In the end, it appears it was…inevitable. Marvel Studios Black Widow, originally scheduled for a May 2020 release before being delayed to November 6th due to the pandemic, has been moved entirely out of 2020 and given a May 7th, 2021 release. With this, Marvel Studios will not have a theatrical release for the first time since 2009. While many held out hope that Disney would bring the film to Premier Access, it was not meant to be.
Marvel Studios next big epic, Eternals, and the kung-fu flick, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, were also moved again today. Shang-Chi, which is still filming, was moved to make room for Black Widow and will now debut on July 9th, 2021; more surprisingly, Eternals, which was originally slated for a November 2020 release, was moved all the way to November 5th, 2021, losing its place in line to Shang-Chi.
With all the shuffling, it seems fortunate that we’ll at least see Marvel Studios first Disney Plus streaming series, WandaVision, in 2020.