All-new Marvel series and movie announcements for Disney+ and cinemas
New titles form the Marvel Studio Universe will be available to stream on Disney+ with the next instalments of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy in the pipeline.
Disney is expanding its Marvel offerings with a whole host of new television shows and movies scheduled to be released. Marvel Studios became a part of Walt Disney Studios in 2015 and the iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe productions look like being a central part of the Disney+ streaming service for years to come.
Although the movies will first be available to view in cinemas, Disney is continuing to pivot away from the traditional form and is becoming more of a streaming service. For years the number of cinema-going movie fans had dwindled and with cinemas forced to close for months due to the pandemic that trend has sped up during 2020.
Disney+ announces upcoming Marvel movies for 2021
Despite the disruption caused to filming during 2020 Marvel Studios has a packed list of new movies for 2021 with a number of big-name releases in the pipeline. All of these Marvel Cinematic Universe movies will be released in the coming year, with some potentially available to Disney+ subscribers in the future.
WandaVision (15 January) – The first offering reunites Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) for a mash-up Marvel Universe adventure. Kat Denning and Randall Park also star in what looks to be a prequel for the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Black Widow (7 May) – Taking place chronologically between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, the hotly-anticipated Black Widow sees Natasha Romanov (Scarlett Johansson) team up with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Red Guardian (David Harbour). The latest instalment in the series was intended to be released in 2020, but has been pushed back due to the pandemic.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (9 July) – The first Asian-American-led movie in Marvel’s bulging back catalogue sees Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) take on the Mandarin (Tony Leung), and is directed by Asian-American filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton.
The Eternals (5 November) – One of the most star-studded action films of the years brings together an all-star cast. The Eternals features Angelina Jolie as Thena; Richard Madden as Eternal Ikaris; Salma Hayek as Ajak and Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman, amongst many others.
Spider-Man 3 (17 December) – The final Marvel film with a confirmed release date for 2021 is the third Spider-Man film, led by the latest Spidey Tom Holland. Alongside Peter Parker, Zendaya will return as Mary-Jane with Jon Watts as director.
Also in the pipeline from Marvel Studios are a number of films that have not yet been given a release date, partly due to the uncertain nature of production over the past 12 months. However, we do know that Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki and Hawkeye are expected to drop during 2021.
Looking further ahead, Marvel Studios have announced that there will be another chapter of some hugely successful franchises. Those movies scheduled to drop in 2022 are Thor: Love and Thunder (11 February); Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (25 March); Black Panther 2 (6 May); Captain Marvel 2 (8 July) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (date unknown).
Marvel Studios announce five new Disney+ TV series
In their 2020 Investors Day call, Marvel Studios announced five new TV series that will be going straight to Disney+. Amongst them are some big names and some new surprises as the cinema giants continue to tweak their offerings to suit the streaming platform.
Those include the widely-rumoured new Disney+ series involving Samuel L. Jackson, who plays a lead role in a show based on Marvel Comics’ Secret Invasion event. Jackson will reprise the role of Nick Fury, one that he has played since its inception in 2008’s Iron Man.
There are also plans for a new series entitled Ironheart, in which a young Black girl from inner city Chicago reverse engineers Iron Man’s armour to protect her neighbourhood. This premise is mirrored by the upcoming Armor Wars, in which War Machine experiences what happens when Tony Stark’s cutting-edge technology falls into the wrong hands.
There are also two new television escapades including some of the characters from the hugely successful Guardians of the Galaxy series. The first, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, will be written and directed by James Gunn and is set to drop around Christmas 2022. A spin-off series of shorts entitled I Am Groot is also in the pipeline but a release date is yet to be released.