Marvel Studios has spent the past several years in constant transformation, both behind the scenes and in how it plans its future slate. Disney CEO Bob Iger stepped down in February 2020, handing the company to Bob Chapek, whose administration pushed an aggressive expansion mandate that flooded theaters and Disney+ with movies and series at an unprecedented pace. That growth also produced some of the studio’s most divisive projects and its first theatrical films to fall short of expectations, spreading Marvel’s creative teams thin across too many productions at once. Iger returned to the CEO chair in November 2022, and Marvel Studios has since rebuilt its release strategy around quality over sheer volume. Part of that overhaul now appears to be reaching the studio’s television division, where a pair of long-stalled projects could be getting an entirely new format.
Marvel Studios is reportedly weighing whether to turn both Champions and Strange Academy into theatrical films rather than the Disney+ series they were originally built to be, according to insider Daniel Richtman. Strange Academy was previously in development as a series that would have starred Wong (Benedict Wong) overseeing a school for young sorcerers, before Marvel paused the project in February 2025 alongside Nova and Terror, Inc. Champions has an even longer road behind it. The team was originally conceived as a film called Young Avengers years ago, then shifted into a TV format and was renamed once its characters aged past being considered young, but the series has never entered production. Marvel Studios has not confirmed either change.
Champions and Strange Academy Becoming Movies Follows Recent Developments
Marvel Studios’ live-action television slate has grown remarkably thin heading into the back half of 2026. VisionQuest, the final chapter in the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued through Agatha All Along, premieres on Disney+ on October 14th, and Daredevil: Born Again is deep into production on a third season expected in March 2027. Beyond those two, the studio has no additional live-action Disney+ series publicly announced. In fact, Wonder Man‘s fate points to a drastic overhaul of the live-action TV front. Disney renewed the acclaimed series for a second season in March 2026, only to reverse course months later despite signed contracts and a finished season premiere script. Even director Destin Daniel Cretton has said he was never given a clear explanation, describing it only as a sudden internal decision between Disney and Marvel.
Marvel’s animation division, meanwhile, keeps expanding without interruption. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was renewed through a third season before its first episode even aired, and its second season is expected later this year. X-Men ’97 has already been renewed through a fourth season, and producer Larry Houston has said he hopes the revival can match or exceed the five seasons of the original 1990s series that he directed. Marvel Zombies also earned a second season despite a mixed critical reception for its first outing, with that follow-up already in production.
Converting Champions and Strange Academy into films fits a broader pattern already taking shape across Marvel Studios. Turning two shows that spent years stuck without a green light into features would let the studio use their casts and lore into the kind of theatrical event the studio wants to prioritize now, while animation continues to absorb the smaller-scale storytelling that used to define Marvel’s live-action output. Whether Champions and Strange Academy actually make that jump remains to be seen, as the future of the MCU post-Avengers: Secret Wars is still uncertain.
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