For the next few days, New York City will be the center of the pop culture world as NYCC ’24 gets underway. Though it’s typically not been used to deliver major breaking news about upcoming Marvel or DC projects, both studios have certainly promoted films and series in the past and will do so again this year.
In Marvel’s case, fans will be able to take visit a booth with a display of costumes from Marvel Television’s upcoming streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again. And while anything more may have seemed like wishful thinking, early arrivals at the event caught the first glimpse of a brand new Marvel logo that includes the first look at multiple characters expected to appear in upcoming projects.
The new logo, which is starting to pop up all over social media, not only gives fans great, new looks at Harrison Ford‘s Red Hulk, Anthony Mackie‘s Captain America and a few characters from the 2025 film Thunderbolts* but also a great shot of H.E.R.B.I.E., Jeff the Shark and Galacta, the daughter of Galactus.
New Marvel logo with Fantastic Four, Red Hulk, Thunderbolts*, and more on it at NYCC! pic.twitter.com/cpGdfpKiJd
Though it’s not been confirmed, it is incredibly likely that Jeff and Galacta are simply part of Marvel Comics’ presentation or their video game presentation. On the other hand, the logo also includes close up looks at Daredevil, Wilson Fisk from Daredevil: Born Again and the Human Torch who, along with H.E.R.B I.E., will be seen in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Additionally, the inclusion of characters from What If…? in the logo all but guarantees the third season of the canonical animated adventure will hit Disney Plus in 2025. As it stands, the studio’s 2025 slate currently includes:
As it moves through its nine-episode season, it’s become increasingly clear that Agatha All Along was never intended to be about Agatha all along. Initially the unassuming familiar of Agatha Harkness’ coven of chaos, Joe Locke‘s Teen has emerged as the true protagonist of the second half of the series. Following the Episode 5 reveal that Teen is Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff believed to have been erased from existence in the WandaVision finale, the true nature of the character immediately changed the focus of the series. With Episode 6 detailing how Billy came to be entangled with William Kaplan, the final three episodes look set to proceed with a new storytelling purpose that was made clear before Episode 5 wrapped.
While the “Billy reveal” wasn’t truly a surprise to a large percentage of the MCU’s fan base, the revelation of why Billy wanted to walk the Witches’ Road may have been a surprise to those unfamiliar with the very detailed leaks about the plot of Agatha All Along. Despite Teen expressing a desire to obtain power at the end of the Road, much of the online discussion about his real motives (most of which were based on the assumption he was truly Billy Maximoff) leaned into the idea that he would use the Road to find his mother. Episode 6 made it clear that the Wanda problem remains one to be solved another day.
Thanks to some detective-esque interrogation from Agatha, Billy’s true motivation for walking the Witches’ Road came bursting forth in a show of strong emotion. What Billy is truly missing and hopes to find at the end of the road is his twin brother, Tommy. Like Billy, Tommy was believed to be erased from existence as Wanda undid the hex. However, as is the case with Billy, Tommy’s soul remains on Earth-616. Moreover, Billy can feel his twin’s presence but is unable to locate him.
With three episodes left to go, there’s still some exploration of other witch’s stories to go, a trial or two and at least one incredibly interesting twist; however, with Billy’s true intention for manipulating Agatha to leading the way down the Witches’ Road having been revealed, the show has changed course and one has to wonder what adventures will be in store for Billy and Tommy, if and when they reunite.
Through its first six episodes, Marvel Studios’ first WandaVision spinoff, Agatha All Along, has been nothing short of spellbinding. In Episode 5, “Darkest Hour/Wake They Power”, creator Jac Schaefferrevealed that Joe Locke‘s unassuming Teen was actually Wanda Maximoff’s son, Billy. Though it was certainly not a surprise to hardcore fans of either the MCU or Marvel Comics, general audiences who don’t read comics or scour the internet for every leak, rumor and scoop may have found themselves not only surprised but a little confused about how Earth-616 Billy, who disappeared when Wanda undid The Hex, could be alive and rather well. More multiversal shenanigans? More magic? Fortunately, the wait to find out was not a long one as Episode 6, “Familiar By Thy Side”, set out to explain the previous episode’s twist.
Though the big Billy reveal was indeed part of multiple and widespread leaks about Agatha All Along, the “how” of it all was not necessarily front-page news. And as is Marvel Studios’ way, Schaeffer chose not to follow along step-by-step with the way Marvel Comics handled Billy Maximoff’s “rebirth”, opting to create a more connected in-universe option. For those who haven’t seen it yet or find themselves a little confused, let’s look at how it all went down.
Even if the mechanics of it all aren’t quite clear right away, the bare bones explanation for what’s going on is that just as Billy Maximoff and his brother, Tommy, disappeared as their mother ended the hex that created them, a teenager named William Kaplan (Locke) was killed in a single car accident. As Kaplan’s soul left his body, Billy’s soul moved into the “empty vessel” and as the body reanimated, it was Billy behind the wheel.
As he explains in the episode, Billy has none of William Kaplan’s memories and has been essentially posing as the teen for three years, a stranger within the body of another person. Interestingly enough, Billy retained the psionic powers he displayed in WandaVision while also, obviously, learning spellcraft along the way.
Moving forward, it should be clear that Locke’s Teen is truly Billy Maximoff wearing the skinsuit of William Kaplan. How the studio will choose to proceed with identifying the character is already a topic of conversation among Marvel Comics fans with the very simple solution of calling him Billy Kaplan deemed as a solid compromise. Whatever the case, it’s now clear that Locke’s character has a future beyond Agatha All Along, though with the studio taking its time producing new streaming series, it could be years until we see the next chapter.
With production on Marvel Studios and Sony’s Spider-Man 4 finally set to get underway in 2025, buzz around the project has been steadily growing over the past several months. Though the project has been in development since before Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters in 2022 and rumors about its potential plot have been popping up for almost as long, it wasn’t until Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton boarded the project following a rumored script overhaul that the wildest and most exciting rumors started to fly.
Once widely believed to be a team-up film featuring Spidey, Daredevil and other street-level heroes taking on Wilson Fisk, the latest word on the film’s script, by Spidey vets Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, is that it will bring Sony’s Spidey-adjacent universe’s biggest star into the MCU and, along with him, one of the most terrifying villains to hit the pages of Marvel Comics in the last decade: Knull, the King in Black. Though there’s no confirmation of exactly what the actual plan is for Spider-Man 4, reports of screenings of Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance indicate that the film may indeed set up the prospects of an unprecedented studio crossover in which Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock finds himself fully integrated into the MCU and not just visiting for a short-term bender in Mexico. As the release date of Sony’s third and final installment in the Venom franchise draws near, Hardy was asked about the recent rumors and his response may be quite telling.
When asked by a reporter what the odds of Spider-Man showing up in Venom: The Last Dance might be, Hardy slyly responded by saying, “You know…you know, there are always possibilities. I couldn’t possibly say anything because this is the last movie.” Before moving on, Hardy added, “Yeah, I would love that.” As not only the star of the Venom franchise but also a writer and producer on The Last Dance, Hardy is in a unique position to know exactly what those possibilities are for this film and beyond.
This is just the beginning for Knull. We’re in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen,but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull.
–Venom: The Last Dance director Kelly Marcel
Despite Sony putting a bow on the Venom franchise in The Last Dance, director Kelly Marcel recently confirmed that Knull’s story is just beginning. However, with the two most popular symbiote (Venom and Carnage) apparently off the board, it would seem foolish–even for Sony–to try to move forward with a symbiote-centric story. But according to Marcel, “One movie could never do justice to Knull,” which means that somehow, someway, there’s more story to tell. With a piece of the Venom symbiote already on Earth-616 and Hardy’s Brock reportedly headed back to the MCU’s Sacred Timeline, it’s easy to draw the conclusion the the King in Black will find his way there as well.
After a two-and-a-half year wait following its debut, Season 2 of Amazon’s animated Invincible came out of the gate strong…and then took a four month hiatus before finishing on a somber note. Mid-season delays have become more common in the streaming era and with animated series already taking longer to produce, fans began to wonder just how long it might be before they could enjoy all of Season 3. Now they have the answer.
After a leaked version of the Season 3 trailer made the rounds over the weekend, the studio decided to share the real thing complete with a release date and a promise that the new season won’t take a break!
Season 3 of Invincible will make its way to Amazon Prime Video on February 6, 2025
Welcome to Burger Mart! Please enjoy a hot BM with Mark and Cecil, along with update on Season 3 of… pic.twitter.com/bPVqXrPzDs
As promised by show runner Simon Racioppa, the wait between Seasons 2 and 3 is significantly shorter than the 30 month wait fans had after the breathtaking Season 1 finale.
No new episode this week, so how about an everything we know about Season 3 so far post pic.twitter.com/xklLt65ePf
We’re an hour long animated show which is very unusual, but we have so many characters and so many settings, even in just one episode that we’re really kind of pushing the limits of what can be done in animation. So it takes a long time to make it. But it has also taken a long time to learn how to do it and figure it out because we’re doing a lot of things that you don’t necessarily do in animation.
–Invincible creator Robert Kirkman
The quick turnaround is encouraging not only in that it will allow for a much shorter gap following the devastating second half of Season 2 but also holds potential for further seasons of the adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel to start to roll out in shorter order as well. With Kirkman hoping the series runs for seven or eight seasons, that isn’t only good news, it’s also quite necessary.
In nearly every way imaginable, DC Studios’ Superman may be the most pivotal comic book movie since 2008. By choosing to write and direct the project and have it lead off the studio’s all-new, all-different DCU, DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn went all in on making the Man of Steel a priority for the fledgling shared universe. In this way, Gunn’s vision for the character will be the audience’s first true impression and likely define whether or not the DCU ultimately takes off.
The good news there is that Gunn’s love for the character and the incredible mythology that’s been built up around him over the last 86 years is well known. And while that doesn’t guarantee Superman will be a success, photos from the set and reports from screenings have given fans reason to hope, which is what the character is all about. Some of those set photos seemed to tease the inclusion of one of Superman’s most loveable supporting characters, Krypto. Now, Gunn has not only confirmed the inclusion of the Superdog but also shared a first look at the powerful pup!
Krypto arrives on screens in Superman this summer. Krypto was inspired by our dog Ozu, who we adopted shortly after I started writing Superman. Ozu, who came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs & never knew human beings, was problematic to say the least. He… pic.twitter.com/zw8rVqv0n0
A well-known animal lover, Gunn also shared a touching story about how his own dog, Ozu, whoche and his wife rescued from an unfortunate situation. From the sounds of the story, Krypto will be both an integral part of the story and also cause some chaos!
Venom: The Last Dance may well be the final installment in Sony’s Tom Hardy-led franchise but it’s become clear that the studio isn’t done experimenting with symbiotes just yet. The Last Dance is set to introduce the Marvel Comics villain Knull, the creator of the symbiote race and one of the oldest and most evil characters in the cosmos. However, Knull does not have a large role in this film, with the studio choosing to introduce the character in order to set him up as a far greater threat to be dealt with down the road, something akin to what Marvel Studios did with Thanos in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
In an interview with IGN, Marcel seemingly confirmed the latest and greatest rumors about the future of the character, saying “This is just the beginning for Knull.” “We’re in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen,” cautioned Marcel, “but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull.
“The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done.’ This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story,” explained Marcel before comparing the studio’s plans for Knull to those of Marvel Studio’s greatest film villains, saying, “Marvel’s greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom’s partnership — but it’s their relationship that remains the heart of this story.”
Knowing that Knull is after his creations and that part of Eddie Brock’s symbiote was left behind on Earth-616 after his brief trip there certainly helps add fuel to the fire that Knull could eventually find his way into the MCU. And while Marcel doesn’t confirm it, she gives room for hope that one of Marvel Comics’ recent crossover events could unfold in Spider-Man 4. “As the fans know there are many, many more symbiote stories — the universe is wide and rich, and one movie could never do justice to Knull,” teased Marcel. “Beyond this trilogy, there are more stories to explore – God is coming.“
Don Cheadle‘s MCU debut as James Rhodes in Iron Man 2 was played as an ironic, in-universe joke meant to make light of him replacing Terrance Howard in the role. Over a decade later, it’s starting to seem as though Cheadle’s latest appearance may end up being his last and, unfortunately, an unironic joke.
Cheadle played a supporting role in the universally panned Disney Plus streaming series Secret Invasion. As revealed at D23 2022, Rhodey’s role in the series was intended to directly tie into Armor Wars, a Rhodey-centric project first announced during Disney’s 2020 Investor Day presentation. Originally conceived as a streaming series, the studio began developing Armor Wars as a film when, according to Marvel Parliament member Nate Moore, they realized “it felt too big for that show.“
Our Disney+ shows are awesome and we love them, but the budgets are not the same as the features, that’s not secret. And when you’re talking about a show that wants to be about seeing all the cool armors, and Don Cheadle interacting with all these armors, and the legacy of Tony Stark, that became cost-prohibitive to do as a show.
-Nate Moore
Indeed, according to Moore, the studio’s plans for Armor Wars had grown so large that the project would not only connect to Secret Invasion but also “affect other movies down the line.“
And we realized as a feature, not only can we get into some of the beautiful imagery that is from publishing and there’s certainly an Armor Wars run, but also there’s ways then to leverage the ideas of that movie that affect other movies down the line. So it becomes a multiplication really of, once you figure out what is cool about something…
-Nate Moore
Now, it’s beginning to look like that line of movies that were set to be affected by Armor Wars might just have to find another project to be products of. In an interview with TV Line, Cheadle cast some incredibly serious doubt on whether or not Armor Wars will ever see the light of day.
When asked if he knew where Armor Wars stood on the studio’s rapidly evolving slate, Cheadle replied, “You can find out and let me know.” When TV Line followed up by indicating the last real news on the project was that it had “switched from a TV series to a movie”, Cheadle made it clear that Rhodey’s solo project was not happening anytime soon. “Yeah. I think the word that’s the most salient in that sentence is “switched.” [Laughs] I don’t know, I’m not sure where anything is right now. I think things are going through a lot of changes, and we’ll see what happens, we’ll see what it is.“
Even the most optimistic interpretation of Cheadle’s comments would not leave much room for hope that Armor Wars remains a priority for Marvel Studios as they look to wrap up the Multiverse Saga and further comment from Cheadle does nothing to change that. After being asked about how the revelation that the Rhodey seen in Secret Invasion was a Skrull, meaning there’s no real indication of when the last time any significant time had been spent with the character, Cheadle replied, “Yeah, no shit.” The star then went on to explain that while he was willing to take the detour in Secret Invasion, it certainly seemed like it was part of a package deal that included Armor Wars.”Uh… you know, there was no… it wasn’t a demand. It was a request. “What do you think about playing this?” And it was to set up stuff in the following thing,” explained Cheadle. “So, if the following thing happens, and all those things were set up, then that’s one thing. If, as you said, it doesn’t, then we can talk about how I feel about it after!” As the studio looks to move ahead, it seems more and more likely that Armor Wars has been left behind.
For MCU fans who are also comic book fans or those who spend a great deal of time online, the identity of Joe Locke‘s Teen was never truly a mystery over the first 5 episodes of Agatha All Along. More casual fans, however, may have found themselves a bit more engaged in the series’ fun teases that led to the revelation in Episode 5 that Teen was a powerful witch in his own right. While the episode’s ending, which showed Teen in a magical blue crown, was all the confirmation most fans needed of who Locke was playing, Marvel Studios has erased all doubt ahead of Episode 6.
In a post shared across its various social media platforms, Marvel Studios has confirmed that Locke is playing Billy Maximoff, the son of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch!
Though the secret was out long ago, series’ creator Jac Schaeffer and the writing room did an admirable job of attempting to lead the audience in other directions. Those misdirects worked so well that, according to Locke, the majority of fans missed a tease that linked his character to Wanda in one of the series’ earlier episodes: his mother’s crown stitched into the back of his sweater.
You can do the most unsurprising thing in the most surprising way, and that’s how you hook an audience.
-Joe Locke on his character reveal in Agatha All Along
As the series heads into the back half, Locke, now free from the stress of keeping secrets, teases how the shift in power dynamics will play a major role moving forward. “The show starts with Billy being very much the familiar, the secondary to all the witches. Now we know he is also a witch, and that changes things,” explained Locke. “Also, we now know that he has the ability to cause harm to them. Therefore, he is now the most powerful person on the Road. What does that change in the dynamic of the group and how does that change the future of those relationships?“
Just how powerful is the most powerful person on the Road? Fans of the comics may have already figured that out and given the character’s ability in the comics to manipulate reality, they may well be right…
Though fans might debate whether Robert Downey Jr.‘s return to Marvel Studios was a publicity stunt or a brilliant casting decision, there’s little room for argument about the impact the star will have on the box office receipts for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. As one of the franchise’s central heroes, Tony Stark, Downey led the MCU to unimaginable success and is primed to do it again, this time as the newly minted main antagonist of the studio’s Multiverse Saga. The announcement of Downey as Victor Von Doom not only caught a lot of fans by surprise, it also changed the course of the remainder of the studio’s Multiverse Saga, potentially allowing for some projects to move ahead while putting others on the shelf, perhaps forever.
While the studio’s slate of projects for 2026 and 2027 remains largely unknown, the ongoing shared narrative does have two fixed points in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. And so while the Marvel Studios Parliament continues to rewrite the new saga on the fly, preparations are underway for Anthony and Joe Russo to get back to work with Downey and the rest of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday so it can meet its May 1, 2026 release date. And now, thanks to a new report from a reliable MCU insider, we have an idea of not only what that schedule might look like but also what else awaits Downey in his role as Doom.
According to long-time MCU inside man Daniel RPK, like Josh Brolin‘s Thanos before him, Downey’s Doom will indeed be the protagonist of Avengers: Doomsday. With a five-month shoot expected to kick off in the UK in March 2025, Downey is expected to be on set for three of those months while other stars are currently looking at only setting up shop for anywhere between one to four weeks.
How can we not go backwards? How can we not disappoint expectations? How can we continue to beat expectations? And he brought up Victor Von Doom. I looked into this character. Later on, he goes, ‘Let’s get Victor Von Doom right.’
-Robert Downey Jr. on Kevin Feige’s pitch for him to return to the MCU,THR
Given the lengths to which Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, went to bring Downy back into the fold as Doom, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the star will be front and center in Avengers: Doomsday and, likely, again in Avengers: Secret Wars. However, according to RPK, those won’t be the only projects in which Downey dons the mask. The insider suggests that in addition to those two films and 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Downey’s Doom may “potentially” appear in “some other projects between Doomsday and Secret Wars.”
Without a defined release slate for 2026 or 2027, it’s incredibly hard to pin down what those “other projects” might be; however, given the comic book history between Doctor Doom and Wanda Maximoff, it’s not too hard to imagine Downey joining Elizabeth Olsen in the rumored Scarlet Witch solo film, even though the two characters have to navigate the multiverse to make it happen. Similarly, a shared comic book history with Stephen Strange points to multiple potential opportunities for storytelling in the MCU, pairing Downey with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Master of the Mystic Arts. And, of course, any number of other possibilities exist and with Downey on board as Doom, it would seem as though a bad match would be hard to find.
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