Source: Marvel Studios

Marvel had a big weekend at the San Diego Comic Con. New trailers for Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and the Defenders. A statue commemorating Captain America’s 75th Anniversary. A third season confirmation for Daredevil. Exciting new characters and casting announcements in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new season. But these will be touched upon in other posts.

We’re here to talk about the big panel on Saturday: the reveals of the Marvel Studios mainstage. Let’s break it down by movie.

Marvel Studios

  • Before we get to the movies themselves, Marvel Studios has received a new logo, to differentiate itself from the Marvel products being released by Fox. The logo is part of a new 30-second opening sequence, evolving from comic pages to the movie characters set to a fantastic fanfare by Michael Giaccino.

Doctor Strange

Coming out in a mere three months, Doctor Strange is first on our slate (even if it wasn’t first in the panel). Head honcho Kevin Feige presented alongside director Scott Derrickson and stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Karl Mordo), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer), Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius), and Benedict Wong (Wong).

  • Updating alongside the new “Marvel Studios” logo, Doctor Strange’s logo was changed from the black and gold logo to a new, silver one.
  • A new eye-catching theatrical poster was unveiled, featuring Stephen Strange stepping through an orange portal into a kaleidoscope of New York.
  • Some footage was shown, apparently depicting Dr. Strange meeting The Ancient One for the first time. This was only shown to the audience present and has not yet been released to the public.
  • A new full trailer was released! It has intrigue, magic, humor and a whole lot of trippy visuals. It was made publicly available, so check it out right now! Bonus points if you can spot the Avengers tower as New York is folding in on itself. Talk about attention to detail.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Over nine months away and tons of news! A lot of interesting reveals came from the Guardians panel, which came built-in with its own hecklers: a group of Ravagers led by Chris Sullivan as Taserface. The panel itself featured producer Kevin Feige, director James Gunn, and actors Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Kurt Russell (Ego) and Elizabeth Debicki (Ayesha) – plus Michael Rooker in full make-up and costume as the Ravager Yondu.

  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 also received a new title card, updating from the Guardians of the Galaxy logo with a scribbled-on “2” to a new bright and colorful blue, yellow and red metallic logo of its own.
  • We get a whole new host of Ravagers! Yondu Udonta and Kraglin Obfonteri will return, joined by Scrote, Half-Nut, Taserface, Gef, Narblik, Oblo, Wretch and Brahl.
  • Elizabeth Debicki will be playing “Her” herself – Ayesha (also known as Kismet or Paragon). Ayesha was created as a female counterpart to Adam Warlock, who is basically the Jesus figure of the cosmic universe. She possesses all his abilities, manipulating cosmic energy.
  • Remember that time I wrote a lengthy post convincing myself and you dear readers – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that Maveth from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was none other than Ego the Living Planet? While I’m not ready to write it off completely, it turns out that Ego will be appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 as Star-Lord’s father – with his human form being played by Kurt Russell. Bizarre. Photos of his human costume were released, too.
  • Pom Klementieff will be playing original comic Guardian Mantis, who Gunn claims was raised by Ego and doesn’t understand human interaction as a result.
  • A clip was shown featuring Rocket, Baby Groot and Yondu trying to break out of a Ravager prison. It shows off Rocket’s sense of humor, Groot’s new rambunctious childlike form and Yondu’s comic-accurate large red mohawk fin, which allows him to control his arrows. This clip was not released online yet.
  • A trailer was shown, which apparently has the bulk of new footage and I’m told is very exciting. It features Drax asking about Ego’s sex life, to Star-Lord’s embarrassment. James Gunn has stated that this will release “sorta-soonish”, as he is not happy with the visual effects to fully release it quite yet.
  • Not only are Rocket and Groot getting their own animated TV show, their likenesses were chosen as the mission patch for the NASA CASIS laboratory aboard the international space station.
  • Sorry Tower of Terror fans – the iconic ride at Disney California Adventure will be transformed into Mission: BREAKOUT!, a Guardians of the Galaxy-themed ride starring Rocket Raccoon and The Collector.
  • Sylvester Stallone will be playing a member of the Nova Corps.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

I have never been more excited about a MCU movie or a Spider-Man movie, and I have just under a year to wait. Producer Kevin Feige was joined by director Jon Watts, plus Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Zendaya Coleman (Michelle), Laura Harrier (Liz), Jacob Batalon (Ned) and Tony Revolori (Flash).

  • Before the Spider-Man panel, the Marvel toys panel seemingly confirmed that the main villain would be Vulture (played by Michael Keaton),  joined by small-time crooks Shocker (rumored to be played by Bokeem Woodbine) and The Tinkerer (rumored to be played by Logan Marshall-Green). Vulture was later confirmed at the Spider-Man panel with some fantastic concept art.
  • A trailer was shown, depicting the balance between Peter’s school life and superhero life set to Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation, a nice nod to actor Martin Starr and writer John Francis Daley’s past on Freaks and Geeks. Vulture is shown at the end. This footage was not released to the public.
  • Director Jon Watts confirmed in a post-panel interview what the trailer suggested – that Tony Revolori would be Flash Thompson, Laura Harrier would be Liz Allan, Jacob Batalon would be Ned Leeds, and Zendaya would be a new character named Michelle.
  • The official press release was released on Marvel’s website, officially confirming the cast.

Thor: Ragnarok

Is Thor: Ragnarok really 15 months away? Director Taika Waititi seems determined to do a completely different take on the franchise, which is “good” in a field of “greats”. As the cast and crew are hard at work in New Zealand, no one showed up – but the movie still had a presence at Comic-Con.

  • Director Taika Waititi is known for movies like Eagle vs. Shark and the series Flight of the Conchords, not blockbusters like Thor. His wacky sideshows in the new Thor: Ragnarok logo, which is a throwback to futuristic 80’s action movies.
  • Planet Hulk elements were confirmed when the Hulk’s “Gladiator” armor was revealed, featuring a giant Spartan helmet, a single shoulder spaulder, and a gigantic ax and Warhammer.
  • A mockumentary comedy skit was shown, featuring the mundane every-day life of Thor and Bruce Banner during the events of Civil War, which include playing Connect Four and moving in with a guy named Darryl, who Thor met on Craigslist. Waititi promises to release this footage as soon as he can negotiate it with Marvel. The skit ends with an actual sizzle reel for Thor: Ragnarok, which includes concept art of Jeff Goldblum’s The Grandmaster, Cate Blanchett’s Hela, and Thor with a shaved head and warpaint. It ends on footage of Thor and Hulk fighting each other in a gladiator arena, and Thor jumping at the giant hell monster Surtur. It’s not Ragnarok without Surtur!

Black Panther

Black Panther is about 18 months away and – if Civil War was any indication – will be epic. Kevin Feige was joined by director Ryan Coogler and the stars Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia) and Michael B. Jordan (N’Jadaka).

  • Black Panther also received a logo update, merely changing the color scheme to black and gold.
  • The movie starts shooting in January 2017 to reach it’s February 2018 release date.
  • The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira has been cast as Okoye, the head of T’Challa’s all-female king’s guard, the Dora Milaje.
  • The roles of Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o were revealed: Michael will be playing N’Jadaka, who is the villainous rival to Black Panther, Killmonger. Lupita is Nakia, who is best known as a former Dora Milaje who has become Killmonger’s accomplice, Malice.

Captain Marvel

Skipping over the third Avengers film and Ant-Man & The Wasp, we got some new news about Captain Marvel, which is a few months shy of three years away. No panel was had, but the new star herself made an appearance.

  • A bright red new logo was unveiled.
  • The director shortlist has been narrowed down to ten potentials.
  • Concept art of the character has been released.
  • The news we have all been waiting for – Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson has been cast as Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel herself! Brie is very excited to be joining the MCU, sporting a Marvel Studios hat and tweeting about it all weekend. (She even tweeted “Look at me – I am the captain now” to our own Captain America, Chris Evans). Brie will appear before her own film in the currently soon-to-be-retitled third Avengers movie.

Inhumans

Skipping over the fourth Avengers film to get to our last bit of news. As expected, there was no Inhumans panel, and the movie was not mentioned during the show itself, as it was pushed off the slate to make room for a new Indiana Jones film.

  • Good news, Black Bolt fans: Kevin Feige confirmed that Inhumans was still in development for Phase Four, even though the release date has been removed.

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