The current Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes already delayed some major productions throughout the movie industry, so how will the rest of the MCU’s Phase 5 be affected?
Kicking off with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania in February, Phase 5 of the MCU is now fully underway. Fans recently got to see the poorly-received Secret Invasion on Disney+, and the saga will continue yet again with Season 2 of Loki on October 6 and then The Marvels on November 10.
However, the future for the franchise after The Marvels is currently unknown in regards to when the next titles on the upcoming slate will be released.
Phase 5 Movies That Could Get Delayed
Due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and no promising updates on when they could both end, some upcoming movies within Phase 5 of the MCU are at risk of being delayed.
Some films such as Dune: Part Two already finished filming before the strikes even started and were still delayed, so that means that any Marvel Studios movie that is still not finished filming or hasn’t even started will almost definitely be pushed back.
Assuming that the strikes do end by around October and all of these productions get started back around the beginning of 2024, here are the four movies that will likely be delayed and when fans can likely expect them to be released:
1.) Deadpool 3
Deadpool 3 has a current release date of May 3, 2024. It was originally not supposed to come out until November 8, 2024, but Marvel Studios moved it up to May, and it even started filming before the strikes brought it to a screeching halt.
Although there has not yet been an official announcement about it being delayed, the film wasn’t included on Disney’s upcoming movies slate, which detailed which titles would be coming out between September 2023 and June 2024.
Since it still has plenty of filming left and all of post-production will need to be done, the most likely release date for Deadpool 3 after it is delayed would be back in its original November 2024 window.
2.) Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World will be the first solo movie for Sam Wilson’s Captain America after he moved further into the role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The movie was originally set to hit theaters on May 3, 2024, but was then officially delayed to July 26, 2024.
While most of filming is actually complete, it is important to note that the movie is still in need of some reshoots, and those can’t happen until the strikes have come to an end.
However, if the strikes do end by October, then it is entirely possible that the film could be moved back up to its May 3, 2024 slot since reshoots won’t take that long to complete.
3.) Thunderbolts
Thunderbolts will present fans with a different type of film in the MCU by centering around anti-heroes/former villains rather than superheroes, and it will also introduce at least one major new character into the fold. The movie was originally supposed to come out on July 26, 2024, but was already delayed to December 20, 2024.
However, Thunderbolts has not even begun shooting yet, and if the strikes prevent productions from starting back up until the beginning of the year, it most likely won’t come out until May 2025.
4.) Blade
Many fans have been excited about seeing Mahershala Ali’s Blade on-screen since the movie’s official announcement in 2019. It has already gone through a number of changes but was given an official release date of September 6, 2024.
However, Blade was eventually delayed to February 12, 2025, which still stands as the film’s release date. But since filming hasn’t started yet on it either, it will likely be delayed to July 2025.
In short, fans can expect to see some more official delays coming from Marvel Studios in regard to upcoming MCU movies.
These titles likely won’t be pushed back too much if the strikes do end close to October, but unfortunately, anything is possible.
