Everything you need to know about Marvel Studios' Phase Five films and television shows • Repithwin News

Disney and Marvel Studios‘ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) began as a humble adaptation of Stan Lee’s Iron Man comics in 2008 – 15 years later, we’re now in Phase Five of a lucrative, multi-decade-long, six-phase juggernaut.

The release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022 marked the end of Phase Four, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania officially heralding The Multiverse Saga into its penultimate third.

While Marvel enthusiasts may have a keen understanding of how each character and media piece’s key storylines (and hidden Easter eggs) weave into the bigger picture, for others, it can be hard to understand without an intricately-drawn mind map – especially as now the canon envelopes both the big and small screens.

If you’ve got no idea what we’re talking about, don’t worry. We’re here to make it easy for you. Here’s everything you need to know about Marvel Studios’ Phase Five films, and television series, now that Phase Four is officially over.

CATCH UP ON WHAT YOU MISSED: What to know about Marvel Studios’ Phase Four films and TV shows

What is Phase Five?

The MCU is known for its delicately-woven plotlines, with big-name characters often making cameos in other films wherein they are not the titular character.

The laundry list of characters and different franchises within the MCU can get confusing at times, particularly when the events of one micro-franchise impacts another (à la Avengers and, well, everything else).

Marvel Studios has broken the MCU into phases, whereby each phase has a distinct overarching plot point that connects each media piece and facilitates the seamless progression to the next phase.

Phases One (2008 to 2012), Two (2013 to 2015) and Three (2016 to 2019) are collectively referred to as The Infinity Saga, which began with Iron Man (2008).

Phase Four marked the start of the post-Infinity Saga – The Multiverse Saga – which was completely new territory for longtime fans even with the original comic book source material to refer to.

Fans were introduced to a post-Thanos, post-Tony Stark, post-Steve Rogers world as Phase Four (2021 to 2022) dealt with the fallout of The Snap and its reverse, while also attempting to set up the MCU’s next big bad.

This meant starting to explain the multiverse to fans, including – especially – the consequences of tampering with time, alternate universes and dimensions.

Phase Five (2023 to 2024) expanded on this, starting with a bang as it truly introduced fans (beyond vague mentions or one-off scenes) to The Multiverse Saga’s ultimate villain – Kang the Conqueror – in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Marvel is known for doing things in threes – their films’ third acts are famous (and infamous) – and The Multiverse Saga’s third act, Phase Six (2024 to 2026), is set to conclude Kang’s grip on the overarching MCU storyline, but that doesn’t necessarily mean through defeat.

If the thought of keeping up with the (variant) Kangs is overwhelming, do not fear. Old favourites will see a return in Phase Five too.

Spoiler warning: The following sections may include spoilers for various films and TV shows. Read on at your own risk.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtJZRaauRzg/

Captain America: Brave New World

Not much is known about the fourth Captain America movie, except that Liv Tyler is finally coming back to the MCU – and that it’s now called Captain America: Brave New World instead of the original title, Captain America: New World Order.

That’s according to Anthony Mackie, who’s set to reprise his role as Sam Wilson/Captain America in the film. He wrote on Instagram, alongside a snap of him and Harrison Ford behind the scenes: “When Harrison Ford tells you how kicking ass should look, you listen! LoL… Thanks for the on set wisdom and laughs my friend!”

“Can’t wait to do it again… Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World in theatres May 3, 2024,” he concluded.

Tyler will reprise her role as cellular biologist Betty Ross, who is the now-President of the United States Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross’ (played by Ford) daughter and former girlfriend of (Edward Norton’s) Bruce Banner.

Danny Ramirez will also reprise his role as Joaquin Torres/Falcon, first seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Interestingly, Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky Barnes, is not currently on the cast list.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania

Released in February 2023, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania officially marked the start of Phase Five (if you don’t count The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special).

Paul Rudd returned as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, the petty-criminal-turned-Avenger who was stuck in the Quantum Realm for the duration of ‘the blip’. Evangeline Lilly returned as Hope van Dyne/Wasp, as did Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer as Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne respectively.

Kathryn Newton made her Marvel debut as Cassie Lang, replacing Emma Fuhrmann, and Jonathan Majors returned as Kang the Conqueror.

In the film, Scott, Hope, Cassie, Hank and Janet explore the Quantum Realm, and come face-to-face with Kang, who has a history with Janet. The mid-credits and post-credits scene reveal there are a plethora of Kang variants who are planning a multiversal uprising, all led by Immortus, which set up Loki Season 2.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

After all the behind-the-scenes chaos that was James Gunn’s reign as, ridding of and return to director and writer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was finally released in Australian cinemas in May 2023.

Set after Avengers: Endgame and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), how the film fits around Thor: Love and Thunder is actually still uncertain as it provides no time-specific details, but its premise hinges on Rocket’s past.

Chris Pratt returned as Peter Quill/Star-Lord with Karen Gillan reprising her role as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Dave Bautista as Drax and Sean Gunn as Kraglin.

Zoe Saldana is returned as Gamora, though not as we know her. The last we saw of Gamora was her time-travelled 2014 version in Avengers: Endgame, as the original we all came to love died in the events of Infinity War.

Will Poulter also made his Marvel debut in the film as Adam Warlock.

The Marvels

Captain Marvel 2 is now officially titled The Marvels and will be released in November 2023.

The previous sentence could be left at that, but in true Marvel fashion, pluralising ‘Marvels’ is a move that is anything but simple.

The Marvels is referring to Brie Larson‘s Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel and two others – Monica Rambeau, the daughter of Danvers’ friend Maria Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris, who got special powers from Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision; and Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, played by Iman Vellani, hailed by the ‘S’ in the logo, which is the same one as the ‘S’ in the Ms. Marvel logo.

Zawe Ashton — who is engaged to Tom Hiddleston (Loki) in real life — has been cast as Kree warrior Dar-Benn, and Samuel L. Jackson will be returning as Nick Fury.

Per the teaser trailer, The Marvels will focus on Carol, Monica and Kamala trying to figure out why their powers are entangled, which causes them to switch places with each other every time they use them.

Thunderbolts

While Sebastian Stan is not on the cast list for Captain America: New World Order, he is for Thunderbolts.

Set for release in July 2024, all we know is Harrison Ford is attached to the project as Thunderbolt Ross, as is Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster.

All current cast members are reprising their roles from previous MCU projects.

Blade

Briefly set up in 2021’s Eternals, Ebony Blade will appear in this film. As for who plays him, Mahershala Ali voiced the character in Eternals‘ post-credits scene, but his casting has not been confirmed for this film.

Similarly, Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harington appeared in that same post-credits scene, but it’s unknown as to if he’s appearing in this film.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Five television series

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, released in December 2022 and starring Kevin Bacon.Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Don Cheadle as James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes and Emilia Clarke as G’iah.Loki Season 2What If…? Season 2Ironheart, starring Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart and Anthony Ramos as Parker Robbins/The Hood.Echo, starring Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez/Echo, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, and Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil.Agatha: Coven of Chaos, a WandaVision spin-off starring Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness and Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu.Daredevil: Born Again, starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.

What to expect from Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Six

It’s a bit up in the air at the moment, considering Marvel Studios has built The Multiverse Saga around Jonathan Majors’ casting as Kang the Conqueror.

Majors, in March 2023, was arrested in New York City for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. As of April, he’s facing domestic violence charges. Majors has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and maintains his innocence.

Neither Marvel Studios nor Disney have commented on Majors’ arrest and subsequent charges, though in April, it emerged that Majors’ manager and publicist had dropped him as a client. Similarly, it was reported he would no longer be attending the Met Gala as a guest of Valentino.

What we do know about Phase Six is that the following films have been announced:

Deadpool 3, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who will reprise his role as Wolverine.Fantastic FourAvengers: The Kang Dynasty, starring Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror.Avengers: Secret Wars, starring Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror.

Fantastic Four

Marvel has teased a return of Fantastic Four for years, and now we know it’s set for release in February 2025. But that’s all we know.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see who they cast as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, considering Chris Evans (also known as Steve Rogers/Captain America of the Captain America/Avengers franchises) and Michael B. Jordan (also known as N’Jadaka/Erik ‘Killmonger’ Stevens of Black Panther) have previously played the role when Fantastic Four‘s rights were owned by Fox – and The Office‘s John Krasinski made a cameo as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Dr. Stephen Strange returned in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in Australia in May 2022, and it was directly set up by WandaVision – which saw Elizabeth Olsen‘s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch enslave a small town in a grief-induced rage – and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

https://twitter.com/primetimebrostv/status/1530961141089898497

Benedict Cumberbatch‘s second solo film saw him deal with the consequences of messing with the multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home, a concept first explained in the Loki television series.

In the film, Doctor Strange was arrested by Ultron-like robots – a creation of Tony Stark’s first seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron – and faced Professor Xavier (played by X-Men‘s Patrick Stewart) in a trial conducted by the Illuminati society, which is a secret governing body for superhumans that in the comics, includes Stark, Strange, Reed Richards.

Krasinski, Stewart and the wider Illuminati’s appearances weren’t the only interesting casting choices in Doctor Strange – Xochitl Gomez starred as America Chavez, who in the comics is known by her moniker Miss America as part of the Young Avengers.

While Marvel has not announced any plans for a Young Avengers movie or show, Phase Four was packed with its Easter eggs – Cassie Lang was recast in the lead up to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld, appeared in the Hawkeye series on Disney+.

Scarlet Witches’ twins, as seen in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, are also Young Avengers in the comic source material, and Patriot, also known as Eli Bradley, grandson of super-soldier Isaiah Bradley, made his MCU debut in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.

All News, Celebrities

Everything you need to know about Marvel Studios’ Phase Five films and television shows