The Marvel Cinematic Universe Has A New Name?
Kevin Feige recently said that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is quickly becoming the Wong Cinematic Universe.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is out and the WCU is in. What’s the WCU you ask? Well, the Wong Cinematic Universe of course.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone through some shakeups after the end of Avengers: Endgame retired some of the major players, Benedict Wong’s character has become a reliable constant. So much so that Wong told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet of the Spider-Man: No Way Home premiere that head honcho Kevin Fiege emailed him saying that the franchise was “fast becoming the WCU. You likely won’t hear any complaints about that as Wong’s character (who also happens to be named Wong) has quickly become a fan favorite.
It’s hard not to agree with Kevin Fiege’s assessment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe becoming Wong’s world. The character first appeared in Doctor Strange in 2016 as a fellow sorcerer and Master of Mystic Arts in Kamar-Taj. Since then, Wong has been given the title of Sorcerer Supreme himself and appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the Disney+ series What If…? and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
It’ll be interesting to see where the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes Wong next, but it seems likely that he’ll be appearing in the next big Avengers blockbusters, Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Of course, there are plenty of MCU projects coming out before then, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Wong again before the Avengers films are released. It seems likely that the pantheon of WCU films will continue to grow to epic proportions.
As always, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has huge plans for the future, and it seems likely that Wong will continue to play a vital role in that. At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel went all out revealing their plans for Phase 5 and beyond. Along with announcing major projects like the next Avengers films, they surprised us with some announcements like a new Daredevil series, a new Captain America film with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), and a Thunderbolts film. They also gave some more solid release windows for known projects like Fantastic Four, Blade, and several anticipated Disney+ series.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe rewards diligence and dedication to their films, so if you want to see the end of Phase 4, you’ll want to make sure to check out the rest of the currently ongoing She-Hulk series along with the major capper to Phase 4 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11. They’re also hitting us with two holiday specials before the year is over with Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. They’ll be kicking off Phase 5 of the MCU with the third Ant-Man film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on February 17, 2023.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will bring back Jonathan Majors as a much more evil Kang that the one we saw in the first season of Loki. You can expect that film will probably be doing a lot of work to set him up as the next Thanos-like threat of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ll just have to wait and see if Kang can threaten the MCU, and by extension the WCU, to the same level that Thanos did.
