Credit: Marvel StudiosDelays for Star Wars and the MCU are seemingly inevitable as 2022 is supposed to be the biggest year yet for Disney+. The studios plan to have several Marvel and Star Wars series debuts this year. Marvel had six shows planned for 2022 with two being taken off the release schedule. The four that we know of for the moment to be releasing this year are Moon Knight on March 30, She-Hulk (TBD), Ms. Marvel (Summer 2022), and I Am Groot (TBD). On top of that, Marvel plans to release three movies this year, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6, Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11. There will also be the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special to potentially look forward to during the end of 2022.
Related: New Marvel Series Is Already Breaking HUGE Records For the MCU
Star Wars has already started off with a bang with The Book of Boba Fett which will continue releasing episodes until early February. Then we have three other shows planned for Star Wars such as the Obi-Wan Kenobi series (TBD), Andor (TBD), and the second season of Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The Mandalorian season three seems to not be coming out in 2022 due to shooting starting back in late 2021 and not being advertised for a release in 2022.
Back in December 2021, Disney+ gave a small sneak peek of what to expect in the video below:
The Concern
Disney+ has historically been careful never to have two live-action shows be released during the same week — and even just released Marvel and Star Wars content on the same day for the first time ever — and the first show for 2022 is going to be released a third of the way in the year. That means we have possibly thirty-six episodes alone for live-action shows and starting off twelve weeks into 2022. That doesn’t leave a lot of time in between projects and of course, COVID could delay some post-production or reshoots, as it previously has.
Related: Lucasfilm Officially Loses Rights to Exciting New Project, “Let Development Languish”
How the Shows Could Potentially Debut
The Book of Boba Fett’s seven-episode ends in early February and the next show to premiere is March 30 with Moon Knight. Moon Knight would have its last episode premiere on May 4th (unless they start with two episodes rather than one). May 4 is Star Wars Day so it is expected that a Star Wars show will premiere on this day with Kenobi being the prime candidate. After Kenobi, it would probably be the controversial Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk releasing around June 15.
After one of those shows releases, it would actually make sense for the other Marvel show — She-Hulk or Ms. Marvel — to release next which would be July 27. My personal guess is that She-Hulk will release first and be followed by Ms. Marvel due to the series reportedly going for a summer release and undergoing reshoots currently. In 2021, this happened with WandaVision ending and a week later, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuted on Disney+ so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they do it again with two marvel shows premiering back to back.
In the midst of these Marvel releases, it makes sense for The Bad Batch to be released on the Wednesday after Kenobi is done so that way Star Wars fans are receiving new content every week until Andor premieres.
The Bad Batch Season 1 is sixteen episodes so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Season 2 is around the same amount of episodes. After the two Marvel shows, it would make sense for Disney+ to let The Bad Batch finish its season — it would have three to four episodes left if it started right after Kenobi — and then have Andor premiere around August 31 and go for twelve weeks ending on November 24.
This still leaves room for I am Groot — which is reportedly an animated series — to be released and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special to premiere, but there isn’t a lot of space to have large breaks between shows like The Book of Boba Fett and Moon Knight. All of the dates given are of course hypothetical, but shouldn’t be far off since there is a lot happening this year and not a lot of space in between unless delays happen. Hopefully, the biggest break between shows will be The Book of Boba Fett and Moon Knight, or else some of the shows will probably be delayed until 2023 causing some of the shows expected next year to potentially be delayed as well.
How many Marvel and Star Wars series do you think will be delayed this year?
You can stream Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and the five series in Marvel’s Phase Four so far — Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany’s WandaVision, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, Marvel’s What If…?, and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye— on Disney+ anytime.