In light of the latest Marvel schedule changes, Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness now tie an MCU Phase 1 release record with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. With the Infinity Saga now officially finished after last year's Avengers: Endgame, followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home, the franchise is looking to kick off Phase 4. Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Marvel Studios had to push back it full slate.

The ongoing global health crisis has significantly affected Hollywood, which is currently on standby with multiple movies delayed and productions shut down for precautionary measures. Marvel Studios previously adjusted their schedule to take the current predicament in consideration. Instead of beginning Phase 4 via Black Widow in May, they delayed its release to November. This caused a domino effect, pushing back the rest of their slate. However, new alterations were recently made after Sony Pictures Entertainment also pushed back the release of the untitled Spider-Man 3 movie from July to November 5, 2021.

Related: Marvel Movie Delays Are What MCU Should’ve Been After Endgame

Essentially, the latest changes result in Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder to move its release day a week ahead from February 18 to February 11, 2022. While that may not be a significant difference, things are a bit different with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is now set to be directed by Sam Raimi. The Benedict Cumberbatch-led sequel gets further pushed back from November 5, 2021 to March 25, 2022. The sequel is now delayed by 10 months from its initial May 2021 release. With these new dates for Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the public is now looking at just a six-week break between the movies. This ties them with MCU Phase 1's Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk's record, with those movies hitting theaters May 2 and June 13, 2008 respectively.

Incredible Hulk Tony Stark Post Credits SR

For context, the next shortest gap in-between MCU movies is seven weeks, with last year's Captain Marvel hitting theaters March 8 and Endgame following on April 26. Meanwhile in 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7) had a nine-week separation. Other than these films, the MCU typically spreads out their releases throughout the year with at least a 10-week break between films. This is to ensure that each project can spend as much time playing in cinemas having minimal or totally no overlaps in theatrical runs to maximize ticket sales for each of their movies.

Marvel Studios releasing films in the first three months of the year is a fairly new practice. April or May dates are usually reserved for their big releases like the Avengers or other high-profile ones like Captain America: Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It was Ryan Coogler's 2018 movie Black Panther and Captain Marvel that first established February and March release dates for the MCU respectively. Considering how successful both films were at the box office, it makes sense that Kevin Feige and his team would want to release big screen projects during those months. As Marvel Studios continue to increase their annual movie production, with the potential of having five MCU movies in 2022 alone, fans can expect shorter gaps between their movies. Perhaps not as short of a break between Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness since the Coronavirus pandemic played a big part in that. Then again, couple that with their new TV shows hitting Disney+, it's safe to say that there won't be any shortage of MCU content moving forward.

More: Marvel's New Phase 4 Slate Is Good For MCU's First Disney+ Shows

Key Release Dates