SDCC 2026: MCU Edition - Avengers: Doomsday, New Movies Announced

San Diego Comic Con has come once again and while I'll be covering the DC content next week, Marvel fans weren't lacking in that department.

To no surprise, there was a large focus on both Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31st) and Avengers: Doomsday (December 18th). In fact, the majority of the cast for the latter movie were on stage as was Kevin Feige. Ryan Reynolds also popped up as a grey version of Deadpool and the re-release of Avengers: Endgame will contain an exclusive look at Avengers: Doomsday. Spider-Man: Brand New Day also had exclusive footage shown, involving the Punisher and Incredible Hulk.

Now while I was slightly disappointed we didn't get anything on the X-Men, we did get the announcement of two movies that will be coming out in 2028. First up, there's Ghost Rider with Ryan Gosling in the title role. The movie will be directed by Shawn Levy, who last directed Deadpool & Wolverine. This definitely feels like it's being fast tracked for a summer release. 

Of course the biggest news concerned Black Panther III. Not only was the movie officially dated for December 15th 2028 and Ryan Coogler confirmed to direct but that wasn't the only announcement. David Jonsson was confirmed to be playing an older version of T'Challa and would be assuming the Black Panther mantle along with his aunt Shuri. Letitia Wright was also confirmed to be returning for the film. The film will also be shot on a larger former celluloid film.

Overall, I think this was a good panel. We got two movies announced and more hype for the two that are coming this year.

My Review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

 

Written by Ryan Coogler And Joe Cole

Directed by Ryan Coogler

M'Baku: "The Black Panther lives."

To get the elephant out of the room first. There was a part of me that thought when Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020 that the best thing the MCU could've done was to pull this sequel from the schedule. That maybe it could've been delayed for another phase and potentially the role of T'Challa might have been recast when enough time had passed.

However the MCU had a different idea and this sequel had a hell of a balancing act to perform. It needed to be a tribute to the hard work and legacy of both Chadwick Boseman as an actor and of course to T'Challa as a character. This was not a perfect sequel but make no mistake - both Chadwick Boseman and T'Challa are honoured and their respective legacies are treated with the utmost respect while also moving the story forward for the remaining characters and the MCU as a whole.

The movie opened with the death of T'Challa as well as Shuri's (Letitia Wright) anguish of being unable to duplicate the heart shaped herb, which Shuri had believed would've saved her brother's life. Then we cut to a year later and while Shuri was unable to let go over her grief, her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) had to deal with the US government underestimating Wakanda's strength as a nation along with their own quest to access Vibranium for their own purposes.

Of course the US government would not be the biggest problem for Wakanda in this movie. Nope that would come in the form of underwater ruler, Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), who made it pretty clear to both Ramonda and Shuri if Wakanda didn't ally itself with his kingdom, Talokan, he'd take out Wakanda first in his war against the surface world.

The MCU have had their mixed bag of villains but I definitely think that Namor has quickly risen up the rank as one of the strongest. Huerta gave a charismatic performance with Namor given a very intriguing backstory stepped in South America lore while Talokan offered something of an interesting alternative to the DCU's depiction of Atlantis. 

Not to mention that Namor's actions and the unfortunate death of Ramonda definitely forced Shuri's hand into assuming her brother's former mantle, which I did have mixed feelings about. Saying that though, the fight scenes between the new Black Panther and Namor are handled well enough before the two of them come to something of impasse. While Shuri might have taken a while to find her footing as both a potential new ruler and hero, Namor seemed content to bide his time against a bigger future obstacle.

As for the rest of the movie, we did get an introduction to the future Ironheart, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who made a solid impression while characters such Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Ayo (Florence Kusuma) and Aneka (Michaela Cole) all had some great moments. It's a very female led movie and aside from Namor himself, the only male characters to really do anything were M'Baku (Winston Duke) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and even their roles are somewhat scaled back by comparison.

- The title sequence led the charge in being dedicated to Chadwick Boseman with various clips of T'Challa appearing in the movie.

- Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louise Dreyfuss) not only appeared in this movie, but she was revealed to be Everett's ex-wife and going by the events, it looks like she'll be setting up the Thunderbolts as a result.

- Both Okoye and Aneka became the Midnight Angels upon Shuri building them their suits. Aneke was also romantically involved with Ayo.

- The mid credit scene revealed that Nakia living in Haiti with a son named Toussaint, whose Wakandan named translated as T'Challa.

- Standout music: Rihanna's Lift Me Up. Some great score music as well.

- Chronology: Over six years since the events of the first movie.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever doesn't hit the same mark as the first movie but it's a sequel that had a hell of a task ahead of it. For the most part, I think Ryan Coogler managed to tackle as best he could and many would've faltered under the weight of it as well. The movie served as a touching tribute both Chadwick Boseman and T'Challa, while pushing the story forward in a respectful way. A worthy sequel in more ways than one.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Black Panther (2018)

Written by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole
Directed by Ryan Coogler

T'Challa: "We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."

Following the rapturous reception the character got when he first appeared in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, this was always going to be a film that would impact audiences beyond the usual comic book fans. It was also going to be a film that would generate a lot of hype to the point where you'd wonder if said hype would be justified.

The answer to that though is a resounding yes though. While I'm more of a DC film universe guy, I do like the Marvel universe as well and even I was anticipating this movie. I really wanted it to be great. However it was more than that. If you see only one comic book movie of the year, then this is the one to see.

Following the death of his father, T'Chaka (John Kani), it now falls to the current Black Panther, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) to take up his father's mantle and become king of fictional African technological wonderland, Wakanda and after enduring a rather challenge trial, including temporary losing his powers, beating a would be challenger in M'Baku (Winston Duke) and going on a quest to the ancestral plane, T'Challa assumes the role and is determined to be a fair ruler and to learn from his father's mistakes.

One of the mistakes being the failure to apprehend arms dealer, Ulysses Klause (Andy Serkis) and along with former girlfriend/activist, Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), the head of his female led army the Dora Milaje, Okoye (Danai Gurira) and CIA operative, Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), T'Challa comes close to taking down Klause, only for the arrival of Michael B. Jordan's antagonist Erik "Killmonger" Stevens/N'Jadaka to enter the fray and cause even more mayhem.

In terms of ongoing villains, the MCU have had their hit and misses, but it's safe to assume that Killmonger will definitely fall into the former category even after the dust settles with this movie. He's an engaging and reasonably sympathetic baddie in the sense that he actually wants justice and feels that with Wakanda's advanced technology they should be making more of an effort to help those who are oppressed but his methods are also a stark constrast to T'Challa's and he wastes no time in nearly usurping the current King in order to take over as both rule of Wakanda and as the Black Panther.

While the movie does move a little quickly in Killmonger's victory to defeat, the journey there is rather compelling, especially in light of the connection that he shares with T'Challa and the latter's convictions in not wanting to repeat former mistakes from previous monarchs. I really did like that T'Challa showed his willingness to learn and try to make things better, even if Killmonger himself couldn't do the same himself.

In the title role, Chadwick Boseman is excellent as T'Challa/Black Panther as is Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger but this film has so many excellent performers and moments throughout. For example, both Nakia and Okoye are wonderfully drawn out characters but the standout female character easily has to be Letitia Wright's Shuri, the younger sister of T'Challa and Wakanda's tech genius to boot. She's warm, clever, engaging, funny and easily one of the best female characters ever seen in a comic movie. She's a character you'll leave the cinema wanting to see more of.

As for Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker, both of them do excellent jobs as T'Challa's mother, Romanda and statesman Zuri while Daniel Kaluuya was on good form as T'Challa's ally briefly turned traitor, W'Kabi. Both Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis put in strong performances as both Everett and Ulysses alike and Winston Duke was another standout for me as M'Baku but to be honest, there's not a single bad performance in the entire movie.

For a movie with a very big political slant (one that too many media outlets have seized in an attempt of baiting people), it never feels like the audience is being patronised. The issue about what to do to help other places in need is skillfully handled and it's poignancy is truly felt in one of the two post credits scenes on offer here as well.

- The opening weekend for this movie is a strong indicator that this is going to be another billion hitter for the MCU.
- Post Credits for this movie include T'Challa taking to world leaders about helping out with Wakanda's advanced technology while another scene had Shuri looking after Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).
- Most of the action in this film might have been in Wakanda but we also saw London, California and Korea during prominent scenes as well.
- The soundtrack is one of the best movies ones we've had recently. There's a few musical highlights but my current favourite would be Kendrick Lamar/SZA's All The Stars.

Black Panther is a triumph of a movie. Both entertaining and topical in equal measure with plenty of pathos, humour, heart, jaw dropping stunts, gorgeously shot sequences (the ancestral plane ones being the obvious case in point), engaging characters, a hero willing to change and an engaging villain. The best thing being as well that we won't have to wait long to catch up with some of these characters too before the inevitable sequel is commissioned given that Infinity War will be out in a few months time.

Rating: 9 out of 10