Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a group of American superhero films and television series produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The MCU is the shared universe in which all of the films and series are set. This was the first phase to include television content from Marvel Studios, with multiple series and specials—marketed as "Marvel Studios Special Presentations"—produced for the streaming service Disney+. The franchise also expanded to animation from Marvel Studios Animation. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the phase, leading to various schedule changes. It ultimately began with the series WandaVision in January 2021 and ended with the special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in November 2022. Phases Four, Five, and Six make up "The Multiverse Saga" storyline.
Kevin Feige produced every film in the phase, with Amy Pascal also producing Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)—a co-production between Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures—and Marvel Studios executives Jonathan Schwartz, Nate Moore, and Brad Winderbaum also producing some of the phase's other films. The films star Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow in Black Widow (2021), Simu Liu as Xu Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Gemma Chan as Sersi in Eternals (2021), Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in No Way Home, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Letitia Wright as Shuri / Black Panther in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributed the films except for No Way Home, which was released by Sony Pictures Releasing. The phase's films grossed over billion at the global box office.
Unlike previous MCU television series that were produced by Marvel Television, separately from Marvel Studios, the Phase Four Disney+ series were overseen by Feige and have close connections to the MCU films, starring actors from the films or introducing new characters for planned future film appearances. The television series star Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany as Vision in WandaVision, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), Tom Hiddleston as Loki in the first season of Loki (2021), Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher in the first season of the animated What If...? (2021), Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye and Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop / Hawkeye in Hawkeye (2021), Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector / Moon Knight and Steven Grant / Mr. Knight in Moon Knight (2022), Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel in Ms. Marvel (2022), and Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).
In addition to the feature films and television series, the phase also includes two television specials: Werewolf by Night (2022) starring Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special starring Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord. The first season of the I Am Groot animated shorts and some tie-in comic books are also included. Benedict Wong has the most appearances in the phase, starring or making cameo appearances as Wong in three films and two television series. The large amount of content produced for this phase led to discussions about quality versus quantity, and whether Marvel Studios still had a concrete roadmap for the franchise.
Development Initial work and announcement By October 2016, Walt Disney Studios had scheduled multiple release dates for untitled Marvel Studios films for 2020 and 2021. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said some of the films for those dates were already known, explaining, "We know what [films] we'd like them to be for 2020. Over the years, where we're aiming we've been lucky enough that it's usually been the same thing but we always leave ourselves the opportunity to bob and weave and adapt if we have to." Feige was not sure if Marvel would continue to group the films of the MCU into phases once Phase Three concluded in 2019, saying that "it might be a new thing", but by December 2018, Marvel was believed to be using the term Phase Four. Feige said Marvel hoped to reveal some upcoming films after the release of Avengers: Endgame (2019), with the Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger later indicating that Marvel would reveal its slate of post-Avengers: Endgame films in mid-2019.
By November 2017, Disney was developing a Marvel television series specifically for release on its new streaming service Disney+, which was planned to launch before the end of 2019. In September 2018, Marvel Studios was revealed to be developing several limited series for the service, to be centered on "second-tier" characters from the MCU films who had not and were unlikely to star in their own films; the actors who portrayed the characters in the films were expected to reprise their roles for the series. Stories for each series were still being decided on, but the series were expected to be six to eight episodes each and have a "hefty [budget] rivaling those of a major studio production". The series would be produced by Marvel Studios rather than Marvel Television, which produced the previous television series set in the MCU. Feige was taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development, focusing on "continuity of story" with the films and "handling" the actors who would be reprising their roles from the films. Feige stated in February 2019 that the series would be "entirely interwoven with both the current MCU, the past MCU, and the future of the MCU", and a month later he elaborated that the series would take characters from the films, change them, and see those changes reflected in future films, unlike the weaker relationship the films have with the Marvel Television series. He also said that new characters introduced in the Disney+ series could go on to appear in films. In May, Feige compared the Disney+ series to the Marvel One-Shots short films that Marvel Studios had previously released alongside their films, saying, "The best thing about the One-Shots is that we got to flesh out other characters. It's tremendously exciting that we now have Disney+ series where we get to do that on a grand scale".
In July 2019, Marvel Studios held a panel at San Diego Comic-Con where Feige announced the full Phase Four slate. This included five films to be released—Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder—as well as five event series to be released on Disney+—The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If...?, and Hawkeye. He confirmed that there would be connections between the films and series, with the events of WandaVision directly setting up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Loki tying into it. Feige stated that these ten projects were the full Phase Four slate at that point, despite Marvel already developing further projects at that time, such as the long-in-development Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, sequels to Black Panther (2018) and Captain Marvel (2019), and a film based on the Fantastic Four. Feige also noted that the studio had films scheduled to be released after 2021 which would not be officially announced or given release dates at that time. A month later at D23, Feige announced three more Disney+ series that would be released as part of the Phase Four slate: Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, as well as the Black Panther sequel with the placeholder title Black Panther II and a May 6, 2022, release. In September, Disney and Sony Pictures announced that Marvel Studios and Feige would return to produce Spider-Man: No Way Home, set for release during this phase.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and further work Black Widow was removed from Disney's release schedule in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussing this decision for Variety, Adam B. Vary and Matt Donnelly questioned whether the MCU could be impacted more by this delay than other big properties due to the interconnected nature of the franchise, though a Marvel Studios source told the pair that changing Black Widow release date would not affect the rest of the MCU timeline. In April, Disney changed its entire Phase Four release slate, scheduling Black Widow when Eternals had been set for release in November 2020 and moving all its other Phase Four films back in the schedule to accommodate this. Later that month, Sony delayed Spider-Man: No Way Home to November 2021, resulting in Disney adjusting the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder. In July 2020, Disney confirmed that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would not release in August 2020 as planned, because the series had not completed filming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Sony pushed back the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home to December 2021. In early September, WandaVision was set to be the first television series released for the phase as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier release was pushed back to 2021 due to its production delays. Later that month, Black Widow release was delayed to May 2021, resulting in Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings also being rescheduled; this made 2020 the first year since 2009 without a Marvel Studios release. When adjusting the release of the films and series in the phase, Marvel Studios was being cognizant to ensure major story points would not be spoiled with the new release order, but Feige noted many of the properties in the Phase were mostly standalone or a continuation from Endgame. He also credited the studio's "long lead plan" for being able to avoid any creative shifts to their Phase Four plans because of the pandemic, only shuffling release dates and production schedules. Additionally, he stated that many of the series had their release dates shifted only "by a matter of weeks" from their original dates. The only significant aspect of the phase that was affected by the pandemic was Julia Louis-Dreyfus's introduction as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, which came in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier rather than Black Widow as was originally planned, since Black Widow ended up being released after the series.
In December 2020, Marvel Studios adjusted Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther II back in its schedule, to May 6 and July 8, 2022, respectively, and also announced Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and a Fantastic Four film were in development, along with the Disney+ miniseries Secret Invasion, Ironheart, and Armor Wars (later changed to a film), The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and the series of short films I Am Groot. These new Disney+ series, plus Black Panther II, Captain Marvel 2 (later retitled The Marvels), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Fantastic Four, were believed to be a part of Phase Four at this time. Feige had been pressured into including titles that were not close to being ready to announce, with some being significantly overhauled or delayed after the announcement.