What the 2024 Marvel Movies and Shows Reveal About the Future of the Franchise

Notice! This post contains SPOILERS for Echo, X-Men '97, Deadpool and Wolverine, Agatha all the time and What If...? season 3

Marvel's 2024 film and TV productions offer a glimpse of UCM'It's the future. Several MCU films and shows were originally scheduled to be released in 2024 before being delayed, including Captain America: Brave New World, Rays, Blade, Daredevil: Born Againand Iron Heartall of which have now been confirmed to make up the MCU's 2025 roster. Some of these delays were due to Marvel Studios slowing production in early 2024, while others needed a little more work than expected. Regardless, although the pace of the MCU has slowed down drastically, 2024 has been a generally successful year for the franchise compared to previous years.

MCU 2024 slate opened with Marvel Spotlight show Echo and the animated series X-Men '97which gathered a dedicated fanbase and raised expectations for similar long-form stories in the future. Deadpool and Wolverine It was certainly the main event of 2024, and its box office results prove this, with more than US$1.338 billion raised worldwide. Although Deadpool and Wolverinethe enormous scale was unparalleled during the rest of the year, Agatha all the time and And if...? Season 3 didn't let up either, featuring ambitious action scenes and several new MCU characters.

The MCU's Disney+ shows could be as successful as the movies

Marvel Studios' MCU shows continue to be a major strength of the franchise

The MCU's first Disney+ shows have set the bar extremely high in 2021. Not only are they WandaVision and Loki important parts of the Multiverse Saga's overarching plot, but they also maintained their position as two of the most popular Marvel series ever made. Hawkeye, Moon Knightand Ms. Marvel also left a mark shortly afterwards, but She-Hulk: Lawyer and Secret Invasion were much more divisive. Happily, 2024 cemented Marvel's small-screen format as one of Marvel's specialtiesas X-Men '97 and Agatha all the time featured some of the franchise's biggest moments in 2024.

In April, X-Men '97 the shocking ending of episode 5 caused an audience reaction comparable to that of Avengers: Infinity WarIt is a moment of anguish. The 2024 X-Men animated show also maintained fans' interest for the rest of the season, and X-Men '97 episode 10 concluded with a high-octane final battle that featured cameos from several Marvel heroes such as Spider-Man and the Avengers. Agatha all the timeThe packed cast competed for the spotlight in a consistent show from start to finish, and also delivered game-changing surprises like the introduction of Wiccan and Death, the death of Agatha Harkness, and the reincarnation of Tommy Maximoff.

The X-Men are one of Marvel's most valuable properties in the future

Mutants don't have to wait until the multiverse saga ends to become Marvel's main attraction

Marvel Studios has slowly incorporated mutants into the MCU over the course of the Multiverse Saga, with subtle nods to the X-Gene and multiple mutant cameos in MCU films and shows, mostly justified by the multiverse concept. However, 2024 upped the ante with the MCU's first official mutant-centric film, Deadpool and Wolverinewhich not only turned Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine into major characters in the MCU, but also brought other mutants like X-23, Gambit, Colossus, Yukio, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead into the franchise. Even after Fox X-Men the franchise has come to an end, its characters continue to be a box office gold mine.

X-Men '97 It surpassed all expectations and set the stage for an entire MCU sub-franchise, if Marvel so desired. Not only did X-Men '97 revive X-Men: The Animated Series faithfully more than two decades later, but it also proved that animated projects can be just as popular as live-action films and shows without needing to tie them into the main MCU continuity. X-Men '97 also unearthed fans' long-dormant interest in similar revivals of 1990s animated shows like Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Incredible Hulk. As live-action mutants gain more relevance in the MCU, so do 2D-animated mutants on the small screen.

Different MCU projects need different types of scale and scope

Not every MCU project needs to be an Avengers-level event

The "budget vs. box office" relationship for superhero movies and shows isn't always proportionate, as evidenced by poor performances like The wonders'US$206 million gross against a budget of US$270 million and Joker: Folie à Deux$206 million gross against a $200 million budget. Deadpool and Wolverine had a budget of US$200 million – similar to the The wonders and Joker: Folie à Deux — but it justified it with a multiversal-level plot and a star-studded cast that brought back several Marvel actors after decades of absence. Naturally, Deadpool and Wolverine made a quick profit, with a worldwide gross of US$1.338 billion.

About that, Echo distanced himself from Deadpool and Wolverineit is large scale and interconnectedness. As a Marvel Spotlight project, Echo explored a more independent corner of the MCU while still having ties to other characters and projects, like Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk and the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again. Agatha all the time it certainly required a bigger budget, but it didn't go overboard with visual effects or an unnecessarily huge final battle. With a strong enough script and solid performances Echo and Agatha all the time fulfilled their respective objectives, proportionate to their scale.

Big MCU events benefit from more production time and anticipation

Marvel's decision to delay several projects from 2024 paid off for the franchise's main tentpole event

Theatrical releases have definitely taken a hard hit from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now blockbuster films aren't reaching the same milestones at the same pace as before. While Marvel placed four films in the $1 billion club in 2018 and 2019, only two films have earned a spot since 2019. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool and WolverineThe nostalgia factor was a key element in the success of both films, but the fact that Deadpool and Wolverine there was no competition within the franchise in 2024 it certainly helped to fall behind Spider-Man: No Way Homewhich inevitably received the advantage of being the largest Spider-Man movie ever.

While Deadpool and Wolverine dominated the discussion in 2024, Captain America: Brave New World and Rays* could be overshadowed by The Fantastic Four: Getting Started. On the other hand, all films from 2024 and 2025 benefited from a longer production period than usual. Marvel's slowdown in production gave all remaining Phase 5 and Phase 6 projects additional time for reshoots and to polish scripts and visual effects. While this doesn't necessarily guarantee a prolonged positive streak, it helps the franchise avoid previous problems from Phases 4 and 5, like rushed plots and choppy visuals.

Not all Marvel projects need to connect to the main MCU plot

The 2024 MCU films took their time to tell a story without setting up upcoming events

Little is known about Avengers: Judgment Day and Avengers: Secret Wars by the end of 2024, but it's safe to say they will recontextualize many details from all previous installments of the Multiverse Saga. Still, 2024's movies and shows haven't focused on creating the next Avengers movies directly. Echo limited its scope to Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk, X-Men '97The story took place entirely in its own universe, and Agatha all the timeit happened almost exclusively on Witch Road. Although multiversal in nature, Deadpool and Wolverine I barely visited Earth-616 and barely referenced anything multiversal that didn't involve Cassandra Nova.

The next two MCU films and all six 2026 series appear to have very little to do with the multiverse. If they continue the same trend as their 2024 predecessors, they will probably stand on their own merits, without the need for multiversal connections. This is a big difference from the Phase 2 installments, such as Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultronwhich devoted a significant portion of its runtime to defining the Infinity Stones' role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Despite the usual ups and downs, Marvel's 2024 releases suggest the UCM is going in the right direction.

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  February 14, 2025
  

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  July 25, 2025
  

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  July 24, 2026