![1st May: The Four Seasons (1981), 1hr 47m [PG] (6.4/10)](https://occ-0-82-1001.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/0Qzqdxw-HG1AiOKLWWPsFOUDA2E/AAAABdE0VFwGZj0PGngCEE-lccDs_P9cWG3e1c1LUs63chCJAaF6q7On50Og126WdqNiCauDT7HEQ6-F943VL_qS6XN_14Af_Dr0o5KW.jpg?r=fc7 "1st May: The Four Seasons (1981), 1hr 47m [PG] (6.4/10)")
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to make a blockbuster return in 2026 with two proven franchises: Spider-Man and the Avengers. The House of Ideas also has some compelling new TV shows arriving this year, with a new season of Daredevil: Born Again, the superhero comedy Wonder Man, and the return of the Vision.
In 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger laid out a plan to reduce Marvel Studios’ output and focus on quality, and that mandate is evident in Marvel’s upcoming theatrical slate. In fact, there’s just one Marvel Studios movie slated to hit theaters in 2027: Avengers: Secret Wars.
Marvel Studios’ currently announced plans stretch out through 2028, when it plans to release a whopping four movies in one year. Here’s every planned future Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and Disney Plus show.
2026 Marvel Studios releases
Daredevil: Born Again season 2
Release date: March 4, on Disney Plus
Daredevil returns in 2026, and he’s bringing back (at least) one of The Defenders in the continuation of the Disney Plus series.
The eight-episode season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again will (once again) star Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, Wilson Bethel as Benjamin “Dex” Poindexter/Bullseye, Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk, and Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne/Swordsman. Matthew Lillard and Lili Taylor are joining the cast for season 2, and Krysten Ritter will reprise her role as Jessica Jones in season 2.
The Punisher: One Last Kill
Release date: May 12, on Disney Plus
Jon Bernthal returns as Frank Castle/The Punisher in a new Disney Plus one shot, a la Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special. In The Punisher: One Last Kill, the vigilante “searches for meaning beyond revenge, when an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.”
The Punisher: One Last Kill is executive produced by Jon Bernthal and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, who co-wrote the special with Bernthal. Jason R. Moore co-stars as Curtis Hoyle, a close friend of Frank’s and a former U.S. Navy Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman (SARC). Hoyle was previously featured in Netflix’ Marvel Television series The Punisher.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Release date: July 31, in movie theaters
Sony and Marvel Studios’ follow-up to 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home will bring star Tom Holland back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a new type of adventure. When we last saw Holland’s Peter Parker, all memories of Spider-Man’s secret identity had been wiped from the public consciousness. Brand New Day will give Spider-Man “a fresh start,” according to Holland. The actor said in an appearance on Good Morning America in 2024 that Brand New Day is “a little different to anything we’ve done before, but I think the fans are gonna really respond to it.”
The fourth MCU Spider-Man movie is being helmed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton. Joining Holland in Brand New Day are Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and new-to-the-MCU actors Stranger Things star Sadie Sink and The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas. Tramell Tillman (Severance) and Marvin Jones III are also new to the cast.
Returning to their MCU roles are Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/the Punisher, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion.
X-Men ’97 season 2
Release date: summer 2026, on Disney Plus
A second season of the animated series X-Men ’97 is expected to arrive on Disney Plus sometime in the summer of 2026, with a third season confirmed to be in development.
Avengers: Doomsday
Release date: Dec. 18, in movie theaters
In 2026, Marvel Studios will return to its most successful sub-franchise, and also to the strategy that saw it close out Phase 3 with a pair of Avengers movies, Infinity War and Endgame. Originally announced as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2022, the movie has undergone a big shift. It’s now Avengers: Doomsday, and MCU veteran Robert Downey, Jr. will take on the role of Doctor Doom, with Joe and Anthony Russo also returning to direct what they’re calling a direct sequel to Endgame.
As revealed in an epically long Marvel Studios livestream, the casts of Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, Fantastic Four: First Steps, and a bunch of Fox-era X-Men movies will also appear in Avengers: Doomsday. In a series of teaser trailers, Marvel has also confirmed Chris Evans return to the MCU as Steve Rogers and Chris Hemsworth as Thor.
Prior to Avengers: Doomsday’s release in December, Marvel plans to rerelease Avengers: Endgame in movie theaters. That movie’s encore theatrical run arrives on Sept. 25, 2026.
VisionQuest
Release date: TBA, on Disney Plus
Marvel is giving Paul Bettany’s Vision his own post-WandaVision spinoff show, focusing on the duplicate White Vision who battled the original Vision in the finale of that series. (Well, Wanda’s resurrected Vision… look, it’s a little complicated.) Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas is reported to be showrunner on the series, which is slated for a debut some time in 2026.
Joining Bettany in VisionQuest are James Spader, who returns as Ultron; Todd Stashwick as the bounty hunter Paladin; and Ruaridh Mollica as Tommy Maximoff/Thomas Shepherd/Speed, the son of Wanda Maximoff in a new body. Again, it’s a little complicated! Faran Tahir reprises his role as Raza from the original Iron Man.
There’s also going to be a ton of robot/AI people in VisionQuest, including T’Nia Miller as Jocasta, Emily Hampshire as EDITH, Orla Brady as FRIDAY, Henry Lewis as DUM-E, Jonathan Sayer as U, and James D’Arcy as JARVIS.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2
Release date: late 2026, on Disney Plus
The second season of animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, featuring the further adventures of a (non-MCU) Peter Parker and alter-ego Spider-Man, is coming in late 2026.
2027 Marvel Studios releases
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Release date: June 18, 2027
Miles Morales’ animated trilogy is set to (finally) conclude in the summer of 2027 with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Spider-fans will finally get to see what happened to Miles Morales after the events of Across the Spider-Verse, in which Miles was left stranded in a reality different from his own, one in which he became the Prowler instead of Spider-Man.
Avengers: Secret Wars
Release date: Dec. 17, 2027
Avengers: Secret Wars will close out Phase 6 and end what Marvel calls the Multiverse Saga, the way Avengers: Endgame concluded the Infinity Saga. Again, the casts of Marvel’s other films will reappear in Secret Wars, and proven Avengers directors the Russo brothers will helm this one. The title refers to a cosmic comics crossover event about collapsing multiverses that could even herald a complete reboot of the MCU.
Plot details about Secret Wars are under wraps, obviously, and are dependent on the events of Doomsday. Whatever the case, it will be a major event for the MCU.
Announced Marvel Studios projects with no release date
Armor Wars
Announced way back in 2020, Armor Wars was originally intended to be a Disney Plus series, but was eventually reworked as a feature film. Don Cheadle was attached to return as James Rhodes/War Machine, and explore what would happen if Tony Stark’s Iron Man technology fell into the wrong hands.
With a name like Armor Wars, it seems like a safe bet that Dominique Thorne’s Ironheart (and anyone else wearing Iron Man-style armor) may also be involved. Walton Goggins is also set to reprise his role as Sonny Burch from Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Black Panther 3
Marvel promised at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that “Black Panther will return.” Now, after Denzel Washington revealed he’s going to be in the next Black Panther movie, and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler confirmed he’s back for a third movie (after he gets his X-Files reboot out the door), we can finally call this one official. Where Black Panther 3 will go remains unclear, but the events of the two-part Avengers saga will likely have a pretty big impact.
Marvel has a lot of post-credits promises to make good on, but it seems pretty safe to say we’ll see Black Panther in theaters before some other announced projects. Like, uh…
Blade
Originally slated for 2023, Marvel’s attempt to make a new Blade movie has hit multiple speed bumps. Following Wesley Snipes’ incarnation of the vampire hunter will be no mean feat, but Marvel couldn’t have recruited a better actor to do it: the brilliant Mahershala Ali. However, Blade has been fraught with production problems and personnel changes: Directors Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange were both previously attached but dropped out, and multiple writers have come and gone.
Blade was previously booked for a Nov. 7, 2025 release in theaters, but has since been removed from Disney’s schedule. New reports indicate Marvel has paused production on Blade, so it’s unclear if this daywalker will ever see the light of day. Maybe Blade’s claim in Deadpool & Wolverine was right.
Daredevil: Born Again season 3
Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again is getting a third season, which is expected to start filming in 2026. It’s possible the third season of Born Again might arrive as early as 2027, if Marvel can keep to its annual season schedule. In addition to Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the third (and final?) season of The Man Without Fear’s Disney Plus show will bring back some other well-known Defenders.
Wonder Man season 2
After a delightful first season, Wonder Man will return to Disney Plus with a second season. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley are expected to return to their respective roles as Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery.
Untitled Shang-Chi sequel
A sequel to 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is in development at Marvel Studios, with little known about it so far, other than that Simu Liu will reprise the title role. Liu is set to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe first with Avengers: Doomsday.
Untitled X-Men movie
Marvel has brought a handful of 20th Century Fox-era X-Men actors into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, typically through multiverse shenanigans. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique, and James Marsden’s Cyclops have all made (or will make) MCU appearances in projects like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels, and Avengers: Doomsday. But a new era of X-Men is coming to the MCU.
Plans for the next X-Men movie are largely unknown at this stage, but the untitled and undated film at least already has a director: Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier. Expect some fresh faces too, as Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige says the new X-Men will be “a very youth-oriented, focused, and cast movie.”
Given that Marvel Studios has four movies on the calendar for 2028, X-Men might be one of those, as Marvel hopes to keep interest in the MCU stoked after 2027’s Secret Wars.
