Marvel Studios is about to open up Phase 5 of the MCU with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but with the franchise not ending anytime soon, studio president Kevin Feige is already looking ahead to Phase 7.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Feige shared news on more than a dozen projects from the newly-named Multiverse Saga, which looks to end with the duo of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2025 and 2026. But while there is plenty of excitement building for this upcoming slate, Phase 7 has already come up in early conversations years before it would become a reality.
At the moment, the only concrete information regarding Phase 7 is a number of release dates that Marvel has planned out through the end of 2026, which could be when the new Phase starts after the mega-blockbuster event of Avengers 6.
Kevin Feige Teases Phase 7 Plans
Speaking at the virtual press conference for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shared an update on where the studio is with regard to plans for Phase 7 of the MCU.
When asked by Randall Park how far the MCU is planned out in advance, Feige noted that the studio works on "three phases at a time:"
Park: "You really do have a plan. How many phases do you have planned in advanced?"
Feige: "We work in about three phases at a time… Three phases together, as we all know, make a saga."
With Feige stating that the MCU is developed in three phases at a time, the recent close of Phase 4 and beginning of Phase 5 indicates that development may just be getting underway on Phase 7 - leaving Marvel Studios' current focus on the fifth, sixth, and seventh phases.
This is further suggested by the four recently delayed Marvel movies coming after Avengers: Secret Wars. These currently unnamed MCU projects would fall outside of Phase 6 due to their omission from Feige's slate, another indication that Marvel Studios is currently planning its seventh phase.
Feige always has more movies on his mind, leading him to recap the way he's broken up each slate of projects into Phases over the past 15 years so far:
"We are making a lot of movies, and I always dreamed of making even more movies. And we sort of break it up into these phases. and I always dream of making even more movies, and we sort of break it up into these phases. So, from Iron Man to the first Avengers was one phase. Then, we would do Phase 2 to Avengers Age of Ultron, in turn to Endgame. Endgame ended what we called Phase 3, and now we started a new saga."
He moved on to the Phase 4 slate that just ended with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, celebrating how Ant-Man 3 kicks off Phase 5 and introduces "a more specific storyline" ahead of the next two Avengers movies:
"We’ve made a lot of films in Phase 4, the last of which was Wakanda Forever. We introduced a lot of characters in that. And now in this film, in large part to the man sitting in front of me, kicks off what we call Phase 5, which begins a more specific storyline heading to towards some Avengers films down the line."
When Will Phase 7 Come to Fruition?
Looking at the timeline that Marvel has utilized recently, the team only offered the first confirmations for movies and shows after Phase 4 during their San Diego Comic-Con presentation in July.
This only included three projects from Phase 6; confirming the two Avengers blockbusters along with Fantastic Four as the start of that Phase. Although that could also change thanks to Deadpool 3's November 2024 debut along with Blade being delayed until after Thunderbolts which was originally toasted as the end of Phase 5.
Feige's quotes line up well with his history in terms of announcing projects, with Phase 4's movies and TV shows only being made public after the Infinity Saga ended in 2019. Avengers: Endgame had clear ties to what was to come in Phase 4 though, despite being a solid ending for the Infinity Saga, so there's a good chance Feige and his team and thinking about how Secret Wars will set up Phase 7.
Looking at the future, Phase 7 likely won't be settled in until closer to when Phase 6 ends, with a number of stories available to tackle in a post-Multiverse Saga story. With potential movies like Black Panther 3 and Eternals 2 on the docket, there will be plenty of new material to fill up that new slate when it does come to fruition over the next few years.
Phase 5 of the MCU will begin with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Friday, February 17.
