*WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame* 

December 10th, 2020 was Disney’s Investor’s Day, a day where the heads of Disney’s different brands present upcoming projects in order to hook investors. There were many major announcements from brands such as Star Wars and Pixar, but as this column mostly focuses on Marvel, we’ll be talking only about their announcements, and boy was there a lot of them.

Investor’s Day is an event Disney holds every year. It is usually held in person, with the heads of each Disney-owned property presenting their new projects to investors. This year we were able to watch the presentations live online, and there were a lot of Marvel projects announced, confirmed, and elaborated on. The Marvel presentation was run by Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios. Kevin played a pre-recorded video of himself in front of a giant screen. As he was talking, the screen behind him would change to reveal logos or cast members, and as he announced them, trailers or clips would start to play. 

We got four trailers on December 10th, 2020, and one first-look. There were brand-new trailers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and What If? All of the aforementioned shows are Disney+ shows coming out this year. We got a second trailer for the show WandaVision that debuted on January 15th, 2021. There is little known about the plots of these shows, but here’s a brief synopsis of what we know so far. WandaVision is a parody of classic sitcoms from the last few decades, including The Brady Bunch, Fuller House, and The Andy Griffith Show. The protagonist of Wandavision, Wanda, lives in a classic house in a cute quiet neighborhood, with her husband, who happens to be an A.I. robot named Vision. This show is already pretty strange, but something even more confusing is that Vision died in Avengers: Infinity War. Wanda has a troubled past; she was experimented on by scientists in her home, Sokovia, along with her twin brother Pietro. Because of these experiments, both Wanda and Pietro got powers. As Agent Maria Hill said to Steve Rogers in Avengers: Age of Ultron “He’s fast and she’s weird.” Wanda’s powers are definitely weird. She can make people see visions by touching their heads; scarlet energy comes out of her hands and she can use it to move things. Wanda also has some powers she doesn’t even know about. Wanda and Pietro started out as spies for Ultron, but soon discovered his true intentions and joined the Avengers. In Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Pietro dies protecting Hawkeye and a small child, leaving Wanda incredibly devastated. Her entire home city, Sokovia is also destroyed in that battle, and as I mentioned earlier, her love, Vision was killed by Thanos during the battle of Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War. Wanda was forced to kill Vision by destroying the mind stone implanted in his forehead. She did so, but just after he died, Thanos turned back time and killed Vision himself, obtaining the mind stone. It is understandable that Wanda may have gone a little insane, seeing as that happens frequently to the character in the comics. Many have speculated that Wanda created this fake reality for herself to live out her life with Vision. This certainly explains the unnatural elements we saw in the first trailer such as glitches and the rapid movement of decades, including Wanda being pregnant seemingly out of nowhere and then giving birth to twins. But, in the second trailer we hear someone saying through a radio “Wanda, do you read me, who is doing this to you?” Implying that Wanda is not in control of this false reality. Throughout both trailers, we see what appears to be SWORD, a division of SHIELD keeping watch on a seeming forcefield containing Wanda’s town. In the first trailer, we see Monica Rambeau, a character we met as a little girl in Captain Marvel being thrown out of the force field by some of Wanda’s magic. She appears in the second trailer at Wanda’s door, Wanda asks who she is, and Monica replies with a frightened “I don’t know.” Marvel is very good at leaving fans in the dark about their projects. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what this show really is about.

We got our first trailer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TFATWS) as well. Falcon, of course, is Sam Wilson, Steve Roger’s friend who we first met in Captain America the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, Cap’s best friend since childhood. Bucky fell off a train and was then presumed dead in Captain America: The First Avenger. We found out later that Bucky survived and was captured by Hydra, a Nazi intelligence organization hiding out within SHIELD. The Nazis brainwashed Bucky and made him into The Winter Soldier, a super-soldier trained to murder HYDRA’s enemies, including his best friend, who he only recognizes after he’s almost killed him. Fast forward to Avengers: Infinity War. Bucky is close to full recovery in Wakanda with the help of Shuri and joins Steve to fight Thanos. Both him and Sam end up being snapped away by Thanos and then brought back in Avengers Endgame. This story picks up after Steve goes back to the 40s to relive his life with Peggy, and then comes back as an old man and gives Sam the Captain America shield. 

The trailer for the TFATWS  series looks incredible. As Kevin Feige put it, “It’s a cinematic experience played out over six episodes” We see what appears to be Sam’s farm, then Tokyo, possibly Sokovia, and then the Grand Canyon. This series seems like it will take us all over the world. One character we know will be in this series is Baron Helmut Zemo, the villain in Captain America: Civil War. Last we saw Baron, he was locked up in a high-security prison- but that was years ago. Who knows what Zemo’s gotten up to since. In this trailer, we also see some of that buddy-cop interaction that fans love between these Bucky and Sam. Their banter is some of the best in the MCU. Fans have been wanting a Bucky and Sam road-trip movie for some time now and it seems they may finally get it. Another detail in the trailer is the frequent appearance of figures wearing teal masks with a blood-red handprint across the front. We see unidentified characters in a helicopter shooting at Sam, and in various other places throughout this trailer. It seems like Baron Zemo won’t be the only villain of this series.

We also got a trailer for Loki during the presentation, and as Kevin Feige said, “we want to try a little something different… so we’ve put Loki in the center of his own crime-thriller. If that sounds a little unusual and confusing, don’t worry, Loki’s just as confused.” The trailer that follows could definitely be described as “a little unusual and confusing.” We follow Loki through a scene in Avengers: Endgame, but from his personal perspective. During Loki’s short segment in Endgame, Scott Lang gives Tony Stark a small heart attack, causing him to drop the briefcase enclosing the tesseract. Endgame Tony Stark then picks up the case, only to be plowed over by the Hulk. The case slides and Loki picks up the tesseract and escapes. Then, Loki lands in a desert in a very similar way to the famous scene from Iron-Man when Tony crashes his first suit after escaping the cave. We then cut to Loki in a prisoner’s jumpsuit riding in an elevator. Through a conversation between Loki and actor Owen Wilson, we find out that Loki’s in the TVA. TVA stands for Time Variance Authority, and fans of the comics know that this is the organization that regulates travel within the multiverse. Given the fact that Spider-Man 3 is almost certainly a multiverse movie, (see Spider-Man 3: Everything Confirmed and Rumored), and that Dr. Strange 2 is titled Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems fairly likely that the TVA will be a big part of Marvel’s Phase Four. 

The last trailer we got was for Marvel’s What If?, their first animated series. What if? Is based on a comic book by the same name that explores alternate possibilities. What if Peggy Carter got the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers? What if Yandu picked up T’Challa from Earth instead of Peter Quill? Those are the two confirmed episodes we have so far, but clips in the trailer have revealed other possibilities. One shot shows the famous train scene from Captain America: The First Avenger, but Cap is a zombie! There are so many possibilities as to where that storyline could go. Another What If? clip shows Dr. Strange, fighting a paler version of himself who appears to be shooting fire out of his hands. We know a large cast is returning to voice-act in this series, and some of the characters who will be included in What If? were seen in the trailer. These characters include Peggy Carter (Hailey Atwell), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and many more. There’s even a possibility that T’Challa is voiced by the late Chadwick Boseman since he could have recorded the series at home before his passing.

**Disclaimer: All release dates of the films below are subject to change due to COVID-19 regulations.**

Some other projects that were confirmed or announced at Disney Investor’s Day include, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This will be Marvel’s first horror movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Steven Strange), Elisabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff), Benedict Wong (Wong), and the new Xochil Gomez as America Chavez. This film will be hitting theaters on March 25th, 2022. Kevin Feige has confirmed that this movie will connect directly to the events of WandaVision and to the untitled third Spider-Man film. Feige also revealed that Marvel will be holding Black Widow to hopefully release in theaters on May 7th, 2021, almost exactly a year after it was meant to be released. 

Shang-Chi the Legend of the Ten Rings will be opening in theaters on July 9th, 2021. While we don’t know much about this movie, we do know that it will star Awkwafina (Katy), Tony Leung (Wenwu), and Michelle Yeoh (Jiang Nan). Ms. Marvel will be launching on Disney+ sometime in 2021. We actually got to go behind the scenes of Ms. Marvel, in a clip where directors and production team members were interviewed.  In the clip, it was revealed that Kamila Khan will become a part of the MCU. Although she is a pretty new character in the comics, Kamila gained such a huge following so quickly, that producers knew she needed to be in the MCU. Kamila is well-liked by so many people because she’s just a fan. She’s a Pakistani-American teen who loves the Avengers and Captain Marvel in particular. This makes it extra fun that Ms. Marvel (played by Iman Vellani) will be co-starring in Captain Marvel 2. Also appearing in that film will be Monica Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris, whom we will have already met in WandaVision.

There’s not much news on the Eternals. Feige did announce that it’s “one of our most ambitious projects yet,” and that it will be hitting theaters on November 5th, 2021. 

Hawkeye will finally give Clint Barton some time to shine. Clint will be playing mentor in this Disney+ show to a young archery prodigy, Kate Bishop. Fiege revealed that Kate Bishop will in fact be played by Hailey Steinfeld as has been speculated for a while.

Another interesting Disney+ show announced during this presentation was She Hulk. Jennifer Walters, who will be played by Tatiana Maslany is a lawyer who also happens to be over six feet tall and green. Feige says this will be a very funny show, and even let slip that the Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, will be making an appearance, along with Tim Roth as the Abomination, a character we first met in The Incredible Hulk. 

Moon Night will bring a brand new vibe to the MCU. This show is “an action-adventure, Indiana Jones type story” about a man who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder. According to Feige, the multiple personalities within Moon Night will each be distinct characters in the series. The series itself will be focusing on Ancient Egyptian Iconography-the interpretation of Ancient Egyptian images- so that is sure to be very interesting. 

Thor Love and Thunder has begun filming as of January 2021. Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) will be taking on the moniker of Thor, whereas Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson) will be the new kind of Asgard who is “looking for her queen.” Valkyrie is bisexual in the comics, and Thor Love and Thunder seems like it will reflect that attribute, too. The villain of the movie will be Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale. Thor Love and Thunder will hopefully be released in theaters on May 6, 2022. 

The third Ant-Man film will be titled Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania sees Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Evangeline Lily (Hope Van Dyne), Michelle Pfiffer (Janet Van Dyne), and Michael Douglas (Hank Pym) returning, along with Kathryn Newton who has been recast as Cassie Lang. 

Feige went on to reveal a couple of shows that are brand-new. Secret Invasion is a huge crossover event in the comics. In this story, Skrulls have invaded every part of Earth, taking the appearance of humans to cause all kinds of trouble. The fact that there might be more content related to Skrulls was hinted at in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man Far From Home, where it was revealed that for goodness-knows-how-long, Nick Fury and Maria Hill have been Skrulls. This series will feature Nick Fury and Talos played by Samuel L Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn, respectively. 

Iron Heart is a series that many fans have been expecting but that hadn’t been officially announced until now. Riri Williams is a teen-genius-inventor who “has the most advanced suit of armor since Iron-Man’s.” Iron Heart will be played in this series by Dominique Thorne. Another new series well underway is Armour Wars, starring Don Cheddle as War Machine. This story is about Tony Stark’s worst fear: his tech falling into the wrong hands. Armour Wars is based on a very popular comic book that will be interesting to see play out on screen. 

There are certain things Marvel’s team has been wanting to do but hasn’t had the chance to, until the now. One of these such projects is The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. In true Guardians fashion, this short promises to be a lot of fun. Kevin Feige revealed that they will be shooting it at the same time as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and it will come out during the holiday season of 2022. Another Guardians project is I Am Groot. A series of shorts featuring Baby Groot getting up to all sorts of mischief aboard the Malano. This series promises to be a lot of fun if you don’t die from the cuteness first. Kevin Feige did confirm that to honor the late Chadwick Boseman, they will not be recasting T’Challa. Marvel will, however, continue to explore the wonderful world of Wakanda in Black Panther 2 on July 8th, 2022. 

After all this news, fans were ecstatic at the thought of so many upcoming projects. But Kevin Feige really dropped the ball by giving us one last announcement. “And finally, I am happy to announce a film about one of the truly iconic Marvel families. In fact, Marvel’s first family. Fantastic Four.” Feige went on to announce that John Watts, the director of the MCU Spider-Man films will be directing a Fantastic Four reboot coming in the future. This is something that fans have been wanting ever since Disney acquired the rights to the Fantastic Four from 21st Century Fox in March of 2019. There are rumors that Emily Blunt and John Krazinski may be cast for adult versions of Sue Storm/ Invisible Woman and Reed Richards/ Mr. Fantastic. Whether or not they do end up getting cast, this is a huge announcement for Fantastic Four fans all over the world.