After ten years of long series’ development, Marvel’s phase three was brought to a dramatic conclusion by Avengers Endgame. The film felt like a true finale to many fans, but it leaves people to ask themselves how Marvel plans to top this crazy stun in the MCU’s fourth phase. 

Fortunately, Marvel’s plans for the cinematic universe in phase four are exceptionally promising. They have an exciting multitude of films and TV series planned for the next phase that include anticipated sequels, further development of current characters, new events between previous films, and entirely new heroes. In fact, Marvel’s plans are so grand that they’ve been releasing multiple new trailers every month. With how much is planned for the future, the fourth phase is undeniably going to be amazing.

To kick off phase four, Marvel released the shows Wandavision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Wandavision takes a look at Wanda in the weeks after Endgame who struggles with coping with the trauma she previously endured of losing both Quicksilver and Vision. The other series focuses on how the world has changed after half of the population has been gone for five years, as well as Falcon’s internal conflict about his role as the new Captain America.  By highlighting and developing prominent characters, both of these helped to create a strong beginning for Marvel’s fourth phase.

While the phase’s foundation has been solidly defined, the trailers teasing future releases seem equally promising. Despite dying in Infinity War, Loki is getting his own TV series that takes place after he steals the tesseract in an alternate timeline. Him taking one of the infinity stones with him causes extreme damage to that reality, so an organization responsible for monitoring time named the Time Variance Authority forces Loki to travel through time and help them fix the damage. The fact that an alternate Loki exists outside of his reality not only allows the trickster to remain in the MCU, but it also opens an absurd amount of possibilities for phase four.

Although Black Widow is no longer in Marvel, she still has an upcoming dedicated film that takes place after the events of Civil War. The movie relates the conflicts that arise when an assassin known as the Taskmaster relentlessly attempts to hunt her down. As a result, Natasha is forced to confront her dark, brutal past as a spy before she joined the Avengers. Even though it likely won’t, but still possibly could, have that significant of an influence for phase four, it’s still exciting to learn about the past of a prominent Avenger, even if they’ve already died.

The upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings introduces the new character Shang-Chi, an Asian Kung Fu fighter from the Marvel Comics with a ludicrous mastery of the arts. He ends up facing the Ten Rings organization, an organization which has actually been referenced throughout the MCU. Despite the massive size of Marvel’s cast, Shang-Chi is the first prominent character representation the cinematic universe has had of Asian culture. Not only does introducing the first new hero of phase four create hype for the movie’s release, but its cultural implications further signifies his inclusion.

Ultimately, the trailers Marvel has released are so enticing that the anticipation they create is somewhat ridiculous. There are so many stories, characters, and plots that are coming to the MCU soon, and the list only keeps growing as time goes by. With the amount of amazing films Marvel has planned, it’s almost certain that phase four won’t disappoint.