Last updated: April 24, 2020
In spite of all the recent MCU and DCEU release date changes, there are still a number of superhero movies that haven't been delayed (yet). As the world remains on lockdown in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it's anyone's guess when life will return to something resembling normal, much less when it will be safe for theaters to reopen and movies and TV shows to resume production non-remotely. Because of this, studios have been forced to overhaul their release slates for the remainder of 2020, with several of this year's would-be blockbusters (like Fast & Furious 9 and Jungle Cruise) having shifted all the way back to 2021 instead.
Due to the interconnected nature of the MCU, Marvel Studios has even gone so far as to change its entire Phase 4 release slate (with two exceptions), beginning with Black Widow being delayed from May to November 2020. Things haven't been quite as dramatic for the DCEU, though, what with the franchise having shifted away from the MCU shared universe model over the past couple years in favor of a series of loosely-connected standalone films. Nevertheless, DC movies like The Batman have recently seen their release dates pushed back over concerns about them being unable to finish production in time to make their previous deadlines.
With the exception of 2022's The Flash (which actually moved up a month from its previous spot) and a handful of other films, the vast majority of superhero movies planned for 2020-2022 have now been delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak (either directly or as part of a domino effect). Keeping that in mind, here's our rundown of the superhero tentpoles that HAVEN'T changed dates and/0r been postponed - and whether they're likely to in the foreseeable future.
Spider-Man: Homecoming 3
The as-yet untitled third entry in the MCU's Spider-Man solo movie trilogy was one of only two MCU installments that didn't change their release dates when Disney overhauled their upcoming film slate near the top of April. Of course, that's because Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 is actually a Sony production and the studio still hopes to begin shooting this summer for a theatrical rollout on July 16, 2021. More recently, however, Peter Parker actor Tom Holland confirmed there's a real possibility the project will be delayed - something that seems all the more likely, now that Sony has set its Venom sequel to open just three weeks before the next Spider-Man movie is supposed to arrive.
UPDATE: Sure enough, Homecoming 3 has now been delayed four months to Fall 2021.
The Suicide Squad
James Gunn's The Suicide Squad (a partial continuation of David Ayer's Suicide Squad) had the good fortune of wrapping production before the coronavirus pandemic took a turn for the worse, allowing the filmmaker and his crew to continue post-production remotely while they self-quarantine. Gunn has since confirmed the movie's publicity campaign and marketing have been slowed down by the pandemic, though it's admittedly too early to expect anything major right now anyway. Obviously, things could change, but for the time being The Suicide Squad seems to be firmly on track to arrive on August 6, 2021 as planned.
Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson has been gearing up to play DC antihero/villain Black Adam on the big screen since as far back as 2008, and is currently set to make his long-awaited debut in the DCEU with the character's solo film on December 22, 2021. That may or may no longer be possible, though, with Johnson confirming the movie's production has been postponed to August or September this year rather than July because of the pandemic. Still, assuming there are no further delays (which, again, is far from a sure thing), there's a reasonable chance Black Adam will be able to hit its tentative deadline without having to rush to its doom.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2
Sony officially scheduled the sequel to its Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for an April 8, 2022 release date last fall, but it's reportedly been in development since as far back as November 2018. Between that and the fact the animated superhero adventure (in theory) should still be able to continue making progress remotely during the lockdown, it's not unreasonable to assume Into the Spider-Verse 2 will be completed in time to make its current deadline. Failing that, it may have to move back to later in 2022 or even 2023, similar to what happened a few weeks back to Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru.
UPDATE: Sony has shifted the Spider-Verse sequel back to October 7, 2022, as part of its overhauled release slate.
Black Panther 2
Ryan Coogler is still firmly in pre-production mode on Black Panther 2 and wasn't planning to begin shooting the sequel until sometime in 2021 anyway, which explains why Disney left it scheduled where it is (on May 6, 2022) when it announced its post-coronavirus release slate earlier this month. With most of the original Black Panther's cast already lined up and ready to reprise their respective roles in the followup, it should just be business as usual for Coogler as he continues to work on the movie's script during the lockdown. Pending any unanticipated additional changes to the MCU's Phase 4 slate, this one won't be moving anywhere.
DC Super Pets
Much like Into the Spider-Verse 2, DC's Super Pets animated movie has been in the pipeline for some time, with Jared Stern having signed on as its writer and director back in the summer of 2018. The film has already been delayed once (from 2021 to 2022) and there hasn't much word on its development for the past twelve months, so it's difficult to say how far along things actually are at this point. Even so, DC's Super Pets ought to be able to continue moving forward with development remotely (while its creatives self-quarantine) and remain on course to make its May 20, 2022 release date target.
Aquaman 2
Similar to Black Panther 2, the Aquaman sequel isn't scheduled to begin shooting until sometime in the early part of 2021, and already has the majority of its cast and crew onboard well ahead of its December 16, 2022 release date. Returning director James Wan is currently in post-production on his horror film Malignant and is waiting for that project to land a new release date (after its previous spot in August 2020 was given to Wonder Woman 1984), but this shouldn't impede his ability to set to work on Aquaman 2 as planned. The coronavirus will undoubtedly continue to impact Hollywood for years to come, but for now this particular would-be blockbusters seems safe where it is.