Marvel’s MCU is easily the most successful multi-franchise interconnected universe of stories ever made. That’s despite the lackluster MCU Phase 4 and Disney and Marvel’s clear push to rein in the Multiverse Saga. A feat that no other studio has even really tried to accomplish. Or they failed miserably to replicate Marvel’s success. But Marvel’s MCU as we know it might come to an end after the Avengers battle Kang (Jonathan Majors) in Secret Wars.
It’s not that Disney and Marvel will give up on making money from the highly successful universe of superhero stories. The Multiverse Saga might lay the foundation for a big change that the Avengers universe will need in the coming years. It’s something any diehard fan can speculate about with ease. But there’s an actual leak detailing the big delays coming to the Multiverse Saga that explains what might happen after Secret Wars.
We’ll warn you that massive spoilers might follow ahead.
Marvel might delay MCU Phase 5, 6, and 7 releases
An increasing number of reports say that Marvel is reconsidering the plotted course for the Multiverse Saga following the responses to Phase 4. The Quantumania reception further signals the need to improve storylines and visual effects, and the need to tell superhero stories that are at least as good as Marvel’s Phase 3.
Kevin Feige and Bob Iger teased in separate interviews that delays are in order for the MCU without detailing the particulars of this big change in strategy. We’ve already witnessed a new wave of delays, with The Marvels being the latest example.
The Disney Plus shows might see the most significant delays from now on. Feige said in an interview that Marvel wants to give fans more breathing room between releases. Disney might even go for fewer new shows each year.
Any change to the Disney Plus roster might impact the release schedule of movies. After all, these projects are all connected. Add the need to improve the quality of the Multiverse Saga, and you have an even bigger reason to delay upcoming movies.
A big leak earlier this week said that massive delays are in order for Phase 5, 6, and 7. The latter hasn’t even been announced, and we expected the MCU Phase 7 to follow Secret Wars.
If the leak is accurate, Marvel might end the Multiverse Saga with Phase 7. The final chapter would include a two-part Avengers finale, as Secret Wars would be split up into two episodes.
How the MCU ends after Avengers: Secret Wars
The mods at MarvelStudiosSpoilers say trusted sources claim the Multiverse Saga will end with Phase 7 in 2028. That’s when the second part of Secret Wars would hit theaters.
Unverified sources also gave the Redditors the supposed new Multiverse Saga slate that mentions purported release dates for Phases 5 through 7.
The same sources explained that after Secret Wars, Marvel will change its strategy:
Marvel recognizes no one will want to jump in after Secret Wars because the hours of content could jump into multiple hundreds, especially by canonizing things like the SSU, TASM, FoXMen, Netflix, Hulu, and ABC shows and a bunch of past projects, so the plan is to (after Secret Wars) do a similar thing to comics Ultimate universe, basically a fresh start universe running alongside the main one to try get new viewers, and it’ll have less content then the MCU to use it as a permanent jumping on point as the plan is for the MCU to one day end.
That’s to say that Marvel won’t abandon the MCU, but it’ll shift the story into a different kind of adventure. Moreover, by the end of the Multiverse Saga, the Avengers roster will be completely different, with major characters from the Infinity Saga retiring for good:
By the end of Phase 7 or 8, no characters (at least major ones) from the Infinity Saga will be left, with the Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars being their massive last hurrah, and the ones that remain for Phase 8 will be gone by the end, or at least sidelined similar to Steve Rogers in Endgame with the chance of maybe coming back for the finale, and that’s not a guess, that’s Marvel’s intention.
While we can’t verify any of this, it all makes sense. The MCU will need this big change by the time we get to Secret Wars. And we’ll point out that Marvel is yet to make any standalone X-Men movies.
Furthermore, this Reddit leak doesn’t mention any X-Men projects for Phase 7. Therefore, if these claims are accurate, the mutants might come to the MCU only after, well, the MCU as we know it dies.
