Yesterday we got a lot of news from Marvel Studios, but it was a little different than they normally did it because they dropped this news so casually. Now Marvel Studios and Disney and other Hollywood studios as well have a tendency to let some of the trades get exclusives on some things that they’re doing. And that’s what happened yesterday with Variety, who just casually mentioned that one of these new movie release dates that Marvel Studios just revealed
could be for a Fantastic Four sequel. And a lot of people online immediately went, Wow, that’s really soon. However, if you think about it, I actually think that it makes a lot of sense. And depending on what they do, they could have a pretty darn near perfect plan. And to top it all off, Pedro Pascal, Mr. Fantastic himself, added some fuel to the fire about the sequel as well.
Lots to go over today, and if you love Marvel, be sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss out on any of the latest news. So yesterday, Variety released an article titled, Marvel Adds Possible Fourth Movie to 2028 Slate. However, it’s kind of interesting that they titled it that because in this article, they dropped some pretty big news. For instance, if you didn’t hear about this yesterday, the very last paragraph of this article reads, Secret Wars is meant to be the finale of the multiverse saga, after which
Marvel is expected to pivot to a saga centered around characters inherited in Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the X-Men. Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier has been tapped to helm the MCU’s first mutant movie. So for the new X-Men movie that is coming out after Secret Wars, Jake Schreier, the Thunderbolts director, is going to be directing that film as well, which I think is a pretty big W, but go ahead and let me know your thoughts about that in the comments down below.
But going back to these new release dates, it looks like one of the first films of the new saga, the Mutant Saga, is going to be a Fantastic Four sequel. In fact, Variety seemingly does confirm that a Fantastic Four sequel is already in development at Marvel Studios. Variety reports that Disney announced on Wednesday that Marvel Studios is scheduled to release an untitled movie on December 15th of 2028.
It would be the fourth feature from The Division set for that calendar year, with previously announced films scheduled for release in February, May, November, and now December. And if we go all the way to the end of the article, they state other Marvel projects in development that could wind up opening in 2028 include the aforementioned Blade, Black Panther 3, and a Fantastic Four sequel.
So right there, they just confirmed a Fantastic Four sequel is one of the projects that Marvel Studios has in development right now. And to top that off, Pedro Pascal liked an Instagram post that read, Marvel reportedly developing the Fantastic Four sequel for 2028 release. So Variety confirms that the movie is in development at Marvel Studios, and Pedro Pascal likes a
host about it. So it really does seem like in 2028, we’re getting the Fantastic Four too, and waiting three years for a sequel is actually kind of on point. So with those four 2028 movie release date spots that Disney and Marvel currently have right now, it looks like we have a pretty good idea of what those movies are going to be. One, which is a given, is the new X-Men movie. We now have a director for it, Jake Schreier.
Evidently a Fantastic Four sequel is in the works, and it’s looking like that could belong to another slot. Meanwhile, we know that Black Panther 3 is confirmed. It’s greenlit. Ryan Coogler will be returning to direct it once again, and he’s bringing Denzel Washington with him. That is confirmed. And at this point in time, Blade might be a long shot. We could be looking at a Midnight Suns project or perhaps a sequel to Shang-Chi if we don’t get that in the multiverse saga.
But if you think about what Marvel Studios is doing here, it actually seems pretty genius. And it’s a way to start off their new universe in a really great way. We start off in 2008 with four really big films, but they are specific movies. Let’s say we know that the Fantastic Four are coming, the X-Men, and Black Panther 3. Well, what Marvel Studios is doing now in this new universe is establishing the really big parts of it.
What we assume is going to happen in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is that ultimately the multiverse will get destroyed until there’s only one thing left, Battleworld, ruled by God Emperor Doom. After Avengers: Secret Wars, they will somehow manage to restore the multiverse, probably using Franklin Richards much like they do in the Secret Wars comics, the 2015 one, that is. That’s most likely what we are looking at here in the MCU.
multiverse gets destroyed, it gets rebuilt, but instead of going back to normal, we get a brand new universe in the MCU. And this is Marvel’s way of essentially starting over without really forgetting the past and without having to get rid of everybody. This allows new characters to come in, and it allows the recasting of some characters like Iron Man, Black Widow,
Captain America, et cetera, so they can be with the new Avengers team and fight alongside the X-Men and possibly even against the X-Men when we get that Avengers versus the X-Men storyline, but it also allows for characters to remain like Spider-Man and Thor and the Fantastic Four. They just introduced the Fantastic Four; heck, they haven’t even really done that yet because the movie’s not out, but we know that they’re not going to be a one-and-done. So they go into the new universe, and not only that, but they kick it off with Fantastic Four 2.
And I really think there’s a very specific reason that they are doing this. They are choosing very specific movies to kick off the mutant era: Fantastic Four, Black Panther, and, of course, an X-Men movie. We do an X-Men movie to establish that the new universe has the X-Men in it. But you also do a Fantastic Four movie to establish that they are there as well. And then you do a Black Panther movie to establish that we do have a new Black Panther in the MCU. Now I have more to say about that, but some of you might be wondering about the Avengers.
as We’ve also heard a lot of news about Thor 5. That could also take one of the slots. However, I’m not sure Marvel Studios is really going to give us another Avengers movie anytime soon once we get into the mutant era. If you think about it, since Avengers: Endgame, we have yet to get a true Avengers movie, not the Thunderbolts. And that’s kind of crazy to think about. We haven’t had an Avengers movie since 2019. Marvel used to do them every three years, but the Multiversal Saga was kind of a mess. However,
Going into the new saga, I think they might kind of do the same thing. And I think they might choose to focus on the X-Men and the Fantastic Four a little bit more than they would the Avengers because that’s what these two sagas, the Infinity Saga and the Multiverse Saga, have really been about. Now we finally have the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. And I think the Fantastic Four are actually going to set up a new Doctor Doom. Based on what we know, it does seem like Robert Downey Jr. is kind of going to be a one and
done in the MCU with Doomsday and Secret Wars. He’s just coming back for those films and is not going to continue to be Doom in the new universe. In fact, I would be very shocked if that were the case. But here’s the thing: Marvel just can’t be done with Doom. They did it really fast. We’ve quite literally had no buildup to Doom so far. He’s being introduced in Doomsday, and he’s going to probably end in Secret Wars. We don’t get
any of his backstory, none of Latveria, none of his sorcery, nothing about his mother and Mephisto, and him being roommates with Reed Richards in college. We’re probably not going to get much of that, and if we do, it’s probably not going to get the proper amount of time dedicated to it that it deserves. But in a new saga, with a new doom, with Reed Richards in the MCU,
They can do that. And that is actually what I believe is going to happen and why the Fantastic Four is going to be one of the first movies in this new universe. Now we don’t know 100% what Marvel Studios plans are for the new universe. For example, they could go the route of everyone in this universe simply remembering only this universe. They don’t remember the events prior to it being created. That’s the only universe they know. So as far as they’re concerned, they’ve always been in existence with the X-Men, with the Fantastic Four, with the Avengers, with everybody.
That’s all they’ve known, and if they do that, they can do a little bit of retconning. They can introduce a new Doom, and you could say that he knows Reed Richards, and you can start a new story, and you can say, Yeah, they were in college together. But I think it would actually be better to introduce Doom in the Fantastic Four and then give him his own movie and set him up to be a constant character in the MCU moving forward because Doom is not always just bad. Plus, he plays a huge role in the birth of Reed and Sue’s second child, Valeria.
He saves her and Sue, and in fact he is the one who names her Valeria. And that’s based off of his love interest in the past. And since Franklin is here and the Fantastic Four are going to be major players in the MCU moving forward, it seems like Marvel Studios would have a plan to introduce her, which would mean Doom has to be involved. So I think we can really start to see Marvel’s plans here. They’re planning on introducing the Fantastic Four.
to be one of the first films in the new saga to establish them as a major team in this universe, but also so they can start to set up Dr. Doom again. And I actually think that would be pretty cool because we’ll just have gotten out of Doom being a massive villain. But if people don’t really remember what happened before and they only remember the new universe, then Doom might not be on anybody’s radar. It will be to the audience, which will be
Kind of a cool thing, but the heroes probably won’t remember much. And the ones who do might just kind of keep an eye on him. For example, if Strange survives the soft reboot, I’m sure he’ll have his eye on it. But I really like this plan; in fact, I think it’s kind of perfect. The next era, the next saga, starts off by building up the major teams. The Mutants, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, Black Panther and Wakanda, and eventually, the Avengers.
