There has never been a studio film franchise as ambitious as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and thus far, Marvel has managed to work its magic through careful, capable planning. But some things are far beyond the ability of anybody to plan for, and nothing proves that more than the current coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The entertainment industry is dealing with the curveball just as surely as every other sector, but just what could it mean for the MCU's carefully mapped out Phase Four?
Much of the MCU's first decade was spent establishing its roster of characters and building toward Avengers: Endgame, the grand finale of the franchise's first overarching story. Dubbed the "Infinity Saga," much of what connected the films were not just the characters involved but the plots and themes that served as the main substance of their stories. Spider-Man: Far From Home acted as a sort of epilogue to the saga, showing the character's lives in the aftermath of the climactic events. Black Widow was meant to launch the next phase of the MCU's storytelling this May, but then the pandemic happened.
Although Disney held off on the decision to delay the film's release as long as it could, eventually the closure of most major movie theater chains and social-distancing mandates forced the studio's hand. It isn't hard to see why Disney would hesitate. Not only is Black Widow of particular importance to the MCU's release schedule, but pushing it back could affect everything else planned on Marvel's slate for years to come.
Halting production on ongoing projects is a problem for any studio, but with the MCU's dependence on interconnected stories, it's especially difficult to be flexible on release dates. Sure the Fast and the Furious franchise can just push its sequels further down the schedule, but for the MCU the delay of one film doesn't just mean bumping back direct sequels but could impact the release of possibly every other project in the franchise. Black Widow has now taken The Eternals spot on the schedule, with that project now set for 2021. The release of Marvel's upcoming Disney+ series could end up being delayed too.
If Black Widow contains story elements that spoil the stories of other projects (or vice versa) it would be confusing to fans and dishonest to the artistic intention of the works to release them out of order. Imagine if an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spoiled the twist of Captain America: Winter Soldier before the movie was even released. Not only would you be confused about what exactly the TV show was dealing with, but you'd feel cheated out of the full experience of Winter Soldier once you saw it.
Also, since The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision and Loki have all had their productions impacted by the virus as well, the roll-out of these series' may also be complicated. Little is known about what exactly Marvel had planned for the next phase of films or the new Disney+ series, but if they're at all as interconnected as the films in the Infinity Saga, it's hard to believe the MCU's release plan could change course so late in the game.
However, looking at the interconnection of past films may be the key to an optimistic perspective. Marvel managed to pull off their grand experiment by not relying too much on connecting the films together. While the movies shared a universe, their stories were independent enough that a viewer did not absolutely need to see prior films in order to enjoy subsequent ones. Keeping continuity at arms length may not be the best way to appeal to fans, but it could provide the flexibility Marvel desperately needs to see its way through such hard-to-predict times.
Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Rick Mason and Rachel Weisz. The film is slated for release Nov. 6.