The yearly mega event of pop culture and comics-related affairs, the San Diego Comic Con, has just come to a close after showcasing a ton of exciting announcements, updates, and exclusive sneak peeks of some of the most anticipated upcoming media ventures. Marvel returned to SDCC after a couple of years’ break, and the comeback was big enough to become the topic of discussion among nerds worldwide ever since. Amidst restructuring their entire game plan, bringing in some fan favorite actors, and sharing promising first looks to some of their most crucial projects, Marvel, and by extension, MCU, seems to have found some stability after going through their recent rough patch. Let us take a quick look at every major Marvel-related update that was announced at San Diego Comic Con 2024 and accordingly speculate about the upcoming ventures as well.
Multiverse Saga Restructuring: Robert Downey Jr. Returned As Iron Man
Shunning the scheduled Kang the Conqueror route to the culmination of the Multiverse Saga of MCU’s overarching narrative structure, Kevin Feige and co. have decided to retrace their way back to square one by bringing the director duo—the Russo brothers—back to the franchise to helm the fifth and sixth Avengers movies, which will focus on Dr. Doom as the prime antagonist. Aside from officializing the news of MCU’s best and most successful directors’ return in a Hall H panel, Marvel revealed the biggest, surprising update on the same panel. The Russo brothers brought in actor Robert Downey Jr., a beloved MCU veteran whose iconic portrayal of Iron Man was the foundation of the franchise itself, donning Dr. Doom’s emerald-cloaked attire and iron mask in the same panel to announce his return to the franchise as the arch villain of the Multiverse Saga. After a string of failures since No Way Home, MCU is not willing to take any more creative risks and has decided to choose a much safer, sure-shot way of success. Whether the directors take the Infamous Iron Man approach to make a Dr. Doom-Iron Man fusion/variant or the character remains distinctive enough by his own regards, that remains to be seen.
Fantastic Four Will Open The Gateways To MCU’s New Direction
Aside from the two major Avengers movies that will wrap up the Multiverse Saga in classic MCU mega-crossover style, the rebooted The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is going to be MCU’s most ambitious project in the Multiverse Saga. Marvel’s first superhero family, the Fantastic Four, will get their due justice, as leaked images from the exclusive sneak peek from SDCC Hall H look very promising. Set in a different earth/dimension entirely, the world of Fantastic Four will deviate from the mainstream MCU quite a bit, flaunting more of a technologically advanced 60s aesthetic, kind of like the The Fallout series. The first look of the movie’s big bad, Galactus—the world devourer—has been leaked online as well, which feels much more comics accurate than the previous iteration. With a power-packed star cast, distinctive visual style, and being free from MCU’s continuity entanglement, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” can become MCU’s first major chance at course correction. Additionally, with the infamous Fantastic Four nemesis, Dr. Doom, slated to be the main villain of the Multiverse Saga, fans can expect Robert Downey Jr.’s return in a cameo appearance, albeit this time in a much different powerful set of enchanted armor.
Captain America: New World Order Brings the Serpent Society into the Mix
Meanwhile, the political landscape of the MCU gets turbulent with the superhero registration act proponent, Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford), becoming the new President of the United States in the aftermath of Secret Invasion and finding himself in a course of conflict with Sam Wilson’s Captain America. To add to the intrigue, President Ross will also be seen as his new alter ego, the infamous Red Hulk—and from the clips showcased at the SDCC, a clash between the new Captain and the new Hulk is going to be a showstopper. The longtime Captain America adversary terrorist group, the Serpent Society, will appear in the movie as shown in the exclusive footage in Hall H, and actor Giancarlo Esposito will play Sidewinder, the leader of the Serpent Society. As shown in the footage, with the mutants’ introduction to the MCU, Adamantium has become the much-coveted metal replacing the vibranium obsession, and it will lead to a turmoil in geopolitics as the conflicting ideologies of Captain America and President Ross will result in the primary crisis. Fans can expect a Winter Soldier treatment to the narrative, which will bring a somewhat grounded aspect to the movie as well.
Thunderbolts: Sentry Has Presumably Been Teased
MCU’s street-level villains and anti-heroes will be on their road to redemption with the upcoming Thunderbolts movie, which will see covert government agent Valentina Allegra de Fontaine form a Suicide Squad-esque band to take care of the States’ dirty deeds. From the footage shown in SDCC, it is revealed that a certain amnesiac patient named Bob, who displays superhuman abilities, will be of significant importance to the movie. Major speculations about the real identity of this ‘Bob’ guy are creating a buzz all around, and there is a strong possibility of the person in question being none other than Marvel’s Superman pastiche, Sentry, who will seemingly take on the role of main villain.
Major Marvel Comics Release
Last but definitely not least, in the course of four days of SDCC, a number of Marvel comics titles were announced, namely 8 Deaths of Spider-Man, the return of West Coast Avengers, the relaunch of X-Men with X-Men: From the Ashes, and Laura Kinney: Wolverine. With MCU integrating more mutants and Fantastic Four elements into the narrative, the source material will play a vital role, which makes the announcements of the new comic-book series-to-be the most important updates. Additionally, Marvel Rivals, an action hero-shooter video game, and the return of the 90s stop-motion parody series Marvel Superheroes: What the–?! have been announced as well, which hardcore Marvel nerds out there will surely check out.
