Marvel Studios will follow up the highest-grossing movie globally ever — Avengers: Endgame — with five theatrical releases over the next two years, they announced Saturday.
The films will feature a combination of new installments for Avengers characters, plus some entirely devoted to new movie characters beloved by fans of the comics.
Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige made the announcements at the annual Comic-Con convention on Saturday.
First up is Black Widow on May 1, 2020. Scarlett Johansson returns to the role for the character’s first standalone film, after appearing in supporting roles for seven films including all four Avengers installments, plus Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War. Chloé Zhao (The Rider) directs.
Next is The Eternals on November 6, 2020. Angelina Jolie stars as Thena, Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo in this superhero team-up, new to the big screen. Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome and Lore) directs.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings comes out on February 12, 2021. Chinese-Candian actor Simu Liu, a relative unknown in America, will be sure to make his big breakthrough playing the lead, along with Awkwafina in a supporting role. Destin Daniel Cretton (The Glass Castle) directs. This is the same mid-February weekend that propelled Black Panther to break box office records in 2018.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters on May 7, 2021. Benedict Cumberbatch and director Scott Derrickson both return for the second installment, after November 2016’s original hit. (No word on whether Rachel McAdams is back as love interest Christine Palmer, though.) Elizabeth Olsen will costar as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, returning from her supporting role in the Avengers films.
Thor: Love and Thunder will strike like lightning on November 5, 2021. Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi returns for this fourth installment, returning Chris Hemsworth as the title character and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Also coming back is Natalie Portman — who costarred in the first two installments, but skipped the third — whose character Jane Foster will become the female Thor, goddess of thunder.
An undated reboot of Blade was also announced starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali in the original Wesley Snipes role, made famous in the original trilogy from 1998, 2002, and 2004 prior to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Second installments for Black Panther and Captain Marvel were also confirmed, alongside a third Guardians of the Galaxy installment. None of those films were immediately given release dates.
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