We know two things. One, that characters are being released in a 5*/4*/4* pattern, and Two, that new releases come every two weeks. These are fairly certain. Here’s 2017 so far. (dates used are the first date of the release event, literally the first moment they’re available in-game)
- January 5th - Carol Danvers (4*)
- January 19th - Riri Williams (4*)
- February 2nd - Black Panther (5*)
- February 9th - Mordo (4*)
- February 23rd - Agent Coulson (4*)
- March 9th - Hawkeye (3*/5*)
- March 23rd - Iron Fist (4*)
- April 6th - Cloak & Dagger (4*)
- April 27th - Star Lord (3*/5*)
- May 4th - Rocket & Groot (4*)
Fits the 5/4/4 pattern, all two weeks apart (minus Mordo, one week early, and Star Lord, one week late).
So here’s a list of future dates, two weeks apart, 4*/5* pattern listed, to give us a framework for future speculation.
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May 18th - 4*
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June 1st - 5*
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June 15th - 4*
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June 29th - 4*
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July 13th - 5*
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July 27th - 4*
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August 10th - 4*
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August 24th - 5*
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September 7th - 4*
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September 21st - 4*
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October 5th - 5*
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October 19th - 4*
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November 2nd - 4*
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November 16th - 5*
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November 30th - 4*
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December 14th - 4*
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December 28th - 5*
Now, we know Rocket & Groot and Gamora are coming, they’ll probably fit those two May dates (the dates are speculative at this point, but the characters have been teased). That fits the “Guardians Volume 2” theme we have going on.
Which brings me to the last bit. Sometimes character releases tie-in to other Marvel events (Iron Fist and his Netflix show, Mordo and the Doctor Strange home release of the movie, the three Guardians and their new movie, etc). Upcoming this year we still have Spider-Man Homecoming on July 8th, The Defenders on Netflix on August 18th, Inhumans on IMAX September 1st (continuing on ABC on September 26th), Thor: Ragnarok on November 3rd, and Punisher on Netflix “sometime”. Not counting home-media releases (random speculation that we’ll get Guardians and Spidey in 2017), or Agents of Shield (or Cloak & Dagger or the Runaways) tie-ins. And that’s before you get into all of the things happening in the comics. Or even things like MPQ’s next Anniversary.
So we have, theoretically, 17 more characters coming out this year, 12 11 four-star and 5 6 five-star, not counting anything beyond that (like how many 5s have a 3 released alongside, or a deviation from “normal” schedule). Who do you think we’ll get? And when? And why, for what little clues we have this far in advance? Even vague suggestions (like “we’re overdo another “joke” character” or “I bet we’ll get two characters for Spidey’s movie”) without specifying specific characters are welcome. I’ve kinda listed “what we know”, so I’m interested in hearing what people expect from that going forward.
(I’ve got my own thoughts, but I’ll post them separately from the main idea to avoid adding extra bias to people’s responses)
EDIT1: Rocket & Groot article posted, calendar adjusted accordingly (of course I talk about the “two week” pattern for them to throw it off by a week IMMEDIATELY) I guess I’ll keep tweaking the calendar as long as this thread remains active. Maybe we’ll have some predictions to compare to the results a few releases from now?