With the Infinity Saga firmly in the rear-view mirror, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has entered a bold new era. Not only have several marquee names including Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff ridden off into the sunset, but the franchise is expanding onto Disney Plus at a rapid rate, with all sorts of new heroes set to either debut or pick up well-known mantles all across the entire film and television slate.
One of the defining themes of Phase Four is without a doubt the notion of legacy, with plenty of Phase One stalwarts either being replaced or moved back into supporting roles, and there’s a more than capable roster of replacements waiting in the wings to lead the MCU into the future. Unsurprisingly, Kevin Feige admitted in a new interview that Phase Four is all about new beginnings.
“You know the definition of phases often evolve with the phases and often I leave up to writers and journalists to decide, that’s for the film historians to tell us what the phases were about. Truthfully Phase Four was always about continuing in new ways and new beginnings, even with films that seemingly are concluding storylines there are new beginnings within them and that was what was most exciting to us about the opportunity to make shows for Disney Plus, about all of us at Marvel Studios choosing to continue past Endgame and past Far From Home and leaving the Infinity Saga behind to a new beginning.
That I think is what people will be looking at Phase Four, I hope, as having accomplished. But we’re in the middle of it now so it remains to be seen, we don’t take our foot off the gas, we don’t take anything for granted, and we all work extremely hard to deliver.”
Looking at the slate of upcoming projects, he may even be underselling it a little. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had already established Sam Wilson as the new Captain America, with Yelena Belova poised to become the latest iteration of Black Widow. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals will both introduce countless fresh faces into the mix before Spider-Man: No Way Home kicks open the multiverse, not to mention Kate Bishop and Kamala Khan debuting in Disney Plus’ Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel, respectively. And remember, that’s all happening before 2021 is out.
Looking further forward, we’ve got Moon Knight, She-Hulk and Ironheart coming to streaming, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dealing with the absence of Chadwick Boseman, as well as reboots for the Fantastic Four and Blade. There’s plenty of old favorites sticking around, but even more new toys for the MCU to play with.