How Marvel's Doctor Strange 2 Delay Helps Sony's Spider-Man 3 Plans

Marvel's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delay will end up helping Sony's Spider-Man 3 plans in a big way. The company shook things up in a massive way today as they moved release dates around a bunch of titles. Spider-Man, Uncharted, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's Sequel, all got juggled around. Over on the Marvel side, Thor: Love and Thunder and the Doctor Strange sequel were sliding on the calendar. All of this ends up looking like a giant show of confidence in Sony, and there are some small luxuries for Marvel. Some fans had suspected that there would be the need to delay Spider-Man's next adventure when other dates began changing earlier this year. Well, now there is proof that there was reason to be concerned.

But, this whole situation is a good thing. Sony and Disney were locked in a negotiation over everyone's favorite Wall-Crawler last summer. Well, they agreed on at least a couple more appearances for the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Disney had to make some concessions, and Sony ended up caving to public pressure. Things between the two sides were never going to be the same after signing on the dotted line. Marvel had the chance to finish their trilogy after that cruel cliffhanger at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Sony got to continue building toward whatever reality-shaking thing they're doing with their cinematic universe.

In essence, Marvel told them, it's just fine if we don't get Spider-Man for the summer. In fact, we'll even move Doctor Strange to help accommodate the moves. Marvel Studios has its own shifting timeline to worry about. It's almost assured that fans would be more amped to see the resolution of Peter's story before revisiting Doctor Strange. Sony also needed the leeway to place their Uncharted movie, also starring Holland, in that summer slot for maximum draw power. Hopefully, the world looks a lot different next summer as opposed to the dramatically chaotic landscape this summer is shaping up to be.

Sony Pictures has to be thrilled with the show of faith, and they get to have their cake and eat it too. Everything is still rolling along to whatever plans that Madame Webb movie, Morbius, Venom 2 are on. Meanwhile, they continue to get all the benefits from the Holland Spider-Man movie as well. On the Marvel side, they really didn't have to give up a ton. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness still doesn't officially have a director after Scott Derrickson left the project. All this allows more time to get that second entry out quicker. As an added bonus, Marvel also moved Thor 4 up about a week to take advantage of Valentine's Day box office (potentially). It feels like the only loser, in this case, are fans that were counting on seeing Spidey in the summer and Doctor Strange 2 as fast as possible. So, everybody, just be patient. Nothing is ruined as of right now.

How do you feel about all these delays? Let us know in the comments!