“Anything can happen next! Everything happens next.” – Eternals Vol. 1 #9
Using the aforementioned ‘continuity principle’ from DeMatteis & Salicrup, destinies like Loki’s death in Avengers: Infinity War, Wanda Maximoff’s mental breakdown in WandaVision and Natasha Romanov’s sacrifice in Endgame will be challenged by one or more of these deviations.
Earth based stories, like Black Widow, The Falcon and the WInter Soldier, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man 3, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Blade, Ironheart, Armor Wars & Black Panther 2, will update the viewers with the ramifications of all previous time variances, where & while the cosmic based stories like Eternals, Thor: Love & Thunder, Captain Marvel 2, and Guardians of The Galaxy 3, will have more latitude to essentially get as crazy as they want.
“One of the challenges about a subject is to know enough to think you’re right, but know you DON’T know enough about a subject to think you’re wrong” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
Using Marvel President/Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige’s presentation as my guide, here are some of the probable & possible scenarios I’ve theorized (from clues online and my knowledge of the source material):
(Note: All projects will be considered a part of Phase 4 until Marvel Studios makes it clear where it ends and Phase 5 begins. No predictions are being made; only possibilities drawn from what has been made public and what we know from source material. I’m sharing Level I and a couple of Level II theories for starters.)
“The entire Marvel Cinematic Universe is laid out in a way that is easy for fans around the world to enjoy” ~ Kevin Feige
MCU Phase 4 Probability Chart
*Probability measures the theme of Destiny in a story.
*Possibility measures the Creative Deviation of the same story.
1. WandaVision (1/15/21)
- Destiny vs. Deviation: Wanda Maximoff suffers a severe “episode” of PTSD, leading her to create a universal deviation in which she becomes betrothed to her synthezoid sweetheart, The Vision. They are 2 of the most powerful & complex heroes. She learns about her own genetic deviation and magically gives birth to a pair of twins. Wanda eventually loses her mind and becomes a mass killer, needing the help of other super heroes to bring her back to sanity. Both she and her twins become pawns of a being from a temporal deviation (Dream World, Hell, or just Las Vegas. lol)
- Connects to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (3/25/22) via Spider-Man 3 (12/2021).
- Probability (80%) The underlying theme will question how Wanda got her powers, which will lead us to her parents. Is she really “an enhanced” like Captain America called her and her twin brother, Pietro in Avengers: Age of Ultron? Or is she a mutant? A species with latent genetics that can be triggered by the chemical change as gradual as puberty, or as amazingly as radiation poison from an Infinity stone giving the individual superpowers.
- How this “species” will be differentiated from Bruce Banner’s Hulk & Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel remains to be seen. It will undoubtedly need to be explained to allow the fans and casual viewers of Marvel Studios projects to define mutants vs. everyone else.
- Possibilty (80%) Past characters like Quicksilver, Ultron, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye make appearances while new characters like Photon/Spectrum (Monica Rambeau’s superhero monikers) Nightmare, Mephisto and Herbert Wyndham, The High Evolutionary are possibly mentioned and/or debuted. Surprises like Baron Von Strucker (yes, I didn’t get enough proof of his death) or his son Andreas wouldn’t surprise me either. Hydra/A.I.M. is lurking around here somewhere.
- Because Kevin Feige described this series as the “perfect expansion point” expect the MCU to be transformed beginning here.
2. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (3/25/22)*
- Destiny vs. Deviation: Reeling from a currently unspecified Multiversal Deviation caused by Wanda Maximoff, Doctor Strange is driven to save reality once again. Based on the introduction of America Chavez, an event pulls her out from the multiversal temporal deviation where her home world (The Utopian Parallel) resides.
- Expected to be the third movie in a Multiverse trilogy after WandaVision and Spider-Man 3.
- Probability (100%): Wanda Maximoff will be a major character in the story. The major cast of characters from Doctor Strange are returning. (Not enough is known about the first two installments to see any probable plot points besides the fact that Dr. Strange will need all the help he can get, so expect to see a lot of cameos and possible debuts in addition to America Chavez. Kevin Feige has alluded to mutants being ramped up for their introduction in this project.)
- Possibility (100%): Anything is possible here; from the debut of Clea, Brother Voodoo & his brother Victor to the death of Doctor Strange himself.
