Marvel Series Hit With Another Delay, Will It Actually Release This Year?
The Disney+ MCU series Secret Invasion has reportedly been pushed back from May to June, with no reason given or an official announcement as Marvel's release calendar continues to wildly change from the first of the year.
Given the current state of Disney‘s changing leadership, as well as the company’s shifting slate of original programming, particularly within the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, we’ve seen several delays and potential cancelations in the last year. One such casualty within the MCU is the upcoming limited series Secret Invasion, which is set to span six episodes as part of Marvel’s Phase Five, and has seen a few delays since the first announced date. According to a Twitter post from Marvel insider KC Walsh, the series has now changed release dates from May 2023 to June 2023, with some assurance that the date will not change again.
Marvel has yet to officially announce the shifting date, but multiple insiders have verified the information. Walsh, whose tweets seem to display a series of texts from an unknown sender, also speculated in their posts regarding the release date of Loki Season 2, which fans likewise suspect to be pushed back. With multiple shifting MCU release dates, Secret Invasion has become a highly contested project, bringing fans a lot of anxiety about the future of the franchise.
The series is set to follow Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury as he investigates the race of shapeshifting aliens named Skrulls as he learns that they have infiltrated Earth at nearly every level. MCU super fans have been awaiting Secret Invasion for some time, as we last saw Nick Fury vacationing in outer space in a post-credits scene of 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, with a Skrull standing in as his on-planet replacement. The Secret Invasion comic book storyline is a fan favorite, with many elements already integrated into the MCU through films such as Captain Marvel and Disney+ series such as WandaVision.
While there is currently no public explanation from MCU executives as to what has caused the shifting release dates for Secret Invasion, Loki Season 2, and other projects, it may be a result of corporate restructuring, increased CGI demands, or internal pivoting following the box office failure of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Online sources close to KC Walsh have speculated that Blade, What If…?, and The Marvels have all seen significant delays in production and release due to internal metrics as Marvel execs scramble to reduce their overall output.
When the MCU does finally manage to get their ducks in a row, Marvel fans will be in for a real treat with Secret Invasion, which promises to be one of the most significant crossover events in the connected film universe, taking Nick Fury across all manner of Marvel properties in an effort to uncover Skrull operatives. According to the cast listed on IMDb, the limited series is set to star an expansive cast of MCU heavy hitters such as Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, and Martin Freeman, as well as Marvel newcomers such as Game Of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke.
If the June release date truly sticks, this series could serve as a defining touchstone of our collective Summer.
