Marvel's New 2028 and 2029 Dates Point to an X-Men Reboot After Secret Wars

Marvel Studios shifted its release schedule for 2028 and 2029, the years after Avengers: Secret Wars, adding three dates for three untitled films. A previously announced untitled Marvel film moved from February 18, 2028 to July 28, 2028, and two new untitled Marvel movies were dated for May 4, 2029 and July 13, 2029.

I always call myself out a little when we're this close to the end of a saga. At the time, two Avengers films and a Spider-Man movie were still on the horizon, and here we were already talking about Phase 7 and Phase 8. But that's exactly what Marvel Studios and Disney were doing, so it felt fair to speculate about which films might land in which slots.

The February 2028 placeholder was always going to move to July

In my opinion, the move from February 18, 2028 to July 28, 2028 was always going to happen. That February date was just a placeholder. It sat way too close to the release of Avengers: Secret Wars, which was dated for December. There was at least a small chance Secret Wars would still be in the middle of a 60 to 90 day theatrical run, depending on how packed the box office was that late in the game.

They were always going to move that February date off of being right on top of December, so the shift to July isn't a big deal. The two 2029 films landing in the middle of the year weren't a shocker either. What was a little bit of a surprise is that the change left just one date in 2028.

Why I think the lone 2028 slot is most likely the X-Men reboot

Following Avengers: Secret Wars, that summer 2028 film is most likely going to be the X-Men reboot. Because Marvel wants to give that film as much room to breathe as the Avengers franchise, I'm not surprised if it's the only one we get that year.

You can put an asterisk by the Black Panther title here, because I was always under the assumption Black Panther 3 might be the first film out of the gate, maybe in that summer 2028 slot. But if Marvel is releasing only one movie after Secret Wars, there's a really, really good chance that one movie is X-Men. That would push Ryan Coogler's Black Panther 3 to one of the 2029 dates. Coogler has already been writing the script, and the movie has been in development for quite some time.

Black Panther 3 and Thor 5 look like the best bets for 2029

Alongside Black Panther 3, the only other film we know for sure has been confirmed a handful of times is Thor 5. There are other rumored titles, like The Midnight Suns and a Fantastic Four 2, that have been said to be in the works. I think it was always a foregone conclusion that the Fantastic Four, barring some huge event, would get a follow-up. We also expect other franchise follow-ups like Shang-Chi 2 during the saga.

For now, though, the two films that are for sure in the bag are Black Panther 3 and the X-Men reboot. Those are confirmed by every level of Marvel, which is working on them and releasing them after Secret Wars. Thor 5 is the lightest to materialize, with confirmations from the actor and the studio but no formal announcement. The scripts for X-Men and Black Panther 3 exist, and Marvel hired a director for X-Men last year. There's a lot going on with those two films, and we haven't really heard about others.

Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 4 is still at the idea stage

The other film we have heard about is Deadpool 4. That's still Ryan Reynolds loosely coming up with ideas to pitch as a script to Marvel Studios. It's nowhere near the level of green light or pre-production you would expect for a movie that's just years away.

So while we may be wrong on the three we're guessing, that Deadpool project is more in an idea stage than anything else. You could probably put it a notch close to Thor 5 in terms of how far along it is, but X-Men and Black Panther 3 are a whole other level of pre-production.

Blade's cancellation leaves the future of Midnight Suns and Mephisto unclear

One obvious void in the schedule came from Marvel canceling Blade. There have been heavy rumors that a Midnight Suns film would be fast-tracked in its place, with Mahershala Ali staying on to play Blade, just in a totally different setting. But I have to seriously wonder whether either film, Midnight Suns or Blade, will ever go forward at Marvel Studios given all the complications they've already had with the character. With the next saga's theme being mutant and/or cosmic, space doesn't really seem to play into the supernatural corner of the MCU where the Midnight Suns would arise.

Marvel did already seed Mephisto into the MCU at the end of Ironheart, and hopefully that won't be one of the cameos that goes nowhere. Kevin Feige and Marvel have already commented that some of the open-ended strings left in post-credit scenes may just stay that way, and we might not see those characters again. There's a laundry list of characters who showed up for about 10 seconds, like Hercules, who we still haven't seen. I think some of them, Hercules and Mephisto, will come around. It's just unclear which ones.

One film in 2028 may be about giving the X-Men room to breathe

I also think it's kind of crazy that, after back-to-back years of one or two releases, with Spider-Man and Doomsday dated for that year and Secret Wars the next, Marvel would release only one film in 2028. We know the directive from way up on the Disney board is to get as many Marvel movies out as possible. Even after the restructuring, Bob Iger was said, on his way out, to be a little upset that Marvel managed only Deadpool & Wolverine in one year.

But Marvel Studios may be beginning to see that the more room these projects have to breathe, the less oversaturated the market seems, and the better shot the movies have at great numbers. Deadpool & Wolverine proved that, though it's its own thing because of the power of those franchises, with Deadpool already a billion dollar franchise and Wolverine adding to that. It might not be one to one, but you have to imagine the corporate math looks like this: "Let's do that with X-Men, because if Deadpool and Wolverine, two members of the X-Men, can drive up that kind of interest, we should see an even bigger number for the X-Men movie." And if they absolutely nail the ending of Secret Wars, that will add to the interest.

A lighter 2028 eases the load on Kevin Feige and the Russos

That lone 2028 film, which may still change, takes a lot of responsibility off the shoulders of the people in charge, like Kevin Feige being able to be on the X-Men set. The Russos are reportedly overseeing, not directing, the movies in the next saga so they can direct the finales when it ends. At the time, they had their hands full with Avengers: Doomsday's second round of principal photography, which reportedly was about to start or already had, then post-production while shooting Secret Wars, and then post on Secret Wars the following year. That's when filming would also start on Black Panther 3 or X-Men, whichever comes out in 2028.

Knowing their attention would be thin, and how important these films are in moving from one saga into the next, wanting to avoid what happened going from the Infinity Saga to the Multiverse Saga, this signals to me that "they realize there's only so many of them and they want to make the best product possible." Only one movie in 2028 is not the end of the world.

Marvel's dates have kept moving since 2022

Keep in mind that Marvel's calendar moves quite a bit, and treating dates as confirmed is really only something you can do a couple of years out. Going all the way back to the 2022 announcements at San Diego Comic-Con Hall H, the one constant has been that all the dates are subject to move more than once.

Which films do you expect to fill Marvel's 2028 and 2029 release dates?