Hello, friends, and welcome back to The Sunday Post. I am writing tonight from the balcony of my condo overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, ready to catch you up on all the news from last night’s massive Marvel Studios Hall H panel from San Diego Comic-Con.
But first, I have several Friends From Work updates, starting with the MCU Spider-Man Binge Pack available NOW on Patreon. For just $5 (FIVE!), you get access to every Spider-Man movie review Kyle and Robby have done. All eight previous live-action movies, with just enough time to prepare for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. No monthly commitment, no strings attached. You will not be disappointed.
Kyle was live in San Diego for Comic-Con and you can find all his reactions from the press room on the FFW YouTube. Robby will be joining him tomorrow to record their reactions to all the big announcements. The guys will also be seeing Spider-Man: Brand New Day tomorrow, and recording their instant reaction pod so it will be ready for your ears as soon as you walk out of the theater on Thursday! And based on the current trajectory of pre-sales (it is trending north of $300 million for the opening weekend in North America), most of you will be seeing it on Thursday.
Now over to…
THE WATERCOOLER
THIS WEEK IN THE MCU
Let’s just go in chronological order from the weekend in San Diego. On Friday, Michael Giacchino shared a new clip from Spider-Man: Brand New Day and his son Mick shared the first look at the theme for the upcoming VisionQuest series on Disney+.
Early Saturday, Marvel’s Head of Television, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, announced that season 3 of X-Men ‘97 is already finished and ready to release in 2027. The first clip from the new season was shown to those in attendance at the panel.
And now onto the main event- Kevin Feige kicked off the Hall H panel by talking about Avengers: Endgame Encore, coming on September 25th. He debuted a trailer for the re-release and tickets should go on sale soon.
Next, Feige surprised everyone by announcing a new Ghost Rider movie coming in 2028 starring Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) and directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine). Reportedly, the movie will be written by Jonathan Tropper, who most recently created the miniseries Lucky, which I reviewed for FFW.
Next, the cast of Avengers: Doomsday took the stage, finally confirming the return of Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter for the movie.
Kevin Feige couldn’t end the night without one more big surprise- announcing that Ryan Coogler is returning to the MCU to direct Black Panther 3, set to release on December 15th, 2028. Not only that, but Coogler also brought out the next Black Panther, a grown T’Challa II, to be played by David Jonsson (The Long Walk).
There are many great interviews with cast members and creators who were in attendance at SDCC, as they all worked the press line after the panel ended. I encourage you to seek out coverage, but wanted to highlight a pair of interviews from Entertainment Weekly, one with Robert Downey Jr., and one with Chris Evans. Downey talked about the parallels between Tony Stark and Victor Von Doom, and Evans discussed the many, many pitches that Marvel Studios threw at him before finally agreeing to return to the role of Steve Rogers for Doomsday. And don’t miss Brandon Davis’s exclusive five-minute interview with the man himself- Kevin Feige.
BEYOND THE MULTIVERSE
While Marvel was dominating the discourse all weekend, the DCU managed to sneak in a pair of brand-new trailers for their remaining 2026 projects. Lanterns premieres in less than a month. Listen to Jaylen and Matt over at The Sons of Gunn podcast (part of the Friends From Work Podcast Network) for their breakdowns of both trailers.
TRUE BELIEVERS RUMOR OF THE WEEK
I did not do terribly with my predictions for SDCC. There was a trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, but the public trailer was actually released on Monday. There was a new cast member announced for Avengers: Doomsday (Hayley Atwell). But there was nothing about Avengers: Secret Wars, let alone about it being broken into two movies.
Next up is D23, and believe it or not, that event is less than three weeks away. After SDCC focused primarily on the movies, I expect D23 will offer a lot more info on the television shows, including the first trailer for VisionQuest.
PANEL BOUND COMICS PICK OF THE WEEK
GHOST RIDER BY JASON AARON OMNIBUS
If you are like me, you are completely unfamiliar with Johnny Blaze, the iconic Ghost Rider. I have never read a single comic featuring the character. But I am very familiar with Jason Aaron, so what better place to start learning about the Spirit of Vengeance than with this Jason Aaron omnibus from our friends at Panel Bound Comics. You can use code “FRIENDSFROMWORK” to get an additional discount off your purchase.
That’s going to do it for tonight. It’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day week! Make sure you are following Kyle, Robby, and myself on all the socials so you don’t miss anything. Enjoy the movie, and I’ll see you right back here next Sunday.
-Greg
