9 Details About Marvel’s Phase 4 You Probably Missed From SDCC
Marvel's evening presentation on July 20 was *the* Hall H panel of 2019's San Diego Comic-Con. Fans started milling about to line up Friday at 3 a.m. PT, with hundreds camping overnight to get decent seats. When the panel finally began in a room filled to capacity, the wave of excitement was breathtaking. It only swelled when Marvel president Kevin Feige announced he would be going through "all of Phase 4," aka the new slate of movies for 2020-2023. But these details about Marvel’s Phase 4 should not be lost in the excitement, as there's plenty for fans to unpack.
For those who spent the weekend under a rock, here's the full rundown of Phase 4 titles and their release dates as revealed at the 90-minute panel.
- Black Widow (May 1, 2020)
- The Falcon & The Winter Soldier (Fall 2020)
- The Eternals (Nov. 6, 2020)
- Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings (Feb. 12, 2021)
- WandaVision (Spring 2021)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 7, 2021)
- Loki (Spring 2021)
- What If…? (Summer 2021)
- Hawkeye (Fall 2021)
- Thor: Love & Thunder (Nov. 5, 2021)
- Blade (TBD 2022)
Here are all the most significant details you might have missed from the presentation.
01'Black Widow' Stars Three Kickass Women
The footage from Black Widow wasn't publicly released. But the trailer shows Scarlett Johansson has stiff fighting competition in her new film from both Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh .
02'The Eternals' Cast The Franchise's First Deaf Actor
Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Brian Henry Tyree, and Richard Madden dominated The Eternals. But the real news is Tony-nominee Lauren Ridloff, the first deaf actress cast as part of the MCU. Kevin Feige promised diversity, and this exceeded everyone's expectations.
03Simu Liu Willed 'Shang Chi' Into Existence
Simu Liu has been tweeting the MCU since 2014 asking where the Shang-Chi movie and Asian superhero representation is. They answered by casting him as the lead in Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings.
04'WandaVision' & 'Dr. Strange 2' Are Linked
Fans have questions about WandaVision, which is set post-Endgame landscape when Vision is dead. But the real puzzle is how the Scarlet Witch winds up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. How are these stories linked?
05'Thor: Love & Thunder' Will Have The First Open LGBTQ Character
The crowd roared when Natalie Portman took Mjölnir as Lady Thor. But the real surprise came when Tessa Thompson confirmed that as King of Asgard, her first order of business would be "looking for her queen." Valkyrie is officially out of the closet.
06'What If...' Will Keep The Original MCU Stars Busy
This show is an "alternate takes on reality" animated series. It's the perfect excuse to bring back stars like Mark Ruffalo, Michael P. Jordan, and Jeff Goldblum for encore performances of their MCU characters.
07Mahershala Ali Demanded To Star In 'Blade'
According to Feige, when Ali won his Oscar for Green Book, his first act wasn't to go to Disney World, it was to go to Marvel World and demand to star in a new Blade series. Feige didn't argue.
08Phase 4's Presentation Included 5 Disney+ TV Shows
Of the 10 titles revealed by Marvel president Kevin Feige, the real shock was five aren't movies. They're TV series, all launching on Disney+ in the next two years.
09This Is Only The First Half of Phase 4
With only five movies revealed, this is only the first half of Phase 4. There's two more years and five more films to go. As Feige noted he ran out of time to show the rest, but those films would be Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and (surprise surprise!) The Fantastic Four!
This article was originally published on
