Marvel Studios unveiled the first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — set to Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry — to fans at Comic-Con on Saturday in San Diego.
It was only one part of the massive Hall H presentation, which also included first looks of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Perhaps the most fan-tastic news came by way of new information about phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will conclude with two Avengers movies in 2025 — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler was on-site in San Diego to preview the highly anticipated film, which is scheduled to arrive in theatres on November 11 (and serve as the conclusion to MCU's Phase 4).
Coogler paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who died in August 2020. “The impact he made on this industry will be felt forever,” Coogler said.
After the massive success of Black Panther in 2018, plans for a sequel were quickly set into motion. But those were altered after Boseman’s unexpected death from colon cancer. The studio said it would not recast Boseman’s role of T’Challa. but very little has come out about the film in the years since.
Production wrapped up in March after several delays, one of which was owing to an injury sustained by Letitia Wright, who plays T’Challa’s brainy sister Shuri. Also returning are Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke and Angela Bassett, but not Daniel Kaluuya, owing to schedule conflicts with Nope.
Phase 5, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said, will kick off in February with Quantumania and conclude with Thunderbolts in July 2024. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors and director Peyton Reed made the trip to San Diego to show some footage from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The new Blade, starring Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, also got a release date of November 3 next year, while Captain America: New World Order, featuring the character Sam Wilson played by Anthony Mackie, will hit theatres on May 3, 2024.
The Guardians of the Galaxy series will also come to an end in the midst of Phase 5 in May. Director James Gunn showed up in San Diego to confirm Vol 3 would be the last for the space rogues.
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan and Dave Bautista are all returning for the film. New cast members include Will Poulter, as Guardians adversary Adam Warlock, and Maria Bakalova.
Phase 6 will launch with a new Fantastic Four movie on November 8, 2024, and finish with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which is set for a May 2, 2025 release, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on November 7, 2025.
Marvel also showed trailers for Disney+ series, such as Secret Invasion with Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, due this year, and the half-hour comedy She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, starring Tatiana Maslany, debuting in August. The second season of Loki is also expected next summer.
Comic-Con runs until Sunday.
