The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dominating cinemas and pop culture as a whole for nearly two decades now. So far, the franchise has produced over 30 feature films, in addition to nearly a dozen canon streaming series and countless other tangentially related shows, comics and more. It’s far-and-away the most successful film franchise of all time, but the last couple of years have proven that even the MCU isn’t invulnerable.
The MCU, led by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, has found itself standing on unsteady ground recently. There have been substantial failures, both critically and at the box office, with films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels, while the never-ending stream of new shows on Disney+ has done nothing but water down the once-pristine reputation of the franchise. These days, it’s common for even die-hard MCU fans to have skipped at least a few projects here and there, whether it be shows like Secret Invasion and Moon Knight or movies like Thor: Love and Thunder and Eternals.
With all of that said, Disney and Marvel Studios are more than aware of the situation the franchise is in. During the most recent earnings call for Disney investors, CEO Bob Iger directly stated that the increased output of new content resulted in the studio losing focus on quality. He then stated, “So the first step that we’ve taken is that we’ve reduced volume, we reduced output, particularly in Marvel.” While the gears at a studio like Disney can grind slowly, this reduced output appears to be a temporary fix at best. The MCU is taking a bit of a step back this year, but the franchise is currently slated to return with the same over-the-top level of output next year, as there are four MCU feature films set to release in 2025.
The MCU Is Taking a Breather This Year… Sort of
Looking at Marvel Studios’ release schedule for this year, it is noticeably less than usual. Whereas the MCU has consistently released three or four new films per year since 2017, that is not the case this year. There is only one core MCU film set to release in 2024, and that is the third Deadpool film, titled Deadpool & Wolverine. While the new trailer for that film clearly establishes that it will tie directly into the MCU, the basis of the movie is still building off the first two Deadpool films, which existed separately from the major franchise. In that way, even Deadpool & Wolverine, the one MCU movie this year, doesn’t really feel all that much like a traditional release from Marvel Studios.
Deadpool & Wolverine is not the only new release that Marvel Studios will have in 2024 though. There are a handful of new series that are set to be released on Disney+. There has already been Echo, which debuted in early January. Beyond that, there are shows like Agatha: Darkhold Diaries (a spin-off of WandaVision) and Eyes of Wakanda, though neither have been given firm release dates beyond “sometime in 2024.” There are also the animated shows X-Men ’97, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Marvel Zombies, though they are set firmly outside the continuity of the MCU.
Though Marvel Studios will have a small presence in theaters this year, 2024 is still set to bring a lot of new Marvel movies. As far as films go, Sony Pictures is releasing three new movies as part of its Spider-Man-adjacent franchise that doesn’t actually feature Spider-Man. The first of these in 2024 was Madame Web, which just hit theaters, and it will be followed by Kraven the Hunter in August and Venom 3 in November.
While these films aren’t technically MCU releases, they sure do a lot of work to disguise themselves as such, with some fans speculating that even the cast in these films didn’t realize these weren’t MCU films until it was too late. To many viewers, it’s all the same; Marvel is Marvel, whether it comes from Marvel Studios or from Sony Pictures. Because of that, even though Marvel Studios is stepping back from theaters this year, it’s likely not going to feel any different for casual viewers, as there are still a total of four new movies with the Marvel name on them.
The 2025 Release Schedule
The release schedule for Marvel in 2024 looks pretty hefty, but it’s nothing compared to what we are currently set to receive in 2025. Marvel Studios has four feature films set to release in 2025, and that’s in addition to another deluge of new shows on Disney+ and whatever Sony decides to put out. As far as Marvel Studios and the MCU proper goes, here’s what you can expect next year:
Captain America: Brave New World – Feb. 14, 2025
The first new film from Marvel Studios next year will be Captain America: Brave New World, directed by Julius Onah. The fourth Captain America film will build directly off the hit Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Solider, which saw Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson taking up the mantle of Captain America. Brave New World will be the first full movie that Mackie’s Captain America will appear in, and it will also mix in many elements from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.
Tim Blake Nelson and Liv Tyler are confirmed to reprise their roles from that film, in a story that will reportedly see Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (now played by Harrison Ford following the death of William Hurt) becoming the Red Hulk. Captain America: Brave New World is currently set to hit theaters just under a year from now, on Valentine’s Day in 2025.
Thunderbolts – May 2, 2025
The next film on Marvel Studios’ schedule for 2025 is Thunderbolts, directed by Jake Schreier. The film is set to open on May 2, filling Marvel’s usual first weekend of May release window. The film will operate as a sequel to 2021’s Black Widow in some ways, as characters like Florence Pugh’s Yelena Bolova, David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, Rachel Weisz’s Melina, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina are all set to return.
Thunderbolts will essentially be Marvel’s version of The Suicide Squad, as it centers on a government-operated team of superheroes and antiheroes that are sent on a secret mission. Also joining the cast are Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier, Hannah John-Kame as Ghost, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster, and Harrison Ford as “Thunderbolt” Ross.
The Fantastic Four – July 25, 2025
Later that summer, Marvel Studios will be debuting its latest major title, The Fantastic Four, on July 25. The film will be directed by WandaVision’s Matt Shakman and its cast was recently unveiled to include Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm.
This will be a new reboot of The Fantastic Four set within the MCU, following the failures of 2015’s Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, and the two Tim Story-directed films from the mid-2000s. Very little is known about the actual story of this new Fantastic Four film as of now, though it will be reportedly set (at least partially) in the 1960s with Galactus as the central antagonist (rumored to be played by Javier Bardem or Antonio Banderas).
Blade – Nov. 7, 2025
Finally, the last MCU film set to release in 2025 is Blade, directed by Yann Demange. The film will be a reboot of the famous Blade series, which previously featured Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire-hunting hero. Marvel Studios’ new version of Blade was first announced in the summer of 2019, with Mahershala Ali set to portray the lead character.
The movie has had a bit of a tumultuous development, as a few directors have joined and subsequently left the project, and it has also gone through numerous re-writes by a handful of different screenwriters. This all seems to be smoothing out now, though, as Blade is expected to start shooting soon. The film is currently set to be released on Nov. 7. There is a lot of time between now and then, but if any of these movies are going to end up being delayed to 2026, it’ll likely be Blade.
Disney+ and Sony Releases
Looking beyond the theatrical releases from Marvel Studios, there are a handful of other Marvel projects that will be released in 2025. In the core MCU, there are a few different series that will debut on Disney+. Likely the most anticipated of these shows is Daredevil: Born Again, which is currently in production. This show will serve as the proper introduction of Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock into the MCU, after appearing briefly in Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and the new Echo series.
Then, there is also Ironheart, a spin-off series centered on Dominique Throne’s Riri Williams, who was introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. That series has already completed filming, so it’s also possible that it will end up being released in 2024. Finally, there’s Wonder Wan, a new comedic limited series from Destin Daniel Cretton that will star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, which is currently filming as well.
As for the Sony Spider-Man universe, there are currently no films officially set to release next year (which is likely a relief to Feige and Marvel Studios). However, there are a handful of projects that are in active development, ranging from a Spider-Woman project from Olivia Wilde to a Hypno-Hustler movie with Donald Glover and an El Muerto film that once had Bad Bunny attached to star.
Any of those projects could wind up coming together quickly for a release sometime in the latter half of 2025. The only certainty, at this point, seems to be that the third animated Spider-Verse film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, will hit theaters sometime in 2025.
