Recap of Marvel’s Epic Weekend at San Diego Comic-Con 2024

For any nerd out there, San Diego Comic-Con may as well be a national holiday, from the vendors on the show floor, the cosplayers who go to insane lengths to represent their character, and of course, the panels. Specifically, anyone who has ever been a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been on high alert around this time of year with the bevy of exciting announcements that come from Comic-Con. Last year, the combined strikes of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions prevented Marvel Studios and every other major movie studio from having any sort of presence at a major event for the industry.

Nevertheless, with the strikes over and the industry in recovery, Marvel Studios is taking a step up to the plate to help bring back the excitement, and oh man, did they hit such a grand slam! Many normal people were focused on the Olympics this past weekend, but us Marvel nerds were giddy with excitement from what came in MCU content throughout Comic-Con Weekend. Here is a recap of Marvel Studios’ lineup at San Diego Comic-Con 2024!

First in the batting lineup is a unique case. Normally, the big Marvel movie of the Summer has already come out by the time people are at San Diego for Comic-Con. This year, however, the highly-anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine hit theaters this very weekend, so to honor the release, Marvel held a special panel on Thursday for the movie as a “Deadpool & Wolverine Celebration of Life”. As expected, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman were there to represent the film along with co-star Emma Corrin, producer Kevin Feige, and director Shawn Levy and talk about the movie on stage. Of course, they couldn’t keep it to just talking about the movie, as the audience in Hall H were surprised with a screening of Deadpool & Wolverine itself (getting an intro for any movie by the filmmakers would get me giddy, let alone this movie). Yup, that was pretty cool… But wait, THERE’S MORE! Following the screening, Reynolds decided to introduce the full cast of surprise guest characters, including [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS -- see the movie in theaters to get the best reaction you can for those cameos]. If that wasn’t enough, Feige told people leaving the theater to look up at the skies for a special 11-minute drone show that featured an array of Deadpool & Wolverine-themed imagery, capping it off with a tease of the Fantastic Four and Galactus.

Even before their main panel, Marvel Studios was off to a pretty gnarly start to the Comic-Con weekend. The awesomeness they had on display Thursday was just the appetizer though. Per usual, the main event was on Saturday for Marvel Studios’ Hall H presentation. To continue the height of Deadpool & Wolverine’s outstanding reactions and box office success, the panel opened with a choir adorned in fitting apparel to sing Madonna’s “Like a Prayer", which is featured prominently in the movie. When will they release this cover on Spotify? Only time will tell.

Right after that electric opening, the panel went straight into the next upcoming Marvel movie, Captain America: Brave New World. As expected, Kevin Feige was present alongside the cast of the movie, including Cap himself Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson (reprising his role as The Leader after nearly 16 years), and yes, they had Harrison Ford on stage at Comic-Con. That alone would make this section a 10/10. Alas, that was not all, as the Comic-Con crowd got an exclusive sneak peek of the movie, featuring another tease of President Ross’s transformation into Red Hulk and an official confirmation that Esposito will be playing Seth Voelker/Sidewinder, leader of the Serpent Society (not to be confused with Hydra… the other Serpent Society). February cannot come sooner for anyone who’s excited for a return to the grounded approach that made Captain America: The Winter Soldier so special.

Next on the lineup was Thunderbolts*, and no, that asterisks is not a typo — it’s a secret that will be revealed in the movie itself. What was revealed on stage was the full cast of the movie, including returnees Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, and new cast members Lewis Pullman and Geraldine Viswanathan (she is a queen and we won’t hear otherwise). Paired up with director Jake Schreier, the cast was about ready to introduce the movie when David Harbour showed up in full Red Guardian gear to hype up the crowd, then had the disappointing realization that his co-stars didn’t join him by dressing up in full costume. Well, either way, reactions to the footage shown of Thunderbolts* seemed to be pretty positive, so audiences should be excited to see this in May — only three months after Brave New World.

To go forward in release timing, we have to go backwards in story with the next movie presented in Hall H being the long-awaited reveal of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Joining Kevin Feige onstage was director Matt Shakman, whose first rodeo in the MCU was the highly beloved series "WandaVision". Similar to that series borrowing classic elements from the sitcom era, Shakman talked onstage about the fusion of a 1960s New York setting with an element of retro futurism (many people have been comparing it to "The Jetsons", which seems to be a very valid comparison). With filming starting this very week in London, Feige and Shakman tried to gaslight the audience at Comic-Con into thinking that the cast wasn’t going to be there… haha, NOPE! Joining them onstage were the Fantastic Four themselves: Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing). With their enthusiasm for Marvel’s First Family, the Fantasticar floating above the stage, an exclusive preview of some test footage, and the reveal that the incredible Michael Giacchino was going to be doing the score, fans left with even more excitement for this rendition of The Fantastic Four then they ever had before!

If you thought they were done after that boatload of goodies, Marvel Studios kept on going by bringing back some old favorites… directors Joe and Anthony Russo. That’s right, the filmmakers that made the iconic one-two punch of Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame are coming back to Marvel for the next two chapters of the Avengers franchise. Avengers: Secret Wars is still the ultimate finale to this Multiverse Saga when it releases in 2027, but in the leadup to that film, they announced that, instead of the original plans for The Kang Dynasty, the next Avengers movie would be none other than Avengers: Doomsday. Yup, the heavily rumored Doctor Doom is set to make his debut in the MCU, which could not be more fitting given the powerful legacy that Doom has in Marvel Comics (especially in the latest run of the "Secret Wars" storyline). Doom alone is enough to make fans leave with joyful tears… and like clockwork, Marvel made sure to save the biggest bombshell for last. In Avengers: Doomsday, Doctor Doom is going to be played by none other than the recent Academy Award winner who started it all… Robert Downey Jr.! Safe to say, everyone in Hall H lost their collective minds when EDJ pulled off the Doom mask to the audience, saying the lines “New Mask, Same Task”. The prospects of RDJ returning to Marvel not as Tony Stark but as Victor von Doom has broken the internet and then some, with some fans nervous about the unusual choice, while others are excited to see what the Marvel Icon can do on the opposite end of the hero spectrum.

No matter how you feel about the last announcement, Marvel Studios once again made an enormous splash at Comic-Con this weekend. Now that we’ve laid everything out on the table, we want to know what you thought of Marvel’s weekend at San Diego: Do you like the idea of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom? What was your favorite announcement from Hall H?