‘Fantastic Four’, ‘Avengers: Kang Dynasty’, And ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Officially Announced For Phase 6 Of The MCU
To quote one of Samuel L. Jackson‘s most famous lines: hold on too your butts and welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s “Multiverse Saga“! Last night Marvel Studios hosted their highly anticipated Comic Con panel in Hall H that highlighted the MCU’s current and future projects. The presentation showcased a lot of upcoming MCU projects ranging from Disney+‘s She-Hulk all the way to an emotionally packed teaser for Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While it was rumored for most Comic-Con weekend that Kevin Feige was going to hold back the big surprises for the D23 Expo in September or Disney+ Day, it appears that he just couldn’t help himself and gave fans a little taste of what is to come in the MCU’s ever expanding horizon. While some Phase Five announcements riled up the fans, the roof was blown off when Feige revealed three of the upcoming titles for Phase Six that will seemingly provide us an epic conclusion to the now dubbed “Multiverse Saga”.
While Phase Six will begin with the Fantastic Four reboot, we don’t know which movies and TV shows that will fill in the gaps leading up to Avengers: Kang Dynasty, and finally … Avengers: Secret Wars! Despite the Infinity Saga spanning over 11 years, the Multiverse Saga will reach its conclusion in a shorter timeframe, no doubt in part to Marvel’s ability to release projects connected to the MCU on the small and big screen. With that being said, we will be getting two Avengers movies in one calendar year for the first time ever, and with the way thing have been teased .. we are surely in for a epic ride throughout the multiverse! Now, lets take an in depth look into the these three projects that were just announced beginning with the Fantastic Four.
Fantastic Four – November 8th, 2024
The first entry that brings us into the final phase of the Multiverse Saga is the highly anticipated reboot of the Fantastic Four. Other than the release date, not much else was reveled about Marvel’s First Family in terms of plot or casting, however we do know the project still does not have a director as Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts dropped out of the film after initially being chosen to helm it. Recent rumors claimed that Feige was possibly interested in Steven Spielberg to take over the film, which would certainly follow the recent trend of hiring established directors, but nothing has been concretely agreed upon at this time.
Fans were obviously introduced John Krasinski‘s portrayal of Earth-818’s Reed Richards/Mr.Fantastic in Multiverse of Madness, but given Sam Raimi‘s comments on the matter after the film was released, it seems like that casting was for fans clamoring for years to see the popular actor in the role. Nonetheless, it is currently unknown what direction Marvel Studios will go in terms of casting the film’s main team. With any luck, we will get some casting and directing news once D23 comes, but for now Phase Six certainly appears like it will begin in an epic way.
Avengers: Kang Dynasty – May 2nd, 2025
While confirming Fantastic Four‘s released date was a bombshell, Feige continued to bring out the heavy artillery with a title card that revealed the title for the next Avengers film; Avengers: Kang Dynasty. As the title may insinuate, it seems like the MCU will be in all out war against Jonathan Majors’ Kang, who was first introduced in the season finale of Loki and who will serve as the main villain in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.
Being one of the major Avengers storylines from the comics, Kang Dynasty saw Kang bringing all out war to Earth and its heroes with large-scale events like the invasion of Europe as well as the destruction of the United Nations Headquarters taking place. It appears that Kang Dynasty will be the ramp up to the culmination of the Multiverse Saga, Secret Wars, similar to how Infinity War served the same role to Endgame.
Avengers: Secret Wars – November 7th, 2025
Last, and certainly not least, was the bombshell reveal that Avengers: Secret Wars will close out the Multiverse Saga. In the comics, the original Secret Wars ran in Marvel Comics from 1984 to 1985 that served as the first company-wide crossover event in comics history. In the story, a cosmic entity called the Beyonder had became fascinated by the presence of superheroes on Earth and chooses to teleport Marvel’s mightiest heroes to an artificially constructed planet called “the Battleworld” and orders them to fight to the death. The simple premise heralded huge changes for the then-Marvel status quo. In Jonathan Hickman‘s run on the same title in 2015, Secret Wars follows the same basic premise but concludes with a cosmic natural disaster that resulted in the complete destruction and improbable recreation of the Marvel Multiverse. It is currently unknown whether the MCU will be rebooted after Phase Six, but the option is certainly on the table with Secret Wars being now on the docket. While there was mention of a director during the panel, we have to believe the Russo Brothers will factor in some way, shape or form as they have made it publicly known since Endgame that their next dream MCU project is Secret Wars.
Like most MCU adaptations, these MCU movies will likely have only passing similarities to their comic book inspirations and will instead be their own unique storylines, though the titles indicate that iconic Marvel villains such as Doctor Doom and Kang the Conqueror will have major roles to play. Both are two of the most iconic villains in the history of Marvel comic book lore and, with Thanos now out of the picture, will surely prove to be formidable threats for our superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward. Nonetheless, the future of the MCU looks bright after multiple middle of the road outings this year left fans worried of what was to come.
Which project are you guys most excited for ? What other projects do you anticipate we will see in Phase Five & Six of the MCU? Do you want to see the Russo Brothers helm Secret Wars? As always sound off in the comment section down below and be sure to tune in right here at The Cultured Nerd for latest breaking news on the MArvel Cinematic Universe.
