Watch: Nick Fury tales on 'Secret Invasion,' Marvel reveals throwback horror 'Werewolf By Night' at D23
Three years since the studio's last mega-D23 panel in the pre-pandemic era, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige brought his A-game with a dazzling lineup of talent, surprises and a host of first looks at their Phase 5 and 6 projects this weekend.
Arguably the biggest reveal of the more than 75 minute presentation was unveiling exactly who will be on Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts ragtag roster. The cast includes Julia-Louis Dreyfus’s Countess Valentina, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Hannah John Kamen as Ghost , Florence Pugh back as Yelena and Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier. Shooting on the project is set to kick off next year.
As fans likely recall, seven weeks ago at San Diego Comic-Con, Feige and company confirmed the release dates and announced new film titles and Disney+ streaming series dropping all the way through 2025. But astute Marvel Studios observers found at least eight potential calendar dates that were still mysteries based on placeholders on the Walt Disney release calendar. So Feige spent his portion of the shared Marvel Studios/Lucasfilm panel giving audiences their first looks at a large array of the upcoming previously projects.
One big reveal was a "Special Presentation" coming from Marvel Studios just in time for Halloween. The long-rumored Werewolf by Night looks like a straight-up black-and-white horror throwback, delving into a creepier corner of the MCU. The project is set to hit Disney+ on Oct. 7.
Of currently shooting projects, Tom Hiddleston appeared with his Loki Season 2 cast to show an in-room teaser featuring all the familiar faces with confirmation that Loki is back at the TVA and Mobius doesn’t remember him.
Additional series in production included Echo which revealed Graham Greene would be joining the cast and that Vincent D’Onofrio would appear as Wilson Fisk. Marvel also confirmed the new Daredevil series Born Again will consist of 18 episodes, which is quite a bit longer than the other MCU projects we've seen to date on Disney+.
Ironheart with Riri Williams is currently shooting in Chicago and Atlanta. Ryan Coogler’s production company is involved in that one as well. The first footage revealed Parker Robert’s The Hood played by Anthony Ramos. The actor teased his character is a bit good and bad: “He was a misfit and wants to take in other misfits so they end up on top. The series is a deep dive into a dark place he goes, but Parker believes he’s doing good. He’s a complex guy and kicks ass.” Feige added that Parker dances in the dark arts, while Riri is a technologist, which should make for an interesting dish-mash.
Secret Invasion also got its first teaser with Don Cheadle appearing to explain how the events of this series will have direct repercussions on the story for Armor Wars, which is based on the comic book run about Stark armor that gets in the wrong hands. Shooting will begin next year.
On the movie side, Wakanda Forever revealed a scene where Queen Ramonda defends how Wakanda has kept its vibranium away from outsiders because they don’t trust what men will do with it. And then that segued into a full trailer.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off the Phase 5 focus. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Jonathan Major appeared to poke fun at the meme they don’t like one another with a group alongside Feige. Rudd then described this third film as entirely different than the other two and “bananas.” The teaser footage shown in-room revealed a now teen Cassie Lang’s creation of a two-way radio to the Quantum Realm. Janet, who was trapped there, panics to turn it off — but before she can it erupts and pulls in Janet, Cassie and Scott. A whole new realm is revealed to them including... Bill Murray(?!). Then Kang confronts Scott and tells the hero he's far out of his league dabbling in this timeline-busting adventure.
The cast of Captain America: New World Order were also on hand, with Anthony Mackie's big screen debut as the new Captain America slated to begin shooting early next year.
Last but not least, the three leads of The Marvels, Brie Larson, Tayonnah Parish and Iman Vellani, arrived to reveal the film's first footage which teams the trio together because of their light-based powers. Far more comedic in tone than Captain Marvel , their adventure looks like a lighter adventure (no pun intended)
D23 also provided Marvel a chance to formally confirm director Matt Shakman has taken over The Fantastic Four film, though that had been well-reported already.
