Two major MCU movies will be kicking off Phase 7 of the franchise, as well as an entirely new saga, when 2028 starts. Spider-Man: Far From Home officially ended the Infinity Saga in 2019, releasing right after Avengers: Endgame. A couple of years later, Black Widow was released in 2021 as the first feature film of Phase 4. That entry also served as the first movie in the Multiverse Saga.
When Avengers: Secret Wars is released in December 2027, Marvel Studios' Phase 6 will be coming to a close. It will also mark the end of the Multiverse Saga, meaning that the first projects of 2028 will officially kick off both Phase 8 and the next saga, which is expected to be the Mutants Saga.
Notably, Marvel Studios has not officially announced which films will premiere in the exact release slots that have already been set by Disney and Marvel. For example, Marvel Studios has already marked down February 18, 2028, May 5, 2028, and November 10, 2028 as dates that an MCU movie will be released.
According to multiple reports, Marvel is planning on the first two movies of 2028 being Black Panther 3 and the highly anticipated MCU X-Men film. If that is the case, those two movies would come out on February 18, 2028, and May 5, 2028.
If that is the case, then those two flicks would be the next two movies in the franchise to follow Avengers: Secret Wars. Many already expected both of those films to be extremely important, but if they directly follow Secret Wars, they will be even more crucial to the future of the franchise.
The only question fans have now is which movie will come out in which time slot. There could be a lot of benefits for each flick fitting in each slot, and nothing has been officially confirmed by Marvel or Disney yet, but reports have claimed that the decision has already been made.
Will Black Panther 3 or X-Men Be Released First?
According to reports from industry insiders, Marvel Studios and Disney have already decided the exact dates that Black Panther 3 and X-Men will be released. It is important to note that plans can always change, and that Marvel Studios could swap projects or move release dates entirely, but, according to certain reports, Black Panther 3 is slated to come first.
If that happens, Black Panther 3 will fill the February 18, 2028 release date slot that Marvel Studios has open right now. It will also mean that Black Panther 3 will be the first Marvel movie to come after Secret Wars, which could lead to some fallout from that movie occurring in the opening half of Black Panther 3.
That will also put a lot of pressure on Black Panther 3 since it will be the first film after Secret Wars. Assuming Secret Wars is the success that Marvel hopes it will be, tons of fans will be coming back to the theater a couple of months later to see where the franchise goes next.
Since Black Panther will be filling that February slot, that means X-Men will go in the May 5, 2028 slot. A lot of fans may feel like it would be more beneficial to push X-Men out right after Secret Wars, but both projects are so massive that it does make more sense for there to be a buffer between them.
If X-Men were to come out in February, two massively anticipated titles would be coming out within two months of one another. Diehard fans would, of course, come out to the theaters to see both films, but it would be unlikely for general moviegoers to watch both of those movies since they would be released so closely.
That does not mean Marvel is saying Black Panther 3 is not important, because it definitely is. However, when it comes to the future of the MCU, X-Men's success is now more important than the success of other films.
