Author: Joanna Robinson / Source: HWD
Once upon a time—or, really, just four years ago—Marvel Studios was known for debuting ambitious slates of upcoming films. These so-called “phases” in the wildly ambitious Marvel Cinematic Universe gave fans a road map of what to expect for years to come; in fact, the studio still hasn’t finished releasing all the films it announced via a flashy 2014 presentation. But then came Avengers: Infinity War, with its mysterious, superhero-dusting ending—and suddenly, Marvel got very quiet about what it had in the works after next May’s Avengers 4, beyond another planned Spider-Man co-production with Sony in July 2019.
But the news that has been dribbling out here and there hints that an even more ambitious and significantly more diverse era of Marvel is coming, once the handsome white guys name Chris (possibly) hang up their capes, shields, and hammers for good. Here’s everything we know so far, starting with the latest news of a Shang-Chi stand-alone film, a roundup of expected sequels, and more.
It’s worth noting, before we dive into the particulars, that the future of Marvel looks very different now that the studio has shaken free of its eccentric and, by all reports, backwards-looking C.E.O., Ike Perlmutter. Perlmutter was allegedly the reason Marvel was, for so long, seemingly resistant to films that didn’t center on white, male heroes. But all that is about to change in a post–Black Panther world.
Shang-Chi: Deadline reported Monday that Marvel is “fast-tracking”a film based on the early-1970s comic Shang-Chi, to be penned by Chinese-American writer Dave Callaham. The film will be careful to avoid stereotypes lingering from the era when Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon inspired a worldwide martial-arts craze—one that didn’t always respect Asian cultures. Marvel’s filmed projects have had some sticky issues with this very subject matter in the recent past, with both the whitewashing of a character in Doctor Strange and the shabby fighting techniques on display in Iron Fist Season 1. Each prompted a loud backlash, and demand for proper representation from the Asian fan community.
According to Deadline, Shang-Chi will attempt to give viewers the representation they’re clamoring for—with the film looking to imitate the success of Black Panther, which, under the guidance of writer-director Ryan Coogler, both earned massive profits and paid homage to the African cultures that inspired the fictional Wakanda. Marvel is no doubt also eyeballing the massive domestic (if not necessarily
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