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Marvel fans (and haters!) anxious to find out whether 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday will represent a return to form for the studio will now have to wait a little longer to find out how effective “Throw all the actors and directors people used to like at this thing and pray” will be as a billion-dollar blockbuster strategy. Disney confirmed today that Doomsday, previously set for a May 2026 release, has now been pushed back seven months, to December 18 of that same year. At the same time, the film’s direct sequel, Secret Wars, has gotten a similar push: It now won’t be arriving until December 17, 2027.
In Doomsday‘s place, Disney will instead offer up the raw destructive power that is Meryl Streep being mean to people: The Devil Wears Prada 2 has now been slotted into the May 1, 2026 date just vacated by Avengers. (Ridley Scott’s new post-apocalyptic thriller The Dog Stars also got rolled into this announcement; the Jacob Elordi flick’s release date is set for March 27, 2026.)
But the big deal, obviously, is the pushing back of two tentpoles that really need to prove they can hold up the tent; Marvel is doing better right now than it has in a minute, with Deadpool & Wolverine and Thunderbolts* both getting strong notices, and enthusiasm for Fantastic Four: First Steps running high. But if Doomsday—which reunites Robert Downey Jr. with directors Joe and Anthony Russo—doesn’t hit hard, it’s going to be tough not to feel like they launched the nuclear option for fan excitement, only to have it fizzle out.
No reason for the delays have been given, although Deadline cites unnamed sources who say it’s basically a factor of how ridiculously big both of these movies are going to be. (Given how long it took them just to set out all the chairs for people to sit in, we can believe it.) (It also probably doesn’t hurt that Disney’s visual effects workers just ratified their union, meaning “work the computer people to death to hit our release date” is less of a viable strategy.) Interestingly, the move rejiggers Marvel’s upcoming film schedule in at least one weird way: Fantastic Four was going to be the next movie out either way, set as it is for July 2025. But Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still sticking in its July 2026 release date. It would have arrived in the aftermath of Doomsday; god only knows what this move is going to do to how Destin Daniel Cretton’s film navigates Marvel’s current status quo.
