All 8 MCU Movies & Shows Releasing In 2026, Ranked by Excitement Level

2026 will deliver an exciting new round of content for Marvel Studios in theaters and on Disney+, leaving fans anxious to see the final results. The MCU delivered a massive slate of content in 2025, following up a light 2024 with new releases on the big and small screen nearly every month of the year. While the Disney+ side of Marvel Studios will be much bigger in volume for next year than the movie side, fans are in for a wild full year of stories and adventures.

Marvel Studios has eight new movies and Disney+ projects set to be released this year. Here's The Direct's ranking of all of these upcoming Marvel titles, from lowest to highest excitement levels.

Every 2026 MCU Release Ranked By Excitement Level

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2 - Fall 2026

Marvel Television will deliver a new season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in Fall 2026, continuing the web-slinger's animated story. Starring Hudson Thames, Grace Song, Colman Domingo, Zeno Robinson, and Charlie Cox, the series takes a new spin on Spidey's origin story alongside countless other Marvel heroes as he works with Norman Osborn and grows into his superhero persona.

While the show is one of the highest-rated Marvel Studios projects ever, and deservedly so, it ranks last due to its place so far outside of the core Marvel timeline in the greater multiverse. As excited as fans are to see the drama that unfolds with Peter's hero life and his personal life with his father, it will not have much of an impact on a larger scale for the MCU, bringing lower stakes than the rest of the list.

The Punisher Special Presentation - TBD

Jon Bernthal is on his way to starring in his first solo MCU project in over half a decade, leading the way in his own Disney+ Special Presentation centered on the Punisher. While Bernthal is the special's only confirmed cast member, it will spin off from the end of Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, showing the Punisher out in New York City and pitting him against a scary female antagonist.

While the Punisher special is sure to bring plenty of excitement, fans just do not know much about it yet, as production and news surrounding it have been kept almost completely under wraps. This ranking could change when more information is released, but for now, it remains one of the biggest question marks in the MCU's future.

Wonder Man - January 27, 2026

Originally meant to be the last Disney+ release of 2025, 2026 will now open for Marvel Studios with Wonder Man on Disney+ on January 27. Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sir Ben Kingsley, Demetrius Goose, Ed Harris, and Arian Moayed, the show will take a look at the MCU's version of Los Angeles, exploring Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery's quest to join the cast of a movie centered on the hero known as Wonder Man.

As exciting as the show will be, it went through a number of development issues behind the scenes, leading to some concerns about whether it would be canceled ahead of its release. Now that a first trailer is out, fans have more of an idea of what will come in this story, but there are still plenty of questions about Wonder Man's future in the MCU after his debut.

Vision Quest - TBD

VisionQuest will be the final chapter in a trilogy that started with 2021's WandaVision, centering on Paul Bettany's long-standing MCU protagonist. Also starring James Spader, Kerry Condon, Todd Stashwick, and Faran Tahir, this series will revisit White Vision after he leaves Westview, New Jersey to find his true identity and revisit some of the original Vision's most prominent memories.

As is the case with Wonder Man and the Punisher special, details are still being kept mostly secret for VisionQuest, which only just had its initial story beats teased at New York Comic-Con in October 2025. However, given its ties to one of the MCU's most popular shows ever, anticipation continues to build before a first trailer is released and a debut date is eventually confirmed.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 - March 4, 2026

Following a complete creative overhaul in 2023, Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 wowed fans in March 2025 and set up Season 2's arrival in March 2026. Behind Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Matthew Lillard, and Wilson Bethel, Season 2 will put Matt Murdock on the run from Wilson Fisk as Fisk tightens his control over New York City and unleashes his wrath on his enemies.

Born Again Season 2 has not yet shared any public footage, but the inclusion of Krysten Ritter's Jessica Jones and the changes to the original story have fans hyped to see what's will happen. Now completely changed and set firmly in the MCU after the creative overhaul, Marvel seems to have a hold on what it wants from the series, setting up something that could outdo Season 1 in terms of thrills.

X-Men '97 Season 2 - TBD

After X-Men '97 Season 1 set the fandom on fire in 2024, anticipation for the show's second season in 2026 is through the roof. Bringing back the same cast of actors who brought the animated mutants to life last time, Season 2 will pit the X-Men in multiple different timelines as they work to reunite while also facing the threat of Apocalypse, who makes his return from the original animated series.

X-Men '97 was one of Marvel Studios' highest-rated projects ever, making it no surprise that fans want to see how the team continues its streak of success in 2026. Additionally, the expectation is that new seasons will debut more regularly after 2026, meaning Season 2 should set the stage for a long and consistent run of success for the animated mutants before the live-action X-Men take their place.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day - June 26, 2026

Almost nothing hits harder than a new MCU movie, and Spider-Man will be the first character to make that happen as he leads the way in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Bringing back the original trilogy's trio of stars alongside Florence Pugh (Black Widow), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), and Jon Bernthal (Punisher), Spidey will have to reinvent his life from the ground up as he deals with powerful new enemies like Michael Mando's Scorpion when the film is released on July 31, 2026

Spider-Man is one of the MCU's most successful solo heroes, and having him in a solo movie for the first time in five years is guaranteed to bring the fandom back to the theater in droves. Combine that with a plot that has him taking on characteristics and themes that are central to his comic counterpart, and the hype could not be higher to see what will become of Peter Parker next time around.

Avengers: Doomsday - December 18, 2026

For all the MCU has coming in 2026, nothing could possibly compare to the excitement building for Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026. Doomsday already features 27 leading stars (including the MCU's best and legacy heroes from past Marvel movies) as they fight Doctor Doom in his quest for multiversal dominance; not to mention that Doom is played by MCU icon Robert Downey Jr.

Any Avengers movie would instantly top this list, but that is set even further into stone thanks to the cast including icons like Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Sir Ian McKellen's Magneto alongside Captain America, Thor, and the Fantastic Four. Even with so few details out, a cast this star-studded and characters this big have no reason not to be the most anticipated thing Marvel has coming in 2026.