Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are excited to learn more/anything about Phase 4 of the MCU, but Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has confirmed that major announcements won’t be arriving until after Avengers 4 hits theaters.


Since soaring to glory with Iron Man in 2008, the MCU has grown from a tiny acorn into the blockbusting goliath that it is today. With possibly the most expensive superhero movies ever coming in the forms of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, it may be difficult to picture what comes after Captain America and his many super-friends have toppled the Mad Titan Thanos. While the next two years of Marvel Studios movies are already sketched out, audiences shouldn’t expect to learn what comes after that until 2019 rolls around.


Speaking to Collider, Feige himself addressed the constant questions surrounding Phase 4 of the MCU and confirmed that audiences will have to wait until the “Infinity Saga” is done and dusted before they can find out anything else (sidenote: this isn’t the first time Feige has indicated that Phase 4 news won’t arrive until after Avengers 4 is released in theaters):

“It won’t be for a while. Our focus is on the next six movies. Finishing the first three phases, getting Untitled Avengers out into the world in May ‘19 before publicly focusing on anything else.”


Grilled on whether he knew what Marvel’s 2020 movies were, Feige confirmed that he did, and also interesting dropped hints that the near future of the MCU would likely explore another Doctor Strange installment.


Since the first Avengers movie back in 2012, the entire MCU has been building toward a showdown, so there are big questions about what comes next after Josh Brolin’s long-awaited stint as Thanos. There are obviously other huge storylines to tackle, but Thanos sticking on that bejeweled glove is about as big as Marvel comics get. Had that proposed Fox/Disney merger gone through, it was plausible that the X-Men would’ve played a large part in Phase 4 – but with talks having stalled, that possibility no longer appears to be on the table.


Not that there is anything wrong with the MCU’s current business model of solo features leading to big ensemble movies every couple of years, but Thor: Ragnarok is a prime example of how adding a few more famous Marvel faces can break the mould for the best. Apart from promises of a third Guardians of the Galaxy kicking off a more cosmic MCU, it’s still unknown if the MCU will even have more ‘phases’ after Avengers 4. However, so long as Marvel Studios and Disney keep their winning streak alive, the MCU itself won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.