Because 2020 was such a challenging year for Hollywood (and movie production in general), it accidentally resulted in the biggest gap between Marvel movie releases we’ve seen in years. That’s a shame for fans of superhero films, but it also gave Marvel the opportunity to get its “Phase 4” release schedule in order. Marvel might have taken a brief break, but it hasn’t gone away. Between films that are already ‘in the can’ and ready to go, and movies that are scheduled to finish production in time to be released this year, 2021 looks set to be a big one for the Disney-owned company.
You might be wondering what Marvel has left to offer after finally completing the “Avengers” saga with “Endgame.” We know that some fans are concerned that Marvel’s only remaining interest is to make money rather than make great films. That’s not strictly true. If it were, the company wouldn’t have discontinued its popular range of online slots in 2018. Marvel-branded attractions had proved themselves to be just as popular at online casinos where you can see top 5 superhero games on the Rose Slots blog. That might be part of Disney’s overall strategy to make itself more family-friendly – a vision that apparently doesn’t allow for the existence of branded online slots or any other form of adult entertainment – but it does at least confirm that money isn’t everything to Marvel.
If you’ve been missing your Marvel Cinematic Universe fix, you won’t have to wait much longer before you get the chance to indulge it again. Here are the highlights of the company’s release schedule for 2021.
Black Widow
“Black Widow” was a casualty of 2020’s cancellations. The film was finished a long time ago, and we were originally supposed to see it in May 2020. That was pushed back to November 2020 and subsequently moved back again to May 2021. Fans were unhappy with the second push back, and star Scarlett Johansson wasn’t best pleased either, but there should be nothing that stops it from reaching movie theater screens at the third time of asking. In terms of continuity, this film will take place between the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” and so it should see the titular hero doing her best to evade the attention of General Ross while doing battle with a mysterious villain known only as “The Taskmaster.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
This film’s overly-long title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but that has no bearing on the quality of what’s expected to be an excellent movie. There’s only been a slight delay with this film’s release, which was originally slated for February 2021 before being nudged to July to make space for “Black Widow.” This story should appeal to fans of Marvel and fans of martial arts films alike, starring Simu Liu as a Kung Fu master who’s forced to face his own past in the name of all that’s good and righteous. This is Shang-Chi’s first major outing at the box office. When you consider the fact that he made his first comic book appearance in 1973, he’s been waiting a long time. Let’s hope the wait proves to be worth it.
The Eternals
Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek are the star names in this mob-handed effort about a gang of immortals who’ve been living on Earth together for more than thirty thousand years. This is probably as close to a sequel to “Endgame” as we’ll ever get from Marvel. It’s set almost immediately after the climax of that film and introduces a new threat known (somewhat unimaginatively) as “The Deviants.” Aside from the A-list women in the lead roles, you can also expect to see Richard Madden and Kit Harrington of “Game of Thrones” fame alongside Don Lee, Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, and many more. An all-star cast doesn’t always guarantee an all-star film, but it certainly doesn’t hurt its chances of becoming one. This film has been pushed back a full year from its intended release date, slipping from November 2020 to November 2021.
Spider-Man 3
We don’t want to promise that this film will reach us in 2021. It looks like it’s going to be a very close-run thing. The first release date of July 2021 always looked too ambitious, and so it was no surprise when it moved to November 2021. Now it’s moved again to December 2021, and so it could easily slide into the beginning of 2022. We shouldn’t be too upset about that, though. We’re lucky we’re getting this film at all. At one point, it appeared to be all but certain that the Spider-Man character would be leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even when it appeared that the character would stick around, there were credible reports that Tom Holland had either quit or been dropped from the part. Thankfully all of those reports proved to be untrue. Holland remains in the role, and Marvel still has hold of the intellectual property. They might have to share that property with Sony, but that’s better than not having any share in it at all! Keep a close eye on this film’s ending because it will apparently set up the next standalone “Doctor Strange” film for 2022.
Four blockbuster movies make for a packed schedule for Marvel in 2021, and don’t forget that this isn’t all the company will be up to. If you haven’t checked out the first few episodes of “WandaVision” already, you’re making a huge mistake. Correct that mistake immediately by looking them up on whatever streaming service carries them in your area, and find out what all the fun is about! Hopefully, we’ll never have to endure another year like 2020, and movie schedules won’t be disrupted in quite such a heinous manner ever again. Marvel has huge plans for its “cinematic universe” for this year, next year, the year after that, and beyond – we’d love it if they were able to proceed with that schedule as planned!