SOPA Images

Chaos! Marvel Studios Reportedly Shuffling Its Theatrical Slate to Make Room for Major New Project

Originally posted on Murphy's Multiverse
By Charles Murphy | Last updated Sep 13, 2024 11:31 AM ET

Outside of a pair of Avengers films set to be helmed by the Anthony and Joe Russo, MCU fans have no information on what films to expect in 2026 and beyond. With Blade in limbo as it searches for a director, a sequel to 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings now pushed back with Destin Daniel Cretton taking on Spider-Man 4 and Armor Wars seemingly no longer a sure thing, the post-2025 path to the end of the Multiverse Saga is being almost entirely reshaped…and there’s only one entity in the MCU powerful enough to do such a thing.

Marvel Studios used the 2024 summer convention season to highlight its 2025 slates of theatrical and streaming projects. Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps should combine to carry the studio to a very strong box office run next year; however, even with Avengers: Doomsday sure to be a billion dollar blockbuster, the studio’s 2026 slate is otherwise barren, with two as-yet-untitled films scheduled for February 13 and Novemer 6th (and yes, Spider-Man 4 will likely arrive in 2026 but not one one of those dates). With 2025 just around the corner and production dates needing to be set in order to assemble a cast, the studio has to get in gear, especially if it hopes to have a film ready for February 13, 2026…and according to a new report, things might be in motion for one long-anticipated project.

According to Production Weekly (not a rock solid source by any means), Marvel Studios will fill one of those open 2026 dates with a Scarlet Witch solo film starring Elizabeth Olsen. PW reports that WandaVision and Agatha All Along architect Jac Schaeffer and The Marvels scribe Megan McDonnell have teamed up on the script for the untitled feature.

Buzz about a possible Scarlet Witch solo project is hardly new. Once upon a time, it seemed as though the project was intended to get underway in 2023; however, as with so many of Marvel Studios Multiverse Saga plans, it seems to be taking a more circuitous route to the screen. Following Wanda’s heel turn in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , both Olsen and Marvel Studios Big Cheese, Kevin Feige, made it clear that there were more stories to tell about the Scarlet Witch with Olsen stating that “if they have a good story to tell [in a Scarlet Witch solo movie], I’ll be there.” Perhaps Schaeffer and McDonnell, who also worked on WandaVision, found that good story now.

There really is so much more to explore. We still haven’t touched on many of her core storylines from the comics. I don’t know that we saw her under rubble? I saw a tower coming down, and a little red flash. I don’t know what that means.
-Kevin Feige on the future of the Scarlet Witch in the MCU

Though neither the studio nor the Hollywood trades have shared any news about a potential Scarlet Witch film, there might just be some circumstantial evidence to support its existence. After working on Agatha All Along, Schaeffer was dialed in on creating the studio’s Vision Quest series but left the project recently, turning over its development to Star Trek: Picard‘s Season 3 showrunner, Terry Matalas. One might wonder what would take Schaeffer–who created the Wanda/Vision corner of the MCU–away from another series that was her brain child and continued a story she began…and that answer may well be the long-awaited Scarlet Witch solo movie.

This article first appeared on Murphy's Multiverse and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: