The San Diego Comic-Con is chugging along at full speed, with panels full of creators and showrunners behind the hottest franchises in entertainment introducing fans to their upcoming content. One of the biggest panels at the convention though was naturally the one that belonged to the MCU.
The Hall H Panel saw, among other things, Kevin Feige, Benedict Cumberbatch and director Scott Derrickson all take to the stage to reveal some tantalizing tidbits about the future of Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange in the upcoming sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
After the multiverse was teased in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the name of the second Strange film seems to confirm that it does indeed exist and will be a source of trouble for the Guardian of the Mystical Realm as well as the Avengers. Scarlet Witch will be joining Stephen Strange in his second solo outing, too, which Cumberbatch confirmed will retain the humor of the original while adding a new scary twist to the series:
“I’m really excited to be at the dawn of this project and I think it’s vital to maintain the humor we had in the first one but with this twist of horror that will really have people gripped.”
Meanwhile, Wanda and Vision will be getting their own Disney Plus show, called WandaVision, which will focus on the two characters who until now have only played supporting roles in the MCU. In the past, the small screen adaptations of Marvel Comics heroes have stayed away from their big screen counterparts, but Feige confirmed that WandaVision will be tied-in directly with Doctor Strange 2 and going forward, all the Disney Plus shows will be closely related to and impact the narrative of the larger MCU.
“These episodes will intersect with the movies in a very big way. It’s a totally new form of storytelling that we get to play with and explore. It’s the first long-form narrative that Marvel Studios has done — they’ll be six episodes, eight episodes, 10 episodes with the actors from the films playing their characters. They’ll be changing, evolving, growing in those event series and then those changes will be reflected in their next film appearances.”
This means that, as big and character-heavy an event as Avengers: Endgame was, the MCU storylines going forward are going to be even bigger and more complex, juggling between TV shows, the Earth-bound movies, the Guardians of The Galaxy flicks as well as the introduction of the Eternals and multiverse characters that are set to enter the Marvel sandbox in the next few years. Suffice it to say, there’s much to look forward to and we can’t wait to see where the franchise goes in Phase 4.
