After ten years Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga has neatly wrapped up in the epic Avengers: Endgame. And for those of us who have spent the past decade eagerly viewing the 22-films in the franchise, you may be feeling bereft. But have no fear; there are tons of wicked Marvel films still to come.
If you’ve got the Endgame blues, here are five Marvel films (both inside the MCU, or based on Marvel comic books) you can look forward to.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Release date: 3 July, 2019
Technically this is the last part of MCU’s “Phase 3”. The second in the current reboot of Spider-Man will see Peter Parker having a lovely time on a school trip to Europe shortly after the events of Endgame. That is until he’s recruited by Nick Fury to team up with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to fight the Elementals (a bunch of humanoids who have power over nature). Sounds just like our summer holidays. And you don’t have long to wait for this one – as it comes out in July!
Dark Phoenix
Release date: 5 June, 2019
The 12th instalment in the sprawling X-Men film series, Dark Phoenix drops over summer. Set almost 10 years after X-Men: Apocalypse, this time we see the X-Men tackling more dangerous missions; but a botched assignment sees Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) lose control of her abilities, and chaos ensues when she releases the Dark Phoenix. We’ve seen part of this story before in 2006’s disappointing X-Men: The Last Stand, but when X-Men: Days of Future Past erased the events of the film director Simon Kinberg was keen to reboot the story, and keep it more faithful to the original The Dark Phoenix Saga plot.
And this time it looks like it could be done right! With Game of Thrones Sophie Turner in the lead role (her first lead in a film), and a stellar supporting cast including the always excellent Jessica Chastain, this one is going to be well worth a watch.
Additionally Fox’s Emma Watts has said this film will be the “perfect sendoff for our X-Men team,” which indicates that with the Disney acquisition of Fox there is scope for the X-Men characters to be absorbed into the MCU at some point in the future; so this film could be the end of an era, and the start of an exciting new chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The New Mutants
Release date: 3 April, 2020
The 13th instalment in the X-Men series will follow a group of five young mutants (the new mutants – geddit?) as they fight to escape the secret facility they’re being kept in. It features a predominantly new cast including Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams and Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton, meaning it feels like it could standalone amongst the other X-Men films. It was first going to be released in April 2018, but it’s been plagued with production problems and been pushed back several times. Now it’s due to hit cinemas in April next year, two years later than the original release date.
This addition to the X-Men franchise could be quite unusual, as director Josh Boone has confirmed that he wants it to be a “fully fledged horror movie” in the X-Men universe. Guess we’ll just have to wait until next April to see just how scary it is.
Shang-Chi
Release date: tbc
Marvel Studios have fast-tracked this one and it’s set to be their first superhero movie franchise with an Asian protagonist. They’ve not revealed many details yet, but it has been confirmed that David Callaham (The Expendables, Zombieland: Double Tap) is set to write it and Destin Daniel Cretton will be on directing duties. In the comic books Shang-Chi (or the “Master of Kung Fu”) is the son of Fu Manchu, an evil megalomaniac who tries several times to take over the world. Trained from an early age in martial arts, Shang-Chi initially believes that his father was a humanitarian, but later works out he’s not all he seems. Later on we see the hero teaming up with The Avengers, but we’re not sure yet which (if any!) of the existing storylines the film will follow. Guess we’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled over the next few months for more details.
The Eternals
Release date: tbc
In the comics, The Eternals are a group of genetically modified humans with super-powers. The film (no title just yet) will focus on the characters Ikaris and Sersi, the latter being played by Angelina Jolie. Kumail Nanjiani and Ma Dong-seok are also alleged to be among the cast, and we know that Chloé Zhao will be directing. Asides from this, we don’t know too much, other than filming starts in August 2019, so it could be a while until we see this one on the big screen.