On Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealed the Phase 4 slate of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Feige later confirmed that what appeared in Hall H is the entirety of Marvel’s Phase 4 plans, and yet something seemed to be missing.

Marvel’s Phase 4 will be the first phase of its shared universe that doesn’t include an Avengers movie. That’s something of a self-fulfilling statement. The very concept of the Marvel “Phase” came from the first Avengers movie being seen as the finale of every Marvel movie to that point. Whatever came next would thus be something different. Each Phase after came to its climax in another Avengers movie. There was Avengers: Age of Ultron for Phase 2, then Avengers: Endgame for Phase 3 (followed by epilogue episodes Ant-Man and Spider-Man: Far From Home, respectively).

Speaking to IGN after the Hall H presentation, Feige explained the decision not to include an Avengers film in the new slate. “We had a movie this year called Avengers: Endgame,” Feige said. “And we wanted, and it is, very much an ending, as you saw, to so many of those characters. So Phase 4 is about beginnings. And Phase 4 is about learning new things about characters you already think you know, like Black Widow, meeting incredible new characters, like the Eternals and Shang-Chi, going on new adventures with Doctor Strange and Thor and these Disney+ shows which, I promise, will be spectacular and not what anybody is expecting.”

The Avengers aren’t gone for good, though Feige teased is another interview that whatever form the team takes next will be a departure from what it was before. "It will be a very different team than we've seen before, that's what [Avengers: Endgame] was all about. It will be a very different incarnation of the team with some people you've already met and some people you haven't met yet."

Are you excited about Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Disappointed that there isn’t an Avengers movie? What form doy ou think Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will take next? Let us know in the comments.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder