Endgame and Spider-Man will be the last Marvel movies for a while

Marvel Studios is apparently taking a breather this summer, pressing pause on its production schedule after the launches of Avengers: Endgame in April and Spider-Man: Far From Home in July.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Deadpool comics co-creator Rob Liefeld offered an intriguing observation about where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is headed after Endgame and Far From Home. So much attention has been placed on the fourth Avengers film — and rightfully so, considering it's the culmination of an entire decade of Marvel movie greatness and is the direct successor to the heartbreaking ensemble Infinity War — and the Spidey sequel that many fans haven't been focusing all that much on what will come after their respective releases. As Liefeld pointed out, once Endgame officially touches down in theaters and the Sony-backed Far From Home swings into cinemas, it looks as though it will be about a year before another Marvel film is rolled out.

"Still wrapping my head around the fact that there are no Marvel movies currently filming," tweeted Liefeld. "So a full year absent Marvel films following Spider-Man?"

A year-long breather between Spider-Man: Far From Home and the next Marvel movie checks out, as the next scheduled debut date for a Marvel film is, according to various reports, May 1, 2020. That leaves roughly 10 months between Sony's Far From Home (which opens on July 5) and the mystery Marvel Studios project set to launch on that date, and over a year between it and Endgame (which arrives in theaters on April 26), both produced by Marvel's parent company Disney rather than by Sony.

Prolific comic book writer Mark Millar — the man behind classics like Old Man Logan, Kick-Ass, Civil War, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Marvel Knights Spider-Man — joined in on the conversation on Twitter, replying to Liefeld's original tweet with his own findings. He noted that this might be "the first time in over ten years" that there has been this wide gap of a between Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, including ones done out of house at Sony Pictures. And Millar argues that it's a good thing.

"A wise move I think too. They've felt relentless for a while and a wee wait will only build anticipation. What's weirder is we're still not entirely sure what's coming!" he wrote.

As many have already stated in the replies to Millar's tweet, Marvel detailing everything it has planned post-Endgame and Far From Home would likely spoil both films (the former more so than the latter), so the studio is understandably holding out until fans have had time to see the films before it formally announces what's in store for 2020 and beyond.

There is something to be said here about the upshot of waiting a year or so between Marvel movies. A hiatus of its kind is beneficial for two big reasons: it allows Marvel Studios a chance to slow down, spend extra time with its slate of films, allocate additional energy and attention to each in-development project, and practice mindfulness in the movie-making process; and it avoids the risk of exhausting fans with superhero movie after superhero movie. While we can't image a world in which anyone would complain about there being too many Marvel films releasing in quick succession, and though many have rejected the idea that audiences will be struck with "superhero fatigue" any time soon (at least over in the MCU, that is), it would be irresponsible to believe that Marvel could never go overboard.

The studio has been cranking out films like clockwork, sticking to debuting two to three movies per year since Phase Two of the MCU kicked off in 2013. Even before then, during Phase One, Marvel released six superhero films in the span of four years: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in 2008, Iron Man 2 in 2010, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011, and The Avengers in 2012. Marvel has only grown more faithful to this release schedule in recent years (in 2018, fans were treated to Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp all within months of each other) and has shifted things into overdrive in hyping up Endgame. Next year seems like the perfect time for Marvel to scale back for bit — both to catch its own breath and to let the millions of Marvelites out there to do the same.

A break between Marvel movies will certainly be worth it, despite not knowing what's to come after Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige previously teased that the upcoming fourth phase of the MCU (set to begin after the events of Endgame and include Far From Home, which is confirmed to take place after both Infinity War and Endgame) will be unlike anything fans have seen before. Viewers can expect to reunite with old favorites and meet heroes and villains who will make their silver-screen debuts in Marvel's Phase Four.

"Everything after Endgame, and after Spider-Man: Far From Home, will be different and be unique, as we try to make every film," Feige told Collider during a press junket for Captain Marvel. "Seeing returning characters is certainly something we're gonna do and want to do. But also introducing characters that the majority of the world has never heard of, much like Guardians [of the Galaxy], much like Avengers before we made Avengers. And there are lots of them."

He continued, sharing that the film about the Eternals is in the pipeline for the post-Endgame MCU.

"Eternals are one group, but we like the idea of introducing an ensemble, doing an ensemble movie from the start, as opposed to building up as we did with the first Avengers. More like Guardians, not tonally, but in terms of introducing a new group of people," said Feige. "Jack Kirby did an immense, amazing epic with Eternals that spans tens of thousands of years, and that's also something we haven't really done, which is why that among many other things post-Endgame, we find appealing."

Though the wait may seem agonizingly long to some, we should remind you, dear reader, that it isn't as if Marvel isn't releasing any new stuff between now and May 2020. The studio has several television series scheduled to launch on Disney's direct-to-consumer streaming platform Disney+ in the near future. These include a show all about Tom Hiddleston's trickster god Loki, starring Hiddleston himself, which is expected to premiere later this year. Also, there are the Winter Soldier and Falcon team-up series and the two-hander The Vision and Scarlet Witch to look forward to watching on Disney+ down the line. So rest easy, gang — your thirst for Marvel content shall be quenched even if the studio's movie well runs dry for a year or so.

While it appears for now that May 1, 2020 is the next time we'll see a Marvel movie after Spider-Man: Far From Home, it's important to remember that Marvel Studios hasn't yet officially announced its plans for 2020 — and won't until the Spider-Man sequel is out in theaters. As Feige recently confirmed, "We aren't going to announce anything post Avengers: Endgame or Spider-Man [Far From Home] until post Endgame and Spider-Man ... There's a tremendous amount of potential and a tremendous amount of additional characters and storylines and groups of characters that we're going to keep playing with. And again, that's a testament to Marvel and to the amount of storylines and characters and amazing, amazing runs that have been in the Marvel comics."

The studio could step forward and surprise us all with a movie set to launch ahead of May 1, 2020 (and the reported November 6, 2020 window), but for the time being, it seems that release date is the one fans should focus on — and that the Black Widow standalone movie and The Eternals are the pair of Marvel movies that will follow Endgame, Far From Home, and a year-long hiatus.

Catch Avengers: Endgame in theaters on April 26, then get caught in Spider-Man's web when Spider-Man: Far From Home opens on July 5.