The Marvels was once set to premiere today. In April 2022, Marvel Studios had one of its periodic release calendar shuffles, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being moved to February 2023 and The Marvels announced as releasing today, July 28, 2023.
In February, it was pushed back to its current release date of Nov. 10, but it’s worth wondering just how The Marvels would have been received if it were arriving within hours of Secret Invasion‘s disastrous denouement.
Theoretically, the two are closely linked: Secret Invasion ends with Nick Fury returning to the S.A.B.E.R. space station, which seems to be exactly where we’ll find him when The Marvels begins. It’s currently unknown whether we’ll ever see any of the Kree/Skrull “peace summit” mentioned in Secret Invasion‘s closing moments, or if Fury’s wife Varra will return.
Given that the Secret Invasion finale is now the worst-reviewed thing Marvel Studios has ever put out, we suspect director Nia DaCosta, stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani (and probably also Kevin Feige) are thanking their lucky stars that they pushed back The Marvels.
Right now, the last thing MCU fans want is to be reminded of Secret Invasion, with the November release even allowing the studio to strip out any overt references to it if it sees fit.
All said, 2023 has proven to be an extremely bumpy year for the MCU. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was great, but Quantumania disappointed, and a lot is riding on Kang actor Jonathan Majors’ trial for domestic violence that begins in early August.
If The Marvels is also a flop, then the once-invincible MCU is in some very rough waters.
The Marvels hits theaters on Nov. 10, 2023.
