After three-years, Marvel Studios is returning to San Diego Comic Con this weekend! In fact, this Thursday, July 21, 2022 (preview night) kicks off the first full-scale San Diego Comic Con event since 2019, as the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic shut down the convention in 2020 and 2021. This is cause for celebration for me as a fan! SDCC is traditionally one of my favorite parts of the Summer. Of course, this is due to the many trailers and movie and show announcements that tend to roll out during this time, but there are also a variety of toy showcases that I always look forward to as a collector! Floor displays and panels give what are exciting looks at figure release dates, sculpts, and models! I also really enjoy seeing all of the creative cosplayers and the coming together of various fandoms in one big celebration!
The main event for me this year, however, are the Marvel Studios panels. The Marvel Studios team have an animation presentation scheduled for Friday (July 22), and a live-action presentation for Hall H on Saturday night (July 23) this year! This will be Marvel Studios’ 11th SDCC presentation, and in celebration, let’s look back at the history of the Studio at the event.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year One: 2006:
Hosts: Kevin Feige and Avi Arad
Upstart Marvel Studios Presentation
Marvel Studios’ first appearance at SDCC was not in Hall H and there wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare surrounding the appearance. Marvel Studios was less than a year into their run as an independent movie-making Studio. They weren’t yet owned by Disney, not a lot of people knew much about Kevin Feige, and Robert Downey Jr had yet to be cast as Tony Stark / Iron Man. Marvel Studios – and the MCU – were pretty much mere ideas at this point in time.
Nonetheless, Marvel Studios’ declaration of independence had made some noise within the film industry, and a lot of people were curious as to what the future held. Kevin Feige and Avi Arad discussed the three films that were in active development at Marvel Studios: Iron Man (to be directed by Jon Favreau), Ant-Man (to be directed by Edgar Wright), and The Incredible Hulk (to be directed by Louis Leterrier). Furthermore, three additional films were announced to be in early stages of development: a Captain America movie, a Nick Fury movie, and a Thor movie.
It was ultimately Kevin Feige who stole the show in this first year, and people who didn’t know his name coming into SDCC 2006 certainly did coming out of it, as the producer brazenly declared his desire to see The Avengers assemble on-screen someday, going so far as to suggest that the fact that the films in development at Marvel Studios involved key members of the superhero team, was no coincidence.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Two: 2007
Hosts: Kevin Feige and Avi Arad
Films Promoted: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk
Marvel Studios’ second presentation at SDCC had a lot of fanfare surrounding it. Kevin Feige had his hat on this year and was now settled into his new role as Marvel Studios President. Even though Avi Arad was there, it was Kevin’s show, and he did not disappoint!
Iron Man had recently wrapped physical production, and the main cast of that film joined Feige, Avi, and director Jon Favreau on-stage in Hall H. This included Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terrence Howard. The first public footage from Iron Man was shown to the approving crowd in Hall H, and the energy and enthusiasm of all involved in this panel generated a lot of positive buzz for Iron Man coming out of the convention.
Marvel Studios also presented a panel for The Incredible Hulk, which had just started filming a couple of weeks before SDCC 2007. Stars Edward Norton and Liv Tyler joined director Louis Leterrier and producer Gale Anne Hurd on-stage to promote the film.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Three: 2009
Host: Kevin Feige
Film Promoted: Iron Man 2
Marvel Studios’ third SDCC presentation was all about Iron Man! There was no presentation from Marvel Studios at San Diego Comic Con 2008, as the team had their hands full with the theatrical releases of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man had been a colossal success, pulling in $585-million, emerging as the eighth highest-grossing film of the year, and being acclaimed as one of the greatest comic book movies ever made in a year when The Dark Knight was also released by DC / Warner Brothers.
The Incredible Hulk (which was produced in association with Universal Pictures) had only been moderately successful, but both films (with the appearance of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Iron Man and of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk) combined to launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe and all eyes in 2009 were on Iron Man 2, which had just wrapped physical production prior to SDCC 2009.
The Iron Man 2 panel at SDCC 2009 saw stars Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, and Sam Rockwell join director Jon Favreau and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige on-stage and the first trailer for Iron Man 2 was revealed. The trailer gave the Hall H audience their first look at Don Cheadle as James Rhodes / War Machine (replacing Terrence Howard), Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / The Black Widow, and Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko / Whiplash.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Four: 2010
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Promoted: Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and The Avengers
A lot had changed in the year between SDCC 2009 and SDCC 2010 for Marvel Studios! The Walt Disney Company finalized their purchase of Marvel Entertainment at the end of 2009, securing Marvel Studios as part of the deal, Thor (starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston) had wrapped filming, the Marvel Studios team had found their Captain America in Chris Evans, and Iron Man 2 was released theatrically in the Summer of 2010 to the tune of $623-million worldwide. Iron Man 2 was ultimately the seventh highest-grossing film of 2010, and the Iron Man franchise became a billion-dollar generator.
There was a ton of hype surrounding Marvel Studios in 2010, and SDCC 2010 was the biggest year yet for the Studio. The first panel presented was for Captain America: The First Avenger, featuring director Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans and Hugo Weaving. Marvel Studios’ first Captain America movie had just recently started filming and was slated for a Summer-2011 release.
Before that, Marvel Studios would release Thor. The Thor panel featured director Kenneth Branagh, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, and Clark Gregg. As exciting as both of these panels were for fans, the big moment of 2010 (and arguably the biggest Marvel Studios moment in Hall H history) came at the end of the evening when Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige formally introduced Joss Whedon as the director of The Avengers and then assembled the cast of The Avengers on-stage: Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, and Clark Gregg with Mark Ruffalo revealed to be replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner / The Hulk. This marked the first-ever public assembling of The Avengers, and The Avengers was the talk of the town coming out of the convention.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Five: 2012
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Promoted: Iron Man 3 and Ant-Man
Films Announced: Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy
After skipping out on SDCC the previous year due to the theatrical releases of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger and the production of The Avengers, Marvel Studios made a triumphant return to Hall H in 2012, riding the high of that Summer’s release of The Avengers. Thor ($449-million) and Captain America: The First Avenger ($370-million) had been moderate successes financially, but those films made stars out of actors such as Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, and Sebastian Stan, while laying the groundwork for The Avengers to assemble the following Summer!
The monumental success of The Avengers cannot be overstated. The Avengers had the biggest opening weekend for any film of all time ($207-million), the biggest opening week for any film of all time ($270-million), and the biggest second weekend for any film of all time ($103-million). The Avengers went on to emerge as the highest-grossing film of 2012 ($1.5-billion), and the highest-grossing comic book movie of all time ($1.5-billion and dethroning DC / Warner Brothers’ The Dark Knight). The Avengers was also Marvel Studio’s first-ever # 1 film for a given year.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige came out of The Avengers looking like a rock star and a visionary genius. His little comment about assembling The Avengers on-screen at SDCC 2006 six-years earlier had translated into one of the biggest motion pictures ever (# 3 behind only Avatar and Titanic at that time) and for a lot of people, the greatest superhero movie ever made!
The hype was very real at SDCC 2012, and Kevin Feige took advantage of the hype to present Hall H attendees with what amounted to Marvel Studios’ first-ever Slate Reveal! Titles for the upcoming Thor and Captain America sequels were revealed (Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Alan Taylor was announced to be replacing Patty Jenkins as director of Thor: The Dark World and Joe and Anthony Russo were announced as the directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Feige furthermore announced that a film based on The Guardians of the Galaxy was in development, complete with first-look concept art at Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. Test footage for the long in-development Ant-Man is meanwhile shared by director Edgar Wright and a full panel for Iron Man 3 is held with Feige welcoming director Shane Black and stars Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau. Iron Man 3 was two months into filming at the time of SDCC 2012. Robert Downey Jr thrilled the Hall H audience with an elaborate entrance through the crown while wearing an Iron Man gauntlet on his right hand.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Six: 2013
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Promoted: Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy
Film Announced: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Marvel Studios’ sixth SDCC presentation came at a time when Iron Man 3 was making headlines for its box office success. After opening earlier in the Summer, Iron Man 3 ultimately accumulated $1.2-billion worldwide, becoming Marvel Studios’ second billion-dollar film and the second-highest-grossing movie of 2013.
The Marvel Studios presentation at SDCC 2013 opened with Tom Hiddleston in full Loki costume, captivating Hall H attendees with a commanding speech to celebrate the upcoming release of Thor: The Dark World (4-months away from release). This was a captivating part of the presentation that certainly had people talking!
Full panels for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy were presented. Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo were joined by stars Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Cobie Smulders, Antony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Evans. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was joined by stars Michael Rooker, Karen Gillen, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Benicio Del Toro, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Pratt. Karen Gillen revealed her clean-shaven head for the role of Nebula. Guardians of the Galaxy had commenced filming a couple of weeks earlier.
The Marvel Studios presentation concluded with an appearance by Joss Whedon and the announcement of a sequel 2012’s The Avengers titled Avengers: Age of Ultron!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Seven: 2014
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Promoted: Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron
Marvel Studios’ seventh SDCC presentation marked the third year in a row at the convention. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier having been released earlier in the year to widespread critical acclaim and Guardians of the Galaxy on-deck, the Marvel Studios team were in the midst of a very exciting year.
At SDCC 2014, Kevin Feige focused primarily on Marvel Studios’ two upcoming 2015 films: Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron. A lot of controversy surrounded Ant-Man due to the recent parting of ways with director Edgar Wright, who’d had 8-years to make an Ant-Man film and never got around to doing it while clashing with Marvel Studios creatively. Ant-Man was set to finally start filming in August, and Kevin Feige welcomed new director Peyton Reed and stars Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, and Evangeline Lilly to hype the film and generate some positive discussion.
From there, it was all about Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film had been shooting since February and was nearing the end of physical production and a huge portion of the main cast came out to SDCC to promote the movie with stars Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, James Spader, and Elizabeth Olsen all joining director Joss Whedon on-stage in Hall H. Along with the confirmation that Paul Bettany would be portraying The VISION, the big news coming out of the panel was the introduction of actor Josh Brolin, who joined the cast on-stage and was announced to be portraying “The Mad Titan” Thanos moving forward in the MCU.
Thanos debuted during a credits scene at the end of The Avengers (portrayed by Damion Poitier), teased as the MCU’s next Big Bad. Brolin would debut as Thanos on-screen mere days after SDCC in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy after which he would suit up as the Mad Titan in a credits scene for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Eight: 2016
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Promoted: Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, and Black Panther
Since their last SDCC presentation two years earlier, Marvel Studios had undergone some monumental changes! Three months after SDCC 2014, Kevin Feige announced the full Phase Three Slate of the MCU at the El Capitan Theater which entailed nine forthcoming MCU films. Four months after that, Marvel Studios reached a revolutionary deal with Sony Pictures to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, six months after that, Marvel Studios broke away from Marvel Entertainment and was incorporated into Walt Disney Studios as a subdivision that would remain functioning under Kevin Feige, with Feige now answering directly to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter.
All the while, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man were both released in 2015, with Age of Ultron failing to live up to the expectations that most had for it and Ant-Man being the lowest-grossing MCU film since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger (though a low budget did allow the film to be extremely profitable). Then, a couple of months before SDCC 2016, Marvel Studios released Captain America: Civil War in theaters. The film was critically acclaimed and was ultimately Marvel Studios’ fourth billion-dollar movie and the highest-grossing film of 2016.
Marvel Studios also had a very ambitious filming schedule during this time. 2016 would see four shoots! Doctor Strange wrapped in April, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two wrapped in June, Spider-Man: Homecoming commenced filming in June, and Thor: Ragnarok started shooting in July. Doctor Strange would be Marvel Studios’ second release of 2016, while the other three films would all be released in 2017.
The first Marvel Studios panel at SDCC 2016 was for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two. This was an elaborate panel that kicked off with an invasion by The Ravagers in full costumes. Actors Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, and Michael Rooker were amongst those who took part in this ordeal, and it was a lot of fun for Hall H attendees. From there, stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillen, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kurt Russel joined director James Gunn on-stage.
Next, Kevin Feige invited Benedict Cumberbatch out along with director Scott Derrickson to discuss Doctor Strange. Stars Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, and Benedict Wong joined them.
Kevin Feige then introduced Tom Holland. He was joined by director Jon Watts and co-stars Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, and Laura Harrier in promoting Spider-Man: Homecoming. Holland was freshly coming off his MCU debut as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.
From there, Kevin Feige invited Black Panther director Ryan Coogler out on-stage, and Coogler introduced stars Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, and Danai Gurira. Boseman was freshly coming off his MCU debut as T’Challa / The Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War.
The cast of Thor: Ragnarok was not at SDCC 2017 due to that film having just started shooting under the direction of Taika Waititi, but Kevin Feige talked glowingly about the movie, revealing that Cate Blanchett would be portraying Hela, that Surtur would be in the film, and that the movie would loosely adapt elements of the popular Planet Hulk comic book storyline.
Last but certainly not least, Kevin Feige invited everyone back out to the stage for a group photo that combined the casts of Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Black Panther, during which he invited Brie Larsen out, confirming her for the role of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Nine: 2017
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Promoted: Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther
Marvel Studios ninth SDCC presentation opened with Kevin Feige revealing that Michelle Pfeiffer had been cast as Janet Van Dyne in the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp film and revealing details pertaining to the upcoming Captain Marvel film, noting that the movie would be set in the 1990’s and that it would involve The Skrulls.
Panels for Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther followed, featuring director Taika Waititi and stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, and Rachel House (Thor: Ragnarok) and director Ryan Coogler with stars Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis, Winston Duke, and Letitia Wright (Black Panther).
The biggest treat for Hall H attendees, however, was the showcasing of the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, which had been shown a few days earlier at the D23 Expo.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Year Ten: 2019
Host: Kevin Feige
Films Announced and Promoted: Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Widow
Show Announced and Promoted: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If …?, and Hawkeye
Marvel Studios skipped SDCC in 2018, as the promotion of Avengers: Infinity War was the primary focus of the Marvel Studios team. The production of the next two Avengers films had been an undertaking that spanned two-years (counting re-shoots), beginning in January of 2017. Marvel Studios also shot Black Panther, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man: Far From Home during that time.
2018 was a year to sort of bask in the glory of all they’d accomplished and to begin formulating plans for the future, and by the time SDCC 2019 rolled around, the little studio that could had certainly accomplished a lot!
Avengers: Infinity War became Marvel Studios’ first $2-billion film, its highest-grossing film of all-time, and the highest-grossing movie of 2018. The film was a celebration of 10-years of MCU movies produced by Marvel Studios and it was a monumental achievement! Avengers: Endgame would be even bigger however! Forget about superhero movies and comic book movies and trying to describe the unrivaled success of Marvel Studios within those genres … Avengers: Endgame was nothing short of the biggest motion picture of all-time! Avengers: Endgame reached the $1-billion mark in its opening weekend! It had the biggest opening weekend in the history of United States cinema ($357-million), emerged as the highest-grossing film of 2019, and eventually became the highest-grossing movie of all-time (eclipsing James Cameron’s Avatar)!
SDCC 2019 was also the first Marvel Studios presentation in Hall H since the finalizing of The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which had everybody in the comic book movie community talking! For those specific fans, this deal landed the rights to The X-Men and The Fantastic Four at Marvel Studios, and that was extremely exciting for a variety of reasons!
SDCC 2019 was furthermore the first Marvel Studios presentation in Hall H since the announcement of The Walt Disney Company’s new streaming service Disney+ and it was the first SDCC since the death of the legendary Stan Lee on November 12, 2018.
The death of Stan Lee notwithstanding, Marvel Studios was on top of the world and SDCC 2019 was all about the future! There were dozens of stars and directors and announcements at SDCC 2019. Eternals was pushed hard with stars Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Don Lee, Lauren Ridloff, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, and Brian Tyree Henry joining Kevin Feige on-stage as the MCU’s next super team. Anthony Mackie (carrying a Captain America shield) and Sebastian Stan promoted The Falcon and The Winter Soldier for Disney+. Simu Liu promoted Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was confirmed to feature The (real) Mandarin (portrayed by Tony Leung). Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany promoted WandaVision for Disney+ and Olsen was also confirmed for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which she promoted with Benedict Cumberbatch on-stage as the MCU’s first foray into the realm of horror. Tom Hiddleston promoted Loki, Jeffrey Wright promoted Marvel Studios’ first animated series What If ….?, and Jeremy Renner promoted Hawkeye, all for Disney+.
Taika Waititi then arrived on-stage along with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson to promote Thor: Love and Thunder. Natalie Portman then joined them, and she was confirmed to be reprising her role as Jane Foster and expanding said role as The Mighty Thor!
Finally, Kevin Feige welcomed the cast of Marvel Studios’ upcoming Black Widow film, which was scheduled to be the first release of Phase Four, announced for a May 1, 2020, theatrical release. The cast of Black Widow joined Kevin Feige on-stage including Scarlett Johansson, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, and Rachel Weisz. Taskmaster was also confirmed as the film’s primary antagonist.
In wrapping things up, Kevin Feige got everyone talking by name-dropping several projects that were in active development at Marvel Studios, including Black Panther II (which would become Wakanda Forever), Captain Marvel II (which would become The Marvels), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three, and Fantastic Four. Feige also name-dropped “mutants” and introduced actor Mahershala Ali as the MCU’s Blade!
In all, Marvel Studios announced five theatrical releases and five Disney+ shows, complete with release dates.
The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic would of course alter release dates and release order, but a lot of people saw SDCC 2019 as Marvel Studios’ biggest presentation ever, and that has a lot of people in high anticipation of just how Kevin Feige will follow up on all of that three years later this Saturday night.
It should be epic!
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