Marvel has been around since the 1940s ever since the comics were released. However, a turning point for Marvel Studios was when they began to release movies, starting with Iron Man in 2008, and they really began to gain traction with the Avengers movies. Since then, they have released 27 movies. Disneyland has devoted a whole new section of their park called “Avengers Campus,” dedicated to this franchise and Marvel’s most recent movie release, Spider-Man: No Way Home, which broke records in the box office, bringing in $1 billion. Now that 2022 is in full swing, it is time for Marvel to start releasing some new stuff. Here is what they have announced thus far.
In the year 2022 alone, Marvel has already announced eight new releases. Marvel Studios began releasing TV shows on Disney+ with WandaVision in 2021. The TV show was immensely popular among viewers, and Marvel has released four other TV shows since then, including The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki, What if…? and Hawkeye. They have decided to continue this theme with four announced TV series to be released in 2022.
The first to be released comes with the introduction of a new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Moon Knight. This show is set to be released on Mar. 30. According to past comics about the character and the trailer for the series that Marvel recently released, the show follows Marc Spector (also known as ‘Moon Knight’), a man with a dissociative identity disorder. He lives with multiple different identities and is unsure which is the reality. While the trailer doesn’t reveal much about the show’s plot, it does highlight the darker turn that the MCU is planning to take with this series.
There are also a few other TV shows scheduled to release in 2022, including She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Secret Invasion. She-Hulk will star Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters (also known as ‘She-Hulk’) and is described as a comedy series that will follow the life of a superhuman-orientated lawyer. It will feature other Marvel characters, such as Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Secret Invasion will be a follow-up to the Spider-Man: Far From Home post-credit scene and will revolve around Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) and his relationship to the Skrulls. Finally, Ms. Marvel is introducing a new character into the MCU, Kamala Khan, who is an average girl with a fascination with Captain Marvel, waiting for the day she will gain her superpowers. The release dates and trailers for these series have not yet been released; however, they have been confirmed to come out sometime in the year.
Furthermore, many new Marvel movies are in store for the year 2022. The long-awaited Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is coming to theatres on May 6. This movie will be a multiversal odyssey, combining the idea of the multiverse that Marvel has been setting the stage for since the first Doctor Strange movie, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home and continuing heavily in past marvel TV shows such as WandaVision, What If…? and Loki. It has been confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen (the actress who plays Wanda Maximoff) will appear in this movie. The trailer suggests that other multiversal figures may make an appearance. Thor: Love and Thunder will be premiering on Jul. 8. Not much has been revealed about the plot of this movie, however, it is highly anticipated since Thor is a fan favorite, rooting from the success of the prior Thor movies (particularly Thor Ragnarok) and the audience’s love for “Fat Thor” in Avengers: Endgame. It will be directed by Taika Waititi.
Moreover, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is supposed to come to theatres on Nov. 11. It is said to follow the nation of Wakanda and will be the first Black Panther since Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death from colon cancer in 2020. Unfortunately, all of these dates are subject to change because of the rising COVID-19 cases. In good news, Disney+ will also be releasing The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special just in time for Christmas in December of 2022. The best gift Marvel could give us!
There is also much in store for the future of the MCU for 2023 and beyond. So far, they have announced movies such as The Marvels on Feb. 17, 2023, which is essentially a Captain Marvel 2, The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on May 5, 2023 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Jul. 28, 2023. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is rumored to feature the next big Marvel villain preceding Thanos: Kang. Kang first appeared in Loki as ‘He Who Remains’ and is portrayed by Jonathan Majors, who appears on the cast list for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Only time will tell what this potential supervillain is capable of.
Many new Marvel projects have been announced but have not been given a release date yet. These include season two of Marvel’s already existing TV shows Loki and What If…?. We will also see new TV shows such as Agatha: House of Harkness, a spinoff of the popular villain from WandaVision, Echo, Iron Heart and Armor Wars. Four new cartoons have been announced, including I am Groot, X-men ’97, Spider-Man: Freshman Year and Marvel Zombies, as well as multiple movies such as Fantastic Four, Deadpool 3 (a recent addition to the MCU) and Captain America 4, which will now follow Sam Wilson as Captain America.
Okay, now this is where it gets really confusing. There’s also the ‘Sonyverse’ which includes movies produced by Sony (not Marvel) but contains characters and plots that have links with the MCU storyline. New productions that have been announced with Sony that are important for Marvel are Morbius, which has been delayed but now scheduled to come to theatres Apr. 1, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse premiering Oct. 7, which is a sequel to the very popular Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which premiered in 2018.
Long story short, there is a lot to look forward to regarding Marvel movies, and they aren’t slowing down any time soon! Marvel has almost doubled their movie/TV show release rate per year because of their immense gain in popularity. If you aren’t caught up with all of the Marvel movies, grab some popcorn and get watching so you can join the fun with all of these new releases!
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