Key Takeaways
- Marvel’s fifth phase of the MCU is focused on the next big bad, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, who will be the antagonist in upcoming projects.
- Marvel has a lineup of four animated Disney+ series, five Disney+ live-action series, and five films releasing in the next few years before the release of The Kang Dynasty in 2026.
- The upcoming live-action movies include Deadpool 3 with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman,Captain America: Brave New World featuring Anthony Mackie, Fantastic Four directed by Matt Shakman, Thunderbolts led by Florence Pugh, Blade starring Mahershala Ali, and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty with Jonathan Majors as the time-warping villain Kang.
When Marvel released Endgame in 2019, it brought an end to some of Earth’s mightiest heroes and served as a finale to the first few phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka the Infinity Saga. But the MCU didn’t end with Endgame.
As hard as it was to imagine an MCU without heroes like Iron Man and Captain America that we’ve come to love over the past decade of 20-plus blockbusters, Marvel has gone on to release 18 films, shows, and special projects since Endgame hit theaters. Which leads to a question that has dominated the MCU’s entire fourth phase: What’s next?
How to watch every Marvel movie and TV show in chronological order
The Marvel Cinematic Universe began with Iron Man, but it’s not the first film you should watch chronologically. Here is the official MCU timeline.
Fans have been waiting for the next big bad guy, who will force the Avengers to re-assemble. And in the fifth phase of the MCU, it’s shaping up to be Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror. He first appeared in Loki and has also turned up as the antagonist in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Marvel also confirmed the next Avengers film is called The Kang Dynasty. When Marvel first announced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, it included a roadmap of feature films and Disney+ series that led up to the next Avengers films.
Currently, Marvel has four animated Disney+ series, five Disney+ live-action series, and five films – all releasing over the next few years before we get to the Kang Dynasty in 2026. For reference, there have been 29 movies since the MCU began in 2008.
Every upcoming Marvel movie and TV show in the works
Here is everything you need to know about what’s next for the MCU.
We’ve split up this guide into live-action movies, live-action shows, animated shows, and specials. If you want the spoiler-free version of this guide, scroll to the bottom, where we’ve appended at-a-glance list versions that you can skim.
New live-action Marvel movies in the works
Below are all the confirmed live-action movies coming to the MCU over three years.
Deadpool 3 (Live-action movie)
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Deadpool 3
Release Date: July 26, 2024
Ryan Reynolds is returning for a third outing as Deadpool with Hugh Jackman set to reprise his role as Wolverine.
- Director
- Shawn Levy
- Writers
- Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux, Zeb Wells
- Starring
- Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Morena Baccarin
- Rating
- R
While most of the excitement with Disney’s purchase of Fox Films centered around potential future films for the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, it was easy to forget that Disney now owns the rated-R superhero Deadpool. Disney and Ryan Reynolds are reportedly working on the project. Bob’s Burgers writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin are penning a script that Ryan Reynolds is overseeing while Shawn Levy, who recently directed Reynolds in the film Free Guy has signed on to direct.
Of course, all of that is burying the lead, with Reynolds revealing that Hugh Jackman will be reprising his role as Wolverine for the third Deadpool film. The film will reportedly center around an injured Wolverine meeting up with Reynolds’ Deadpool before joining forces to take down a shared enemy. Recent rumors suggest that Owen Wilson will return as Mobius M. Mobius in this film as well, although that is unconfirmed. His inclusion could help explain Deadpool and Wolverine ending up in the MCU together.
Captain America: Brave New World (Live-action movie)
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Captain America: Brave New World
Release Date: February 14, 2025
Anthony Mackie is set to make his feature film debut as Captain America in the fourth solo Cap film.
- Director
- Julius Onah
- Writers
- Julius Onah, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson
- Starring
- Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Shira Haas
Marvel officially unveiled Captain America: New World Order at Comic-Con 2022.
Following the conclusion of the Disney+ TV series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, it was revealed that Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson will get his own big-screen adventure now that he’s the new Captain America. There’s no other word on who else could be returning for the film, but here’s hoping we get to see Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes team up with the new Cap again.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s showrunner, Malcolm Spellman, is penning the script and Julius Onah will serve as the Director.
Super-early rumors are pointing to the return of two villains, one of which is Daniel Bruhl’s Baron Zemo, who we last saw working with Sam and Bucky. The other is Red Skull, the villain that Chris Evan faced off with during WWII in Captain America: The First Avenger and was last played by Ross Marquand in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Hugo Weaving originally played the role.
Fantastic Four (Live-action movie)
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Fantastic Four
Release Date: May 2, 2025
One of Marvel’s most famous group of heroes will officially join the MCU with this film directed by WandaVision showrunner Matt Shakman.
- Director
- Matt Shakman
- Writers
- Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer
- Starring
- Pedro Pascal
The Fantastic Four have been some of the premiere comic characters for Marvel since their inception. All that success, however, hasn’t translated to the big screen yet, with three films produced since 2005, and none of them being particularly successful. That will likely all change with the next Fantastic Four film, as Marvel reacquired the rights to produce it and add the foursome to the MCU. We’ve recently seen John Krasinski portray an alternate-universe’s version of the group’s leader, Reed Richards in Multiverse of Madness. However, it seems that Marvel has decided on Pedro Pascal to play Richards full-time in the MCU.
Thunderbolts (Live-action movie)
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Thunderbolts
Release Date: July 25, 2025
With the Avengers gone, a new team of anti-heroes, led by Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, is called upon to save the day.
- Director
- Jake Schreier
- Writers
- Lee Sung Jin, Eric Pearson
- Starring
- Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Harrison Ford
Thunderbolts was announced at Comic-Con 2022, where it was revealed the film will be the final entry in Phase 5 of the MCU. This isn’t an Avengers film, but it will see a few of the recent anti-heroes Marvel has introduced joining forces — including Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, and Daniel Bruhl’s Baron Zemo under the guise of General Thunderbolt Ross. General Ross had been played by William Hurt in previous MCU films, but with Hurt recently passing away, the character has been recast with Harrison Ford.
Blade (Live-action movie)
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Blade
Release Date: November 7, 2025
Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is set to play Marvel’s most fearsome vampire hunter, Blade. The film is set to be one of the first MCU films to be rated R.
- Director
- Yann Demange
- Starring
- Mahershala Ali
- Writers
- Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Mahershala Ali
After winning an Oscar for Best Actor, Mahershala Ali set up a meeting with Marvel and let them know he wanted to play the vampire hunter Blade. Marvel Studios then announced his casting at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, and he “appeared” in one of the post-credit scenes from The Eternals where we could hear Ali’s voice speak to Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman.
The film, which was originally set to release in 2023, has been pushed back numerous times amid rumors around problems with the direction of the film. There’s now been a change in directors, with Bassam Tariq leaving and Yann Demange stepping into the role. Marvel is also bringing on Logan screenwriter Michael Green in hopes of fixing the script problems that have plagued the production so far.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (Live-action movie)
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Avengers: The Kang Dynasty
Release Date: May 1, 2026
The next Avengers film will see a new version of the superhero team form to take on the time-warping villain Kang. Michael Waldron, who helped write Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is writing the script.
- Writers
- Michael Waldron
- Starring
- Tom Holland, Brie Larson
Jonathan Majors was introduced as Kang in the first season of Loki, and it was instantly made clear that he was going to be a major villain in the future of the MCU.
As Kang explains in the season finale of Loki, he had discovered a way to travel between universes, effectively opening up the multiverse. Now one version of Kang managed to win out and set up the TVA so that no more Kangs would be created to threaten the multiverse. But that version of Kang is dead now which has led to much more nefarious versions of him showing up throughout Phase 5, beginning with Ant-Man: Quantumania, and presumably finishing here with the Avengers teaming up to take him down.
Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang, has had a significant amount of legal and personal trouble recently, so we could see Kang eventually being recast.
Avengers: Secret Wars (Live-action movie)
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Avengers: Secret Wars
Release Date: May 7, 2027
After the Kang Dynasty, another Avengers film is set to release a year later centered around a famous comic storyline that pits all the heroes against one another.
- Writers
- Michael Waldron
- Starring
- Tom Holland, Brie Larson
A second Avengers film will release one year after The Kang Dynasty. While we’re still very far out from the film being in theatres, the Secret Wars comic run sees heroes and villains of the MCU, including the X-Men, abducted by an entity known as the Beyonder and made to fight on a pieced-together planet known as Battleworld.
Armor Wars (Live-action movie)
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Armor Wars
Release Date: Unannounced
Don cheadle is set to reprise his role as Rhodey, or War Machine. He’ll be tasked with tracking down some of Tony Stark’s stolen tech.
- Writers
- Yassir Lester
- Starring
- Don Cheadle, Dominique Thorne
This live-action project is not a series as originally reported, but rather a feature film. It will star Don Cheadle as his MCU character, James Rhodes, aka War Machine, who deals with the fallout of his old friend’s technology falling into the wrong hands. The movie will be based on a popular run of the Iron Man comics, albeit with major differences, as Tony Stark is dead.
Armor Wars was conspicuously left out of a huge set of reveals Marvel made at Comic-Con 2022, but Yassir Lester, who’s writing the movie, assured fans it would still be coming out. Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart is also set to appear in the film.
New live-action Marvel shows in the works
Marvel has also confirmed plans for new live-action shows over three years.
Echo (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
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Echo
Release Date: January 10, 2024
Alaqua Fox and Vincent D’Onofrio will return as Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk after appearing in the Disney+ series Hawkeye.
- Creator
- Marion Dayre
- Director
- Catriona McKenzie
- Writers
- Marion Dayre
- Starring
- Alaqua Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, Cody Lightning, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon
- Number of episodes
- 5
Alaqua Cox will star as Maya Lopez, aka Echo, in a new Disney+ TV series after the character debuted in the Hawkeye series. In the comics, Maya or Echo is a gifted athlete and can copy any movements she sees. Charlie Cox is expected to appear as Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio will return as Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, for this series.
Ironheart (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
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Ironheart
Release Date: 2024
Dominique Thorne will get her own solo adventure after debuting in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
- Creator
- Chinaka Hodge
- Director
- Sam Bailey, Angela Barnes
- Writers
- Chinaka Hodge
- Starring
- Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Alden Ehrenreich
- Number of episodes
- 6
Dominique Thorne made her debut as Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before taking over the reins of her own Disney+ TV series. In Wakanda Forever, Riri is an MIT student who creates a technology capable of locating Vibranium before she sides with Wakanda with her own version of Tony Stark’s Ironman armour.
Alden Ehrenreich has been added to the cast, and is rumored to be play Zeke Stane, the son of Obidiah Stane from the first Iron Man film. He joins Anthony Ramos who is playing a character known as The Hood. Chinaka Hodge is currently the head writer for the series.
Daredevil: Born Again (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
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Daredevil: Born Again
Release Date: Summer 2024
Charlie Cox’s Daredevil will get his own MCU show after three seasons on Netflix. The show isn’t a direct continuation though.
- Showrunner
- Dario Scardapane
- Director
- Michael Cuesta (first episode)
- Writers
- Matt Corman, Chris Ord, Jill Blankenship, Grainne Godfree
- Starring
- Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Michael Gandolfini
- Number of episodes
- 18
Charlie Cox will reprise his role as Matt Murdock/Daredevil after playing the role on Netflix. This will be Cox’s fourth appearance in the MCU after popping up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Echo. It doesn’t appear the series will be a continuation of the Netflix series, as only Vincent D’Onofrio is slated to return for the new series reprising his role as Kingpin. Recently, Charlie Cox stated the series will not be season four of the Netflix series, implying that this is indeed a soft reboot of the character.
Agatha: Darkhold Diaries (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
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Agatha: The Darkhold Diaries
Release Date: Fall 2024
Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha is getting a solo show to flesh out the origins of the magic that powers the Scarlet Witch.
- Showrunner
- Jac Schaeffer
- Writers
- Jac Schaeffer
- Starring
- Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Patti LuPone
- Number of episodes
- 9
Kathryn Hahn will reprise her role as Agatha Harkness in her own series after she debuted as the villain in WandaVision.
The series was originally titled Agatha: Coven of Chaos, before undergoing a name change. It will hopefully shed more light on some of the dark magic she used in WandaVision as well as the history of witches in the MCU. Jac Schaeffer is serving as showrunner for the series after helping to create WandaVision. Aubrey Plaza has also been added to the series in an unannounced role.
Wonder Man (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
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Wonder Man
Release Date: Unannounced
Wonder Man is set to tell the story of a Hollywood actor who gets super powers. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi, is set to serve as showrunner.
- Showrunner
- Andrew Guest
- Director
- Destin Daniel Cretton, Stella Meghie, James Ponsoldt
- Writers
- Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest
- Starring
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ben Kingsley, Demetrius Grosse, Ed Harris
- Number of episodes
- 10
Shang Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton will helm this upcoming MCU series centered around a Hollywood stuntman named Simon Williams, who becomes the superhero known as Wonder Man. In the comics, Williams gains his powers from radiation poisoning at the hands of Baron Zemo. Marvel will likely go a different route for this origin story. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is set to star as Simon Williams, while Ed Harris is currently attached to play his agent, Neal Saroyan.
New animated Marvel shows in the works
Marvel has also confirmed animated shows in the works for Disney+.
What If…? Season 2 (Animated Disney+ TV series)
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What If…?
Release Date: December 22, 2023
Marvel’s show that loves to ask questions like, “What if Wanda had grown up watching musicals instead of sitcoms?,” will return for a second season just before the new year.
A second season of What If… is already in the works and Marvel has also already committed to the third season of the animated series. Jeffrey Wright will return to voice The Watcher, and we’d expect other voices from the MCU to appear as well. It’s been confirmed that Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter will again be featured this season, as well as episodes featuring Hela, Gamora, and Tony Stark.
X Men ’97 (Animated Disney+ TV series)
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X-Men ’97
Release Date: January 3, 2024
A continuation of the classic 90’s cartoon will hit Disney+ in early 2024
Beau Demayo will serve as executive producer and head writer for this new animated series that will pay homage to the famous 90’s series X-Men: The Animated Series. The series will be Marvel’s first adaptation of the X-Men since reacquiring the rights. It was announced at Comic-Con that the series has already been renewed for a second season.
Marvel Zombies (Animated Disney+ TV series)
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Marvel Zombies
Release Date: 2024
The MCU will get it’s own four-episode zombie spin-off show in 2024.
What if MCU, but The Walking Dead? This animated series will see Earth’s mightiest heroes confronted with a zombie apocalypse. Marvel revealed that the series will release in 2024, and most importantly be rated TV-MA. It’s set to have a four episode season and Brian Andrews will serve as executive producer.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year (Animated Disney+ TV series)
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Spider-Man: Freshman Year
Release Date: November 2, 2024
Spider-Man: Freshman Year is a prequel series that serves as the origin story for the MCU’s version of Peter Parker.
This animated series will see a young Peter Parker on his way to becoming Spider-Man. Jeff Trammel will serve as executive producer and head writer. Marvel revealed that Charlie Cox will voice his character Daredevil in the series at Comic-Con 2022. In addition, they revealed that the series has already been renewed for a second season.
Marvel Cinematic Universe post-credits scenes: All the easter eggs explained
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Spoiler-free: Upcoming Marvel movies and shows at a glance
Here’s everything we described above, broken down into three at-a-glance lists that are spoiler-free.
New live-action Marvel movies in the works
- Deadpool 3 – July 26, 2024
- Captain America: New World Order – February 14, 2025
- Fantastic Four – May 2, 2025
- Thunderbolts – July 25, 2025
- Blade – November 7, 2025
- Avengers: The Kang Dynasty – May 1, 2026
- Avengers: Secret Wars – May 7, 2027
- Armor Wars – Unannounced
New live-action Marvel shows in the works
- Echo – January 10, 2024 (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
- Ironheart – Fall 2023 (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
- Agatha: The Darkhold Diaries – 2024 (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
- Daredevil: Born Again – 2025 (Live-action Disney+ TV series)
New animated Marvel shows in the works
- What If…? Season 2 – December 22, 2023
- X Men ’97 – January 3, 2024
- Marvel Zombies – 2024
- Spider-Man: Freshman Year – November 2, 2024
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