When 2019 comes to an end, the landscape of the Doctor Strange - but none of them have been officially assigned dates.
Back in 2014, Marvel announced the entire Phase 3 slate in an unprecedented event. With the benefit of hindsight, this may have been a mistake; Kevin Feige has reflected that Captain Marvel, which frankly feel like "filler" movies rather than surefire hits. So a greater degree of long-term secrecy is likely going to become the norm for Marvel Studios going forward, with the House of Ideas carefully avoiding the same kind of mistakes.
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That doesn't mean it's impossible to say how 2019 will change the shape of the MCU, though. Kevin Feige is like a Chess grandmaster, always planning countless steps ahead, and by looking closely at his every comment it's possible to make general predictions and work out what Marvel Studios has in store. So here's what we know for sure is coming.
- This Page: Out With The Old...
- Next Page: ...In With The New
Many Major Avengers Will Be Gone
The most dramatic change, of course, is that at least three major MCU stars are expected to bow out in this year's Avengers: Endgame. The most high-profile departure will probably be Robert Downey, Jr., who's essentially served as franchise lead for the last decade's worth of superhero movies, but seems ready to move on. Meanwhile, Chris Evans has also indicated Endgame will be his last movie. When Thor: Ragnarok, and would likely agree to return if given the option, it's entirely possible Thor's story is about to come to an end.
Only three of the original Avengers look set to stick around after Avengers: Endgame. Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner originally signed up to six-picture deals. In the case of the Hulk, Marvel don't look as though they're ever going to make another dedicated a $15 million payday.
An End To The 11-Year Infinity Stone Story
Avengers: Endgame brings an end to a single overarching narrative that's been running through the last 11 years' worth of MCU movies. The first three phases of the MCU have been all about Thanos and the Infinity Stones. The Infinity Stones have been introduced one at a time, with Marvel usually choosing to dedicate at least one entire film to establishing the capabilities of each Stone. The Space Stone was featured in Doctor Strange. The exception was the Soul Stone, which was introduced late in the game in Avengers: Infinity War; although this has been described as the most dangerous of all the Infinity Stones, its true power has yet to be hinted at. Meanwhile, Thanos remained a shadowy figure in the background, manipulating cosmic affairs to his own inscrutable ends. Everything came to a head in the cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos succeeded in acquiring all six Infinity Stones and used them to erase half the life in the universe with a snap of his fingers.
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Avengers: Endgame is the end of that story. It will see the Avengers do everything in their power to either avert or undo the snap, and it's safe to say the heroes will win - albeit at a cost. It's impossible to say what this will mean for Thanos and the Infinity Stones, of course; will Thanos be killed attempting to stop the Avengers, or will he be forced to realize the foolishness of his goal in the face of new threats? Will the Infinity Stones remain in play, or will they be destroyed? Whatever the outcome may be, the story of Thanos and the Infinity Stones will come to an end.
Will Marvel choose to launch a new overarching narrative, with another threat taking Thanos' place? Or will the House of Ideas cool it a little, allowing their individual films to stand in isolation and giving their writers and directors a break from having to wrestle MacGuffins into their plots? Only time will tell.
Page 2 of 2: A New Wave Of Superheroes
A New Wave Of Diverse Superheroes
The OG Avengers may be leaving, but that doesn't mean the MCU will be bereft of superheroes. When the dust settles from Avengers: Endgame, it's safe to assume that every hero killed during Marvel's most powerful hero to date.
This is hardly a coincidence. Kevin Feige has openly itted that Marvel has learned important lessons from the success of DC's Wonder Woman and their own blockbuster hit, Black Panther. He's described Marvel as being explicit LGBTQ characters; Feige seems to have subtly hinted that Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie will be one prominent example.
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The MCU Will Become A Cinematic and TV Universe
Disney is currently working on a new streaming service, Disney Plus, that's intended to launch in late 2019. For Marvel, Disney Plus is an opportunity to completely transform the MCU by launching a series of six-to-eight-episode studio-budget TV shows, starring characters straight from the big screen. So far, there have been reports that these series will feature heroes and villains like Tom Hiddleston's Loki, Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, and Anthony Mackie's Falcon; they could even conceivably be used to introduce whole new characters into the MCU.
In theory, there's nothing new to the idea of TV shows set in the MCU; Marvel Television has been making them since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. launched back in 2013. The key difference here, however, is that these Disney Plus TV shows will be intimately bound to the movies. They'll feature the stars of the big screen, some of them will spin out of the movies, and others could even potentially set up some of the films as well. This is a radical change to the shape of the MCU.
A Possible End To Three Movies A Year
The MCU TV shows will probably come at a cost; it's highly likely that 2019 will be the last year with three MCU movies. The truth is that there's only so much content that even a studio like Marvel can produce and release in a single year without quality beginning to suffer. It's no coincidence that Marvel stopped their one-shot program back in 2014, just as they started planning an ambitious slate of films that would see them release three movies a year. The studio knew they were dangerously close to their limits, and Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito has explained that they've simply become too busy to sustain the one-shot program.
The live-action TV shows are a major strategic priority for Disney, and so the House of Mouse will definitely want them to be a regular feature - likely with one or two seasons dropping in every 12-month period. If Marvel is to pull that off, something will have to give; and, logically, the most sensible solution would be to reduce the number of films coming out each year to two rather than three. There are already signs that's going to be the case; Disney has booked just two dates for Marvel releases in 2020 (expected to be for The Eternals and Black Widow). It's reasonable to assume that 2021 will be similar, and that this will become the norm.
