page_title: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four / Development
caption_attribution_description: Kevin Feige speaking at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con International, for &quot;The Eternals&quot;, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.
context_page_description: Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a group of American superhero films and television series produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. Phase Four features all of the Marvel Studios productions set to be released from 2020 through early 2022. It is the first phase in the franchise to include television series, with Marvel Studios developing several event series for the streaming service Disney+ in addition to the feature films that it was already set to produce. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the first series in the phase, premiering in late 2020, while Black Widow will be the first film in the phase, set to release in November 2020 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
context_section_description: By October 2016, Disney had scheduled multiple release dates for untitled Marvel Studios films for 2020 and 2021. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said some of the films for those dates were already known, explaining, "We know what [films] we'd like them to be for 2020. Over the years, where we're aiming we've been lucky enough that it's usually been the same thing but we always leave ourselves the opportunity to bob and weave and adapt if we have to." Feige was not sure if Marvel would continue to group the films of the MCU into phases once Phase Three concluded in 2019, saying that "it might be a new thing", but by December 2018, Marvel was believed to be using the term Phase Four. Feige said Marvel hoped to reveal some upcoming films after the release of Avengers: Endgame (2019), with Disney CEO Bob Iger later indicating that Marvel would reveal its slate of post-Avengers: Endgame movies in mid-2019.
  By November 2017, Disney was developing a Marvel television series specifically for release on its new streaming service Disney+, which was planned to launch before the end of 2019. In September 2018, Marvel Studios was revealed to be developing several limited series for the service, to be centered on "second-tier" characters from the MCU films who had not and were unlikely to star in their own films; the actors who portrayed the characters in the films were expected to reprise their roles for the series. Stories for each series were still being decided on, but the series were expected to be six to eight episodes each and have a "hefty [budget] rivaling those of a major studio production". The series would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, who produced the previous television series set in the MCU. Feige was taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development, focusing on "continuity of story" with the films and "handling" the actors who would be reprising their roles from the films. Feige stated in February 2019 that the series would be "entirely interwoven with both the current MCU, the past MCU, and the future of the MCU", and a month later he elaborated that the series would take characters from the films, change them, and see those changes reflected in future films, unlike the weaker relationship the films have with the Marvel Television series. He also said that new characters introduced in the Disney+ series could go on to appear in films. In May, Feige compared the Disney+ series to the Marvel One-Shots short films that Marvel Studios had previously released alongside their films, saying, "The best thing about the One-Shots is that we got to flesh out other characters. It's tremendously exciting that we now have Disney+ series where we get to do that on a grand scale".
  In July 2019, Marvel Studios held a panel at San Diego Comic-Con where Feige announced the full Phase Four slate. This included five films to be released—Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder—as well as five event series to be released on Disney+—The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If...?, and Hawkeye. He confirmed that there would be connections between the films and series, with the events of both WandaVision and Loki set to tie directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Feige stated that these ten projects were the full Phase Four slate at that point, despite Marvel already developing further projects at that time. A month later at D23, Feige announced three more Disney+ series that would be released as part of the Phase Four slate: Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk. In September, Disney and Sony Pictures announced that Marvel Studios and Feige would produce a third Spider-Man film set for release during this phase.
  Black Widow was removed from Disney's release schedule in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussing this decision for Variety, Adam B. Vary and Matt Donnelly questioned whether the MCU could be impacted more by this delay than other big properties due 
caption: Kevin Feige announcing Phase Four at San Diego Comic-Con 2019
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