For almost twenty years now, Marvel Studios has vaulted San Diego Comic-Con from an annual geek event to the premiere destination for all things nerdy. Way back in 2006, the first-ever panel for Marvel Studios took place at the event, where they teased their plans for the first three movies they had announced: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Ant-Man. Even then, in that humble moment, when a guy named Kevin Feige, whom Marvel fans didn’t know at all, made a hint that all these heroes could come together to form The Avengers on the big screen.
Though they haven’t appeared at EVERY San Diego Comic-Con since then, the years that they have been present have become an event. So much so that it forced Hollywood to consider SDCC as THE place to make huge announcements and even premiere the first footage from new titles. Marvel is no stranger to doing that themselves, and over the years have announced countless things. In twenty years, though, there are only four things that were confirmed by Marvel Studios at San Diego Comic-Con that have never come to pass, and after this week’s announcements it’s worth looking back at what Marvel revealed to the world and never actually delivered on.
Marvel’s first San Diego Comic-Con, which occurred exactly 20 years ago, the team not only used time at their panel to talk about the plans for the three movies they were already working on, but to announce the next three movies. Among those titles that Kevin Feige and Co. confirmed were Captain America, Thor, and…a Nick Fury movie.
Not only did Marvel Studios confirm that a Nick Fury movie was in the works, but they announced that Andrew Marlowe would pen the script. The creator of Castle and the writer of Air Force One, it was an idea that made sense at the time, but it’s worth noting that at this point in the development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character of Nick Fury hadn’t even been cast, meaning Samuel L. Jackson wasn’t even on board.
On top of that, the iconic post-credit scene that would appear at the end of the first Iron Man that marked his MCU debut and kicked off the firestorm of post-credit teases and a hint at the larger universe hadn’t even been considered. Marlowe would tease around 2010 that the script he wrote was modeled after the Jim Steranko comics, and was “like the American James Bond.” As fans know, this one just…went nowhere, but it wasn’t alone. In its early days, Marvel routinely developed scripts for characters that went nowhere, including Luke Cage and Runaways.
The Marvel Studios announcement that was talked about, and talked about, and talked about, and ultimately did not happen was the original idea for Ant-Man. As exciting as an Iron Man movie from Jon Favreau and a new Hulk movie were, the idea that the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz would bring the hero to life made it a tantalizing project for film freaks.
Wright was not only present for the first Marvel Studios panel in 2006 to talk about his vision for Ant-Man (which included at that point the idea that both Hank Pym and Scott Lang would be in the film), but continued to show up for subsequent con appearances and talk about it in other interviews. In 2010, Wright confirmed that his movie wouldn’t be released until after The Avengers (and that the characters wouldn’t appear in that movie), and in 2012 Wright appeared at the Marvel panel to show off test footage for the movie, even teasing: “Ant-Man will kick your ass, an inch at a time.”
As fans know, Wright eventually departed the project, and though the movie got made, it wasn’t the film that Marvel Studios had been talking about, teasing, and developing for years. By the time it released, it had to fit into the MCU, giving us an Ant-Man that could, of course, live alongside the other Avengers, and not a standalone snappy heist movie from the beloved filmmaker.
In July of 2019, Marvel Studios’ San Diego Comic-Con was the ultimate victory lap. The studio had just released the second highest-grossing movie of all-time in Avengers: Endgame, the film that capped off eleven years and three phases worth of feature films, and fans were hungry to know what was next. Marvel was happy to oblige, confirming their next five feature films and their first five television shows that would launch on the soon-to-be streaming service, Disney+.
Per tradition, there was one last thing, with Kevin Feige letting Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali walk on stage and announce himself as the new Blade, with the daywalker officially on his way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From there, the fans know what happened; the COVID-19 pandemic completely altered all the plans that Marvel confirmed at this event, and the Blade movie stalled out in epic fashion.
Over the years, multiple directors, writers, and creatives were attached to the project, including stars like Delroy Lindo and Mia Goth. Marvel even committed to keeping Ali on as the character despite stalled development by introducing him off-screen in a voice cameo in Eternals, and even modeling the character after him in the Marvel Zombies TV show. Marvel appears to have finally admitted defeat, though, as Kevin Feige admitted not getting the movie off the ground made him feel like a “gigantic loser and failure.” Much of the cast, crew, and even sets and props would go on to become a part of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, though, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Without a doubt, though, the biggest announcement made by Marvel Studios on stage at San Diego Comic-Con is the Avengers movie they announced and which never got made. The 2022 event saw the studio reveal titles like Thunderbolts, Daredevil: Born Again, and even the Agatha spinoff, but it also saw Marvel confirm the next two Avengers movies, starting with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which would be followed by Avengers: Secret Wars.
After being cast in the Kang role for Loki Season 1 and set to reprise it in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Jonathan Majors was poised to become the next big bad of the MCU and The Multiverse Saga. As fans know, despite development with director Destin Daniel Cretton attached and screenwriter Jeff Loveness, the film stalled, especeially afterMajors’s arrest in March 2023 following assault allegations.
When Majors was found guilty in court, Disney fired the actor and pivoted entirely, writing off the character entirely with Loki Season 2 and eventually giving way for directors Joe and Anthony Russo to return to the MCU alongside star Robert Downey Jr. as the new antagonist Doctor Doom.
