Summary
Marvel Cinematic Universe fans are riding high on the success ofThunderbolts*and the upcoming release ofThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, but some bad news about the next twoAvengersfilms is sure to halt the celebration a bit. That being said, it could all be for the best anyway.
It has been a rough couple of years forMarvel Studios, with successes such asDeadpool & WolverineandGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3being weighed down by flops likeAnt-Man and the Wasp: QuantumaniaandThe Marvels. It truly seems like Marvel Studios can’t help themselves from putting a foot wrong even when things seem to be going well. 2025 has been a bit of a different story, even with the relative failure ofCaptain America: Brave New World.Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,Daredevil: Born Again, andThunderbolts*have been successes for Marvel, withFirst Stepslooking to follow in their footsteps. While it remains to be seen what happens whenIronheart,Eyes of Wakanda,Marvel Zombies, andWonder Manall release later this year, things were looking up leading into the one-two punch ofSpider-Man: Brand New DayandAvengers: Doomsdaynext summer. Not any longer.
Deadlineis reporting thatMarvel Studios is officially moving back the release dates of bothAvengers: DoomsdayandAvengers: Secret Wars.Doomsdaywas originally set to release on Jul 28, 2025 and has now been pushed back to July 10, 2025.Secret Wars, the direct sequel toDoomsday, is also moving from June 14, 2025 to July 30, 2025.Considering filming onDoomsdaydidn’t even begin until the end of April, it’s not too surprising to see Marvel and Disney push the release date back half a year, but that won’t make it any easier for Avengers fans to swallow.
Pushing BackAvengers: DoomsdayIs The Right Move For Disney And Marvel, As It Needs To Be A Monumental Success
Marvel ispulling out all the stopsforAvengers: Doomsday. First off, they brought the Russo brothers back into the fold as directors. While their post-MCU work has certainly left something to be desired, there is no arguing with their success at Marvel Studios: the lineup ofCaptain America: The Winter Soldier,Captain America: Civil War,Avengers: Infinity War, andAvengers: Endgamespeaks for itself. Secondly, they pulled that crazy wild card move of casting Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. Does it make sense? Not really, but people like RDJ and he put butts in seats as Iron Man for over a decade, so sure… why not?
Lastly was Marvel’s viral cast announcement that listedthe majority of the film’s main actors. Along with the expected returning Avengers like Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, and Letitia Wright’s Black Panther, Marvel announced that the Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and X-Men (from the original Fox films) would be joining the fray. All of a sudden,Doomsdaywas no longer a simpleAvengersfilm, but a status quo-altering mega picture featuring so many famous faces that you’ll need a spreadsheet just to keep track of them all.
Clearly, Marvel desperately needsAvengers: Doomsday(andAvengers: Secret Wars) to capture the cultural consciousness the wayAvengers: Endgamedid back in 2019. Giving the production team (and post-shooting special effects artists) another six months to work on things isn’t exactly a bad idea. Doing so will simply leave fans more time to build upAvengersanticipation that will be hard to meet. Time will tell if it all works out for Marvel and the Mouse House.
