Marvel’s first Disney+ show won’t debut in August after all

• Multiple sources confirm that Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier won’t be on Disney+ in August as was originally planned due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Disney shared the list of new releases for Disney+ in August, and Marvel’s show wasn’t on it.
• Marvel might announce a new premiere date soon, according to Entertainment Weekly.

At the beginning of 2020, comic book fans were anticipating a huge year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only was Phase 4 of the MCU set to kick off with Black Widow in May, but over the summer, the first Marvel Studios series were going to arrive on Disney+, expanding the world of our favorite heroes even further. Sadly, a viral pandemic had other plans, and film and TV productions around the world were forced to shut down. Marvel pushed back every one of its movie releases, but we hadn’t heard much of anything about the Disney+ shows. Until now.

According to reports from Entertainment Weekly and our sister site TVLine, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier won’t make its planned August premiere on Disney+. This should not come as much of a shock considering that the show had to stop filming back in March, but this is as close as we’ve gotten to official confirmation.

We actually covered all of the Disney+ new releases for the month of August on Thursday, and although the series wasn’t on the list, neither Disney nor Marvel made any remarks about it. EW and TVLine both cite sources close to the production that say delays in production will force Disney to move the release date back, but EW says “a new premiere will be announced soon” if all goes well, which seems too optimistic.

“Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience—in Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” reads the synopsis for the series on Disney’s website.

While some studios have opted to circumvent the theater altogether and release their movies online, including Pixar and DreamWorks, Disney is holding firm with its biggest blockbuster releases. No franchises make more money at the box office than Marvel’s, which is why Disney is content to push the release dates back until they can guarantee a big opening night. Due to the pandemic, this is the current release schedule for Marvel’s upcoming movies:

• Black Widow | November 6, 2020
• The Eternals | February 12, 2021
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | May 7, 2021
• Spider-Man 3 | November 5, 2021
• Thor: Love and Thunder | February 11, 2022
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | March 25, 2022
• Black Panther II | May 6, 2022
• Captain Marvel 2 | July 8, 2022

Additionally, the WandaVision series was expected to hit Disney+in December, and Loki was going to join the service early next year, but there’s no telling if any of those releases are still on track at this point.