The Marvel universe is expanding at a terrific rate as owner Disney reveals the upcoming movies and TV shows fans can expect over the next two years.
The details were all revealed in a broad brush fashion at the California Comic Con.
And Disney seems set to fund the lifestyles of a huge number of the Hollywood faithful in a bid to win a ratings war against arch rival Netflix.
Disney is about to launch a subscription TV channel and to attract viewers needs top quality content.
A deal giving Netflix first bite at Marvel shows is being pulled to give the new Disney offering a chance.
Disney has made a series of big announcements throughout last week’s Comic Con.
Big names for big Marvel roles
These are among the shows and movies on the way for the Marvel Cinematic Universe are:
- Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (May 2021) starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
- Tom Hiddlestone reprises his role as Loki, returning after appearing to die in Infinity War
- Captain America battles The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
- Hawkeye takes a bow in a TV series
- Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain marvel and Black Panther sequels are in the pipeline
- Angelina Jolie steps up as one of the Eternals
- Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings seems like an attempt to capture a following in the Asia Pacific
- Scarlett Johansson gets her own Black Widow movie
- Chris Hemsworth hammers home his role in the fourth Thor movie, while his beau Natalie Portman is set for a return as well
- Blade, the day-walker vampire killer gets a TV series
- A Suicide Squad sequel is in the pipeline
Meanwhile, HBO sneaked in with a Watchmen trailer that looks dark and sinister.
Who watches Watchmen?
Rather than reprise the movie, the new Watchmen story draws on the original comic books but moves the story on past the end of the movie and introduces some new characters.
The cast includes box office stalwarts Jeremy Irons and Don Johnson.
The show will air on HBO and Sky Atlantic in October.
The thinking in Hollywood seems to be that viewers can’t get enough of a good thing and you can’t get much better than a clutch of Marvel superheroes.