San Diego Comic-Con, once reserved exclusively for comic book announcements, cosplayers, and panels, continues its new life as ground zero for some of the biggest annual pop culture news. This year, Disney used it to break the emergency glass and reveal Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU as Dr. Doom, but SDCC 2024 wasn’t just about old guys wearing new masks.
The event, which didn’t have an online component for those trying to follow along at home, also featured big news from the rest of the superhero-augmented entertainment industrial complex. Hit Amazon satire The boys gets a prequel. Star TrekThe resurgence continues with a cool reveal trailer for Article 31and step aside Joker, the Penguin is trying to have a moment.
Comic-Con kicked off on July 24 and ended on July 28, with most of the most anticipated teasers and trailers left until the final moments. It wasn’t a great year for video game reveals, but we did get a bit more information on the Like a dragon TV adaptation. Here’s all the biggest news you might have missed whether you were busy with your life or just relaxing in the shade with your summer drink of choice this weekend.
Like a Dragon: Yakuza gets a release date and teaser
The Amazon Prime adaptation of Like a dragon (formerly known in the West as Yakuza) begins airing on October 24 and focuses on love and crime in the fictional entertainment district of Kamurochō. The new trailer gives a brief glimpse of actor Ryoma Takeuchi as series protagonist Kiryu and numerous back tattoos. Here is an interview with the director.
A new Doctor Who the spin-off is coming
It is called The war between land and sea and features a high-stakes international crisis after powerful ocean creatures surface and reveal themselves to humanity for the first time. The shadowy military organization UNIT steps in to manage the ensuing war. The film stars Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, with Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient returning. It will air on Disney+.
The boys gets Soldier Boy prequel spin-off
Amazon’s Dark Parody The boys is going to have an origin story spin-off called The Rise of Vought about creating the super-bizarre legacy of the evil mega-corporation. It will star Jensen Ackles back as Soldier Boy and Aya Cash back as Stormfront. Set in the 1950s, it revolves around a murder mystery. It will no doubt also tie into the fifth and final season of The boys in which Soldier Boy is likely to show up for a final showdown with Homelander.
Transformers 1 The trailer shows the teenage friendship between Optimus Prime and Megatron
It wasn’t always trucks exploding and gunshots being fired from Michael Bay’s crane. Transformers 1the first fully animated film in the series in a decade, shows what life was like for the Autobots and Decepticons on Cybertron, and the latest trailer features Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry trading laughs and betrayals as Optimus Prime and Megatron before they became sworn enemies.
THE Rings of Power it looks really good again
Amazon Season 2 the Lord of the Rings The prequel series feels like what everyone originally hoped for during the show’s expensive but often quite boring debut. The Rings of Power returns to streaming on August 29th and this time there’s a lot going on, with giant spiders, Balrogs and Tom Bombadill screaming at an amnesiac wizard. We’re back.
Conan the Barbarian arrives in Mortal Kombat 1
Everyone’s favorite torture chamber, complete with licensed characters, welcomes a cast of new movie icons to brutalize. Mortal Kombat 1The second year DLC contains Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Terminator 2T-1000, Ghostface and Conan the Barbarian. Who hasn’t wanted to see Scorpion yell “come here” at the masked killer of Shout? Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns arrives on September 24. Here is the bloody trailer.
Star Trek: Section 31 Looks like John Wick in space
Michelle Yeoh’s film spin-off for Star Trek Discovery I got a reveal trailer that shows a much more neon-soaked, heist-fueled side of the Federation. Star Trek: Section 31 shows Emperor Philippa Georgiou, the warlord of Yeoh’s alternate universe. It’s unclear what exactly she’ll be doing, but the SDCC announcement panel pointed out that Georgiou will be doing some off-the-book spy stuff. The film will be released on Paramount Plus next year.
Fans won’t have to wait much longer for Silo season 2
SDCC panelists got their first look at Season 2 of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi adaptation of Hugh Howey’s novels coming to Apple TV. All I can tell you is that it’s coming. November 15. Rebecca Ferguson He plays a plucky engineer in a society of humans living below the surface who believe Earth remains uninhabitable. It’s one of the most overlooked series of the streaming wars era. Luckily, you still have time to catch up before you’re spoiled by this action-packed series this fall.
HBO Max The Penguin gets a trailer and will be released this fall
Colin Farrell’s Penguin was an unexpected highlight of the 2022 reboot of The Batman . He was so good that Warner Bros. decided to make an entire TV series about Oz Cobb’s rise to power as the drug wars tear Gotham apart. Still more of an opportunistic criminal than the psychopathic type Batman is known for, it will be interesting to see where the series goes in making the Penguin a character fans root for.
Having recently completed Apple TV’s neo-noir series SugarI’m completely in love with Farrell and I’m ready for more. SDCC also confirmed that he will reprise his role in TThe Batman 2. The Penguin The stars streaming on September 19.
Harrison Ford Transforms into Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World
Fans have been speculating about this since the first The best of worlds The Red Hulk trailer gave a sneak peek at what’s to come in the film, and new footage released this weekend confirmed the theory that Harrison Ford’s President Thunderbolt Ross will transform into the anti-hero. The panel also confirmed that Giancarlo Esposito will appear as Sidewinder, the leader of the Serpent Society crime organization, complete with a cape that allows him to teleport (at least in the comics; who knows how the movie version will work?).
Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU for Avengers: Judgment Day And Secret Wars
The biggest news from SDCC 2024 was that Joe and Anthony Russo are returning to helm a rudderless MCU for its next phase. That chapter will kick off with Robert Downey Jr. returning, but as Dr. Doom this time instead of Iron Man. It’s unclear whether Tony Stark is back and hatching a secret plan or whether this is an alternate universe version of one or both characters, since Stark died at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
judgment Daywhich is essentially Avengers 5is scheduled for 2026, followed by Secret Wars from 2027. The The Fantastic Fourwho has his own upcoming movie, will also be in both. RDJ launched the highest-grossing franchise in Hollywood history. We’ll see if he can bring it back to life after a string of misfires and hiccups, or if comic book superhero fatigue is terminal.