Marvel’s Unannounced 2028 Movie Can Only Be One Film, And It’s the One We’re Desperate to See in the MCU

Marvel had some big announcements at San Diego Comic-Con, where it introduced one of the first new post-Avengers: Secret Wars movies. With the announcement that Ryan Gosling had signed on to star as Ghost Rider in a reboot of that franchise, there is a little clearer look at what is coming next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is also a Nova movie in development with Michael Waldron eying the director’s chair, and the next big announcement is that Black Panther 3 is coming with a new Black Panther in the form of T’Challa’s son (David Jonsson). Marvel has three movies that are coming out in 2028, the year after Secret Wars hits theaters, and only one title has a specific opening date.

The 2028 Marvel dates include May 5, July 28, and December 15. Nova is not likely to be one of these movies, and that leaves two movies lined up here with Ghost Rider and Black Panther 3. This leaves the one open date, and it is almost surely the movie that all MCU fans are waiting on.

Every Marvel Studios Project Confirmed to Be Coming After Avengers: Secret Wars

The three dates line up in an interesting slate, with one hitting at the very start of summer, the second arriving during one of the biggest movie months of the year in July, and the third during the holiday season. While only one movie is listed under those dates, Ghost Rider is almost surely going to be the May release date since it is the movie least likely to be a blockbuster. This year, July sees the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and whatever movie comes out during that time in 2028 will be the big summer MCU release.

There is almost no chance that Marvel releases Nova and Ghost Rider in the same year, since both are risky movie releases and need bigger films around them to keep things safe for Marvel at the box office. There is also little chance that either of those titles would get a prestigious July release. At Comic-Con, Marvel announced that the December 15 release date in 2028 will be for Black Panther 3. That makes sense because, other than Spider-Man, the biggest Marvel solo franchise going today remains Black Panther. The third film will debut a new Black Panther (T’Challa II) in actor David Jonsson, and also Denzel Washington joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will be a huge tentpole that should secure the post-Secret Wars spot at Christmas.

However, that leaves the big July spot wide open, and there is almost no chance it will be for a risky movie. The only real option for this time slot is the new MCU X-Men movie.

The Unannounced 2028 Release Must Be Marvel Studios’ The X-Men

When Marvel releases a movie in July, it is almost always a big deal. Heading into this weekend, the box office estimates for Spider-Man: Brand New Day are between $260 and $300 million domestically, beating out Toy Story 5’s 2026 year-to-date high opening weekend ($159.6 million). There is no way that Marvel releases something like Ghost Rider in the July 28, 2028 spot. Black Panther 3 would have worked there thanks to the success of the first two movies and Ryan Coogler returning as the director, but Marvel decided that was the best time to return to that franchise one year after Avengers: Secret Wars reboots the MCU.

The biggest push for the next phase in the MCU is the arrival of the mutants, with the supernatural world of Ghost Rider and the cosmic world of Nova as secondary storylines. Black Panther 3 is also rumored to deal with space and cosmic issues, so that could be a way to introduce the idea of Nova’s appearance in the movie world. It is the mutants that fans want to see, and that is the one movie that could dominate the summer movie season in 2028 for Marvel. That places the X-Men in the big summer release in July, and this is where the MCU mutants should debut. As Spider-Man: Brand New Day is showing, this can be a huge month for the box office when the films are highly anticipated.

When it comes to the X-Men, the current idea is for it to be a young X-Men team, with young versions of Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, and others, while older mutants like Professor X, Magneto, and Emma Frost could be around for mentor roles. While the Fox X-Men movies dropped off a cliff in later years, there is still a great love for the mutants from fans. If Marvel wants to bring its brand back to the top of the mountain again, then it needs to knock it out of the park with the X-Men. Bringing them out for their debut during the 2028 summer movie season would set it up for success, and that has to be what Marvel is counting on with its still unannounced third movie of 2028.

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