Marvel Phase 6: new MCU movies and Disney Plus shows, plus confirmed release dates
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Marvel Phase 6 is still 12 months away from starting to bring the comic titan's Multiverse Saga to a close, but recent movement on the development front has sparked plenty of online discussions.
With Marvel firing Kang actor Jonathan Majors in December 2023 over numerous assault allegations, the studio has diverged somewhat from its original plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) sixth phase. Indeed, not only has Marvel brought back the Russo brothers to helm the next two Avengers movies, which are expected to wrap the Multiverse Saga, but it's also cast Robert Downey Jr as none other than Doctor Doom. That's right, one of Marvel's most iconic villains has replaced Kang as the Multiverse Saga's central antagonist – oh, and Avengers 5, previously known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, has been renamed Avengers: Doomsday. Hey, we warned you that Marvel had significantly altered its plan.
To catch you up on the latest news and rumors following those announcements, plus the rest of the Marvel Phase 6 slate, we've *ahem* assembled this guide. So, without further ado, here are all the new MCU films and Disney Plus shows that'll arrive from July 2025 onwards.
Marvel Phase 6: the full list
Here's a brief rundown of every Marvel Phase 6 movie and TV show that's confirmed to be in development, plus any known release dates:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025)
Blade (November 7, 2025)
Avengers: Doomsday (May 1, 2026)
Avengers: Secret Wars (May 7, 2027)
Armor Wars (TBC)
Marvel Zombies (TBC)
Spider-Man 4 (TBC)
Untitled Vision TV series (TBC)
What If...? season 3 (TBC)
Wonder Man (TBC)
X-Men 97 season 2 (TBC)
Marvel Phase 6 movies
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Release date: July 25, 2025
Director: Matt Shakman
Expected cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Natasha Lyonne, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson, Paul Walter Hauser, and John Malkovich
After months of intense speculation, Marvel revealed The Fantastic Four's new title, revised release date, and primary cast – Pascal (Mr. Fantastic), Kirby (The Invisible Woman), Quinn (The Human Torch), and Moss-Bachrach (The Thing) – in February. In June, Marvel chief Kevin Feige confirmed it would start filming in late July and be a period piece set in an alternate universe – the latter already suspected by fans after Marvel teased some key story details earlier this year.
As for the supporting cast, Deadline all but confirmed that Garner will play a gender-swapped Silver Surfer and Hauser had signed on for an undisclosed role. Marvel has also reportedly hired The Office UK's Ineson to voice Galactus and drafted Malkovich in a mystery role. Lyonne is said to have joined The Fantastic Four: First Steps' cast as well.
Speaking of that First Steps subtitle, it was revealed as a new addition to the movie's title in late July – one of nine huge Comic-Con 2024 announcements that wowed us. For more details about the flick, read our dedicated hub on The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Blade
Release date: November 7, 2025
Director: TBC
Expected cast: Mahershala Ali and Mia Goth
After his off-screen Eternals cameo, the vampiric anti-hero known as Blade is still expected to get an R-rated MCU movie. With so many issues affecting its development over the past five years, nobody really knows what's going on with Marvel's Blade movie, but Marvel President Kevin Feige recently told ComicBookMovie.com that its creative team hopes to crack the case (not vampire skulls) relatively soon. Elaborating further in a conversation with Blavity TV, Feige said he was "feeling good" about the film's latest screenplay, too.
Whenever it starts shooting, Mahershala Ali will star as the titular vampire hunter. Goth was heavily rumored to be playing Blade's lead villain and, since those reports emerged, she's confirmed she'll feature (per Deadline). Don't expect Kit Harington's Black Knight (last seen in Eternals) or Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight to cameo, though.
Avengers: Doomsday
Release date: May 1, 2026
Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
Expected cast: Robert Downey Jr, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach
The film formerly known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has been renamed Avengers: Doomsday and MCU icon Downey Jr, who played Iron Man between 2008 and 2019, will return to portray Doctor Doom, one of Marvel's most popular adversaries.
The Russo brothers, who directed massively successful films including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, were said to be making a shock return to the MCU just days before Comic-Con 2024. And, at Marvel's Hall H panel, they were confirmed to be directing their fifth and sixth MCU movies (the latter will be Avengers: Secret Wars). Their return comes eight months after previous director Daniel Destin Cretton walked away from Avengers 5, and a few weeks after Deadpool and Wolverine's Shawn Levy was reportedly tapped to helm Doomsday instead.
Avengers 5 was expected to begin shooting in January 2025 without The Fantastic Four's involvement but, given Doctor Doom's ties to Marvel's First Family, the film's story was altered to involve them. Christopher McFeely – the screenwriter who penned several money-spinning MCU films – has replaced Michael Waldron as the Marvel Phase 6 film's scribe, so other changes are sure to happen with its story, too.
Avengers: Secret Wars
Release date: May 7, 2027
Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
Expected cast: Robert Downey Jr, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach
The sixth Avengers movie's title hasn't changed since it was announced at Comic-Con 2019. But, like its forebear, its script will presumably undergo revisions in light of its narrative swerve away from Kang and towards Doctor Doom. We're not sure if it'll be filmed back-to-back with Doomsday, either.
What we do know is that, as confirmed by Feige at Comic-Con 2024 (per reporter Erik Davis), The Fantastic Four will also feature heavily in Secret Wars, as will Doctor Doom. It's unclear which other MCU heroes and/or Marvel legacy characters will show up, but Feige has also told fans (per io9) not to expect every superhero to appear in the next two Avengers films. According to Film Music Reporter, Alan Silvestri, who wrote the original score for Infinity War and Endgame, is also onboard to compose both projects' music.
Armor Wars
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Expected cast: Don Cheadle
Originally billed as a TV show, Armor Wars has been retooled as a movie, with Yassir Lester (Black Monday) writing the script. MCU fansite NexusPointNews claims filming will begin in January 2025, but no director is in place as of August 2024, so that start date may be optimistic.
As for what we previously learned about its plot: the film will follow Cheadle's James 'Rhodey' Rhodes/War Machine as he pursues criminals who have acquired some old Tony Stark-developed technology, and should pick up events from Secret Invasion's finale, given what we learned about Rhodey (or what fans have fiercely debated about him, anyway) in that series. MCU leaker Alex Perez also suggests Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer might appear in the MCU for the first time since 2010's Iron Man 2.
Spider-Man 4
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Expected cast: Tom Holland
A fourth Spider-Man MCU movie is in early development, with Tom Holland expected to return as the titular hero. No writer or director is officially attached to the project yet, but Feige told io9 that he's expecting a draft to be submitted from its unannounced writing team very soon. Jon Watts, who helmed Spidey's first three solo MCU films, isn't directing the Marvel Phase 6 movie, either; Feige told CinemaBlend they'll look for someone else due to Watts' busy schedule.
Spider-Man 4 was said to start filming much sooner than expected because of delays on Euphoria season 3 (which Zendaya, who plays MJ in the MCU, stars in). As of late April, though, Holland told Deadline the script is still being worked on. Now Euphoria season 3 is set to start shooting in January 2025 that could present scheduling issues if principal photography on Spider-Man 4 begins around the same time. Of course, there won't be problems if Zendaya's MJ doesn't return, so we'll wait and see if she does before jumping to conclusions.
Marvel Phase 6 TV shows
Marvel Zombies
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Main cast: Iman Vellani
A spin-off of What If...?, Marvel Zombies will pick up after season 1 episode 5 – aka 'What If... Zombies!?' – and comprises four episodes. It'll be rated TV-MA in the US (18-plus in the UK and Australia), according to Marvel's Head of TV and Streaming Brad Winderbaum (per IGN).
Zombies will see the MCU's newer heroes battle the ever-growing zombie superhero threat, with Shang-Chi, Ms Marvel, Kate Bishop, Yelena Belova, and Red Guardian reportedly among the dwindling superhero roster. Iman Vellani, who plays Ms Marvel in the MCU, says her character is "kind of the center of the show" (per The Direct). Rumors suggest we'll see a zombified version of Ikaris but, given the Eternals are human-robot hybrids, it'll be interesting to see how the infection affects him. Other supposed zombified heroes include Captain Marvel, Okoye, Ghost, Abomination, and Hawkeye.
Expect to hear more details about this Marvel Phase 6 project at D23 Expo 2024, which runs August 9 to 11. Marvel has confirmed it'll provide updates on the forthcoming TV line-up for Disney Plus, aka one of the world's best streaming services, at the event.
Untitled Vision TV show
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Expected cast: Paul Bettany
Marvel took its time to officially announce this project, with Feige confirming (per Inverse) the existence of a second WandaVision spin-off that's expected to arrive on Disney Plus in 2026.
Written by Star Trek: Picard season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas, it'll reportedly star Paul Bettany as White Vision, the revived, persona-less synthezoid body of the deceased Vision (he died in Avengers: Infinity War), who flew off for parts unknown in the season finale of WandaVision, aka one of the best Disney Plus shows.
No other details are known, but it could be inspired by Marvel's 'Vision Quest' comic book series. MCU insider Daniel RPK (via the Scarlet Witch News X/Twitter fan account) claims it'll be a limited series, too.
What If...? season 3
Release date: TBC
Director: Bryan Andrews
Main cast: TBC
Revealed in January via a sneak peek video (see above), a third season of the anthology series What If...? will be released at some point. Little is known about its next batch of episodes, but the teaser confirmed one episode will be a comedy road-trip story starring Red Guardian and The Winter Soldier. Official images posted on Marvel's X/Twitter account also suggest we'll see an episode with Anthony Mackie's Captain America and Teynoah Parris' Monica Rambeau, who'll pilot giant mechs for some reason.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Winderbaum claimed What If...? season 3 might be the next animated project to be released. Elaborating further on what to expect from its next chapter on the Official Marvel Podcast episode 2, Winderbaum also said: "What If...? season 3 feels like the completion of a trilogy. It takes us to places you'd never expect. It goes beyond the first two seasons in its exploration of the multiverse and it pulls in characters that are very unexpected. And it has, what I think, is an extremely moving and fulfilling culmination for Uatu the Watcher."
Wonder Man
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Expected cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ben Kingsley, Demetrius Grosse, and Byron Bowers
Another long-gestating MCU TV series, Wonder Man – co-created by Andrew Guest and Shang-Chi director Daniel Destin Cretton – will be a 10-part comedy series that tells the story of an actor who plays a fictional superhero, but doesn't know he's also one in real life. Feige told the Official Marvel Podcast #1 that it's "extremely different" from anything the studio has made before.
Marvel's Wonder Man show reportedly landed DCEU alumnus Abdul-Mateen II for the titular role in November 2022. Kingsley, who played Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi, is also said to be part of proceedings (per Variety), as is Demetrius Grosse (via TVLine), who'll play Eric Williams and his supervillain alias Grim Reaper. Deadline reports Byron Bowers is on board in an undisclosed role, too.
Little else is known about this Marvel Phase 6 production, but The Hollywood Reporter (THR) suggests filming wrapped in April. Deadline also reported that, like Echo, it'll be released under the Marvel Spotlights banner.
X-Men 97 season 2
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Expected cast: Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J.P. Karliak, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Holly Chou, Matthew Waterson, and Ross Marquand
With its first season ending on a cliffhanger – read our X-Men 97 ending explained article for more – a second season of the critically acclaimed sequel to the beloved 1990s classic X-Men: The Animated Series seemed inevitable.
Thankfully, work has been ongoing on the show's next installment for some time, with THR reporter Borys Kit saying season 2 was on the way in July 2022. It's now in post-production, with Winderbaum telling the Official Marvel Podcast: "I've already seen all the animatics and we're well on our way to creating something that hits the heights of the first season. I know the first season is an emotional ride [and] that ride continues in a very X-Men fashion in the second season". A third season (per Entertainment Weekly) is already in development, with Deadline claiming What If...? writer Matthew Chauncey will take the reins for season 3.
For more details on its development read our dedicated hub for X-Men 97 season 2.
Nova
Release date: TBC
Director: TBC
Expected cast: TBC
After numerous rumors spread online that a Nova project was in development at Marvel, Feige confirmed it was true (via ComicBook.com) in July.
Feige also revealed it'll focus on the Richard Rider version of the cosmic superhero (i.e. not another member of the Nova Corps.), but it's still "three to four years out" from being released on Disney's primary streaming service. In short: don't expect much news on this Marvel Phase 6 TV series for a long, long time.
For more Marvel coverage, find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order or read our thoughts on the best Marvel movies. Alternatively, get the lowdown on Agatha All Along ahead of its Disney Plus premiere or see everything that's coming as part of Marvel Phase 5.
