Post-Pandemic, Phase 4 of the Marvel Studio has been a lukewarm event so far. Out of all its Box Office releases, only Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings and Spiderman: No Way Home has enjoyed good ratings and box office success. Black Widow, Eternals, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder have all disappointed and divided the critics and fandom.
Clouds are darkening over Marvel Studio with their aimless direction and story-telling. Marvel needs to make a Big Splash. And it must make it soon.
Phase 4: a directionless event so far
Marvel has already released 6 movies and 7 TV series, since the commencement of Phase 4 in 2021. We are halfway through this Phase, and still, it is unclear where it all is heading to. In an interview with Total Film, Kevin Feige (Marvel’s head honcho) said this about the future of Phase 4 –
“I think there have been many clues already, that are at least apparent to me, of where this whole saga is going. But we’ll be a little more direct about that in the coming months, to set a plan, so audiences who want to see the bigger picture can see a tiny, tiny, tiny bit more of the roadmap.”
So when exactly is this “…in the coming months”?
It can safely be said that he is referring to the highly anticipated San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2022 and Disney’s D23 Expo 2022.
Marvel Studios at SDCC 2022
San Diego Comic-Con is an annual comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held in San Diego, California (U.S.) since 1970.
SDCC is set to begin from July 21, 2022, to July 24, 2022.
With DC and Warner Brothers not attending this year’s Comic Con, all the heads will be towards Marvel Studios and their panels.
Marvel Studios’ first panel will happen on Friday, July 22 from 11:45 AM – 1:15 PM PDT in Ballroom 20. This panel will cover all things animation. On Saturday, July 23 from 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM PDT, Marvel Studios will host its flagship Hall H panel, led by Kevin Feige as he is joined by as yet unconfirmed special guests.
Kevin Feige is expected to make some BIG announcements in this panel.
The likely BIG announcements
The biggest excitement that the fans have is the arrival of the first official tease of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Feige has already announced that in memory of the legacy of Chadwich Boseman, they will not recast the character of T’Challa. How the director Ryan Coogler handles a movie without its titular character in it while still being faithful to the character, remains to be seen. With the movie set to release on November 11, 2022, a tease for the movie or its characters (including Tenoch Huerta’s Namor) is evident.
Along with that, Feige is likely to make big announcements and reveals for, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Marvels. The projects like Deadpool 3, Blade, and Fantastic Four might also get a release date with announcements of their cast and directors.
Not only that, on the Disney+ side of things, Feige might likely enlighten about details of upcoming TV shows. These include – Marvel Zombies, Loki Season 2, What If…? season 2, Secret Invasion, X-Men ’97, and She-Hulk.
The road ahead for Kevin Feige
Disney’s D23 Expo is still scheduled for September, and it is unlikely Marvel will reveal everything up its sleeve beforehand. D23 will undoubtedly feature far more extensive announcements for the Disney+ side of the MCU. So SDCC is expected to lean more towards theatrical releases of MCU.
With already so much in the bag of Kevin Feige, expectations do not stop here. Fans are also eager for him to show the very famous slate for the next phase (Phase 5) of the MCU. Phase 4 has seen more misses than hits, but still, the movies and the TV shows have been a success at box office numbers. They were not as Marvel-level successful, but still a success.
Fans still trust and believe in Feige’s plan. Phase 4 is likely to conclude with the Fantastic Four. With a roadmap for the next phase, fans would likely get an idea of where it all is heading to. They will know of what the “Bigger Picture” of Marvel has been all along. More importantly, it will put an end to naysayer’s belief that Marvel has been nothing but a headless chicken so far – aimless and directionless.
It is high time that Kevin Feige connects the dots and reveals it to the fandom. Today, Marvel Studios is the industry’s biggest studio because of the continued trust, belief, and love of its fans since 2008. However challenging it might seem, they have to maintain this.
