When Kevin Feige laid out Marvel’s Phase 5 and 6 at SDCC in July 2022, a mind-boggling number of movies and Disney Plus Marvel series were proposed for each year. However, sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that this plan may be revised.
Loki season 2 and Secret Invasion (starring Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury) are now the only shows confirmed for 2023 release dates (according to the source). Black Panther spin-off Ironheart (starring Dominique Thorne), Hawkeye spin-off Echo (starring Alaqua Cox), and WandaVision spin-off Agatha: Coven of Chaos (starring Kathryn Hahn) are now all possibly being pushed to 2024 (or even beyond).
Kevin Feige told EW this week; “The pace at which we’re putting out the Disney Plus shows will change, so they can each get a chance to shine.” But the reasons behind the slow down in pace is less to do with concerns regarding oversaturation, and more about cost-cutting measures, according to THR. A ‘company insider’ said; “Numbers matter now, and costs are going to be outlined and enforced.”
In 2021, Marvel released four movies and four live-action TV series went to Disney Plus (WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and Hawkeye). In 2022, Marvel released three movies and three live-action TV series (Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk) as well as the Werewolf by Night and Guardians of the Galaxy specials.
Crucially, they are directly tying the movies to the shows – so you’d have struggled with Doctor Strange 2 if you hadn’t seen WandaVision, and the ‘big bad’ in Ant-Man 3 was introduced in Loki. Daredevil and Kingpin have appeared in Hawkeye and She-Hulk, setting them up for the incoming Daredevil series. The MCU is getting unwieldy, and harder to keep up with – so this move to slow down the content machine is probably a wise one.