book crossover in which an all-powerful cosmic being known as the Beyonder transported the world’s most powerful heroes and villains to a battle planet to duke it out for the ultimate prize: all their wishes fulfilled by the Beyonder himself.
The cast for this movie is truly anyone’s guess, because basically every single major Marvel hero and villain is part of Secret Wars. That includes the X-Men, making this a clear opportunity for the MCU to finally introduce its versions of the iconic mutants.
The final fight will go down when Avengers: Secret Wars arrives in theaters on Nov. 7, 2025.
