Marvel fans are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as Marvel Studios preps for the biggest year in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, consisting of four new movies and six series premiering on Disney+. The anticipation for this return has seemingly never been higher after the global pandemic brought the largest gap between MCU projects in over a decade.
The Infinity Saga came to a close with the premiere of Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 2, 2019, which marks just over an 18-month gap between the end of Phase 3 and the beginning of Phase 4 on January 15 (WandaVision's debut). Even with so much coming down the pipeline for Marvel Studios in the next few years, going a year and a half with no new content from the MCU was tough to endure after the studio promised such a massive expansion.
Marvel Studios' top people are just as aware of the extended delays as their fans, if not more so, as indicated by a quote from the man behind the global phenomenon.
NEWS
In a recent article from the Emmy Magazine, Marvel CCO Kevin Feige took a moment to address the extended delay in the Marvel Cinemtic Universe's release schedule between 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021's WandaVision, saying that "the wait has caused great, great anticipation" for the fans and the studio alike. Feige offered praise for the company's marketing team during this gap while teasing that the major event atmosphere of the MCU is about to return in a big way:
"The marketing team - the people who make our amazing films feel like events - they’re doing the same thing for our Disney+ series. That was something very important to us and important to Disney when we decided to enter this new arena. And it helps that each series is unique, interesting and a new entering point. I don’t even want to tell you what 'Loki' is about.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
Feige has teased how interconnected the new slate of Disney+ show will be with the Phase 4 series ever since they were first announced in 2019, and he has been clear that they are being given the same level of production value and attention as their theatrical counterparts. MCU films have worked their way into being the biggest fan events in all of Hollywood with every new release, and the fact that Feige and his team are working so diligently to do the same with the Disney+ shows should mean a truly special year ahead in 2021.
After a wait for MCU content that will finish at over 500 days, 2021 will bring new content from Phase 4 nearly every week of the year on the big screen and Disney+. WandaVision will be directly followed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ before the May 7 release of Black Widow, which will also bring Loki on Disney+ before summer releases for What If...? and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The year will close out in the fall and winter with Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye on Disney+ as Eternals and Spider-Man 3 premiere in theaters, indicating only a few days of waiting at a time for a new piece of MCU content all year.
WandaVision will begin this year of madness on January 15, and it seems clear already that the MCU will be the talk of the entertainment world for the foreseeable future.
