The wait for some of Marvel’s biggest heroes to return to the big screen has gotten longer, as Disney has announced a slew of date changes for upcoming Marvel movies, as well as Indiana Jones 5, which is being pushed by almost a full year.
According to a report by Variety, a chain reaction of release date shuffles is underway as Disney is moving Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness from March 25 to May 6, 2022; Thor: Love and Thunder is then moving from May 6 to July 8; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever subsequently is going from July 8 to Nov. 11; and The Marvels is being pumped out of 2022 and into an as yet undetermined date in 2023. In addition, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been pushed from Feb. 17, 2023, to July 28, 2023, while an untitled Marvel movie has actually been moved up from Nov. 10, 2023, to Nov. 3, 2023.
Outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney has also changed the release date for Indiana Jones 5 from July 29, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Four other untitled 2023 movies from Marvel, 20th Century and Disney’s live-action division have been removed from the calendar altogether.
Variety reports that the change in scheduling is due to production delays.
After being forced to hold off from releasing any Marvel movies in 2020 because of the pandemic, Marvel fans have practically never been more than two or three months without a new MCU title, starting with the debut of WandaVision on Disney Plus in January, then The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in March and Loki in June, before heading back to the big screen with Black Widow this past July and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in September. Still to come this year are Eternals (Nov. 5) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (Dec. 17) in theaters, and Hawkeye (Nov. 24) on Disney Plus. Now there will be nearly a six month gap.
However, fans may not be totally without new Marvel content during this stretch. Disney Plus has a slew of new Marvel originals that are expected to debut in 2022, including She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, Secret Invasion, Armor Wars and Iron Heart (no definitive release dates have been set for any of these shows).
