Why Marvel Delayed Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars

Big changes are nothing new in the tentpole movie business, but the sprawling mega-entity that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be particularly prone to them. In 2021 alone, Marvel Studios pushed back its entire 2022 slate, while individual movies like Sam Wilson's (Anthony Mackie) unfortunately forgettable solo movie debut, "Captain America: Brave New World," wound up being pushed back and tinkered with so much that we have a separate article detailing every actor and moment cut from the "Captain America" sequel during its borderline cursed production process.

Now, it appears that the biggest and most important MCU projects on the horizon have joined the ever-expanding list of Marvel Studios movies that aren't proceeding as originally announced. Per Deadline, the Russo Brothers' 2026 MCU team-up "Avengers: Doomsday" has been pushed from its originally announced theatrical release date of May 1, 2026, to December 18 of that year. Its follow-up, "Avengers: Secret Wars," has received the same treatment and has since been rescheduled from May 7, 2027, to December 17, 2027.

In all fairness, this is one of those times when a schedule change is almost certainly a good thing. "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars" are films that Marvel Studios absolutely needs to succeed. They're also unprecedented in their sheer scale. When the "Avengers: Doomsday" cast was officially announced in March, it had close to 30 names, all of whom are familiar from other Marvel superhero projects in one way or another — from the latest MCU additions like the Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts (aka New Avengers) to blasts from the past like several X-Men from the 20th Century Fox-era films. That's a lot of major characters to juggle, especially in a movie that also needs to be, you know, good.

Put all this together, and it's all too easy to see that neither Marvel Studios nor the audiences benefit from a last-minute production crunch that results in subpar VFX and other oddities that are the unfortunate byproducts of a movie having to rush its way to the finish line. Deadline stated as much while also providing some additional context for the delays in its report:

"Insiders noted that these two films are among the biggest ever made, and the delays simply allow more time to execute on a gargantuan vision. Disney/Marvel elected for December dates, given the success they've had in the holiday corridor with titles like 'Spider-Man: No Way Home.' 'Avengers: Doomsday' is in production now."

The MCU is indeed vast and no doubt difficult to efficiently manage, so it's only to be expected that the filmmakers will need all the time they can get to perfect both of these movies (which, again, are so very crucial to the franchise's future).