Marvel Studios has a busy schedule over the next few years. For one, there's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is set to be the first real exploration of the Multiverse and seems to be an Avengers-scale project.
Then, of course, there's the likes of Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, both of which are set to make huge status quo shifts in the MCU. This trend is likely to continue with The Marvels, which features a team-up between Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel.
Let's not forget about all of the untitled release date slots that Marvel Studios has reserved. While not confirmed, many of these dates could include the likes of Blade, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fantastic Four, and more.
Add in all the many Disney+ shows, such as She-Hulk, Moon Knight, or Ms. Marvel, and fans will have rapid-fire MCU content for years to come.
Sadly, however, fans are going to have to wait a little longer to see most of these projects––Disney and Marvel Studios have announced a new MCU dry spell, meaning more than a few delays.
Marvel Shifts 2022 & 2023 Movie Dates
Disney announced changes to its entire slate of 2022 movies, with all of them shifting down one release spot. This includes all currently planned Marvel Studios projects.
The shift in changes is as follows:
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is moving from March 25, 2022 to May 6, 2022.
Thor: Love and Thunder has been pushed from May 6, 2022 to July 8, 2022.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever moves to November 11, 2022 from its original spot of July 8, 2022.
The Marvels, originally slated for November 11, 2022, is now set to release on February 17, 2023.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is no longer releasing at the beginning of 2023; it will now bow on July 28, 2023.
Two untitled Marvel movies were removed from the schedule entirely. Their previous spots were July 28, 2023 and October 6, 2023.
A third untitled Marvel movie, which was set to release on November 10, 2023, has been moved up to November 3, 2023.
Other delays include the Indiana Jones film, a live-action Disney project, and an untitled 20th Century film.
Deadline reported that all of the delays are due to a domino effect between production and filmmakers. Some projects still need to wrap up various stages of production while others are right in the thick of it.
Marvel Studios Delays the Future
One of the few movies to avoid the carnage is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which has retained its May 5, 2023, release date. That said, why did all of these changes happen in the first place?
The first theory as to why this happened would be because of The Batman. The hype for the film has been intense, and the most recent trailer proves that.
Multiverse of Madness, which was originally supposed to be released only a few weeks after The Dark Knight's bow, wouldn't be crushed by it at the box office, but its performance would certainly be less than what it would be if it were a little further away from it.
That simple change would have snowballed and caused all of these other films to be moved down one spot.
Fans are sadly used to this, seeing as the pandemic caused several rounds of delays. In this case, the pandemic probably didn't have a bearing on anything. While it's still prominent across the world, its direct effect on production is far less than what it was.
Another possibility? The IATSE strike. While it was averted, for now, the deal may still be shot down by its union's members, so a strike might still be on the table. These changes could cover Marvel's bottom line if these matters go the wrong way for them.
Marvel Studios could also simply have decided they needed to shift down because of unseen production delays or to better match stories going on in the Disney+ shows. There's a lot happening in the universe that it's going to be odd to have a new dry spell to contend with.
It is admittedly strange that two movies were removed from the 2023 release schedule entirely. This doesn't mean the films were canceled, just that the studio is no longer confident about giving them concrete dates at this point.
There's a good chance that new dates are still to be added in 2022 and/or 2023 to make up for the changes, but Marvel Studios just hasn't nailed down those additional spots––so it couldn't make it in this announcement.
It may feel chaotic now, but things will sort themselves out, and fans will eventually be able to experience all of these projects in due time.
The next Marvel Studios film out is Eternals on November 5, with Hawkeye bowing on Disney+ on November 24 and Spider-Man: No Way Home rounding out the year on December 17.
