Robert Downey Jr. surprise at Marvel’s comic-con panel

Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con with dancing Deadpool variants and a choir for a panel that included news about the next two Avengers films and surprise guests, including Harrison Ford and Robert Downey Jr. Robert is returning to Marvel’s films, but not as Iron Man.

Downey is Dr Doom
Robert will play the villain Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom, in at least one of the upcoming Avengers movies. Downey kicked off Marvel’s movie successes with Iron Man and played the popular character in nine films, but on Saturday appeared wearing Dr Doom’s mask and a green cloak. “New mask, same task,” Downey said to frenzied cheers.

The session included no mention of Jonathan Majors, who played the villain Kang the Conqueror and was previously a major part of Marvel’s Avengers plans. The actor was fired by the studio after he was convicted in December of assaulting a former girlfriend. He was sentenced to a yearlong counselling program in April and avoided jail time.

Russo Brothers return
Not only Robert Downey Jr, but his Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo aka Russo Brothers will also return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They will direct the next two Avengers movies – Doomsday and Secret Wars. The brothers guided the Avengers franchise through its sprawling storyline capped by Avengers: Endgame in 2019 that included the death of Downey’s Tony Stark/Iron Man character.

“When we directed Avengers: Endgame, Joe and I truly believed that it was the end of the road for us in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because we had put all of our passion, our love, our imagination into The Winter Soldier, into Civil War, into Infinity War, climaxing all of it with Avengers: Endgame,” Anthony Russo said. “That four movie run was incredible and it left us creatively spent with all of our emotions on the film. In the time since, through a very special story, Joe and I have come to potentially see a road forward with you.”

They called Secret Wars the “biggest story that Marvel Comics ever told,” and Joe said it was the first comic book run he read as a child that made him “fall in love with comics.”

Captain America’s villain reveal
The cast of Captain America: Brave New World — Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez and Anthony Mackie — joined the stage first and teased details about the upcoming film. Giancarlo revealed that he will be playing the villain, Seth Voelker, also known as Sidewinder.

The cast then stepped aside to share a scene from the movie on the big screen, which revealed that President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Harrison Ford, is hoping to rebuild the Avengers with Mackie’s Sam Wilson. It also showed Ford’s character transform into the Red Hulk. Ford joined the panel after fans were treated to clips from the movie and flexed his muscles to the roaring crowd.

Thunderbolts reveal
The cast and director of Thunderbolts also surprised fans with a short clip from the movie. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and David Harbour (in full costume and speaking in character as the Red Guardian at first) stormed the stage and shared some more details about their characters. The film is slated to be released in May 2025.

Fantastic Four title reveal
The final film teased at the panel was The Fantastic Four, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The movie will begin filming on Tuesday in London, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said.

He said the film will hit theatres in almost exactly one year in July 2025. Following a video director Matt Shakman created specifically for Comic-Con that featured the cast in full ’60s glory, he and Kevin revealed the official title of the film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.