Please note all of the projects listed here are not necessarily an indication that they are part of Phase Seven; they are reliably-known projects in development from Marvel Studios whose ultimate inclusion in this or an earlier Phase may or may not be known.
In December 2020, Marvel Studios announced the Disney+ series Armor Wars among others.[5] In February 2021, a drama series set in
Wakanda was revealed to be in development from
Ryan Coogler, writer and director of Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), through his company Proximity Media.[6][7]Armor Wars and the Wakanda series were believed to be a part of Phase Four at that time.[8][7] By June 2021, in addition to What If...?, Marvel Studios was developing a slate of at least three more animated series.[9][10] During the
Disney+ Day event in November 2021, Marvel Studios officially announced the What If...?-related Marvel Zombies.[11] By mid-November 2021, Marvel Studios was working on an unknown project with
Scarlett Johansson, who would serve as a producer,[12] and by the end of the month, Marvel Studios was planning at least three more
Spider-Man films starring
Tom Holland with
Sony Pictures.[13] The following month, a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) was announced, with
Destin Daniel Cretton returning to write and direct. This was in addition to an overall deal Cretton signed with Marvel Studios to develop television projects for the studio for Disney+;[14] a comedy series was in development at that time as well, through Cretton's company
Family Owned.[14][15] Later in December, Marvel Studios and Sony were actively beginning to develop the story for the fourth MCU Spider-Man film.[16]
By March 2022, a space-centered series was revealed to be in development,[17][18] which was confirmed to be a project featuring the character
Richard Rider / Nova.[19][20] In April 2022, Feige said he and Marvel Studios were on a creative retreat to plan and discuss the MCU films for the following 10 years.[21] In June, Cretton's series was revealed to be Wonder Man.[22] In July, following the reveal of titles and dates for content in
Phase Five and
Phase Six, Disney announced a
third season of What If...? and a second season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, titled Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.[23] By September, Marvel Studios decided to rework Armor Wars into a feature film.[24] By that November, Coogler's Proximity Media was revealed to be developing several series set in Wakanda.[25]
In July 2023, Disney CEO
Bob Iger stated the company would be reducing the spending and creation of Marvel content, admitting that Marvel Studios' expansion into Disney+ series and more films had "diluted focus and attention" after a number of underachieving films at the box office in Phases Four and Five.[26][27] In early September 2023, Marvel Studios announced Wonder Man had an undetermined release, in part because of the ongoing
Writers Guild of America and
SAG-AFTRA strikes and a desire to slow down their content output and make each of their titles "an event".[28]
James Rhodes must confront one of
Tony Stark's greatest fears when Stark's tech falls into the wrong hands.[5]
In December 2020,
Marvel Studios announced Armor Wars as a
Disney+ series based on the comic book storyline of
the same name, with
Don Cheadle reprising his role as James Rhodes / War Machine.[5] In August 2021,
Yassir Lester was hired as the series'
head writer.[31] In September 2022, Marvel Studios decided to rework the series into a feature film, with Cheadle and Lester remaining with the project.[24] Filming was expected to begin in early 2023,[24][32] at
Trilith Studios in
Atlanta, Georgia.[33]
By August 2019, a fourth
MCU Spider-Man film was reportedly in development alongside Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).[35] In November 2021, producer
Amy Pascal revealed that Sony and Marvel Studios were planning on making at least three more Spider-Man films starring
Tom Holland as
Peter Parker / Spider-Man, with work on the first of those films getting ready to begin.[13] Marvel Studios and Sony were actively developing the film's story the following month.[16] Writers
Chris McKenna and
Erik Sommers had begun work on the film in February 2023,[36][29] with Pascal confirming at the end of May that the film was still in development but that work was put on hold because of the
2023 Writers Guild of America strike that began earlier that month, and that work would resume after the strike concluded.[37] By that time, Holland reiterated that the film was in early stages of development and that he had been involved in meetings about it, which were also put on hold because of the writers' strike.[38] Filming is expected to begin in September or October 2024 in the United Kingdom.[39][40][third-party source needed]
Untitled Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings sequel
At
San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019,
Kevin Feige stated that
mutants would eventually be introduced to the MCU, which include
X-Men,[2][3] and said those terms are interchangeable and that the MCU depiction would differ from
20th Century Fox's
X-Men film series.[4] By September 2023, Marvel Studios was preparing to meet with writers for an X-Men film later that year,[43] and
Michael Lesslie entered negotiations to write the film in May 2024.[30]
A new generation of heroes battle against zombies.[11]
In November 2021, a Marvel Zombies animated series was announced, with
Bryan Andrews directing and
Zeb Wells serving as head writer,[11] and is based on the comic book series Marvel Zombies.[55] It is a continuation of the reality first introduced in the What If...? episode "
What If... Zombies?!" and includes characters introduced in
Phase Four of the MCU.[56][23]Marvel Zombies will consist of four episodes.[47]
In December 2021, Destin Daniel Cretton signed a multi-year deal with Marvel Studios to develop television projects for Disney+, with a comedy series already in development at that point, through Cretton's company
Family Owned.[14][15] In June 2022, the series was revealed to be in early development and titled Wonder Man, centered on the character
Simon Williams / Wonder Man, with
Andrew Guest joining to develop the series along with serving as head writer;[22] Guest later became
showrunner.[46] In October,
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was cast as the title character.[57] Filming began in April 2023 in Los Angeles,[58] and occurred at
Radford Studio Center,[59] with Cretton,
Stella Meghie,[46][49] and
James Ponsoldt directing episodes of the series.[50][60]Onyx Collective co-produces the series.[61][14] Filming resumed in early January 2024,[62] and concluded by April 2024.[63]Wonder Man is expected to debut on Disney+,[28] and is set to consist of 10 episodes.[48] It will be part of the "
Marvel Spotlight" banner.[46]
In March 2022, a project featuring the character
Richard Rider / Nova was revealed to be in development, with Sabir Pirzada writing.[19]Production Weekly had previously included an untitled space-centered series in their report of upcoming projects in development,[17][18] later confirming the untitled series was the Nova project.[20] Marvel Studios was taking a slower developmental timeline for the series by February 2023 amid Disney's larger decision to scale back content output and costs.[44]
The first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is scheduled to premiere in 2024.[66] In July 2022, a second season was revealed to be in development. It was originally announced as Spider-Man: Sophomore Year,[23] continuing the naming convention of the series' original title, Spider-Man: Freshman Year.[67]
Notes
^Beginning with Daredevil: Born Again (2025), Marvel Studios shifted their creative philosophy to a more traditional television development process, moving away from head writers and began to hire dedicated showrunners for their series.[45] The showrunner title applies to
Andrew Guest on Wonder Man.[46]