Marvel Studios Plans SDCC Return After Years, Does It Mean a 3 Month Wait for the Doomsday Trailer?

Though they’re known for absolutely bringing the house down at the event, Marvel Studios doesn’t have a consistent track record when it comes to actually attending San Diego Comic-Con. Over the years, they’ve managed to become the highlight of the event, forcing attendees to camp out days ahead of time in order to just be in the room for whatever surprises they may have lined up. In years past, Marvel Studios has surprised fans with a complete screening of Deadpool & Wolverine, the announcement of Mahershala Ali’s Blade casting, and the reveal that Robert Downey Jr would return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. Now, though, the stage is being set for their biggest panel ever.

Absent from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, where DC Studios only had a panel for Peacemaker Season 2, Marvel Studios is poised to return to Hall H for a major panel. According to TheWrap, not only will Marvel Studios have a big presence on the show floor at SDCC (which they did last year as well, despite no panel), the company will also be back for their Saturday night panel in Hall H (falling on July 25th this year). Furthermore, according to the trade, Marvel Studios will also have a place at D23 just weeks later in August. It has us wondering, will we have to wait until July for the full Avengers: Doomsday trailer?

Marvel Studios Returning to SDCC After One Year Absence

The immediately obvious plan that it seems like Marvel Studios will use their San Diego Comic-Con panel for this year is to promote Avengers: Doomsday, but it begs the question: Will the panel be the place for the first full trailer for the upcoming movie, or will the first trailer arrive beforehand, leaving the panel room to make its own announcements and reveals? Fans are convinced that the cast for the film is even bigger than Marvel previously indicated, and a full cast assembly on stage would be a pretty standard plan from Marvel Studios.

Given the current release calendar, it makes sense that perhaps the first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday will arrive at the end of May, coinciding with the premiere of The Mandalorian and Grogu (the first big blockbuster on Disney’s schedule this summer). After the film debuted new footage at CinemaCon last week, Marvel fans have been antsy for the first official trailer for the movie, taking every sign they can as an indicator that it’s surely on the way “Soon.” Not releasing it proves that Marvel Studios still has a stranglehold on the pop culture conversation, and waiting until San Diego Comic-Con would be the ultimate stretch of that ability, especially if it wasn’t released online.

Avengers: Doomsday may not be the only thing on the docket for Marvel Studios to promote at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, though. The event is set to occur one week before the release date of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, meaning there will almost certainly be some kind of promotion for the film. It’s worth noting, however, that Tom Holland has only ever attended Marvel’s SDCC panel one time (back in 2016 to promote Spider-Man: Homecoming) but hasn’t appeared at any since. That said, Holland appearing on stage after a ten-year absence would be huge for Marvel.

Marvel Studios could also use their SDCC panel to talk about their television offerings, as the event will seemingly happen before the release of Vision Quest or new seasons of X-Men ’97, Eyes of Wakanda, and Marvel Zombies. Given the scope of Avengers: Doomsday, these may get ignored entirely, but Marvel Studios has previously used their panels as a means to talk about almost everything. In the end, Marvel Studios’ return to San Diego Comic-Con is huge for them, as they announced their first slate of movies at the convention back in 2006, but it will clearly serve as a major stop along the way in the promotional circuit for Avengers: Doomsday.