Years of rumors have bore fruit.
Photograph: Photograph by Jesse Grant/Getty Photos for Disney
In 2024, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige got here on the Corridor H stage and introduced Robert Downey Jr. could be Physician Doom within the subsequent two Avengers motion pictures — a brand new massive dangerous taking up Jonathan Majors’s Kang the Conqueror after the studio fired him. The information of Downey’s return to the MCU was seismic on the bottom whereas inspiring a myriad of takes on the state of Marvel since. It didn’t assist that amidst that announcement, the MCU had been on a downturn with franchises ending (like Guardians of the Galaxy), new heroes struggling to upstart their very own string of movies (Eternals, Shang-Chi), and even the higher Marvel movies of the previous decade (Thunderbolts and Implausible 4: First Steps) have realized they may must get used to a extra snug — versus overachieving — box-office return.
However with Avengers: Doomsday heading up in opposition to Dune: Half 3 this December, Feige introduced each trick (nicely, actor) he may for the studios’ reemergence in San Diego this night. Hundreds of followers — handled with Physician Doom masks and capes — waited almost days to get a glimpse of Feige’s grand plan for the subsequent period of the MCU. There was no Multiverse Saga-level announcement of years to return; Feige selected to eschew from any tv updates (sorry, VisionQuest) in favor of some film casting information. We rounded up the primary takeaways from Marvel’s homecoming panel.
Years of rumors have bore fruit. The primary announcement made by Feige was to reply to fan pleas, together with Gosling’s, of getting the Barbie actor play Ghost Rider. After a brand reveal, Gosling got here on stage, dumbfounded, saying, “As you understand it is a character I’ve wished to play for a extremely very long time.” Gosling will star within the Ghost Rider film set to debut in theaters in 2028. “If we’re actually going to do that, there’s just one director who may do that,” Gosling teased, just for Feige to disclose that that director is Shawn Levy. The pair labored on the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter collectively, which Feige stated he has seen. Levy is rapidly changing into a Marvel mainstay after directing the Deadpool & Wolverine movie for the studio, and due to that, Ghost Rider may have higher luck than Blade, which is unfortunately trying prefer it’ll by no means occur.
When you could have a solid as giant as Doomsday, it’s almost unattainable to suit all of them even on the most important stage at Comedian-Con. Marvel had the solid break up up throughout all 4 corners of Corridor H, turning the very again rows of Corridor H into the primary few with members of the X-Males (James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer) and the Thunderbolts/New Avengers (David Harbour, Lewis Pullman, and Hannah John-Kamen) strolling from the again to the stage. Additionally in attendance was Pedro Pascal (representing the Implausible 4), Anthony Mackie, Simu Liu, Paul Rudd, Letitia Wright and Winston Duke. The solid was so giant that Chris Evans was there but didn’t communicate a phrase about Steve Rogers’s return as he stood subsequent to Robert Downey Jr. and Pedro Pascal on the entrance of the stage. Weird.
Feige, administrators Joe and Anthony Russo, and Downey Jr. lead this portion of the panel as they teased — for one more time — the formidability of Physician Doom in opposition to this mélange of superheroes. “Besties!,” Pascal joked as he defined his Reed Richards’s relationship with Downey’s Victor von Doom, as the 2 have a deep comics historical past. Unique footage of Doomsday confirmed Reed yelling at Victor whereas Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) explains Victor to a room stuffed with our previous Avengers. The footage ended with Doom reviving a gaggle of the X-Males mutant-hunting sentinels. So, what’s occurring? Only a complete lot of specializing in Doom and but no actual particulars on what the hell else is happening with these assemblage of heroes, which to Deadpool’s dismay doesn’t embrace him. (Ryan Reynolds, wearing a denim Deadpool swimsuit, crashed the panel to ask after they begin filming. “It’s within the can,” Downey replied.)
Ending Marvel Studios’ Corridor H panel was one other Marvel mainstay Ryan Coogler, met with uproarious applause, after selecting to return to direct Black Panther 3 after his unbelievable awards and field workplace run with Sinners. “It’s at all times an honor to return right here,” Coogler stated of Comedian-Con. “However at the moment is further particular.” That’s as a result of Marvel has discovered its subsequent Black Panther: David Jonsson.
Coogler defined that Jonsson will probably be taking up because the extra grown up model of the younger boy T’Challa launched in Wakanda Endlessly. Jonsson graced the stage alongside Wright and Duke as the gang’s cheers swelled throughout the corridor. Jonsson solely managed to say “Thanks a lot … I truly don’t need to say an excessive amount of as a result of I need to let the display do the speaking, however consider me the consideration is solely mine.” The Black Panther sequel is ready to launch December 15, 2028 in theaters. It’s “a big format film captured on celluloid,” Coogled teased.
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