Not long ago, this holiday season was shaping up to be an exciting one for Marvel fans. Half a dozen Marvel shows were either rumored or confirmed for the fall and winter, but after the latest scheduling shakeup, only two remain. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Loki season 2 and What If…? season 2 are the only Marvel series that will premiere on Disney+ this fall, as delays have impacted Echo, Agatha, and the animated series X-Men ’97.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Marvel wants to spread out its content “to make each title an event for fans and audiences.” Marvel’s brand new strategy, combined with the fallout of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, has resulted in several delays.
Loki season 2 is now the only Marvel show coming this fall. Despite all the turmoil in the industry, the new season will still premiere on October 6, as planned. Given the critical success of the first season, Marvel undoubtedly has high hopes for Tom Hiddleston’s return.
Marvel has yet to announce a release date for What If…? season 2, but The Hollywood Reporter claims that it should start streaming around Christmas Day. Jeffrey Wright will reprise his role as The Watcher as Marvel explores more alternate versions of familiar stories.
Moving on to delays, Marvel reportedly moved the Hawkeye spinoff series Echo from November 29, 2023, to January 2024. Marvel presumably still plans to release all episodes of Echo at once, which will be a first for the studio. Alaqua Cox will return as Maya Lopez, aka Echo, with Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio set to appear as Daredevil and Kingpin.
X-Men ’97 — a sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran for five seasons from 1992 to 1997 — was also apparently slated to drop this year, but Marvel has decided to push it to early 2024 as well. A second season is already in the works.
Finally, not only has Marvel delayed Agatha: Coven of Chaos from winter 2023 to fall 2024, but the studio also changed its name. Again. Agatha: Darkhold Diaries is said to be the latest name of the series after Marvel axed House of Harkness and Coven of Chaos.
THR also notes that Ironheart, Daredevil: Born Again, and Wonder Man are all impacted by the strikes. As such, there’s no telling when they will debut on Disney+.
