New Marvel Releases of 2021

After the release of Marvel’s new series WandaVision, fans can’t wait to see what else the franchise has in store. Luckily, Marvel has many action-packed series and even some new movies coming to theaters and DisneyPlus this year. People have been waiting years for these film productions since many of their release dates were pushed back due to the pandemic. Today, I’m going to be focusing on the three newest marvel installments that have yet to come out, and the ones that have the most information released so far. I’ll be giving you the rundown of everything I know about them, including fan theories, cameo appearances, and any hints that may have been shown in the trailers. Fans know that Marvel never fails to surprise us, so we’re excited to see what they have to offer in 2021!

 One of the new Marvel shows coming to DisneyPlus is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie as their well-known characters Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. This TV series follows the events of Avengers: Endgame, after Captain America gave his legacy and his shield to Sam Wilson, and went back in time to live out the rest of his life with his true love Peggy Carter. Many Marvel fans speculate that this series will revolve around Sam and Bucky attempting to fill in Captain America’s shoes, and keep the people of America hopeful. While we don’t know if this is true, it has been confirmed by Marvel that Falcon and the Winter Soldier will team up on a global adventure and bring completely new challenges into the franchise. This show is filmed like a movie according to Anthony Mackie, and he said the experience filming was unlike any other experience he has had before. The series is directed by Kari Skogland and is set to release on March 19, 2021, two weeks after the final episode of WandaVision. 

There were quite a few important pieces of information you may have missed in both the commercials and posters released. The poster for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier shows Helmut Zemo in his famous purple mask. Zemo is a Sokovian citizen-turned terrorist who seems to have not given up his hatred towards the Avengers since his last appearance as the main antagonist in Captain America: Civil War. The commercial also showed a gang of masked villains who may be working for Zemo, although this is just speculation. What we do know is that the main villain for this season of the miniseries wants to wipe out all superheroes, and won’t stop until he succeeds. Another character shown in both the poster and commercial is Wyatt Russell, also known as USAgent. USAgent took over the role of Captain America in the comics after Steve was frozen in the ice. Many fans theorize that USAgent will throw a wrench in Steve’s legacy, and stand in the way of Sam and Bucky. Sam and Bucky will also be joined by Sharon Carter, the grandniece of Peggy Carter and former love interest of Captain America. 

The trailer for this show also includes a location that has been seen in previous Marvel movies: Madripoor. Madripoor is an island in Southeast Asia, filled with lots of gangs and lawless nature. It serves as one of the main worlds for the X-Men, so many fans believe that the X-Men will tie into this series and it will give us a glimpse into their world. This could set up Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, since in that movie, Dr. Strange will travel to different universes, and many hints have been given that he may run into the X-Men on his journey. Whether these fan theories are true or not, what we do know for sure is that this series will be a great way of bringing back some characters that have been greatly missed since they were last seen in Endgame. 

Another Marvel release that audiences are anticipating is the Black Widow movie, which is coming out May 7. This movie will be an action-packed spy thriller starring Natasha Romanoff, the first female adventure. The movie is a sequel to Captain America: Civil War and a prequel to Avengers: Infinity War, showing Natasha confronting her past and tying up some loose ends when a conspiracy about her arises. It has been revealed that Natasha will return to the Black Widow Academy where she was raised and restore the relationships that she broke long ago. Since Natasha, unfortunately, died in Endgame after sacrificing herself to obtain the soul stone, fans are excited to see her staying in Marvel. The movie is directed by Cate Shortland and stars Scarlet Johannson, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, and Rachel Weisz. Black Widow is the twenty-fourth film in the MCU as well as the fourth installment and first film of Marvel’s phase four. The runtime of the movie is confirmed to be 133 minutes, and the movie was originally supposed to come out May 1, 2020, but was pushed back due to the pandemic. 

Now, let’s talk about some of the new characters that will be introduced in this movie. Florence Pugh, famous for her role as Dani in Midsommar and Amy in Little Women, will be playing Yelena, another girl in the Black Widow training program who is like a sister to Natasha. Florence Pugh is also set to have a role in the Hawkeye movie, showing that she has a serious future in the Marvel franchise. Rachel Weisz is playing Melina Vostokoff, who also goes by the alias of Iron Maiden. Marvel fans believe that there will be some bad blood between her and Natasha because Melina is tired of living in her shadow, but this is yet to be confirmed. Stranger Things star David Harbour will play the Red Guardian, a character from the comics who acts as a father figure to Natasha’s “family”. The main villain of this movie will be the Taskmaster, who is in control of the Red Room (the birthing place of the Black Widows). There is talk of a few cameos in this movie, including Robert Downey Jr. in a deleted post-credits scene from Captain America: Civil War. General Ross, the antagonist from The Incredible Hulk, may also show up after he made his appearance in Endgame. In Black Widow, Natasha will be getting a new white suit, and a common motif will be having to face her past. Scarlet Johannson will be acting as executive producer for this movie, so fans are interested to see how she changes her character. 

Another series that will be coming out in a few months is Loki. Although there hasn’t been much information released about it yet, this series will have six episodes in season one and is already set to film a second season. It will star Loki Laufeyson, the brother of Thor who has had some evil tendencies throughout the past Marvel movies. Loki was killed by Thanos in Infinity War, but this series will star an alternate version of Loki that escaped from the Avengers during their “Time Heist”. This means that unfortunately, a large portion of Loki’s character development will have been lost, and fans will see a past side of him. Owen Wilson will also appear in this show as an unknown character. Loki will premiere on June 11, and come out in weekly installments after. It will be the third Marvel TV series, and Tom Hiddleston will be returning for his role as Loki.

Whether you’re anxiously waiting for each of these series, or waiting for a specific one, each installment will bring an entirely different side to Marvel and set up the timeline for many more movies to come. There seems to have been lots of time and effort put into all of these productions, and I can’t wait to see what Marvel has in store for this year!