Marvel Studio’s President and Chief Artistic Officer Kevin Feige had a large dimension shock for con-going followers on Friday. Throughout a digital press convention for Thor: Love and Thunder, in theaters July 8, he introduced that it is going to be Assemble! as soon as extra at this summer season’s San Diego Comedian-Con. The large occasion runs from Wednesday, July 20 (preview evening!) by way of Sunday, July 24 (hangover day!)
This can be a much-needed increase for the annual “celebration of the favored arts” within the Southern California metropolis’s Gaslamp Quarter. The July occasion, which attracts over 130,000 unaware advertising rubes enthusiastic followers on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, shifted to “Comedian-Con@Dwelling” the final two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a slimmed-down model happening over Thanksgiving weekend. Whereas studios and networks nonetheless received their gross sales pitches out, it lacked the identical oomph from the times when celebrities appeared earlier than 1000’s of cosplaying summertime nerds residing for 5 days on Purple Bull and conference middle scorching canines.
The rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is weaved into the material of the annual occasion, ever because the first Iron Man panel in 2007. The corporate has produced a number of unique sizzle reels only for the attendees, and there have been no scarcity of stunts, like the primary “Mercury 7”-esque reveal of the Avengers solid (“I’ve had a dream all my life and it was not this good” wept Joss Whedon), Robert Downey Jr. dancing by way of the aisles, and Natalie Portman stunning everybody in 2019 to carry Thor’s hammer. Yearly, Marvel’s panel on the San Diego Conference Middle’s Corridor H (capability: 6,500) would get a primo Saturday evening slot, and conquer the social media buzz.
However that 2019 look was truly Marvel’s final look on the present. The corporate declined to contain themselves within the two digital occasions and final yr’s autumn quickie. Contemplating Marvel’s father or mother firm, Disney, has a pep rally all their very own (the D23 Expo) one may need suspected that the Home of Concepts and SDCC had cut up for good.
However what would the MCU (or comics typically) be with out surprises?
What and who particularly will make its solution to San Diego this yr is at present unknown. Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther: Wakanda Without end is more likely to dominate the dialog, because the sequel to the Greatest Image nominee might be out in theaters this November. (A primary take a look at Namor the Submariner is value ready on a protracted line.) The third Ant-Man image (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) is out in February, so little doubt has sufficient materials prepared to tug collectively and wow the followers. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is not out till subsequent Might, however director James Gunn and this band of misfits know the best way to maintain folks entertained. Additionally, do not be stunned to no less than see some official pictures of Mahershala Ali as Blade. Lastly, the sensible guess (and the factor that can absolutely make social media explode) is to count on a casting announcement for the following iteration of the Incredible 4. (Is John Kraskinski in as Reed Richards? Or was that just a few Multiverse trickery in Physician Unusual?)
Because the variations between motion pictures and streaming reveals get flattened within the MCU, the panel may even absolutely spotlight what’s coming to Disney +, together with She-Hulk: Legal professional at Regulation, the WandaVision spin-off Agatha: Home of Harkness, Armor Wars (will Stilt-Man be in attendance?!?), and the kid-friendly I Am Groot animated sequence that debuts in early August.
After which there’s this: Marvel all the time does the sudden. Is Galactus coming? And if that’s the case, will he be hungry? Any person save a kind of gross scorching canines for the Devourer of Worlds.
