Marvel Reshuffles Entire Disney Plus TV Schedule: ‘Ironheart’, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, And ‘Wonder Man’ Placed On Indefinite Hiatus, ‘Agatha’ Renamed For A Third Time
Spencer Baculi
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For the umpteenth time, Marvel’s flailing desperation to wright their eponymous cinematic universe’s sinking ship as well as the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have led the studio to once again reshuffle their entire slate of Disney Plus productions.
Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) makes one last desperate play to stop The Flag Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Season 1 Episode 8 “One World, One People” (2023), Marvel Entertainment
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This scheduling shake-up was first confirmed on September 1st courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.
Per the outlet’s sources, Marvel reportedly undertook this shuffle as part of an effort “to make each title an event for fans and audiences”, which itself was borne out of the studio’s recent realization that “spreading out its content is a more prudent strategy.”
G’iah (Emilia Clarke) reveals herself as the Superest-Skrull powers in Secret Invasion Season 1 Episode 6 “Home” (2023), Marvel Entertainment
As such, Marvel’s 2023 TV schedule currently looks vastly different from the over-bloated roadmap unveiled by studio head Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con 2022.
Where once 2023 was set to see them release of seven total Disney Plus projects – Secret Invasion, What If…? Season Two, Loki Season Two, Echo, Ironheart, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, and X-Men ’97 – the studio will instead end the year having released a drastically reduced slate.
(L-R): Ke Huy Quan as O.B., Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Owen Wilson as Mobius in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
As previously confirmed, following the recent Secret Invasion, Marvel will air the second season of Loki, which is currently on track to premiere on October 6th.
From there, the studio will close out 2023 with the second season of What If…?, which months after being taken off of Marvel’s official release schedule has now been given an official debut date of Christmas Day.
Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) dons the Yellowjacket armor and swears vengeance against S.H.I.E.L.D. in What If…? Season 1 Episode 3 “What If…the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” (2021), marvel Entertainment
Originally, Loki was set to be followed roughly two-months later by the premiere of Echo, a Hawkeye-spin-off focused on Alaqua Cox’s titular deaf and disabled heroine.
However, the series – which will be the first MCU TV series to have all of its episodes dumped onto Disney Plus at the same time rather than released on a weekly schedule – has now been pushed back from November 29th to an undetermined date in January 2024.
Echo (Alqua Cox) reminds the Track Suit Mafia who’s boss in Hawkeye Episode 3 “Echoes” (2021), Marvel Entertainment
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Though not an MCU entry, the animated X-Men ’97 has likewise been pushed from its original date.
Once aiming for a Fall 2023 premiere, the return of the fan-favorite mutant team will now take place on an unspecified date in Early 2024.
The titular team stands united against the Shiar in X-Men: The Animated Series Season 3 Episode 6 “The Phoenix Saga Part 4: The Starjammers” (1992), Marvel Entertainment
Then there’s the series formerly known as Agatha: Coven of Chaos.
Now bearing the new name of Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, the Kathryn Han-led WandaVision spin-off has been bumped from its hopeful Winter 2023 release date to the Halloween season of Fall 2024.
(L-R): Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel Studios’ WANDAVISION exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
The last of the studios originally planned 2023 releases, despite having already been pushed back into next year, Ironheart has also been hit with yet another delay.
After having previously been put on indefinite hiatus before being given a rough 2024 release window, the series-no-one-wants has now been put back in limbo due to the aforementioned Hollywood strikes preventing completion of its production.
Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) prepares for takeoff in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Marvel Entertainment
To that end, Riri Williams’ solo outing is not the only Marvel productions to be affected by these strikes.
Thanks to the ongoing stalemate between the unions and studios, production on both Daredevil: Born Again and the Yaha Abdul-Mateen II-led Wonder Man series – this mention of the latter by THR being the first confirmation of both the former Black Manta actor’s casting as the title hero and the series’ having begun production
Daredevil (Charlie Cox) has questions for Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) after being literally dropped into the scene in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Season 1 Episode 9 “Whose Show Is This?” (2022), Marvel Entertainment via Disney Plus
Far from the first shake-up to the studio’s TV plans, this update comes just several months after Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirmed that, in light of the ratings failures of Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, “The pace at which we’re putting out the Disney+ shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine.”
“I think when we are doing about eight projects a year — and again, I said this is going to shift a little bit — they all have to be different,” he told Entertainment Weekly in February 2023. “They all have to stand apart and stand alone and be different from one another.”
Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) dons her classic comic book costume in WandaVision Season 1 Episode 6 “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!” (2021), Marvel Entertainment
Disney CEO Bob Iger would reiterate the company’s commitment to this curation strategy during the company’s August 9th Q3 2023 earnings call.
Speaking to the House of Mouse’s forward-looking strategy for their various film studios, Iger assured investors, “We’re focused on improving the quality of our films and on better economics, not just reducing the number of titles we release but also the cost per title.”
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