Following previous reports of many MCU projects being hit with substantial delays to their release schedules, Disney+ seems to have confirmed huge changes for the comic book franchise. While there are rumors starting to circulate that Marvel Studios are about to push back the release of their upcoming Avengers movies, Disney+ has altered the release windows of previously announced MCU shows to simply show “Coming Soon.”
The original plan for Phase 5 and 6 appeared to be a wall-to-wall rollout of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and TV shows, with all of the projects of Phase 5 being given specific release windows. In the last few months, the output of Marvel Studios has come under scrutiny from returning Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, and it seems that many of the complaints about rushed CGI, overworked VFX artists and tight deadlines have led to a huge shake-up in the speed that MCU projects are released in future.
This year originally had several Marvel TV shows penciled in for release, but last month it was said that only two shows were guaranteed to be released in 2023. Those shows are Secret Invasion and Loki season two, both of which have seemingly been pushed back compared to their first release windows that were announced last year. While this seems to be a good thing for the quality of the MCU output, for fans who are eager to see the MCU’s next chapters, it could signal a much slower release schedule going forward.
Kevin Feige Has Addressed Possible Marvel Fatigue Kicking In.
The output of Marvel Studios has been like a runaway train recently. After spending over a decade completing the Infinity Saga, Marvel’s original schedule for the Multiverse Saga suggested the entire three phases would be complete in around just five years. This in itself might not be too much of an issue considering the slow start the MCU had due to its status at the time of Iron Man’s release in 2008, but when adding in Disney+ TV shows to the movie output, then it is easy to see why some Marvel fatigue could be coming. Kevin Feige recently debunked this idea. He said:
"I've been at Marvel Studios for 22 years now, over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together. And from probably my 2nd year at Marvel people were asking, 'Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end? And I didn't really understand the question. Because to me it was akin to saying after 'Gone With The Wind', 'Well how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?'"
Whatever the truth behind the recent updates, it does seem that the future of the MCU is not going to be the never-ending stream of new content that we have seen over the last couple of years. For many reasons, this is the best outcome for the mega-franchise, as there is no one about to complain about waiting a little longer if their next Marvel adventure is better for it.