Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors during Tuesday’s quarterly earnings call that the company plans to focus on quality, not quantity moving forward and, as a result, will be cutting back on the number of Marvel’s film and television series.
“We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two [Marvel] TV series a year instead of what had become four, and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two [or] at the maximum three,” he said. “We’re working hard on what that path is.” He continued, “We’ve got a couple of good films in ’25 and then we’re heading to more Avengers, which we’re extremely excited about.”
In the five years since Avengers: Endgame, Marvel has released 10 films and 11 Disney+ series — two of which received second seasons — as part of the franchise’s Phase 4 and ongoing Phase 5. In the last year alone, several of Marvel’s projects have faced delays and had to shift their release dates due to the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes, which may also be a reason why the company is eager to put more space in between them all moving forward. The decision will likely take effect in the upcoming years and shouldn’t impact any of this year’s projects, which include Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s Deadpool & Wolverine as well as the WandaVision spinoff, Agatha.
Marvel looks to be quite busy in 2025 with Captain America: Brave New World hitting theaters on Feb. 14, 2025; the Thunderbolts teaming up less than three months later on May 2, 2025; The Fantastic Four reboot starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach touching down two months later on July 25, 2025; and the Mahershala Ali-led Blade scheduled to arrive on Nov. 7, 2025 after an almost two-year delay and its original director departing the project.
It also appears that both Avengers films — 2026’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and 2027’s Secret Wars — are still set for their previously-announced release dates, although it’s not yet clear who will star as the villainous Kang the Conqueror in the former after Marvel parted ways with actor Jonathan Majors after he was convicted on assault and harassment charges last year.
On the television side, Marvel previously announced an animated Black Panther spinoff titled Eyes of Wakanda, an animated Spider-Man series, a Marvel Zombies miniseries, and live-action shows Ironheart and Daredevil: Born Again are also on the way, but has not confirmed any of their respective release dates yet.
