A few days ago Marvel’s Japanese website caused a stir by revealing two additions to the known Marvel/Disney+ releases due in 2022 in the form of What If…? Season 2 and Secret Invasion. However, the website has now replaced the images of the years’ line-up and removed these two shows from the list, as well as rearranging the remaining shows and movies into a film group and a TV group. The previous layout of the page seemed to show the exact order that Marvel’s slate would be released in the coming year, with movies and Disney+ shows interspersed in one continuous list.
This is by no means a confirmation that either series will not be arriving this year, but could be either a cautious move by Marvel in case any issues crop up in the production of either show, or an attempt to keep the release of them secret, although it is a bit late for that now. Whatever the reason for the change, both of those series will be coming to Disney+ sometime in the relatively near future.
What If…? released its premier season in 2021 as the first animated series of the MCU and one that from the outset appeared to be a collection of single episode stories set in other universes and realities, featuring alternative versions of well-known characters and moments from the Marvel Universe. As it turned out, the series was not as singular as first believed and had a longer story to tell, complete with a huge Marvel finale. That finale created the Guardians of The Multiverse, a group that are expected to move forward into the second season.
Secret Invasion is set to be a big Marvel spectacle, featuring Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury as he finally returns to the forefront of the Marvel story after a number of years in the shadows. With the series believed to have links to Captain Marvel and therefore the upcoming sequel The Marvels. With Emilia Clarke making her MCU debut, Ben Mendelsohn’s return as Skrull Talos and Cobie Smulders reprising her role as Maria Hill, there is a lot to unpack in the series and many potential impacts on the MCU’s future to take away.
Marvel’s 2022 Slate Is Packed With Returning Favorites and New Arrivals
Marvel is known for holding their cards close to their chest when it comes to their upcoming projects. The Fantastic Four were teased in a new trailer for the MCU’s Phase Four early last year, but has been on radio silence ever since. The trailer for Moon Knight arrived last week, confirming the series to be the next Marvel release, arriving on Disney+ at the end of March, just over a month before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits cinemas at the beginning of May.
From the previous layout of the Marvel Japan site, it is thought that She-Hulk, I Am Groot and the now removed What If…? Season 2, are due to drop between the Doctor Strange sequel and Thor: Love and Thunder in July, with Ms Marvel and Secret Invasion having been listed to premiere ahead of November’s return to Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Not on the list in either form, but expected to come to Disney+ in December is the Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special to round out the year. Whether this is now how the Marvel slate pans out following the change to the site is something we can only wait and find out as Marvel adds new release dates to the rest of their upcoming shows.