Blade, Avengers, Deadpool and Other Marvel Films: Delayed

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige announced a very ambitious film release schedule earlier this year at the San Diego Comic Con. But now we're learning that many of the most anticipated films that were announced are going to be delayed significantly.

Per Deadline, Blade, the reboot of Marvel's first major film franchise has been moved from November 3, 2023 to September 6, 2024.  (The original Wesley Snipes-led series pre-dates the Spider-Man and X-Men films.) Per Variety, director Bassim Tariq left the film two weeks before production was set to begin. This iteration of the film stars Mahershala Ali as Blade; he made a cameo (well, his voice did) in a post-credits scene in 2021's The Eternals. This is Ali's second time playing a Marvel character: he previously played Cottonmouth in 2016's Luke Cage, season 1. But that series didn't take place in the MCU proper.

The much-anticipated Deadpool 3 has been moved from September 6, 2024 to November 8, 2024. That film will see the "Merc With The Mouth," played by Ryan Reynolds, entering the MCU. The first two Deadpool films existed outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's because they were owned by Fox at the time (all Fox properties are now owned by Disney). The film also promises the return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He previously said that 2017's Logan would be his last turn as the character, although he cameoed in 2018's Deadpool 2.

Another highly anticipated entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the Fantastic Four. The FF is Marvel Comics' first super-team (their first issue was published in 1961). The film was originally scheduled for November 8, 2024, and has been moved to February 14, 2025. The FF first hit big screens in 2005; there was a sequel in 2007. (Weirdly, Chris Evans played Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, in those films, years before he was cast in Captain America: The First Avenger.) A new, rebooted version hit theaters in 2015.  We recently saw a glimpse of the FF in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness when John Krasinski cameoed as Reed (Mr. Fantastic) Richards, but there's no word if he'll be cast for that role in the upcoming film.

Avengers: Secret Wars, the first of two back-to-back Avengers movies, was originally set for November 7, 2025. It will now be released on May 5, 2026.  There was another recent change to previously announced MCU plans. Armor Wars, originally announced as a Disney+ show, is now being developed as a feature film. Armor Wars will star Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka War Machine. We last saw his character cameo in last year's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+. We know he'll also appear in the upcoming Secret Wars series, set to debut next year on Disney+.

Up next for Marvel: the highly anticipated Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever film, premiering on November 11. After that will be the one-off Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special, premiering later this year on Disney+.

For years, there's been lots of talk among fans of Marvel's Netflix TV shows about how they fit into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe... if they do at all. In the early seasons, there were definite references to the films -- New York Bulletin reporter Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis-Hall) had reported on "The Battle of New York" (as seen in the first Avengers film). Jessica Jones name-dropped "the big green guy and the flag-waver." Luke Cage also mentioned "the big green guy and his crew." But the MCU never seemed to notice Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Danny Rand or the Punisher.

SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN HAWKEYE AND SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME.

Part of this came down to real-life corporate politics. Kevin Feige used to be "just" the President of Marvel Studios, but his department apparently didn't have much communication with the television division. Allegedly, he didn't like the television division and was interested in continuity with their storylines. But now, in addition to his role with Marvel Studios, he's also the Chief Creative Officer for Mrarvel Comics, Marvel Television and Marvel Animation. To quote another classic franchise, he became the one boss to rule them all. Now he's able to oversee story arcs from characters who may go from movies to TV shows back to movies. For instance, Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda's story went from Avengers: Endgame to the Wandavision series on Disney+, and we'll see her next year in Dr. Strange In The Multiverse of Madness (and she appeared in a post-credits scene after Spider-Man: No Way Home). Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson went from Endgame to the  Falcon and the Winter Soldier series  and we'll see him next in Captain America 4. 

But within one week in our timeline, we've seen two references to the Netflix characters, thrilling fans of those shows. But are the Netflix shows (all of which were canceled) part of the MCU's canon? Will it turn out that the Netflix shows were part of another, darker, timeline? (If that doesn't make sense, you should binge-watch Loki.) Time will tell. But here are the characters -- and the actors who play them -- who we want to see again (and, TBH, two that we're ok with never seeing again).