The Marvel Cinematic Universe may not have seen any releases in 2020, but thanks to some huge news, the future of the MCU was made a lot more exciting
2020 was a huge year for the MCU, despite the planned movie and Disney+ releases being canceled and pushed back, and there is a lot to look forward to for Marvel fans. Black Widow, Eternals, and WandaVision were all forced to move out of their initially announced slots, but the MCU sleeps for no fan and Kevin Feige's creative team still announced multiple new projects for the next few years.
On the back of the Infinity Saga, it was revealed that Marvel would no longer be considering the same phased approach to releases, despite the inevitable framing of their next release batch as Phase 4. The pivot to include Disney+ shows alongside the movies and narratively linked to them in a far more substantial way than the Netflix shows had been able, changes everything, even if the phase labels remain, however. Disney and Marvel are now on the precipice of a new era for the franchise that leaves few weeks in 2021 without new MCU content. With Star Wars shows on top of that, Disney+'s extensive catalog means it is becoming less an addition to Netflix and more a direct rival. And there's even more to come.
Despite 2021 being the first year in a long time that Marvel didn't release an MCU project, thanks to the pandemic, there were some huge revelations and teases throughout the year, culminating in a stunning Disney Investors Call in December that blew the MCU open again. Here are the biggest MCU reveals of 2020.
The MCU has struggled with the legacy of Iron Man since before Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark died in the emotional finale of Avengers: Endgame. The character was, after all, the founding stone of the entire MCU and his increased importance culminated in his key role in Infinity War and Endgame, as Marvel were forced to contemplate not having their blue-chip actor and character around for the future. The answer so far has been to use Spider-Man as a de facto heir to the Iron throne, but all that did was limit Peter Parker as Stark's sidekick when he deserved to be his own hero. More interesting is the comics approach, which brought in Riri Williams' Ironheart, who more consciously opted into the role and who is now coming to Disney+ and the MCU as a real Iron Man legacy character. Given Tony's actual in-universe legacy was allowing others to follow in his footsteps through financial assistance, seeing a pay-off there is way better than a "you'll do" approach like Spider-Man: Homecoming's.
The most confusing part of Spider-Man: Far From Home was the other, less notable post-credits scene that saw Nick Fury confirmed as being an impostor (albeit sanctioned by the real Fury) and actually engaged in a mysterious off-planet mission. That was long assumed to be Fury's leadership of SWORD, SHIELD's apparent MCU replacement, which has now been contextualized by the announcement of Disney+ original series Secret Invasion. The MCU obviously has a habit of using established comics event titles to tell different stories, but Secret Invasion has to at least deal with the fall-out of Captain Marvel's Kree/Skrull war and the existence of other Skrull "pods" as mentioned in Far From Home's coda. It might not be a full-blown Avengers-style crossover event, but it would be safe to expect this to be the biggest of the Disney+ shows.
Ant-Man 3's title was officially announced as Quantumania during the Disney Investor's Call, and rumor has the movie pegged as a far more substantial look into the Quantum Realm. Given that dimension's potential, the setting is exciting enough, but the confirmation that Kang the Conqueror will be involved (having presumably been teased in Loki's Disney+ show, given the time travel plot) is huge for Marvel fans. Kang is a real contender to take over from Thanos as the MCU's big bad (or one of them) and the casting of Jonathan Majors is a huge coup to help cement that. He should be given more of an opportunity outside of Ant-Man 3 to take on more Avengers or even other heroes, but Kang's very presence is a major selling point for the MCU and particularly for Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily's threequel.
As well as introducing Riri Williams as the MCU's "new Iron Man", Phase 4 and beyond will also look at the flipside of her genesis as a hero. If Ironheart is the right legacy for Tony Stark, Disney+ original series Armor Wars - which is based on a hugely popular comics arc of the same name - will investigate what happens when Iron Man's tech falls into the wrong hands. This was, of course, already a big part of Iron Man 2, with Justin Hammer's involvement (and there is hope Sam Rockwell's stand-out villain will return), but exploring a post-Tony Stark world specifically in terms of one of his own fears (that there would be nobody there to do his job after his death) makes it all the more interesting. Add to that the fact that it will give Don Cheadle's James Rhodes something more substantial to do than be Tony's second and it's a great sell.
Though she hasn't yet been name-checked by an official casting announcement, Sophia Di Martino has been heavily rumored to be playing Lady Loki in Disney+'s Loki series and the trailer for the show released in December confirmed her presence very fleetingly. What some fans believed to be a sighting of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow on Vormir actually appears to be the first official sighting of Lady Loki, who has long been a comics fan favorite, as corroborated by set photos showing Di Martino with the same haircut. Whether Lady Loki is a gender-swapped version of Tom Hiddleston's character (thanks to magic) or an alternate universe one doesn't really matter here, because the idea of Phase 4 exploring gender identities is something that's been way too long in the making.
In probably the most surprising casting revelation of the entire year, Oscar Isaac was said to be in talks to join the MCU as Moon Knight, the titular star of Disney+'s most unexpected MCU show addition. Not much is known of the show so far, other than confirmation that it will explore the character's mental illness - another stride for progressiveness in the MCU, provided it's done right - but it remains an intriguing prospect all the same. For the sake of ease, Moon Knight is effectively the MCU's answer to Batman, with Kevin Feige confirming that he will be the type of hero "who jumps out of buildings and gets into fights.” Isaac's potential casting will be another huge boon for the franchise if it comes off and would make what is otherwise a comparatively harder sell far more of a tentpole.
When Netflix's MCU was shuttered to the great dismay of its fans, it looked like the end for the mostly perfectly cast Defenders cast and Charlie Cox's Man Without Fear in particular. There had been talk of another season and both Cox and Kingpin actor Vincent D'Onofrio were publicly very keen on returning, but without the platform, the rights issue seemed a problem too far. But then came the MCU's multiverse and Marvel's apparent willingness to break down some borders that had once existed and reinterpret some other ones entirely. Actors who had played characters previously could return like Ryan Reynolds did as Deadpool after the X-Men Origins disaster and one of the most exciting is the prospect of Charlie Cox playing Matt Murdock again. If it comes off, his appearance in Spider-Man 3 would be a gem among a trove of great moments, and if it then sets up Cox's own MCU project, even better.
The worst kept secret in the MCU was the casting of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop for Disney+'s Hawkeye show, which will follow on from Endgame, presumably exploring the fallout of Clint Barton's time as Ronin. Based on the beloved comic Hawkeye run by Matt Fraction & David Aja, the show is the first opportunity for fans to really get under the skin of Jeremy Renner's Barton, even if he's sharing the screen with Bishop and that alone makes the series a big draw. Adding Steinfeld's perfectly cast legacy hero gives it even more of an impressive arsenal and then, of course, there's the small matter of Pizza Dog, who is bound to steal the hearts of all dog-loving MCU fans.
Though it's a shame that there has been no confirmation yet of the X-Men's involvement in the MCU, the first huge MCU move with the former Fox Marvel properties (other than the announcement of Deadpool 3 - which appears to exist in its own annex) saw the announcement of the Fantastic Four movie. No cast has yet been announced for Marvel's First Family, but director Jon Watts will return after Spider-Man 3 to shepherd their arrival to the franchise continuity. Though there have been two duds from these characters, the Fantastic Four are one of Marvel's most celebrated properties, and in the right hands can be a massive draw for the MCU. The fact that their first movie is now announced makes for an incredibly exciting prospect for fans who want to see them given a fair go in movies.
If all of the talk of contractual discussions and rumors prove to be true, it seems that Spider-Man 3 will be the biggest fan-servicing event of the entire MCU, with the multiverse seemingly opening and more than one Spider-Man on show. The list of linked characters and actors is a veritable who's who of the best of Spider-Man movie past. Jamie Foxx's Electro was the first to be - somewhat surprisingly - linked, but since then have come reports on Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Thomas Hayden-Church to join the already multiverse-bending J Jonah Jameson (Jk Simmons). While there may be some concerns over Tom Holland's titular hero being sidelined, this business will at least make sure he can step out of the shadow of Iron Man once and for all, and that's something the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs more than most.
