With so many upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe projects there are almost as many TV shows and movies in development as have already been released. The MCU is one of the most successful film franchises of all time, with movies regularly breaking box office records around the world. But with so many different characters, teams, and now timelines to follow it can be hard to keep track of what is coming up next.
Before 2021, fans could reliably just keep an eye on the upcoming Marvel movies to stay in the loop. While there were occasional references to the events of the Marvel TV shows, they were rare and non-essential for following the MCU. However, with the introduction of WandaVision as its first Disney+ exclusive TV show, Marvel changed the game. As they de-canonized all previous Marvel TV shows from the MCU, cemented Sam Wilson as Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and birthed the multiverse in Loki, Disney made it abundantly clear that any upcoming Marvel TV shows would be required viewing.
As if following every MCU release wasn’t already complicated enough, there is still a question mark hanging over whether certain movies might be considered canon. Upcoming Marvel movies can be thought to include movies that are being produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment such as Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter. While these aren’t currently part of the MCU and won’t be included in the list below, some evidence shows that there will be a certain degree of crossover between the franchises. With that said, here is a comprehensive list of every upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and TV show.
Eternals - November 5, 2021
With so many films delayed from 2020 and early 2021 by the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter part of 2021 has become a busy release period for Marvel. The Eternals follows on from Avengers: Endgame and deals with the fallout of the sudden return of half of the planet’s population. The Eternals have lived in secret on Earth for 7,000 years vowing not to interfere in human affairs but are now reuniting to protect humanity from The Eternals’ rivals, the Deviants.
Directed by Chloé Zhao, who won awards for her work on Nomadland, The Eternals features a star-studded cast including Kumail Nanjiani, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie. Brian Tyree Henry will play Phastos, giving the MCU its first openly gay superhero after more than a decade of productions. The Eternals will introduce a whole new team of superheroes in a single movie, something that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has not attempted since Guardians of the Galaxy, as they usually introduce heroes one or two at a time.
Hawkeye – November 24, 2021
In 2021 Natasha Romanoff finally got her own standalone film in Black Widow. Late 2021 is giving a similar treatment to long-standing hero Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) in his upcoming Marvel TV series Hawkeye. As well as providing a focus on Barton, the Disney Plus show will introduce the MCU’s next sharpshooter, Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld.
Concept art from the series has given some hints as to what adventures Bishop and Barton will explore together, however, the bigger clue came in Black Widow’s post-credits scene. As she mourns Romanoff’s death, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova is approached by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who had previously been introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. While twisting the truth about Natasha’s death, Valentina gives Yelena a new target: Clint Barton.
Spider-Man: No Way Home - December 17, 2021
Tom Holland returns as the web-slinging superhero in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The second of Tom Holland’s standalone movies, Spider-Man: Far From Home, closed out Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and saw the character dealing with the loss of his pseudo-father figure, Tony Stark, after the events of Avengers: Endgame. This third outing for the New York hero follows on directly from that movie, in which the mid-credits scene showed Mysterio via J. Jonah Jameson revealing Peter Parker’s true identity to the world.
As well as being a sequel to the previous Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to pull together multiverse plotlines that have been established in the Disney Plus TV shows. After the creation of the multiverse in Loki, Benedict Cumberbatch appears as Doctor Strange in this movie as the MCU continues to set up Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. The multiverse aspects don’t stop there as it has been confirmed that several villains from earlier Spider-Man franchises will be appearing portrayed by their original actors: Green Goblin (Willem Defoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and Electro (Jamie Foxx). Unconfirmed rumors suggest that there may also be appearances from Rhys Ifan’s Lizard, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, and other Peter Parkers played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire.
Ms. Marvel – Early 2022
While the previous Disney+ shows all focused on fleshing out previously established characters, Ms. Marvel will be the first upcoming Marvel TV show to introduce an entirely new character in the starring role. In the comics, Kamala Kahn is a Pakistani-American teenager who gains superpowers after being exposed to Terrigen Mist and first appeared in 2013. While her character is tied to the Inhumans and viewers might anticipate a crossover with Marvel’s short-lived Inhumans TV show, it seems that the show is no longer part of the MCU canon, so such a crossover seems unlikely.
In the upcoming MCU adaptation of Kamala Khan, the character will be played by Iman Vellani and see her as a 16-year-old student in Jersey City. She’s a huge fan of superheroes, writing fan-fics about them, with a particular passion for Captain Marvel. Her life changes and the show gets going when she gains superpowers and can strive to be like her idols. Kamala Kahn is expected to return in the sequel to Captain Marvel, The Marvels.