Marvel Disney+ Shows Delayed, Renamed, and/or Removed From Schedule

Television

Marvel’s Disney+ lineup is feeling the sting of the actors’ and writers’ strikes. An exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter reveals that most of the upcoming Marvel shows have either been delayed or removed from the schedule completely, which Disney says is “spreading out their content.” Echo, the show nobody wanted (well, one of them, anyway), is no longer arriving (in its entirety) on November 29, 2023, but sometime in January of 2024. X-Men ’97, the revival of the seminal 90s animated series, is moving from fall of 2023 to “early 2024.” And Agatha: Coven of Chaos is also delayed, from the winter of 2023 to “early fall 2024.” This one actually has a good explanation; they want the show to coincide with Halloween, which makes sense, although I think it’s a half-truth at best. Additionally, the series has a new title: Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. Finally, three shows have been removed from the schedule completely: Ironheart, Wonder Man, and Daredevil: Born Again. Daredevil and Wonder Man are still in production, but Ironheart has completed shooting, making its removal a bit suspicious. The only two shows that haven’t been shuffled are season 2 of Loki, which premieres on October 6, 2023, and season 2 of What If…?, which will arrive “around Christmas Day” of 2023.

Some of this seems a bit odd to me. I get moving things around to spread out content, and obviously, shows that are still in production can’t get a definitive release date amid something like the strikes. But Ironheart has been filmed; sure, it has post-production, but that shouldn’t keep it from getting a release date, even if it’s a ways off. I suspect that Disney and Marvel are weighing their options with that one, perhaps considering pulling a Batgirl and just shelving it completely. Or maybe they’re going to reshoot it to get rid of some of the off-putting elements, like the drag queen character. (Can they get rid of Riri Williams?) I wouldn’t be surprised if they try this with Wonder Man, which was in the middle of shooting when the actors’ strike began; there’s been zero hype around it, and completing it just to have five people watch may cost them more than cutting their losses. Others will air, although I think Disney and Marvel could use the delays to retool them; there’s no way Daredevil is being scrapped, but perhaps they’ll do what they should have done from the beginning and keep the tone from the Netflix seasons instead of doing The Wacky Adventures of Daredevil. Agatha will happen, if only because there are some big names involved in that, although the new title is stupid and not as good as either of the previous ones (not that they’re anything special, either). Everything else will probably happen just like they’ve announced here, but Disney should be prepared for some bombs on this front.