Three years ago, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes defeated Thanos. With that victory, the Avengers put an end to their era as we knew them in the movies. And veterans like Iron Man, Captain America and Black Widow said goodbye to the group. But, in addition to having recorded the highest-grossing film in history, Marvel put an end to the Infinity Saga and the transition to the newly baptized began Multiverse Saga, officially presented last Saturday at the San Diego Comic Con. The master of ceremonies was the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, one of those in charge of deciding what happens now with the cinematic universe: what stories they want to tell, who their next protagonists will be and where they are going. Much of this mystery was resolved after an hour of announcements in which Feige made public Marvel Studios’ future projects for the next three years. In order not to get lost among these 40 premieres, we explain what the roadmap is in this new television stage of the Marvel Cinematographic Universe (UCM).
In order to try to make life less difficult for viewers, for a few years Marvel has grouped its productions into phases, ordered numerically. These, in turn, make up the great sagas, of which at the moment only two are known: the first, with Thanos as the great villain, was the Infinity Saga (2008-2019), which grouped the first three phases; while the Multiverse Saga (2021-2025), where they will have to defeat Kang the Conqueror, will go from phase four to six. The difference between the two lies mainly in the television products. Because? When the studio began this adventure they still did not have Disney+, which did not arrive until 2019. The company depended exclusively on its films on the big screen. The result was fewer projects divided over more years, more spaced out in time and with fewer secondary characters. This new era offers the opposite: phases that include more content in a shorter period of time.
The arrival of the platform streaming has blown up Marvel’s roadmap. Disney+ has opened up the opportunity to create many more projects that complement the films shown in theaters: series that introduce new characters and develop others that we have already seen in the films, so that their plots advance in parallel.
Feige himself has made it clear: “The truth is that when we did phase one, phase two and phase three, there were fewer projects for more years. They were smaller and more individual character stories (…) As phases four, five and six approached, there are more projects in fewer years because of all the incredible material that we are now allowed to do on Disney+, since obtaining Fox characters (Fantastic Four, Deadpool or the X-Men). And the feeling is that, after Avengers: infinity war and Avengers: Endgame“We think that the Avengers movies are no longer the icing on the cake,” he said at Comic Con to MTV News. However, this formation will return, although different from the original: “We are currently in the middle of the Multiverse Sagawhich will culminate in two Avengers movies,” Feige clarified.
Before, series were already made with Marvel characters – like Agents of SHIELD (2014-2020), which delves into the day-to-day life of the anti-terrorist intelligence agency led by Nick Fury, Samuel L. Jackson’s character—, but in the background that did not interfere with the plot of the films. Now the strategy is to produce its own series to develop the stories that remain outside the big screen, but that have greater importance in the saga.
Series as a link
Marvel Studios’ first series is Scarlet Witch and Vision (2021), in which everything that happens to this couple after Avengers: Endgame (2019). But, in addition to introducing new characters, it also serves as a prequel to pave the way for Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness (2022). Something similar happens with Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), that, after Endgamedelves into Falcon’s replacement as the new Captain America and the relationship of the duo of characters that gives its name to the series. And while they aren’t essential to enjoying the movies, they help Marvel pivot between them and paint a more complete perspective on its universe. The first season of Loki (2021) acts as a buttress to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) to justify the arrival of the multiverse, while telling the story of the God of Deception, also after the events of Endgame.
Thus, phase four fulfills the function of a letter of introduction for the new characters who are going to take over from the veterans, and who are and will be the protagonists of the 40 series and films that Marvel has scheduled for the Multiverse Saga. An example is the series of origins: hawk eye (2021), in which archer Kate Bishop comes into play; Moon Knight (2022), with a darker tone that is combined with black comedy, where the character of Oscar Isaac is introduced; Ms Marvel (2022), closer to the adolescent audience, with the house’s first Muslim superheroine; either She-Hulk, Lawyer Hulka (2022), the last series of the phase, which will bring us Hulk’s cousin, a lawyer who will intersperse the offices with her new life.
In phase five, which will arrive next year and run until spring 2024, things promise to get more serious. In addition to the five films scheduled, there will be six Marvel series that will have to defend the Disney+ schedule. The first, Secret Invasionwill be an adaptation of the eponymous story from the comics centered on Nick Fury, who will have to deal with the invasion of Earth by the Skrull – an alien and metamorphic race introduced in Captain Marvel (2019)—. will follow Echo, that will focus on Maya Lopez, the first Native American superheroine of the MCU presented in Hawkeye. And, since Echo is the adopted daughter of Kingpin, main villain of Daredevilcould be the starting point of Daredevil: Born Again another story taken directly from the comics that will arrive a year later. In the middle is the second season of Lokithe development of Riri Williams —which will be in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), a film that closes phase four—as the new Iron Man in Ironheartand the series of the witch Agatha, a secondary character of Scarlet Witch and Vision who earned the right to his own series.
For the 11 premieres scheduled in phase six – the last of the Multiverse Saga – only three films have been announced so far: The fantastic four, Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. If Marvel maintains its new formula, it is expected that, of the eight remaining dates, many will correspond to series for Disney+. The answer could come between September 9 and 11, when Disney organizes D23: its most important fan convention in the world. It will be when projects such as the galactic adventures of Eros and Pip, starring Harry Styles, still undated, will be marked on the calendar.
And given the aversion that may be generated in some viewers by considering seeing 40 productions in four years, Marvel proposes alternatives. Although it is not essential to see everything to enjoy many of the proposals separately, the company also offers series that can be consumed without being aware of continuity, a more relaxed way of approaching the MCU. The best options are What would happen if…?a series of self-contained animated chapters that explore what the Marvel universe would be like if events had transpired differently, and I am Grootfive stories also self-contained with the talking tree of the Guardians of the Galaxy as the protagonist. The options are served.
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