After a Haphazard 18 Months, Marvel Studios Is Reportedly Rebooting the MCU Soon | Popgen Tech

Credit: Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been running for over 14 years. Its humble beginnings with Jon Favreau Iron Man (2008) began a sprawling multimedia franchise that remains one of the highest-grossing and most beloved pop culture entries of recent decades.

But, it’s annoying not to acknowledge that Marvel’s projects have felt lackluster lately, even in the current Phase Four, and this could mean a big change is on the horizon. In fact, rumors point to the live-action Marvel Universe getting a full reboot in the coming years.

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Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. debuted as Tony Stark/Iron Man, and the character quickly became the beating heart of the franchise. His story, as well as that of Marvel’s other leading man, Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), would culminate in commercial success and critical acclaim. Avengers two part final, Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), from the Russo Brothers.

MCU fans can currently look forward to content until 2026 when the sixth installment in Avengers crossover series, Avengers: Secret Wars (2026), released. Originally planned to debut the same year as its predecessor, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025), Kevin Feige’s studio has done an unsurprising shift of the release date around, meaning the Marvel Comics-based story will arrive a year later than planned.

2026 isn’t that far off in the MCU years, and fans might want to start preparing themselves for a historic reboot of the franchise they’ve been following since the late 00s. While Marvel reportedly has plans for projects through 2032, Secret Wars — which itself is based on the popular comic book arc of the same name — could act as the catalyst for a whole new MCU. A new rumor suggests that the film by director Daniel Destin Cretton The Kang Dynasty and writer Michael Waldron Secret Wars is the stage where Marvel will reinvent its prestige film and television show.

The rumor is based on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes needing to recruit a slew of new Avengers to fight the MCU’s new Thanos (Josh Brolin), Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), possibly bringing in characters from outside Marvel Studios such as of 20th Century Studios ‘ X-Men and Fantastic Four — though mutants and Marvel’s First Family are getting their own treatment in the MCU — as well as Sony Pictures stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/ Spider-Man.

Via Comic Book Movie:

As we previously heard, it turns out that the idea was for Avengers: Endgame’s “Portals” scene to look positively small fry in comparison!

The most interesting part of these claims is that Marvel Studios is looking to sign up some of those actors for a new MCU that will be done at the end of Avengers: Secret Wars. Similar to the comic book event from Jonathan Hickman, it seems that a new world that includes multiple timelines will develop, which will “allow some of the X-Men and others to be delivered.”

Most notable among these reports is the notion of “a new MCU”. Despite being one of the world’s leading media empires, Marvel Studios has not been free of criticism, in fact, quite the contrary, as its latest Phase has proven.

Marvel Phase Four, the sequence that should have launched alongside Cate Shortland’s Black Widow in 2020, but started with the Disney+ series instead WandaVision in 2021 due to the pandemic, it was lackluster across the board. Never quite capturing the cohesion the previous Phases had managed to build, Phase Four ended on a lukewarm note this past November with the exit of director Ryan Coogler. Black Panther (2018) follow-up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).

Following the box office success of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) featuring Tom Holland’s (probably) last outing as the New York web-slinger Spider-Man, both Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) generally failed to capture audiences the way Spidey did. And for Disney+, there hasn’t been a shining star of a series — at least as a whole — in the past two years. From Loki in Hawkeye, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in She-Hulk- Attorney at Lawand Moon Knight in Ms. is amazingneither project feels connected in any meaningful way, leading to confusion and frustration from fans.

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This “new MCU” could be a way for Marvel to tie a neat bow around its legacy and genre-defining series of projects nearly 20 years in time. Secret Wars down in theaters.

Do you think the MCU needs a reboot? Let us know in the comments below!