A Look Ahead at D23: Hopes for Marvel Studios
Opinion by Ethan Irish
What should fans expect?
With the upcoming D23 Expo starting on September 9th, Marvel fans are looking to get a few different things that will be critical to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the large number of announcements that Marvel Studios provided fans at San Diego Comic-Con a little more than a month ago, how much is there to provide us? Well let's go through our hopes and in a couple weeks we will see if they come true.
'Fantastic Four' Cast?
For starters, rumors are going around suggesting that the cast of the Fantastic Four reboot will be announced. After last week's rumor floating around that Matt Shakman is in early talks to direct the third iteration of a Fantastic Four movie we can start to theorize who the cast will be. With Shakman's previous work done on FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," we could theorize that maybe Glenn Howerton is not out of the conversation to play the lead role as Reed Richards in the new film. Even though it might just be hope on my part it's not outlandish to think with this previous work between the two and James Gunn's confirmation via Instagram that he was second on the list for the character of Peter Quill in the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' franchise.
'World War Hulk'
Another thing everyone may be hoping for is the announcement of a potential 'World War Hulk' film, after the shocking reveal in the current Disney+ Series 'She-Hulk' that showed us Bruce Banner flying off into space to what is presumed to be Sakaar. This one might be a stretch but I honestly could see it happening more than I see them announcing the Fantastic Four cast. I see it happening for a couple of different reasons, one being that Marvel Studios is obviously not scared to show their plan for the MCU's phases 5 and 6. The announcements of 'Avengers: The Kang Dynasty' and 'Avengers: Secret Wars' proves this. To add on, Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of the character is the only member of the original six Avengers to not get a project headlined by his character so it wouldn't be a surprise to me if they are setting that up with this side plot in 'She-Hulk'. Overall, this announcement would just kind of make sense.
Where is 'Armor Wars'?
Back in 2019, Marvel Studios announced a set of different projects that would end up on the big screen or on the platform, Disney+. One of the Disney+ shows announced was 'Armor Wars' which is set to be led by Don Cheadle's War Machine, but we haven't gotten much information about the series since. A writer for the show, Yassir Lester, has said that even though the show was not part of the announcements at SDCC in late July the show is still coming. With that said, I have to ask, when? Phase 5 of the MCU seems to already be far too packed to fit in another show and it doesn't make a ton of sense to announce it to be premiered in phase 6. That would be at the very least 5 years after its original announcement. They probably haven't scrapped the show completely but it will be interesting to see where they place it on the timeline.
Other Hopes
Werewolf By Night: The Halloween Special has not been talked about nearly enough considering Halloween is about 2 months away from the day I am typing this. Michael Giacchino was said to be the director of the special but Marvel Studios actually has not announced anything about it. Hopefully they do at D23.
Wonder Man: Not too long ago this series was thrown into the mix, I do not know much about the series or the latest filming updates but if it is going to be announced I would not be surprised if we did not get more information but I am hoping for something.