Spider-Man: No Way Home tops upcoming Marvel releases

Tobey Maguire (left) and Andrew Garfield will be reprising their lead roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

After finishing Marvel’s newest Phase 4 addition What If?, we are left with even more possibilities and questions. The show explores the various ways in which the multiverse can impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each new episode asks a new “What if?” question, and then summarizes the outcome of that possibility, all the while showing us characters from our favorite movies in positions we’ve never seen before. The final episode “What If… the Watcher Broke His Oath?” could potentially be connected to some future films or shows, so it is a highly recommended watch. Here’s what’s to come next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The premiere of Eternals is first on the list. Set to be released in theaters on Nov. 5, Eternals will follow a hidden race of cosmic beings that have been on Earth for thousands of years called Eternals that resurface and band together to protect Earth from an army of evil cosmic beings called Deviants. Similar to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the movie will give us something we haven’t seen before, but the characters and events will play a bigger part in a subsequent film. 

On Nov. 24, Disney+ brings us its fourth live-action Marvel television series, introducing Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner reprises his role as Clint Barton; however, the show is not centered around him. Rather, it is centered around Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld. We will most likely see Barton become a mentor for Bishop when she falls into trouble with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who is rumored to return in the series given the end credit scene of the Black Widow movie. As of now, we don’t know much else about the premise of the series, but if it is similar to the other shows, we know it’ll be good. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to release the week before Christmas and could possibly be the most highly anticipated movie since Avenger’s Endgame. The first trailer. released a few weeks ago, gave us a glimpse as what we are in for with this movie. After the end credit scene of the last film, we knew that Spider-Man would have to deal with his identity being leaked. The trailer gives us even more, however. Jamie Foxx will be reprising his role as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Alred Molina will be reprising his role as Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2, and there is a very strong possibility that we will see both Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire return as Spider-Man. If so, it will be our first look at a live-action Spider-verse. In other words, this could be one of the best Marvel movies ever.

Spider-Man: No Way Home will be a hard act to follow, but on March 25, 2022, we will be gifted with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which has Benedict Cumberbatch returning in the lead role. Doctor Strange will also play a major role in the upcoming Spider-Man film, so this movie is most likely to be directly connected to the events of that film. It will also most likely be connected to the ending of WandaVision, in which we saw Wanda turn into the Scarlet Witch and read from the Darkhold. It is confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen will be reprising her role in this film, and it will probably be directly looking into the multiverse rather than having the characters adapt to it like the upcoming Spider-Man film. This film could also potentially be a top-five Marvel film ever.

The final film on our list is Thor: Love and Thunder, set for a May 6, 2022, release. Most of the cast has been announced, including Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman playing a female Thor. Chris Pratt will be introducing a new actor to the MCU, Christian Bale plays Gorr the God Butcher, and Russell Crowe plays Zeus. Director Taiki Watiti says Thor: Love and Thunder is akin to an Avengers 5 due to the large cast and variety of characters. We don’t know exactly what the premise of the movie will be, but from the cast and characters, we can make a few assumptions. It will most likely have something to do with the multiverse, but so will every movie in Marvel’s Phase 4. 

There are other announcements for films and shows, but we know very little about them. Those films include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (July 8, 2022), The Marvels (Nov. 11, 2022), Ms. Marvel (sometime in 2022 on Disney+),  and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, (Feb. 17, 2023). All of these dates are subject to change, however.