What 2024’s Marvel Movie & Shows Reveal About The Franchise’s Future (2025)

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Echo, X-Men '97, Deadpool & Wolverine, Agatha All Along, and What If...? season 3

Marvel's 2024 movie and TV productions offer a glimpse into the MCU's future. Various MCU movies and shows were originally set to release in 2024 before getting delayed, including Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, Blade, Daredevil: Born Again, and Ironheart, all of which have now been confirmed to make up the MCU's 2025 slate. Some of these delays were due to Marvel Studios' output decrease at the beginning of 2024, while others needed a little more work than expected. Regardless, while the MCU's pace slowed down dramatically, 2024 was a generally successful year for the franchise in comparison to previous years.

The MCU's 2024 slate opened with the Marvel Spotlight show Echo and the animated series X-Men '97, which gathered a dedicated fanbase and raised expectations for similar long-form stories in the future. Deadpool & Wolverine certainly was the main event of 2024, and its box office results prove it, with over $1.338 billion earned worldwide. Even though Deadpool & Wolverine's huge scale went unmatched for the rest of the year, Agatha All Along and What If...? season 3 didn't let up either, featuring ambitious action scenes and several new MCU characters.

The MCU's Disney+ Shows Could Be Just As Successful As The Movies

Marvel Studios' MCU Shows Continue To Be A Major Franchise Strength

The MCU's first Disney+ shows left the bar extremely high in 2021. Not only are WandaVision and Loki key parts of the Multiverse Saga's overarching storyline, but they have also maintained their position as two of the most popular Marvel series ever made. Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel also left a mark shortly afterward, but She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and Secret Invasion were much more divisive. Fortunately, 2024 cemented Marvel's small-screen format as one of Marvel's specialties, as X-Men '97 and Agatha All Along featured some of the biggest moments for the franchise in 2024.

In April, X-Men '97 episode 5's shocking ending caused an audience reaction comparable to that of Avengers: Infinity War's cliffhanger. The 2024 X-Men animated show also kept up fans' interest for the rest of the season, and X-Men '97 episode 10 concluded it with a high-octane final battle that featured cameos by multiple Marvel heroes such as Spider-Man and the Avengers. Agatha All Along's packed cast competed for the spotlight in a consistent show from beginning to end, and it also delivered game-changing surprises such as Wiccan and Death's introduction, Agatha Harkness' death, and Tommy Maximoff's reincarnation.

The X-Men Are One Of Marvel's Most Valuable Properties Going Forward

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 throughout the Multiverse Saga with subtle nods to the X-Gene and multiple mutant cameos in MCU movies and shows, mostly justified by the concept of the multiverse. However, 2024 upped the ante with the MCU's first official mutant-centered movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, which not only turned Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine into key MCU characters but also brought other mutants such as X-23, Gambit, Colossus, Yukio, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead into the franchise. Even after Fox's X-Men franchise came to an end, its characters continue to be a box-office goldmine.

As live-action mutants gain more relevance in the MCU, so can 2D-animated mutants on the small screen

X-Men '97 exceeded 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 over two decades later, but it also proved that animated projects can be just as popular as live-action movies and shows without the need to tie them to the MCU's main continuity. X-Men '97 also unearthed long-dormant fan interest in similar revivals of 1990s animated shows such as Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Incredible Hulk. As live-action mutants gain more relevance in the MCU, so can 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" ratio for superhero movies and shows isn't always proportional, as evidenced by poor performances like The Marvels' $206 million gross against a $270 million budget and Joker: Folie à Deux's $206 million gross against a $200 million budget. Deadpool & Wolverine had a $200 million budget — similar to The Marvels 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-long periods of absence. Naturally, Deadpool & Wolverine was quick to profit, with a total worldwide gross of $1.338 billion.

Captain Marvel grossed $1.131 billion on a $152 million budget and Joker grossed $1.078 billion against a $55 million budget.

Meanwhile, Echo distanced itself from Deadpool & Wolverine's large-scale and interconnectivity. As a Marvel Spotlight project, Echo explored a more self-contained 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 Along certainly required a higher 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 Along fulfilled their respective goals, proportionate to their scale.

Big MCU Events Benefit From More Production Time And Anticipation

Marvel's Decision To Delay Multiple 2024 Projects Paid Off For The Franchise's Main Tentpole Event

Theatrical releases definitely took a heavy blow from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now blockbuster movies don't reach the same landmarks at the same pace as before. Whereas Marvel got four movies into the $1 billion club in 2018 and 2019, only two movies have earned themselves a spot since 2019. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine's nostalgia factor was a key element in both movies' success, but the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine had no in-franchise competition in 2024 certainly helped it trail behind Spider-Man: No Way Home, which inevitably received a headstart from being the biggest Spider-Man movie ever.

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Whereas Deadpool & Wolverine dominated the discussion in 2024, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* could be overshadowed by The Fantastic Four: First Steps. On the other hand, all 2024 and 2025 movies have benefited from a longer production than usual. Marvel's output decrease has given every remaining Phase 5 and Phase 6 project additional time for reshoots and for polishing scripts and visual effects. While this doesn't necessarily guarantee an extended positive streak, it helps the franchise avoid previous Phase 4 and 5 problems like rushed plots and wonky visuals.

Not All Marvel Projects Need To Connect To The MCU's Main Storyline

The MCU's 2024 Movies Took Their Time To Tell A Story Without Setting Up Upcoming Events

Little is known about Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars by the end of 2024, but it's safe to say that they will recontextualize many details from all previous installments of the Multiverse Saga. Still, 2024's movies and shows didn't focus on setting up the next Avengers movies directly. Echo limited its scope to Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk, X-Men '97's story took place entirely in its own universe, and Agatha All Along's took place almost exclusively on the Witches' Road. Although multiversal by nature, Deadpool & Wolverine barely visited Earth-616 and barely referenced anything multiversal not involving Cassandra Nova.

The MCU's main timeline only appeared once in Deadpool & Wolverine, when Wade Wilson applied for a vacancy in the Avengers in a flashback scene.

The MCU's next two movies and all six of its 2026 series seem to have very little to do with the multiverse. If they continue the same trend as their 2024 predecessors, they're probably going to stand on their own merits without the need for multiversal connections. This is a big difference from Phase 2 installments like Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which dedicated a significant portion of their runtime to setting up the Infinity Stones' role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Despite the usual highs and lows, Marvel's 2024 releases suggest the MCU is heading in the right direction.

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Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Captain America: Brave New World

  Release Date February 14, 2025
• 

  Thunderbolts*

  Release Date May 2, 2025
• 

  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  Release Date July 25, 2025
• 

  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  Release Date
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  Spider-Man Homecoming 4

  Release Date July 24, 2026
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  Avengers: Secret Wars

  Release Date May 7, 2027