Could Black Widow’s Delay Lead To The Delay of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?  

Marvel’s Phase 4 slate looks totally different from how it was originally announced. Black Widow was the film that was going to start Phase 4, but now it will be WandaVision that will commence things on Disney+. Eternals was the second Phase 4 movie, but now it is the third. Doctor Strange 2 was supposed to be the fourth Phase 4 film, but now it will be the last. Just like that, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was going to be the first MCU Disney+ show, and the second Phase 4 project overall. It still seems to be the second Phase 4 series, but the world around it has completely changed.

In MCU’s Phase 4 storyline, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier initially fell after Black Widow, but it came before WandaVision. Now, it will arrive after WandaVision, and possibly before Black Widow. This is the question we have in our mind. Will Black Widow’s major delay to May 7, 2021 also lead to a delay in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?

The Sam & Bucky series is under production right now. It has been reported that things will be completely wrapped up in November. So, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier won’t be ready for a release until February or March. But will Disney be willing to release it before Black Widow if they get the chance?

In hindsight, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier & Black Widow may not have any major connections. Black Widow is a prequel story that takes place way before Avengers: Infinity War, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place in the year 2023, falling after the demise of Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame. But the kind of rumors that we’ve heard about Black Widow & The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it seemed that they really are connected with each other. The first connection comes with a mind control super soldier serum, and the second one comes with the Thunderbolts.

Rumors have suggested that Secretary Ross will recruit Yelena Belova & Taskmaster for the Thunderbolts by the end of Black Widow. And that narrative will then carry forward in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where Ross will recruit some more bad guys like Zemo and Songbird. If that is the case, then The Falcon and the Winter Soldier should actually fall after Black Widow, or else it will spoil the movie. But Disney just doesn’t have the luxury to wait for the series until May. They only have WandaVision coming out in November or December 2020. After that, they’ll have 4-5 months of no content if they wait for Black Widow to arrive before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That’s the step they just cannot take.

So we believe that whatever connections the upcoming Disney+ series was supposed to have with Black Widow, will be tweaked in a way that allows the series to arrive before Natasha Romanoff’s final appearance. Disney hasn’t really earned anything big this year. Disney+ is the only way through which they could still hope to turn in a bit of profit. So, they probably won’t go on a long break after WandaVision. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier should arrive by March. Let’s wait and see what happens.

Here’s how the slate of Phases 4 & 5 looks now – WandaVision is set to arrive on Disney+ in 2020. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is confirmed for 2021. Black Widow releases on May 7, 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on July 9, 2021, Eternals on November 5, 2021, Marvel & Sony’s Spider-Man 3 on December 17, 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on February 11, 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on March 25, 2022, Black Panther II on May 6, 2022, and Captain Marvel 2 on July 8, 2022. Blade, Ant-Man and the Wasp 3 & Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are also confirmed for future releases. As far as other TV shows are concerned, Loki, What if…? & maybe even Hawkeye will arrive next year. Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight & She-Hulk will possibly arrive in 2022.