Marvel Studios shook the D23 Expo this year with an impressive slew of new reveals and announcements. The studio released new trailers for Werewolf by Night and Secret Invasion to the public while keeping extended looks for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Ironheart, Echo, and Loki: Season 2 exclusive only to fans who attended the event in person. Additionally, studio president Kevin Feige was able to share fresh information on projects that have yet to start production like Thunderbolts, Captain America: New World Order, and Daredevil: Born Again.
Read below for every major accouterment and reveal from Marvel straight out of the 2022 D23 Expo. New plot details, exclusive descriptions of footage only shown to attendees, and release date information is listed in the rough order of when these various titles are expected to come. The only thing not included below is the confirmation that WandaVision director Matt Shakman is now moving on to helm Fantastic Four. No other details came from that film as it’s still too far out to be discussed according to Feige. Otherwise, we’ve collected everything that you need to know from Marvel’s 2022 D23 Expo presentation. You can also catch up on every new live-action Disney film announcement from D23 right here on DiscussingFilm.
D23 2022 Marvel Studios Reveals
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Main Cast: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta, & Mabel Cadena.
Release Date: November 11, 2022
Exclusive Footage: Marvel presented D23 Expo attendees with a whole scene from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that led into a new montage of footage. The scene sees Queen Ramonda face a council made up of world leaders who raise questions about why Wakanda hasn’t shared their resources, primarily Vibranium. The Queen replies that ever since King T’Challa died, his cause of death is still unknown, everyone has been trying to get their hands on a piece of Wakanda’s wealth, from politicians to mercenaries. At the same time as this meeting, we see Okoye and the Dora Milaje take down hired guns who are trying to steal Vibanium from a secret facility. In a quick but killer action sequence, we find out that this event actually took place before and Ramonda has the Dora Milaje bring in those exact same crooks into the meeting to set an example.
The rest of the montage reveals that this power grab for Wakanda’s wealth in the wake of T’Challa’s death is what accidentally reveals the presence of Namor and his Kingdom to the world. More importantly, Namor’s resources have now also become a target for those looking to steal. This puts Namor up against the Queen and we see M’Baku engage in a fight sequence with Namor when he threatens her while negotiating on a beach. A lot of stuff that was already seen in the trailer was repeated but further extended, such as Namor’s people preparing for war. The new money shot was of the Black Panther falling from above and landing on her feet to face Namor in some kind of possible throne room for a final battle. The new Black Panther suit has a more defined gold threading that runs throughout the whole body from what was seen.
Werewolf by Night
Main Cast: Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, & Harriet Sansom Harris.
New Trailer:
Release Date: October 7, 2022
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Main Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, & Jonathan Majors.
New Details: Most of what is known about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was previously covered at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con in July. The few new details that were shared include how this film directly links all the way into Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. More new plot details were learned from the exclusive footage Marvel showed D23 Expo attendees. We now know that one of the main conflicts of the film will be Scott Lang forced to plan a heist for Kang, who was robbed of something precious by an unknown third party, in the quantum realm. If he doesn’t do Kang’s bidding, the villain will kill his daughter Cassie who is being held hostage in his quantum fortress.
Exclusive Footage Description: The new bits of footage Marvel delivered to fans at the D23 Expo gave more context to the actual narrative of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Scott Lang has faced a life of fame after saving the world in Avengers: Endgame. He’s written a book, he now takes out Jimmy Woo to expensive brunches, he even became “the employee of all time” at the Baskin Robbins he used to work at – Gregg Turkington returns a the manager in a brief glimpse. Some fans still mistake him for Spider-Man because of the bug name but he’s got a good life on the outside. At home, his ego has pushed away his daughter Cassie and partner Hope Van Dyne. It gets even more embarrassing for Scott when Hope and Cassie find out that he listens to his book’s audiobook narrated by himself in his car.
In an attempt to reconnect, Cassie builds a machine that can send signals to the quantum realm. She did this so she could communicate with her dad if he ever gets stuck again. That machine sucks the whole family, including Hank and Janet, back into the quantum realm and the group comes across whole civilizations and colorful monsters that are all trying to kill them. Bill Murray is seen again as a leader of sorts in the realm and M.O.D.O.K. makes a short appearance using his shoulder saw blades. Cassie is captured by Kang and this is when we discover the heist plot of Scott needing to steal something back for Kang, or else lose his daughter. He tells Kang that he’s an Avenger and Kang responds with, “An Avenger… have I killed you before? After a while, they all become a blur.” Cassie wears her new purple suit in the quantum realms though we have yet to see her use any powers.
Release Date: February 17, 2023
The Marvels
Main Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, & Samuel L. Jackson.
New Details: The film is confirmed to be more of a team-up movie between Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan. The main villain has yet to be revealed though the core conflict at the center of the film is now known. The Marvels will explore how the 3 heroes are linked by their powers in a very unorthodox way… each time they try to use their individual abilities they teleport and switch places with one another.
This means that if Carol were to use her powers on another, she could immediately switch places with Kamala Khan and end up in a classroom on Earth, leaving poor Kamala in to fend for herself in a place she doesn’t know anything about. The girls must come together to fix their dilemma and Nick Fury tries to guide them along the way.
Exclusive Footage Description: Marvel showed D23 Expo attendees a first-look teaser for The Marvels. The footage was set to ‘Intergalactic’ by the Beastie Boys and basically explained the core conflict of the 3 heroes trading places with each other. It’s now confirmed this is the explanation for the post-credits scene in Ms. Marvel. We see Monica Rambeau try to use her new phasing powers while working on a space station in an astronaut suit and she is switched out for Kamala Khan who then makes a fool out of herself in front of Nick Fury.
Other switches that occur are Carol Danvers appearing in Kamala’s home and the Khan family freaking out. Kamala gets teleported into space and freaks out when she appears next to Goose who then eats a bunch of bad guys with its flerken tentacle mouth. The 3 girls come together with the help of Nick Fury and show off their powers to each other. Kamala tries her best not to geek out over meeting her heroes throughout but always ends up embarrassing herself. Their dilemma takes the Marvels on a cosmic road trip with Carol driving them in a new spaceship. We see what looks like a musical number on an alien planet and the 3 leads all get put through cooky scenarios that are better suited for one of the others.
Other huge takeaways from the footage include a more comic-accurate white and blue costume for Monica Rambeau. Her powers also seem to have a slightly different visual effect than what was seen in WandaVison since she seems to have learned how to control them more. Kamala seems to be filling the role of comedic relief while the others learn how to kindly tolerate her uncontrollable youthful spirit. The teaser ends with Kamala asking “wait, so does that mean we’re a team?” and the others quickly replying “no” in a funny way. The Marvels definitely has a strong comedic tone, the most from what Marvel showed at the D23 Expo this year.
Release Date: July 28, 2023
Ironheart
Main Cast: Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Alden Ehrenreich, & Manny Montana.
New Details: The series will focus on Riri Williams struggling to balance her aspirations as a tech genius with the responsibilities she faces at home. She’s a young genius but even that isn’t enough to set her apart from the competition, at least not yet. She initially doesn’t have the goal of becoming a traditional hero, but when a new threat known as The Hood rises within her community, she steps up to the plate by building and perfecting an Iron Man-inspired suit that can save the day. Ironheart will put a strong focus on technology vs. magic according to Kevin Feige, as The Hood gets his abilities from the dark arts and Riri Williams has to find a way to fight those spiritual forces with science.
Exclusive Footage Description: Marvel surprised D23 Expo attendees with an early trailer for Ironheart. Ryan Coogler’s influence is definitely felt in the footage, as he’s introducing Riri Williams first in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and also an executive producer on the series. We see the brilliance of Riri Williams early on with all of the technology she has managed to build even before she goes to college. She has a supportive mom and friends but those all come at risk when The Hood rises as a threat to her community. The Hood feels like he’s in the right when fighting “for the people” but takes things too far with his dark arts. We get a glimpse of his comic-accurate Hood costume and it translates to screen pretty well.
Riri Williams must build a suit to beat The Hood and it more or less doesn’t look any different from what was already briefly seen in the Wakanda Forever trailer. It’s very huge and bulky, obviously homemade though not cheap since Riri is a genius. There are visual parallels to when Tony Stark made his suits from the first Iron Man with Riri striking metal with a hammer and molding her armor. The overall tone of Ironheart looks to be very nuanced with its themes of class and social disparity between The Hood and Riri. There was very little humor and the few jokes that did come from Riri made her look more like a serious threat than anything.
Release Date: 2023
Loki: Season 2
Main Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson, Jonathan Majors, Wunmi Mosaku, & Key Huy Quan.
New Details: The stars of Loki Season 2 took a break from filming to come to the D23 Expo for a day, which means that they were as tight-lipped as possible when it came to revealing new information. The biggest takeaway is that Kevin Feige and Tom Hiddleston teased that the series will continue to have major ramifications on the MCU’s Multiverse Saga with the heavy presence of Jonathon Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.
Exclusive Footage Description: Marvel showed D23 Expo attendees an early look into Loki Season 2. The God of Mischief finds himself back at the TVA, though he hasn’t been the same since the events of the first season finale. This is meant quite literally as Loki is now “glitching” in time, since he finds himself in an altered timeline where he doesn’t belong. He literally glitches in and out, going fast forward or reverse in his current time. Loki pleads to Mobius and Hunter B-15 – who don’t know this version of him – by using the TVA’s own time sticks against the office walls and they disintegrate to reveal architecture with Kang’s face all over.
Even though Kang and Sylvie were nowhere to be found in the footage, we did get a glimpse of Ke Huy Quan’s new character who appears to be some sort of time librarian who works at the TVA. The library/archive of sorts is expansive and looks like something out of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. Ke’s character floats down in a goofy manner to assist Loki at the help desk. In the sizzle, we see Loki travel across distant timelines and galaxies and get caught up in more colorful tasks as he tries to make everyone around him aware of Kang and his looming power. Loki is the only one that knows Kang as a growing threat, and the season will act as a warning of what’s to come for the rest of the Multiverse Saga. Miss Minutes is mentioned in passing by Loki though not seen, but that means there’s probably more of her coming if that wasn’t already obvious.
Release Date: 2023
Secret Invasion
Main Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Emilia Clarke, Don Cheadle, Olivia Colman, Cobie Smulders, & Kingsley Ben-Adir.
New Trailer:
Release Date: Spring 2023
Armor Wars
New Details: Kevin Feige and Don Cheadle revealed that the series is directly inspired by the famous comic book storyline it takes its name. Stark tech has gotten into the wrong hands across the world and only James Rhodes is capable of setting things right, given his past relationship with Tony. It was additionally said that the events of Armor Wars are specifically connected and follow what transpires in Secret Invasion.
Release Date: TBA, possibly 2024
Echo
Main Cast: Alaqua Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Graham Greene, Charlie Cox, & Vincent D’Onofrio.
New Plot Details: Echo will follow the titular character after the events of Hawkeye as she goes back to her roots and explores her cultural history in the wake of escaping the Kingpin’s control. The show will dive into her origins while also expanding her world and cast of original characters, most of which make up her home tribe. The majority of the cast had to learn ASL in bringing this story to life. Giving a bigger platform to the deaf community is one of this project’s main goals. We will also learn where she gets the name “Echo.”
Exclusive Footage Description: The early look into Echo Marvel debuted to D23 Expo attendees was short but sweet. We see the titular character get back in touch with her tribe – which boasts other fearsome warriors. She may already be a fierce killer, however, she needs to undergo the teachings of her ancestors in order to conquer a new threat to her world. The series is undoubtedly one of the most unique from the current MCU slate, as it looks to be a grimy action thriller more in line with John Wick than any other superhero project. Echo flaunts intense action and wears its native inspirations on its sleeve with pride. It doesn’t seem to be deeply connected to the rest of the MCU besides the fact that Wilson Fisk makes an ungracious return.
The final moments of the footage reunite Maya Lopez with the Kingpin, except this time he’s wearing a large eye patch like in the comics and is healing from his wound of being shot in the head. Although, he doesn’t approach Maya with hate. Instead, he comes up to her in a somber manner and it appears as if he’s ready to talk or have a different kind of conversation that doesn’t involve murder. Daredevil/Matt Murdock is confirmed to also make an appearance in the show but was absent from the footage. Judging from the trailer, it’s likely that his appearance will either come towards the end or come off as more of a surprise outside of Hell’s Kitchen. Regardless, seeing Maya Lopez and Daredevil in a high-energy action thriller is an exciting prospect.
Release Date: Summer 2023
Daredevil: Born Again
Main Cast So Far: Charlie Cox & Vincent D’Onofrio
New Details: As the show has yet to start production, stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio were unable to share much other than their excitement. Cox states that he can’t wait to start again with “double the amount of time” as the series is confirmed to run for 18 episodes. Filming for Daredevil: Born Again begins next year.
Release Date: TBA, possibly 2024
Captain America: New World Order
Main Cast: Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly, Shira Haas & Tim Blake Nelson.
New Details: Since the sequel has yet to been filming, only so much could be shared. Director Julius Onah describes the film as a “paranoid thriller.” Danny Ramirez revealed that he will now be joining Sam Wilson as the new falcon. Shira Hass is confirmed to star as Sabra, an Israeli superhero from the comics. But most of all, Tim Blake Nelson will be reprising his role first seen in The Incredible Hulk 14 years ago as a now fully powered version of The Leader. Filming for Captain America: New World Order is set to start next year.
Release Date: May 3, 2024
Thunderbolts
Main Cast: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen, & Wyatt Russell.
New Details: With Thunderbolts still being far away in Phase 5, director Jake Schreier couldn’t confirm anything besides the film’s main lineup of MCU degenerates. The first main Thunderbolts lineup in the MCU will consist of Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Bucky Barnes, Ghost, U.S. Agent, and Taskmaster under the command of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Every Marvel star is reprising their respective roles from previous films and Disney+ shows.
Release Date: July 26, 2024
