Samuel L. Jackson has explained why The Marvels' theatrical release was recently delayed until July 2023.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the veteran Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) actor revealed that the Marvel movie would undergo reshoots in London in August. Jackson, who has played iconic Marvel character Nick Fury since 2008's Iron Man, also confirmed that Secret Invasion – the MCU TV series starring Fury – would also require pick ups in London. It seems that August is going to be a busy month for the 73-year-old.
Asked by Kimmel about whether filming had wrapped on the Disney Plus show, Jackson replied: "No, I’m not done. I’m on my way back to London, I guess at some point in August. But I got to go back to do stuff with The Marvels and I got to do stuff for Secret Invasion."
Back in April, various outlets – including Deadline – revealed Marvel Studios had delayed The Marvels' launch date for a second time. The Captain Marvel sequel, which will also pick up plot threads from Disney Plus series in Ms Marvel and WandaVision, was originally supposed to land in theaters in November 2022.
However, its launch was pushed back to February 2023 owing to the pandemic, before being delayed again until July 2023. Currently, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is further along the production pipeline than The Marvels. Subsequently, Marvel elected to swap the MCU Phase 4 projects' launch dates around, meaning Ant-Man's third solo movie replaced The Marvels in the latter's February 2023 slot. Based on Jackson's latest comments, it appears The Marvels needs more time (and some reshoots) before it's ready to go.
As for Secret Invasion, Marvel is yet to settle on an official release date for the Disney Plus series.
Well, publicly at least. The show was expected to launch sometime in 2022 alongside the likes of Moon Knight and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Principal photography wrapped between late January and early February, according to Marvel insiders including Charles Murphy. Clearly, though, Secret Invasion also requires more time to germinate. With Marvel Studios' 2022 slate already looking suitably stacked, it may well be that Marvel holds Secret Invasion back until early 2023.
Analysis: Marvel-ously intertwined
Potentially big spoilers follow for Ms Marvel. You've been warned.
Even if Marvel's 2022 slate wasn't so packed, it would make sense for the studio to release The Marvels and Secret Invasion in close proximity to each other. Why? Because the forthcoming MCU movie and TV show might be more connected than you may realize.
How so? For starters, Secret Invasion will follow Jackson's Fury as he uncovers a, well, secret invasion of Earth by the Skrulls. You'll remember those shapeshifting aliens from 2019's Captain Marvel, with Ben Mendolsohn appearing as the Skrull known as Talos in that superhero flick. Mendelsohn will reprise his role as Talos in Secret Invasion, too, the Skrull aiding Fury in his quest to get to the bottom of the Skrulls' unexpected infiltration of our world.
Then there's the rumors surrounding the origins of Ms Marvel's superpowers. In the fan favorite hero's TV series, which recently began airing on Disney Plus, it seems that Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan obtains her abilities from her grandmother's magical bracelet.
However, there are murmurings online that the source of Khan/Ms Marvel's powers aren't as magical as we think. If you don't want to know anything about this particular rumor, which may spoil one of the show's biggest surprises, turn back now.
According to Marvel leakers like CineStealth, Kamala Khan's powers are activated by her grandmother's bracelet. However, the item, which is imbued with cosmic energy, was originally built by the Kree. Like the Skrulls, you'll remember the Kree as another alien race from Captain Marvel – although, unlike Talos' peaceful sect of Skrulls, the Kree are the bad guys in that movie. Ronan the Destroyer, who was the main villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1, is also a Kree.
The main antagonists in Ms Marvel – the ClanDestine – are thought to be descendants of the djinn, the mythological beings seen in early pre-Islamic religious systems. These djinn, though, could be revealed as human-kree hybrids in later episodes. It's unclear if Kamala Khan is a human-kree hybrid, too, but we would expect this to be the case if she can use the abilities housed in the bracelet.
Of course, you should take these rumors would a giant helping of salt for now. We have no idea whether there's an ounce of truth to them, so you're best watching Ms Marvel's remaining episodes to find out for sure.
That said, if Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel winds up being a human-kree hybrid, the links between Ms Marvel, The Marvels, and Secret Invasion would only become stronger. In a franchise as interconnected as the MCU, those ties matter.
If the Kree and/or Skrulls play a part in Ms Marvel, and either party features in The Marvels when it arrives in theaters, then, it would make sense if Marvel released Secret Invasion and The Marvels around the same time. The events of one would surely impact the other, just as we've seen on numerous occasions in the MCU. For a recent example, just look at Spider-Man: No Way Home's impact on Doctor Strange 2.
So yes, The Marvels' release date was pushed back owing to reshoots. The lack of a definitive launch date for Secret Invasion, too, is down to a similar issue. Those picks ups aside, though, we can't help but feel that there's another big reason behind their expected 2023 arrivals – that being that the projects are more intertwined than we previously thought. We'll find out whenever Secret Invasion gets a concrete release date.
Want more on Ms Marvel? You can read our review of its first two episodes here.
