‘The Marvels’ getting smothered between two MCU TV series is doing the Brie Larson sequel no favors

Marvel seems almost determined to bury its own movie with its current release schedule that sandwiches The Marvels right between two highly anticipated shows — and fans have noticed.

The Marvels is set for release on Nov. 10, after being pushed back from its initial due date in July. We were given a trailer last month and, in all honesty, it looks pretty good. Fan reaction has been positive and even some of the naysayers who didn’t enjoy the first Captain Marvel, or just straight up didn’t like Brie Larson, have admitted the trailer has them excited. Despite many being cautiously optimistic about the upcoming film, it’s now under question if Marvel itself can be considered confident about its sequel.

One fan has noticed a rather backwards scheduling decision that looks like it could hurt the film’s chances of success. The problem with the November release date is that season 2 of Loki comes out just a month before. But even worse is the fact that less than three weeks after the film hits theaters Echo will be released on Disney Plus on Nov. 29! The discussion was taken to Reddit were the problem this poses for The Marvels was explained in depth.

“I was pretty surprised to learn today that Marvel is planning to release Loki Season 2’s episodes weekly starting October 6th (back to being on Fridays for some reason), but then Echo’s entire set of episode all at once on November 29th (note that this is a Wednesday). Beyond that, this strategy will also completely sandwich the theatrical run of The Marvels (which of course already moved here from July) with two Disney+ shows. And, if Loki sticks to the one-episode-per-week schedule (rather than what WandaVision and Hawkeye did, dropping two episodes on the premiere date), then the finale will literally be airing on the same date that The Marvels officially hits theatres, November 10th.”

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Whether or not superhero fatigue is actually a thing, you’ve got to admit, that just seems like overload. In the space of less than two months, Marvel will have given fans two full new series and a whole movie. Surely it can’t expect fans to religiously watch all of them? One if not all of them will suffer from this decision as each vies for attention from the fanbase. It seems Marvel’s pledge from earlier this year to slow down and space things out is already out the window as it looks to cram more than ever into the last half of this year.

It does beg the question though; is Marvel actively trying to bury The Marvels? Some fans have put on their tin hats as they believe the studio is purposefully pitting its own IPs against one another. However, it’s more likely that story issues have caused these delays. According to The Cosmic Circus, Marvel are delaying shows and films in order to keep the quality up. It seems that all three upcoming Marvel projects have been moved due to this shift in the studio’s approach. 

But why can’t they change the release dates to avoid such a clash? Well, all three have already been pushed back from summer release windows; pushing back even further would only antagonize the fans and those who have worked on the projects. There’s also the issue of continuity, as The Marvels, Echo and Loki all fit into a larger universe so the order they are released is important. Pushing a release date further back may mean even more rewrites in order for it to make sense in the continuity. Maybe it’s not that Marvel is trying to strangle its own films and shows; it’s that there is no other way to release them without causing more damage.