Marvel Delays Almost Entire Phase Four Movie Lineup
Marvel has been looking well positioned to capitalize on audiences’ return to theaters after more than a year of Covid-related closures and movie delays. Their first theatrical exclusive release since the start of the pandemic, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, outgrossed every other movie released since the early days of 2020, and has already grossed over $410 million worldwide. They’ve got Eternals next month and then Spider-Man: No Way Home before the end of the year (produced in conjunction with Sony).
But after that, there’s going to be another stretch without a Marvel movie, as Disney announced a slew of film delays today that will impact many of their upcoming projects. That includes pushing back almost every Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Four movie for the next few years, like highly-anticipated Doctor Strange and Black Panther sequels. Here are all the movies that are affected, along with their new release dates
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: May 6, 2022 (was March 25, 2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder: July 8, 2022 (was May 6, 2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: November 11, 2022 (was July 8, 2022)
- The Marvels: February 17, 2023 (was November 11, 2022)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: July 28, 2023 (was February 17, 2023)
As part of the moves, Marvel also removed two different movies from their upcoming schedule: Two unannounced titles that had been dated on July 28, 2023 and October 6, 2023. (They also shifted another untitled project slightly in November of 2023.)
Basically, Doctor Strange 2 is getting pushed back a little into Thor; Love and Thunder’s release date, and every subsequent Phase Four movie got bumped back to the release date of the movie that was supposed to follow it in the Marvel chronology — except for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which has maintained its May 5, 2023 release date. Disney does not provide reasons for these sorts of moves; one of the upcoming projects could need more time, or Marvel might have thought they had too many movies coming out in 2022 (they will now have three titles instead of four, with The Marvels bumped back to 2023).
Whatever the reasons, here is Marvel’s full Phase Four Lineup as it currently stands:
Marvel’s Complete Upcoming Phase Four Movie Lineup
At least Eternals and Spider-Man are still on tap for the end of 2021. Then you just have to wait until next summer for Doctor Strange. And there will still be Disney+ Marvel series as well.