Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has explained why Avengers movies are now positioned to be saga cappers rather than team-up films that arrive in the concluding chapters of each MCU phase.

Speaking to MTV News at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Feige discussed the future of the MCU and how there has been a shift in the way that they map out their projects, with Avengers movies now being placed at the end of a complete saga that comprises of multiple phases instead of being released as a culminating film of each individual phase, bearing in mind there are now more projects across fewer years.

"The truth is, when we were doing Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3, there were less projects over more years," Feige asserted, reflecting on the earlier phases of the MCU. "They were smaller projects and individual character stories, and it felt appropriate at that point, that after every two or three years that it took for a phase, we would do an 'Avengers' film."

The Infinity Saga, encompassing Phase 1, 2 and 3 of the MCU, featured four Avengers movies across seven years, with the first Avengers film being released in 2012 and the last arriving in 2019. The first three Avengers movies were released with three years between each, while Infinity War and Endgame debuted just a year apart from one another.

The next Avengers film, The Kang Dynasty, is slated for release in 2025, six years after Endgame hit theaters. Feige explained that the larger gap between Avengers films is partly due to the fact that big superhero team-up movies are now scattered throughout each MCU phase, changing the way that Avengers films factor into release schedules.

"As [Phase] 4, 5 and 6 were coming together, there are more projects in less years – because of all the amazing stuff we're now allowed to do on Disney+, and getting characters from Fox, Fantastic Four and Deadpool — that it felt like, certainly after 'Infinity War' and 'Endgame,' that we thought 'Avengers' movies aren't cappers," he said. "So many of our movies now — 'Multiverse of Madness' and what you're about to see in ['Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'], all are big team-up films introducing big parts of the mythology… 'Avengers' films really should be the capper to a saga."

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and will close out Phase 6 alongside Avengers: Secret Wars. The Kang Dynasty will hit the big screen on May 2, 2025, and Secret Wars will be released six months later on November 7, 2025. Phase 6 will also officially conclude the MCU's second saga, which is now known as The Multiverse Saga.

Secret Wars may well be Marvel's biggest superhero movie yet, one that can dwarf even Avengers: Endgame in scope and the sheer number of characters involved. If you're not familiar with this huge cosmic epic, then you might want to check out IGN's breakdown of everything you need to know about Secret Wars and why Phase 6 will be the biggest ever.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Marvel’s new Black Panther may have been revealed in some new LEGO sets.

After the recent Wakanda Forever trailer, one question was on everyone’s mind — who was teased as the new Black Panther at the end of the clip?

A trio of LEGO sets has just been unveiled, giving us a glimpse at some of the new heroes due to appear in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. And there’s one minifigure, in particular, that might give the game away.

The Shuri’s Sunbird #76211 set features three minifigures — Shuri (Letitia Wright), Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), and War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o). And it looks as though Shuri is featured wearing a version of the Black Panther suit.

This version is complete with Shuri’s signature arm blasters and a suit that resembles the one seen in the Wakanda Forever trailer… albeit with a touch more purple.

Shuri is featured heavily in the new sets, also appearing as a minifigure in King Namor’s Throne Room #76213 as well as, obviously, Shuri’s Lab #76212.

The fact that Shuri features so heavily across these sets is also a bit of a giveaway – featuring the film’s main hero across its set is a sure sign that Shuri is a leading candidate to be the new Black Panther we glimpsed in the trailer.

The sets also give us another look at Namor the Submariner, played in Wakanda Forever by Tenoch Huerta. This impressive set depicts Namor’s throne — a shark-jaw spectacle that’s reminiscent of the sarlacc Star Wars set released a few years ago.

This set also gives us a closer look at Attuma and his armor, as seen in the recent action figures.

Black Panther stars Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Dominique Thorne, and Tenoch Huerta.

Ryan Coogler directed the film based on a script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole.

Want to find out more about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? Check out how the comic books handled a Black Panther without T’Challa, as well as a look at every film and TV show involved in the Multiverse Saga.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four film won’t retread their origin story.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel boss Kevin Feige explained that the Fantastic Four film will be a story we’ve never seen before.

“A lot of people know this origin story,” he said. “A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?”

Of course, we’ve seen the team’s origins twice on the big screen already. Headed up by Reed Richards, a team consisting of Sue Storm, her brother Johnny, and Ben Grimm become the Fantastic Four – usually as the result of a failed space mission that exposes the crew to cosmic rays.

The 2005 Fantastic Four film saw Ioan Gruffudd take the role of Mr. Fantastic, alongside Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis, and brought the group’s origin story to our screens.

A reboot retold their story in 2015 starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell. But while it gave us a very different twist on the group’s origins, especially when it came to the film’s villain and regular nemesis Doctor Doom, it still showcased the team’s transformations.

But now, Marvel wants to skip over this part to bring its first family back into the fold… and Feige explained that they have high expectations due to the team’s comic book pedigree.

“We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen,” he said.

Making their comic book debut in 1961, the Fantastic Four was Marvel’s first ever superhero team.

But I can’t help thinking that assuming everyone knows their story is a bit of a stretch.

After all, it’s been 7 years since the critically panned reboot and 17 years since the original Fox version of Fantastic Four debuted in theaters. Will audiences really remember the Fantastic Four origins well enough to pull off their own Spider-Man: Homecoming?

For now, we’ll have to wait and see. But a decent retelling of the group’s origins could be exactly what fans really want to see.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Former CD Projekt Red developer Jakub Ben has formed a new studio called Dark Passenger. The studio’s staff has worked on cinematics for games such as Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.

Ben is a co-founder of Dark Passenger, along with Pawel Kuleta as the COO and Magdalena Furman as a 3D character animator. Currently, the studio is looking to hire for many roles including gameplay programmer, tech artist, environmental artist, and sound designer.

The studio’s first game is a multiplayer online game set in Feudal Japan one built using Unreal Engine 5 that includes co-op, PVP, and PVE. It tells the story of an invader that overthrew the ruling shogun and established a new throne.

WE'RE HIRING.#gamedev #gamedeveloper #multiplayer #coop #pvp #pve #UE5 #unrealengine5 #FPP #hiring #job #jobs #rekrutacja #praca #work #job #programista #animator #techart #animation #sfx #3ddesigner #environmentart #characterart #programmer #polishgamedev #gry #grysieciowe pic.twitter.com/vj32X4u7Rg

— Dark Passenger (@DPassenger_) July 25, 2022

“Our goal is to create highly exciting online games that focus on both cooperation and competition. We are fascinated by human interactions, alliances, daring confrontations, and unexpected twists,” says Dark Passenger on its website.

“To make each game unique and surprising, we use many procedural solutions. Although all players will have the same goal, each time it will require changing tactics and moving different paths.”

According to the studio's website, Players assume the role of shinobi and kunoichi where they will face the ruler’s underlings and other assassins as they search for powerful mysterious artifacts. Players have multiple ways to traverse the land, such as running on city rooftops, climbing pagodas, and sneaking through shrines and temples. There will also be various social classes for characters, all the way from simple villagers to high nobles and samurai.

There is a character customization system where players can create their own unique characters and modify their equipment. Various weapons including katanas, tanto, and shurikens will be available. Players can also build their own dojo and invite their friends to train together.

Dark Passenger follows several other new studios formed by former CDPR developers including Rebel Wolves, formed by former Cyberpunk 2077 co-director, and Covenant, which announced a dark strategy game called Gord.

No release window for this game has been revealed for Dark Passenger's new game, but the official website lists that it will come to PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey

Marvel fans on Reddit better keep their wits about them. Iman Vellani, star of Disney+’s Ms. Marvel, revealed in an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers that she takes to Reddit to discuss fan theories with fans of the show.

“I’m not present on social media publicly, but I do have a lot of private accounts, especially on Reddit,” Vellani, who plays Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, told Meyers. “Just, like, arguing with people about theories, I’m like ‘You don’t even know what’s coming, man! You’re so wrong!’ It’s so liberating.”

As a huge fan of the MCU, it makes sense Vellani would take to the internet to see what people are saying about the show, its narrative, and her character. Just be careful as the person you might be arguing fan theories with might actually know a lot more than you.

She also revealed during the interview how she had to stay cool and keep her casting under wraps after a zoom call while sitting in her friend’s driveway. That moment even appears to be featured in the show’s teaser trailer.

Earlier this year, the full trailer for the series was released, and it gave us a look at some of the key differences from the comic. The series’s first season is now out in its entirety. We gave the first season an 8/10 in our review and said that “Vellani lights up the screen as the newest addition to the MCU” and “greatly [balances] a coming-of-age and superhero origin story.”

If you’re all caught up on the series, be sure to check out our interview with the showrunners as they dive deep into everything Ms. Marvel.

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

During the testing phase for MultiVersus, the new platform fighter from Warner Bros., players were subject to regular progress resets. However, alongside yesterday's open beta release, the game won’t have any more resets, allowing players to keep their progress forever.

As pointed out by PC Gamer, in an announcement on the MultiVersus Discord server, Warner Bros. social and community director Nikki Grantham explained how progression will work going forward. “If you played during the Early Access period, all of your progression to ALL of the characters you played during 7/19 - 7/25 is saved (yay!),” Grantham said.

“So, no worries if you can't unlock all of the characters you played before, you'll keep and resume your progress once they're in the free rotation or if you unlock 'em," Grantham added.

Alongside this announcement, Grantham also discussed the game’s new character rotation system, which gives players a small roster of free characters that swap out every two weeks.

“Character progression you earn with these characters beginning from Early Access this timeframe will be SAVED so when they're back in rotation (or if you unlock them with in-game Gold) you'll be able to continue right where you left off,” Grantham said.

MultiVersus went into open beta yesterday and had an absolutely massive launch, reaching over 144,000 concurrent players. The appeal being able to play as one of WB's surprisingly vast and varied library of characters including Batman, Shaggy, Arya Stark, and more.

MultiVersus is a new platform fighter, similar to games like Super Smash Bros. IGN gave the new fighter an 8 in our review, saying while it might need time to grow its limited roster, “its foundations are already rock solid.”

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Spoiler Warning: This article contains potential spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Ahead of the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, new Spider-Verse toys have been appearing on the shelves of Target stores. While most of the toys relate to characters that have already been revealed, a few toys in particular seem to confirm the return of Spider-Punk, a Spider-Man variant from the comics.

As many fans took to Twitter to point out, one of the toys is titled "Spider-Punk Web Blast" and depicts the guitar of none other than Spider-Punk. Fans also noticed a Spider-Punk mask, which shows the character’s iconic horn mohawk.

The toys were also shown in a Youtube video posted yesterday.

Spider-Punk is finally going to get more recognition after all these years pic.twitter.com/i7N6BTerqZ

— malachi (@MCUMarvels) July 27, 2022

If these toys really do confirm the return of Spider-Punk, Across the Spider-Verse will mark the character’s first appearance in a movie. Spider-Punk, who is from Earth-138, was known for using both his electric guitar and his web powers as weapons in the comics.

Earlier this year, fans were given a first look at Across the Spider-Verse, the first 15 minutes of which gave glimpses into the lives of characters like Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Spider-Man 2099.

While not much else is known about which other Spider-variants might appear in the upcoming film, it’s clear that a lot of work has gone into the production process. Earlier this year, Sony revealed that it’ll have 40 characters, six universes, and the largest crew ever for an animated film.

After facing a delay, the movie will now be out on June 2, 2023.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Some strange things are happening behind the scenes with Stranger Things. In a tweet today from the official account for writers of the hugely popular Netflix show, they went on record to say that “no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be.”

This despite suggestions from showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer that they would be "George Lucas-ing" the show to fix older continuity errors.

PSA: no scenes from previous seasons have ever been cut or re-edited. And they never will be. pic.twitter.com/H0j8JwidLs

— stranger writers (@strangerwriters) July 26, 2022

The statement from the Stranger Things writers follows rumors that a scene in which Jonathan Byers spies on Nancy was cut -- rumors that have since been debunked. They arose from earlier hints by the Duffer Brothers that they had already "George Lucas'd" or digitally edited scenes without fans realizing it.

"We have George Lucas’d things also that people don’t know about," Matt Duffer told Variety back in June.

Fans have since confirmed that the scene is still there, and it's unclear what Duffer is referring to when he says that scenes have been "George Lucas'd."

The Duffer Brothers first suggested they would be making changes to Stranger Things in a separate interview. In it, the duo acknowledged a Season 4 flub where several characters appeared to completely miss Will Byers’ birthday when in fact it was just an oversight on the creators, saying the error was because Will’s birthday had been written six years prior and they simply forgot.

In the interview, Ross Duffer said that in order to fix it, they would “go and George Lucas” the scene from season 2 and change it to “May” since that can fit into Winona Ryder’s mouth as she speaks. It is unconfirmed whether those changes actually took place.

Whatever happens, fans are already looking ahead to Stranger Things Season 5, which will pick up several threads left dangling in season 4. Itwill be the show’s last, but don’t expect it to have quite as long of a run time as Season 4, which was split up into two parts.

In our review, we gave Season 4 Part 2 a 9/10 and said it features “as many thrills as you could hope for, but also quite a few lovely, tender moments between characters we’ve come to care so much about.”

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Chris Rock is finally opening up about the slap heard around the world at March’s broadcast of the Oscars, and he gets straight to the point.

“Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” Rock said Sunday at one of his comedy shows this past weekend, US Weekly reports. “I’m not a victim. Yeah, that sh*t hurt, motherf***er. But I shook that sh*t off and went to work the next day. I don’t go to the hospital for a paper cut.”

The infamous incident occurred at this year’s Academy Awards when Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith being in G.I. Jane 2. The joke referenced Pinkett Smith’s alopecia and short hair. While she’s been lighthearted on occasion in the past about her condition, she was visibly upset at the joke, and Will Smith took to the stage to verbally confront and slap Rock.

While some thought the scene was a planned bit, many realized it wasn’t once the broadcast was muted as Smith began yelling at Rock after going back to his seat. Previously, Rock had declined to comment on the incident, saying he’d comment when he was getting paid to do so. Smith would go on to win an Oscar for his role in King Richard later the same evening and reference the incident during his acceptance speech.

Smith later apologized in a statement to Rock and the Academy, but that didn’t stop the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences from banning Smith from all Academy events for 10 years.

The slap has caused ripples in Hollywood for Smith, but according to his friend and Bad Boys co-star, it shouldn’t kill the development of Bad Boys 4, despite it getting postponed after the incident.

Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Casey is a freelance writer for IGN. You can usually find him talking about JRPGs on Twitter at @caseydavidmt.

Sony has revealed the PlayStation Plus games for August 2022 are Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2, and Little Nightmares. Revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all three games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on August 2.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is another entry in the increasingly wacky, action-heavy Yakuza series in which protagonist Ichiban Kasuga attempts to rise through his crime organisation from zero to hero. Like a Dragon marked the entry of a new era for the franchise as it introduced turn-based combat for the first time, a mechanic that will be continued in recently confirmed sequel Yakuza 8.

In our 7/10 review, IGN said: "Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes some bold steps in a new direction for the series but neglects to maintain its balance."

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 is the remaster of the original (and arguably the best) Tony Hawk skateboarding games, featuring all the fast-paced, high-scoring sports action that fans expected from a remake.

It's also the only Tony Hawk game fans can expect for a while, as the man himself confirmed recently that the remasters of 3 and 4 had been cancelled. Pro Skater 1 & 2 thankfully left a good impression though, as in our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 proves that going backwards has been the best step forward for the series in 15 years."

Last but not least, Little Nightmares is a third-person adventure game set in a spooky (surprise, surprise) world with elements of stealth and exploration. Players take on the role of a kidnapped little girl called Six as she makes her way home.

In our 8/10 review, IGN said: "Gleefully strange, unceasingly grim, and quietly smart, Little Nightmares is a very welcome fresh take on horror."

These three new games will be available for free until September 6, while last month's games - which include Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, and Arcadegeddon - will be available until August 1.

Sony has now officially launched its updated PlayStation Plus tiers across the world though, as evident by this collection of free games, the lowest-cost Essential tier is practically the same as the previous PlayStation Plus.

Check out our updated lists of all PS Plus Premium Catalogue Games and PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalog on IGN Playlist. You can use these lists to plan what to play next, create custom ranked lists of your favourites, and track your backlog.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.