Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.
Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."
The Marvel Cinematic Universe's movie slate has received a couple of exciting new projects, and with multiple films now setting their release dates or windows, we can rank them according to the hype level for those films. The MCU's movie timeline started with the Infinity Saga, which was made up entirely of movies. Then, everything changed, as Disney+ opened up the franchise to new avenues.
The MCU's Multiverse Saga includes movies, live-action shows, animated series, and Special Presentations. The franchise also went through a slowdown in production. For instance, in 2021, Marvel Studios released four MCU movies in theaters. However, in 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine was Marvel's only theatrical release. That is also going to be the shared universe's plan for 2027, with only an Avengers movie slotted for release.
That film is Avengers: Secret Wars, which is said to reboot the MCU in some form, leading to heroes like the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and many more being on the same Earth after the end of the Multiverse Saga. While there will be no new MCU movies between this December's Avengers: Doomsday and next year's Secret Wars, Marvel's slate of projects has been updated.
From “I Am Iron Man” to “I Am Inevitable” · Eight QuestionsHow Well Do You Know the MCU?“Whatever it takes.”
🤖Phase OneRDJ & the founders, 2008
🛡The AvengersWhedon’s team, 2012
💎Infinity SagaThanos & the stones
⚡EndgameWhatever it takes, 2019
🌏MultiversePhase 4–6, 2021–
ASSEMBLE →
01
Iron Man (2008) is, in retrospect, the most consequential casting decision in modern blockbuster history — but at the time Marvel Studios and parent company Paramount were openly hostile to director Jon Favreau’s push for the lead actor he eventually got. Favreau later said he had to fight “tooth and nail” and the actor had to do a paid screen test, a screen-test deal almost unheard of for an A-lister. What was the executive objection to him?
AHe was considered too old for a 15-year contract
BHis history of drug arrests made him uninsurable
CHe was already under contract to DC/Warner Bros.
DHe’d publicly refused to do any superhero work
✓ Correct! Robert Downey Jr. had been arrested multiple times between 1996 and 2001 on drug and weapons charges, served roughly a year in California state prison (1999–2000), and was fired from Ally McBeal in 2001 after relapsing. By 2007 he’d been clean for several years, but Marvel/Paramount considered him essentially uninsurable for a $140 million tent-pole. Favreau pushed for him over studio favourites Tom Cruise (who’d had Iron Man development at Fox years earlier) and Sam Rockwell (who’d later play Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 as a consolation). RDJ took a reported $500,000 base salary — less than Terrence Howard, whose role he then permanently overshadowed.
✗ Wrong. The answer is his arrest history. RDJ had drug-related arrests from 1996–2001, served prison time in 1999–2000, and was fired from Ally McBeal in 2001 — which made him uninsurable in studio terms even though he’d been sober for several years by 2007. Favreau fought for him over Tom Cruise and Sam Rockwell, and RDJ took a reported $500,000 base salary — less than co-star Terrence Howard.
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02
The Avengers (2012) — the film that proved the shared-universe model could work, grossed $1.52 billion, and ended Phase One with Loki, Thanos’s mid-credits reveal, and the “swarm shot” of the team rotating in Manhattan — was written and directed by a TV showrunner best known at the time for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Name him.
✓ Correct! Joss Whedon. Marvel hired him in mid-2010 partly on the basis of his uncredited script rewrites and his comfort writing ensemble team dynamics from Buffy/Angel/Firefly. He directed The Avengers (2012) and the follow-up Age of Ultron (2015), then exited the MCU and Marvel handed the next two Avengers films to the Russo brothers. The three other directors named all really did make Phase One films: Favreau directed Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), Branagh directed Thor (2011), and Joe Johnston directed Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) — which is why this question separates Phase One trivia from Avengers-specific trivia.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Joss Whedon — hired largely on the strength of Buffy, Firefly, and uncredited Hollywood script work. The three wrong options are deliberately all real Phase One MCU directors: Favreau did Iron Man 1 & 2, Branagh did Thor (2011), and Joe Johnston did The First Avenger (2011). Whedon directed Avengers (2012) and Age of Ultron (2015) before exiting the MCU.
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03
Marvel co-architect Stan Lee (1922–2018) appeared in every theatrical MCU film from Iron Man (2008) onward, even shooting cameos in advance to outlast him. He died on November 12, 2018. In which film does his final filmed MCU cameo appear — as the long-haired young driver of a 1970 car bearing the bumper sticker “NUFF SAID”?
AAvengers: Endgame (2019)
BAvengers: Infinity War (2018)
CCaptain Marvel (2019)
DSpider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
✓ Correct! Avengers: Endgame (April 2019). Lee appears digitally de-aged behind the wheel of a 1970 Chevy at the New Jersey army base where Tony Stark and Steve Rogers travel back to retrieve the Tesseract; he shouts “hey man, make love, not war!” The cameo was filmed before Lee’s death and confirmed by the Russos as his final filmed MCU appearance, although the next-released film, Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019), became the first MCU film with no Stan Lee cameo at all. Captain Marvel (March 2019) has him reading the script for Mallrats on the L.A. train and was the first posthumously-released cameo, but Endgame was the last one he actually shot.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Avengers: Endgame — the de-aged hippie-era driver in the 1970 New Jersey time-heist scene. Captain Marvel (March 2019) was the first cameo to release posthumously, but Endgame (April 2019) was the last one Lee actually filmed. Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2019) became the first MCU film with no Stan Lee cameo at all.
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04
Across Phase One through Three, each Infinity Stone is hidden inside a distinctive container before being claimed for Thanos’s Gauntlet. The blue Space Stone is housed inside a glowing cube that originates with the Asgardians, is recovered by Howard Stark from the wreckage of the Red Skull’s plane, is taken to Asgard by Loki in 2012, and is finally retrieved by Hulk on Sakaar before falling to Thanos. What is that container called?
AThe Tesseract
BThe Aether
CThe Orb
DThe Eye of Agamotto
✓ Correct! The Tesseract — the blue cube that houses the Space Stone — first appears in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), powers the portal Loki opens over Manhattan in The Avengers (2012), and is destroyed by Thanos in Infinity War (2018) when he crushes it to claim the stone inside. The wrong options are all real Infinity Stone containers from the MCU: the Aether (red liquid form) houses the Reality Stone in Thor: The Dark World, the Orb houses the Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Eye of Agamotto houses the Time Stone in Doctor Strange. So all four answers refer to genuine stone containers — only the Tesseract holds Space.
✗ Wrong. The answer is the Tesseract. The trap is that all four options are real Infinity Stone containers: the Aether holds Reality (Thor: The Dark World), the Orb holds Power (Guardians of the Galaxy), and the Eye of Agamotto holds Time (Doctor Strange). Space — the blue stone shown in Cap’s 1942 plane wreckage and Loki’s 2012 invasion — is the Tesseract.
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05
In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the Soul Stone is hidden on Vormir and guarded by a Stonekeeper — revealed to be a cursed Red Skull. To claim it, the seeker must sacrifice the person they love most by throwing them from a cliff. Thanos arrives on Vormir with one adopted daughter, weeps, and pushes her over the edge. Which character does Thanos sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone?
ANebula
BGamora
CMantis
DProxima Midnight
✓ Correct! Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). Thanos forces her to lead him to Vormir because Nebula has earlier revealed under torture that Gamora knew the Soul Stone’s location all along. The scene is the emotional pivot of Infinity War: it confirms that Thanos really does love Gamora, which means the sacrifice qualifies. In Endgame (2019), a 2014 version of Gamora returns through time travel with her father — meaning Gamora-of-Infinity-War remains dead at the end of the saga, while a different Gamora wanders the cosmos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Nebula is alive throughout Infinity War; Mantis survives Vormir entirely; Proxima Midnight is one of Thanos’s Black Order children, killed in the Battle of Wakanda.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Gamora. Nebula is alive throughout Infinity War (she’s the one whose torture reveals Gamora knew where the stone was hidden). Mantis isn’t on Vormir. Proxima Midnight is Thanos’s adopted daughter via the Black Order, not via Zen-Whoberi, and is killed during the Battle of Wakanda by Scarlet Witch. Thanos sacrifices Gamora — the only adopted daughter he genuinely loves.
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06
In Avengers: Endgame (2019), Steve Rogers travels back in time to return the Infinity Stones, then chooses to remain in the past and live out a life with Peggy Carter. He returns to the present as an old man, sits on a bench by the lake at the Avengers compound, and hands his vibranium shield to a younger Avenger as the symbolic transfer of the Captain America identity. To whom does Steve give the shield?
ABucky Barnes
BSam Wilson
CT’Challa
DPeter Parker
✓ Correct! Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) — the Falcon. The choice deliberately bypasses Bucky, the original comics successor, because the Russos and screenwriters Markus & McFeely wanted the moment to read as a deliberate, racially-charged passing of an American icon rather than the obvious comics-canon handoff. The thread is then picked up directly in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+, 2021), in which Sam initially gives the shield to the Smithsonian, sees the government install John Walker as a replacement Cap, and ultimately takes the mantle himself — setting up Captain America: Brave New World (2025) with Mackie as the franchise’s new lead.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Sam Wilson, the Falcon. In the comics Bucky is the classic Cap successor, but the Russos and screenwriters Markus and McFeely deliberately picked Sam instead — a choice the entire Falcon and the Winter Soldier series (Disney+, 2021) then unpacks before Mackie carries it into Captain America: Brave New World (2025).
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07
After Endgame, Marvel Studios’ Phase Four launched the MCU on Disney+ with a sitcom-pastiche limited series in which Wanda Maximoff and a resurrected Vision live inside a reality-warping suburban hex. Each episode parodied a different era of US TV sitcom — The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, Family Ties, Modern Family. The show premiered January 15, 2021 and ran nine episodes. Which series was it — the first MCU project on Disney+?
AWandaVision
BLoki
CThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier
DHawkeye
✓ Correct! WandaVision (January 15 – March 5, 2021), created by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman. It launched Phase Four, earned 23 Emmy nominations, and effectively rebooted Wanda Maximoff as the Scarlet Witch ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). The Falcon and the Winter Soldier followed it in March 2021 — not first — and Loki landed in June 2021. Hawkeye is the 2021 Christmas series with Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. The original launch order was WandaVision → FATWS → Loki → What If...? → Hawkeye, and WandaVision’s sitcom format remains the boldest swing of the Disney+ era.
✗ Wrong. The answer is WandaVision (January 15, 2021), the first MCU show on Disney+ and the launchpad for Phase Four. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier came in March 2021, Loki in June 2021, and Hawkeye in late 2021. The sitcom-pastiche structure — Dick Van Dyke through Modern Family — is unique to WandaVision.
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08
At the closing panel of San Diego Comic-Con on July 27, 2024, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige brought the Russo brothers back on stage to announce a new title for the next Avengers film — previously labelled “The Kang Dynasty” before Jonathan Majors’s December 2023 conviction forced a pivot — and then unmasked a cast of actors wearing green hoods. The final hood came off Robert Downey Jr. RDJ is returning to the MCU, but not as Tony Stark. As whom?
✓ Correct! Doctor Doom — Victor von Doom, the Latverian dictator and Reed Richards’s lifelong nemesis, generally considered Marvel’s greatest comics villain. The next Avengers film, originally announced as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, was retitled Avengers: Doomsday after Jonathan Majors was dropped as Kang following his December 2023 assault conviction. Doomsday is scheduled for May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars to follow in May 2027 — both directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, returning to the MCU after Endgame. The in-universe explanation for RDJ playing Doom rather than Stark hinges on the multiverse: Doom is being positioned as a variant of Stark from another timeline.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Doctor Doom. The film was retitled from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to Avengers: Doomsday (May 2026) after Jonathan Majors was dropped, and the Russos returned to direct. RDJ’s casting as Doom — rather than as Tony Stark — is being explained in-universe via the multiverse: Doom as a Stark variant from another timeline.
REVEAL MY RATING →
The Stones Are Cast · Final ScorecardYour Avengers Standing
💎
/ 8
A worthy Avenger — or dusted in the snap?
⤴ ROUND TWO
At 2026 San Diego Comic-Con, where ScreenRant was in attendance, Marvel Studios took to Hall H to celebrate its upcoming theatrical releases. Among them was a re-release, Avengers: Endgame Encore, which is coming on September 25. That film is not included on this list, though two new announcements help make the MCU's slate quite exciting.
5
Black Panther 3 (2028)
Image courtesy Jesse Grant/Getty Images
Every single movie on this list sounds amazing, but as far as hype levels have to go, Black Panther 3 sits at the bottom of the list at this time. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to look forward to in this movie. David Jonsson has been cast as Black Panther, playing the aged-up son of Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, who was introduced at the end of 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Coming off Sinners, director Ryan Coogler has many anxiously looking forward to what is coming next from his creative mind.
The reason Black Panther 3 ranks last on the list right now is due to how it was already expected to be happening, plus we don't yet know what the MCU movie's story is going to be about. Above it are movies that either caught us by complete surprise or we already have a clear idea of how they are going to be crucial to the future of the MCU, helping shape the franchise. That said, when December 15, 2028, comes, all eyes will be on Black Panther 3.
4
Ghost Rider (2028)
Jesse Grant / 2026 Getty Images
This one was the biggest surprise out of Marvel Studios' SDCC 2026 panel. Ryan Gosling had been campaigning to play the MCU's Ghost Rider for years, and it is finally happening. Not only that, but the upcoming MCU movie is taking shape quite quickly, with a 2028 release window announced. It will also bring back Shawn Levy, who directed 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, which grossed over $1 billion and became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. All the signs are in for the MCU's Ghost Rider movie to be a massive success.
After Marvel's failure to get Mahershala Ali's Blade movie off the ground for years, Ghost Rider comes as the perfect movie to rev up the engines of the MCU's supernatural side, setting up a Midnight Sons crossover project after the end of the Multiverse Saga. By casting a major actor like Gosling, whose acting skills are well-known and has been a part of generational movies in diverse genres, as a character fans have long asked to see in the MCU, with the team from the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter reuniting for it, the hype for Ghost Rider surpasses Black Panther 3.
3
Avengers: Secret Wars (2027)
Avengers: Secret Wars may very well end up being the biggest release on the list. That said, at the time of writing, it has to come in at 3rd in the MCU movie hype rankings because the movie has not even started filming. As such, aside from how the comic book event it is based on played out and the fact that it will reboot the MCU, we do not really know who is going to be in the Avengers movie, nor exactly how its story will work out. As such, it can't rank above the two movies ahead of it.
That said, Avengers: Secret Wars is expected to be the biggest movie of the MCU's Multiverse Saga, pulling in characters from all over Marvel's live-action history, not just the MCU, for an event more ambitious than 2019's Avengers: Endgame. This film should see Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom at full power as the comics' God Emperor Doom, with several variants and MCU heroes living in a new reality on Battleworld, a patchwork planet made up of MCU and multiverse locations.
2
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
In 2nd is the MCU's next movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will be released in theaters on Friday, July 31. The hype for Tom Holland's return as Peter Parker is through the roof. The Marvel movie will see Spider-Man team up with Jon Bernthal's Punisher to fight Mark Ruffalo's Hulk for an unknown reason. There is also the matter of a body-hopping villain that can control minds, whose identity has yet to be revealed.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will also feature villains like Michael Mando's Scorpion, Tarantula, Boomerang, the Hand, and more. The Spider-Man movie has been keeping Sadie Sink's role a secret, but it is highly anticipated that the Stranger Things star will be playing the MCU version of the X-Men's Jean Grey. With confirmation on the horizon, Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes in near the top of the list.
1
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Finally, after the recent release of the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer, which set up the epic scope of the ambitious MCU movie, no other upcoming theatrical release from Marvel Studios has more hype than the Avengers film right now. Robert Downey Jr. takes the center stage as Doctor Doom, set to fight multiple Marvel teams, including two separate Avengers squads, Fox's original X-Men, the Wakandans, and more. The MCU movie also marks Chris Evans' return as Steve Rogers.
As the first Avengers movie of the Multiverse Saga, and one that not only brings back the two biggest stars of the MCU, but also Fox's X-Men, and features Doctor Doom's first full role in the franchise, Avengers: Doomsday has to be at the top of the list. This is a movie that should fundamentally reshape the MCU, and it will likely see many heroes die before it reaches its conclusion. Due to that, Avengers: Doomsday is the unmissable MCU event on this list.
Image courtesy Jesse Grant/Getty Images
Jesse Grant / 2026 Getty Images
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