Another day, another Marvel Studios cancellation; that's the feeling among the long-standing fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days. The most famous franchise in the world was once the undisputed champion of Hollywood - and, if we're being completely honest, in many ways it still is, but it's a little bit more worn down and has to use the ropes to pull itself up. It can still deliver on more than a few occasions, but the MCU has suffered some defeats lately.
Over the past few years, Marvel Studios has been attempting to course-correct after a number of failures at the box office and on the Disney Plus platform have left audiences asking questions about the direction of its ongoing Multiverse Saga. That has resulted in multiple apparent cancellations - one of which the studio's own president Kevin Feige even confirmed.
As the fans now reel from another movie being taken off the release calendar, it's hard to grieve what may or may not have been. But the question remains as to whether it will ever come to be. And that's a question that fans are finding hard to ask right now given that it's just the most recent stumble for the beloved franchise.
Marvel cancels planned 2027 release (and fans are worried about what it means for the MCU)
Marvel Studios has officially pulled a planned 2027 movie from its release calendar. They haven't reshuffled it, moved it, or even delayed it indefinitely; it's simply gone, leaving just Avengers: Secret Wars as its only 2027 release in theaters. And with that, fans are perplexed about what it says about the MCU as a whole.
We know that the franchise has had its struggles since it launched the Multiverse Saga, but the MCU is never stronger than the timeline around an Avengers movie. We saw it with The Avengers in 2012, Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, and Avengers: Endgame in 2019. The period between the two back-to-back releases is arguably the strongest that the franchise has ever been, as it was able to launch Captain Marvel to $1 billion, which undoubtedly benefitted a great deal from being sandwiched between two $2 billion Avengers movies. Needless to say, robbing the franchise of another movies between 2026's Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027 seems like a questionable idea.
Although the studio had never been upfront about what that particular movie was, there were theories, with Doctor Strange 3 or Shang-Chi 2 the most likely options. That's not to say that either one of those movies won't be reinstated after the Multiverse Saga ends, but it's very clear that Marvel's plans have changed only relatively recently as the studio was making adjustments within the past year and a half and - up until now - that 2027 release had remained intact.
Nevertheless, it has now been taken off the calendar and, until otherwise stated, plans to release that untitled project have been cancelled. And that means that whenever it does resurface - if it resurfaces - it's going to be a very different movie (as it will no longer be influenced by coming between Doomsday and Secret Wars).
Another cancellation in a long line of recent ones for the MCU
While the idea of no film now coming between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars has left fans feeling a little downtrodden, the thing that they have really taken to heart is the fact that this is just another blow for them in a long line of them from the MCU. There is no denying that the MCU is still a force to be reckoned with whenever the stars align, but they haven't been aligning as much as they used. And when that happens, cancellations are unfortunately an unwanted side effect.
Although Eternals slightly underperformed at the box office in 2021, it was just considered a setback for that particular band of characters. However, whenever Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania failed to break even during its box office (despite the character being a proven box office hit multiple times before) and The Marvels - the sequel to the $1 billion Captain Marvel - completely flopped, it was clear that changes had to be made to the release strategy. And with that, planned sequels to Ant-Man and The Marvels were reportedly cancelled while Marvel completely dropped plans for the Eternals.
Marvel Studios' President Kevin Feige even acknowledged in a realtively recent interview that there are no current plans for Eternals 2 - which is a drastically different message to the one we saw from the studio prior to the release of the movie. Back then, it was excitement to feature these new, mysterious characters who have existed since the dawn of time. Now, the Eternals have become a cautionary tale for future Marvel projects to avoid replicating, with even The Fantastic Four: First Steps being set on an alternate earth to avoid running into some of the same issues that the 2021 film did.
Over the TV side of things, reports have claimed that multiple Marvel shows such as She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and Ms. Marvel have been cancelled too. Although the studio hasn't outright said why these shows have never returned, it's heavily speculated that that it's down to their excessively large budgets, with She-Hulk in particular being incredibly expensive for a workplace dramedy (due to the CGI required for Jennifer Walters' green alter-ego). And with Marvel Television now looking to produce ongoing shows instead of miniseries, they are actively looking at bringing some shows back for more seasons - particularly Hawkeye - but neither She-Hulk nor Ms. Marvel have come up in the conversations.
Taking all of that into account, it's understandable that Marvel fans are feeling a little sad about the current state of their franchise. While cancelling the planned 2027 release might ensure that anticipation remains at an all-time high for Avengers: Secret Wars, it also becomes just yet another cancellation in an unfortunately long line of them for the MCU. Hopefully, it's the last one and the beginning of a turning point for the beloved franchise.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026, while Avengers: Secret Wars arrives on December 17, 2027.