Marvel fans have been counting down the days to Avengers: Doomsday for at least two years, but the clock is getting ready to strike Doomsday because the film is mere weeks away. Yes, the centerpiece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Multiverse Saga arrives in movie theaters in less than two months, and you can rest assured that franchise fans will be coming out in their droves on December 18 to see what the newest storyline has been all building towards.
Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU in the new role of Doctor Doom, who will serve as the film's Big Bad. He's going to be at the center of the incursions that are taking place around the multiverse, with rumors suggesting that he holds a certain veteran Avenger responsible for the incursions that took his own family from him. It's going to be a deeply personal, unsettling story as the villain battles Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and that will undoubtedly set the stage for its upcoming sequel Avengers: Secret Wars. However, the wait for that one might be a whole lot longer than anticipated.
Avengers: Secret Wars filming reportedly delayed, putting 2027 release date in jeopardy
According to veteran industry insider Daniel Richtman, Avengers: Secret Wars is now eyeing a potential February 2027 production start date. If this ends up being true, it would be yet another delay for the upcoming Marvel Studios movie, which was previously expected to begin filming this summer. That would also set them back at least eight months, which absolutely puts the film's planned December 2027 release date in jeopardy.
As things stand, Avengers: Secret Wars is currently scheduled to arrive in movie theaters on December 17, 2027 - exactly one year after Avengers: Doomsday. That works out well considering that the first film is expected to end on a major cliffhanger, kicking off what is supposed to be a year-long wait for the resolution. That approach worked extremely well for 2018's Avengers: Infinity War and 2019 sequel Avengers: Endgame, so it's easy to see why the studio would be so eager to recreate that here. And yet, these filming delays may have directly upended that - potentially leaving us without a Marvel movie next year.
A February production start date would make turnaround tight for any kind of movie coming out in December, but considering the sheer scale of Secret Wars - which is almost certainly going to go bigger than Doomsday - it's hard to imagine that a December release date is even possible at this point.
Remember, Doomsday's production lasted five months, running from April - September 2025 before the cast and crew reunited for around another two months of reshoots between March and May 2026. There is no feasible way that Secret Wars could even hope to recreate that shooting schedule and still release 9-10 months later. That's just filming that we're talking about; post-production (especially when it comes to adding visual effects) would require a much larger window that any remaining time after production would allow for.
Richtman's history with Marvel scoops is prettty strong, which makes this a reliable update. That doesn't mean that plans couldn't change - or have already changed - and the MCU gang could reunite well ahead of February, but this is a reminder of how December 2027 really isn't that far away, so even in an ideal situation in which they could start production tomorrow, sticking to that December 2027 release date would be a tall task. Holding production until next February may have just made it an impossibilty.
A potential Secret Wars delay would leave 2027 without a Marvel movie
If Marvel had to ultimately make the decision to delay Avengers: Secret Wars, that would create another two-fold problem. For starters, 2028 is seen as the year in which the studio will relaunch the MCU with its next phase, relying on three films to do that: X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther 3. None of those could release until Secret Wars arrived in theaters and, therefore, it would have to take one of those release slots, likely claiming X-Men's May 5 release date.
Moreover, it would leave 2027 without a single MCU movie. The Doomsday sequel is currently the only MCU movie scheduled to release next year, intentionally crafted to increase anticipation between the two Avengers movies, ensuring that the wait will make an even larger audience tune in to Secret Wars. However, that also comes with the drastic risk that, should Marvel be forced to delay the 2027 movie, it would make next year one of the rare few years that an MCU movie doesn't come out.
Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched in 2008, there have only been two calendar years that the studio didn't release a new move. The first was 2009, which was still early days as both 2008 installments - Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk - set the stage for 2010's Iron Man 2 (and, eventually 2012's The Avengers). The second was 2020, as the pandemic prevented Black Widow from releasing in theaters during its planned summer window, with the film ultimately coming out in spring 2021 instead. It would be disappointing for fans to have to add 2027 to that list, too.
Some fans have understandably pointed out that there should have been an MCU movie between the two Avengers films to prevent this from happening. Infinity War and Endgame weren't consecutive releases in 2018 and 2019, as both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel released between them, with both seeing major Avengers-sized boosts due to the excitement surrounding the franchise at the time.
It's true that another movie could have benefitted from a similar boost here, and that was indeed the original plan as Spider-Man: Brand New Day was initially set to come out between Doomsday and Secret Wars until some reshuffling was done so that it came out before both. And, honestly, Spidey did insanely well without the boost, becoming the biggest movie of the year so far (and the third-biggest of all time).
If Secret Wars is ultimately delayed to 2028, there are two silver linings here. First of all, we won't be completely without MCU content as the third and final season of Daredevil: Born Again will stream on Disney Plus in spring 2027. And secondly, the longer wait will undoubtedly be worth it as Marvel's commitment to ensuring that these Avengers movies are the absolute best that they can be ensure that we will all enjoy the finished products whenever they do arrive. We have no doubt that they will pull it off here... regardless of when Secret Wars is released.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars currently expected to release on December 17, 2027.
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