The behemoth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) certainly isn't slowing down any time soon. It's a phrase sure to make comic book movie naysayers cringe, but based on the latest from CinemaCon, it's all but guaranteed.
Speaking at Disney's keynote at the Las Vegas event, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that the company's management team is set to embark on retirement to work on the next 10 years of Marvel movies. It's unclear if this includes Marvel's recently announced Phase 4 projects like Blade and Fantastic 4, or if the Disney subsidiary is just laying out its Phase 5 plans.
Kevin Feige just said onstage that he's headed to a Marvel Studios retreat at CinemaCon to work on the next 10 years of MCU movies. pic.twitter.com/TKcs27Oj0gApril 27, 2022
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Either way, it's going to be a busy and exciting time for the MCU, its creators, and Marvel's global fanbase. But, with so many rich comedic stories to draw from over the past 83 years, what does the future hold for the MCU? Will we have new Avengers-style superhero team-up movies? Is the Multiverse, which we've already seen in Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, poised to play a bigger role in the future? Or does Marvel have something else in mind?
Marvel has a lot of options to explore, but here are four things I absolutely want to see in the next 10 years of Marvel movies.
1. Less interconnectivity
Marvel Studios has always intended to create an interconnected universe. The foundation for this was built in the MCU from the very beginning, with 2008's Iron Man post-credits scene laying the groundwork for multiple heroes and villains to crossover.
However, the first Avengers movie proved that bringing together a remarkable group of people wasn't just possible. Do you see what we did there? – but that there was a global audience demand for superhero movies of this kind. The subsequent Avengers movies, as well as the arrival of the Multiverse, which will be explored in more detail in Doctor Strange 2, have only added to the growing interconnectedness of the MCU.
The problem with going down this "everything is connected" path, though, is that it possibly prevents newcomers from fully immersing themselves in this franchise. With 27 movies and six Disney Plus shows (and counting) to catch up with, some would-be fans might even be put off becoming the next MCU super-fan. At this point, there is simply too much content to consume to catch up.
In my opinion, Marvel should take a cue from one of the MCU's best Phase 4 projects to date, Moon Knight, and dominate their shared universe. For a while, at least. Let your superhero movies and TV series stand alone. Tell stand-alone stories so that anyone, even the least likely Marvel fan, can watch a six-episode TV show or two-hour movie, knowing they don't need to know more about previous plot points or characters and enjoy it. So it is. it is.
Of course, there will come a time when bringing superheroes together to stop a larger multiversal threat, we're looking at you, Kang, will be necessary. However, in the future, less is more. Make standalone movies that aren't related to previous or concurrent movies, and you'll likely attract new (and more) Marvel fans. And hey, if newcomers like what they're seeing and want to see more MCU content, they've got plenty of productions to catch up on. Win-win, in my opinion.
2. Move away from the traditional movie trilogy format
(*two*)
Thor is the only superhero to have had four stand-alone movies thus far. (Image credit: Marvel Studios)The film trilogy format is something that has become entrenched in Hollywood cinema in recent decades. Star Wars, the MCU, the DCEU, and many other franchises have been using such a plan for many years, but with varying levels of success.
But now it's time to move away from this overused and somewhat outdated formula, and oddly enough, Marvel has shown that it's already ready to do just that.
We've had four Avengers movies. Once Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in July, Chris Hemsworth's God of Thunder will have had a character arc spanning four movies. The Captain America franchise, albeit with a new cap in Anthony Mackie's Falcon/Sam Wilson, is also getting a fourth movie. So there's a precedent for Marvel slowly moving away from the traditional movie trilogy format. And that's something I'd like the studio to investigate further.
Marvel also doesn't need to start creating quadlogies instead of trilogies now. If the next entry in the Black Panther series, Wakanda Forever, fills in a lot of character arcs for its main cast, stop at two and make it a Black Panther duology. If the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise continues beyond Volume 3, possibly with new programming, why not make two more movies (if that's all it takes to complete its MCU journey) instead of three? Heck, Eternals is one of the worst-performing Marvel movies of all time, so while it clearly set events up for a potential sequel, leave it as a single movie (which didn't resonate with audiences) and move on.
Not every Marvel movie series needs a three-movie arc, meaning a beginning, a middle, and an end. Some need to tell their stories in many movies, while others don't. Hoping Marvel notices.
3. Introduces the X-Men
We all know they're coming - there have been plenty of references to them in the MCU so far, including Falcon and the Winter Solider and Moon Knight (Scarlet Witch is the most obvious nod to this group, given her ties to Magneto in the comics). Outside of the Fantastic Four, they are arguably the most in-demand superhero group among Marvel fans as the next big addition to the MCU.
So Marvel introduces the X-Men sometime in the next decade. We're already getting a Deadpool movie in the MCU, and we know we're getting a multiverse variant of Professor X in Doctor Strange 2. We're even getting a follow-up series to the original X-Men animated series at Disney. Also in the near future as well. .
All the signs are there to incorporate them into your profitable franchise. And honestly, we're tired of wondering when Wolverine and company will show up. So on behalf of all the Marvel fans out there, bring them into the MCU. And do it as soon as possible, okay?
(*10*)4. Use Disney Plus programs in your favor
While a movie might make sense for iconic and beloved Marvel characters/teams like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Blade, it arguably gets harder to introduce new superheroes into their own standalone MCU movie.
Granted, Shang-Chi proved that it was possible, but as we mentioned before, Eternals was considered a waste by many fans and critics. Unless a new character is introduced as part of an established character's film franchise (think Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War or America Chavez in the upcoming Doctor Strange 2), the increasingly complex nature of the MCU may make it impossible to introduce superheroes in their own movie
This is where Disney Plus comes in handy. Disney's streaming platform has already helped Marvel introduce several new characters in lead or supporting roles, including Moon Knight, Hawkeye's Kate Bishop, and Sylvie/Enchantress in Loki.
With shows like Ms Marvel, Secret Invasion, and She-Hulk set to introduce new superheroes to the MCU ahead of their possible appearances in the MCU movies, Marvel is already using Disney Plus the right way. Introducing new starters across a six-episode series also provides an opportunity to further develop the characters before they hit the big screen.
And it is a trend that must continue. Marvel can certainly benefit from introducing audiences to new characters, like Ironheart in Wakanda Forever, in their movies before getting a standalone TV series on Disney Plus. But Marvel movies can also benefit from their Disney Plus cousins; one example is Ms. Marvel's co-starring role in The Marvels, which hits theaters eight months after Ms. Marvel's live-action debut in her own Disney Plus series.
Marvel may be planning the next 10 years of Marvel movies, but you can be sure that it will factor its list of Disney Plus shows, announced or unannounced, into its thinking as well. Taking advantage of its small-screen offerings will go a long way toward bringing new characters into the fray, even if it's standalone entries like Moon Knight, and further enriching the MCU as a result.
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