DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And now this.

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GREENE: Comic lovers everywhere can rejoice and start planning ahead. Marvel Entertainment has announced a whole slew of new superhero movies to be released over the next five years.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

In addition to pleasing fans, Marvel is nodding to critics with a new focus on diversity. One of the new films is centered around the Black Panther. Introduced in print in 1966, he was the first black superhero to appear in mainstream American comics.

GREENE: Another will focus on a female superhero - a superheroine, which was another first for Marvel. The comic giant hopes to keep us entertained with these and seven other new movies until 2019. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.