It's been more than six years since audiences watched Earth's Mightiest Heroes on the big screen, and such a mighty wait is about to get even longer. Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Secret Wars are shaping up to be the biggest live-action crossovers in superhero history. Expectations are at an all-time high for every Marvel Cinematic Universe hero to make an appearance, while many shocking multiversal cameos take place along the way.
The X-Men, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and more will all join forces to battle Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom and his forces. But as exciting as this premise is, there has also been the growing worry that production would be rushed to meet deadlines. Avengers: Doomsday started filming at the end of April 2025, and the movie was originally intended to be released just a little bit over a year later on May 1, 2026. On the contrary, some DC productions (such as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow) have over a year and a half to accomplish the same task.
Many wondered if a delay would be on the cards for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and now it has been officially confirmed.
Avengers Doomsday and Secret Wars pushed back to December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027, respectively
As reported by Deadline, Avengers: Doomsday has been pushed back from May 1, 2026, to December 18, 2026. Similarly, Avengers: Secret Wars was delayed from May 7, 2027, to December 17, 2027. This marks a big shift in strategy for Marvel, which has released its previous four Avengers movies during the Summer. However, the superhero giant also found success during the Holidays with the record-breaking release of Spider-Man: No Way Home (which still took place during the pandemic era).
Given the scope of the upcoming crossover films (and the amount of VFX shots each one will need), it isn't surprising to learn Disney is giving them seven extra months of production. A common complaint of many MCU projects in recent memory is the poor CGI quality. Thunderbolts* managed to escape this curse by using as many practical effects as possible. But more often than not, you'll find many off-looking sequences even in the best Marvel superhero movies (such as Black Panther).
A lot of computer wizardry will be needed to bring together the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men for the very first time in cinematic history, so it's reassuring to know VFX studios won't be too rushed when crafting these big-scoped fights. Furthermore, the delay could also help explain the interesting development of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
For the longest time, Spidey's upcoming film was reported to be another multiversal adventure, with Sony Japan hinting that Venom would be set to make an appearance. However, Tom Hardy confirmed that the long-awaited crossover came as "close as [he] could possibly imagine getting", yet it ended up falling through. Now, every rumor has suggested that the movie pivoted to a street-level tale, with Mr. Negative being the likely antagonist.
Fans wondered how Spider-Man: Brand New Day could afford to tell a grounded story, while also taking place after Avengers: Doomsday and the rumored formation of Battleworld. Many even suspected this was an "Ant-Man and the Wasp scenario", with both movies taking place chronologically at the same time. However, the delay of Earth's Mightiest Heroes' upcoming adventure makes the situation less complicated. Now, the stage is set for Peter to be a friendly neighborhood hero yet again.
2026 is shaping up to be very stacked in the superhero department. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2, Spider-Man: Noir, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Clayface, and Avengers: Doomsday will all be released in the same year. So even if it's disappointing to learn about the latter's delay, we'll have a lot of projects to entertain us while we wait.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on December 18, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars will be released on December 17, 2027.