After not attending San Diego Comic-Con in 2025, did Marvel Studios' return to Hall H live up to the hype?
Announcing Black Panther 3, a Ghost Rider film, and showcasing a brief snippet of new Avengers: Doomsday footage marked a pretty tame SDCC for Marvel Studios by their usual standards.
But did a somewhat muted SDCC this year for Marvel Studios occur because of the fact that D23 is only 3 weeks away?
You’d think having D23 so close would water down SDCC, but history actually says otherwise.
Hall H certainly remains Marvel’s ultimate home turf, but even when D23 is right around the corner, Comic-Con always gets first dibs on the studio's biggest, internet-shattering drops.
Going back over the last decade and looking at the years when SDCC and D23 sync up, you'll need to examine 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2024 specifically (D23 is a bi-annual event).
Those four years make one thing clear, and it's that SDCC and D23 feed off each other; the relationship is not parasitic, it's synergetic.
Marvel drops the heavy-hitting news in San Diego, then uses D23 to roll out the secondary details and keep the hype train rolling into the fall and holiday movie season.
| Year |
SDCC (July) |
D23 (August) |
| 2016 |
Brie Larson was cast as Captain Marvel, new footage from Spider-Man: Homecoming and Doctor Strange was shown. Casting updates for Black Panther, GotG 2, and Thor: Ragnarok were revealed |
No main D23 expo this year. |
| 2017 |
Marvel revealed Michelle Pfeiffer as the original Wasp in Ant-Man 2, a new trailer for Thor: Ragnarok was shown, teaser footage from Infinity War leaked online, and Captain Marvel was confirmed to be a prequel. |
Marvel unveiled Thanos' Black Order lieutenant and brought the full Infinity War cast on stage. |
| 2018 |
Marvel Studios skipped Hall H after having just released Avengers: Infinity War in April |
No main D23 expo this year. |
| 2019 |
Entire Phase 4 mapped out. Black Widow, Mahershala Ali announced as Blade, Thor: Love and Thunder was revealed, the Disney+ Marvel slate was announced. The Eternals and Shang-Chi cast were revealed. Feige also teased the Fantastic Four and X-Men for the first time. |
Feige took the stage to reveal a few more Marvel Disney+ shows in Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk. Wakanda Forever was given a release date, and Kit Harington was announced as Dane Whitman. |
| 2020 |
Marvel skips Hall H this year. SDCC canceled due to COVID-19 |
D23 had a special online-only event due to COVID-19. Marvel Studios skipped the event. |
| 2021 |
Marvel skipped Hall H this year. SDCC moved to online only due to COVID-19 |
No main D23 expo this year due to COVID-19. Event was rescheduled for 2022. |
| 2022 |
Marvel Studios mapped out all of Phase 5 and 6, as well as announced Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. Reveals included a new Fantastic Four film, Thunderbolts movie, first trailer for Wakanda Forever, new Quantomania footage shown, etc. |
Reveals included the Thunderbolts roster being confirmed, the Fantastic Four director was announced and the Leader was confirmed as the villain of Brave New World. |
| 2023 |
Marvel Studios skipped Hall H due to the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike |
No main D23 expo this year |
| 2024 |
Robert Downey Jr. revealed as Doom. Avengers: Kang Dynasty changed to Avengers: Doomsday. The Russo Bros. revealed to be returning as directors. First Thunderbolts* trailer released. Fantastic Four title revealed and Galactus confirmed. |
Marvel Studios focused on the Disney+ titles this year with updates on Daredevil, Agatha, Eyes of Wakanda and more streaming titles |
| 2025 |
Marvel Studios skipped Hall H |
No main D23 expo this year |
| 2026 |
New Avengers: Doomsday footage. Ghost Rider film revealed with Gosling casting. Black Panther 3 announced with new T'Challa Jr. actor. |
TBD |
Based on the above trend, it seems that D23 is likely to bring more news on Avengers: Doomsday, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther 3. It's very rare that Marvel announces something at D23 that didn't have a prior presence at SDCC.
As such, those MCU fans disappointed that Marvel didn't announce anything about its X-Men reboot, drop any further details about Secret Wars, Doctor Strange 3, or Thor 5 shouldn't get their hopes up.
It's likely that since Feige started off yesterday's Hall H presentation stating that not a lot of time would be given to the Disney+ TV shows, other than a brief mention of Vision Quest, it's likely that this will be the focus of D23. It's possible that updates on Wonder Man season 2, Daredevil: Born Again, or even future seasons of our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Marvel Zombies, or Eyes of Wakanda could be discussed.
Given the past synergy between the two events, more Avengers: Doomsday casting could be unveiled, similar to Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool being confirmed. There are rumors that Hugh Jackman and Tobey Maguire are also set to appear in Doomsday.
Likewise, more casting for Ghost Rider could be announced, and we could also learn more about Black Panther 3. There were rumblings that Denzel Washington was in attendance at SDCC, but his previously teased role in Black Panther 3 was not announced. If Marvel wanted to let David Johnson's unveiling as T'Challa Jr. serve as the main reveal of the night, they could be saving Washington for D23.