Marvel has announced some new release dates for several of its movies, pushing The Avengers off for another year, while anchoring the summer of 2011 with three different movies.
The first of the three, Spider-Man 4, was announced to open on May 6, 2011. Thor, which was to follow a summer after Iron Man 2 in 2010, will now follow Spider-Man 4 and open June 17, 2011, with First Avenger: Captain America set for release on July 22, 2011. The Avengers will now follow the next summer, opening May 4, 2012 instead of its previous summer 2011 release date.
2011 now features a Marvel-dominated summer, with many studios yet to announce release dates for that period. No word if a similar release date announcement from Warner Bros., in which Warner pitted its own high-profile movies against Marvel's, had any impact on the decision.
No change was made to Iron Man 2's release date of May 7, 2010.