Today was the culmination of the entire San Diego Comic-Con with the highly coveted Marvel Studios panel. Some fans waited over 36 hours outdoors just to grace Hall H in the infamous convention center to see what Marvel had in store. While the number of titles talked about was pretty limited, they still brought the house down with their presentation.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige took to the stage to announce, “Marvel is back in Hall H!” once again after a year off in 2025. He started by once again announcing that 2019’s Avengers: Endgame will return to theaters this September under the title Avengers: Endgame Encore. There have been rumors that the film will have some new scenes to tie it directly into Avengers: Doomsday as a sizzle reel plays with a montage of all the past films. They also handed out a Doctor Doom mask and cloak to everyone in attendance to wear for the duration of the panel.
He then announced that after years of being asked by Happy Sad Confused podcaster Josh Horowitz about the status of Ghost Rider in the MCU, he is finally coming to the screen once again. This time, they brought on stage Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy, Project Hail Mary) to announce he will finally play the role after years of being fancast alongside Keanu Reeves. Interestingly, they never say he will play the Johnny Blaze version of the character despite that being the assumption. Gosling then announces that his Star Wars: Starfighter director, Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), will helm the project. It’s unknown if Sasha Baron Cohen will return as Mempisto after appearing in last year’s Ironheart. The film is currently slated for sometime in 2028, essentially killing Blade.
Next, Jon Benthal appeared on stage to introduce an exclusive scene from next week’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The scene features The Punisher and Spider-Man as they finally team up to stop the Savage Hulk with a hilarious odd-couple exchange. Surprisingly, mid-fight, Savage Hulk reverts to Smart Hulk before being noobtubed by the Punisher’s grenade launcher.
Finally, the moment that all of Hall H had been waiting for was the presentation of Avengers: Doomsday. Kevin Feige came back on stage and introduced The Russo Brothers. The Russos joked that they can’t really see all the fans in the back of the convention hall, and they should “flip the script” and present from the back. Instantly, the Avengers score blasts throughout Hall H and two massive stages appear behind everyone. One stage features the X-Men actors and the other stage features the (new & old) Avengers actors. Then, the Fantastic Four actors appear up front with The Russos, who finally reveal Robert Downey Jr. as the great Doctor Doom on stage. Immediately, Ryan Reynolds crashes the party by appearing in the middle of the crowd of Hall H dressed as Deadpool. He asks the Russos some questions, including if they added in any “extra characters” to the film during additional photography, a hint to his appearance in the film alongside Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. However, almost no one would have understood the reference.
Now, with the 6,000+ crowd dressed in their Doctor Doom costumes screaming and shouting, they finally reveal an SDCC exclusive Doom-centric trailer for the entirety of Hall H. The trailer confirms that Reed Richards does know Victor Von Doom before the events of Avengers: Doomsday. The trailer shows much of Doom’s strength, including his fight with Thor. It culminates with Doom taking control of a group of half-dead Sentinels from the X-Men’s home world.
That was how they were going to end the presentation, but not before Kevin Feige had one last surprise. He came back out and said he forgot to mention one last project. He next introduces director Ryan Coogler on-stage alongside Letitia Wright (Shuri) and Winston Duke (M’Baku). Together they announce Black Panther 3 is officially in pre-production and will hit theaters December 15th, 2028. Coogler then reveals that the next film will have a time jump from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. By the start of the film and after the events of Avengers: Secret Wars, T’Challa the Second will be all grown up. Most fans assumed this from the leaked concept art last year, and it was rumored that Damson Idris (F1) was the actor used in the artwork. However, as one last surprise, Coogler announced that David Johnson (The Long Walk, Alien: Romulus) will play T’Challa II and follow in the footsteps of the great Chadwick Boseman, as he brought him out on stage. We at Knight Edge Media speculated back in 2021 that T’Challa II would be used in future films in place of Boseman’s version of the character. This is what finally ended the panel, as fans were also given an exclusive Doctor Doom poster.
Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on December 18th
