The House of Heroes is about to get a whole lot bigger.
In the aftermath of the November 12th launch of its brand-new streaming service Disney+,
the Walt Disney Company has kept its momentum going by announcing future plans for its various
film branches - including its behemoth subsidiary Marvel Studios.
The company confirmed on Friday, November 15th release dates for five yet-untitled Marvel
movies scheduled to open between October 2022 and November 2023.
The Hollywood Reporter had the complete list of release dates: October 7, 2022; February
17, 2023; May 5, 2023; July 28, 2023, and November 3, 2023.
This plan pins Marvel as rolling out four films in 2022: two untitled Marvel projects
slated for February 18th and July 29th; Black Panther 2, which is coming on May 6, 2022;
and the newly announced mystery movie scheduled for an October 7th, 2022 debut.
It sets the studio up to release four movies in 2023 as well.
That outline matches up with what Walt Disney Studios chief creative officer and co-chairman
Alan Horn previously said about content plans for Marvel Studios.
Horn noted in an October 2019 interview with THR that Marvel Studios chief content officer
Kevin Feige would be making three or four Marvel movies per year.
Four years after the inception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008's Iron Man, and
after seeing how well director Joss Whedon's The Avengers performed both critically and
commercially, Disney increased production of Marvel movies to a consistent two per year.
By 2017, the Mouse House had put Marvel on a three-movies-per-year schedule.
That year saw the launches of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in May, Spider-Man: Homecoming
in July, and Thor: Ragnarok in November.
In 2018, Marvel released Black Panther on February 16, Avengers: Infinity War on April
27, and Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6.
This year saw the debuts of Captain Marvel in March, Avengers: Endgame in April, and
Spider-Man: Far From Home in July.
"See?
That wasn't so hard."
"Somebody get this stupid costume off me!"
What's interesting about Marvel's new plans is that the studio has seemingly learned from
its past decisions, playing even smarter this time around by spreading its upcoming films
out across the calendar year.
The successes of Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man:
Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok may have influenced the studio to stick with release dates around
those times moving forward.
It may also be seasonally motivated - scheduling movies for February, May, July, and October/November
ensures that Marvel has one big theatrical event in winter, spring, summer, and fall
- or a decision made to avoid over-saturating the market with Marvel content and potentially
causing "superhero fatigue."
With all that said, a mystery still lingers: What Marvel movies are going to fill these
newly announced release dates, plus the ones previously confirmed for 2022?
Being the stealthy studio it is, Marvel likely won't reveal what's coming in 2022 and 2023
for quite a while.
However, that doesn't mean there isn't enough information out there to do a bit of speculating.
The only Marvel film confirmed to arrive in 2022 is Black Panther 2, which will open on
May 6 of that year.
That leaves three other movies to slot into the February 18, July 29, and October 7 windows.
During Marvel's buzzy panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige sneakily
confirmed that Captain Marvel 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and another Fantastic
Four film were underway and would be arriving at some point in the future.
Those flicks may be a part of Phase 4, but they weren't included on the 2020 and 2021
Marvel movie slate - which accounts for Black Widow in May 2020, The Eternals in November
2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in February 2021, Doctor Strange in
the Multiverse of Madness in May 2021, Spider-Man 3 in July 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder
on November 5, 2021.
Now, it's entirely possible that the Captain Marvel sequel, James Gunn's third Guardians
of the Galaxy movie, and a Fantastic Four reboot are the three additional films lined
up for release in 2022 alongside Black Panther 2.
The first two projects are in development as of this writing, and with Disney's acquisition
of Fox in March 2019, the studio will undoubtedly want to fold its newly bought characters into
the fabric of the MCU.
On the other hand, it's also plausible that Peyton Reed's Ant-Man 3 or the Mahershala
Ali -led Blade reboot could be the fourth movie Marvel has slated for 2022.
Like Captain Marvel 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Ant-Man 3 and the new Blade
movie are officially in the works - while nothing official regarding a Fantastic Four
flick has been announced just yet.
Additionally, Captain Marvel will probably need a third flick after the sequel, as will
Black Panther and Doctor Strange.
Heck, Blade may even require a second and third follow-up flick depending on how well
the reboot is received.
These are all possible projects Marvel is cooking up and planning to get out into cinemas
in 2023.
At the end of the day, though, no one can say with complete certainty what new MCU installments
are coming throughout 2022 and 2023.
Marvel is clearly hoping to continue dominating the box office and remaining at the epicenter
of pop culture consciousness, and these five new mystery movies are just another boon in
a long list for the studio.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite MCU movies are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.