The Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting even bigger — but it’s going to need a little more time to get there. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige admitted that “Inhumans” probably won’t make its 2019 release date, but he nixed rumors that the movie department has canceled the film after “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” introduced the alien-human hybrids.

Feige was specifically asked if the movie was being avoided since the ABC TV show was focusing on Inhumans. “No, it’s a question of when,” he told Collider.

The “Inhumans” movie has been the subject of much speculation for months. During New York Comic Con, several websites reported that insiders said Marvel Studios was considering dropping the movie because of the TV show. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has incorporated Inhumans in a major way over the last couple of seasons. The movies barely acknowledge the TV portion of the MCU, which only fueled the theory that the movie studio would stay away from the “Inhumans” film. While other anonymous sources quickly refuted the claim, it’s always more assuring to have the man in charge on record.

It seems it isn’t a creative issue, but a scheduling matter that is pushing the movie back. Although it is currently set to hit the big screen on July 12, 2019, that is likely to change. “Since we made our initial phase three announcement, we added ‘Spider-Man,’ which was a big, joyous coup for us,” Feige explained. “We added ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp,’ which was a big, fun continuation of that story for us. Walt Disney Company has announced an ‘Indiana Jones’ film for right around that same time. So I think it will shuffle off the current date that it’s on right now. How far down it shuffles, I’m not sure yet.”

While “S.H.I.E.L.D.” isn’t deterring Marvel Studios from making a movie, they might not embrace the TV show in the film either. “The ‘Inhumans’ movie, I suspect, will be its own cinematic version,” “S.H.I.E.L.D.” star Clark Gregg warned Digital Spy in January. “That writer and director will have free rein to do what they want to do with the Inhumans. But hopefully there’ll be some way that our Inhumans connect to that. It’d be too bad if that was wasted.” Audiences will have to wait until “Inhumans” is released to find out if the movie acknowledges the show.

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