This coming week will be a big week for Marvel fans. First up, the highly anticipated Deadpool and Wolverine film will finally premiere on Friday, July 26th. The film features the return of everyone’s favorite Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), joined by one of comic book films’ most iconic characters: Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as they go on a multiverse adventure to save the world and potentially the multiverse. In addition, just one day after, Marvel Studios makes a long-awaited return to Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con.
Marvel Studios’ panels at Hall H have become synonymous with entertainment headlines. These panels usually set the stage for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and offer fans a glimpse at what stories lie ahead. Each panel has detailed the upcoming projects, making cast reveals alongside exclusive footage and surprises for Marvel fans in attendance. With the next panel confirmed next week, let’s set the stage with our predictions on what could happen during the highly anticipated SDCC Hall H Marvel panel.
Looking at the numbers for Marvel Studios at Hall H
Marvel Studios has appeared at Hall H 11 times since 2006. The panels have drastically increased in content reveal with each passing year. The last few panels in 2019 and 2022 were full-blown Phase 4 and 5 reveals, respectively. In 2019, 11 projects were announced to the public in attendance.
In 2022, Kevin Feige addressed how Phase 4 was approaching its end, with 14 projects released overall during that phase from 2020 to July 2022. He discussed the final show from that phase, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, and revealed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to the world.
Feige later disclosed the slate for Phase 5, discussing 11 projects from the slate. He even teased the then-distant Phase 6 by discussing Fantastic Four and revealing that not one but two Avengers films were in development, bringing the total of projects addressed to a whopping 16 in 2022. Although there are some outlying factors, there is a visible, increasing trend of announcements per Hall H appearance.
Let’s also incorporate every previous phase reveal done by Marvel Studios. This has only occurred three times (four if you count 2022 twice in a row). The first complete Phase reveal occurred in 2014 when Feige unveiled Phase 3 at a special event at El Capitan Theater. Nine projects were announced. The next phase reveal occurred in 2019 when all of Phase 4 was shared with the public at Hall H.
The last phase reveal occurred in 2022 when Feige discussed Phase 5 and teased Phase 6; although 11 projects were listed, only three were publicly announced. This would put our average project announcement at around 10.73 projects, rounded up to 11 projects per Phase Slate reveal.
A very critical value we need to keep in mind is the ratio of movies and Disney+ series announced at these panels in Hall H. In 2019, when Feige first revealed Phase 4 to the audience, he revealed five movies and five shows, a perfect 50/50 ratio. The outlier in 2019 was the announcement of Blade, which was not a part of Phase 4 but still counted as an announcement, making it six movies and five shows.
In 2022, Marvel unveiled six movies and six projects for Phase 5, another 50/50 ratio. And when they teased Phase 6, they only announced three movies but had left eight other spots for the taking. Thus far, what conclusion can be made is that Marvel’s preferred ratio for phase slate announcements is usually a split 50/50 between shows and movies.
Let’s look at other important stats that factor into this prediction. So far, Marvel Studios is in the middle of Phase 5 of The Multiverse Saga. With four phases already completed, we can look at how many projects have been released per slate and how many are currently in development for Phase 5. There is a noticeable increase in Phases 4 and 5 projects due to the implementation of Disney+ shows, specials, and animated projects released as part of these Phases.
Phase 5 currently has a tentative 18 projects, an arbitrary number because these slates often differ heavily from what was first announced at a panel presentation. These 18 projects considered were either confirmed by Marvel Studios to be a part of this phase or released between these projects. The 18 projects considered as Phase 5 are as follows:
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
- Secret Invasion
- I Am Groot S2
- Loki Season S2
- The Marvels
- What If…? S2
- Echo
- X-Men ’97 S1
- Deadpool and Wolverine
- Agatha All Along
- Eyes of Wakanda
- Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Daredevil: Born Again
- Ironheart
- Thunderbolts*
- Blade
Other key factors for Marvel Studio announcements
Before we get to our prediction, we need to consider other details alongside the stats we know. When Marvel Studios takes the stage at Hall H next Saturday, it will be hot off the heels of the premiere of Deadpool and Wolverine, which will premiere on Thursday at a special panel at Hall H featuring Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and director Shawn Levy alongside Marvel Head Honcho, Kevin Feige.
Additionally, Marvel Studios’ previous two panels at Hall H, more representative of the current state of affairs, have always focused on the bigger picture, preferring to concentrate on their live-action material instead of their animation material, which usually has its separate panel at SDCC.
We also need to keep in mind that just a few weeks after SDCC, on August 9-11, Marvel Studios will be present at D23, focusing on the details of their projects with the closest proximity to release, such as Agatha All Along, Daredevil: Born Again, Captain America: Brave New World & Thunderbolts*, as well as highlighting some of their upcoming Marvel Animation projects, including looks at Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Eyes of Wakanda, future seasons of What If…?, X-Men ’97. We can also expect a couple of surprises at D23.
Using all of these established factors and trends, we can conclude that Marvel Studios’ panel at Hall H will probably follow the following criteria:
- We can estimate a range of 10 to 16 projects to be discussed at Hall H.
- If Marvel plans to reveal the next phase of the MCU, 11-12 projects in the range will be revealed as part of Phase 6.
- Marvel Studios will likely divide their announcements equally between movies and shows.
- Animation will most likely not be considered as part of the announcements scheduled for Hall H.
Marvel Studios Hall H predictions for SDCC 2024
Now that we have established our statistics and criteria for what Marvel Studios’ panel at Hall H would look like, let’s move on to the speculative portion of the article, where we address our thoughts on what Kevin Feige and co. might announce at Hall H. I believe that the panel will very much follow the pattern of its predecessor, SDCC 2022, where Feige divided the announcements between the remaining projects of Phase 4 (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), revealing Phase 5 in its entirety and partially revealing Phase 6.
MCU Phase 5 predictions
Given how outdated the previous slates have been due to delays, strikes, and other external factors, I suspect there will be significant changes in the Phase 5 and 6 slates. This primarily has to do with the shift between dates that occurred with the push Deadpool and Wolverine had upon the docket, which pushed all other projects back down a few dates.
With this in mind, and given previous trends and statistics, the panel would begin by addressing the remaining projects in Phase 5, which would consist of:
- Agatha All Along
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Daredevil: Born Again
- Thunderbolts*
Given that all of these projects are now in post-production and close to release, these four projects, in particular, will be some of the key announcements from the entire panel, as they will be filled with cast introductions and footage reveals for the audience in attendance. With this, Phase 5 would finally come to a close, and we would move on to the next portion of the panel, disclosing Phase 6.
MCU Phase 6 predictions
As opposed to Phase 5, Phase 6 might be slightly more speculative, given the uncertainty surrounding both the Phase itself and the projects involved. Still, we could make some very good educated guesses as to what will come.
For starters, you might be asking how certain we are that Marvel will even address Phase 6 to begin with. Given the recent announcements regarding the Russos’ involvement in the next Avengers films, the timing of this report is not coincidental. We fully believe that Marvel will address and confirm the directors on stage for the next installment of Avengers films. Considering how they are the final projects left on the slate, and the trend of announcing full Phase slates at Hall H, there is a very high probability that Phase 6 will be announced in its entirety at Hall H this year.
We can definitely expect announcements from projects that have already completed production or are close to beginning production. So, we can expect projects such as The Fantastic Four, Ironheart, Blade, and Wonder Man to get updates at SDCC 2024. There is also a very high chance that footage from both Ironheart and Wonder Man will be revealed to audiences at Hall H this year. As for The Fantastic Four and Blade, we can expect very important updates such as casting announcements, synopsis details, and possible new concept art for both of these projects.
Some projects have been confirmed to be in development for a very long time, but have yet to receive any substantial production updates due to either strikes or delays from other external factors. Such is the case for the Armor Wars project, which was first developed as a Disney+ show in 2020, then repurposed as a movie in 2022, and has been stuck in limbo since then.
From what we understand, Armor Wars is still very much in development, and this panel might finally offer fans some insight into what Marvel Studios has been cooking with James Rhodes, aka War Machine, who was last seen in Secret Invasion, confirmed to have been replaced by a Skrull.
Another project that falls into this category is the upcoming Shang-Chi sequel, rumored to be titled Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time. The film is still in development with director Destin Daniel Cretton at the helm, who was initially poised to direct the upcoming Avengers 5 sequel but dropped out to focus on the Wonder Man series and the Shang-Chi sequel, so this film would be another good guess to discuss at SDCC this year.
Other projects set to release but are yet to be officially announced are the untitled Vision series, with Paul Bettany set to return and Terry Matalas helming the project as showrunner. The project, while confirmed by the trades, has yet to be addressed by Marvel Studios, so Hall H might be the perfect time to announce it. Lastly, there are, of course, the Avengers films, rumored to be directed by the Russo Brothers, where we expect these film announcements to close out the panel. This brings our total Phase 6 projects to 9.
The Avengers 5 subtitle
Perhaps one of the biggest questions is how Marvel Studios will approach the upcoming Avengers 5 film. Initially, the film was going to be titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. However, the main focus of this film has shifted dramatically from its original vision due to several factors, including the dropping of Destin Daniel Cretton as director to focus on other projects, the firing of Jonathan Majors from the role following his conviction in the case of assault against him, and the dismissal of Jeff Loveness as writer.
Michael Waldron was later hired to work on both Avengers 5 and the subsequent film, Avengers: Secret Wars, but following the addition of Joe and Anthony Russo as the directors of the upcoming titles, Waldron has reportedly also departed from the project, with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely both taking over as the head writers for the projects.
Now that a new team is prepped for the Avengers 5 film, the question is, what will be the story for it? Rumors suggest that while the time-traveling conqueror and his Council of Kangs are out, the story will still involve the multiverse to some degree.
When we rule out comic stories involving Kang, there are a few other multiverse comics Marvel could take inspiration from, including Avengers #85-86 (1971), which features the Avengers encountering the Squadron Supreme from Earth-712, as well as Avengers Forever (2021), which features multiple Avengers variants from across the multiverse taking on the Multiversal Masters of Evil.
However, there is one potential storyline that has been set up previously in the post-credit scene of The Marvels, which could amount to a multiverse spin on a comic storyline classic: Avengers vs X-Men. You can learn more about how Marvel Studios Could Adapt ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ here.
The Surprise Factor for Marvel Studios at Hall H
As much as we can try and predict what might unfold at Hall H, if there’s one thing Marvel is best known for, it’s for pulling some last-minute surprises from their sleeves. That’s why we introduced the Marvel Studios’ Free Space factor into our equation. These factors cover the many possible projects that could be announced at San Diego Comic-Con, from movies to TV shows and even animated projects.
These carry a low level of probability of announcement (<30%), making it difficult to say with certainty what these projects are. We suspect there will be, at the very least, two Free Space factors at Marvel Studios’ panel at Hall H. Various factors were considered to rank several projects from most to least likely to be announced, including projects confirmed to be in development, projects with close proximity to start production, storylines that were teased or set up in previous movies or post-credits, and projects rumored to be in development. Therefore, our ranking is:
- Spider-Man 4*
- Young Avengers
- Nova
- X-Men
- The Blonde Phantom (The Rumored Scarlett Johansson Project)
- Thor 5
- Doctor Strange 3
- A Cosmic Marvel Movie (Star-Lord, Guardians of the Galaxy, Annihilators)
- A Disney+ Series with the potential for a Second Season
- Daredevil: Born Again
- Hawkeye
- Moon Knight
- Ms. Marvel
- She-Hulk
- Projects that are rumored to be in development:
- World War Hulk
- Scarlet Witch
- Midnight Sons
- Wong/Strange Academy
*It is essential to note in this ranking that while Spider-Man 4 is the most likely free factor to be announced at SDCC, it will require coordination from Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures in order for it to actually happen.
Nevertheless, these are our predictions for Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel. Whether or not they come to pass, only time will tell. One thing is certain, and that is that regardless of what will be revealed, Marvel Studios’ Panel at Hall H promises to be an exciting time for Marvel fans.’
What do you think of these predictions? What are your predictions? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or join in the discussion in The Cosmic Circus Discord!
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