Marvel Studios is coming to San Diego Comic-Con 2024 with something to prove. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been stumbling since Avengers: Endgame ended the Infinity Saga in 2019 – and honestly, the MCU presentations in SDCC’s famous Hall H have stumbled along with the franchise.
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However, Marvel Studios has made some very public re-orientation moves to get the franchise back to its former great heights, and for many fans, Marvel’s Hall H Presentation at SDCC 2024 will be the place to prove those changes are working.
With those kinds of stakes on the table, Marvel needs to put out a lot of PR fires, on a lot of fronts. Let’s break down what they need to show fans during the Hall H presentation, in order to do it:
Deadpool & Wolverine
San Diego Comic-Con 2024 takes place from Thursday, July 25th – Sunday, July 28th, with Marvel typically doing Hall H on Saturday night. Deadpool & Wolverine will be released in theaters on Friday, July 26th; if you think these two events will not be related, you’re crazy.
Expect Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and the Deadpool & Wolverine team to be working the crowds at SDCC – culminating in some kind of major fan-screening event, which is a proud Comic-Con tradition. Since Deadpool 3 will be out, and its MCU changes will be flooding the Internet, Marvel Studios could come to Hall H with some very important announcements for a new MCU franchise…
Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World will supposedly be a game-changing chapter of the MCU – a la Captain America: The Winter Soldier. With the movie largely in the can by now, and the fact that footage was already shown at CinemaCon 2024, we can pretty much bank on the fact that Captain America 4 will be a big part of Marvel’s Hall H presentation.
A new trailer + SDCC-exclusive sizzle reel footage are the traditional offerings for fans – and we can probably expect the all-star ensemble cast (which includes Anthony Mackie, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, wrestler Seth Rollins, and Harrison Ford) to attend and entertain the Hall H crowd.
Official first looks at Mackie’s new Captain America costume; Nelson’s design as Marvel villain “The Leader,” or teases of Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross becoming Red Hulk would all go viral.
Thunderbolts*
Thunderbolts* will hit theaters in the summer of 2025, and will reportedly serve as a companion piece to Captain America: Brave New World. Thunderbolts* is also currently finished production, making a Hall H trailer and/or sizzle reel a sure bet.
With its eclectic ensemble of characters (Val, Ghost, Red Guardian, Black Widow II, Winter Soldier, US Agent, and Taskmaster), played by a fun collection of actors (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah John-Kamen, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, and Olga Kurylenko), a Thunderbolts* panel with all of the principal cast seems like a no-brainer for Marvel Studios. Like Fantastic Four, the real selling point of Thunderbolts* will be seeing this oddball team of characters interacting – a concept the cast can demonstrate first-hand to a Hall H crowd.
BONUS POINTS if Harrison Ford does some kind of bit about his transition between the Captain America 4 and Thunderbolts* panels, since he appears in both films.
Fantastic Four
The saga of the MCU Fantastic Four is going to be worth a whole book when all is said and done. One of the first big comic book movies of the 2000s has been on a long, hard, road to winning fan approval and box office success.
Marvel Studios needs to turn all the bad stigma about the Fantastic Four around – and Hall H is the place to start doing it. F4 hasn’t started filming yet, so no footage is expected; however, early concept art (See above) has gotten fans buzzing, so more reveals of Fantastic Four’s 1960s period piece setting, characters, and story arc would be a big deal. More importantly: introducing the core cast of the film and having fans enjoy seeing them banter together onstage would be a big PR win for Marvel Studios.
Fantastic Four could also cause major uproar and generate headlines if director Matt Shakman and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige reveal the actor who will play the MCU Doctor Doom on the Hall H stage during the panel.
Blade
The other MCU project that has a lot of negative stigma attached to it is the MCU reboot of Blade. The project has red-hot stars like multi-Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali and horror queen Mia Goth (X, Pearl, Maxxxine) attached – and yet, reports of wild story concepts, multiple writer/script changes, and multiple directors walking away from the project have made the vampire-action film feel truly cursed.
If Marvel Studios can get its act together by the time of Comic-Con, having Ali, Goth, and a locked-in creative team (writer, director) all appear on stage together would be a shot of confidence the project sorely needs.
X-Men
If Marvel Studios wants to easily bring down the house at Comic-Con 2024, the X-Men are their best weapon to deploy.
Fans are currently foaming at the mouth for any kind of indication about what the MCU X-Men reboot will be – and who will be playing the characters. With Deadpool & Wolverine potentially establishing a foundation for the MCU X-Men reboot, and X-Men comics getting a reboot, Hall H could be the place where fans first get their first introduction to the new generation of X-Men movie and TV show actors. Marvel fans remember the milestone event in 2010 when Kevin Feige first brought the Avengers cast onstage together in Hall H – could it be the X-Men’s turn?
Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again is the Marvel TV series reboot that has been filming for months now, so there’s enough material in the can for Marvel Studios to pull off a full-fledged Hall H panel for the show.
Series stars Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin) are pros at doing convention panels, and the returning stars of the Marvel Netflix Daredevil series (Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, Wilson Bethel, Jon Bernthal) will probably be bringing the enthusiasm, as well.
Rolling out a first trailer for Daredevil: Born Again during the Hall H presentation seems like a no-brainer, followed by a cast and crew Q&A. It would also be a great place to finally clear up what’s happening with other Marvel Netflix Defenders characters, like Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, or Mike Colter’s Luke Cage. Surprise pop-outs from either of those two actors would be major.
Agatha All Along
We now know it’s officially titled Agatha All Along; we know production on the miniseries is complete, and its release date in September comes right after Comic-Con. So, expect Agatha and the gang to be in Hall H.
Agatha All Along’s cast is stacked with talent, including series star Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus), Joe Locke (Heartstopper), Patti LuPone (American Horror Story), Sasheer Zamata (SNL), Debra Jo Rupp (That ’90s Show) and others. Bringing the ladies out as an ensemble would be a show-stopper worthy of Hall H – and one funny panel, to boot. Sprinkle in an Agatha trailer that reveals connections to the larger MCU and this minor dark horse project could generate major buzz heading into its premiere date.
Ironheart
It was confirmed earlier this summer that Marvel’s Ironheart series is still set for release in 2025. That show was in production in 2023, but then it dropped off the map when Disney+ didn’t put it on the release slate for 2024.
Ironheart will not only continue events started in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but it will also introduce a pivotal new Marvel villain in The Hood (Anthony Ramos). An Ironheart teaser trailer giving fans a first look at the series – plus an appearance by the cast to answer questions about the release delay – would be timely
Wonder Man
Marvel and Disney recently confirmed that the Wonder Man Disney+ miniseries is also still happening – and if Daredevil and Ironheart get to be part of Hall H at SDCC 2024, it only makes sense for Wonder Man to be part of it too. Since the show will also be representing the “Marvel Spotlight” lane of the MCU (alongside Werewolf by Night and Echo), it will be somewhat important to include it in the portfolio of new MCU content.
Wonder Man is already in production, so a sizzle reel of footage – teasing the show’s “extremely different” tone – is easily doable. Getting stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (HBO’s Watchmen), Demetrius Grosse, Ben Kingsley, Ed Harris, and Josh Gad together onstage will be impressive. A crew member died while filming Wonder Man, so a moment of recognition for that tragedy would be appropriate.
Marvel Animation
Marvel Studios has officially brought back the Marvel Animation brand, and while it may seem like second-tier content for a Hall H panel, the fact that it’s Marvel Studios content warrants it. Marvel animation would be a great way to open the panel and warm up the crowd, with new reveals from several series in the pipeline:
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man – The Spider-Man animated series will examine an alt-universe origin story for the MCU Peter Parker/Spider-Man, where Norman Osborn became his mentor instead of Tony Stark. The show will feature MCU crossovers like Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, but returning Peter Parker to high school in his formative days as Spider-Man is a choice that fans need to be sold on.
Eyes of Wakanda – The animated series chronicling stories of Wakanda’s “War Dog” operatives around the globe is still apparently on track for a 2024 release. Letting the world know the Wakanda animated show exists sounds like a job for Hall H.
X-Men ’97 – If Comic-Con 2024 isn’t the place where the MCU’s live-action X-Men gets announced, there’s also the X-Men ’97 animated series to lean on, as the show became a major breakout hit this year. Fans will be thrilled about any big reveals for X-Men ’97 Season 2 – from storyline info to new (or returning) characters. Any kind of panel with the voice actors of the show would also please the Hall H crowd.
What If…? Season 3 – Marvel teased What If…? Season 3 as soon as Season 2 ended. No reason to think a sizzle reel for the third season would be left out of a Hall H presentation. And if indeed there is a What If…?/X-Men ’97 crossover on the way, Comic-Con would be the place to announce it.
Stay tuned for all the latest ComicBook.com coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2024!
