As fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe pick their jaws up off the floor following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is already looking ahead to the future — to 2025, to be exact.
Although next year’s Avengers 4 is marked as the “end,” Feige has promised that the MCU will carry on beyond the concluding battle next year against Thanos. Considering the already-announced Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel and the upcoming merger to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the fold, those words are nothing new. However, meetings are already taking place for a slate of film still seven years away.
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Speaking with The Associated Press, Feige reassured fans, “We’re always thinking ahead.” Although he remained coy about what follows Avengers 4, he promised that the world’s highest-grossing film franchise is far from over.
“Just when people think they can pin us down, we go somewhere else,” he said, “and that’s going to happen again after Infinity War in the build-up to the next Avengers film. And we had meetings earlier today about 2024 and 2025.”
Feige laughed at assumptions that Thor: Ragnarok‘s comedic style set the tone for the rest of the MCU. or that fans can guess what movies are coming next. Committed to looking forward instead of backward, Feige insisted he isn’t running a rear-view mirror studio.
Disney has already set release dates for untitled Marvel movies through until 2022, but Feige is looking to take the MCU even further. Over the past 10 years, audiences have enjoyed 19 Marvel movies (and counting), but with an influx of new characters from the Fox deal, and promises of a cosmic MCU, there is no shortage of ideas.
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Feige has already said the studio has another 20 movies planned beyond Phase Three, and fans are already penciling in the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, the Black Widow standalone and the newly discussed Eternals movie. But it’s anyone’s guess as to what else is in the pipeline between now and 2025.
In theaters now, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston, and Josh Brolin. The film arrives April 27 everywhere.