Marvel has announced that the next two installments in the Avengers franchise have been delayed.
Both films will now be released in the run-up to successive Christmases.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the release date of Avengers: Doomsday has been moved from May 1, 2026, to December 18, 2026.
Follow-up Avengers: Secret Wars has been delayed from May 7, 2027, until December 17, 2027.
Disney, which owns Marvel, has announced that instead of the next Avengers movie on May 1 next year, they will instead release fashion comedy sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Avengers: Doomsday has already faced delays: the film was entirely overhauled and given a new title to replace Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, after Kang actor Jonathan Majors was convicted of assaulting his partner.
The fifth superhero movie in the Avengers franchise will arrive seven years after its latest entry, Avengers: Endgame.
Last July, it was announced that Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. would return to the Avengers universe, though this time as the villainous Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom.
His Tony Stark/Iron Man character died in Endgame. “New mask, same task,” the actor said at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
In March, it was announced that several original Avengers star will return for the new film, including Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon; Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier; Tom Hiddleston as Loki; and Paul Rudd as Ant-Man.
Meanwhile, new superheroes joining the Avengers ensemble include Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Winston Duke’s M’Baku, Tenoch Huerta Mejía’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever antagonist Namor, Kelsey Grammer’s Hank McCoy/Beast, Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres/Falcon, David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr/Ghost, and Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier/Professor X.
The lead cast of the new Fantastic Four: First Steps — Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch — are also joining the Avengers line-up. So too will Lewis Pullman, who makes his Marvel debut as Robert Reynolds/Sentry this May in Thunderbolts.
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It will also add Ian McKellen, known for starring as Magneto in several X-Men movies; Alan Cumming, who appeared as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in 2003’s X2: X-Men United; Rebecca Romijn, who originated the role of Mystique; James Marsden’s Scott Summers/Cyclops; and newly minted Marvel star Channing Tatum, who made his debut as Gambit in Deadpool and Wolverine.
Avengers: Doomsday is part of Marvel Phase Six, which is the studio’s next chapter after its Multiverse Saga. Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts are also a part of Phase Six.
It will be helmed by brothers Anthony and Joseph Russo, who directed 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and both 2018 and 2019 Avengers installments.
