What’s next for Marvel Cinematic Universe now coronavirus outbreak has delayed Black Widow and other summer releases?
- Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson, has been pushed back to November, and Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel sequels, among others, are also delayed
- Marvel superhero films have interlocking plots, but with delays, Marvel president Kevin Feige’s grand scheme for Phase Four could start to unravel
Right now, even the superheroes are taking cover. The effect of the coronavirus pandemic on Hollywood has been like a bowling ball scattering pins in all directions, as studios have uprooted their big summer tent-pole movies in the face of the unprecedented global health crisis.
It will doubtless come as a huge disappointment to followers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), not least because Scarlett Johnasson’s very own Avenger – the ultra-limber Russian spy Natasha Romanoff – has long been denied her own solo outing.
This week Disney relocated Black Widow to a November 6, 2020 release date, meaning it will arrive in cinemas just a week before Daniel Craig’s final Bond outing. It marks the longest gap between MCU movies since the very early days, when 2008’s The Incredible Hulk – a rare misfire in the canon, with Edward Norton as the rage-filled loner – was followed by Iron Man 2 almost two years later.
Ever since then, Marvel president Kevin Feige has kept the series rolling, with an average of two films a year.