The strikes in Hollywood continue to have a massive impact on numerous film and series productions. Now it has once again hit Marvel, where among others the “WandaVision” spin-off “Agatha” and the “Hawkeye” spin-off “Echo” have been postponed.
As of today, September 2, 2023, the Hollywood writers’ strike has lasted exactly four months. And while this is already preventing the development of new material and script adjustments during ongoing shoots, the dream factory has finally been all but paralyzed with the strike of the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, which was added in mid-July.
This naturally leads to massive delays in productions that have not yet been completed, and their scheduled shooting starts and release dates are necessarily pushed back. Marvel is particularly affected by this, since the individual films and series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe build on each other (sometimes more, sometimes less), so that the postponement of a project often inevitably leads to many other postponements.
After all MCU films from “Captain America 4: Brave New World” (current theatrical release date: July 24, 2024) have already moved backwards in the calendar, it has now also hit some of the upcoming series from the ever-growing comic book universe, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. For example, the second season of the animated series “What If…?” as well as the brand new series spin-offs “Echo” and “Agatha: Darkhold Diaries” are coming to Disney+ later.
We’ll also have to wait longer for the non-MCU cult series revival “X-Men ’97,” which is now slated to pick up in early 2024 (rather than fall 2023) from the popular animated series about the Marvel mutants from the ’90s.
While the strikes are probably the main reason for the new postponements, according to insider sources, these are also said to be partly due to the fact that Disney wants to release its Marvel titles in greater intervals again in the future, rather than in quite such a concentrated fashion, in order to make them special events and thus counter the much-discussed superhero fatigue.
NEW START DATES FOR “ECHO,” “AGATHA” AND “WHAT IF” SEASON 2
The first season of “What If…?” is now two years in the past. Actually, it should already continue in early 2023 with the anthology series, in which the omnipotent Watcher reveals to us with a look at the multiverse, how the MCU would have looked like if certain key events had happened differently. The new start date for the second “What If” season is now December 2023.
That the MCU series “Echo” around the deaf ex-gang leader Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), known from “Hawkeye”, is delayed, had recently already become apparent, when in the wake of the temporary theatrical release cancellation for “Deadpool 3” also “Echo” suddenly stood there without a date, although it was actually already announced for November 29, 2023. Now it is certain: “Echo” is to appear only in January 2024 on Disney+, but then probably still with all episodes in one fell swoop, in which there is also a reunion with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and his archenemy Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio).
Meanwhile, we’ve been waiting for “Agatha: Darkhold Diaries” for so long that the series about the titular witch (played by Kathryn Hahn) introduced in “WandaVision” has now been given its third title (previously it was to be called “Agatha: House Of Harkness” and then “Agatha: Coven Of Chaos”). With the new title (which alludes to the sinister magical book that already caused a lot of chaos and suffering in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness”), however, also comes the aforementioned postponement: instead of winter 2023, “Agatha: Darkhold Diaries” is now set to arrive in fall 2024 just in time for the Halloween season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
WHAT ABOUT “DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN” AND “IRONHEART”?
In light of all these postponements, we now also have to be patient until the own series of Iron-Man’s successor Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), who already appeared in “Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever”, as well as for “Daredevil: Born Again,” the highly anticipated follow-up series to the popular Netflix production about blind lawyer/crime fighter Matt Murdock (played again by Charlie Cox, as in “Echo,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “She-Hulk”), which is now more firmly anchored in the MCU.
Both “Born Again” and the new series “Wonder Man” starring “Aquaman 2” villain Yahya Abdul-Mateen II would have to pause their filming due to the Hollywood strikes.
“THE MARVELS” AND “LOKI” KEEP THEIR DATES
The immediate next MCU projects remain spared from the recent schedule shocks in both the film and series sectors, however. For example, the second season of “Loki” is still scheduled to launch on Disney+ on October 6, 2023, while “Captain Marvel” sequel “The Marvels” continues in theaters on November 8.
