Starting with the first Iron Man movie on May 2, 2008, Marvel films have consistently launched the summer movie season with a major release in late April or early May. But 2026 is different – there won’t be a new Marvel movie until late July.
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe first started, many of its early films came out in May. Following the success of the first Iron Man, Iron Man 2 was released in May 2010, then Thor in May 2011, and The Avengers in May 2012. After The Avengers earned $1.5 billion with its release in the spring, Marvel began consistently releasing its biggest movies during this time, including Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Marvel Studios released Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame in late April, which traditionally marked the start of the summer movie season. Since then, Marvel has consistently launched big films in early May, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), and the upcoming Thunderbolts (2025).
Originally, Avengers: Doomsday was planned to come out in May, but Marvel Studios decided to push the release date back to December. This change showed a big shift in how Disney and Marvel plan their movie releases, and meant fans didn’t get a Marvel movie at the start of the summer. What caused this delay?
Marvel Saw Diminishing Returns In May, And Blockbuster Numbers In December
As a movie critic, I’ve definitely seen things change since the pandemic. It used to be that a big franchise film was a guaranteed hit, and launching at the start of summer pretty much meant success – even for a powerhouse like Marvel. But that’s just not the case anymore. Things really came to a point in 2025 with Thunderbolts. It had Marvel’s lowest May box office numbers ever, actually earning less than the original Iron Man did back in 2008. It was a real wake-up call for the industry.
| MCU Movies Released In Late April/Early May | ||
|---|---|---|
| Movie | Release Date | Worldwide Box Office |
| Iron Man | May 2, 2008 | $585.8 million |
| Thor | May 6, 2011 | $449.3 million |
| The Avengers | May 4, 2012 | $1.520 billion |
| Iron Man 3 | May 3, 2013 | $1.215 billion |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron | May 1, 2015 | $1.405 billion |
| Captain America: Civil War | May 6, 2016 | $1.155 billion |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | May 7, 2017 | $869.1 million |
| Avengers: Infinity War | April 27, 2018 | $2.052 billion |
| Avengers: Endgame | April 26, 2019 | $2.799 billion |
| Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | May 6, 2022 | $955.8 million |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | May 5, 2023 | $845.6 million |
| Thunderbolts* | May 2, 2025 | $382.4 million |
Although Thunderbolts wasn’t Marvel’s biggest box office disappointment (that title goes to The Marvels, which earned $206.1 million worldwide), it still marked the end of a string of increasingly lower-performing films released in mid-spring. Some believe Thunderbolts might have done better if it had been promoted as an Avengers movie from the beginning, instead of Marvel trying to associate it with the Avengers name after its release. However, it’s impossible to know for sure if that strategy would have worked.
The disappointing performance of Thunderbolts at the box office led Marvel to change its strategy of releasing films at the beginning of summer. They’ve decided to focus on more profitable times, like December, which is when they successfully released two of their biggest hits after Endgame.
Although released by Sony, Spider-Man: No Way Home was a collaboration with Marvel Studios and fits into the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe. Released in December 2021, as movie theaters were starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the film earned an impressive $1.921 billion, largely because it felt like a special event. So far, the only other MCU film to reach over $1 billion after the pandemic is Deadpool & Wolverine, which also features a multiverse storyline and a team-up of heroes, debuting in late July 2024.
It makes sense that Marvel’s two 2026 movies are coming out around the same time of year as previous successful films. Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in late July, just like Deadpool & Wolverine, and Avengers: Doomsday is planned for December, similar to the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Marvel appears to have moved away from releasing movies in May, likely hoping for better results with these new dates.
With Avengers: Doomsday being another movie that brings together characters from different universes – and featuring actors from the original X-Men films – it’s highly likely to gross over $1 billion. It could even perform as well as Infinity War and Endgame, which both earned over $2 billion.
It’s still unclear if Marvel will go back to releasing movies in May. Disney has Marvel films scheduled for May 5, 2028, and May 4, 2029, but it’s not certain those dates will stay reserved for Marvel releases. While Marvel used to start the summer blockbuster season with new films, only time will tell if that will happen again.
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2026-05-09 20:17