The Missing Movies of Marvel Studios Phase 4 and 5

Last Saturday, Marvel Studios took the stage in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 and promptly gave fans something they’ve been craving since Avengers: Endgame hit theaters earlier this year: the revelation of the entire Marvel Studios Phase 4 slate. Studio president Kevin Feige announced not only feature films for the next chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Disney+ event series as well with a packed slate of projects giving fans a lot to look forward to.

While the Phase 4 slate included a lot of exciting projects, such as Eternals and Black Widow, it was also missing some major films that most fans thought would make their way into the next chapter. A couple of those films — Captain Marvel 2 and Black Panther 2 — got a quick shout out by Feige as being in the works for Phase 5 while the Fantastic Four and the X-Men both also got mentions. There was also huge news about a Blade reboot, with the surprise announcement that Mahershala Ali has been cast in the role. But there were several surprising silences. What about another Avengers? Where’s Ant-Man 3?

Now that we’ve had a few days to let the excitement of Marvel’s Phase 4 announcement settle down –and get a little rest from all the adventures of San Diego Comic-Con — we’ve sat down and come up with a list of the movies that were missing from Marvel Studios Phase 4 announcement, as well as missing from suggestion that they’d be coming in Phase 5, that we really thought we’d hear something about. And, if we don’t list a movie you were hoping to hear about, be sure to let us know in the comments below.

Ant-Man 3

Ant-Man, released in 2015, was a success. Last year’s Ant-Man and The Wasp was also a success. Paul Rudd’s titular hero was a major player in Avengers: Endgame, being the hero to generally come up with the idea of the Time Heist that would ultimately bring back everyone lost to Thanos’ snap in Infinity War. It would seem like after all of this, we’d be getting a third round Ant-Man solo adventure (or, duo adventure since Wasp has come into her own), yet Ant-Man 3 wasn’t on the list of films announced by Feige and it wasn’t even mentioned during the Hall H presentation.

What gives? Well, generally speaking, a third Ant-Man film doesn’t appear to be a given. Last month, Rudd told Yahoo! that he didn’t know about a third film.

“I don’t know,” Rudd said about Ant-Man 3. “You need to make a call to the top brass and start a campaign to make it happen.”

If an Ant-Man 3 were to happen, there are likely quite a few interesting stories Marvel could tell. Now that we’ve gotten a real taste of what can be done with the Quantum Realm, there’s certainly so much more to explore. There’s also the matter of a now mostly grown-up Cassie Lang (Emma Fuhrman) who could be in a position to want to follow in her father’s footsteps and thus, open the door for a next generation of heroes. Sure, one can argue that Scott Lang’s story is complete, but there’s always room for Stature.

Spider-Man: Far From Home Sequel

Here’s a big one we really thought we’d hear something about: a sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home. Sure, the film hasn’t been in theaters for a full month just yet, but the latest Spider-Man adventure left things off with a huge status quo change for Peter Parker (Tom Holland). Sure, Spider-Man defeats Mysterio/Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) and heads home to start a relationship with MJ (Zendaya) but in a mid-credits scene, J. Jonah Jameson of TheDailyBugle.net broadcasts doctored footage that results in Beck not only incriminating Spider-Man for the London drone attack and his own death but reveals Spider-Man’s secret identity. That’s a pretty big cliffhanger, of sorts. Fans definitely want to know what happens next.

So why no announcement? In the specific case of the Spider-Man films, it’s possible that there is a movie in the works — potentially for Phase 5 rather than Phase 4 — but it’s one that won’t be announced by Marvel directly. It could be announced by Sony instead. While Marvel Studios produces the Spider-Man films in the MCU, the films are distributed by Sony as Sony still has the film rights for the Spider-Man character. The details of the Marvel/Sony agreement when it comes to Spider-Man’s place in the MCU at this point aren’t exactly clear, but it’s likely part of the reason we didn’t get a Phase 4 announcement or even a hint at Phase 5.

Avengers. Anything Avengers.

Yes, we know. Avengers: Endgame completed the Infinity Saga. The heroes won, but at significant sacrifice — Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) gave her life in order to secure the Soul Stone while Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) also gave all to save the entire universe. Captain America (Chris Evans) stayed in the past to live his life. The heroic MCU landscape was left forever altered. But Cap also passed the shield on to Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a gesture that implied that the Avengers would live on.

Yet, the closest thing we got to a next chapter for the Avengers was the announcement of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series coming up next fall. No mention of a Dark Avengers, a Young Avengers, an A-Force movie, or even Avengers vs. X-Men with that latter film admittedly being a significant stretch considering that the X-Men haven’t been introduced to the MCU yet, but we’re still all here for it. While there’s surely a future for the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, it wasn’t announced at San Diego Comic-Con, leaving fans wondering.

Nova

Here’s one we really thought we’d hear announced at San Diego Comic-Con: a Nova movie.

As fans started to look towards Phase 4 of the MCU, Nova was among the heroes that kept coming up as being introduced, especially with Iron Man, Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Black Widow all no longer in play. We were expecting Nova specifically because it’s a character that even Kevin Feige said had “immediate potential.”

“We love Nova, it would be cool,” Feige told ComicBook.com previously. That’s when we brought up a previous interview, we had with Feige where he revealed that Nova is on a board of characters that hold “immediate potential.” Feige confirmed that’s still the case, saying “Yes, still true. That’s still true.”

As for the reason he holds so much potential, Feige broke that down during our previous conversation.

“Nova is… if we have a big board with a bunch of characters that have more immediate potential, Nova is on that board,” Feige said. “Because of the connection to the Guardians universe, because there are more than one examples to pull from in the comics that are interesting. And you’re absolutely right, he was in the earliest drafts of the [Guardians of the Galaxy].”

Recently writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely revealed that Nova was actually considered for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as they figured out ideas for both films.

“I remember going through several scenarios of Nova,” Markus told THR. “Thanos could come and kill all the Nova Corps, except one guy. Richard Rider, who then becomes … I think in that scenario he became the herald, kind of like the Hulk was [in Infinity War when he crashed into the Sanctum Sanctorum]. Someone who could come out and tell people.”

Here’s to hoping we here about plans for Nova in Phase 5.

Namor

In Avengers: Endgame, there was a clever little moment early in the film when Black Widow is talking a few of the surviving heroes around the world and getting updates in which Okoye (Danai Gurira) reports that there was an earthquake that took place underwater, off the coast of Africa. When Black Widow asks how they were handling the situation, Okoye makes it clear: they’re handling it by leaving things well enough alone.

For fans of Marvel comics, that 100% sounds like a reference to Namor who doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with Wakanda. With Namor ruling Atlantis — which, you know, is under the sea — that earthquake might have been something definitely not of natural origin. It would make sense for Wakanda to want to have no part of it. Couple that possible nod with the success of DC’s Aquaman last year and it certainly seemed like the time might be right for the Submariner to get his big screen time to shine. Yet…nothing.

However, just because we didn’t get an announcement of a Namor movie doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing the character soon enough. Black Panther 2 is one of the films Feige directly referenced as being in the works, just not as a Phase 4 film. It’s entirely possible that Black Panther 2 may set the stage for a Namor film, introducing him to the MCU much as Captain America: Civil War introduced Black Panther.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeyein fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.