What Is Marvel's Mysterious, Offsite New York Comic Con Announcement?

Marvel has invited members of the press to an event on Thursday, promising big news from their Times Square based Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N.

For those who don't know, or have forgotten, S.T.A.T.I.O.N. stands for Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network. The event is an immersive experience that brings fans into the Marvel Cinematic Universe gives them the opportunity to go through a simulated S.H.I.E.L.D. recruitment and training.

What they haven't given us is any idea what the announcement might be, who might be involved or even what medium might be affected.

It's not even really safe to say that it would be Avengers-related since the S.T.A.T.I.O.N. has largely been Avengers-centric as a function of its role as a Marvel Studios promotional tool, but it's also dealt with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and has had other events hosted there that promoted basically all things Marvel.

So what are some of our ideas for what could be announced on Thursday?

Comics

Could this be the venue for Marvel to announce their next big summer event series? With AXIS starting up this week and a full slate of panels that will be buzzing about what comes after, the timing might be right for Marvel to tell fans what's going on.

What could it be? That's a hard question, obviously. With the X-Men and Avengers taking center stage in AXIS, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, spear-headed by acclaimed titles like The Legendary Star-Lord and Cyclops and headed up by the Guardians of the Galaxy, whose movie just blew everybody away, a cosmic event could also envelop the world of the Fantastic Four, whose title is apparently ending sometime in the first quarter of next year.

Animation

Arguably the area where Marvel has the least devoted fan base, if there was a truly impressive announcement to be made about animation, Marvel could want to make as big a deal of it as possible.

Now...what that announcement would be? It's hard to say. Maybe Spider-Man or another wildly popular character joining the Avengers Assemble lineup? Another tweak to the format? Or a preview of the Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon?

Movies

They did say they were "showing something." Could this be the NYCC equivalent of the Age of Ultron footage screened at Comic Con International: San Diego this summer? And if so, does that mean it will be screening at the S.T.A.T.I.O.N. over the weekend, and that many more fans will have a chance to see it?

TV

Is it possible that this could be where Jeph Loeb reveals just how Avengers: Age of Ultron will interact with the TV shows? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will end just around the time Avengers 2 is in theaters, and the Netflix series aren't expected to hit until after. Could there be something planned to help ground all the stuff happening in the spring/summer in the same universe at the same time and place?

Interactive

They've got console games, including the recently released Infinity expansion, mobile games, Facebook games...and, of course, the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. Could it be -- and maybe this is obvious -- that whatever they're showing off and whatever they're announcing could actually tie directly into the attraction?

What if the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. was going to start showing off some material from Guardians of the Galaxy, a huge hit this year coming soon to Blu-ray? Or even Age of Ultron, since it's out of principal photography and even assuming reshoots, there have to be some parts of the film that can be spared for an interactive display.

Whatever it is, keep you eye on our site -- and probably, let's be honest, our Twitter feed -- on Thursday night!