Marvel has shuffled its slate again in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as Doctor Strange 2 is delayed further.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been delayed yet again. The sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange, which will serve as the MCU’s first horror movie, will now be released on March 25, 2022, Variety is reporting.

The movie was initially slated to come out on May 7, 2021, but Marvel was forced to delay its entire slate of upcoming movies, beginning with Black Widow ’s move from May to November 2020.

This pushed The Eternals to February 12, 2021, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to Doctor Strange 2 ’s May 7, 2021 date, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to Thor: Love and Thunder’s date of November 5, 2021.

Subsequently, Thor: Love and Thunder was moved to February 18, 2022, and Captain Marvel 2 was pushed to July 8, 2022.

However, Thor has now been moved up a week to February 11, 2022. This could be to capitalize on Valentine’s day ticket sales, considering the movie is titled Love and Thunder.

Black Panther 2’s original date of May 8, 2022 has still been maintained at this point.

This new delay for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness means the MCU will have a packed schedule in 2022, with a movie premiering in almost every month! That sounds like a good light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to for Marvel fans, even if it does mean waiting longer to see Benedict Cumberbatch navigate the multiverse.

It’s likely that this delay is coming as a result of the recent delay of the third MCU Spider-Man movie, which is now set for November 2021. If the two movies tie together, the studio will want to give fans more time to see the web-slinger’s final swing before releasing Doctor Strange 2.

In other interesting news, Disney has also removed two movies from its upcoming schedule. These include an untitled live-action movie slated for March 25, 2022, and an untitled 20th Century Fox film set for April 8, 2022. The April 8, 2022 date has now been claimed by another untitled Disney live-action film. Disney also added “an event movie” to its schedule for July 9, 2021.

It looks like we’re far from finished with release date shuffles as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, so we’ll keep you posted on any more delays to come.