A lot of news came out of last weekend’s D23 Expo—trailers, casting announcements, and more—and much of it concerns the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Secret Invasion finally got a trailer and finally seems like a real show! The casting for Thunderbolts was confirmed! And attendees got a first look at The Marvels—though the rest of us have to wait a little longer to see it.
In chronological order (as far as anything is certain):
Werewolf By Night (October 7th)
The first trailer for this Halloween special has enjoyably spooky retro vibes, and isn’t even trying to pretend this isn’t a game come to cinematic life: It’s every hunter for themself, and one player is a monster! Gael García Bernal and Laura Donnelly star in the special, which is directed by Michael Giacchino (best known for composing the heart-wrenching scores for many a Pixar film).
Secret Invasion (2023)
Maybe I’m just happy to see Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) giving Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) a hard time, but this trailer … it’s good, right? The paranoid vibes are excellent, as we get a look at Fury (world-weary and bearded), Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), the mysterious characters played by Emilia Clarke and Olivia Colman, and the—shall we say—multiple characters played by Kingsley Ben-Adir. Fury says he’s the only one standing between “them” and “what they really want” but of course we’re left in the dark as to exactly who and what he’s talking about.
Ironheart (2023)
Ironheart‘s Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) makes her debut in this fall’s Wakanda Forever, and this series will take place after that film. Anthony Ramos has joined the cast as Parker Robbins, also known as The Hood.
The Marvels (July 28, 2023)
D23 attendees got to see the not-yet-released first footage from the sequel to Captain Marvel, which stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani. According to Variety, the film picks up immediately after the location-swapping post-credits scene from Ms. Marvel (which was the work of The Marvels director Nia DaCosta). Variety described some of the footage: “We got glimpses of Captain Rambeau as an astronaut at Saber Space Station with Nick Fury. When her character approaches a jump point perimeter, she hits it and transforms into (surprise) Ms. Marvel. Turns out every time they use their powers they swap places and now Kamala Khan is in the spacesuit.” Hijinks are sure to ensue.
Loki (Summer 2023)
KE HUY QUAN (Everything Everywhere All At Once) IS GOING TO BE ON LOKI. Also, star Tom Hiddleston told the D23 audience that season 2 picks up right where season 1 ended. That’s cool, but who is Ke Huy Quan playing? Tell us the stuff that matters!
Captain America: New World Order (May 3, 2024)
The latest additions to the Captain America cast are Shira Haas as Sabra, and Tim Blake Nelson, marking the latest actor to return to his role in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Nelson will once again play Dr. Samuel Sterns/The Leader. Anthony Mackie is back as Sam Wilson/Captain America, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Carl Lumbly (Isaiah Bradley) and Danny Ramierz (Joaquin Torres) will also appear in the film, which is directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) from a screenplay by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier head writer Malcolm Spellman and staff writer Dalan Musson.
Thunderbolts (July 26, 2024)
Were your guesses right? When this movie was announced, everyone had theories about who would be in it—and a lot of them were probably correct. The team-up includes Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S.Agent, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. It might seem odd, given his presence in She-Hulk, that Tim Roth’s Abomination is nowhere to be found—but perhaps he’ll join his old castmate Tim Blake Nelson in Captain America 4?
Fantastic Four (November 8, 2024)
They’re really truly no-joking doing it again, and they have a new director (after the departure of Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s Jon Watts): Matt Shakman, who directed WandaVision, will take the helm.
Armor Wars (undated)
Marvel revealed a new logo and confirmed that Don Cheadle will return as James Rhodes/War Machine for the series, which considers what might happen if the wrong people got their hands on some Stark tech.
Daredevil: Born Again (undated)
The new Daredevil doesn’t even begin production until next year, but stars Charlie Cox (Matt Murdoch) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Wilson Fisk) were still on hand to talk—a little—about the 18-episode series. You can listen to Cox discuss the show in the interview above, in which he says he has no secrets (he hasn’t even seen a script!) but thinks Born Again will be “tonally different” and that this is a season one, not a fourth season of the previous Daredevil. And hey, as long as we’re here, have some extra Vincent D’Onofrio:
Truly looking forward to working with my friend Charlie again. I know I can speak for Charlie as well when I say we promise to bring you a incredible Daredevil Born Again. #DDBornAgain
@Marvel @DisneyD23 @DisneyPlus @DisneyStudios pic.twitter.com/UC6JPa75Mh— Vincent D'Onofrio (@vincentdonofrio) September 11, 2022
This is just the new news; for a full rundown of the shows and films we can expect as Marvel steps into Phases Five and Six, check out our San Diego Comic-Con roundup!
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Nona the Ninth
How can WEREWOLF BY NIGHT be even half as good as it’s trailer? Holy God, imagine if it were AS Good!
…
I now want to see WEREWOLF BY NIGHT.
Such is the power of a good trailer (and possibly Black Magic of the most diabolical sort).
I’m really, really happy the Samuel Sterns thread is finally being followed up after nearly 15 years.
And the villain selection, while unusual, does make some sense. The Steve Rogers films (and TFATWS) used up all the major Cap villains. I’d still love to see Sinthea Schmidt someday, but the Leader’s masterminded political takeovers and plots before.
Between this, M.O.D.O.K. in Ant-Man 3, and Doom’s inevitable debut with the F4, makes you wonder if we’ll be seeing the Intelligentsia in the MCU.
Oh, interesting that they are in fact bringing Sterns back, but not where I thought!
I’m also kind of excited at some of the Thunderbolts members – wasn’t really expecting to see Ghost or Red Guardian again, but that could be fun!
@3,
Zemo’s absence from the MCU Thunderbolts roster’s really surprising. He’s to the team in the comics what Loki was to the Avengers, i.e. the catalyst for their formation.
And it did seem like TFATWS was setting him up. Then again, they could just be holding off on confirming Zemo for a variety of reasons (such as possibly spoiling upcoming threads).
It’s very hard to see Zero leading a powered group of Thunderbolts, given his MCU history.
On the other hand, this assemblage seems to be most congenial to that sort of agenda.
On the gripping hand….that lineup just SCREAMS covert/black ops; almost all of them are trained espionage agents. People like the Abomination just don’t fit in.
Hm.
@5:
People like the Abomination just don’t fit in.
Not necessarily. Remember, the MCU Blonsky was a British Royal Marine (and trained in Special Operations) before he got loaned to Ross.
His experience and training would be a boon to the TBs given their own covert ops background.
@6 —Oooh….right. Then I take that back…though, he’s still somebody Zemo wouldn’t necessarily want to use….