How Captain Marvel 2 Could Be Set Up Using Disney+ Phase Four

Brie Larson as Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel
(Image credit: (Marvel))
(Image credit: (Marvel))

It’s an exciting time to be a Marvel fan, and between this summer’s San Diego Comic Con and the D23 Expo in Anaheim over the weekend, it will continue to be in the foreseeable future. Marvel Studios has now unveiled their complete Phase Four slate with a new element in place: Disney+ television series. It’s been announced that the upcoming shows for the streaming platform will be interwoven with the MCU in ways that will even set up new movies.

Because we’ve all seen Avengers: Endgame, we’re keyed in now, more than ever, about how each MCU project leads into the next to create more overarching storylines so that fans will be rewarded (even more) as time goes on. From what’s been hinted at so far, the in-the-works Captain Marvel 2 looks to be a major point of culmination that the franchise is leading up to. Higher, further, faster baby! Let’s go through all the exciting clues we know so far:

The March release of Captain Marvel served as a missing piece to the origins of the Avengers when the over-one-billion-dollars hit introduced Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers' story. The overarching purpose of the movie seemed to showcase the universe’s extremely powerful secret weapon in time for her to aid in the fight against Thanos in Endgame a couple of months after its release.

Carol’s story does have some unfinished business to attend to when she returns to the big screen: what ever happened to Lt. Trouble? It’s no mistake that the daughter to Carol’s bestie was introduced in Captain Marvel. Monica Rambeau becomes a massive hero when she grows up in the comics. The character goes by many names, including Captain Marvel, but we’d expect she’d adopt her mom’s call-sign “Photon” (just as Fury used Carol’s "Avenger" one to name the hero team).

Brie Larson, Akira Akbar and Lashana Lynch in Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers and Monica and Maria Ram

(Image credit: (Marvel))

Among the Disney+ announcements, it now looks like the studio will follow through with this storyline, since Dear White People’s Teyonah Parris has been announced to be playing adult Monica Rambeau in Spring 2021’s WandaVision. It feels like a peculiar place to reintroduce the character to the universe, much because WandaVision is a peculiar project. The Disney+ show will star Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany’s Vision (yes, the one who died) and apparently draw inspiration from ‘50s sitcoms.

The show also stars Kat Dennings’ Darcy, Randall Park’s FBI Agent Woo from Ant-Man and Kathryn Hahn as the “noisy neighbor.” Everyone’s role seems really random and out of place – especially the role of Monica Rambeau. It looks to be playing with Scarlet’s power of being able to alter reality. Paul Bettany told ET "it's going to start off really funny and end up really messed up, and epic." It's clear that the project has a lot to offer, so there’s not much of a point in bringing Monica in if she doesn’t have a greater purpose to get to later on. This is the MCU we're talking about!!

Also, at SDCC Marvel Chief Kevin Feige said that WandaVision sets up the MCU film that comes after it, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, who’s to say Monica’s role doesn’t also carry over into the second half of Phase Four? Monica won’t be the only Captain Marvel character to get an introduction in a Disney+ show either! Have you heard that Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel is getting her own series in Phase Four as well?

Ms. Marvel’s addition to the Disney+ slate was announced at D23’s massive panel for the streaming platform, along with Moon Knight and She-Hulk. During the announcement that the first Muslim hero to get her own comic book title would have her own series, Kevin Feige also addressed the fact that Kamala Khan would have a place in the MCU, as well. He said Ms. Marvel will be jumping to a big screen role after being introduced in her TV show.

Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel

(Image credit: (Marvel Comics))

If you’re unfamiliar with the hero, Kamala Khan’s origins are also heavily rooted in Carol Danvers’ story. She idolizes Captain Marvel and once she obtains powers, she’s her inspiration to fight the good fight. According to We Got This Covered, Brie Larson herself will have a cameo in the television show. So, if Ms. Marvel is going to show up in an MCU movie following her TV debut, it better be Captain Marvel 2 and same goes for Teyonah Parris’ Photon.

If both members of Captain Marvel’s legacy need time to be set up prior to the upcoming sequel, what in the name of Thor is going to go down? It would have to be something massive... because she can already do a ton of damage on her own! While it feels too early to speculate on the specific storylines that will be involved in Captain Marvel 2, it looks as if the overall Phase Four storyline is moving to a more Captain Marvel-centered plot, as opposed to a storyline that will focus on any other hero in the franchise.

Kevin Feige said this himself soon after the release of Captain Marvel:

One of the highlights of my career at Marvel was introducing her at Comic-Con and having her come out on stage and stand there with literally almost everybody else from our movies. There she was at the forefront, and it was a great foreshadowing – not just for how audiences are going to embrace Brie as this character, but also for how Captain Marvel is about to take the lead and be at the forefront of the entire Cinematic Universe.

Brie Larson in Captain Marvel

(Image credit: (Marvel))

So, there you have it – the upcoming sequel to Captain Marvel is going to be massive. I’m guessing it’s the next big MCU movie these TV shows and films are culminating toward. Without any more Avengers movie in the works, Captain Marvel 2 could be the next one on that scale. With two pivotal characters from her world coming to Disney+ (not to mention her good friend Nick Fury, who was working with the Skrulls last time we caught up with him in Spider-Man: Far From Home), get ready for tons more girl power at the center of the MCU.

Captain Marvel 2 is sometime away, as an official release date has not yet been set. Chances are it may snag either the February 18, 2022 or July 29, 2022 open MCU release date. I want to hear your thoughts! What do you think about some of the additions to Disney+ with roots in Captain Marvel’s world and how will it culminate with the upcoming sequel? Leave a theory below!

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.