Marvel surprises Comic Con with Robert Downey Jr.

San Diego hosted the most unexpected comeback and revealed many Marvel release specifics.

Marvel’s panel at San Diego Comic Con was the most anticipated of the convention for good reason: the superhero franchise factory is in a delicate moment, and while ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ is breaking box office records (making Marvel the first franchise to surpass $30 billion in global revenue), no one can deny that the company is in a delicate moment after a 2023 of stumbles.

Marvel’s announcement last night that Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU as Doctor Doom will have an incomparable impact. Comic Con isn’t the place for detailed, exhaustive announcements of Marvel’s future plans. He will do so in the next Avengers movie (although we bet we’ll see something in the next ‘Fantastic Four‘ since the character is its villain par excellence), finally titled’Avengers: Doomsday’ and directed by the Russo brothers as rumored for days.

Downey Jr. had expressed interest in returning to the MCU, but it was assumed that he was referring to Iron Man, whom he has played in 10 films since ‘Iron Man’. Marvel will need to explain why Tony Stark is wicked now. Does he change (a Marvel first)? Will multiverses appear? Marvel would be wise to avoid meddling with Stark’s death in’Avengers: Endgame’, one of the MCU’s most famous moments. Fans will speculate for hours now.

After all the trouble with Jonathan Majors (who was fired by Marvel hours after his sexual assault conviction was announced), there had been talk for a year that the fifth Avengers film would not be about Kang, one of the supergroup’s iconic enemies since Loki’s first season. After dropping ‘The Kang Dynasty’, a brief ‘Avengers 5’ was returned, definitely not definitive. Doctor Doom, played by Downey Jr., will be its villain.

The Russos remarked at Comic-Con “Our Marvel Cinematic Universe ended with ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ which we thought was it. Our four-film run was wonderful and creatively exhausting.” Now they’re returning with “the biggest story ever told in Marvel comics.” A sequel to ‘Infinity War’/’Endgame’, ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ keeps the title announced years before.

Stephen McFeely will write both films, ending the months-long screenwriting switch. McFeely co-wrote all four Russo Marvel films, so Disney’s goal is to return the MCU to its box office and impact high. Marvel has revealed Avengers film logos and release dates: May 2026 and 2027.

At Comic Con, fans learned the title of the first Fantastic Four film in the MCU (‘First Steps’) and saw some of its unreleased pictures. Film director Matt Shakman remarked “We’re doing 60s retro-futurism. Inspiration came from Syd Mead. I’m optimistic about the sixties.”

Reed Richards taught a class with a “Science Fantastic” poster, the team’s Fantasticar, a rocket launch (probably the one that gave them their powers), and the Thing appearing on a dating show as a mystery participant. The film’s adversary is Galactus, so it’s unclear how the MCU will handle both the planet-eating giant and Doom. July 2025 is its release date.

‘Thunderbolts’, a group of antiheroes that wants to play the role the Suicide Squad does in DC (semi-reformed villains and heroes in a grey moral zone carrying out secret government missions), will premiere in 2025. The film will reunite David Harbour as Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, and Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier.

The Marvel panel had one last surprise: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, which we’ve seen a trailer for, featured an unexpected visitor. Actor Harrison Ford will play Thunderbolt Ross (not the Thunderbolts, as Feige noted) and the Red Hulk. We saw this Hulk in the first trailer, but not with Ross. Feige promises the film will return to the tremendous action of 1970s political thrillers like ‘Winter Soldier’. Giancarlo Espósito will play Serpent Society King Cobra Sidewinder.

In the Comic Con teaser, Thunderbolt Ross, now President of the United States, discusses the events after ‘Eternals’: Adamantium, located where a dead Celestial was recovered, is now the most expensive element on Earth. Ross hires Sam Wilson/Captain America to join a new Avengers squad, but the Red Hulk, plainly related to Ross, interferes.

Marvel surprises Comic Con with Robert Downey Jr.

San Diego hosted the most unexpected comeback and revealed many Marvel release specifics.

By nr39r

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