Since its inception, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been divided into different sagas to distinguish between its overarching themes. The Infinity Saga started the moment Tony Stark suited up as the invincible Iron Man and ended when he used all of the Infinity Stones to turn Thanos and his forces to dust. Since then, audiences have watched as parallel realities collide, and heroes travel to alternate worlds in what's known as The Multiverse Saga. While these two chapters have each had their strengths and weaknesses, there's no denying that the latter has suffered more changes on the go.
Recently, Marvel Studios shocked the world by announcing that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were both delayed for nearly seven months, to December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027, respectively. This is just the latest in a long list of shifts in plans, including a slight delay for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, replacing Kang the Conqueror with Doctor Doom, changing the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home because Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was pushed back, and so on. However, you'd expect that the highly anticipated crossovers would be on the safe side of things, given the levels of excitement they generate. So, what really happened backstage?
Avengers movies delayed to allow more time to 'execute on a gargantuan vision'
As reported by Deadline, the upcoming Avengers projects "are among the biggest ever made", and Marvel simply needed more time to completely realize its immense vision for them. It's worth noting that principal photography for Avengers: Doomsday started in late April 2025, which means the film originally had almost an exact year to complete production and post-production. That's an extremely tall order given its unprecedented scope. On the contrary, James Gunn's Superman wrapped filming just a bit under a year from its release, allowing the remaining time to be spent on post-production.
Fans had already suspected that Doomsday wouldn't be able to meet its deadline, meaning the delay hasn't been surprising in the slightest. Unfortunately, the same sentiment is also shared for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is reported to begin filming in August 2025, with a release date of July of the following year. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that yet another delay can be announced soon, as Disney and Sony make sure the wall-crawler's upcoming adventure shapes up to be something truly memorable.
An unfortunate effect of a film's rushed production can be unpolished CGI—a problem that has plagued many MCU movies in recent years. For Marvel, it would've been easy to go wrong with the VFX of their upcoming crossovers, given the sheer number of characters they'll feature.
For the first time in cinematic history, the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four will all come together in a single project, and that's only taking into account the information officially revealed so far. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine have set the precedent that multiversal heroes are bound to appear as well. So it's likely we might see countless live-action heroes all take part in a single sequence, a la Avengers: Doomsday. When that happens, any unpolished CGI would surely take away from the experience, so it's nice to know that Marvel is taking preventive measures against that.
The Avengers movies have historically been released during summer, meaning Doomsday and Secret Wars will mark the first time they will be released over the Holiday Season. So far, only one MCU movie has done the same, and that is Spider-Man: No Way Home. The wall-crawler's latest adventure shattered expectations, as it nearly grossed 2 billion dollars during the pandemic era. Furthermore, Sony found success by releasing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in December, while Disney accomplished the same with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Given how long it has been since the last Avengers movie (without taking Thunderbolts* into consideration), it's safe to say Doomsday and Secret Wars will be able to make huge numbers at the box office regardless of their premiere date. That being said, December is the second-best bet after summer. Hopefully, the delay ensures that fans will witness a polished adventure worthy of rivaling the heights reached by Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on December 18, 2026.