Comic-Con 2026 Recap – Day 3: Doomsday, Star Trek, Dark Matter, and More
Catch up on all the news coming out of San Diego Comic-Con.
The clouds parted on Saturday at Comic-Con International: San Diego. And appropriately so with Star Trek and Marvel Studios in Hall H. Upstairs in Ballroom 20, animation was king with programs like Family Guy and Futurama making their annual visit to the convention’s other major presentation space. But, of course, time stands still at SDCC when Marvel arrives with their biannual show. So let’s look at what transpired there and throughout Comic-Con.
Marvel Studios Returns To Hall H So All Can Join Doom
As has become tradition, Marvel Studios rolls into Hall H every two years. The 2024 edition of their SDCC presentation concluded with the introduction of big bad Doctor Doom in the form of actor Robert Downey Jr. It also saw a chorus of Deadpools opening the show to the tune of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer.”
This year, the presentation was presaged with Doom masks and capes distributed to the audience in anticipation of Avengers: Doomsday, the only Marvel feature of the year (Spider-Man: Brand New Day is technically a Sony picture). The Fantastic Four’s H.E.R.B.I.E. also made a pre-show appearance. Festivities truly began with a sizzle reel recapping where the Marvel Cinematic universe has been so far — from the founding of the Avengers to the Loki becoming the God of Stories to world of the X-Men and to the brink of Doom.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Fiege then took the stage. “The history of Marvel Studios and Hall H are intertwined,” he said before recalling some of those shared events, like the Avengers assembling for the first time at Comic-Con in 2010 and Loki making the crowd kneel in a subsequent year. He also teased VisionQuest, the third part of the WandaVision television trilogy due out later this year. “But mainly, we’re going to talk about movies,” he said. First up was what the studio calls Endgame Encore, a slight revision of Avengers: Endgame meant to remind audiences of what it was all like in 2019 and to whet the appetite for Doomsday. In fact, a sneak-peak of the new Avengers film will be included with Encore.
Feige rolled a trailer for the revised film, but it mainly utilized moments and images fans have become familiar with across the last seven years. “We keep secrets to maintain surprises,” Feige explained. But before he could move on, Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz asked him, once again, about Ryan Gosling starring in a Ghost Rider film. He’s done so often … but this time, Feige finally confirmed the project is real. Gosling appeared on stage to assure the audience it is finally happening and that he is bringing Star Wars: Starfighter director Shawn Levy with him.
The director said Gosling told him of Ghost Rider while shooting their Star Wars film last year. “Gosling is the absolute shit. I say that with tremendous respect,” Levy said. The duo decided the film will be their next collaboration. It is due out sometime in 2028.
The studio president’s next attempt to move on to the future of the films was interrupted by Jon Bernthal, who crashed the stage to talk about Brand New Day. Feige claimed he didn’t bring anything to show from the film. Bernthal, however, brought a clip. In it, Frank Castle (Bernthal) helps Spidey (Tom Holland) face the Savage Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who needs an inhibitor so Banner can rest control from his more bestial form.
Afterward, Joe and Anthony Russo arrived to discuss Doomsday, but both wondered if the back of the hall had a good view. Knowing the answer, a second stage appeared in the far back to reveal members of the cast. While Pedro Pascal and various X-Men took to the main stage, the Avengers claimed the new back stage.
And then Downey joined the main stage group to fully claim his role as Doom. In a suit worthy of the character, and adorned with runes, the actor said, “God bless us all. It isn’t easy being green. You need a lot of help. I had this whole family around me to assist me. I think we’ve made something special.” He took a brief pause to prepare his Doom voice. “But choices have to be made,” he continued. Then, fully taking on Doom, he added, “You may make the choice to join the family of Doom.”
The Avengers, having enough of this, then made their way to the main stage. The combined group of talent included David Harbour, Simu Liu, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Hannah John Kamen, Lewis Pullman, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Kelsey Grammar, Chris Evans, Danny Ramirez, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, and possibly a few more. Like the film, the stage was stuffed with actors.
Downey, of course, took a picture with all 6000 Dooms in the hall. After that, Joe Russo attempted to take control of the scene by asking the actor if Doom is more powerful than Thanos. The Dooms in the audience answered instead with a resounding “yes.” Although it was difficult for the directors and actors to interact over the cheers of the fans, Pascal was able to reveal one key detail about Doom’s relationship to his character, Reed Richards. They were, at one time, “besties.” More on Doom’s past with the Fantastic Four in a moment.
Ryan Reynolds, dressed as Deadpool, then appeared as the final party-crasher. He asked if there was still time to shoot additional Doomsday scenes. Joe Russo responded, “we keep making the movie until they take it from us.” Reynolds/Deadpool seemed unimpressed with the answer, dropped his mic, and walked away.
With that bit of business dealt with, Feige unveiled an exclusive Hall H Doomsday trailer. Focused on the character, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) reveals he was once a kind and compassionate man until he lost everything. The imagery suggests the key loss in his life was his mother, as in the comics. No matter the specific details, Doom’s heart grew cold. Picking up the action, the trailer sees Thor getting thoroughly rocked by Doom – an expansion of the moment in the wide release trailer. Doom also brings Sentinels under his thrall all while Reed asks the same question: “Did you do this?”
Will he really undo the reality of the X-Men?
Feige then returned to stage for the traditional “one more thing” to close out the show. “One of the great privileges of being at Marvel is working with these great artists,” he said. “Sometimes they make other movies and win awards. Then they make their next movie with us.” All of which was preamble to announcement of Black Panther III. Ryan Coogler returns to direct. He also took to the stage to introduce cast members Winston Duke and Letitia Wright. He also announced a new Black Panther, T’Challa’s son – also named T’Challa – to be played by Alien: Romulus‘s David Jonsson.
“I want to say thank you so much,” the actor said. “Thank you Ryan, Thank you Kevin, and thank you to this family I have the honor and privilege to join.”
The film is due out December 15, 2028.
As always, the Marvel presentation was emotional. The crowds lost their voices from cheering, but they can always just adopt the voice of Doom. With the masks, they’re halfway there already.
Star Trek Shines On 60 Years And Strange New Worlds’s New Season
Star Trek celebrates 60 years of its universe this year. And the festivities really began in Hall H during the series’ annual SDCC appearance. Split into two halves, the first segment celebrated the various Trek programs with representatives of each: Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Robert Picardo (Voyage, Prodigy, and Starfleet Academy), Cirroc Lofton (Deep Space Nine), Dominic Keating (Enterprise), Michelle Hurd (Picard), George Takei (The Original Series), Doug Jones (Discovery), Jerry O’Connell (Lower Decks), Christina Chong (Strange New Worlds), and Karim Diané (Starfleet Academy).
But before the panel got underway, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s son, Euguene “Rod” Rodenberry, reflected on his father’s legacy: “This was a show about us,” he said. The real mission: to depict a united humanity exploring the stars. It’s expressed in Star Trek as IDIC – infinite diversity in infinite combinations. As Rod put it, “to be 100% clear, it never meant dropping your ideas … it meant keeping an open mind to new ideas.”
That basic concept, according to Takei, is the reason for Trek’s longevity. Although, he appreciates all the well-wishes he has received in anticipation of the anniversary on September 8. “It makes me feel so young,” he said. “I’m way older than 60!” Returning to the theme of diversity, Chong agreed that it is at the forefront of the franchise. “It’s everything we can hope humanity to be. There’s no better thing to feel better than watch Star Trek. It creates families. I can’t believe I’m at this table!”
Diané, one of the latest actors to join the Trek family expressed similar shock. “I feel like I snuck my way onto this stage,” he said. And although Starfleet Academy is the newest show, the actor knows he’s part of it forever. “It hit me when I got a DM from a guy who got Jay’den tattooed on his thigh … but Jay’den in a speedo!” he explained. “When I saw my face on a grown man’s thigh, I knew this was permanent.” Diané also revealed a new character for the program’s second season: Ruaridh Aldington will play an extraterrestrial named Keats. More will be revealed about him — or is it them? — in the months ahead.
Strange New Worlds, meanwhile, continues its five-year mission with a fourth season the cast and crew could only tease with one word: puppets. While the episode will not air for a few more weeks, it has been a topic of discussion since last year’s Trek panel. Hilariously, though, the cast kept mum on the subject.
One thing Spock actor Ethan Peck could reveal was the mood on set during the last day of filming, saying it was “beautiful, hopeful, and triumphant.” Of course, season five is still in a ways in the future. New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debut Thursdays on Paramount+.
Mayday Directors Discuss The Magic In Combining Its Unlikely Leads
Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein appeared on stage to talk a little bit about their new film, Mayday, starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. The former stars as a US Air Force pilot who crash lands in the U.S.S.R. in 1984. Branagh’s Soviet local loves America and decides to help him escape enemy lines. It gets funnier than there.
In an extended clip, Branagh’s character uses his ex-KGB skills to evade state intelligence officers already on their tail as they arrive in Moscow. It’s full of the flair the directors brought to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and their other films.
According to Goldstein, the project began as a desire to “make a movie like a funny Misery and something like Running Scared, where you pair two unlikely actors.” Those actors, of course, are the Shakespeare-trained Branagh and the force of nature that is Reynolds. The directors said the pairing made both up their respective games.
“You haven’t seen Ken Branagh the action star until you’ve seen Mayday. I think he’s going to get a lot of offers that used to go to Jason Statham,” Goldstein said. Daley added that the actors really reflected the characters, saying “they represent these two people from two different world and have to overcome their preconceived notions about each other.”
It is the sort of mismatch that leads to action and hilarity if the trailer and clip shown during Apple’s presentation is anything to go by.
Mayday premieres September 4 on AppleTV.
Dark Matter Looks Forward To Season 2
After a look back at the first season, stars Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Dayo Okeniyi -— along with author and creator Blake Crouch, co-writer/producer Jacquelyn Ben-Zekry, and executive producer Matt Tolmach — teased the upcoming second year as the characters and their alternates prepare for more multiversal madness.
As Crouch explained, “Season 1 was based on the book and Season 2 becomes an endless corridor of possibility. Imagine your whole world has been taken away and all you have is your family. That’s what the Destins have in World 26. The whole season is about being along and finding yourself.”
According to Edgerton, the goal is “to find a place to live, but it leads to a question of ‘what is home?’”
“They’re trying to find a simple life,” Connelly added. “But something foils that plan pretty quickly. How can they be in this marriage if they don’t really know who they are anymore?”
The season will also feature more of the characters meeting their variants. As Ben-Zekry put it, “It’s been fun to have the characters meet themselves and learn what’s in common and what’s different.”
“Joel had a lot of fun playing against himself. And now these other folks get to act against themselves and it’s a blast to behold,” Crouch added.
Season 2 debuts August 28.
Matchbox The Movie Gears Up
Apple TV’s first panel in Hall H also included a look at the upcoming Matchbox The Movie with cast members John Cena, Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris, and Arturo Castro. Cena stars as Sean, a probable government agent who meets up with his childhood friends. Their bond: playing with Matchbox cars. Their friendships will be tested, though, when they become part of Sean’s latest crisis. Will full-size reproduction of classic Matchbox toys save the day?
As usual, Cena brought his A-game to the hall, entertaining the crowd by drinking an entire bottle of water way too fast and suggesting that he has an incontinence problem. But he also censored his language a little — a step up from last year’s Peacemaker presentation.
He also summed up the film with his usual flair: “It is a global thrill ride. Friends lean into nostalgia as their anxiety has put them in an uncomfortable place. And I hope you enjoy their journey as they might save the world.” The mix of action and comedy was part of the appeal for the star, who joked “It’s a cry for help. No humor in my life anymore.”
Matchbox The Movie debuts on Apple TV October 9.
Neuromancer Arrives In January
As the Apple TV presentation continued, Neuromancer executive producer Graham Nolan quickly appeared on stage to discuss the reason why now was the right time to bring William Gibson’s genre-defining novel to serialized television.
“Gibson coined the term cyberspace. He wrote about the collision of acritical intelligence and human intelligence,” he explained. “And now, 42 years later, we’re living those lives. It’s time to re-examine those things.”
Callum Turner stars as Case. Nolan referred to him as an “atypical protagonist. He’s a criminal and a survivor, but the producer said they gravitated to “the feeling that he’s an orphan” and that “everything he does is from a place of survival.” He credited the actor with bringing that to the character.
Turner briefly appeared via video to introduce the teaser trailer, which offered a pretty accurate vision of Gibson’s sprawl.
Neuromancer debuts January 22, 2027.
Silo Cast Determines What Makes A Fan
To Common, a Silo fan can be anyone. His mother and sister are two such people, for example. He mentioned a flight attendant on the way out to San Diego who discussed how much they love the show. For Jessica Henwick, her mother can keep the title in her mind, which she considers a success. Rebecca Ferguson, meanwhile faced the comments online before the show debuted, but now finds herself happy to see people truly engage with it.
Season 3, currently streaming, promises to reveal the origin of the silos, a revelation timed with the series reaching the second novel in the original book series. But as show creator Graham Yost put it, there is a problem with the novel’s structure: “Juliette doesn’t show up until the end!” The solution was to re-craft the story so it unfolds with her and deals with Daniel’s sister getting her memory wiped.
A clip from the third episode of the season also revealed Tim Robbin’s character survived. The actor joined the assembled cast and crew on stage to express his join in returning. “The chance to play a completely changed Bernard – not just his body, but his worldview has been shattered. What happens to an individual when they undergoes that profound change … to play that is such a gift,” he said.
As the season continues, new alliances are formed and a revolution is brewing. Robbins added that fans can look forward to “damn good entertainment.”
New episodes of Silo debut weekly on AppleTV.
Widow’s Bay Cast Makes Their Comic-Con Debut
The horror-infused comedic series made its debut in Hall H on the heels of receiving 19 Emmy nominations. Both events felt surreal to cast and crew. As Dale Dickey put it, “Dear God in Heaven, what the hell is happening?” And as the Hall H crowd of 6500 people cheered, series creator Katie Dippold added, “I never expected we’d be at Comic-Con.”
Actor Kingston Rumi Southwick summed it up with just a few words: “Look at what we did!”
As Dippold revealed, the program began as a “spec [script] for Parks and Recreation about a haunted town.” Naturally enough, it evolved into something else.
Stephen Root was glad to see it evolve into a “watercooler show” and hoped its undercurrent of kindness.
Star Matthew Rhys joined the cast via a live video link, where he discussed the balance of slapstick and sincerity: “That’s how I live my life.”
Apple TV confirmed a second season of Widow’s Bay last month.
And Outside Of Hall H…
Up in Ballroom 20, mainstays from Fox Television’s animation block presented new clips and chatter from The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, and more. Elsewhere, Black Mask Studios revealed a first look at Amazon MGM’s upcoming adaptation of their 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank comic book series, Reacher unleashed a new trailer, and Green Day performed music from the upcoming film Nimrods. Saturday is always a big day, even when Marvel Studios takes the year off, but as they always prove, they can make their semi-regular appearance a true event.
