Phase Five 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. The phase includes television series produced by Marvel Studios and Marvel Studios Animation for the streaming service Disney+. The 2023 Hollywood labor disputes impacted the phase, leading to various schedule changes. It began with the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February 2023 and ended with the series Ironheart in July 2025. Phases Four, Five, and Six make up "The Multiverse Saga" storyline.
Kevin Feige produced every film in the phase, with Lauren Shuler Donner, Ryan Reynolds, and Shawn Levy also producing Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), and Marvel Studios executives Stephen Broussard and Nate Moore also producing some of the phase's other films. The films star Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne / Wasp in Quantumania; Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023); Brie Larson as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel in The Marvels (2023); Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine; Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World (2025); and Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova in Thunderbolts* (2025). Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributed the films, which grossed over billion at the global box office. The Marvels is the first box-office bomb of the MCU.
Marvel Studios' approach to television shifted during work on this phase, moving away from limited event series to focus more on multi-season series. Several new labels were introduced for the studio's series during this phase: "Marvel Animation" for the animated series; "Marvel Spotlight" for the more standalone series Echo (2024); and "Marvel Television" for other live-action series, starting with Agatha All Along (2024). The television series star Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Secret Invasion (2023), Tom Hiddleston as Loki in the second season of Loki (2023), Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher in the second and third seasons of the animated What If...? (2023–24), Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez / Echo in Echo, Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness in Agatha All Along, Hudson Thames as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the first season of the animated Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025), Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil in the first season of Daredevil: Born Again (2025), and Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams / Ironheart in Ironheart.
The second season of the I Am Groot animated shorts and a tie-in comic book for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are also included in this phase. Hiddleston, Jackson, and Sebastian Stan—who plays Bucky Barnes—have the most appearances in the phase, each starring or making cameo appearances in four productions. Additionally, the first season of the Marvel Studios Animation series X-Men '97 was released on Disney+ alongside Phase Five as part of the Multiverse Saga.
Development Initial work and announcement By April 2014, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that additional storylines for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) were planned through 2028. During Marvel Studios' panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, Feige announced several films and Disney+ television series in development for Phase Four of the MCU, before revealing the film Blade was also in development. After the panel, Feige confirmed that Blade was not part of the Phase Four slate at the time, and that what was announced was 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 and a sequel to Captain Marvel (2019). A sequel to Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) entered development by November 2019, for a potential release in 2022. Development work on a second season of What If...? had begun by December 2019. Ryan Reynolds confirmed that month that a third Deadpool film after 20th Century Fox's Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018) was in development at Marvel Studios, with his production company Maximum Effort co-producing the film.
In April 2020, Disney scheduled Captain Marvel 2 for release on July 8, 2022, before moving it back to November 11, 2022, in December 2020. Also in December, they dated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for 2023, and announced Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and a Fantastic Four film were in development, along with the Disney+ series Secret Invasion, Ironheart, and Armor Wars (later changed to a film). Feige indicated Secret Invasion and Ironheart would tie-in with future MCU films. These Disney+ series, plus Captain Marvel 2, 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 that time. By November 2020, development had begun on a second season of the television series Loki, which was formally confirmed in July 2021.
Development on a series centered on Echo as a spin-off from Hawkeye began by March 2021. By the end of April 2021, a fourth Captain America film was revealed to be in development as a continuation of the series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). In May 2021, Marvel Studios announced the title for Captain Marvel 2 as The Marvels, as well as the respective February 17 and May 5, 2023, release dates for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. By June 2021, in addition to What If...?, Marvel Studios was developing a slate of at least three more animated series. In October 2021, Marvel Studios further adjusted The Marvels to February 17, 2023, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to July 28, 2023, only to swap their release dates in April 2022, because Quantumania was further along in production than The Marvels. Development on a series centered on Agatha Harkness as a spin-off from WandaVision began by October 2021. During the Disney+ Day event the following month, Marvel Studios officially announced Echo, Agatha: House of Harkness (later retitled Agatha All Along), and the animated Spider-Man prequel series titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year.
By March 2022, a reboot project of Marvel Television's Netflix series Daredevil (2015–2018) was revealed to be in development, and was confirmed to be in development for Disney+ in May. By June 2022, Marvel Studios was developing the film Thunderbolts*. Later that month, Feige said information on the next saga of the MCU would be provided in the following months, with Marvel Studios being a "little more direct" on their future plans to provide audiences with "the bigger picture [so they] can see a tiny, tiny bit more of the roadmap" following the clues included during Phase Four. At Marvel Studios' San Diego Comic-Con panel in July 2022, Feige announced that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would conclude Phase Four, with the following films and series becoming part of Phase Five: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, Secret Invasion, and Ironheart. Blade, the second season of Loki, Echo, and Agatha All Along were also confirmed for Phase Five, with Feige announcing the series Daredevil: Born Again and the films Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts*. He also announced that Phase Five, along with Phase Four and Phase Six, would be part of "The Multiverse Saga". By then, the second season of What If...? was also announced to release during this phase, while production had begun on five additional shorts for the series I Am Groot. Feige stated that many of the projects in Phase Four and Five, and their post-credit teases, would connect and lead towards the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, while some would remain standalone. Feige described Quantumania as "a direct line" into the phase and the planned Phase Six film Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. In September, Reynolds announced that Deadpool & Wolverine would be released on September 6, 2024.
Production shifts and further work In October 2022, Blade had its release date pushed back to the September 2024 slot, due to production-related issues, and Marvel Studios pushed back Deadpool & Wolverine to November 8, 2024, as a result. In December, Echo head writer Marion Dayre said the series would be delayed to late 2023, around that December. In early February 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company would be re-evaluating the volume of content it output as a way to cut costs over the next few years. Shortly after, when reflecting on the amount of Disney+ content released for Phase Four in a short time frame, Feige anticipated that Marvel Studios would look to space out the releases of the Phase Five and Six Disney+ series or put fewer out each year "so they can each get a chance to shine". At that time, the second season of Loki and Secret Invasion were still expected to release in 2023, while other projects in post-production, such as Echo and Ironheart, were unlikely to release that year as previously announced. The Marvels was also delayed to November 10, 2023. A month later, Iger said there was "nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand", and was not concerned with the volume of Marvel content being released. Rather, he believed there would be more of a benefit to shifting to new characters and stories, instead of producing third or fourth sequels with some characters.
The start of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike in May 2023 resulted in production on Blade being paused until the strike concluded. Other MCU projects in production, or preparing to begin production, at that time—Captain America: New World Order, Agatha All Along, Thunderbolts*, and Deadpool & Wolverine—were not expected to be impacted by the strike, with Marvel Studios reportedly planning to shoot what they could during principal photography and make any necessary writing adjustments during each project's already scheduled reshoots. Picketers participating in the strike shut down a day of soundstage work for Daredevil: Born Again, and later location shooting, resulting in a temporary production pause. By the end of the month, production on Thunderbolts* was delayed until the strike concluded. In early June, Marvel revealed that New World Order had been retitled to Captain America: Brave New World. Later that month, Disney moved Deadpool & Wolverine forward to May 3, 2024, and delayed Brave New World to July 26, 2024, Thunderbolts* to December 20, 2024, and Blade to February 14, 2025, in part due to the writers' strike and Disney's intentions to improve the quality of MCU content from writing through post-production after disappointing reception and lower post COVID-19 pandemic box office earnings for some recently released films. Production on Born Again was also suspended until after the strike concluded. In July, production on Deadpool & Wolverine was suspended because of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.