What does this mean for Marvel Studios’ future projects? Well, almost certainly delays galore.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has announced that they’re on strike as of May 2, 2023, and that comes with huge repercussions for The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel Studios and their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
This action from the WGA hopes to secure a better contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), with the stipulation that if an agreement is not reached by midnight on Monday, May 1, it would lead to a strike by the organized group of writers.
This strike will have massive implications for the movie, television and overall entertainment industry moving forward — and with one of the industry’s largest and most prominent employers being The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios, the Kevin Feige-led superhero giant is set to see some serious repercussions regarding their five-year plan — essentially, Phase Five and Phase Six leading to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2026).
The not-so-great state of the MCU right now
The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Marvel Studios helmed by Kevin Feige has changed the game for the superhero movie genre — and the film industry in general. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has become massive in recent years, with the MCU’s dramatic ending to Marvel Studios’ Phase Three, Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019) concluding the Infinity Saga.
In 2022, the MCU’s Phase Four officially came to a close with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) wrapping it up officially. Now, Marvel’s Multiverse Saga based on the Marvel Comics’ “Secret Wars” storyline, kicked into high gear with Phase Five’s debut entry, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023), which introduced movie-going audiences to Jonathan Majors’ intimidating villain Kang the Conqueror. But the latest Marvel film was met with a disappointing box office (for Marvel Studios standards), and an uncomfortable lawsuit alleging that Marvel breakout star Majors (whom the MCU has banked their entire Multiverse Saga future on) committed acts of domestic violence.
The MCU did not fare particularly well for pretty much the entirety of Phase Four, with Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) doing well but Marvel’s profits split with Sony, and Eternals (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) experiencing rather lackluster reviews and earnings, especially after the explosively popular Phase Three ending. Marvel’s television efforts did not receive rave reviews either, with generally mixed responses across the board.
Plus, with the next film on Marvel’s slate set to be the swan song of new rival DC Studios President James Gunn in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (set to release this Friday), and even more lost talent as decades-long Marvel actors jump ship to Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC Universe (DCU), the MCU’s future is starting to look properly bleak.
How the strike could affect future Marvel projects
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is a labor union representing writers in the entertainment industry, including television, film, and new media. Its mission is to protect and advance the professional and creative interests of its members, negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements, and advocate for writers’ rights.
In the early 2000s, the Hollywood writer’s strike hit the entertainment industry especially hard, with many television shows and late night talk shows suffering as a result — albeit for a good cause, to secure better pay for the writers in question. Twitter user @ethan_2K2 writes in response to The Direct’s coverage of the news, that it doesn’t matter, as long as Marvel writers are getting the pay they deserve:
who cares, they deserve better pay than what they get rn
Although many are in support of the WGA’s attempt to secure fairer pay, it’s natural that some are also thinking about the production behind the scenes. As such, fans are gathering to offer a prayed in support of Kevin Feige, as he deals with massive shakeups in the bowels of Marvel Studios HQ. Users across social media, like whitepangolin on Reddit, recognize the difficulties Feige has to face with the exit of ex-Marvel exec Victoria Alonso, Jonathan Majors’ accusations, the 7,000 Disney company layoffs, and the recent batch of underperforming movies:
Working at Marvel right now has got to be pretty difficult. Between this, Victoria Alonso’s ouster, the Jonathan Majors scandal, all of the Disney layoffs, Ant-Man Quantumania underperforming…and this only a few years after the pandemic and Chadwick Boseman’s death, what a rough few years. Pray for Feige lol.
All of this is likely to culminate in a ton of delays — which means projects reportedly in “production hell” like WandaVision (2021) spinoff Agatha: Coven of Chaos which has had its debut date pushed around and seemingly indefinitely delayed, as well as much-maligned Blade with Mahershala Ali,and even projects as big as Avengers 5 and Avengers 6 which are in the midst of the scriptwriting process.
Looking at the way things are going, it’s possible that those projects without written, fully fleshed out scripts will be significantly impacted — likely pushed back a whole year, or even more, depending on how this strike plays out.
What do you think about the future of Marvel Studios and its writers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
At San Diego Comic Con 2022, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige unveiled a Multiverse Saga roadmap that has piqued fans’ curiosity. The roadmap includes the release of Fantastic Four in 2025, which is expected to feature Doctor Doom, as well as more street-level action with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil/Matt Murdock. Similar to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), we can expect Multiverse mayhem and the appearance of beloved characters across franchises, such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as variant Peter Parkers, original Avengers like Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Evans’ Captain America, and new heroes like Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), as they team up to battle Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror. There are Marvel television offerings on Disney+, including Moon Knight (2022), as well as upcoming Nick Fury-centric (Samuel L. Jackson) Secret Invasion (2023).
