Even before they had the movie rights to Cain Marko, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been an unstoppable juggernaut. The movies have been making all the money in the world, but Marvel is so rich in characters and concepts that they’ve begun to encompass the TV and streaming worlds, as well. We’re at a point now where they did 13 seasons of shows on Netflix and those have now been shoved off to the past so they can look into the future.
Marvel TV stuff has always been a little annoying due to the one-way connection it has with the movies. While they’re supposed to share the same continuity, TV will reference the movies while the movies rarely reference TV. You’ll see the Defenders talk about the events of Avengers, but you never saw any of the Defenders help fight Thanos’ army.
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With Disney+ and its many upcoming shows, things are going to be different, it seems. Now the shows will be just as important to shaping the universe as the movies, including one that’s very much a tie-in to the second Doctor Strange movie.
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So here’s what the MCU has to offer on the small screen in the next several years.
RUNAWAYS SEASON 3
December 13, 2019
Runaways season 2 had a very Empire Strikes Back kind of downer ending. Various members of the team are kidnapped by aliens and at least one of them is being set up as a feast. Alex, Nico, and Molly (with help from Xavin) not only have to continue battling their parents, but save their friends from the whole alien invasion thing going on.
They won’t be alone, at least. It’s been confirmed that Cloak and Dagger, stars of their own Freeform series, will show up for a crossover. This is not only perfect due to the two MCU shows coexisting, but because in the comics, they played up how Cloak and Dagger were essentially the prototype version of the Runaways, allowing them to become mentors to the troubled teens. Unfortunately, this season will be the final one for the popular drama.
You can read more about Runaways Season 3 right here.
AGENTS OF SHIELD SEASON 7
Summer 2020
It’s been a long run, but Agents of SHIELD is finally hitting its end. The original MCU tie-in show will be starting its final season, hopefully tying up all loose ends now that the series has exploded into stories of space travel, time travel, and robot duplicates. The use of time travel for this season will cause the agents to run into the likes of Hydra and, presumably, Agent Carter. Hopefully this closure means that Fitz and Simmons can finally be happy together for an elongated time because, sweet Jesus, the universe does NOT like their relationship for some reason.
And to think, this all happened because Clark Gregg’s character tested really well when making Iron Man.
You can check out everything you need to know about Agents of SHIELD Season 7 right here.
THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER
Late 2020
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, an elderly Steve Rogers handed his Captain America shield over to Sam Wilson, the Falcon. Instead of following up with that in movie form, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan will be reprising their cinematic roles to show the aftermath as the very first MCU show on Disney+. Daniel Bruhl’s Helmut Zemo will be making a return, this time wearing his iconic ski mask. Emily VanCamp will also return as Sharon Carter.
Wyatt Russell will play John Walker, better known as US Agent. It seems the powers that be aren’t too happy with Falcon wielding the shield and want their own hand-picked patriot to take up the mantle.
The series will consist of six episodes.
You can read more about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier right here.
HELSTROM
2020
Finally, here’s something new! Part of Hulu’s “Adventure Into Fear,” we get the adventures of Daimon and Ana Helstrom (played by Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon), otherwise known in the comics as Son of Satan and Satana respectively. They’re the children of a serial killer who decide to go around playing Dexter by torturing and killing the worst people. As long as there are no weird lumberjack plot twists in the finale, it should be fine.
read more: Complete Schedule of Upcoming MCU Phase 4 Marvel Movies
The interesting thing here is that in the comics, their father is Satannish, one of Marvel’s various incarnations of the Devil. For all we know, the TV version of their “serial killer” father is also a major demon (or the actual ruler of Hell), but this does oddly feel traded with Ghost Rider. In the comics, Robbie Reyes’ power comes not from a biblical entity, but the soul of his serial killer uncle. This plot point is missing with the MCU version of Ghost Rider.
WANDAVISION
Early 2021
Disney+’s WandaVision appears to be the most intriguing series on the horizon. Despite being powerful enough to kick Thanos’ ass one-on-one, Scarlet Witch has felt helpless and defeated throughout her life. Her parents were killed in front of her, she was experimented on by terrorists, she nearly helped cause the apocalypse, her brother died, she became publicly known as a weapon of mass destruction, she was forced to murder the love of her life for the greater good, then that got undone and rendered moot as said loved one got killed a second time over.
Wanda’s powers haven’t been fully explored through the movies, but in the comics, they led to the ability to alter reality. The worse her mental state, the more damaging her powers. This doesn’t bode well, considering Elizabeth Olsen will return to play Wanda alongside Paul Bettany’s Vision as the two live together in what appears, on the surface, to be happily ever after.
The series will feature a random assortment of other MCU supporting characters like a grown-up Monica Rambeau from Captain Marvel (Teyonah Parris), Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man and the Wasp (Randall Park), and Darcy Lewis from the first two Thor films (Kat Dennings).
WandaVision is supposed to be a prologue to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Already, there are a million fan theories about this bringing mutants into the MCU, but we’ll see in time.
Read more about WandaVision here.
LOKI
Early 2021
One of the bigger “wait what?” moments in Avengers: Endgame was when the time-traveling Iron Man and Ant-Man failed to retrieve the Space Stone after the events of the first Avengers. It instead ended up in the hands of Loki, who vanished with it. That was the last we heard from him and it was a bizarre little loose end.
read more: Loki’s Most Devious Moments in Marvel History
Being murdered by Thanos isn’t enough to keep Tom Hiddleston from portraying the trickster god as this Disney+ series will focus on the further adventures of Loki from this alternate timeline. The mishmash logo suggests that Loki will be visiting various eras of his version of the MCU.
read more about the Loki TV series here.
WHAT IF?
Mid 2021
Now we go into animation for a second. Based on the comic series of the same name, What If is an anthology series based on a very simple idea: take a critical moment in continuity and turn it on his head. Maybe a major character dies when they should have survived. Maybe the other way around. Maybe enemies become friends. Teams never come to be. The sky is the limit because it’s an alternate universe and you don’t have to think about the follow-up.
read more: The MCU Stories We Want to See in Marvel’s What If…? Animated Series
What If will be based on the MCU’s events, hosted by the all-seeing Uatu the Watcher, as voiced by Jeffrey Wright. Many names from the movies will return to voice their characters and the first season will consist of 23 episodes. Each one based on a different movie from the first three phases.
read more about Marvel’s What If…? series right here.
HAWKEYE
Late 2021
Bro! Jeremy Renner will play Clint Barton once again as he gives the Hawkeye mantle over to Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld)! This is big deal, bro! Almost definitely based on the wonderful Matt Fraction run of character! I hope bro has dog that eats pizza!
For real, though. Pizza Dog and trick arrows. That’s all I need, Marvel.
Read more about the Hawkeye TV series right here.
MS. MARVEL
Kamala Khan is one of Marvel’s more popular new creations in the last few years and there’s a real corporate push to treat her as the future. She also worships Captain Marvel and considering her movie was a gigantic hit, it’s time to strike while the iron is hot. And by that, I mean in a few years because so far there is no vague date announced.
read more: The History of Ms. Marvel
In the comics, Ms. Marvel is a fangirl of all things superhero who lives in New Jersey and gets powers via being an Inhuman. She gains stretch and size-changing powers, which is all the reason she needs to follow in the footsteps of her idol, Captain Marvel. Depending on the release date, Ms. Marvel might not even be introduced in her own Disney+ show, but as a supporting character in Captain Marvel 2.
You can read more about the Ms. Marvel TV series right here.
MOON KNIGHT
Mercenary Marc Spector is left for dead during a mission in Egypt and comes across a statue of a deity known as Khonshu. Khonshu, God of Vengeance and the Moon, empowers Spector to be his avatar. Moon Knight fights crime in Khonshu’s name as the Marvel counterpart to Batman, but there’s a twist…
read more: The History of Moon Knight
Is Khonshu even real or is Marc Spector just imagining him? Does it even truly matter?
read more about the Moon Knight TV series right here.
SHE-HULK
Avengers: Endgame showed that the world is ready to be thirsty for giant, green people. Since Universal is making it really hard to get a Hulk-based movie off the ground, Disney+ is there to give us She-Hulk! Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner, who inherits his powers via blood transfusion. Rather than go on angry rampages, she instead spends her time confidently strutting through the courtroom as a seasoned lawyer.
read more: The History of She-Hulk
And let me tell you, laws in a superhero world are weird as hell. Just think of all the ramifications from the Blip alone!
read more about the She-Hulk TV series right here.
Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and is waiting patiently for a Gwenpool TV series. Read more of his articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L