2022
2022 is where things to get incredibly difficult to predict and calculate and things get incredibly crowded. You can’t leave a billion-dollar property like “Captain Marvel” dormant for too long so, it needs to come up, as mentioned, ‘Spider-Man 3,’ could slide a year, ‘Guardians 3’ is ready and “Deadpool” has been sitting on the shelf for far too long.
February 18, 2022 – “Black Panther 2” (not confirmed)
Originally, Marvel released “Black Panther” in February of 2018, it was a relatively empty season at the time and the movie did gangbusters. And maybe if it’s not broken, don’t fix that release date strategy. Ryan Coogler is coming back to direct “Black Panther 2” and the cast will be relatively the same, though it’s unclear if Lupita Nyong’o will stay part of the story—she’s been absent from all Wakandian appearances since ‘BP1.’ Who’s the villain? Well, as the Russos sort of inadvertently revealed this AM, that undersea earthquake that Okoye mentions in “Avengers: Endgame?” Well, that could be Atlanteans and Namor (they seemingly confirmed at least the existence of the character in that interview). Namor has always begun as a villain in the Marvel Comics universe and then turned a reluctant good guy, but he’s always morally grey, complicated and self-interest in Atlanteans and his people over earth dwellers. He’s a complicated character and you can bet if he’s not the villain of “Black Panther” he will eventually be introduced as the villain of some kind of MCU movie (and then he’ll switch sides to fight an even greater foe, that’s how these things go down).
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1050498049309470720
May 6, 2022 – “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” (not confirmed, but very likely)
James Gunn is a busy man. Once fired from the ‘Guardians’ franchise, the writer/director is back. But he has “The Suicide Squad” to contend with, and that movie does not come out until 2021, so the earliest a ‘Guardians’ film can arrive is 2022. Given “Guardians 3” is suggested to be a kind of ‘Avengers’-like goodbye where some of the characters are put to bed for a while (or permanently), you can bet Marvel will want to slot the adventure in the prime summer slot of 2022. The plot? Probably the search for Gamora who went missing at the end of “Avengers: Endgame.” Rumors suggest cosmic characters like Nova and Adam Warlock will be introduced into the movie as well. Could they cross over with the ‘Eternals?’ Likely not, Gunn will want the ‘Guardians’ to have their due, but don’t be surprised if some seeds are sown for a Guardians/Eternals crossover beyond that. But Gunn has hinted at a goodbye and some kind of ending so this movie might be the smaller-version of ‘Endgame’ for 2022 and like that ‘Avengers’ movies, set the stage for a new team and new era of ‘Guardians’ movies.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1106620966090600450
July 29, 2022 – “Captain Marvel 2” (not confirmed)
It’s hard to see a scenario—given all the logical guesses above—how a “Captain Marvel” sequel can arrive any earlier than this, but it’ll have been three years from the original “Captain Marvel” movie and you don’t want to leave a billion-dollar property idling like that. Do the same writer/directors come back? Unknown. And we have a hunch those indie directors would like to move back to their indie bread and butter, but we could be wrong. Brie Larson will return, but that’s all we know. About the only thing you can guess is that Captain Marvel is so extremely powerful, she’s going to need to face a gigantic cosmic threat to make those movie stakes worthwhile.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1113514141740716032
Fall 2022?
Does Marvel start making four films a year in 2021 or 2022 or is it a case by case scenario? Maybe something could go here, but currently, no placeholder date exists so this is pure open speculation on our part. “Ant-Man & The Wasp 3” maybe? There’s talk of “Black Knight” coming too, but we suspect that’s more into the Phase 5 or late Phase 4 end of things at the earliest along with characters like Namor and Captain Britain who have been teased as well. Could “Blade” or “Fantastic Four” be ready by then?
