The Marvel Cinematic Universe is under more pressure than ever before to get it right. After years of uncontested box office dominance and broad critical approval, the tides have started to turn against the once-unassailable theatrical juggernaut, with a big drop in box-office performance, a general air of “superhero fatigue”, and the conviction and sentencing of actor Jonathan Majors, previously set to be the main villain of the next Avengers saga.
All of that and more has Marvel in retooling mode, releasing fewer new movies per year and shuffling some titles around the calendar. But that calendar still remains, and at 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shared a brief look at what MCU fans can expect in the near (and far) future.
Missing from the announcements were the X-Men, Blade (previously listed as a 2025 release, but not mentioned among their planned 2025 releases, suggesting yet another delay), and the usual big upcoming timeline schedule. While the Marvel panel was light on new release announcements, Marvel Studios was still able to generate plenty of buzz with one big casting announcement.
Here’s what Marvel announced at SDCC 2024 about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Russos return for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars
The closing titles for Marvel’s important, but somewhat light, panel were all about the next installments in the Avengers franchise. While Marvel originally said Kang would be the primary villain this time around, the company pivoted after recasting Jonathan Majors following his conviction on assault and harassment charges, leaving the future of his various MCU movies as a bit of a mystery.
Veteran Avengers directors Joe and Anthony Russo showed up to clear things up. The duo, who previously directed Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, are back for the next two Avengers movies. The first movie will be called Avengers: Doomsday, releasing May 1, 2026, while the big finale will be Avengers: Secret Wars, releasing May 7, 2027.
Of course, no announcement like this would be complete without revealing who’s playing Doctor Doom himself. But the Russo Brothers took care of that, too…
Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU as Victor Von Doom
…with the biggest mic drop of the night. Somehow, Robert Downey Jr. has returned to the fold. The Iron Man actor will play Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, marking his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The move signifies a full pivot away from Kang to Doom as the Avengers’ next Big Bad. The Fantastic Four will appear in each of the next two Avengers movies.
“New mask,” Downey Jr. said. “Same task.”
Captain America: Brave New World got an official villain
We’ve known for a while that Giancarlo Esposito would be in the upcoming Captain America movie, but it wasn’t until this panel that we learned who he’s playing: Sidewinder. Sidewinder is the leader of the Serpent Society, a criminal enterprise that usually has less grand aspirations than some of Marvel’s other villains, which seems to suggest this movie is going to be a little bit more low-key than some of its more fantastic cousins. As Feige said during the panel, this one is an espionage movie, more in the vein of Captain America: The Winter Soldier than the MCU’s various movies about heroes saving the universe.
Thunderbolts* premiered its first footage
There weren’t many true announcements about Thunderbolts* — and we still don’t know what’s up with the * in the title — but there was some footage that was shown exclusively to the attendees in Hall H. That clip seemed pretty exciting: more than a few people posting on social media out of the panel compared what they saw to James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which would certainly be a welcome tone for the MCU.
Fantastic Four got a subtitle and some footage
Fantastic Four is the furthest out of any of the movies that premiered footage during the panel, but also probably the most anticipated. The four members of the Fantastic Family — Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach — showed up on stage during the presentation, and a bit of footage was shown that ended with our first look at Galactus. That footage isn’t available online yet, but we’ll update when it is.
You can find all of Polygon’s coverage of SDCC 2024 news, trailers, and more here.
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