Marvel announced Phase 4 at SDCC

[sholio]

Here's the list!

My unpopular(?) Marvel opinion is that I'm kinda hitting superhero burnout. I'm not that enthused about anything upcoming, and I think it's mainly because I just kind of want it to stop for awhile. They built up for ten years to their ~big finale~ and then put out the next movie in the franchise two months later! Let it breathe, guys.

That being said, the handful of things I'm looking forward to ...


Shang-Chi (Feb. 2021) - I think this might be the thing I'm looking forward to most! From what vanishingly little I know about it so far, it looks super fun, and also refreshingly disconnected from most of the rest of the franchise and unlikely to be huge and bombastic, which I gotta tell you is mostly what I want at this point. Except then there's also ...

Doctor Strange 2 (May 2021) - I didn't actually realize I was looking forward to this but apparently I am?! It may be terrible, but it will probably be entertaining and pretty. MULTIVERSE!

Thor 4: Love and Thunder (Nov 2021) - Lady Thor! Moar Valkyrie! Taika Waititi is back to direct! I am THERE.

Unfortunately that's about it, as far as personal excitement is concerned. I may check out the Falcon & Winter Soldier and Scarlet Witch shows, I'm sort of tentatively curious about the Loki one but still too annoyed that it's pre-character-development 2012 Loki to really have feelings about it, and apparently there's also something called "What If?" that will involve a number of established characters and I really hope is what it sounds like, an Elseworlds kind of thing.

No dates yet for Black Panther 2 (which I'm looking forward to, and I think it's weird they're pushing it back for a bunch of new stuff given how well the first movie did) or GotG 3 (which I wish I was more excited about, but the Gamora thing killed most of my interest). And I still miss my Netflix shows.

What are you looking forward to? My normal spoilerphobe policy is on hold for this; feel free to talk about anything that's been revealed about the upcoming, unreleased shows/movies so far, since there isn't much yet.

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

Honestly I'm reaching superhero burn out too and never thought I'd say that. I'm mostly looking forward to Doctor Strange, mostly because I identify with him a little too much.

[sholio]

Yeah, I didn't think I had a superhero limit but I'm kinda getting there. Or I guess the problem is, I can't keep getting invested in new superheroes and new casts. I wish they'd work more with the ones they have instead of constantly throwing new ones in!

But yeah, I'm looking forward to the new Strange movie a lot more than I thought I was going to.

[amalthia]

I'm looking forward to the next Thor movie and the Eternals. Black Widow that includes Rachel Weiss has my interest. :)

[sholio]

The Black Widow movie also has David Harbour from Stranger Things! I think I'd be more enthused about it except I'm not really feeling the Cold War spy thing right now. Hopefully I'll be more interested when it comes out.

And yeah, I think for me right now Eternals is suffering from the "don't know if I want to learn a whole new cast of characters" problem, but I'm cautiously optimistic; I do like ensemble casts. :D

[saraht]

What If

[sholio]

So the Marvel version of Elseworlds, basically.

(We talked about it before, but...)

[sheron]

I find it absolutely impossible to care about post-Av4 stuff in the same way as I cared about it so far. I mean, with the original Avengers team gone it's kind of poof! as far as my interest. I do hope Thor 4 is fun! But I don't feel truly fannish about it. It's one of those things I"ll see eventually.

Of all things, I'm perhaps most excited to see what they do with Sam-Bucky and with the Black Widow (which was confirmed post-CW, I hope it doesn't trample on my CW feels!), but this too is interest of that casual-fannish variety.

I was into this universe before I was into it and I'm okay just watching these shows as they come.

Except FFH. Donowant!

Re: (We talked about it before, but...)

[sholio]

Yeah, I think what they really should have done was given Endgame space to feel like an ending, before launching into a bunch of new stuff. I think between that and the cancellations of the Netflix shows, I just can't really muster up a lot of enthusiasm for a bunch of new movies right now. Like, sure, if you want to have your big apocalyptic finish, go for it, but don't put up another movie 0.2 seconds later and expect everyone to be just as enthusiastic about it.

[muccamukk]

No dates on Captain Marvel 2, either. Jane Foster as Thor sounds really fun though. I'm impressed that they got Portman back.

[sholio]

Not gonna lie, I thought Portman was done with the MCU! I guess if Marvel is like "here's a wheelbarrow full of money and also we want you to play Thor", nobody in their right mind is going to say no.

[frith_in_thorns]

I've always felt a bit sad I haven't been more into the MCU. But I started with Winter Soldier, which was rather peak My Interests, and then everything else... was not as fun for me personally. (Except Black Panther.) Maybe Falcon & Winter Soldier will be fun?

ETA: I have actually only seen about half the MCU movies in a rather scattershot way, so I don't have the most overwhelming basis on which to comment on them generally I guess...

Looking forward very much to more of The Expanse, though! (And surprisingly not terribly fussed about ST:Picard, but then I never actually watched TNG so maybe I should.)

[sholio]

Well, you're into what you're into; nothing wrong with that! And at this point it's kind of the multi-tentacled monster that's taken over fandom, so... ESCAPE WHILE THERE'S STILL HOPE FOR YOU!!

I need to watch Expanse. At this point there is this ever growing pile of hard-ish and space-opera-ish SF that Orion has seen and liked and keeps gently shoving in my direction (Expanse, the Cluster books, the Three-Body-Problem books) that I just keep ... not. XD I will get to it eventually, I swear.

[ratcreature]

I'm looking forward to the Same & Bucky series.

[sholio]

Yeah, I think it looks like fun! I wish it was happening a few years ago when I was more excited about both characters, but who knows, it might get me back into them. :D

[liz_mo]

I reached Super Hero Burnout years ago and am mad at them for doing that because I wish I could get more excited about things.
I WANT to be more excited about some characters but it‘s all meh and that is sad.

[chelseagirl]

Yes. I am not rushing out to theaters anymore. Although Shang Chi may be the exception because I have loved Tony Leung for many years and Simu Liu is adorable on Kim's Convenience. Otherwise, it's gonna take Carol to get me into a theater . . .

[kore]

I just feel really removed from it at this point, in a way I didn't even with the Endgame stuff. I could see watching a lot of this on TV in a kind of "yeah let's see what's on Netflix" way, but it feels like they stomped on my little fannish fingers as I was clinging desperately to the Cliffside of Still Giving a Fannish Damn. Which is LOL dumb, because it's a giant megacorporation. Ever since I was a little kid I've been told I Just Take Things Too Hard and I don't enjoy Disney Owns The World Inc. basically hammering the message home.

(But then Cap Marvel and Black Panther were so great though. idk.)

[kore]

I feel like I would have been really excited about a lot of these before Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame War, blah blah. I am excited there are more diverse writers and directors, and a lot more diversity in the casts. I really love What If? stuff. I love Wanda but am reeeeeally wary of how they might treat her after the terrible shit they did in comics (but Carol also has an awful comics backstory, which they rightly just ignored). I am REALLY into Sam Cap. The Jane Thor story is the only Thor run I bought in trade (okay, except for the Battleworld Thor frog one). But it's just hard for me to join in the squee about the Nat movie without thinking, YOU KILLED MY GIRL. Which is childish and grudgey, but I'm still mad about that, and that they didn't give her a solo movie until TEN YEARS after she showed up and everyone is saying it's too late. sigh. There's a lot of potentially great stuff here, and right now I'm sick and bummed out, so maybe I'll be more excited later. IDK.

Not to mention, altho this is REALLY grudgey, I don't feel so much like watching the Disney+ shows after the Netflix shows I was watching regularly since 2015 all got chopped in the most awful way.

[chelseagirl]

Definitely not paying for Disney+. Hoping a friend will have it for the few must-watches. (Which would be Peggy on What If?)

[trobadora]

I want to be more excited about Black Widow. A year ago I would have been over the moon. :(

Jane!Thor sounds good, but I'm a bit annoyed that we get a fourth Thor movie when Captain America didn't even get a proper third.

I love What If? but don't really want it in the MCU? Not now that the main timeline is such a mess. Somehow that takes all the fun out of it.

I've never even heard of Shang-Chi! But it could be fun.

[kore]

I want to be more excited about Black Widow. A year ago I would have been over the moon. :(

I really WANT to be excited about it. I think if they hadn't killed off Nat I would be. Then again if they hadn't killed off Nat my whole relationship to Endgame would be very different.

Jane!Thor sounds good, but I'm a bit annoyed that we get a fourth Thor movie when Captain America didn't even get a proper third.

And Nat gets one!....after she dies.

I love What If? but don't really want it in the MCU?

I'm hoping it'll be like the comics, a standalone anthology of happy crack. I loved What If issues and used to collect them. The recent ones were seriously Glum and Glummer, though.

[leesa_perrie]

I haven't reached burn out yet, but then I don't watch all the TV shows (and am a season or more behind on Agents atm too, which makes me sad and I must do something about that soon), so it's mainly the movies. I really enjoyed the recent Spiderman one, much better than the first one imho.

I'm looking forward to GotG 3, but then I'm not into the fandom side of things or the shippy side either. I'm curious as to where things will go now - though please, if Thor's in it, let's get the 'whose is bigger' thing (if you see what I mean) over and done with. MEN!! :D

I'm also looking forward to Doctor Strange 2, Thor 4 and Black Panther 2. I don't really know much about the other movies, though Black Widow and Shang-Chi look interesting. Not sure about Eternals, but I suppose I'll have to if it fits in with the rest (which reminds me, really need to watch Captain Marvel soon - that does look good).

As for the TV shows, I'll give Loki a try and maybe the Hawkeye one, but the TV side hasn't really caught my attention. I think I prefer my superheroes in movies more than TV, which is probably why Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash seem to have fallen off my to-watch list (yes, I know, DC not Marvel, but still, superheroes).

I've never watched the X-Men/mutants side of Marvel (with the exception of the first Deadpool movie, which Jayne made me watch), so Mutants doesn't interest me. Not sure about Fantastic Four, I'll probably decide nearer the time on that one. I'm not sure why X-Men hasn't appealed to me *shrugs*

[schneefink]

Yeah, I too am getting tired of superheroes. I want to be excited, but it's a LOT.

[lazaefair]

Totally hear everyone on superhero saturation/burnout...and subsequently really bitter that all the non-white non-male movies started coming out only after people started burning out. Hurts when something you've been looking forward to for half a decade (Shang-Chi) gets met with only mild-to-middling excitement in fandom. If only, if only, if only the representation had been in the MCU from the start. If only.

[sholio]

*hugs you* I'm sorry. It sucks.

If it helps any, I'm seeing quite a bit of excitement for Shang-Chi around my corners of the internet, more so than for really anything except the new Thor (and that one's got 7 movies' worth of hype behind it and a popular director), so it might yet turn into a BP-style runaway hit. But that's not the same as the Next Iron Man, I know.

[ellenmillion]

I finally watched Captain Marvel on the plane back from Georgia (and STILL haven't seen Endgame)... I enjoyed it a great deal, though I was thoroughly spoiled of course.

I'm not a raving fangirl to start with, but I really do feel fairly saturated in MCU movies. Okay, maybe in movies altogether... my to-be-watched list keeps getting longer and my movie-watching time keeps getting rarer. I'm definitely not their target audience.

[sophia_sol]

yeahhhh I've been feeling rather burnt out on superheroes for a few years at this point. There was a time when I would excitedly go see every new movie Marvel put out, and it's sad to no longer be there, but.....there I find myself. At this point I'm only seeing Marvel things where I see very good reviews of them AND they are featuring at least one of a) a person of colour, b) a woman, c) Thor.

[unavee]

I got burnt out a few years back, which oddly seems to have made me feel more optimistic for the upcoming phase. I reluctantly went to watch Infinity War with a friend, pretty sure that I would hate it -- and I'm never watching it again, but it was better than I expected. Then I watched Endgame feeling similarly little investment in it. I did like Ragnarok, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel.

There's so little info out yet, so I guess I'm still in a "hey, nothing to contradict this yet" mood. I'm vaguely hoping they feel like they have a safety net/audience from the previous phases and will branch out artistically so that the stories/characters end up appealing more to what I like? I mean, I'm not holding out a lot of hope but. At least now they're diversifying more with the cast and directors.

I think I'm also most looking forward to Shang-Chi! On Black Widow, I'm mostly curious what kind of story and tone they decide to go with. Also curious about the Blade movie.

[sholio]

I think honestly a little bit of burnout and a break is nice every now and then! Various branches of the MCU have been my main areas of fannish interest for a few years now, and I think that's part of why I'm feeling burnout now.

[yalumesse]

I'm only looking forward to Loki and T4or (Black Widow could be good but I've been burned by hope for Tasha before), but What If sounds like it could be either awesome or awful. I remember something from a while back about how one WhatIf will be Peggy as Captain America, and if so I AM HERE FOR IT FOREVER. I might even consider forgiving that final scene in Endgame. Maybe.

[alessandriana]

I'm still enjoying them, and will likely see all of these, but I don't go on opening night (or even opening weekend) anymore. I'm definitely more invested in the individual movies than the big crossover events these days. The Falcon & Winter Soldier series is probably the one I'm most excited about (that or the new Thor), but augh, I don't want to subscribe to a new streaming service just for this...

...My Young Avenger fangirl heart is both thrilled and terrified that we're getting Kate Bishop. One step closer to the Young Avengers! But that also means one step closer to potentially totally screwing up Young Avengers. So. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sholio]

Yeah, with Cassie being aged up and Kate coming into the MCU, I definitely think they're heading for Young Avengers! Which, yeah, could be really great or really terrible. I think that's one that might do best as a TV series rather than a movie, to do justice to all the characters.

[sovay]

They built up for ten years to their ~big finale~ and then put out the next movie in the franchise two months later! Let it breathe, guys.

Seriously! I hadn't realized there was a next wave of anything coming. Now I feel vaguely suffocated.

[oracne]

I strongly suspect I shall see all of these in lemming-like fashion. Of course, I don't expect a lot from action movies, so I will likely enjoy even mediocore ones so long as Shit Blows Up Real Good.

[lokifan]

Yeah, I'm reaching Meh. I'll be excited for Thor 4 when it comes and I'll check out the TV, esp Loki and Falcon & Winter Soldier, but... meh.