Marvel reveals plans for Phase IV, announces Black Widow, Blade, The Eternals, Thor 4, Doctor Strange 2

Arguably one of the most successful years for Marvel, 2019 brought in a spate of successes for the movie juggernaut as it doled out Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The studio made certain big announcements about its upcoming films and shows at the San Diego Comic Con on Saturday.

Here are the upcoming productions:

Blade

Two-time Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali is going to be Blade. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige closed out an epic presentation Saturday at Comic-Con with the news. Ali joined his fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe stars on stage and simply put on a black baseball hat that had the word Blade. No other details, including a release date or director, were announced.

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Black Widow

Don’t worry about the events of Avengers: Endgame, Scarlett Johansson will definitely be back as Black Widow in the long awaited stand-alone film. Just 30 days into production, Johansson introduced teaser footage of hand-to-hand combat in Budapest to a big audience at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. Black Widow will also star Stranger Things breakout David Harbour, Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh, who plays a sister figure to Johansson’s Natasha. It’s set to hit theaters on 1 May, 2020.

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Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor is going to be a woman played by Natalie Portman in the fourth installment in the series about the god of Thunder. Director Taika Waititi dropped the hammer on the Hall H audience Saturday at Comic-Con. Portman played the character Jane in the first two Thor movies. Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Waititi have revealed the title and logo. Thor: Love and Thunder is set for release on 5 November, 2021. Waititi says he was inspired by the comic source material The Mighty Thor which introduces female Thor.

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is going to be the second major film of Marvel Studios’ Phase Four. Marvel President Kevin Feige told an audience of 8,000 screaming fans at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday night that the film will be released in theaters on 12 February, 2021.

Unknown actor Simu Liu has been cast to lead Shang-Chi alongside Awkwafina. Chinese actor Tony Leung is playing The Mandarin, and Destin Daniel Cretton, who helmed the indie Short Term 12, is directing.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Feige also announced that the Doctor Strange sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be released on 7 May, 2021. Scott Derrickson is returning to direct stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen. The audience also sang happy birthday to Cumberbatch.

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The Eternals

Marvel Studios is kicking off Phase Four with high-wattage star power. Angelina Jolie surprised fans at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday evening along with the cast of the upcoming film The Eternals. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says it will hit theaters 6 November, 2020. Jolie was joined on stage by fellow cast members Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Bryan Tyree Henry and Salma Hayek, as well as director Chloe Zhao. Jolie says she’s already in training and is going to work 10 times harder than she has on any action film before.

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Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ended this summer with Spider-Man: Far From Home and Avengers: Endgame.

In other news, Endgame has officially surpassed Avatar as the highest-grossing film ever.

(With inputs from The Associated Press)