Marvel Studios delayed both its Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars movies.
Avengers: Doomsday, which was originally scheduled to debut on May 1, 2026 has been pushed back to December 18, 2026. While Avengers: Secret Wars which was supposed to release on May 2, 2027, now has a release date of December 17, 2027.
It is unclear exactly what story the films are expected to tell albeit, the film’s directors Joe and Anthony Russo did indicate they would be adapting “the biggest story Marvel Comics ever told” in Secret Wars when they revealed that Robert Downey Jr. would play Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday.
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Alongside Downey Jr., Marvel Studios revealed a ton of actors will be part of the film including Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Hueta Mejia, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, and Pedro Pascal.
It’s unclear why the films were delayed, but there was a rumor at the end of April that the script for Avengers: Doomsday was being written on the fly.
That rumor came from scooper My Time To Shine Hello, who posted to X, “To answer everyone's question: yes, there is a script, but they're going to keep rewriting it every day on set because it's not done DONE. Like it's not as good as they would want it to be.”
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This rumor was affirmed by fellow scooper John Rocha. He wrote, “Yep. This is what Jeff Sneider has been reporting for WEEKS on THE HOT MIC and in his newsletter. The Avengers: Doomsday script ain’t DONE done because they haven't closed all the deals with all the people who'll be appearing in it. An interesting way to make a movie...”
To that point Sneider shared on The Hot Mic Show at the end of March, “I’m told the script is not locked. … When I say that I mean, listen, they know what the scenes are, they know what the movie is, but do I think like this person is saying this line and that’s 100% guaranteed? No.”
He explained, “That’s based on availability [of the cast]. That’s based on a whole bunch of things.”
Both films are being filmed back to back. Joe Russo told Deadline, “None in L.A. It’s all in London. We’re shooting them fairly back-to-back.”
As for the story, he shared, “We found a way in to the story that we think is going to be challenging for audiences, challenging for us to execute. And it’s really exciting to us.”
Similarly, he told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think these movies are going to be a surprise to people. We found a way in to the story that is very exciting to us, but we think very radical. And I think it’s going to challenge audiences.”
What do you make of these films being delayed?
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“really exciting to us” are code words for “hot garbage”
I'm surprised teh Russo's would do this, start filming with a more locked down script.