Marvel Studios found itself in uncharted waters with Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and not only because it was without several of its key players such as Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers coming out of Avengers: Endgame and The Infinity Saga.
After an incredible, unprecedented run of success with critics and fans alike between 2008 and 2019, Marvel come in for a level of criticism the likes of which the MCU hadn’t experienced before with several of its Phase Four releases, the crux of many of the issues seemingly being the sheer volume of content crammed into a two year period, which for the first time also included TV content on Disney+.
From Black Widow releasing in July 2021 to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in November 2022, Phase Four consisted of seven movies, eight TV shows (totalling 57 episodes) and two Disney+ Special Presentations. That’s a total of around 51 hours of content, more than the three phases of the Infinity Saga combined, and so its little wonder that both audiences and VFX houses are struggling to keep up.
Well, Phase Five is now underway with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and that looks equally as busy, if not more so, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts and Blade due to hit the big screen between now and September 2024 and Disney+ serving up second seasons of Loki and What If…? along with Secret Invasion, Ironheart, Echo, Agatha: Coven of Chaos and Daredevil: Born Again.
If you’re reading that Phase Five line-up and pulling your hair out wondering how you’re possibly going to balance the rest of the Multiverse Saga alongside work and family, then you may be relieved to hear from Marvel Studios Kevin Feige that plans are afoot to slow down the pace of its Disney+ output with fewer shows per year.
“I do think one of the powerful aspects of being at Marvel Studios is having these films and shows hit the zeitgeist,” Feige told EW. “It is harder to hit the zeitgeist when there’s so much product out there – and so much ‘content,’ as they say, which is a word that I hate. But we want Marvel Studios and the MCU projects to really stand out and stand above. So, people will see that as we get further into Phase 5 and 6. The pace at which we’re putting out the Disney Plus shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine.”
According to a report from THR this past week, Disney and Bob Iger are currently looking at the Mouse House’s handling of its “extraordinarily expensive” major IPs, and that “there is going to be a level of rigor on Marvel and across the entire company”. As such, its expected that Marvel’s Disney+ output will be brought roughly into line with that of Lucasfilm and Star Wars, which has released five seasons of live-action content since Disney+’s launch in 2019 and looks to be targeting around three seasons of content per year.
As yet, none of Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ shows have specific premiere dates as yet, and so it’s certainly possible we could see some of the shows bumped into Phase Six, which kicks off just two months after the release of Blade with the arrival of the as-yet-untitled Deadpool 3 in November 2024.
Will you be relieved to see Marvel slowing down the pace of its output? Let us know your thoughts on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
