Marvel Studios major reveals at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
While Deadpool & Wolverine made a tremendous Box Office comeback for Marvel, they made yet another blast at this year’s San Diego Comic Con! The man who started MCU is now coming to end MCU. Robert Downey Jr returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as not Iron Man, but Doctor Doom!! Let’s dive into the updates of Avengers and other upcoming projects from Marvel Studios at SDCC.
Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars
Russo Brothers will return to MCU after the All-Time Blockbuster: Avengers Endgame, to direct the next two Avengers films titled as: ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ & ‘AVENGERS: SECRET WARS’ with Robert Downey Jr as the main antagonist: Victor Von Doom. RDJ’s Dr. Doom now replaced ‘Kang The Conqueror’, the previously planned big bad of MCU’s ‘The Multiverse Saga’. Avengers 5 was initially titled as ‘Kang Dynasty’ and the council of Kangs was teased in Kang Actor Jonathan Majors was in a troubled stage both onscreen and offscreen. The negative reception of Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania reduced the hype meter of the big baddie, which was followed by the domestic violence case of the actor.

Both of these lead to the removal of the title ‘Kang Dynasty’ from Avengers 5. Meanwhile Avengers 5 also faced setbacks of Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi Fame) and recently Writer Michael Waldron (Loki Fame). Things turned a quick twist and Feige called back Russo Brothers to direct Avengers 5 as ‘DOOMSDAY’ with RDJ as the big baddie. RDJ’s Dr. Doom may first appear in Fantastic 4 (2025)’s post-credit scene. Fantastic 4 is already confirmed to be set in an alternate universe, other than MCU main earth. This perfectly places RDJ as Dr. Doom.

The Sequel to Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars will also be directed by Russo Brothers, with the gap of an year. Secret Wars is one of the biggest crossover events ever in comic book history. Since it’s too big to fit in one movie, fan theories are popping up that Secret Wars will have a second part. In my opinion, Secret Wars should be a whole phase exploring all these different universes in various media like Movies, Series and Specials, etc… Thus, leading to an epic conclusion movie.
AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY will release on May 2026 and AVENGERS: SECRET WARS will release on May 2027.

The Fantastic 4: First Steps
Even from the initial announcement, Fantastic 4 was teased to be a crucial project in The Multiverse Saga. And as now RDJ has been cast as Dr. Doom, the hype for this movie also boomed. The film’s new title is announced as Fantastic Four: First Steps, and it is confirmed that the film will be set in the 1960s with a retro-futurism vibe to it. An Exclusive Glimpse was shown at SDCC with Pedro Pascal (Mr. Fantastic) hosting a science-themed show akin to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Additionally, the Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), is shown on a dating show. The footage ends with Fantastic Four gearing up for a space launch a rocket blasting off into space. But the main highlight of the glimpse was the flying FantastiCar. They even showed a live flying FantastiCar at SDCC Venue. Hoping to see more unique marketing techniques like this in future.
‘THE FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS’ will release on July 2025, and it will officially start the Phase 6 of MCU

Captain America: Brave New World
A New Exclusive Glimpse was shown which consists lot of new details about the movie. It reveals Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross turns into Red Hulk during a speech at White House. Through a dialogue, Adamantium confirmed to be introduced in the movie with Celestials being made out of them. The Celestial from Eternals: Tiamat is now finally mentioned in another MCU film. Tim Blake Nelson teases they have written a great story for The Leader, one of the iconic villains from the Marvel comics. Nelson played the role of Mr. Blue in MCU’s Second Film: The Incredible Hulk, 16 Years ago. Now he’s returning as the same character who’s one of the big bads of Hulk and Avengers. Giancarlo Esposito will star as Sidewinder, The King of the Villain Team – Serpent Society. Serpent Society consists of Snake-themed villains. They were supposed to be introduced at Captain America 3, but the plan was scrapped due to Civil War plot.
‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD’ will release on February 2024

Thunderbolts*
The First trailer for THUNDERBOLTS* exclusively premiered to #SDCC audience. In the trailer, Yelena visits Red Guardian’s apartment, Ghost (Ant-Man 2 Villain) has a new costume. And all the Thunderbolts are individually assigned to the same job but as obviously, it’s a set up. Interesting element was a scene in Avengers Tower with Val (Falcon & Winter Soldier, Wakanda Forever fame) is featured.
‘THUNDERBOLTS*’ will release on May 2025, and it will be the final film of MCU Phase 5.

That’s all about Marvel Studios at San Diego Comic Con 2024. Marvel shook the pop culture world once again! Return of Russo Brothers and RDJ alongside with promising glimpse of Fantastic 4 brings shine of hope to Marvel once again. If it goes all well, Marvel will be really back to track!
Deadpool & Wolverine had their exclusive panel at SDCC on July 25, a day before the movie’s Worldwide Release. None of the Disney+ content had a panel this time due to the upcoming Disney D23 Expo event at this August 9 – 11.
Compiled By Sree Nandan Chengannur