Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, KindPNG

Just like our normal, superhero-free universe, The Marvel Cinematic Universe knows no bounds and ends. Always entering into another galaxy of film franchises, fan theories, and exciting releases, MCU has been expanding relentlessly since its first film release back in the last century. The superhero film franchise will keep up with its abundance of releases next year, too, and expand to some of the most awaited films to be ever produced in the history of the legendary studios. 

This year, the cinematic universe studio dropped its fourth phase's latest production, Eternals, that cast an abundance of stars in the production. Highly anticipated and original, the film garnered mixed reviews with its release and left many fans disappointed. However, luckily enough, Marvel has another wonder just ready, which will be released on 17 December this year. 

Of course, we are talking about Spider-Man: No Way Home, the most anticipated Spidey movie, which serves to be the third installment in the Tom Holland Spider-Verse and will probably also serve to be the last one casting the actor. The film has managed to capture the attention of fans with a few well-aimed fan theories, a multiverse hypothesis, and a chance to see all the three Spider-Men together in a single release. 

While there is not much on that part of the topic, Spider-Man's latest release does manage to unite all the five formidable foes of Peter Parker and bring them together to the world where Tom Holland will have to defend them off. Still, on the off-hand chance that the three Spideys come together, it would be exciting to see Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire reprise their iconic roles once again. 

Marvel Studios have already experimented with the multiverse trope in its two releases Loki and "What If...?" that aired on Disney+. Still, the latest Spider-Man film is more than a casual extension of the film franchise and is more likely a nudge towards a new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we never saw it before. 

Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios had explained that the Spider-Man: No Way Home will finally allow the studios to open some new exciting doors of opportunity, which will reflect in the coming releases to be dropped in 2022. “There’ll be news. There’ll be various events,” the president shared with Screen Rant in December 2021.

 “Obviously with the pandemic, the way we’ve announced things has changed and altered, and in some ways, that’s been good, because it’s kept the focus on what’s next. It’s kept the focus on the projects as they come out,” he added.

It is also a fact of notice that the upcoming Marvel releases are not short of brilliant productions in their own right. Once fans would manage to settle down after the above par screening of No Way Home and its various unexpected twists, Marvel plans to drop Doctor Strange with Multiverse of Madness, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which will release on 6 May 2022. Seeing that he is presently the partner in crime for Peter Parker, the story will definitely give an edge to the multiverse cinema as it will arise from now. 

Superhero Thor will reappear, once again, with another film to his name, making the fourth in his franchise and the only hero to reach the four-film milestone in the solo franchise. The film will be released on 18 July 2022. Then we will also get to see an honorary expansion of Black Panther with Wakanda Forever taking after the legacy of T'Challa lives on, following the legendary actor Chadwick Boseman's death, releasing on 11 November 2022. 

Fortunately, this is not all the Marvel content we will be watching next year. The superhero studio has already collaborated with Disney+, and will bring many exciting TV releases starting with Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac, She-Hulk with Tatiana Maslany, and Ironheart starring Dominique Thorne. 

Further releases will include Ms. Marvel, with Iman Vellani getting to be the lead lady of the show. Not to forget, the widely popular series WandaVision's supporting character Agatha Harkness, played by Kathryn Hahn, will arrive with her very own spinoff show. The series will be followed by another supporting character Maya Lopez from Hawkeye, played by Alaqua Cox, getting to star in a separate spin-off series. 

Apart from these, Marvel is planning to bring some new characters to our screens as Disney gets to reign over 20th Century Fox by buying it. The studio might expand on the worlds of X-Men and Deadpool. Not to worry, Ryan Reynolds still holds the claim to the character and will star in the franchise as it develops further. 

“It will be rated R, and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan’s overseeing a script right now,” Kevin Feige told Collider. “It’s exciting for it to have begun… A very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”

The studios will drop Guardians of Galaxy Vol. 3 on 5 May 2023, where Star-Lord might try making their newest Gamora fall in love with him. In the last film, the Star-Lord, played by Chris Pratt, had managed to bring down Thanos, but their Gamora had ended up dead as a war casualty. 

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 will release in 2023; Credits: Collider

While this is a lot of Marvel to be watched in a single year, the film studios have a lot more content planned that does not have official release dates yet.