What Does Phase Four Hold For The Future Of The MCU?

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With the release of Captain Marvel and Avengers 4 next year, phase three of the MCU timeline will officially be wrapped up.  So, the question remains what does Feige and crew have in store for the fourth phase of the franchise?  We have had no grand announcement, as of yet, from Marvel Studios, as fans continue to anxiously wait with the hopes of seeing a projection of further movies, along a timeline, such as was presented with phase one thru three.

We do know so far that phase four will be kicked off with the movie Spider-man: Far From Home in July of 2019.  If Marvel Studios continues its schedule into the next phase of three entries into the franchise each year, which characters could possibly hit the theaters after Spider-Man?

Marvel Studios has already announced plans for Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and rumors are still flying of a possible Black Panther 2, so we know that both movies will factor into the fourth phase in some manner.  James Gunn did make mention of the fact that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will be the last entry into what was originally a three-part storyline, confirmed to be hitting the big screen in 2020.  However, he wants to make sure fans did not take that as meaning the Guardians franchise is done.  It just simply means that we have gotten a good look at Star Lord and his crew, and their individual stories could possibly move on from there.  There were even hints Guardian spin offs, and possibly a back story on the creation of Rocket Raccoon.

Also reported as being in production is the much-anticipated Black Widow outing, as well as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirming a sequel to Doctor Strange “some point in the future.”  Disney on the other hand is keeping any information pertaining to phase four close to the vest.  Feige has stated he expected them to keep any information secret for as long as they can.  However, considering that Marvel Studios loves sequels, we may just see Captain Marvel 2 and possibly an Ant-Man 3 added to the phase four mix.

Keeping all of this in mind, the question now is how is phase four going to differ from phases one thru three, if at all?  We can pretty much speculate that there will be no entries from Iron-Man or Captain America (at least not with Steve Rogers in the patriotic suit), as both actors portray8ing the characters have so much as said they are looking for an exit.  And, depending on the outcome of Avengers 4, there may very well be more characters retired and shelved from the MCU.  As Joe Russo said at Comic-Con "everything has to have an end at some point in order for it to have value."