Hello! It’s me, your friendly neighborhood Marvel nerd, covering the Marvel Hall H panel at SDCC 2019. I’m breaking this one out separately from the running Saturday article, because, well, it’s Marvel. They always bring the business from their Hall H throne, and I can’t possibly contain all the news and surprises they’ll bring. So a separate article it is.

Ready?

Let’s see what King Feige & Co. have in store for us.

The Introduction

First off, the crowd is BANANAS. So much energy in the Hall H room, even before the lights went down. The panel started with a montage of the MCU’s greatest hits with Tony Stark narrating on top. Such is the power of Marvel that they can show us old footage and it’s still goosebumps-inducing. After the footage, Kevin Feige comes out to reveal a slick-looking, chrome logo for the Infinity Saga. It is, as the kids say, fire.

Oh, and while he was there? He announced that Avengers: Endgame will the biggest movie of all-time in just a few days, finally surpassing Avatar. Feige also gave a gracious shout-out to James Cameron.

And now, onto the slate.

The Eternals

Director Chloe Zhao joins Feige on the stage. First up, it was confirmed that The Eternals will be hitting theaters November 6, 2020. As always with Marvel, the logo has been revealed, a gold, kind of…fantasy Art Deco style?

Oh, wow, that cast. Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh and Don Lee. That’s incredible. It will also feature the MCU’s first disabled hero – both Lauren Ridloff’s character and the actress herself are deaf.

Queens Angelina Jolie (who is playing Thena) and Salma Hayek are here for being strong, powerful women. Says Hayek, “It takes a strong woman to do a movie like this.” And Jolie knows exactly what it takes, promising the audience, “‘I’m going to work 10 times harder…we all know what you deserve.” Meanwhile, Lia McHugh is just so pumped to be playing Sprite.

Including Eternals, there are 10 Marvel films on the way in the next two and a half years. They’re not relenting after Endgame at all.

Next up…

The Falcon & Winter Soldier

Next is Disney+’s first Marvel series, The Falcon and Winter Soldier. They get an appropriately Captain America-esque logo with old school ,military-style lettering.

Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie take the stage…and Mackie has the shield. Which Stan promptly stole from him and then remarked it was heavier than he thought it would be.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is heading our way on Disney+ next fall. No word yet on the exact release date.

Another cool bit of news, Daniel Brühl will be reprising his role as Baron Zemo for the series and he’ll be getting his iconic purple cowl, albeit in Marvel’s modified, updated style.

Onto the next…

Shang-Chi

Oh, snap. Shang-Chi is here, too! Director Destin Daniel Cretton came on stage to reveal the full title is – wait for it – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with an appropriate logo for it.

It’s hitting theaters in February 2021 and, in an amazing bit of casting news, they revealed Tony Leung will be playing the Mandarin. Leung is a freaking legend; this is a great casting choice. Awkwafina is also set for a role.

And the biggest news of all so far…announcing the role of Shang-Chi himself will go to actor Simu Liu! He screen-tested on Sunday and his casting was literally just finalized on Tuesday. Talk about an enormous week for him. As he takes the stage, he jokes that he couldn’t help but think of his parents now, who emigrated from China…and that he’s really glad he’s not a doctor now.

Uh, looking at this pic from IMDb, yeah. I’m pretty sure he can handle the role:

Y’all, I can barely keep up with all the news. ONWARD!

Wandavision

Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen take the stage to talk about the next Disney+ series. Midcentury modern LOGOOOOO:

Right out of the gate it drops some huge news: Monica Rambeau will be appearing on the series! She’ll be played by actress Teyonah Parris.

That’s about all we’ve got for that.

And now, the God of Mischief makes his triumphant Hall H return…

LOKI

Tom Hiddleston has taken the stage at Hall H, ladies and gentlemen. To thunderous applause, naturally. They announce it will be hitting Disney+ in Spring 2021. Love the logo:

He confirms that this series will follow the 2012 version of Loki that disappeared with the Tesseract during the events of Avengers: Endgame. So the Loki we see then will not be affected by the events of Thor: Ragnarok…which means we’ll have a Loki who is more chaotic evil to chaotic neutral than chaotic good, basically. Prepared for the God of Mischief to throw every wrench in the works. Sidenote, is there any actor who has ever had more fun in a role than Tom Hiddleston playing Loki? I submit not. LET CHAOS REIGN!

More movie news!

Doctor Strange 2

Awwwww snap. The MCU is opening up to the multiverse in a huge way. The full title is revealed to be Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and it hits theaters March 7, 2021.

Director Scott Derrickson is talking about how it will be the first scary film in the MCU. YES. (Does this mean R.I.P. to New Mutants?) I speculated a while ago when he signed on for the sequel that I suspected he only agreed to do it if Marvel let him go full Derrickson and get weird and supernatural with it. Looks like that’s the case. In keeping with the scary theme, it’s confirmed Nightmare will be the villain. That is excellent.

Sidenote, it’s Benedict Cumberbatch’s birthday and the crowd is singing him happy birthday. Good times! He confirms there will be horror and spooks in this one, and he will face unexpected things. Considering he has seen 14,000,605 realities and this movie will toss things at him he’s not prepared for, sign. me. up.

In a super interesting reveal, they confirmed that Scarlet Witch will appear in the movie and Wandavision will tie directly into the Doctor Strange sequel. “It’s all connected,” she said, assuring us that the MCU won’t splinter apart after Endgame and will still all tie together, albeit in a different sort of way.

Back to the Disney+ side of things…

What If…?

Marvel’s What If…? series is based on the comic book series that sees one-shot comics speculating on what might happen if a key thing had been changed in certain Marvel stories.

They revealed the logo, obvie:

And the news that Jeffrey Wright (Westworld, The Hunger Games franchise) will voice The Watcher, acting as the narrator and omniscient overseer. That is a great bit of casting.

Turns out, most of the Marvel actors will reprise their roles in the series, which makes sense considering they’re one-offs. Still, this is super cool:

Neeeeeext up.

Hawkeye

A Hawkeye series is finally announced, and it gets a VERY Matt Fraction-esque logo:

It’s hitting Disney+ in Fall 2021. And yes, it’s finally confirmed. Kate Bishop WILL be in this series. About time! There’s no casting yet. As for the OG Hawkeye, Clint Barton? It’s confirmed the series will partly explore his time as Ronan. Interesting.

On…to…the next!

Thor 4

Taika Waititi, Chris Hemsworth, and Tessa Thompson take the stage!

Okay, I’m sorry, but I love how Marvel is going all-in on the epic titles for Phase 4: Thor 4 will officially be titled Thor: Love and Thunder. It gets an appropriately ’80s metal logo:

Look at that cheesy magnificence. LOVE. IT.

It’s heading our way in November of 2021. But that’s not the biggest news…

Natalie Portman is coming back as Jane Foster – and she’s playing that version of Thor!

I repeat: WE’RE GETTING JANE FOSTER MIGHTY THOR!

So much news!

Black Widow

The Black Widow that we all knew we were getting but Marvel refused to admit we were getting is finally confirmed! Hitting theaters May 1, 2020. Less than a year away!

The cast is taking the stage now. Also confirmed? The wildly talented Florence Pugh (Fighting with My Family, Midsommar) will be playing Natasha Romanoff antagonist, Yelena Belova. Stranger Things star David Harbour, who is playing a character named Alexei, is absolutely pumped to be joining the MCU, even rocking a Captain America shirt. What a dude.

Scarlett Johansson is excited that Natasha will finally get her due and be explored as a fully-realized character instead of playing backseat driver to the boys of the MCU.

Co-star Rachel Weisz (can this cast get any better?) reveals this is her first SDCC, and she is thrilled to be joining the Marvel gang. She is in love with the deep, modern mythology it’s built and all the strong characters of the MCU. She’ll be playing Melina.

It’s revealed it will at least partly place after the events of Captain America: Civil War.

Theeeeeere’s a trailer! It reveals Nat traveling to Budapest after the events of that movie, where she fights Pugh’s Yelena Belova. And best of all? Taskmaster makes an appearance! Looks like he’s the big bad of the movie. The hand-to-hand combat is excellent. Absolutely brutal, a step well above most Marvel fight sequences. Comic book fans, we are here. for. it.

Last but not least…

Blade

MAHERSHALA ALI BROUGHT OUT AND ANNOUNCED AS BLADE!!! Yes, I realize that was all-caps but COME ON. That is perfect casting. He’s already a Marvel alum, having previously played Cottonmouth in Luke Cage Season 1 and easily the best part of that season. He’s an incredible actor and I can not wait to see what he’ll do in the role of the Daywalker.

Good lord, I need to take a moment and fan myself with all these Marvel announcements.

And some last tidbits, Feige also announced that plans are in the works for Fantastic Four, Black Panther 2, Captain Marvel 2, an X-Men movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Here’s your official Phase 4, gang:

To everyone who thought Marvel might be slowing down after Endgame, Marvel says, “Oh, you thought, huh?” They basically just mic-dropped all over the rest of Comic-Con.

Revel in all the good news, Marvel fans. The next few years are gonna be a ride.

To check out the rest of Saturday’s news from SDCC, click here.

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