This year will be a very eventful one for Marvel fans, as it marks the beginning of Phase Four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which will feature movies and TV shows released from 2021 to 2023 on Disney Plus. This newest chapter of storylines within the MCU is particularly notable compared to previous phases for both its inclusion of TV shows and in creating a more planned-out connection between all of the content to an overarching narrative.

The first release, the original series, “WandaVision,” premiered on Jan. 15, and takes place after the events of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” centering around the relationship between Avengers Wanda Maximoff and Vision. “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” a series that will start in March, will also serve as a follow-up to “Endgame.” “Black Widow,” set for May 7, will focus on Natasha Romanoff and her life after “Captain America: Civil War” and will be the first new movie in almost two years. 

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” will be released on July 9, marking the cinematic debut for Shang-Chi, a superhero that gains the power to duplicate himself and eventually joins the Avengers. Spider-Man will also be brought back in December for a second sequel, and “Eternals,” set for release on Nov. 7, will introduce new characters to the MCU based on an alien race of humanoids that appear in comic books of the same name. 

Another series that will premiere this year is “Loki,” based on Loki’s experiences after he steals the Tesseract in “Avengers: Endgame” and uses it to alter history and create new timelines. Junior Hudson Day said he is looking forward to the series because of its acting, timeline and character development.

“Out of all the Marvel content coming out this year, I’m probably most looking forward to ‘Loki’ because I love Tom Hiddleston’s unique acting and funny vibe that he brings to the viewing experience,” Day said. “Loki’s character is also extremely interesting, and I think that there’s a lot of opportunity for Marvel to bring in more nuanced aspects of his past, personality and future in the Marvel Universe. This show also has a potential to add a lot of previously unseen content to the MCU, which could help to diversify the community that is interested in Loki and Thor specifically.”

Junior Rohan Malhotra is looking forward to future episodes of “WandaVision” as well as the new Doctor Strange movie that will be released later in Phase Four. He said he enjoys how the characters evolve and how their connections to other parts of the MCU are revealed.

“I’ve been watching ‘WandaVision’ and looking forward to new episodes, and I’m also excited about the new Doctor Strange movie: ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness,’” Malhotra said. “Doctor Strange has always been one of my favorite heroes because of how complex his character is, and I’ve been wondering what they’ll do with him in upcoming movies. I’ll also enjoy seeing how the story arc of the new Doctor Strange movie fits into the Marvel Universe and connects to other movies and shows released in this year and in past years, like ‘WandaVision,’ ‘Loki’ and the new Spider-Man movie.”

Although longtime fans may be more concerned to see how new Marvel content will affect the progression of the overall story universe, some movies will also likely serve as opportunities to draw new fans into the Marvel franchise. Day thinks that the third Spider-Man film will be the most well-received by the general public for this reason.

“The previous Spider-Man movies were wildly popular and didn’t require much previous knowledge about the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Day said. “They were good for families because they were much more mild and less violent than some of the other Marvel movies. They also do a better job incorporating common themes that are more relatable to the audience, things like high school, teenage years and coming of age.”

On the other hand, Malhotra thinks that the more popular Marvel films set to be released this year will bring back old storylines. He said that reprising characters will appeal more to those longtime Marvel fans.

“If Marvel is making a movie centered around a completely new character, it’s probably not going to do quite as well because of that,” Malhotra said. “Also, with the amount of characters and timelines that they have currently, they can continue that narrative for years to come, without having to add anything else into the mix.”

According to senior Xan Smith, the best way to tell the Marvel story is with a balance of old and new characters and plots. He thinks this mixture would help create more refreshing storylines for future Marvel movies and shows.

“There are a lot of storylines that I’m already invested in, but I also want to see Marvel take them in directions that I’m not expecting,” Smith said. “I’m into lots of the already existing characters, storywise, but I’m also looking forward to the older characters facing new and unique situations with newer characters incorporated.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of Marvel movies that were set for release in 2020 were postponed. However, according to freshman Eammon Keane, even though he didn’t get to see any new Marvel content released last year, he wasn’t greatly affected by it.

“I did find the lapse of movies in 2020 kind of disappointing,” Keane said. “However, a big part of Marvel movies is the experience of getting to watch them in a movie theater, and I liked the idea of postponing them until we could go to theaters again. Also, the whole quarantine thing isn’t really unique to Marvel, and there were so many other things related to the coronavirus that I had to focus on. So not getting to see any new movies last year didn’t have that much of an impact on me, and I get to look forward to all the other movies coming up.”