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SDCC 2019: Marvel announces release dates for 'Black Widow', 'Thor: Love and Thunder' and 'Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness'

Kevin Feige gave the public its first official look at the upcoming Phase 4 slate of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel's slate is packed and 10 new movies are headed fans' way in the next few years.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige was present at Hall H for a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 on Day 3 where he made multiple announcements about the upcoming projects of the studio including television series which would premiere on Disney+. Feige's list also contained announcements for upcoming movies.

The stand-alone 'Black Widow' film was finally announced officially after all the speculations by fans. The film will see Scarlett Johansson joined by David Harbour, Florence Pugh, O-T Fagbenle, and Rachel Weisz and is slated to release on May 1, 2020. The film will be directed by Cate Shortland and since we saw Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow sacrifice her life for the soul stone in 'Avengers: Endgame', the film will explore her past. Shortland said that the film which begins in Budapest will show how Black Widow became a whole person after beginning as a trained spy. Johansson said, "I don't think I could've played this iteration of Natasha ten years ago, it would've been a very different film. I get to play Natasha as a fully realized woman in all of her many facets. I'm excited for fans to see the flawed side of her...and I'm looking to wipe out some of that red in my ledger."

Footage from the upcoming film was also shown, in which Natasha walks down a spiral staircase and is heard saying, "I know you know I'm out here. Wanna talk like grown-ups?" And then she comes face to face with Pugh's Yelena after which a fight ensues. A fight between Black Widow and Taskmaster was also teased in the footage. 

The next film announced was Chris Hemsworth's 'Thor: Love and Thunder' in which he plays the titular role. The film is slated to release on November 5, 2021. Tessa Thompson will return to playing Valkyrie. Natalie Portman who was last seen in 'Thor: The Dark World' will return to playing her role as Dr Jane Foster. The movie will be directed by Taika Waititi. We last saw Thor in 'Avengers: Endgame' when he left New Asgard in the hands of Valkyrie. Tessa said that Valkyrie's first act as a king would be to "find her new queen." It was also announced at the panel that the film will be based on Jason Aaron's Mighty Thor run. Director Waititi said, "For those of you that know that story, it's incredible. It's full of emotion. It introduces, for the first time, female Thor." He also said that the only person that could play the character in this run was Natalie Portman. 

And before Thor, on May 7, 2021, Benedict Cumberbatch will return as Doctor Strange in the film 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'. The film will also see Elizabeth Olsen who will play the role of Wanda in the series. 'Wanda Vision', the television series is set to premiere on Disney+ and is expected to lead into the film. Scott Derickson, who will be directing the film said, "We're gonna make the first scary MCU film." Feige added, "It's gonna be PG-13 and you're gonna like it," while Cumberbatch said, "I'm really excited to be at the dawn of this project and I think it's vital to maintain the humor we had in the first one but with this twist of horror that will really have people gripped."

In addition to this, Feige also confirmed that Mahershala Ali will join the Marvel universe as Blade, which was a character originally played by Wesley Snipes in three films. No release date was mentioned for this. He also confirmed that X-Men movies and Fantastic 4 were currently in the works.  Other than this, the studio is also working on the next iterations of 'Black Panther', 'Captain Marvel' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. 

Among other movie announcements, Marvel also cited November 6, 2020 for its movie 'The Eternals' starring Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, and Don Lee. The film will be directed by Chloé Zhao. Following that they also made cast and crew announcements for another film titled 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings'. Starring in the film are Simu Liu, Tony Leung and Awkwafina. The film will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.