SDCC 2016: The Marvel Report
Where to begin? Lots of Marvel news coming out of Comic-Con International in San Diego. We’ll start with the comic book news, because it could have some impact on the film and television universes moving forward.
Because what’s a discussion about news without coffee?
Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer for Marvel, held his regular “Cup O’ Joe” Panel on Saturday afternoon, with discussion ranging from the film and television universes to new projects on the print side of the office. In attendance with Quesada: Marvel Editor in Chief Axel Alonso, editor Sana Amanat, executive C.B. Cebulski, recent Eisner winning Star Wars and Mighty Thor writer Jason Aaron, writer Kieron Gillen, and writer of both Captain America titles Nick Spencer.
- Aaron says upcoming issues of Star Wars will see the rebels stealing a Star Destroyer, with Han and Chewbacca trying to pilot
- Gillen promises an “explosive” conclusion to Darth Vader, likening it to a novel about a fixed point in Vader’s life, and that Vader will have his own “Dagobah moment”.
- Spencer announced Civil War II: The Oath, which will follow Carol Danvers and Tony Stark in the aftermath of Civil War II. They both look for guidance from Steve Rogers, and Spencer says that will have “major consequences throughout the Marvel Universe”. Rod Reis will illustrate.
- The new Black Panther: World of Wakanda will be written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay, Alitha Martinez doing the art. The focus will be on two former Dora Milaje in stories that spin off from the principal Black Panther title.
- Captain America (Sam Wilson) will team up with Rage to go up against the Americops in a story from Spencer. And USAgent will return as well. Spencer also hinted that events in Civil War II had been influenced by “Hail Hydra” Steve Rogers.
- This winter: Inhumans vs. X-Men by Charles Soule and Jeff Lemire with art from Leinil Yu. The Inhumans determine that in order to save the Terrigen Mists, they must destroy the X-Men. No release date yet.
- The Guardians of the Galaxy will appear in Goodnight, Groot. Yes, it’s a parody of Goodnight, Moon.
- To the disappointment of many, certainly, Alonso says there are currently no plans to bring back the Fantastic Four.
- Alonso also said that announcements about Miracleman would be forthcoming.
The panel ended with footage from Legion:
Meanwhile, over at the “Women of Marvel” panel, moderator Judy Stephens welcomed Sana Amanat, Adri Cowan, Lorraine Cink, G. Willow Wilson, Margaret Stohl, Ann Foley, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actresses Chloe Bennet, Ming Na Wen, and Elizabeth Henstridge.
- Marvel will have fifteen cosplay variant covers in September and October, the second time they’ve done covers of this sort.
- Amanat says of Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur: “Moon Girl will discover she’s the smartest person in the Marvel Universe at only 9 years old.”
- Web host Lorraine Cink is working on a book called Marvel: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know.
- Stohl, the new writer on Captain Marvel, also has another Black Widow prose novel coming: Red Vengence.
- Wilson told the panel that Kamala Khan, the current Ms. Marvel, will find out being part of the Avengers isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and there will be a forthcoming story about how she got her bracelet.
In addition, the original Nova, Richard Rider, will be making his return to Marvel Comics in a relaunch of Nova as part of the Marvel NOW! Rider joins the current Nova, Sam Alexander.
I’ll Be In My Trailer Watching Trailers
Besides the trailer for Legion, Marvel also released a new teaser for the upcoming season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which, sadly, will still not have Mockingbird, as Adrianne Palicki is on Seth MacFarlane’s new show…)
Gabriel Luna joins the cast as Robbie Reyes, the current incarnation of Ghost Rider (sadly, no Nicolas Cage…). Rumors began to fly after sightings of promotional images showing the flaming chains against the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem. Some had speculated it might mean a bigger role for Hellfire (Axle Whitehead), but it doesn’t appear that the Inhumans will have a major role in the upcoming season — at least not right away.
“Season 4 will unquestionably be the series’ biggest, most ambitious story yet, and it all begins with the introduction of one of our greatest legacy characters in Ghost Rider,” said Executive Producer/Head of Marvel Television, Jeph Loeb. “When the Spirit of Vengeance rides into S.H.I.E.L.D., it’ll change everything.”
At the “Women of Marvel” panel, Chloe Bennett talked about being the villain this year. She promised that Daisy is going rogue and will separate herself from the team. Speaking to the opportunity the show has given her as an actress from Chicago, Bennett said, “I thought I had to have blonde hair and blue eyes to do what I do, and now I’m a superhero. I was told when I first got to LA that I wasn’t white enough to be the lead, but I’m not Asian enough to be the best friend…This is a dream come true. And I work with Mulan!”
Ming-Na Wen (who was at Planet Comicon in 2014), talked about being a “Chinese geek girl” (president of the high school SF club, player of D&D) in a very white suburb: “For me comics and this whole genre…It was my salvation. You could escape into it. You become the heroine…Whatever you wanted to be.”
And although Agent Carter has been canceled, Dominic Cooper told audiences Friday that there were talks to revive the show in some form. A petition for a third season is making the rounds at Change.org, and there was speculation that Netflix could possibly pick up the show. However, it’s since been confirmed that Netflix won’t be giving Peggy her badge back.
On the Netflix side, Marvel dropped a trailer for Luke Cage and teasers for Iron Fist and Defenders:
https://youtu.be/wBZtM8q2Z1g
Marvel also teased Iron Fist with this image on Twitter:
The journey begins. #IronFist #MarvelSDCC pic.twitter.com/VKws7aBSmd
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 22, 2016
Finn Jones stars as Danny Rand, with Dexter alum Scott Buck serving as showrunner. Iron Fist will premiere in 2017, likely around March, as that’s six months after the September 30th debut of Luke Cage.
And it looks as if Luke has his own version of the hallway fight…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymw5uvViqPU
Marvel also confirmed (to no one’s surprise) that a third season of Daredevil is in the works:
Next stop: Hell’s Kitchen. #Daredevil Season 3 is coming soon. #MarvelSDCChttps://t.co/hdSmN4mfMv
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 22, 2016
So far, no date has been set for the release of new episodes. Speculation has Bullseye finally making an appearance in the show, although that has yet to be confirmed. There is also a possibility Jon Bernthal’s Punisher could show up before moving over to his own Netflix outing.
Big Screen Surprises
Hall H is also where we got a first look at footage from Spider-Man: Homecoming. Director Jon Watts showed up and joined Kevin Feige on stage with many of the cast, including Tom Holland (Peter Parker), Zendaya (the mysterious Michelle), Laura Harrier (Liz Allan), Jacob Batalon (Ned Leeds), and Tony Revolori (Flash Thompson).
Feige gave props to former Sony exec Amy Pascal for recognizing that the best thing for the character was for Marvel to take over.
Michael Keaton was also confirmed to be playing Adrian Toomes, the Vulture, confirming weeks of speculation.
“Vulture’s the first real villain in the Spider-Man comics,” Watts says to Entertainment Weekly, “He’s in the second issue. He’s one of the classics from the best rogues’ gallery out there, and we’ve never seen him, he’s never been brought to life.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming opens July 7, 2017.
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe panel also got a surprise visit from the cast of Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger), Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia), director Ryan Coogler, and newly announced Danai Gurira (Okoye), who’s still wrapping her head around the idea that she’s a part of the project.
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn has said all along that Kurt Russell was not playing J’Son, and many speculated. However, he is playing the father of Peter Quill. The reveal is that Russell’s character is Ego the Living Planet, who first appeared in Thor #132 in 1966.
In the footage shown in Hall H, Sylvester Stallone is seen in what appears to be a Nova Corp uniform.
Now we just have to have a Tango & Cash wink. Right?
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And as we reported last week, Brie Larson has been confirmed as Carol Danvers in the upcoming Captain Marvel, plus any other films where the character will appear.
Larson, who won an Academy Award for her performance in Room, was rumored to be circling the role for a while. Fan favorites for casting included Katee Sackhoff and Rhonda Rousey. She was already on hand at San Diego to promote Kong: Skull Island, in which she appears opposite Tom Hiddleston.
In the aftermath of the announcement, Larson shared this sentiment via Instagram:
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Hulk’s armor from Thor: Ragnarok was on display, and some are wondering if we’ll get any kind of Planet Hulk.
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Meanwhile, on the animation side of things, Marvel Animation announced a fourth season of Avengers Assemble on Disney XD, and the season gets the title Avengers: Secret Wars after the printed story of the same name. The original team will disappear and a new team will assemble: Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Vision, Ms. Marvel joined by Wasp, Ant-Man and Jane Foster Thor — the New Avengers.
Disney XD will also air a series of shorts starring Rocket Raccoon and Groot inspired by the artwork of Skottie Young.
Rocket & Groot shorts, "Marvel's Avengers: Secret Wars," and more announced at #MarvelSDCC! https://t.co/0VEEtDZFFchttps://t.co/Ad0pOrXEEP
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 23, 2016
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So that’s pretty much everyone except the First Family of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four.
While there are currently no plans to bring back the classic team of Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben, IDW Publishing has announced that its Artist Edition line will feature the art of Jack Kirby from Fantastic Four #82-83 along with Fantastic Four Annual #6 in a collection titled Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four Artist’s Edition to be released January 2017.
“Kirby’s inventive story-telling set the bar that Marvel has honored for decades,” Marvel exec David Gabriel said in an official press release. “We couldn’t be prouder to see this fantastic work made available in this new prestige over-sized format that pays tribute to Jack ‘The King’ Kirby’s exemplary talent and skill.”
So in the interim while fans wait for Marvel Comics to reunite the FF, fans will have plenty of other material to keep them occupied. And perhaps — perhaps — this is all part of a plan to bring the Fantastic Four back to the House of Ideas so that Marvel Studios can finally have them.
Perhaps.
