Upcoming MCU Films Ranked by Excitement
The MCU is still killing despite being almost 20 years old. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is killing it at the box office, and tickets for Avengers: Doomsday have already gone on sale, and the pre-sales are fantastic. Which means I am in the mood to talk about the MCU, so here is my ranking of the seven upcoming MCU films ranked by excitement. Here we go!
7. Nova (TBA): Nova is an interesting character because there have been reports about Marvel trying to develop either a Nova movie or tv show for years now, but no real progress has been made. But…last month Michael Waldron was hired as a writer on the film. Waldron has had a long history with Marvel, he primarily wrote Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as well as a co-writer on Avengers: Doomsday. So clearly Marvel likes this guy enough to want to keep on working with him. Some people do not like Waldron because he wrote the Multiverse of Madness which a lot of people (me included) were disappointed with. There are all sorts of stories about the production of the film and the number of rewrites and reshoots the film went through. I do not blame him for that movie, I blame the executives. Waldron being attached as a writer, that does not affect my excitement. We will talk about this more with Ghost Rider, but I do not know anything about the character of Nova. He seems like a popular character with comic book fans, and he is a popular enough character that the MCU has not adapted yet. Once we get more of the creative team, this movie could move higher up on the list. To be clear, I am not hating this movie. As of right now, I have no reason to be concerned about this film, but it is in last place because we do not know a lot about it and I do not know the character.
6. Shang-Chi 2 (TBA): It feels like every few months there’s a quote from either Simu Liu or Destin Daniel Cretton saying that it’s still working, but it’s been five years since the original and we don’t really have any updates on the film. I really dug the original film, and I have been wanting a sequel to that film for a while. It expanded the world of the MCU by leaning more into the fantasy and martial elements of the film. Simu Liu is great as the character, he has the lead charisma, and I did read his book which made me like him more as a person, so I only want to root for him. With that said, the production of the film is a little bit in jeopardy after Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The reason for that is that the film is killing it at the box office, and Destin Daniel Cretton is going to stick around in the Spider-Man franchise and direct Tom Holland’s fifth Spider-Man movie. Because of that, I am very curious as to what the means for this film and Destin will not return to direct the film. I hope we get a sequel; I want this film to happen and as of right now there are three untitled MCU scheduled for release in 2029, I would not be surprised if this movie is one of them.
5. Ghost Rider (July 28th, 2028): My first exposure to Ghost Rider was playing as him and riding his bike in LEGO Marvel Superheroes (which is one of the best LEGO video games of all time). I have not seen the Nicolas Cage movies, so I do not know anything about the Ghost Rider character. Naturally, this film is the one that there is the least amount of information and knowledge for me to get excited for. On the positive, I love that Ryan Gosling is joining the MCU. Him joining the MCU I view as a big win for Marvel that they can get such a big star. The MCU needs Gosling more than Gosling needs the MCU. The fact that he can do whatever he wants, and he wants to do Ghost Rider is exciting to me. Beyond that, they got a lot of the same creative team behind Star Wars: Starfighter including Shawn Levy as the director. So, it seems like Kevin Feige likes Star Wars: Starfighter enough that he wants to bring that same creative team over to work on this movie. So, it gets me excited for both Star Wars: Starfighter as well as Ghost Rider because it seems like Disney likes this creative team and what they are doing. Overall, as of right now I have no reasons to doubt this movie being any good. Once we learn more details about the film, this movie could easily move up on this list.
4. Avengers: Secret Wars (December 17th, 2027): To some people, it might be shocking that I have an Avengers movie this low on a list like this. While I am excited for this movie and I only hope that it is great, it is the film that we know the least about. With this film, we know that The Russo Brothers are directing the film and it is set to be the final film in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. We do not really know anything about the cast, I would assume a lot of the cast from Doomsday will be in this movie. But they are going to add a lot of legacy actors in this movie that include Tobey Maguire and any other actors that are not confirmed for Doomsday. Beyond that, if this truly is the final film in the Multiverse Saga, there is just some curiosity about what that means and how this film sets up the future of the MCU. We will talk about this later, but the X-Men film is the first film following Secret Wars, so I am curious how these two films tie together. My excitement for this movie is going to depend on Doomsday. If Doomsday is great and another home run from the Russo Brothers, then this movie moves up on the list and will affect where it ranks on my most predicted list of 2027.
3. Black Panther III (December 18th, 2028): I never thought I would rank a Black Panther film above an Avengers movie, but as of August 2026 that is happening. The gap between my excitement for Secret Wars and this film is not big, but it is big enough for me to put this movie higher up. The big reason I have a lot of excitement for this movie is because Ryan Coogler is returning. I have seen a lot of people disappointed that after Sinners is not doing an original film, but he is doing another franchise film. I do not mind that because he is doing an original film then back to a franchise film, I think going back and forth between films is a smart move and you can build out a great legacy with that. I love the fact that after Sinners and winning Oscars that he could do whatever he wants and he wants to do another Black Panther movie, which means he is passionate about this film, the script, and the story. I love that David Jonsson from Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk is our new Black Panther, T’Challa’s son. He was great in those movies and seems like he is going to have a big career moving forward and Black Panther III could be the start of that. If it is true that Denzel Washington is in the film, then that is just another bonus.
2. X-Men (May 5th, 2028): I love the X-Men, the Fox X-Men universe had a lot of good movies, they also had a lot of very disappointing and bad movies. But you also have X-Men the Animated Series that is fantastic, so I am always excited for a new X-Men project. Finally, the X-Men are being introduced into the MCU and the year it comes out, it will be the 20th anniversary of the MCU, and I love that they are celebrating that with the X-Men. Another big positive about this movie, it is directed by Jake Schrier who did Thunderbolts* which I really dug and is one of the MCU’s best films they have done post-Endgame. When he was announced as the director, my excitement for this movie went up. In Thunderbolts* I love the group dynamic and how it is a film about something exploring these different themes and ideas. If he can bring that to this film, then this could be an interesting X-Men movie. This past week, we did get the cast for the film. While I did not love every casting choice, I am still excited to see these actors play these characters because Marvel has a great record of accomplishment with casting. It is cool that Inde Navarette is joining a big franchise after Obsession, which also is not too surprising. Finally, we’re getting Adam Driver in the MCU after years of back and forth between him and Feige about trying to find a role for him in the MCU. Until we have a trailer that potentially knocks back my excitement, I am only excited for this movie.
1. Avengers: Doomsday (December 18th, 2026): The next MCU film to come out and a film where my excitement for it has only continued to grow. Like most people, I have been skeptical and nervous about the film because it was a course correction movie and felt like a desperate move to bring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and the X-Men back. The first couple of trailers they have released have not been great, but the latest trailer we got at D23 that fully won me over. The reason for that is because that trailer sold us more on Doctor Doom’s threat and exactly what he is doing. It might be simple as he lost his family, and he sees The Avengers have families and he wants to take them from him. Right there, we understand Doom’s motivation and we get why all these different characters and universes must come together. Even some of the dialogue with Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, showing a history with him. From there, the nostalgic angle on the film is working for me and getting exciting. I love that we are getting the X-Men in their classic costumes, especially James Marsden and I hope this movie redeems Cyclops. Seeing our MCU trinity of Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth all return in this movie has the MCU fanboy inside of me excited.
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