The MCU’s Next Wave After Punisher: One Last Kill — Every Confirmed Release Ahead

Marvel kicked off 2026 acting like it remembered how to be Marvel. Wonder Man landed on Disney+ to real-deal rave reviews, Daredevil: Born Again dropped a second season in March that critics actually praised, and Jon Bernthal just tore through The Punisher: One Last Kill, a Special Presentation that overlaps with Born Again season 2 and tees up Frank Castle for Spidey’s next big-screen run. That’s three strong swings in a row. I know. It’s been a minute.

What changed behind the scenes

After a few years of trying to do everything all at once, Marvel hit the brakes. The Multiverse Saga stretched to four films and four series a year at its peak, and the returns were uneven enough that the studio reworked how it makes this stuff. Fewer titles. Tighter stories. More trust in showrunners and directors. Kevin Feige keeps describing Phase Six like this:

'the most focused phase'

The calendar through 2027 is thinner than the firehose years, but what’s left is stacked with the most-asked-for projects the MCU has had in ages. Here’s what’s actually coming, and why it matters.

1. X-Men '97 Season 2

   Summer 2026 on Disney+. The follow-up jumps right off that season 1 cliffhanger and literally scatters the team across time, with Apocalypse stepping in as the main threat. The classic voices are back: Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Jennifer Hale as Jean, Lenore Zann as Rogue, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, and Matthew Waterson as Magneto. Original series EPs Eric and Julia Lewald return with supervising director Jake Castorena. A very studio-notes wrinkle: Beau DeMayo finished the scripts before being fired in March 2024; What If...? writer Matthew Chauncey handled rewrites. Season 3 is already locked in, possibly landing as early as 2027, and EP Brad Winderbaum says they’re already talking Seasons 4 and 5. Translation: Marvel knows what it has here.

2. Spider- Man: Brand New Day

   In theaters July 31, 2026, from director Destin Daniel Cretton. Tom Holland ’s Peter is four years removed from No Way Home, when Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch) wiped everyone’s memory of his identity. The movie is set in 2028 and borrows its title from the Dan Slott and Marcos Martin comics era about Spidey rebuilding his life with a secret again. Set photos point to a ground-level vibe, and the guest list backs that up: Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and Michael Mando’s Scorpion are in the mix, with Mark Ruffalo back as Bruce Banner. This is one of the main on-ramps into Avengers: Doomsday in December.

3. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2

   Fall 2026 on Disney+. Season 1 of this animated alt-universe take pulled a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and ended on a wild time-loop origin for Peter’s powers. Season 2 goes bigger on the bench: the Venom symbiote, Gwen Stacy, Daredevil, Doctor Octopus, Scorpion, and Chameleon are all confirmed. The show keeps leaning into its core twist: in this reality, Norman Osborn (voiced by Colman Domingo ) is Peter’s mentor, not Tony Stark, with Hudson Thames voicing Peter. Season 3 is already in production, date TBA.

4. VisionQuest

   Eight episodes, late 2026 on Disney+. Think of it as the capper to a trilogy that started with WandaVision and ran through Agatha All Along. Paul Bettany is back as the White Vision, the memory-restored synthezoid who remembers everything but didn’t live it, now trying to figure out how to be a person. Terry Matalas (the widely loved Star Trek: Picard Season 3) takes over showrunning from WandaVision’s Jac Schaeffer. James Spader returns as Ultron, which is a huge swing the MCU has been sitting on for years. Also in the mix: Ruaridh Mollica as a grown-up Tommy, tying directly to where Agatha All Along left things.

5. Avengers: Doomsday

   December 18, 2026, in theaters. The Russo brothers are back in the MCU for the first time since Endgame. The headline everyone still does a double take at: Robert Downey Jr. is leading the film as Victor von Doom, part of Marvel’s pivot away from the Kang plan after Jonathan Majors was fired. The cast is enormous, on Infinity War levels. The Fantastic Four are in. The New Avengers are in. Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers shows up. Even the X-Men from the Fox era make the cut. This one takes place after Thunderbolts* and is designed as Marvel’s most aggressive crossover yet.

6. Daredevil: Born Again Season 3

   Started shooting in March 2026 for a 2027 target. Dario Scardapane stays on as showrunner. Set photos already spoiled the first full Defenders reunion since 2017: Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, and Finn Jones all appear alongside Charlie Cox. Season 2 left Matt Murdock in prison after outing himself as Daredevil in court, with Wilson Fisk fleeing New York into exile, which hands Hell’s Kitchen to the street-level crew while Matt is locked up. Scardapane says the tone swings back toward Frank Miller-era Daredevil and away from the Mayor Fisk political chess that defined the first two seasons.

7. Marvel Zombies Season 2

   It’s official and in production, but don’t expect it in 2026. Brad Winderbaum says he’s already watched the animatic for episode 1, which means the pipeline is moving, just early. Season 1 dropped in fall 2025 and ended with zombified Wanda Maximoff (voiced by Elizabeth Olsen) taking over the world, while Riri Williams (voiced by Lyric Ross) and Kamala Khan (voiced by Iman Vellani) survived to fight another day. Showrunner Bryan Andrews is back to push the apocalypse lore further.

8. Wonder Man Season 2

   Renewed a month after season 1 premiered, which almost never happens with MCU shows. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II returns, no other creative or casting details yet. Season 1 clicked thanks to his performance as a struggling Hollywood actor secretly juiced with ionic energy, hiding his powers while trying to land the lead in an in-universe remake of the superhero movie 'Wonder Man' with Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley). If you liked that Hollywood-meets-superhero tone, expect more of it.

9. Avengers: Secret Wars

   December 17, 2027 in theaters, closing out Phase Six and the Multiverse Saga that kicked off with WandaVision in 2021. The Russos direct again, with a script by Michael Waldron and Christopher McFeely. Filming is slated to start mid-2026 at Pinewood Studios in England and run about six months. The title points to Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 event, where Doctor Doom steals the Beyonders’ power and rules a patchwork planet called Battleworld. Downey’s Doom carries over from Doomsday as the central villain, making this the finale to Marvel’s post-Kang course correction.

Short version: fewer projects, bigger swings, clearer connections. And yes, the Punisher showing up in Spider-Man, Ultron resurfacing, and RDJ switching sides to play Doom are exactly the kinds of shakeups that make this lineup feel alive again.