Marvel Studios returned to Hall H for San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), and on Saturday night, they revealed many items, including the bombshell news that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom.
Here’s a breakdown:
Deadpool & Wolverine
Though not an “announcement” per se, the Deadpool & Wolverine squad came out. Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Corrin, and director Shawn Levy were joined on stage by the surprise, major cameo actors Jennifer Garner, Dafne Keen, Channing Tatum, Chris Evans and Wesley Snipes.
Per Disney, “the film’s opening officially pushed the MCU over the $30 billion box-office mark with 34 movies.”
Captain America: Brave New World
Anthony Mackie, who is set to make his film debut as Captain America, was joined by Tim Blake Nelson, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez and Giancarlo Esposito. The latter confirmed that he is playing the villain Sidewinder in the film.
New footage was also shown, which saw Harrison Ford, who makes his MCU debut as President Thaddeus Ross, transforming into the Red Hulk. The film, releasing on Feb. 14, 2025, “follows Sam Wilson, who after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, finds himself in the middle of an international incident. Sam must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.”
Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts footage was shown as director Jake Schreier and stars Geraldine Viswanathan, Lewis Pullman, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and David Harbour took to the stage.
The logline for the film describes it as “an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.” Also starring Olga Kurylenko, the film will be released on May 2, 2025.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Kevin Feige revealed the official name of the new Fantastic Four film, which is The Fantastic Four: The First Steps. He also revealed that it will commence producion on Tuesday. Joining him on stage were director Matt Shankman and cast members (appearing together on the first time on stage) Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/The Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/Thing).
The film, which will see “Galactus and Silver Surfer target Earth for destruction,” will drop on July 25, 2025. The SDCC audience got to see the Fantasticar soar above their heads while the screens gave a tease at the film with a “retro-futurist vision of New York City.”
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars
After the Jonathan Majors legal saga, the Kang Dynasty is no more. The film, which was going to be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, is now going to be a film with Doctor Doom as the villain, Avengers: Doomsday.
It was officially confirmed that Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of four of the most successful Marvel movies and the studio’s highest-grossing directors, will helm both May 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars in May 2027.
And an even bigger reveal came as the directors said that as one of “the most complex characters in the Marvel Universe” needed a great actor to bring him to life. As many masked, robed Doctor Dooms were on stage, it was revealed that Robert Downey Jr. would return to the MCU as the character.
Stephen McFeely, a MCU vet, is working on the script for the new Avengers films.
“Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves,” said The Russo Brothers in a statement.
