Marvel Studios will start Phase 6 of the MCU in 2025 and with it some chances for completely fresh concepts for super hero movies.
It has been a rough time for Marvel Studios. For years it tried to recreate the hit movies and shows that led to Avengers: Endgame but failed most of the time – at least according to critics.
And to be honest, even when you ignore all the voices crying that Marvel “went broke after becoming woke” or shiver while making up stuff like Marvel planning on creating an female led “M-She-U", you have to admit that some of the last few installments in the franchise haven’t been that great.
Often it felt like the 5th phase of the MCU and especially the attempts to connect the plots of different movies and shows via the Multiverse went nowhere with the teams behind them unable to meet any expectations.
This ended in a chaos of cancelled or delayed ideas, movies being rewritten into shows and the other way around in the last year while a few completely new heroes and plots have also been announced – chaos.
Using these new concepts as fuel to our Quinjet to start with fresh and high hopes into 2025, let’s have a look at the upcoming movies and why we can’t wait for them.
Captain America: Brave New World - February 14, 2025
Following the happenings from The Falcon & the Winter Soldier, this will be the fourth Captain America movie but the first one led by Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie. After the Endgame of the Infinity War Steve Rogers handed his shield over to Wilson and with it the title of Cap. Struggling with it first, Wilson made up his mind in TFATWS, reviving Captain America by upgrading his former Falcon suit.
In Captain America: Brave New World Sam Wilson has to find out who is friend or foe when Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross becomes President of the USA and wants Captain America to be an official US military title. Formerly played by the late William Hurt, the role of Ross will be taken over by Harrison Ford who will not only be the US President but also turning into the Red Hulk. Created to be an uninhibited, tactically intelligent adversary to the Hulk in the comics, it seems like Ross becoming the carmine counterpart to the green giant is the next step of the government to recreate Bruce Banners transformation after She-Hulk's Abomination could be considered a failure.
How the confrontation between Captain America and the Red Hulk will end, we’ll have to wait until February 14 of 2025 to find out.
Thunderbolts* - May 2, 2025
The Thunderbolts* are like the dingy sibling of the Avengers. With characters that haven’t always been on the right side of history, the movie assembles a bunch of the most interesting and fun figures of the MCU. Under the direction of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and led by the Wintersoldier and White Wolf Bucky Barnes, the Thunderbolts* consist of Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova aka Black Widow, John "U.S. Agent" Walker, played by Wyatt Russel, David Harbour as the Red Guardian, Antman & the Wasp's Ghost played by Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and... Bob.
Even though fans of the comic books already figured out that Bob – played by Lewis Pullman – will probably be the Sentry, one of the most powerful characters of the Marvel comic book universe, Marvel Studios still tries to keep his identity a secret.
To really find out if Bob will already get his Sentry powers and the meaning behind the title’s asterisk – and also to see more of Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan (you can’t have enough Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan in your life) – you have to show up in movie theaters May 2 of 20205.
The Fantastic Four - July 25, 2025
Sometimes it feels like the Fantasic Four are the unloved child of the Marvel movie adaptations. With two movies in 2005 and 2007 featuring Jessica Alba and Chris Evans, a second try in 2015 with Michael B. Jordan and an unreleased movie from back in 1994, this will be the third or even fourth attempt to bring Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing to the big screen.
This time, four of Marvel’s most famous heroes will be played by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach and seemingly live in another universe of the MCU’s established multiverse. What we already saw from teasers and trailers lead to the assumption that the movie will go for more retro style visuals and have the F4 be confronted by the Silver Surfer and the planet-devouring Galactus.
How they will avert this vicious danger, if we will have the tidy-looking Pedro Pascal or the more grubby-looking Pedro Pascal and if we already will see Robert Downey Jr. In his new role as Victor Van Doom, can only be answered when the movie releases on July 25 of 2025.
Blade – TBD
According to Wesley Snipes’ Blade in Deadpool & The Wolverine “There's only ever gonna be one Blade” and to be honest, we’re still not totally sure if he might right in the end. The production of the new adaptation of the Daywalker’s crusade against the vampire world was more than turbulent. The movie lost multiple writers, producers and actors leading to the movie being delayed from its original 2023 launch date and now even being pulled from Marvel’s 2025 release calendar.
Right now we know basically nothing, not even if Blade will be played by Mahershala Ali who already played Cottonmouth in Netflix’ Luke Cage and was featured (well at least his voice was) in the post-credit scene of the Eternals.
What are your thoughts on these upcoming movies? Which one are you waiting the most for?
