Disney+ shifted the premiere dates of several Marvel shows due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes. The affected series include What If…?, Echo, X-Men '97, and Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. Only season two of Loki will keep its scheduled release date of October 6.
Deadline reports that although the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes delayed the premieres of many movies and TV series, the extra time gives Marvel a chance to polish its upcoming projects. Recent Marvel properties such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion underperformed and did not meet with as much enthusiasm as past releases. Maybe a few more weeks or months will help Disney put out the best Marvel shows possible.
Marvel Shows are Staggering Releases Because Disney+ Has Fewer New Series and Movies
The ongoing strikes do, however, mean that Disney+ has fewer new releases in the pipeline. One of them, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, is a WandaVision spin-off starring Kathryn Hahn (pictured above) in the titular witchy role. On WandaVision, Agatha is the nosy neighbor on the fictional sitcom within the show. Agatha: Darkhold Diaries looked to premiere this winter but has moved to a fall 2024 debut.
Echo is a spin-off of Hawkeye and stars Maya Lopez as the deaf Native American superhero with the extraordinary capability of perfectly mimicking another's movements. Echo had a planned November release but will now drop in January 2024.
The animated series X-Men '97 serves as a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran from 1997 to '97. The new series will premiere in early 2024 instead of this autumn.
The second season of the animated series What If…? will premiere over the holidays instead of earlier this year as originally planned. The series features the voice of Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher, an alien who monitors activity in the multiverse.
Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston as Thor's adopted brother and the god of mischief, is keeping its season-two premiere date of October 6. Like the first season, the second contains six episodes and is considered part of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The first season concluded with the creation of a multiverse after the original timeline splinters. The official Marvel synopsis reveals that season two features Loki “in a battle for the soul” of the Time Variance Authority as he teams up with Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) in multiverse-traversing search for Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), the TVA clock mascot Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong), and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).