Disney's top executive pointed to one specific MCU movie as the project that will kick off Marvel Studios' next era of greatness. As the franchise comes to the end of Phase 5 and moves forward into Phase 6 on the big screen, new names and veterans will join forces to get the MCU back to levels of popularity not seen in years.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* will be the movie to launch a new era of the MCU. This new movie not only closes out the MCU's Phase 5 slate but also brings together a new team of heroes who are sure to be the central focus of multiple major stories in future Marvel Studios projects.
Speaking with Deadline, Iger reflected on the recent release strategy for Marvel Studios, which forced the MCU team to "produce a lot more" content to populate Disney+. He explained how Disney had to consolidate and have Marvel "focus much more on their films" for better quality on that front, with Thunderbolts* being the first example of that change:
"In our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content, we turned to all of our creative engines, including Marvel, and had them produce a lot more. We've also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. Frankly, we've all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe it will result in better quality. I think the first and best example of that is 'Thunderbolts*.'"
He was also asked about the upcoming film slate for Disney as a whole, leading him to call that slate "the best [he has] seen" since 2019.
For perspective, 2019 delivered three MCU movies that grossed over $1 billion at the global box office (including the second-highest-grossing movie of all time in Avengers: Endgame). Other major Disney hits included The Lion King, Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, and Frozen 2, which all grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
Thunderbolts*, which centers on a team of misfits/antiheroes forced to unite against one of the MCU's most powerful villains ever (Lewis Pullman's Sentry), is now playing in theaters. The film stars Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Wyatt Russell (U.S. Agent), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster), David Harbour (Red Guardian), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine).
What Do Marvel & Disney Have in Store?
Following Thunderbolts*' debut in theaters, Marvel Studios will kick off its Phase 6 slate with The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25. Bringing Marvel's First Family into the MCU for the first time will surely deliver a jolt to the MCU, particularly with it being set in an alternate universe, as the ultra-powerful Galactus also comes into play.
The only other movie confirmed for release in Phase 6 is Tom Holland's fourth solo Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. With reportedly ground-level and Multiversal story points, this film is expected to have plenty of hype due to Spider-Man: No Way Home becoming one of history's biggest solo superhero movies.
Along with those two films, the crown jewels of Phase 6 (and possibly the entire MCU) will be 2026's Avengers: Doomsday and 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars.
Doomsday already has arguably the most star-studded cast in comic book movie history confirmed, and the announced names likely only comprise about half of the actors who will show up. Avengers, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and more will be present for an epic battle against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, with the fate of the Multiverse in play.
This scale is only expected to grow exponentially for Secret Wars, which is teased to be the biggest crossover event in film history. While details about that film remain even more heavily under wraps, it will close out Phase 6 with a bang of all bangs as universes collide and generations of heroes come together.
Although more films could be announced for Phase 6 before it concludes, Disney is making a clear and concerted effort to focus on quality rather than quantity in the aftermath of complaints from Phases 4 and 5.
Thunderbolts* was the first movie released after Disney's major internal overhaul for the MCU, which led to a decrease in releases in favor of fewer, but better, projects. Rather than delivering well over half a dozen releases per year, that number will go down to about five or six entries, which are made to the best of Marvel's ability.
In addition to the MCU's Phase 6 slate being filled with anticipated hits based on titles and characters alone, this new strategy should lead Marvel toward a resurgence to close out the Multiverse Saga.
