Marvel StudiosAvengers: Secret Wars has been pushed back from its original schedule date. The moves come as the studios’ parent company shakes up its release date calendar. The movie originally slated for November 7, 2025 release – six months after its counterpart Avengers: The Kang Dynasty – will now hit theaters on May 1, 2026.

The new release date sets the two projects one year apart from each other, as The Kang Dynasty maintains its May 2, 2025 release date, a precedent set by universe-shifting projects Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, both of which were helmed by fan-favorite director duo Joe and Anthony Russo. However, it was recently revealed that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be helmed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton. The director did a fantastic job of introducing Simu Liu’s South Asian superhero to the MCU and will also be introducing the Wonder Man Disney+ series, along with making a sequel for Shang-Chi. Secret Wars will follow the events of The Kang Dynasty, which will bring various variants of the titular villain to the MCU.

Kang the Conqueror will be played by Jonathan Majors, who made a surprising first appearance as He Who Remains in the Tom Hiddleston-led Loki series, which introduced the concept of the variants in the MCU. Majors will be next seen in the Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly starring Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania. A teaser for the movie was shown during the D23 expo and if the word from the attendees is to be believed then Peyton Reed-helmed feature looks perfect. With the ending of Loki Season 1, one can also assume that Kang, will make an appearance in Season 2 as well, as we see his statues have replaced the three timekeepers' at the end.

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The Kang Dynasty will set the stage for Secret Wars, which, in one of the comic storylines, see the heroes and villains squaring off on Battleword. As usual, the MCU is planting seeds for the event throughout its Disney+ series and movies. Secret Wars is yet to find its director and writers, though the Russo brothers who have been vocal about their interest in helming the project in the past, remain a popular choice among fans. Pushing the projects back is not a new event for the studio, as it usually shuffles projects in order to do complete justice to them. So, the year-long gap is only going to help elevate the movie when it debuts.

You can check out Marvel's D23 announcements below: