With Marvel delaying the release of Black Widow from May to November, the year-and-a-half gap between Avengers: Endgame and Widow will be the longest we’ve gone without an MCU movie in more than a decade. Even if you don’t count Spider-Man: Far From Home which while being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is technically a Sony production, the gap is still 16 months.
Back in 2008, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk came out within a month of each other. After that, though, fans waited nearly two years before Iron Man 2 saw its release. Of course, Marvel was still in the early stages of mapping out phases within the MCU back then, so that large of a gap was understandable.
But ever since 2013, the studio has released no less than two movies in a calendar year. And by 2017, that number was up to three a year as Marvel and Disney had developed a well-oiled movie-making machine. If you want to look at this in a positive light, though, Endgame was the end, not just for Phase 3, but for a number of characters who’d shaped the MCU for the last decade. As such, the gap might actually act as an appropriate reset for fans.
It also builds up hype and momentum for when Black Widow finally does hit theaters. And if Marvel and Disney were ever worried about fatigue, something Star Wars has had to deal with, then their concerns are now over, with the entire movie industry at a standstill amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
When all of this is finally behind us, fans will surely flock to theaters as soon as they can. And when it comes to escaping for two hours, there’s perhaps nothing better than a superhero film. Especially one from Marvel.