Disney Pulls Three Marvel Movies Off of Release Schedule (What Is Happening With the MCU?)

Amidst sweeping changes to its upcoming release schedule, Disney has officially pulled three Marvel movies. As noted by Variety, at one point, the Mouse House had dates reserved for untitled Marvel movies on February 13, 2026, November 6, 2026, and November 5, 2027. As of the most recent update to the studio’s plans, the February 2026 film has been removed entirely and the two November dates are now when projects that are simply untitled Disney movies will debut. No reason for these changes was provided in the report.

Disney has kept an untitled Marvel movie scheduled for July 23, 2027. There is also a trio of untitled Marvel movies planned for 2028. Those will debut on February 18, May 5, and November 10 of that year.

These moves happened in conjunction with the delays for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Both titles were originally scheduled to come out in May 2026 and May 2027, respectively. Now, they are slated to hit theaters in December 2026 and December 2027, allowing directors Joe and Anthony Russo more time to complete the films.

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The next Marvel Studios release on the docket is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which premieres this July. After that, there isn’t a theatrical Marvel Cinematic Universe installment scheduled until Spider-Man: Brand New Home, which comes out in July 2026.

It isn’t surprising to see Disney/Marvel make such drastic changes to the future release schedule. Even Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige realized it had become too much like homework for fans to follow the ever-expanding MCU storyline. After Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios produced a bevy of movies and TV shows, oversaturating the marketplace with new content. The results of these post-Endgame projects were decidedly mixed, as some of them earned largely negative reviews and bombed at the box office. In an effort to get the franchise back on track, Feige is going with a “quality over quantity” approach, limiting the number of Marvel films and shows that release annually.

The Multiverse Saga has been uneven, and there needed to be changes for the sake of the MCU’s future. Feige doesn’t have any plans to slow down after Avengers: Secret Wars, with a 10-year plan for the X-Men reported to be in effect. It’s unfortunate that it took this long for Marvel to implement a shift, but it’s encouraging that the studio is actually committing to the “less is more” strategy and didn’t double down on the approach that plagued Phases 4 and 5. By making fewer films and shows each year, Marvel won’t be spread as thin, and it’ll be able to give each project the amount of care it needs in order to be successful. Thunderbolts* was seen by many as a step in the right direction, and hopefully Fantastic Four can follow suit, building momentum and excitement for what comes next.