Summary
- The delay of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and other MCU projects is due to ongoing strikes in the entertainment industry.
- The strikes have put various movie and TV projects on hold, leading to delays in the MCU’s Phase 5 and all announced Phase 6 titles. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has been pushed from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026, creating the longest gap between Avengers movies in MCU history.
- The strikes show no signs of ending soon, and it is highly likely that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and other MCU projects will be further delayed.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga has gone through various delays, especially Phases 5 and 6, with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty being rescheduled one more time, and here’s why it was delayed. Avengers: Endgame marked the end of the MCU’s Infinity Saga but not of this connected universe, which keeps expanding now with its Multiverse Saga. Although there are still many empty slots in the MCU’s Phase 6, at the moment it’s planned to end with two major crossover events: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
These two upcoming crossover events are expected to bring together all the current MCU heroes across movies and TV shows to battle Kang’s many variants, who as seen in the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, are ready for their multiversal uprising. Unfortunately, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, along with other MCU projects, has been delayed a whole year, so plot details and more will take longer to be revealed, and there’s a chance that the movie could be delayed one more time in the near future – but why was Avengers: The Kang Dynasty delayed in the first place?
Avengers 5 Was Delayed Due To Hollywood Strikes
Hollywood is going through a difficult time due to its ongoing strikes and all the failed negotiations and offers. In May 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike began, which put on hold various movie and TV projects, leading to the delay of most of these. The MCU was affected by this, and so Marvel had to delay most of its Phase 5 projects (except The Marvels, which kept its November 2023 release date) and all of its announced Phase 6 titles. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was pushed from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026, leaving the biggest gap between Avengers movies in MCU history, and while it might be disappointing to some that the wait for a new Avengers movie has increased, this will give Marvel more time to develop this crossover event.
The WGA strike is not the only ongoing one in the entertainment industry, as in July 2023, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) also went on strike. Various MCU actors have spoken about the 2023 strikes and have even joined the picket lines to show their support. Among the demands of the writers’ strike are higher compensation, higher residual payments, and limiting the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process, while the SAG-AFTRA strike is also demanding higher pay, regulation of self-tape auditions, and prevention of AI from replacing actors on set.
Will Avengers 5 Be Delayed Again?
Although both strikes have received offers and deals from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), they haven’t reached a deal yet, and so the strikes have continued. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes show no signs of ending soon, and the problem only seems to increase as studios have been reported to plan to “allow things to drag” to the point where union members won’t be able to support themselves.
With the strikes continuing for the foreseeable future, it’s highly likely that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and other MCU projects will be delayed again, as the fifth Avengers movie won’t be able to move past pre-production until the strikes are over. While it’s disappointing that various MCU projects continue to be delayed, the real focus should be on the struggles of writers and actors at the picket line and the studios that refuse to cooperate and reach a satisfying deal for both parts.