Kevin Feige has explained those Marvel delays, which include Doctor Strange 2, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Marvels, and many more.
“It’s production shifts and changes, and because we have so many slots, we can just shift slots,” Feige explained to Variety (opens in new tab). “So all the Marvel slots are the same, we’re just shifting the movies coming out. And yes, Strange has moved six weeks, so instead of there being three months between Marvel movies, there’ll be five months between Marvel movies, and I think that we can all handle that.”
News recently broke that a lot of Marvel Phase 4‘s slate was being shuffled backwards, along with some other Disney titles, like Indiana Jones 5. Doctor Strange 2, AKA Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, has moved from March 25, 2022 to May 6, 2022. Thor: Love and Thunder, which previously held the May date, will now release July 8, which was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s slot – which will now land November 11. That date belonged to The Marvels, so now Captain Marvel 2 will arrive February 17, 2023, while Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is delayed from that date to July 28, 2023.
According to Variety’s sources, the delays are for production-related reasons, and not due to the box office – this is in line with Feige’s comments, and the fact that No Time to Die, Venom 2, and Halloween Kills have all broken pandemic box office records.
This doesn’t mean we’ll be completely without Marvel in the meantime, though. Hawkeye is landing on Disney Plus this November 24, with Ms. Marvel set to follow in 2022.
While you wait for more Marvel, check out our guide to the (ever changing) upcoming major movie release dates.