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John Daniel Tangalin
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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.

For a while now, the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had not been revealed. The reason behind this is because the people up at Marvel wanted to remain quiet about the future of the franchise until sometime after the end of the Infinity Saga aka the first three Phases. Now that Spider-Man: Far From Home is out in theaters, Marvel Studios president/producer Kevin Feige and others from the Marvel company went to San Diego Comic-Con to make several mind-blowing announcements regarding their near-future slate of films. We went to SDCC to get all the exclusive news. Here’s an overview of what went down:

  • Black Widow (dir. Cate Shortland) – May 1, 2020

The film will take place right after the events of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and will reportedly include a cast of the following: David Harbour as Alexi Shostakov/ Red Guardian; Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova; O-T Fagbenle; Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff/ Iron Maiden; and Ray Winstone.

Taskmaster is confirmed to be the villain of the movie.

  • Eternals (dir. Chloe Zhao) – November 6, 2020

The film will feature Angelina Jolie in a lead role as Thena. Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) will play Ikaris and Lauren Ridloff will be the MCU’s first deaf hero, Makkari.

The cast will also include Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley) as Kingo, Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta, Child’s Play, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as Phastos, Salma Hayek (From Dusk Till Dawn) as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Ma Dong-seok (Train to Busan) as Gilgamesh.

https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/1152742417168076801

  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (dir. Destin Daniel Cretton) – February 12, 2021

The MCU’s first Asian-led film will include Simu Liu in the titular role with Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) in an undisclosed role and Tony Leung Chiu-wai as the real Mandarin, not to be confused with the fake villain with the same name from Iron Man 3.

https://twitter.com/UberKryptonian/status/1152745174029742082

  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (dir. Scott Derrickson) – May 7, 2021

Reportedly the MCU’s first scary film (as per Scott Derrickson, this sequel to the 2016 film will tie in with the Disney+ series WandaVision as it will feature Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/ Scarlet Witch.

Although the character Quentin Beck/ Mysterio lied to Peter Parker about the multiverse in this summer’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, it still exists. This has been teased in the first Doctor Strange film.

Nightmare is confirmed to be a villain in the film.

https://twitter.com/UberKryptonian/status/1152777653306429440

  • Thor: Love and Thunder (dir. Taika Waititi) – November 5, 2021

Natalie Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster, becoming the female Thor this time around.

https://twitter.com/marvelslarson/status/1152840919038734336

In addition, Tessa Thompson will return as Valkyrie, the new King of Asgard. At SDCC, the actress said the character’s bisexuality will be explored in the film.

Happy fans are in for a treat. This SDCC 2019 panel for Marvel revealed the birth of new stories moving forward, and this will surely be a day to remember.

While the five aforementioned films have been confirmed, Feige said that plans for other future projects are in the works but cannot be announced just yet because they apparently didn’t have enough time to talk about them. Here are films that are confirmed to be in development:

  • Black Panther sequel
  • Guardians of the Galaxy 3
  • Captain Marvel 2
  • The Fantastic Four
  • “Mutants”

Feige confirmed that Marvel has plans to include the Fantastic Four and X-Men-related characters in the near future, however…

The hugest news that Feige ended with was that Eric Brooks/ Blade the half-vampire vampire hunter will be a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Moonlight, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Alita: Battle Angel, True Detective) would play him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0KSnsClEys/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If vampires exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then perhaps that would mean that zombies may exist, but only time will tell.

https://twitter.com/Quilesillo/status/1152757938169233409

What are your thoughts? Are you excited? Let us know! As for now, Spider-Man: Far From Home is in theaters today. For more Marvel Cinematic Universe-related news and reviews, follow The Cinema Spot on Twitter (@TheCinemaSpot) and Instagram (@thecinemaspot_).

Sources: Marvel (Instagram and Twitter), Disney, DiscussingFilm, and The Cinema Spot

John Daniel Tangalin
+ posts

Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.

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John Daniel Tangalin

About John Daniel Tangalin

Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.

View all posts by John Daniel Tangalin →