MCU Officially Scraps Two Highly-Anticipated Series In 2022 - Inside the Magic

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been expanding at a rapid rate since the debut of the Disney+ streaming platform on November 12, 2019.

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Five Disney+ Original series — WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, and Hawkeye — have already aired and Marvel fans are looking forward to the release of Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight this March.

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Now, however, two highly-anticipated upcoming MCU series have been removed from the 2022 release slate. Secret Invasion — set to star Star Wars alum Emilia Clarke, Cobie Smulders, and Samuel L. Jackson reprising his iconic role as Nick Fury — and What If…? Season 2 will not debut this year.

Marvel Japan updated their official website to reflect this change.

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With the removal of the two series, the updated Marvel Cinematic Universe 2022 release schedule looks like:

Marvel Studios’ updated lineup for 2022 can be seen below:

• Moon Knight (March 30, 2022)
• Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
• Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8, 2022)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022)
• She-Hulk (Release date not announced)
• Ms. Marvel (Release date not announcced)
• I Am Groot (Release date not announced)

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Moon Knight, Doctor Strange 2, and Ms. Marvel have all been in reshoots, but it has not impacted their spots on the release schedule.

Marvel President Kevin Feige and other executives have not spoken out about the removal of Secret Invasion and What If…? Season 2. However, Feige has previously shared his thoughts on the release delays of Marvel movies like the Doctor Strange (2016) sequel and Thor: Love and Thunder:

“It’s production shifts and changes, and because we have so many slots, we can just shift slots. So all of the Marvel movie slots are the same, we are just shifting which movies are coming out.”

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It is likely that the reason for the delay of the second season of animated series What If…? has to do with scheduling. Season 1 of the show featured the return of numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe fan-favorites, including Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/the Hulk), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Michael Douglas (Dr. Hank Pym), Michael B. Jordan (Erik “Killmonger” Stevens), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange), and late actor Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa/Black Panther).

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What do you think about two Marvel shows being officially scrapped this year?