Marvel to downsize movie and series lineups for 2023

With the MCU falling prey to mediocre results, Marvel is taking active measures to improve their quality and even counter superhero fatigue. Disney brought back Bob Iger as CEO to replace Bob Chapek. And with his return, a few quick changes have been made in an attempt to restore the company to its former glory. Among those changes was the firing of the studio’s VFX supervisor, Victoria Alonso.

The MCU used to be the studio's biggest moneymaker. But Phase 4 hasn’t gone the way it was planned. Hence, the MCU once again plans to slow down and go back to the old ways. Many projects in the upcoming slate of MCU titles have been pushed back, and the latest report suggests that Marvel’s target to release movies and TV shows has gone down.

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Marvel plans to reduce output

Nick Fury in Secret Invasion (Image via Disney)

Above the Line's Jeff Snieder, an established industry insider, spoke on The Hot Mic podcast and revealed that Marvel plans to downsize its content. After reports of multiple MCU delays, Snieder stated that the studio’s new go-to plan is to release "two shows and three movies a year" instead of "four shows and four movies a year."

Snieder said:

"Marvel's target output has been reduced. I don't know if this has been reported, or if this was a line in the trades, or whatever, but I'm told that the target output has been reduced from four shows and four movies a year to two shows and three movies a year. And of course that's malleable. You could get one on either side of that, or whatever."

All this comes on the heels of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s recent failure to break even.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Image via Disney)

Due to the lack of content in 2020 due to COVID-19, 2021 witnessed the release of four MCU shows on Disney+, along with four movies and one animated series. Then 2022 brought three shows, two special presentations, and three movies. But with so much MCU content, the quality of storytelling and VFX dropped, and superhero fatigue began to kick in.

This is causing the studio to push back on a few projects, work on the stories, and give the CGI companies more time to deliver a better product.

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Loki season 2 and other projects could be delayed

A new scooper, Divinity Seeker, recently claimed that Loki season 2 is getting pushed to 2024 and the MCU will only release Secret Invasion (on June 21) and Echo (tentatively in October) on Disney+ in 2023. But according to Snieder’s report, 2024 and 2025’s schedules, including four movies each, could also suffer now.

The following list includes all upcoming MCU movies:

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - May 5, 2023
• The Marvels - November 3, 2023
• Captain America: New World Order - May 3, 2024
• Thunderbolts - July 26, 2024
• Blade - September 6, 2024
• Untitled Deadpool Movie - November 8, 2024
• Fantastic Four - February 14, 2025
• Avengers: The Kang Dynasty - May 2, 2025
• Untitled Marvel Movie - July 25, 2025
• Untitled Marvel Movie - November 7, 2025
• Untitled Marvel Movie - February 13, 2026
• Avengers: Secret Wars - May 1, 2026
• Untitled Marvel Movie - July 24, 2026
• Untitled Marvel Movie - November 6, 2026

We should certainly expect a few of these projects to be pushed back, as Marvel might delay 2024’s Blade to 2025 given that it needs more time to get its story right. It’ll be interesting to see which other projects get delayed.