Marvel Entertainment / The Walt Disney Company
Coming off the heels of July’s San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios grabbed more entertainment headlines at this weekend’s D23 event, where they took the stage on Friday night! There were three main projects that were focused on: VisionQuest, Avengers: Doomsday, and X-Men!
The first trailer for VisionQuest was shown and released online. D23 marketed this as the conclusion of a trilogy that includes WandaVision and Agatha All Along. Paul Bettany is set to reprise his role as The VISION in the show with a supporting cast led by James Spader (ULTRON). This show looks like it could be either way too weird or astonishingly brilliant. It looks like we are going to see simulated realities in which robotic / Artificially Intelligent MCU characters will appear in human avatar form (akin to the Egyptian gods in Moon Knight so Disney can save money on the otherwise necessary CGI).
The VISION will continue searching for its identity and its purpose after encountering a Wanda Maximoff manufactured version of itself at the end of WandaVision. Ruaridh Mollica will make his MCU Debut as Tommy Maximoff / Thomas Shepard in the show. The Tommy character made his MCU Debut in 2021’s WandaVision, primarily portrayed by Jett Klyne. The role was reprised by Klyne in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with Klyne portraying a Variant of Tommy residing on Earth-838. In 2024’s Agatha All Along on Disney+, Tommy’s brother Billy Maximoff used his immense powers to place the soul of Tommy into the body of a boy named Thomas Shepard upon Thomas’ death via drowning. I imagine a family reunion of some kind will take place within this show.
VisionQuest has the potential to be a very profound series that can reflect our real lives and the morality of Artificial Intelligence on both sides of the coin. As a very proud fan of James Spader, I am excited to see ULTRON return and I’m very curious to see how the last live-action MCU project before Doomsday plays out!
VisionQuest drops on Disney+ on October 14, 2026.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
The latest Avengers: Doomsday Trailer was shown at D23 and released online. This was the same trailer shown at Sab Diego Comic Con last month, and boy, did I ever love it. We hear Susan Storm talking about Victor Von Doom, describing him as a kind and caring man once upon a time, only to add that he went on to lose everything that mattered to him and while she knew that he was lost, she did not realize that he was broken. Really amazing imagery of Doctor Doom as she speaks these words!
We then see what can only be described as the remnants of a cataclysmic event with Reed Rochards angrily, painfully, and perhaps even regrettably approaching Victior with the words “Did you do this!?!” Meanwhile, we see brief images of Scott and Cassie Lang, Johnny Storm and Franklin Richards (which I though was Susan in the original trailer, but evidently it was not), Charles Xavier, Magneto, Steve Rogers and his baby, and then Thor and his daughter Love. As we see these images, Doom is heard calmly exclaiming that everyone he is addressing had “lived stolen lives” and insisting that they now must “give them back.”
More pissed off Reed follows and then we jump to Thor vs Victor. Wielding Stormbreaker and swearing that Doom would “Beg for Hel” long before Thor grants, we see Thor go for the head this time around, only for Doom to freeze him in his steps, halting the intended kill-shot with merely two fingers. Two. Fingers. Unreal.
Victor then says that “Hell” answers to him for he is “Doom.” He then begins magically raising a series of gigantic Sentinel robots and anyone that has ever read an X-Men comic or watched the Fox’s X-Men movies knows what those things are and what they mean.
Very somber music. Very dark atmospherically. Very, very intriguing.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters a week before Christmas on December 18, 2026.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Last but not least, The X-Men are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Yeah, yeah, I know, that they already arrived in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool and Wolverine and will factor into Avengers: Doomsday, but I’m talking about the New X-Men, who will play a part in the main MCU continuity (the 616-Universe) after 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars. We already met Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day this Summer, and she came out on stage to stand beside most of her announced fellow castmates: Kit Connor (Cyclops), Christopher Abbott (Professor Charles Xavier), Samara Weaving (Emma Frost), Inde Navarrette (Rogue), and Maya Boyd (Storm). Director Jake Schreier, and Marvel CCO Kevin Feige also joined the cast. Adam Driver appeared via satellite and confirmed that he would be portraying Mister Sinister in the film.
Marvel Studios’ X-Men will be released in theaters on May 5, 2028.
A lot of news. A lot to look forward to for MCU fans!
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