SAN DIEGO: Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con with dancing Deadpool variants and a choir for a panel that included news about the next two Avengers films and surprise guests, including Harrison Ford and Robert Downey Jr.
Downey is returning to Marvel's films, but not as Iron Man. He'll play the villain Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom, in one of the upcoming Avengers movies.
Downey kicked off Marvel's movie successes with Iron Man and played the popular character in nine films.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige kicked off the panel by saying that due to this weekend's success of Deadpool & Wolverine, the sprawling Marvel cinematic universe had now topped USD 30 billion in box-office earnings. The movie which released on Thursday, has already broken one record and could shatter more in its opening weekend.
Feige used Saturday's panel to chart the course ahead for the MCU, revealing Ford's character in the next movie Captain America and revealing Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: Doomsday as the titles of the next two films in the epic superhero team-up series.
Feige said all the actors introduced Saturday would appear in the upcoming Avengers movies, which will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo.
The brothers guided the Avengers franchise through its sprawling storyline capped by Avengers: Endgame in 2019 which included the death of Downey's Tony Stark/Iron Man character.
Saturday's session comes after Marvel skipped the convention last year due to the Hollywood strikes, which prevented writers and actors from speaking on panels.
The cast of Captain America includes Brave New Wold Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez and Anthony Mackie.
Esposito revealed that he will be playing the villain, Seth Voelker, also known as Sidewinder.
The cast and director of Thunderbolts(asterisk) also surprised fans with a short clip from the movie. The film is slated to be released in May 2025.
The Deadpool & Wolverine success woke up a sleepy year for Marvel and assuaged worries about its box-office underperformance in late 2023.
The superhero factory hit a record low in November with the launch of The Marvels, which opened with just USD 47 million.