'Avengers: Secret Wars' Release Date at Risk as Filming Reportedly Delayed

Published Oct 2, 2026, 10:47 AM EDT Elijah is a freelance news writer at Polygon. He was an associate editor at The A.V. Club and Paste, and has been featured in outlets like Game Informer, Fanbyte, Unwinnable, and more. He loves media in all forms, from fighting games and horror flicks to slow cinema and visual novels. He's from the Greater Boston area. The sequel to Avengers: Doomsday may not be on track Image: Marvel Studios Sign in to your Polygon.com account The sequel to Avengers: Doomsday might not be on track for its original release date. According to multiple well-known MCU leakers — Daniel Richtman, Alex P., and Apocalyptic Horseman — principal photography for Avengers: Secret Wars has been delayed from October 2026 to January 2027. Richtman initially claimed that filming had been pushed back to November, then said it had been delayed further to January, which both Alex P. and Apocalyptic Horseman corroborated. Disney has not released an official comment, but if it's confirmed, the change would be yet another setback for the Avengers sequel. Avengers: Secret Wars was originally supposed to start filming in mid-2026, before Disney pushed it back to August, and then to later in 2026. Secret Wars is currently planned to release on Dec. 17, 2027, roughly a year after Doomsday's Dec. 18, 2026 debut. While Secret Wars can still hit its original release date, the heavy post-production and CGI work that these movies require may make it hard to stick to that timeline. Filming for Doomsday ran from April to September 2025, meaning the shoot wrapped 15 months before release. If filming for Secret Wars took the same amount of time, it would finish around June 2027, just about six months before its theatrical debut. Granted, this isn’t the first time that Marvel productions have started filming within a year of release. Spider-Man: Brand New Day began filming in August 2025 and finished in December 2025, about seven months before its July 27, 2026, debut. The Fantastic Four: First Steps had a similar timeline. While the expected scope of Secret Wars would likely make this compressed timeline a challenge, Disney is probably determined to avoid postponing the release again. Doomsday and Secret Wars were previously delayed, moving from May 1, 2026, and May 27, 2027, to December 2026 and 2027. Why is Secret Wars reportedly being delayed? Disney may be waiting to gauge box office and fan response to Doomsday before proceeding with filming Secret Wars. Doomsday and Secret Wars seem to have been planned more haphazardly than the franchise's last duology, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The Russo Brothers began directing Doomsday with an incomplete script, saying they learned to play off their actors when they were the showrunners for Community. Spider-Man: Brand New Day had a phenomenal box office performance, but the future of the MCU is still likely riding on the success of the next two Avengers films.