The largest festival in all of nerd-dom recently wrapped and offered a massive glimpse into some of the most beloved properties. Here’s a brief breakdown of the major reveals:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Trailer
- A full-length trailer for Amazon Prime Video’s highly anticipated series finally dropped and provided the biggest glimpse of the series as well as extended looks at Galadriel and Sauron. The series is set thousands of years before the Peter Jackson films and is meant to portray the rise of Sauron and the opening battle depicted in The Fellowship of the Ring. The series is set to premiere on September 2, 2022.
- Marvel Animation
- We will get to the major MCU announcements shortly but Marvel also showcased its slate of upcoming animated projects:
- I Am Groot: Focusing on Baby Groot, everyone’s favorite sentient tree goes on a series of misadventures in five short stories set to premiere beginning August 10, 2022
- X-Men ’97: A continuation of the beloved early 90’s cartoon, this revival will also feature many returning voice actors and will continue in the same style as the original series. It is scheduled to release in the fall of 2023.
- Spider-Man Freshman Year: Little is known of the plot of this show but is meant to showcase a young Peter Parker acquiring his powers and navigating high school. A second season is already in development and titled Sophomore Year and Freshman Year is slated for a 2024 release
- What If…? Season 2: This fun series will return in early 2023 and will likely factor into future MCU stories similar to the show’s first season.
- Marvel’s Zombies: A full-length spinoff stories from one of What If’s most entertaining episodes will explore a MCU that has been taken over by zombies but will also not premiere until 2024.
- We will get to the major MCU announcements shortly but Marvel also showcased its slate of upcoming animated projects:
- DC
- No announcements were made regarding The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom but they still had a major showing for other upcoming projects:
- The Sandman Trailer: Netflix’s adaptation based on Neil Gaiman’s beloved comic series offered a major glimpse of what can be expected when the series becomes available on August 5.
- Black Adam: Dwayne Johnson’s superhero pet project got a new look as Johnson himself arrived in Hall H in full costume to tease the film ahead of its October 21st release date.
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods: The sequel to one of 2019’s more surprising hits got a major trailer drop that introduced new complications for Billy Batson and his superhero alter ego. Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler are set to join the film as it is scheduled for release on December 21, 2022
- No announcements were made regarding The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom but they still had a major showing for other upcoming projects:
- Star Trek
- The Star Trek franchise revealed trailers for two major series, the third and final season of Picard and its hit animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks. The franchise is definitely experiencing a resurgence in popularity thanks in part to the development of a planned fourth film in the Kelvin timeline as well as the entire franchise being available to stream on Paramount+
- Major Trailers
- Two big trailers were released, John Wick 4 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Both films are expected to release in 2022 and carry the heavy weight of anticipation behind them
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe
- The biggest announcements once again came from Hall H as MCU czar Kevin Feige arrived onstage to provide some clarity to what is now being dubbed “The Multiverse Saga” and featured some surprising news as well as a major reshuffling of the MCU as a whole:
- Black Panther – Wakanda Forever: Director Ryan Coogler’s second outing in the Black Panther franchise, the mic drop moment of the evening was the release of a dramatic trailer that featured Namor, Shuri, Nakia, Okoye, M’Baku and Queen Ramanda:
- 2023 Films: Not much has changed from previous announcements; Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels are still set to be released but Blade starring Mahershala Ali is scheduled for a November 3, 2023 release date. These films could shuffle depending on casting and crew but it looks like Marvel will return to a 4 film per year release schedule.
- 2024 Films: Looking beyond to 2024 and 2025, Marvel did announce its Fantastic Four reboot will premiere in 2024 to kick off its Phase Six of films. No crew or cast news was made available after the departure of director Jon Watts in April 2022 but two new Avengers films are now scheduled for 2025. The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars will release six months apart in 2025 but the hype train is real for Phases 5 and 6 of the MCU.
- Disney+ Series: While series like Secret Invasion, Echo and Ironheart are proceeding as previously announced, a second season of Loki was confirmed for a 2023 priemiere as well as an Agatha Harkness spinoff series but the surprise news came from Daredevil: Born Again was formally announced to star returning cast members Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio. Audiences will need to wait for Born Again until its release in 2024.
- The biggest announcements once again came from Hall H as MCU czar Kevin Feige arrived onstage to provide some clarity to what is now being dubbed “The Multiverse Saga” and featured some surprising news as well as a major reshuffling of the MCU as a whole: