Entertainment

While Marvel’s presentation ended on Saturday evening, July 27, by bringing the house down with Robert Downey Jr.‘s surprise return to the MCU for two films, president Kevin Feige teased three other films with the help of some major star power. 

The studio’s other presentations included a showcase with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach from the just-rebranded The Fantastic Four: First Steps — complete with their ride, the Fantasticar, somehow floating across the stage. That film is due out July 25, 2025.

Another presentation featured Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, two of the stars of the February 2025 release Captain America: Brave New World.

Ford said he was “so proud” to be joining the other fine actors who have been having so much fun in the MCU, expressing, “I wanted to get in on the action.”

He also Hulked out on stage, in a nod to his character Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross becoming Red Hulk in the movie. 

That film’s Giancarlo Esposito was also there, to “finally unleash” that he’s playing the villain Sidewinder. It was previously rumored he’d be playing a different character. 

Marvel’s spotlight also saw David Harbour, in character and in costume as his Black Widow character the Red Guardian, walking through the crowd to hype up Thunderbolts, his team-up movie with other stars who were there, including Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier), Florence Pugh (Yelena), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine). 

After a thunderous introduction, Harbour then broke character, saying to his co-stars meekly, “Oh my God: You guys didn’t dress up?”

Fans in Hall H were treated to a tease of that forthcoming film as well, which is due out May 5, 2025. 

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At San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday night, Marvel Studios figuratively blew the roof off of the famous Hall H with a literal unmasking of Robert Downey Jr. in an announcement of his return to the MCU.

But he won’t be reprising as Tony Stark/Iron Man, who perished in Avengers: Endgame: The Oscar winner will be breaking bad as Dr. Victor Von Doom — aka one of Marvel Comics’ original villains, Dr. Doom.

Studio head Kevin Feige first announced that Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo were also returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a pair of forthcoming films, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Feige was flanked by rows of baddies in green robes wearing Doom’s iconic metal mask.

Joe Russo then said, “As proof of the unlimited possibilities of the Marvel [Multiverse], we give you the one person who could play Victor Von Doom.”

At this, a figure wearing a green suit emerged, dramatically walked to the front of the stage, and took off his silver mask, revealing Downey’s face — to a thunderous response from the crowd.

“New mask, same task,” Downey said, referring to the difference between Iron Man’s faceplate and Doom’s covering. He added, “I tell ya, I like playing complicated characters.”

As reported, the Oppenheimer star had hinted he reconsidered a return to Marvel, after 10 appearances as Stark beginning with 2008’s Iron Man. For his part, Kevin Feige insisted to Vanity Fair they’d never “magically undo” Stark’s climactic Endgame sacrifice — and apparently the Multiverse will provide a way to bring Downey back without doing just that.

Downey later posted a photo of himself face to face with the mask, to which his fellow Avenger Mark Ruffalo, aka The Hulk, commented “green suits you.”

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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At Prime Video’s panel for The Boys at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, the show’s creator, Eric Kripke, announced that Jensen Ackles‘ popular Soldier Boy character and Aya Cash‘s Nazi-Supe Stormfront will have their own show, a prequel series called Vought Rising.

Ackles made a surprise appearance at the panel, which was moderated by The Boys season 4 star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Cash popped up via video. 

Vought Rising will be set in the 1950s, when, as the show’s name suggests, the multinational conglomerate-to- be was in its infancy, thanks to the superhero-producing formula known as Compound V. 

Prime Video calls the “deranged” new spin-off “a twisted murder mystery about the origins of Vought in the 1950s, the early exploits of Soldier Boy, and the diabolical maneuvers of a Supe known to fans as Stormfront, who was then going by the name Clara Vought.” 

The streaming service adds, “We cannot wait to blow your minds and trouble your souls with this salacious, grisly saga drenched in blood and Compound V.”

Ackles and Cash will serve as co-executive producers on the show.

Past spin-offs from the world of The Boys include Gen V and the animated The Boys Presents: Diabolical, both streaming exclusively on Prime Video.

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At a panel for the animated show at San Diego Comic-Con, Fox revealed its animated series Krapopolis has been renewed for a fourth season — ahead of its second season premiere this fall.

“For all our Krap-devotees, there was no better place to decree another season of Krapopolis than the annual San Diego Comic-Con fan fest and no one better to deliver the proclamation than our brilliant creator and executive producer, Dan Harmon,” said Fox TV President Michael Thorn.

“Dan and his team have created something special with this series, and now that season 4 is etched in stone, we’ll be keeping those once-in-a-millennia laughs rolling,” he continued in part.

The show from Rick & Morty co-creator Harmon is a twisted take on ancient Greek mythology, telling the story “of a dysfunctional family of humans, gods and monsters that try their hand at running the world’s first cities – without trying to kill each other, first.”

The cast includes Richard Ayoade, who plays Tyrannis. His character’s parents are What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry (Shlub) and Ted Lasso‘s Hannah Waddingham, who just earned Krapopolis‘ first Emmy nomination, for voicing Tyrannis’ mom, Deliria, the “goddess of self-destruction and questionable choices.”

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In an appearance opposite his costar Hugh Jackman on First We Feast’s Hot Ones show, Reynolds revealed his initial plan was to “hide” Deadpool & Wolverine inside an “intentionally bad” movie.

“The original idea with this movie was to shoot a fake movie called Alpha Cop, that was intentionally bad,” said Reynolds, adding he even had a poster made for the phony film, with the tagline, “Two cops, one brain, all b****.”

“It was about two guys that were sharing one brain and together they make the ultimate cop,” Ryan said.

Reynolds and Jackman would have starred in Alpha Cop, having filmed the real movie “in secret,” the actor-producer says.

He explained, “Like 10 people in America would go to see this movie on opening weekend and five minutes into the movie the Marvel logo would flip up and it would actually be Deadpool & Wolverine.”

But the very high stakes bait and switch had a very real danger, so the plan was scrapped. “The problem is that if you managed to get down to the last minute and [the cover] got blown, it would just be heartbreaking,” Ryan said.

While it’s unknown what Alpha Cop would have made in sneaks, the real movie has already set box office records.

Deadpool & Wolverine made $38.5 million from previews on Thursday alone: That’s the best-ever sneak preview showing for an R-rated film and the eighth highest sneak preview performance ever, adjusted for inflation.

For the record, it missed #7 on the list, Avengers: Infinity War, by only 1 million bucks.

According to the website The Numbers, Avengers: Endgame set the all-time record with $60 million before it actually opened.

Marvel Studios is owned by ABC News’ parent company Disney.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

The Kardashians (Hulu)
More Kardashians are on the way. As season 5 came to a close on Thursday, Hulu announced The Kardashians will be returning for season 6. Variety reports the streaming service has ordered 20 more episodes.

Love Island USA (Peacock)
Rob Rausch felt so connected to fellow Love Island USA season 6 contestant Andrea Carmona he almost followed her out the door after she got dumped from the villa, but ultimately decided against it. During a recent appearance on Call Her Daddy, Rausch says he is no longer interested in continuing a relationship with her. “It’s probably better if we just kind of keep our distance for now,” Rausch said, admitting he was put off by her social media presence. “A lot has happened and she’s been posting a lot.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (Paramount+)
Kamala Harris is about to make history as the first sitting vice president to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race. She will guest star of Friday’s Drag Race All Stars 9 finale, which was filmed before President Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Harris as his preferred successor on the Democratic ticket. “Each day, we’re seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love — openly and with pride,” Harris said in a clip from the episode. “So, as we fight back against these attacks, let’s all remember, no one is alone. We’re all in this together, and your vote is your power.”

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Hollywood rolled up to the City of Lights in a big way Thursday evening at the Prelude to the Olympics event at the Fondation Louis Vuitton museum.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Charlize Theron and tennis champ Serena Williams were two of the co-chairs for the event, which drew a galaxy of stars including Zendaya, Queen Latifah and Jeremy Allen White; music superstars Snoop Dogg and Mick Jagger; and Oscar winner Spike Lee.

The trade says the celebration of “sports, culture, music, fashion and art” was hosted by Louis Vuitton men’s creative director and recording artist Pharrell Williams and Vogue‘s Anna Wintour.

Athletes including LeBron James, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka were also on hand, as were Lee’s fellow filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Jon M. Chu, Baz Luhrmann and Everything Everywhere‘s co-director Daniel Kwan.

Also ready to party the night before the 2024 opening ceremony was writer-director Judd Apatow and his 40-Year-Old Virgin scene stealer, Elizabeth Banks, as well as comedian John Mulaney and Zac Efron, according to THR.

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Both The Bear and The Boys found themselves among the top five most-watched shows on streaming for the week of June 24-30, according to new Nielsen numbers quoted by The Wrap. 

Interestingly, the #1 and #2 shows on the chart for that week, Your Honor starring Bryan Cranston, and Dexter, with Michael C. Hall, were already available on Paramount+, but a move to Netflix goosed their numbers, a phenomenon previously seen with shows like Suits and Loudermilk.

Your Honor got 1.58 billion viewing minutes across all platforms while Dexter came in second with 1.48 billion.

The Bear, which dropped its entire third season on Hulu on June 26, debuted at #3 on the list, with 1.2 billion viewing minutes, while The Boys logged 1.18 billion in that time frame — which was ahead of its July 18 finale. 

Rounding out the Top Five for the last week in June was Bridgerton, with 1.14 billion viewing minutes.

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The Fall Guy, the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt big-screen remake of the ’80s show of the same name, is headed to Peacock on Aug. 30, times two. 

The streaming service will make two versions of the movie available, both the theatrical cut and an extended edition that boasts 20 extra minutes of footage. 

The movie has Gosling’s veteran stuntman Colt Seavers returning to the movies after a near-deadly stunt to double for spoiled star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). But the job on the directorial debut of his former love interest Jody (Blunt) goes sideways when Tom goes missing. 

Ted Lasso Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham also stars in the film from director David Leitch, along with Everything Everywhere star Stephanie Hsu and Marvel movie veteran Winston Duke. 

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On Thursday Ryan Reynolds returned to where Deadpool all started for him, San Diego Comic-Con, for a blockbuster event: The Ultimate Deadpool & Wolverine Festival of Life. 

His costar Hugh Jackman was there, as well as the movie’s heavy Emma Corrin, director Shawn Levy and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige — and a capacity crowd of 6,500 fans, Variety says.

So as to avoid spoilers for the attendees in Hall H, five more stars took the stage after a surprise screening, to get their flowers for their crowd-pleasing parts, which remained secret until many outlets decided it was acceptable to out them. 

Reynolds and Jackman reflected on fan reaction footage from the 2016 original got at Comic-Con. 

“I was the most nervous human being you would ever see,” Reynolds said, according to Variety. “I was stepping into a dream come true in a certain sense, but I remember making that movie for you, and I remember how gratifying it was that everyone else liked it too.”

He added of Jackman, “I’ll never forget this moment, because this a****** was backstage.” 

For his part, Jackman recalled “this chant that started up: ‘One more time, one more time.’ … I found [the] stage manager, and I said … ‘If you don’t play the f******* footage again, they are going to tear Hall H to the ground.'”

Reynolds then played a video snippet from Leslie Uggams, who plays Blind Al in the Deadpool movies, who said, “Can we skip the bulls*** and just show the damn movie?”

After the movie, five other stars appeared, fresh from their secret appearances in the film, including Dafne Keen, who was shown in the final trailer reprising as X-23/Laura. 

As for the identity of the other four, well … Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing at a theater near you. 

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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