Werewolf By Night
The surprise inclusion in the D23 Marvel Studios panel is Werewolf By Night.
The D23 debuted a black and white trailer for the special presentation of Werewolf By Night. It has a very old-school feel, similar to the classic horror films.
Historically, Werewolf By Night is older than any Marvel most of its superhero properties. It appeared as a five-page short story in 1953 for Marvel Tales #116. This was under Atlas Comics, the predecessor of what would later be Marvel Comics.
The Werewolf By Night special will be based on the later version from 1972. This will be the Jack Russell version of the character who had his own series. Interestingly, it is also the series where Moon Knight made his first appearance.
Jack Russell will be played by Gael García Bernal. Prior to the D23 revelation, the Halloween special was not specifically identified. Along with the upcoming Blade film, Werewolf By Night adds another member of the Midnight Sons to the MCU.
The Werewolf By Night trailer for the Disney+ Halloween special has an classic horror movie vibe to it.
The Werewolf By Night Halloween special will also star Laura Donnelly as monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone and directed by Michael Giacchino.
Werewolf By Night will air on Disney+ on October 7.
Marvel Movies
While Disney’s slate of serialized content is growing in scale, it hasn’t forgotten about its movie-going fans. To that end, Disney divulged new details about Black Panther 2 (that’s now set to release on May 6, 2022) and a new film called The Eternals at D23.
According to Disney, the cast of Marvel Studios’ The Eternals includes «Richard Madden, who portrays the all-powerful Ikaris; Kumail Nanjiani, who plays cosmic-powered Kingo; Lauren Ridloff, who portrays the super-fast Makkari, the first deaf hero in the MCU; Brian Tyree Henry, who plays the intelligent inventor Phastos; Salma Hayek, who plays the wise and spiritual leader Ajak; Lia McHugh, who portrays the eternally young, old-soul Sprite; Don Lee, who plays the powerful Gilgamesh; and Angelina Jolie, who stars as the fierce warrior Thena.»
The President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige revealed concept art images of each character, before announcing three additional cast members: Sersi, to be played by Gemma Chan; aloof loner Druig, to be played by Barry Keoghan; and non-Eternal Dane Whitman, who’ll be played by the King in the North, Kit Harington.
We’ll get a full look at the film when it comes out on November 6, 2020.
Here’s everything you need to know about Disney Plus
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer
The Mandalorian wasn’t the only piece of Star Wars content that came out over the weekend — we also got a new trailer for Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker that’s set to debut in December.
You can see the full trailer down below, but in it we see a quick recap of the Skywalker storyline throughout the last eight episodes that concludes with Rey battling Kylo Renon atop the remains of the Death Star II that was destroyed in Episode 6. It’s a scene that hearkens back to the battle between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan in Episode 3, and it’s going to be awesome.
Speaking of old Ben, actor Ewan McGregor confirmed that he will reprise his role in an untitled Star Wars series that will debut on Disney Plus with filming set to begin next year.
Secret Invasion
Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury returns to the spotlight, with the first Secret Invasion teaser trailer.
Secret Invasion will follow the general plot, although the scope will be smaller than in the comic books.
Secret Invasion will be following the general plot from the comic books, dealing with a group of Skrulls invading the Earth by masquerading as humans. However, it seems the MCU version will not be as big of an event as its comic book origins where the story ultimately led to a massive battle with the Avengers and their allies against the Skrull invasion.
Secret Invasion will also star Cobie Smulders and Don Cheadle, as well as Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Olivia Colman.
The Mandalorian trailer
That said, you can’t talk about Disney Plus without talking about its flagship Star Wars title, The Mandalorian, which got its first trailer during this year’s D23 event.
The series will be set after the fall of the Empire post-Return of the Jedi (aka Episode 6) and stars a lone bounty hunter donning traditional Mandalorian armor, looking like a color-swapped Boba Fett. The series was created by director/producer Jon Favreau (director of Iron Man and Chef), which bodes well for an interconnected Star Wars TV universe, and stars Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martel from Game of Thrones and Javier Peña on Narcos).
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer
The Mandalorian wasn’t the only piece of Star Wars content that came out over the weekend — we also got a new trailer for Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker that’s set to debut in December.
You can see the full trailer down below, but in it we see a quick recap of the Skywalker storyline throughout the last eight episodes that concludes with Rey battling Kylo Renon atop the remains of the Death Star II that was destroyed in Episode 6. It’s a scene that hearkens back to the battle between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan in Episode 3, and it’s going to be awesome.
Speaking of old Ben, actor Ewan McGregor confirmed that he will reprise his role in an untitled Star Wars series that will debut on Disney Plus with filming set to begin next year.
Marvel TV Shows
The end of the last Avengers film might have wrapped everything up in a nice little bow, but don’t worry, Disney Plus will unravel everything with a slate of new shows that will introduce new villains — and heroes — to the Marvel cinematic universe.
Among these shows are The Falcon and The Winter Soldier which will debut in 2020 and star Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, respectively, as well as WandaVision, Loki and What If…, which will all make their debut in 2021.
Disney also announced new series for She-Hulk, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel, which will debut on the service at some point in the future.
Marvel Movies
While Disney’s slate of serialized content is growing in scale, it hasn’t forgotten about its movie-going fans. To that end, Disney divulged new details about Black Panther 2 (that’s now set to release on May 6, 2022) and a new film called The Eternals at D23.
According to Disney, the cast of Marvel Studios’ The Eternals includes «Richard Madden, who portrays the all-powerful Ikaris; Kumail Nanjiani, who plays cosmic-powered Kingo; Lauren Ridloff, who portrays the super-fast Makkari, the first deaf hero in the MCU; Brian Tyree Henry, who plays the intelligent inventor Phastos; Salma Hayek, who plays the wise and spiritual leader Ajak; Lia McHugh, who portrays the eternally young, old-soul Sprite; Don Lee, who plays the powerful Gilgamesh; and Angelina Jolie, who stars as the fierce warrior Thena.»
The President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige revealed concept art images of each character, before announcing three additional cast members: Sersi, to be played by Gemma Chan; aloof loner Druig, to be played by Barry Keoghan; and non-Eternal Dane Whitman, who’ll be played by the King in the North, Kit Harington.
We’ll get a full look at the film when it comes out on November 6, 2020.
Disney Plus details
The star of Disney’s D23 Expo was most definitely Disney Plus. The House of Mouse announced that attendees would be among the first to be able to subscribe to the service at a discount (if they didn’t mind signing a three-year agreement) before giving us some details on the quality and quantity of the streams at a special panel. We know now that the service will support up to four simultaneous streams in 4K / Dolby Vision at the base monthly package price of $6.99.
In terms of timing, we learned that Disney Plus will release new episodes of its shows weekly rather than in one season chunks like Netflix, which could give the service time to catch up with competitors who already have massive catalogues (cough, Netflix) and keep users coming back for more.
In some less good news, Disney reiterated that the service will be available in the US, Canada, The Netherlands and Australia on November 12, but still didn’t mention a UK release date — sorry folks.
Captain America: New World Order
Captain America 4 finally gets an official title with Captain America: New World Order. In addition, the D23 panel debuted the official logo for the upcoming superhero film.
The movie will star Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson as the new Captain America, directly spinning out from the events of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Disney Plus series. It was also confirmed that Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) will be returning.
The big cast addition is Tim Blake Nelson, who will be reprising his role as Samuel Sterns aka The Leader. It was previously rumored that Samuel Sterns might be the main villain in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Marvel TV Shows
The end of the last Avengers film might have wrapped everything up in a nice little bow, but don’t worry, Disney Plus will unravel everything with a slate of new shows that will introduce new villains — and heroes — to the Marvel cinematic universe.
Among these shows are The Falcon and The Winter Soldier which will debut in 2020 and star Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, respectively, as well as WandaVision, Loki and What If…, which will all make their debut in 2021.
Disney also announced new series for She-Hulk, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel, which will debut on the service at some point in the future.
Armor Wars
Previously rumored as being cancelled due to not being included in the San Diego Comic-Con panel, Armor Wars gets an update in D23 with the official logo. No further details were provided, but the Disney Plus series is still being developed.
The series will star Don Cheadle reprising his role as James Rhodes aka War Machine. In the comic books, Armor Wars (also called the Stark Wars) followed Tony Stark/Iron Man in his quest of obsessively trying to retrieve or destroy his stolen technology, whether it was friend or foe using it.
Armor Wars was not included in the San Diego Comic-Con Marvel Studios panel, but the D23 Expo confirms it is still in development.
With Cheadle’s Rhodey taking over the lead for the Armor Wars storyline, what other details might be changed? If stolen Stark Tech will be involved, will Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) be reprising her role? Will it lead to the rumored return of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man?