Marvel Adds a Third Untitled Film to 2029, Expanding Phase 7 to Six Movies in Two Years

Disney and Marvel officially added a third film date to the 2029 calendar, and it expands Phase 7 well beyond what I originally expected given how much Marvel Studios had dialed back production across its franchises over the last two or three years. May 4th and July 13th, 2029 were already reserved for untitled Marvel theatrical releases, and now November 9th, 2029 joins them. All three slots are still unnamed.

A Third 2029 Date Joins May and July, Rounding Out Marvel's Phase 7 Slate

The 2028 slate is already locked in stone: X-Men in May, Ghost Rider in July, and Black Panther in December. The year after that now has a Marvel movie in May, a Marvel movie in July, and a Marvel movie in November, all three still untitled. That gives Marvel six movies across 2028 and 2029, back to back years each carrying a full trio of releases.

Compare that to the stretch before it. If you add in 2024, which was just Deadpool and Wolverine, Marvel put out only seven movies across four years. Now they are lining up six releases in the two years right after Avengers Secret Wars.

Six Movies in Two Years Marks a Sharp Return to Marvel's Old Release Pace

If you are a Marvel fan, you love to hear this. Three movies a year is what Marvel was pumping out at their peak when things were going great, and audiences did not seem to tire of them. Getting six films in 24 months after years like 2024, when Deadpool and Wolverine was the only release, and next year, when Avengers Secret Wars will be the only Marvel movie, feels like a return to form.

The fatigue that did kick in, from what I can tell, came from being inundated with Disney Plus projects that were maybe disconnected and definitely subpar in a lot of ways, especially the CGI and the overall writing quality. That exacerbated a feeling of lessened exclusivity. Why go to the theater three times a year when you could also catch four live action Disney Plus shows every three months from your own couch? I do not think die hard Marvel fans felt that way about it exactly, but Marvel Studios showed that the quality versus quantity discussion was a real issue for them.

Why the Slowdown Happened in the First Place, and Why I Trust This Date

Kevin Feige himself, during a 2025 sit down at Marvel Studios headquarters, basically publicly admitted where Marvel Studios had gone wrong, and the collective call from up top was to "dial everything back and go for quality over quantity." Feige has maybe never addressed it publicly beyond that, but multiple sources across the industry for years said it was a function of Feige being spread too thin, meaning the quantity of projects was making the quality of those projects suffer.

Marvel Studios learned its lesson about announcing too many release dates too far ahead for projects it could not make good on, like Armor Wars and Blade. They have not given us one of those ridiculous slate announcements since basically 2022, and I do not suspect we will ever see that again. That is part of why I would find it hard to believe that, with their level of planning right now, they would stick a date this late in the game on the 2029 calendar only to pull it in the next twelve months. Then again, you look at what happened with Blade, so maybe it is all on the table. At that rate, though, I think it is fair to buy in and get excited about six Marvel movies in 24 months.

Quality vs Quantity: More Movies Also Means More Chances for a Stinker

Whether this is ultimately a good thing depends on Marvel Studios itself. If they have a clear plan, if the writing is up to par, if they are willing to spend the money to bring the right creatives in, and they are not spread too thin on their timetable to put the proper pre-production in, I think it is possible that three movies a year can still be extremely profitable while maintaining the quality fans expect.

But the more movies you release, the more chance you have for a stinker among them. It is just a numbers game, and not every movie from a studio is amazing. Marvel Studios has rebuilt favor by returning to quality, so there is not currently an expectation that a film will flop. They need to come out strong: the first three films after Secret Wars are Black Panther, Ghost Rider, and X-Men, and the next three have to keep that momentum going. You could argue a third 2029 date shows confidence, or you could equally argue it gives them one more opportunity to drop a film that reopens the conversation about whether Marvel Studios has lost its touch.

My Predictions for the Three 2029 Slots: Deadpool 4, Shang-Chi 2, and Thor 5

We do not have a single film announcement for 2029, but it is fairly easy to narrow down the likely candidates. Ryan Reynolds himself confirmed over a year and a half ago that he is already working on the next Deadpool. Whether that is Deadpool and Wolverine again or a Deadpool and X-Force movie, it would make sense if Marvel continued the mutant theme by building out the mutant saga. I would not be surprised if they put it right back in the July date to try to recapture the two billion dollar mark from Deadpool and Wolverine.

Fantastic Four is in line for a sequel eventually, but none have waited as long as Shang-Chi, and with Destin Daniel Cretton's recent success on Spider-Man, I would not be surprised if that gets fast tracked. Simu Liu deserves it, and honestly, "that's the one I want to see the most."

I also would not be surprised if one of these films ends up being Thor 5. Chris Hemsworth has talked about a change in tone for Thor and maybe a redemption arc, and Love and Thunder obviously cannot be the last installment in the franchise. If you were worried Hemsworth might be exiting the MCU or that Thor might die in one of the next two films, Feige said some of these actors are in their prime and specifically said Hemsworth could continue playing Thor for another ten years, so Thor is not going anywhere.

Every Movie Needs a Reason to Exist, Like Guardians of the Galaxy Did

Whatever that third 2029 film ends up being, I hope it has a reason for being there. The movies have to be good, but one step past that, they have to tie in. That was part of the fun during the Infinity Saga: projects that seemed disconnected at first, like Guardians of the Galaxy, introduced a ton of lore, gave us on screen Thanos, and set up the origin of the Infinity Stones.

If Marvel does a spacefaring movie again that might seem disconnected, like a Nova film, there are still plenty of ways to tie it into cosmic entities and storylines that connect back to the X-Men. The plan needs to be there from day one. I do not see how Marvel Studios cannot get this right as long as the writing is good, the casting is on point, and they continue hiring good directors, unlike some from the Multiverse Saga who had zero to no credits in Hollywood, and you understood why once you watched the film.

Could Iron Man 4 With Robert Downey Jr. Ever Happen?

There is also the possibility Marvel looks to bring back some of the original cast, like a Captain America 5 featuring Steve Rogers alongside Sam Wilson, or even an Iron Man 4 with Robert Downey Jr. back as Tony Stark. If Downey Jr. is still playing Doom after Secret Wars, a dual role in the MCU would not be something I would put past Marvel Studios.

At the end of the day, this is a business, and they want to make the products that make the most money. It is hard for me to believe that if Iron Man 4 with Robert Downey Jr. even comes up for discussion among Marvel executives, anyone would argue against how much money that film could make. They might wait until the saga after this one, and it may involve a recast if Downey Jr. has aged out of the role, but I do not think any of us want to live in a world where Marvel has almost every property right, including the X-Men now, and still no Iron Man in the MCU.

What movies would you want filling out those three 2029 dates?