Back in the summer of 2022, I told you Marvel was in turmoil, and I was absolutely right.
Then in the summer of 2023, I told you Marvel was retooling Daredevil: Born Again to make it more in line with the Netflix shows, which has also been proven correct.
I also said insiders filled me in that Kevin Feige was using the strikes to fix Marvel. Correct again.
#marvel is in turmoil #ComicCon pic.twitter.com/3kLvi8VmKX
— Cosmic Book News (@cosmicbooknews) July 23, 2022
Been told #Marvel will fix #Daredevil #comiccon https://t.co/VCbk2JR36V
— Cosmic Book News (@cosmicbooknews) July 21, 2023
Strikes gave “Marvel breathing space”
Wednesday saw THR publish their big report on “How Marvel Is Quietly Retooling Amid Superhero Fatigue” (note: there is no superhero fatigue, it’s fatigue of garbage content and writing, fatigue of the creatives in charge).
In their report, it’s mentioned the strikes gave “Marvel breathing space”:
The dual writers and actors strikes, while costly to Hollywood, ironically gave Marvel breathing space. It was able to reschedule its movies so that only Deadpool & Wolverine will be released in 2024. And only two series — Echo and Agatha — are bowing on Disney+ this year. Other movies remain in the script stage, while TV shows (such as Ironheart) have filmed, but have no release date in sight. It is all designed to give creatives some breathing room and give audiences the chance to miss the MCU, just a little bit.
How is Kevin Feige fixing Marvel?
THR’s report offers that Feige and Marvel are fixing Fantastic Four with a new writer.
The report also says Thunderbolts has another new writer and suggests the ending may have been changed.
The report also says Marvel is moving away from the Kang character, removing “Kang Dynasty” from the Avengers 5 title, and that Avengers 5 is getting a rewrite.
Of course, Captain America: Brave New World is also undergoing massive reshoots.
The report also reaffirms that Marvel is fixing the TV side of things which follows the big failure of Secret Invasion.
Secret Invasion bigger failure than thought
Well, in THR’s report, it’s learned just how big of a failure Secret Invasion on Disney+ really is, as Secret Invasion is said to be among the least-watched MCU series on the streaming service (likely Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Echo are at the bottom):
On the TV side, Marvel has been reorganizing its operations to allow for greater control from showrunners, a move made after the critical failure of the expensive Samuel L. Jackson spy series Secret Invasion, which sidelined executive producer Kyle Bradstreet after a year, with various creative factions vying for influence in his wake. The show had about 2.5 billion minutes of viewing over its six-week run, per Nielsen, in the bottom third of Marvel’s live-action Disney+ offerings so far.
The reported budget for Secret Invasion is said to be over $200 million, so that is another massive hit for Disney, which was preceded by the big failure of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and followed by the massive failure of The Marvels.
Bob Iger laying down the law
THR also says it’s likely four MCU movies won’t be released in 2025, and that since Bob Iger didn’t mention Blade for a 2025 release on the recent Disney earnings call, that Blade will probably be pushed to 2026.
In the earnings call, Iger also again said that they are pulling back on Marvel and added that Marvel Studios has lost focus.
A none too happy Disney exec is also saying that Iger is moving away from Disney and Feige’s feminist approach to Phase 4 and Phase 5 and bringing back the male leads.
From what I have been told, it isn’t really Feige or Marvel specifically to blame, but Disney and various corporations who have been pushing the agendas; however, of course, Feige is in charge and obviously went with it.
MCU release date schedule:
- Deadpool & Wolverine: July 26, 2024
- Captain America: Brave New World: February 14, 2025
- Thunderbolts: May 2, 2025
- The Fantastic Four: July 25, 2025
- Blade: November 7, 2025
- Avengers: The Kang Dynasty: May 1, 2026
- Untitled – 7/24/26
- Untitled – 11/6/2026
- Avengers: Secret Wars: May 7, 2027
