It’s no secret that Marvel’s success with the MCU has been the meticulous planning of every single Phase of film releases.
Phase 1 had the introduction of Marvel heroes with the films, Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and ending with The Avengers (2012). This saw the team up and cross pollination of the whole of the MCU.
Phase 2 kicked off with Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and closed with Ant-Man (2015).
We are currently in Phase 3, and as of writing we have had Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (2017). Thor: Ragnarok is due out later in the year.
In an interview with the UK’s Complex, Nate Moore has dropped some hints at what’s to come in Phase 4.
“So we’re finishing up what we call Phase 3, which will sort of end with the fourth Avengers film in 2019. And then I think for us, we continue that conversation of, what’s next? Who will be the new heroes who can tell great new stories and bring us to new worlds that we haven’t even had a chance to visit yet, while still expanding on the slate of heroes we have and finding the next step for characters people have come to love? We’re looking for the next best story. And then we let the story tell us what we should be making as part of that one united narrative in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
Going further into detail he suggests that they may be taking suggestions from the fans and bringing fan-favourite characters into the MCU.
“At Marvel, the fans are at the forefront of our minds when we talk about development. What does our audience want and how do we give it to them in a way that’s unexpected? What do they want to see? What can we show them that they don’t know they want to see, but that we think they’ll really respond to? And a big part of that is plunging into new worlds with characters that offer a different flavor than what people are used to. Those are the stories that we want to explore.”
What this means is we can expect to see some characters that have yet to be seen in any form of Marvel film, be this Moon Knight (Fingers crossed), Namor The Sub-mariner to even a version of Nova, be that Richard Rider or Sam Alexander.
We only have until next year to start hearing rumblings of who may show up in Phase 4, so keep your ears to the ground.
Thor: Ragnarok hits Cinemas on October 27th, 2017, and Black Panther is released February 16th, 2018.
Source: Complex