Disney just made yet another huge schedule change with the MCU, so does this bode ill for the franchise?
The MCU was once a well-oiled machine that generated hit after hit for Disney. It’s still amazing how Disney and Marvel pulled off this epic multi-film franchise that became a cash cow unlike any other and made comic book fans happy.
Each phase worked well, culminating in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, a monster hit that paid off one all the plot threads for the franchise. It seemed a perfect capper…at which point things went downhill.
We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, to the news: It’s now confirmed that Avengers: Doomsday is moving its release date from May 1 to December 18, 2026. That likewise pushes back Avengers: Secret Wars from May 7 to December 17, 2027.
Per Variety, the reasons given are “these two films are among the biggest ever made, and the delays simply allow more time to execute on a gargantuan vision.” Disney is going for December as a big release date used before by the Star Wars sequels and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
As of now, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still set to release on July 24, 2026. That means it now predates Doomsday rather than comes after it.
This is a big shift for the calendar as rival studios can now jump to using May of 2026/27 for their own big movies. But it also leads to serious concerns about what’s supposed to be the new biggest Marvel movie ever, and its build has been messy, to say the least.
Marvel is in a serious slump
By now, the tale of what’s been happening with Avengers: Doomsday is well-known. A quick recap: Phase 5 of the MCU was going to center around Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) as the new big bad of the franchise, making various moves to culminate in The Kang Dynasty and then Secret Wars.
Then real life intruded first when Kang’s introduction in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was a box office disappointment. That was followed by Majors arrested for domestic violence, with Marvel cutting ties.
Rather than recast the role, Marvel instead threw out Kang completely. Changing course to focus on classic Marvel villain Doctor Doom seemed a good bet as if any character deserved to be the main villain of the franchise, it’s Doom.
But then Marvel made the controversial decision to cast Robert Downey Jr as Doom. This seemed to be a blatant attempt to win back fans with the former Iron Man as Doom rather than an actor better for the role.
In a rather long video, Marvel announced the cast for Doomsday, which is practically every major MCU star along with actors from the X-Men film franchise, indicating that this will link the franchises.
Meanwhile, the MCU offerings since Endgame have been mixed to say the least. The TV shows range from great, like WandaVision or the recent Daredevil: Born Again, to forgettable such as Echo or Moon Knight.
As for the movie offerings, The Marvels was an outright bomb, while Captain America: Brave New World disappointed after a troubled production packed with reshoots. The long-delayed Blade movie seems to be dead. Thunderbolts* is doing a bit better with the twist of the asterisk answered by the team becoming a New Avengers.
There is still hope for Fantastic Four: First Steps, but this delay is just another worry on the MCU having lost its way.
Is Marvel just too big to work?
Some may argue that Endgame should have lived up to its title as the end of the MCU. It just seemed an impossible film to top and a logical end of the entire saga. Trying to be bigger than that is folly and the MCU’s slump since then seems to prove it.
Some factors are out of their control like the Majors mess and the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman changing plans for Black Panther. Yet it appears Marvel is just going through the motions rather than the bold swings they used to have.
Heck, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law even had its main character break the fourth wall to openly address how every Marvel project seems to end with a big CGI fight and then a stinger for the next movie/show. It’s no longer a formula that’s working.
It used to be that a Marvel movie was a huge event that pulled folks in and left them excited about what was coming next, but now, they feel almost routine. It doesn’t help that you need to watch so many shows to understand some of these movies (The Marvels requires you to have seen WandaVision and Ms. Marvel first), as the last thing casual moviegoers want is to have to do homework.
It doesn’t help that each movie seems to have undergone so many reshoots with the bad approach of “just shoot and fix it in post.” The lackluster films of the last two years prove that’s not working and drag the franchise down further.
Rumors abound that Secret Wars will pave the way for a “reboot” of the MCU with perhaps new actors as Captain America, Iron Man and the rest. That might be what gives the franchise new life, not unlike when a new actor becomes James Bond. The idea of starting the MCU with the Fantastic Four and X-Men already in it might be more appealing.
It’s still a major source of revenue for Disney so they won’t want to let it die out. But the latest delay for what’s meant to be an epic event only shows how the MCU is no longer the juggernaut it once was and perhaps just too huge for its own good.
Are you worried that the Marvel ship is sinking?