Disney Plus Release schedule: Marvel & Star Wars dominate + movie news

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I feel like none of us expected Disney’s Investor Day to be quite what it was. I figured we might get a handful of announcements, such as maybe Black Widow going to Disney+, but I was wrong on both counts (Black Widow is still set for a theatrical release in May). However, there was loads and loads of news, some of which got lost in the shuffle, so here’s a handy recap of all the big MCU and Star Wars news, including some juicy bits you might have missed along the way. 

Lots of Star Wars on the way:

If anything was made crystal clear during the presentation, Disney’s investing in a galaxy far, far away in a big way – particularly as far as Disney+ goes.

• First up was a look at Andor, the spin-off of Rogue One, centered around Diego Luna’s character from the original film, with Tony Gilroy on-board as showrunner. It’s not premiering until 2022.

• The Mandalorian is getting two spin-offs, including Rangers of the New Republic to be run by Jon Favreau and Dave Filioni, and the expected Ashoka Tano spin-off, presumably to star Rosario Dawson in the title role.
• Lando series from Justin Simien is in early development, while Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland is working on The Acolyte, a mystery thriller set during the days of the High Republic, predating the Empire. 
• Several animated shows on the way, including The Bad Batch, about a group of rogue stormtroopers, Visions, which is an anime anthology of short films, and finally, a C-3PO and R2-D2 animated spin-off called A Droid’s Story. 
• Patty Jenkins is going to be the first woman to direct a Star Wars film with Rogue Squadron set for theaters on December 25th, 2023, while, in previously revealed news, Taika Waititi has his own Star Wars movie on the way, although no new details were revealed.
• None other than Hayden Christensen is coming back as Darth Vader in the new Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ show, which is set a decade after Revenge of the Sith. 

Marvel, Marvel, and more Marvel!

• First – the bad news or this may be good news depending on your philosophy. None of the forthcoming Marvel movies are heading to Disney+ anytime soon, at least not before a theatrical release. Black Widow is still set for a May 7th, 2021 theatrical release. 
• Disney+ subscribers won’t have to wait long for the much-anticipated Marvel shows to make their debut. Up first is WandaVision, set for a January 15th debut. Here’s the new trailer:

• Next up is The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which is finally set to make its Disney+ debut in March. Here’s the new trailer:

• Speaking of trailers, one which I doubt any of us thought we’d get during Investor Day was a full look at Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston as the titular character. It’s set to drop in May, which is sooner than expected. Here’s our first look, which gives us an idea of the kind of show it’s going to be (very noirish). 

• Plus, Marvel’s What If got a trailer, with this animated series reuniting seemingly all the big stars of the MCU, including, I believe, Chadwick Boseman in his last portrayal of T’Challa. 

• Speaking of T’Challa, Kevin Feige confirmed that the role will not be recast, but that Black Panther 2 is indeed on the way in May 6th, 2022.
• On the feature side, Freaky star Kathryn Newton has signed on to play Paul Rudd’s grown-up daughter in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.
• Jon Watts, who’s directed the MCU Spider-Man movies will be relaunching Fantastic Four in an all-new film. The third time’s the charm, right? 

Meanwhile, there are loads more Marvel Disney+ shows on the way including:

• Secret Invasion, which teams Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury with Ben Mendelsohn’s Skrull agent Talos.
• Don Cheadle will also be returning to the fold as War Machine in a show called Armor Wars.
• Speaking of armor, Ironheart is going to center around a young black girl in Chicago who reverse engineers Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor. 
• Guardians of the Galaxy is getting two spin-offs, one of which will be an animated series called I Am Groot, while we’ll also be getting a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, to be written and directed by James Gunn that comes out Christmas 2022, before the third film. 
• Finally, Ms. Marvel got a sizzle reel:

And there you have it folks! What a crazy day, and that's not even counting some of the Pixar annoucements, like Chris Evans playing Buzz Lightyear in a spin-off fantasy adventure, the sequels to Enchanted and Sister Act, or that amazing sounding Alien TV show for FX. 

What annoucement got everyone the most excited? Talkback below!