Disney delays 'Deadpool 3,' more Marvel movies

Disney has pushed back release dates for "Deadpool 3" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe reboots of "Blade" and "Fantastic Four," among other films. The studio on Wednesday confirmed trade reports of a scheduled change in the interconnected superhero franchise derived from Marvel Comics.

"Blade," starring two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire hunter, has been rescheduled from Nov. 3, 2023, to Sept. 6, 2024. This ripples to move Ryan Reynolds' third "Deadpool" movie from there to Nov. 8, 2024, where it displaces director Matt Shakman's "Fantastic Four," for which no cast has been announced, to Feb. 14, 2025. An unspecified Marvel film previously on that date now goes to Nov. 7, 2025. That in turn pushes "Avengers: Secret Wars" to May 1, 2026, the final date on the known schedule.

The upcoming next two MCU films remain next year's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," the third Ant-Man movie, on Feb. 17, and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" on May. 5.

In related news, the Warner Bros. science-fiction epic “Dune: Part Two,” a continuation of the 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic novel, moves forward two weeks in 2023, from Nov. 17 to Nov. 3.