When it comes to Marvel Studios’ grand Comic-Con showcase for the future of the MCU, it’s fair to say Robert Downey Jr.’s return in Avengers: Doomsday grabbed most of the attention. And yet that doesn’t mean we should sleep on all the other exciting revelations that came out of the event, including everything we learned about next summer’s Fantastic Four reboot. 703c2h

Officially titled The Fantastic 4: First Steps, the movie from director Matt Shakman was confirmed to be set in an alternate “retro-future” 1960s period and a trailer exclusively shown in Hall H (but which naturally leaked online) reveals our first look at stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in action as the iconic quartet. Honestly, though, the fandom’s biggest takeaway from the Fantastic 4 portion of the is something that Marvel wasn’t necessarily trying to show off: the insane chemistry between Pascal and Kirby.

Be it through their lingering looks, gushing comments about each other, or their surprising PDAs despite standing in front of thousands of people, our new Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman have already won over the entire Marvel-loving community — as it’s clear that the two co-stars adore each other as much as their on-screen alter egos.

Vanessa, your Sue is showing.

No comment.

Where do Reed and Sue end and Pascal and Kirby begin?

That’s our Mr. and Mrs. Richards.

While it’s not one that’s often talked about, considering the other myriad problems that also plague those films, one central issue with all three of Fox’s Fantastic Four movies is that their iterations of Reed Richards and Sue Storm had zero chemistry. Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba’s portrayals are popular, but not necessarily as an item. Meanwhile, Miles Teller and Kate Mara had no chance of convincing us of their romance when Mara couldn’t even convince us that her awful yellow wig was her own hair.

At long last, though, it looks like we have finally found a perfectly cast Reed and Sue who get on swimmingly on screen and off. If we’re lucky, we may have a new MCU power couple to Tony and Pepper, Steve and Peggy, and the few Marvel romances that actually work (I said what I said) come July 2025.

Every time Marvel Studios rocks up to San Diego Comic-Con, MCU fans know they’re in for something special. After a year off in 2023 (blame the strikes), Kevin Feige and company returned with a vengeance for 2024’s SDCC — and they brought with them some epic revelations about 2025’s slate of superhero films, and beyond that have just single-handedly reinvigorated interest in the previously flagging franchise. Well, alright, Deadpol & Wolverine becoming the year’s biggest blockbuster didn’t hurt either.

From news on Captain America: Brave New World to Thunderbolts* to The Fantastic Four, and even the next two Avengers movies, the future of the MCU is looking so bright thanks to these SDCC announcements that we’ll all be wearing shades like Blade when these projects roll around.

10. The Fantastic 4: First Steps is the 2025 movie’s official title 4g1c37

We learned a lot from the thrilling Fantastic Four segment of Marvel’s big Hall H . Aside from the epic first-look trailer (more on that in a moment), director Matt Shakman and cast Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach also confirmed that the film has a new title. Namely, The Fantastic 4: First Steps. It’s a little bit cumbersome, if you ask me, but that subtitle is a clear promise from Marvel that we’re getting at least a trilogy of these bad boys, unlike Fox’s many failed attempts to start a F4 franchise.

9. Lewis Pullman is 99.9% definitely playing Sentry 2u602v

Over on the Thunderbolts* side of things, the full ensemble cast of Marvel’s final movie of 2025 was likewise in attendance. That included Lewis Pullman, who — alongside Geraldine Vishwanathan — is the most recent addition to the crew. All Pullman would say when pressed about his role in the film was to confirm that he’s playing a character named “Bob.” This isn’t much of a codename for Marvel comics readers — it’s clearly a confession that, yes, Pullman is playing Sentry (real name: Bob Reynolds).

8. We’re pretty sure Florence Pugh is the main character of Thunderbolts* 52724z

All in all, the Thunderbolts* showcase was attended by director Jake Schreier, Pullman, Viswanathan, David Harbour (Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Val), Wyatt Russell (U.S. Agent), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), and Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova). Despite Marvel pushing the ensemble nature of this one, several of the cast weren’t exactly subtle about how this actually looks to be something of a secret Black Widow 2, with Pugh as the film’s true lead. When asked what stood out to him about the movie, Stan said, “This one, right here,” indicating Pugh. Likewise, Harbour itted that, of all his co-stars, Pugh was his favorite. Is that what the asterisk stands for? “*May contain a lot of Yelena.”

7. Giancarlo Esposito is Sidewinder in Captain America 4 32w5p

There’s been a lot of speculation in recent months over who Giancarlo Esposito could be playing in Captain America: Brave New World. Fans thought they’d figured it out thanks to his appearance in the first trailer. But, nope, we were wrong! As it turns out, The Mandalorian man is portraying Sidewinder, who he describes as “the king of the Serpent Society.” The Serpent Society is a supervillain group and one of Captain America’s most nefarious enemies from the comics, so it’s about time they entered the fray after four films.

6. Brave New World will crossover with Eternals to introduce adamantium into the MCU h6h3o

Thor knows how the Serpent Society will fit into this movie, though, when it already has Tim Blake Nelson’s the Leader (returning from The Incredible Hulk) as an antagonist, and Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk as a major player, too. What’s more, a brand-new clip exclusively shown at the event confirmed exactly how Cap 4 is going to shake up the lore. The clip saw Ford’s POTUS revealing that Tiamut the Celestial ( him from Eternals?) has been found to contain a new substance dubbed adamantium — aka the metal Wolverine’s claws are made of. Earth-616 X-Men, here we come!

5. We got our first look at Galactus b2g69

Flipping back to Fantastic 4 for a moment, a trailer for that movie was also exclusively shown to those in Hall H. Intriguingly, filming didn’t begin on the movie until this week so the trailer was entirely made up of pre-shoots and test footage. As well as featuring very WandaVision-like genre-bending scenes (Reed and the Thing taking part in a 1960s dating show, for instance), it ended with a mind-melting reveal — our very first glimpse at the MCU’s Galactus. He’s not a space cloud, everybody! He’s not a space cloud! Oh, I’m gonna cry.

4. Blade is 100% not coming in 2025 49315y

After that hilarious jab at Blade‘s pre-production problems in Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel wisely decided not to even mention where the vampire hunter’s reboot is at in Hall H — despite it officially being five years since Mahershala Ali was confirmed to be cast as the character at SDCC 2019. What we can confirm without a doubt, however, is that it won’t be making its October 2025 release date, as expected. When closing out the , Feige announced, “Those are the three movies of 2025!” Somewhere, Wesley Snipes is grinning.

3. The Russo brothers will direct both Avengers 5 and Avengers: Secret Wars 2gv3a

We had a strong inkling about this beforehand, of course, but now it’s official: the Russo brothers are coming back to the MCU! Joe and Anthony Russo have gone on record several times as saying their favorite comic book ever is the original Secret Wars event, so naturally they couldn’t resist the temptation to adapt it for the screen. What’s even better, however, is that they are helming Avengers 5 as well. The pair explained at the that they felt a hugely important story had to be told before Secret Wars, featuring someone they described as “possibly the most important character in the whole MCU…”

2. Avengers 5 is now… Avengers: Doomsday 5x432q

And that character’s name is… Victor Von Doom! Yes, as some had speculated, Doctor Doom is officially the new big bad of the Multiverse Saga, with Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror apparently cast into the Void forever more. The film formerly known as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and then Avengers 5, is now officially titled Avengers: Doomsday. If that’s not a title that can sell as many tickets as Deadpool & Wolverine then I don’t know what is. The Kang Dynasty is dead! Long live the Day of Doom!

1. Robert Downey Jr. is Doctor Doom 5y6s4

Honestly, we would’ve been happy with that revelation, but then Marvel had to go even harder by unveiling who they’ve cast as the MCU’s Doctor Doom. In the most epic MCU Comic-Con moment since Tom Hiddleston’s in-character Loki cameo, a horde of cloaked and masked Doctor Dooms flooded the stage. Finally, one came forward, shrugged off his cloak, whipped off his mask, and revealed that he was the (Iron) man, the myth, the legend that is Robert Downey Jr. In a multiversal twist of the likes we’ve never seen before, the erstwhile Tony Stark is now the Avengers’ greatest enemy. How? Why? What? Where? We don’t know. When? Oh, we know that one. Avengers: Doomsday releases May 2026, with Secret Wars following May 2027.