There's a 4chan roundup of MCU rumours (mirrored on Reddit, via the link, and getting picked up elsewhere) that is worth going through, although I'll preface this by saying there's not much new here:
Black Widow, The Eternals, Black Panther 2, Shang-Chi, Doctor Strange 2, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are in active development and there are plans for Thor 4, Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, New Avengers, Young Avengers and Dark Avengers.
The only surprise is the claim that Nova is in active development--I use the word "surprise" loosely because Kevin Feige has been talking about the character for years (he was even in a version of Infinity War, which is the third time he's been cut from a film). The seven films listed as in active development are one shy of the eight slots on the current MCU slate (leaving one open)--if I was going to pick from the others I'd think Captain Marvel 2 or an Avengers film is the most likely missing title. All these films, incidentally, have been rumoured over the past year or more, so there's nothing new except the developmental note. Among common rumours all that's missing is a Thunderbolts film, which was part of the Roger Wardell rumours from December (although you could argue Dark Avengers is essentially the same thing).
Falcon & Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki and Hawkeye are being developed for Disney+, but the characters will still be featured in the movies. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four will not appear until Phase 5.
The first part repeats what we already know and the latter is similar to what Feige has said, although he hasn't specifically ruled out the Fox characters appearing in the next five years.
There won’t be another decade-spanning overarching storyline like the Infinity Saga, but there will be overarching “mini-arcs” spanning 3-6 films.
I've heard this before, but I can't immediately find a reference for it.
There will be a clearer divide between grounded MCU and cosmic MCU going forward, each having their own core casts, specific tones and overarching storylines.
I think this divide is more clearly parsed by saying earth-based and space-based heroes. Through the first three phases only the Guardians were separate from the main MCU. Undoubtedly future Thor and Captain Marvel films, along with The Eternals, will occupy that space (as would a Nova film).
Norman Osborn will be the main antagonists of [the] grounded MCU and is expected to appear in several movies provided Marvel and Sony renew their contract.
This echoes prior rumours (originally from THS in October (possibly from the massive leak from May, 2018) and then 4chan in January), but is completely dependent on the Sony deal (something likely already resolved one way or another, since Sony need the wheels moving on the third Spider-Man film in order for it to come out on time in 2021).
Chris Hemsworth renewed his contract for several more Marvel movies and is expected to appear in both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Thor 4.
This was already clear (a future Thor film was teased around the release of Ragnarok and the ending of Endgame explicitly showed his participation in Guardians 3).
Chris Pratt also has several movies left in his contract and is expected to continue even though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is intended as the team’s final appearance in the MCU.
If true this does surprise me, because Guardians 3 would be his fifth MCU film, so what kind of contract did he sign? Regardless, there's no reason to let a still young, popular actor go, especially when his character has a lot of room to grow.
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME - Mysterio is from a parallel dimension, but is a criminal there and is controlling the Elementals in order to masquerade as a hero and usurp Iron Man. OsCorp is revealed to have purchased Stark Tower.
Much of this goes back to a May, 4chan post, but with the updates about Mysterio (from another Earth) and firming up the speculation that the Stark Tower is now OsCorp. I'm not clear on how he can usurp Iron Man when he's dead, however.
BLACK WIDOW – Florence Pugh is introduced as Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow.
If true this would actually make me interested in the film (by connecting it to the present), although it begs the question of how much of a prequel it is (the rumours have consistently claimed it occurs before Iron Man 2 (usually 2006, but sometimes significantly earlier--1999 according to Conrad), since the time gap would make the 23-year old Pugh far too old for such a role in the present (17 or 24 years later). I think it makes more sense to have the film take place either during the five-years of the Snap or just prior to Infinity War (there also remains the possibility that she's frozen, ala Winter Soldier, in which case the time gap doesn't matter as much). We know Pugh is playing a spy (as reported by THR) and that this apprentice role would echo Hawkeye training his replacement Kate Bishop on Disney+. Incidentally, a new Black Widow opens the door to getting her comicbook relationship with Daredevil (whose rights return to Marvel next year).
THE ETERNALS – Richard Madden is playing the main character, Ikaris. The Eternals will [be] pivotal to cosmic MCU.
Already officially revealed on both counts.
BLACK PANTHER 2 – Killmonger will appear in the spiritual plane. Queen Divine Justice will be featured. Movie will be political.
I thought the end of Black Panther made the former pretty obvious (especially after the strong reaction to Killmonger), but the rest is new speculation. I've been hoping we'll see Storm in this film, but the timing might not work out for that (Ryan Coogler has, in theory, been working on the story since October and only had access to her since April).
SHANG-CHI – The Mandarin is rumored to be Shang-Chi’s father.
This is an idea shared by myself and Robert Meyer Burnette back in March. It's perhaps the only film where you could use the Mandarin and avoid the racist issues associated with the character (ala M'Baku in Black Panther); it would be a nice tie-in to the second and third Iron Man films--perhaps making room for War Machine to appear.
DOCTOR STRANGE 2 – Christine Palmer, Wong, Mordo and the Ancient One will appear. Lord Nightmare will be the villain. Mordo will be a complex, sympathetic antagonist like Loki. Clea and Brother Vodoo will be featured. Asian actresses eyed for Clea. Parts of the movie will be set in the 1980’s.
This is the Wardell rumour with the added expected return of Mordo and Christine Palmer.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 – The High Evolutionary will be the main villain and Rocket’s creator. Rocket will fall in love with another of the High Evolutionary’s experiments, Lylla. Drax will find out that his daughter is still alive. Star-Lord and Nebula will become closer as they search for Gamora. Thor will be in the movie and meet Beta Ray Bill, who might be another of the High Evolutionary’s experiments. Quasar and Adam Warlock also rumored to appear, with Zac Effron reportedly eyed for Adam.
This is also a Wardell rumour (link above and partially confirmed by Charles Murphy), but with the High Evolutionary specifically designated as the villain and adding Beta Ray Bill, Quasar, and Adam Warlock (whose appearance was set up in Guardians 2). I'm not a big Zac Effron fan, but if he's cast I won't judge him until I see him in the role.
LOKI – Anthology chronicling how Loki shaped human historical events.
HAWKEYE – Hawkeye has to come out of retirement (again) when troublemaker Kate Bishop begins running around claiming to be the new Hawkeye and gets into trouble with the mob. Ends up training her to take his place. Supernatural mobster The Hood and Hawkeye's evil brother Trickshot might appear.
FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER – Falcon and Bucky have to work together with a new government-sanctioned Captain America to stop terrorists from destroying the United Nations. New Cap eventually goes psycho and they have to stop him. Seems like it'll lead to Sam becoming the new Cap after all.
WANDAVISION - Vision gets rebuild, Wanda tries to give him a soul and he instead gets possessed by a dark force. Allegedly it's more of a psychological thriller with a 1950's aesthetic. Wanda and Vision end up living in the suburbs where the neighborhood is racist against Wanda's robosexuality. The witch Agatha Harkness might appear.
One thing I've been wondering about for awhile is Quasar--what James Gunn (and Marvel) would want to do with him because on the surface he's not a distinctive hero. I think the latest video from Kinda Culty solves this puzzle. In all the speculative articles I've seen about the character the writers were always referring to the Wendell Vaughn version--the original. However, if this is Phyla-Vell (also known as Martyr/Quasar) it makes much more since, since she is Moondragon's lover and we know Marvel is moving forward with LGBT characters/relationships.
One of the interviews with the Russos' that have come out post-Endgame refutes Kevin Feige's assertion in the fall that the title of the film was always Endgame. The Russo's admitted it was Infinity Gauntlet for quite some time (making sense of Zoe Saldana's faux pas back in April of 2017)--this original title was the 'mild spoiler' they and Feige were worried about (which is why when we got the Endgame reveal they had a hard time explaining away that caution).
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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