During the 2022 Comic-Con in San Diego, Marvel Studios showcased its upcoming animated offerings in a panel specifically devoted to those upcoming Disney+ projects. Since then, updates have been few and far between, leading to concerns the likes of Spider-Man: Freshman Year and Marvel Zombies might have fallen by the wayside.
What If...? season 2 and X-Men '97 are still thought to be heading our way in 2024, but beyond that, we can only assume the rest of them remain in various stages of production.
The Cosmic Circus (via Toonado.com) recently shared an update today after doing some digging and unearthing a number of production companies founded by Marvel Studios. These are all for upcoming animated projects, including one called "Maglev Train" that's working on "Golden City."
Those were previously reserved for what was thought to be Black Panther director Ryan Coogler's Wakanda-set spin-off series, but the live-action project is now going to be animated. This may have been the plan from the start, of course, and this does line up with recent rumours.
The Dora Milaje are rumoured to be the focal point of a show which picks up after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and we'd hopefully be right in assuming Coogler will utilise a unique animation style which pays homage to African artwork.
Elsewhere, the site speculates that "Great Pumpkin" may be a nod to either Spider-Man: Freshman Year or Marvel Zombies, though they're unsure what Battle Anybody Productions LLC's "Rock the Bells" might be referencing.
Here's where things get really interesting, though; the site believes Speyside Productions LLC's "Mortlach" could be tied to X-Men '97, possibly indicating a spin-off is in the works. Marvel Studios appears to be going all in on the X-Men: The Animated Series follow-up, so they may well have plans to expand the franchise (perhaps, as the site suggests, with a show based on the Morlocks, an underground society of mutants).
We wouldn't get too excited yet but it seems animation will have a place in the MCU moving forward!
In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba) fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.
As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. Introducing Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of Talokan, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler, is now available on Disney+.