SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 27: Robert Downey Jr. speaks onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)Jesse Grant/Getty Images
Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con with dancing Deadpool variants and a choir for a panel that included news about the next two Avengers films and surprise guests, including Harrison Ford and Robert Downey Jr.
Downey is returning to Marvel’s films, but not as Iron Man. He’ll play the villain Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom, in at least one of the upcoming Avengers movies. Downey kicked off Marvel’s movie successes in Iron Man and played the popular character in nine films, but on Saturday appeared wearing Dr. Doom’s mask and a green cloak.
“New mask, same task,” Downey said to frenzied cheers.
The Russo brothers, who will be directing the movie featuring Downey, said his appearance in the film is “proof of the unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multi-universe.”
The reveal capped a jubilant return by Marvel to Comic-Con’s Hall H.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige kicked off the panel by saying that owing to this weekend’s success of Deadpool & Wolverine, the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe had now topped US$30-billion in box-office earnings. In a nod to a scene in the movie, a choir sang Madonna’s Like a Prayer before Feige spoke.
Deadpool & Wolverine, released Thursday, has already broken one record and could shatter more in its opening weekend. Feige used Saturday’s panel to chart the course ahead for the MCU, revealing Ford’s character in the next Captain America film and revealing Avengers: Secret Wars and “Avengers: Doomsday as the titles of the next two films in the epic superhero team-up series. Doomsday will hit theatres in 2026.
Feige said all the actors introduced Saturday would appear in the upcoming Avengers movies, which will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. The brothers guided the Avengers franchise through its sprawling storyline capped by Avengers: Endgame in 2019 that included the death of Downey’s Tony Stark/Iron Man character.
“When we directed ”Avengers: Endgame,” Joe and I truly believed that it was the end of the road for us in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because we had put all of our passion, our love, our imagination into “The Winter Soldier,” into “Civil War,” into “Infinity War,” climaxing all of it with “Avengers: Endgame,” Anthony Russo said. “That four movie run was incredible and it left us creatively spent with all of our emotions on the film. In the time since, through a very special story, Joe and I have come to potentially see a road forward with you.”
They called Secret Wars the “biggest story that Marvel Comics ever told,” and Joe said it was the first comic book run he read as a child that made him “fall in love with comics.”
Saturday’s session comes after Marvel skipped the convention last year owing to the Hollywood strikes, which prevented writers and actors from speaking on panels.
The cast of Captain America: Brave New World – Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez and Anthony Mackie – joined the stage first and teased details about the upcoming film. Esposito revealed that he will be playing the villain, Seth Voelker, also known as Sidewinder.
When asked about what it was like to join a Marvel project, Esposito said it was a “dream come true.
“When your dreams come true and you get the call, you walk through the door,” he continued. “I have a great deal of gratitude for all the fans who really had this dream come true, because it was fan casting that linked us together.”
The cast then stepped aside to share a scene from the movie on the big screen, which revealed that President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Ford, is hoping to rebuild the Avengers with Mackie’s Sam Wilson. It also showed Ford’s character transform into the Red Hulk.
Ford joined the panel after fans were treated to clips from the movie and flexed his muscles to the roaring crowd. He also expressed excitement over his latest role, saying, “I am delighted, and proud to become a member of the Marvel Universe.”
The cast and director of “Thunderbolts[asterisk]” also surprised fans with a short clip from the movie. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and David Harbour (in full costume and speaking in character as the Red Guardian at first) stormed the stage and shared some more details about their characters.
The film is slated to be released in May, 2025.
The final film teased at the panel was The Fantastic Four, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The movie will begin filming on Tuesday in London, Feige said.
He said the film will hit theatres in almost exactly one year in July, 2025.
Following a video director Matt Shakman created specifically for Comic-Con that featured the cast in full ’60s glory, he and Feige revealed the official title of the film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
The session included no mention of Jonathan Majors, who played the villain Kang the Conqueror and was previously a major part of Marvel’s Avengers plans. The actor was fired by the studio after he was convicted in December of assaulting a former girlfriend. He was sentenced to a year-long counselling program in April and avoided jail time.
Marvel already took over Hall H on Thursday with an electric panel celebrating Deadpool & Wolverine, in which the audience was treated to a full screening and surprise guests joining stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on stage.
The mounting enthusiasm for the film at Comic-Con was reflected across the country as the fans rushed to see it in theatres, securing the film as the new record holder for the Thursday preview for an R-rated movie. The comic book film sold an estimated US$38.5-million worth of movie tickets from preview screenings Thursday.
The Deadpool & Wolverine success woke up a sleepy year for Marvel and assuaged worries about its box-office underperformance in late 2023. The superhero factory hit a record low in November with the launch of The Marvels, which opened with just US$47-million.