10 MCU Films We Should Have Gotten Before Captain America: Brave New World

An X-Force film trilogy had been in development at Fox long before Disney acquired the franchise. Plans changed in 2019 after the acquisition, although some of the writers, including Drew Goddard, were still attached to the project. The film was set to introduce fan-favorite X-Men characters, including Cable, with Deadpool initially set to lead the team.

Unfortunately, Disney canceled the film in 2019, opting to introduce X-Men characters gradually in other MCU films instead. The would-be trilogy’s creator, Jeff Wadlow, later revealed that the project would have brought street-level mutants who were never schooled by the likes of Professor X and Wolverine, which means it was a great opportunity to give the X-Men a fresh look in the MCU.

Gambit is another X-Men film that Disney still refuses to accept into the MCU despite widespread fan support that should have seen it go to the head of the queue. The film has been stuck in development hell for over a decade, with Channing Tatum still trying to get it released. Gambit remains one of the most popular X-Men characters that hasn’t received proper screen time yet.

Ryan Reynolds confirmed that Marvel is indeed interested in casting Channing Tatum in the role after his surprise appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine. Tatum’s accent and charm brought the character to life, making him one of the hit film’s talking points. Unfortunately, there are still no reports on whether the film will be revived since being shelved in 2019.

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Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is now one of the most popular MCU superheroes after revitalizing Spider-Man from past years’ lows. Spider-Man: No Way Home took the franchise to a whole new level after earning over $1.9 billion to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

With the popularity that Holland and Zendaya continue to enjoy after their partnership, fans would have hoped to see them on the screens sooner than Anthony Mackie’s Captain America. Fortunately, Sony and Disney have worked out a deal for Spiderman 4, which is now set to be released in the summer of 2026.

Mahershala Ali was announced as the MCU’s choice to play Blade at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, long before Captain America: Brave New World was even written. With Wesley Snipes’ Blade movies remaining so popular, fans have always been eager to see the integration of the superhero into the MCU. The 2019 announcement was, therefore, a welcome update to the news of the Blade film, which had been touted at Marvel for years. Unfortunately, the film is stuck in development hell with behind-the-scenes issues stalling its development.

Avengers Doomsday, which took the spot of Avengers: Kang Dynasty, is now one of Marvel’s most anticipated films, with its new release date of May 1, 2026. Kang Dynasty would have been released in early 2025 after its announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2022. Fans would definitely have loved to see the conclusion of Kang’s story in one form or another before Brave New World hit the theatres.

Kang, played by Jonathan Majors, became a fan-favorite after his appearance in Loki. The announcement of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was set to put the villain at the center of the MCU, something most people were really looking forward to. Unfortunately, Jonathan Majors was arrested and later convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, forcing Marvel to distance itself from him by ending his contract. The resulting change in scripts means that Doomsday is what fans will get now, and it comes over a year after the original’s expected release date.

Despite The Amazing Spider-Man 2 eventually making a profit, Sony pulled the plug on the series in 2014, fearing a critical response. However, their deal with Disney emerged as a good opportunity for Garfield’s trilogy to be eventually completed. unfortunately, despite widespread fan interest, Disney and Sony haven’t announced a release date for the film.

The launch of Garfield’s variant of Spider-Man into the Multiverse Saga in Spider-Man-No Way Home was well-received, leading to more calls for the final film in the trilogy to be made. Fans hoped The Amazing Spider-Man 3 would come immediately afterward, but no concrete updates have been made about the film yet.

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Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings brought lots of fresh faces and ideas to the MCU, leading to almost instant renewal for Shang-Chi 2. Unfortunately, despite a sequel being announced immediately after the film’s release, work on it has been slow as Cretton is attached to other ‘high-priority’ films, previously Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Spider-Man 4.

Fans would still have loved to see the film sooner as it introduced the long-awaited storyline of the Ten Rings into the MCU. Its storyline now holds a key place in the MCU’s future as compared to Captain America: Brave New World, making the sequel one of the franchise’s most anticipated films. Fortunately, Simu Liu who plays Shang-Chi recently confirmed that work on the film is ongoing.

Thor 5 remains one of the most anticipated films in the MCU after Thor: Love and Thunder revitalized fan interest in the Asgardian with the emotional scene of Jane Foster’s (Natalie Portman) death in his arms. Despite having the highest number of solo films of any MCU superhero, fans would still have loved to see the conclusion of the God of Thunder’s story before Brave New World. Chris Hemsworth further increased fan interest in the film when he announced in 2022 that his appearance in Thor 5 could be his last.

Unfortunately, Thor 5 hasn’t been officially announced by Disney, Despite fans calling for it since the release of Thor: Love and Thunder in 2022. Recent reports suggest that the film has been greenlit, with rumours suggesting Thor will likely take on Hercules on his next mission, which is a more interesting storyline than what fans got in Captain America: Brave New World.

Dafne Keen’s X-23 is another popular X-Men character whose solo movie was stuck in development hell as a result of Disney’s acquisition of the franchise. The character is Logan’s (Hugh Jackman) daughter, who inherited his powers and, of course, temperament. She now has to survive alone in a world where mutants are extremely endangered after Logan’s death in Logan (2017). The spinoff film was announced shortly after the premiere of Logan, with James Mangold, who directed Logan, signing on.

With Hugh Jackman’s iconic return as Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine, fans had renewed interest in Keen’s return as X-23 in the MCU as well. X-23 would definitely have made a more intense and exciting film than Brave New World. Unfortunately, since shelving the project in 2019, Disney hasn’t made any major announcements on what it plans to do with Keen’s character.

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Despite being one of the most expensive TV series ever produced, Inhumans is hardly remembered by MCU fans. The best news for the franchise came in 2014 when Marvel announced it as a film before the deal with IMAX that led to its conversion to a TV series for ABC. The show was cancelled after just one season without nearly concluding the storyline of the Inhumans.

Fans have since been calling for Inhumans to be revived as a feature film and properly introduce the core characters into the MCU for continuity. A properly executed Inhumans film would have been one of the best MCU films, especially with Disney’s improved special effects.