The Avengers won’t be on summer vacation again anytime soon. Both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were scheduled to start their respective summer-movie seasons in May 2026 and May 2027 but each has now been pushed back several months. Doomsday has moved from May 1, 2026 to December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars is going from May 7, 2027 to December 17, 2027.
io9 reached out to Marvel Studios about the dates and it confirmed that the shift is largely to give the filmmakers more time. These are massive movies, after all, and with directors Joe and Anthony Russo helming both films, and Doomsday already in production, you couldn’t move one without moving the other.
Marvel also mentioned the December time frame is the same one Spider-Man: No Way Home opened up in 2021, and that became one of the biggest superhero films of all time. Of course, the previous two Avengers movies opened in May and had even bigger success, but a holiday opening is still considered a good one. Finally, as Marvel starts to scale back how many things they make and release, moving these movies to December gives them time to breathe in regards to other films on the schedule, such as Spider-Man: Brand New Day in July 2026.
Also, the Doomsday movie gives Disney more time to focus on The Mandalorian & Grogu, the first Star Wars movie in seven years, which comes out just a few short weeks after that original date on May 22, 2026. And no, the dates don’t clash with any Avatar movies. Though Avatar movies have all, and will all, come out around the same time in December, after this year’s Fire and Ash, the fourth film won’t be out until 2029.
But the future of Marvel is certainly more mysterious than ever. After July’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, only three official films are on the schedule—Brand New Day, Doomsday, and Secret Wars, in that order. That means fans will have to wait over a full year to see a new Marvel movie after this summer. Of course, beyond that, the studio has three dates planned for 2028—February 18, May 5, and November 10—but we’ll see if those stick.
Are you worried about these delays? Do you think it’s encouraging? What’s it going to be like to see an Avengers movie on Christmas?
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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