Turns out, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might not be the last Marvel Phase 4 release after all

Kevin Feige may have recently revealed that Marvel Phase 4 is coming to a close with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but a surprise "epilogue" is on the cards. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn took to Twitter to clear up any confusion over the placement of the upcoming Guardians Holiday Special.

"The Guardians Holiday Special is the epilogue of Phase 4," Gunn wrote in reply to a Marvel fan. That makes Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania the first official Marvel Phase 5 project, while Fantastic Four is kicking off Phase 6 in November 2024.

"There will be a soundtrack yes, including original music," Gunn previously mentioned of the special on Twitter: "It's a TV Special (not a feature-length film) on Disney Plus. It's part of MCU canon, & contains some important new elements in the Guardians’ story."

Gunn added that some characters included in fan art doing the rounds (which featured Star-Lord, Gamora, Groot, Rocket, Drax, Nebula, and Mantis) wouldn’t appear in the special, which is set in-between Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Marvel Studios’ panel during San Diego Comic-Con also unveiled the first behind-closed-doors trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy 3. If you weren’t lucky enough to be in attendance, you can read our description – especially with Gunn saying he won’t be releasing the trailer to the public just yet.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will arrive on Disney Plus later this year. For more on the tidal wave of MCU reveals, here’s our guide to every Marvel announcement at SDCC, plus all of the upcoming Marvel movies coming your way in the next three years.