4 Movies to Fill Marvel's 4 Open Slots in Phase 4

Fans of Film Dunce Files, I apologize for leaving you unsatisfied for the past few weeks. I had a few deadlines to meet that weren't self imposed, and thus took a priority over my obligation to the five of you who read these articles on a regular basis. You're the real heroes, by the way. But today kicks off Marvel week here at Film Dunce Files, leading up to some sort of Civil War related article on Friday. Will it be good? Probably. Could it suck? I guess all things are possible.

For the uninitiated, Captain America: Civil War kicks off Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with Phase 2 ending in epic fashion with... Ant Man? This isn't to say Ant Man wasn't good, it just seems like a lukewarm finale to a six-movie saga that included both Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. We already have the full slate of Phase 3 movies, including: Civil War, Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Infinity War Pt. 1, Ant Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Infinity War Pt. 2. Needless to say, there's plenty to be excited for.

The culmination of these will be Infinity Wars, which will pit the Avengers against Thanos, the weird purple guy who shows up at the end of The Avengers movies and puts on a glove. Almost every movie in the MCU so far has set up at least a puzzle piece for this throw down, meaning both an epic battle for the Avengers and an epic amount of binge watching for Marvel fans. But what happens after that? It's not like Marvel will stop making movies. In fact, Marvel has already "bought" four dates on which they'll release four mystery movies. Obviously, you know we're going to start speculating wildly.

1. Nova: The One to Make Green Lantern Look Stupid

Release Date: July 12, 2019

One of our last articles talked about how certain studios (*coughs DISNEY*) likes to make movies they heard other people are making, before they can make them. Ironically, Marvel infamously ripped off quite a few characters from their biggest competitor's, DC. Isn't it funny to think about how Marvel used to desperately want to keep up with DC? Those were the days.

With DC currently trying to compete with Marvel on the big screen, one of their big releases slated for 2020 is Green Lantern Corps. It's a reboot to the Green Lantern "franchise" that got about one steamy turd of a movie out before someone flushed it down the metaphorical toilet. To explain the Green Lantern Corps to those unfamiliar, the Green Lanterns are a group of space cops that fly around shooting light out of their fingers. That brings us to Nova. Nova is a space cop, part of the Nova Corps, that flies around shooting light out of his fingers. See the problem?

Green Lantern Corps is slated to release sometime in 2020, meaning Nova could get the jump on them by about a year, and establish themselves in the minds of everyone as the "official Space Laser Cops". Even though four years is still pretty far away, I'm not sure the DCEU will have earned the good will Marvel has with movie goers, especially considering their sticking with Zack "50% Average on RottenTomatoes" Snyder as their leader. But if they can, it'll still be hard to sell what boils down to the same movie less than a year later. Considering Disney likes to use other movies to make themselves look better, I think Nova will be take Marvel's July 2019 date.

2. Spider-Man: The One with all the Venom

Release Date: May 1st, 2020

I'm basing this guess off of Marvel's past scheduling. For the past 6 years, we've gotten a Marvel movie at the beginning of May, and for the past 5 years, they've been sequels. It's looking like this trend will continue until we all are dead, and for a few years after that too. So who get's a sequel in 2020? My guess is Spider-man, and I have a few reasons for it.

Number one: I think Spider-man will be the focus of Phase Four for Marvel. Chances are Infinity War is going to drastically thin the herd in terms of which heroes are still "active" or "alive", and they're going to need to lean on a character as beloved as Iron Man to keep audiences from losing interest. Another reason, is Spider-man brings something to the table that has been lacking in the MCU since the start; solid villains. The Sinister Six vs. The Avengers would be a stellar way to move away from Earths Mightiest Heroes taking on anonymous armies, and could lead to one on one battles instead of Hulk just smashing through thousands of drones.

Number two: Venom. Venom is one of the most popular villains in comic book history, on par with the Joker and Magneto. He's so popular, Sony wanted to give him his own movie before they decided to let Marvel steer the ship while they just counted their money. Going with my theory that the first Spider-man movie will introduce a fancy black suit, and actually set up the Venom story line, a Spider-man sequel with Venom would be a shot in the arm for a cinematic universe that may seem like it's fizzling out.

3. Fantastic Four: The One to fix the Other Ones

Release Date: July 10, 2020

"Fantastic Four is owned by Fox, Phil, this movie can't happen." Yes, I hear you. But do you hear, what I hear? I hear Fox has cancelled all it's plans to make more Fantastic Four movies. I hear Fox fired the guy who greenlit Josh Trank's disastrous Fant4stic. I hear Fox and Marvel have become friendly enough to make some X-men TV shows together. I hear that after Phase 3 is over, Marvel is going to have enough money to literally build an Iron Man suit, storm into Rupert Murdoch's house, and make him sign the rights over. I hear good things.

I'm guessing after seeing the ludicrous amount of money Sony makes giving the reigns of Spider-man to marvel, Fox will be quick to follow suit. Really, it's not that much different of a scenario. Sony came to Marvel after their plans for a Spider-man only universe (which I really think could have worked) didn't pan out, and they had to scrap their Aunt May solo movie. Remember when they wanted to make an Aunt May solo movie? What the hell, right? But Marvel was happy to come to their rescue, and would certainly do the same for their first family.

After all, Marvel needs the Fantastic Four as much as the Fantastic four need Marvel. Remember how I talked about Marvel's lack of compelling villains? That's because they're all hanging out with the Fantastic Four. Dr. Doom, Galactus, the Skrulls, and Mole man. Ok, maybe not Mole man. But those first three are Avengers tier villains, particularly Galactus. If Marvel needs someone bigger than Thanos for a three-phase arc, they don't get bigger than Galactus.

4. Ghost Rider: The One to fix the Other Other Ones

Release Date: November 6, 2020

This one is also all about dates. For some reason, Marvel seems to think that early November is the time for "magic" movies. Thor 2, Dr. Strange, and Thor 3 have/will be released around November. While some might expect them to keep milking the Thor cow but I disagree. Mostly because I know there is no Thor cow to be milked. There is a horse Thor, named Beta Rey Bill, but that's different. Also, way to miss an opportunity to call him Norse Horse. What was I talking about?

GHOST RIDER. Look, this guy is the king of edgy t-shirts. Goth kids love him, bikers love him, everybody loves Ghost Rider, and the rights are officially in Marvel's hands, so what's taking so long? If I were to guess, it would be something along the lines of "we have 11 movies coming out in four years, hold your Norse Horses". But patience is a virtue, and patience pays off.

Especially in terms of visual effects. Recently I rewatched the original Thor, and let me tell you, 2009 was a long time ago. Ghost Rider is a difficult character to put on screen, being that he's literally a flaming skeleton in a leather jacket. So delaying the reveal as long as possible on stands to benefit those at Marvel and their audiences.