Marvel Studios seems to be hiding one big character in VisionQuest, whose identity many feel has already been confirmed. VisionQuest is bringing in a massive cast of characters, including heroes and villains who have not graced the screen for Marvel in years. This will also include a few major names who have not appeared in the franchise's first 18 years of movies or TV.

Concept art for VisionQuest from the 2026 D23 Expo featured a new character from the series, depicted as a black figure surrounded by and engulfed in flames. Interestingly, during ScreenRant's visit to the VisionQuest set, Marvel and Disney executives stopped production designer Will Hughes-Jones from sharing any details about this picture.

A Fantastic Four: First Steps prequel has been released ahead of the return of the team and Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. The Fantastic Four are the newest superhero team to enter the MCU, with the core four comprising Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The Phase 6 film was also responsible for a first look at the MCU's next big bad, with Doctor Doom appearing in the movie's post-credits sequence.

While The Fantastic Four's sights have now moved on to Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios is continuing to fill in the blanks about the team through a series of official prequel comics to the MCU movie. A recent release in this space was Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla-Bal #1, a prequel exploring the origins of the film's villain, Shalla-Bal, aka the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner. 

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will officially bring back 8 major Spider-Men (and 4 Spider-Women) in the closing chapter of Miles Morales' story. Spider-Verse 3, set to release on June 18, 2027, will address the major cliffhanger at the end of Across the Spider-Verse after the prime Miles Morales was trapped on Earth-42 (aka a universe that never got a Spider-Man). While Miles deals with an alternate version of himself who became Prowler on Earth-42, Spider-Gwen assembles a team of Spider-Variants to try and save him before it's too late, while Miguel O'Hara leads his Spider-Society on Earth-1610 to find Miles first. 

There are several important Spider-Man Variants in Beyond the Spider-Verse outside of Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, and Miguel O'Hara. The CinemaCon trailer for Spider-Verse 3 (which already broke a 24-year Spider-Man tradition) highlighted familiar returning Variants from the previous two movies, most of whom will serve as allies to Miles and Spider-Gwen in their mission to prevent the Spot's attack on Earth-1610. 

Miles Morales is at the core of Spider-Verse 3's story, and his main goal revolves around preventing a canon event from killing his father, Jefferson Davis. However, this is a ticking time bomb for Miles as he races against time to do so, having been stuck on Earth-42 after being mistakenly transported to this universe. 

Marvel Studios' Luke Cage is finally getting a proper sequel story within the MCU on Disney+. Behind Mike Colter's portrayal, which has lasted more than a decade, Luke Cage remains a key figure among the MCU's Defenders, who are finally being fully integrated into the larger Marvel story after years of uncertainty. The same is true for possibly the group's strongest character from a physical perspective, whose unbreakable skin serves as a huge advantage for these heroes.

2027's Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 is set to feature Mike Colter in a big supporting role as Luke Cage on Disney+. This will be the first time Colter has played a role of this capacity in the MCU since Season 2 of his Luke Cage series on Netflix, which aired in 2018 and was canceled along with the rest of the Defenders Saga in 2019.

Marvel Studios officially announced the third MCU movie with a major Star Wars actor as the lead character (and it's a game-changer). While the MCU and Star Wars have yet to crossover in live-action (it is bound to happen soon in Marvel Comics in a story written by Kevin Smith), the fact that Disney owns both Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm could hint that it could arrive sooner rather than later. The House of Mouse's talent pipeline has become one of the most reliable patterns in modern blockbuster casting, with some actors from the galaxy far, far away jumping ship to the MCU and vice versa. 

For example, Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Mace Windu before portraying the MCU's Nick Fury, and Natalie Portman brought Padme Amidala to life before playing Jane Foster. The roster expanded after the MCU brought several Star Wars Jedi actors into the fold, such as Ariana Greenblatt (Infinity War), Eman Esfandi (Spider-Man: Brand New Day), and Cailey Fleming (Loki). 

At this year's Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, Marvel Studios announced Ryan Gosling as the MCU's new Ghost Rider, with him leading the charge in a standalone film of the same name directed by Shawn Levy, set to arrive on July 28, 2028. This confirmation makes Ghost Rider the third MCU movie led by a Star Wars actor, marking an important milestone for Marvel Studios. 

Marvel Studios is assembling a brand-new Avengers team in the MCU before Avengers: Doomsday. The MCU introduced several iterations of the Avengers, beginning with the core six members featuring Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Hulk, and Hawkeye in 2012's The Avengers. 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron added three more members to its roster: Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision. At the end of the MCU sequel, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff rebuilt the team by adding Falcon and War Machine while retaining Scarlet Witch and Vision. Following the Civil War conflict, the Avengers disbanded, but Infinity War and Endgame brought everyone back together, leading to Thanos' defeat at the end of the Infinity Saga. The MCU's Phases 4 and 5 never reassembled the classic team, but Thunderbolts* completely changed the game by introducing the New Avengers led by Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, Ava Starr, Red Guardian, and Sentry. 

Avengers: Doomsday is set to introduce a brand-new Avengers team led by Sam Wilson's Captain America. Before the team's debut, Marvel Studios will officially debut a unique new Avengers team in VisionQuest (set to premiere on Disney+ on October 14) that sets it apart from other versions of Earth's Mightiest Heroes: the A.I. Avengers. 

Speaking with ScreenRant, VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas confirmed the debut of the A.I. Avengers inside Vision's Mindscape, featuring rescued Stark Industries AIs led by EDITH, FRIDAY, JARVIS, Dum-E, and U. The A.I. Avengers are at the "center" of VisionQuest's story because their main goal is to help Vision understand humanity, regain his memories, and achieve his purpose of finding his place in the post-WandaVision world. 

Marvel Studios featured Tommy Maximoff for the first time in a new poster for its next release on Disney+. Since debuting in WandaVision alongside his twin brother, Billy Maximoff, Tommy has been one of the most intriguing anomalies in the MCU, especially after both of them ceased to exist when Wanda's hex was taken down. Now, the speedy youngster is back in full force for the final chapter in the WandaVision story.

Marvel Studios released a series of new posters for Marvel Television's VisionQuest, which is set to stream on Disney+ on October 14. Along with new looks at Paul Bettany's Vision and James Spader's Ultron (who makes his first MCU appearance since 2015), one of the posters highlighted Ruaridh Mollica's Marvel Studios debut as Tommy Maximoff.

Beauty in Black received a surprising Season 4 order a few months ago, and now an announcement from Tyler Perry gives a clearer sense of when the show might premiere on Netflix. The drama series, Perry's first for the streamer, is one of his most beloved projects there, having run for three seasons between 2024 and 2026. Beauty in Black is layered with twists and turns as it follows struggling exotic dancer Kimmie (Taylor Polidore Williams), whose meteoric rise hands her the keys to the Bellarie family fortune almost overnight after she marries its patriarch, Horace Bellarie.

Beauty in Black's director and creator, Tyler Perry, took to Instagram to share a fresh update on Season 4, revealing that he is in the middle of writing the new episodes. The post featured a photo of the veteran producer seated beachside, busily working away on his laptop. Per his caption, he is putting his vacation on hold to pen the new season, saying "Y’all so funny won’t even let me take a break!!" before revealing "I’m writing season 4 of Beauty in Black as we speak."

Wonder Man isn’t returning for Season 2, but one fan-favorite character from the show is far from done and will appear in an upcoming MCU project. Wonder Man followed Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Simon Williams as he chased his dream Hollywood role in the in-universe film Wonder Man, meeting Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery along the way. Although Season 1 was well received, Marvel canceled the show in July after initially greenlighting its return, a decision Abdul-Mateen II attributed to low viewership despite his Emmy nomination for the role.

Arian Moayed, who reprised his role as Department of Damage Control agent P. Cleary, confirmed his own return in an Instagram post addressing the cancellation. The actor had kind words for his co-stars and the show's crew, and at the tail end of his write-up assured fans that his character was not done yet, noting, "And trust me, Agent Cleary is coming back!" His message lines up with reports surrounding the cancellation that characters from the series could show up in future MCU projects.

Avengers: Doomsday just found a new way to tease one of its biggest battles, and it didn't even need any of the actual movie to do it. Heading into theaters on December 18, the MCU event is shaping up to be a true turning point, promising to pit its heroes in a battle greater than anything that's come before. At the center of it all is Robert Downey Jr., returning to Marvel Studios as the villainous Doom. He won't just be taking on the Avengers and the Fantastic Four either, as the X-Men from Fox's old movies have been pulled into the fight, including Ian McKellan's Magneto and Channing Tatum's Gambit.

Hot Toys just released a fun stop-motion trailer for its upcoming Avengers: Doomsday Cosbi Plush Keychain line. Set to upbeat, almost circus-like music, the video imagines a miniature battle between Doom and several of the movie's biggest heroes and mutants, all played by the tiny plush versions of the cast.

The Doctor Doom Cosbi Plush is the first to appear, popping out of its box and taking over the screen before the video shifts into full stop-motion mode. One important note is that it does truly seem like all these little plush designs are based on the official Doomsday costumes, and that's no different here with Doom.

Sony Pictures officially shared Black Widow's biggest scene from Spider-Man: Brand New Day on the internet. Black Widow was only one of a few major heroes in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, helping it become the third-biggest movie in history at the global box office. This included a surprise appearance by Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, who continues to thrive in the Multiverse Saga's Phase 6.

Sony Pictures shared a video message on social media to celebrate Spider-Man: Brand New Day surpassing 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens to become the biggest movie of all time at the domestic box office. The video included a few seconds of footage featuring Florence Pugh in her return to the MCU as Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow.

Ryan Reynolds has gone on record several times about stepping back from center stage as Deadpool, believing the Merc with a Mouth is better as "a supporting character" and "great in a group." More and more, it sounds like Deadpool 4 will be more of an X-Force team-up movie than anything, a theatrical spin-off that has failed to take off for over a decade.

However, that hasn't stopped Marvel from continuing to publish books about the morally dubious team of black-ops mutants who often leave behind corpses. The only issue is that one of its newest members is Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, an innocent teenager who's never taken a life and prefers that others don't either. Marvel Comics recently announced Fugitive X-Force, a five-issue limited series from writer Tim Seeley, which will launch in December after his previous book, Inglorious X-Force, concludes in October. Newcomer Áthila Fabbio takes over as primary artist from Michael Sta. Maria.

In Inglorious, the team's founder, the time-traveling Cable, was on a mission to save the future President of the United States, Kamala Khan, and discover the identity of her future assassin. To complete his new mission to save the timeline, Cable reformed X-Force, but the last readers saw the team of mutants, they were all flung into the future at the end of the penultimate issue of Inglorious X-Force.

Marvel Studios is bringing back Paul Bettany's Vision in 2026's VisionQuest series with a brand-new costume. The upcoming Disney+ show, set to premiere on October 14, serves as the final chapter of the WandaVision trilogy. Following his escape from the same people who wanted to turn him back into a weapon, VisionQuest shows White Vision attempting to find his place in the world, using remnants of Tony Stark's previous artificial intelligence (AI) entities to help him navigate the ever-changing world. 

Official footage has shown different looks at Paul Bettany's MCU hero, including a brand-new comic-accurate costume. Alongside his human form first seen in Avengers: Infinity War and a White Vision design, Marvel Studios' VisionQuest trailer revealed Paul Bettany's Vision will have a fourth distinct costume for the Disney+ series. A comic-accurate green-and-gold variant of his classic MCU suit with red accents appears at the 1:53 mark. 

New evidence suggests that Avengers: Doomsday may be adding a second Black Panther. The MCU got its first-ever Black Panther in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, as Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa carried the mantle until 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Sadly, the Wakandan mantle was passed on in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, following Boseman's passing, with his sister, Letitia Wright's Shuri, donning the suit, as she will again in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Beyond that, Marvel Studios is already lining up a new Black Panther for Black Panther 3, as David Jonsson will step into the suit as T'Challa's son. 

DisTrackers spotted the first look at Avengers: Doomsday's Bitty Pop! range, featuring mini Funko figures for Doctor Doom, the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and, most notably, Letitia Wright's Shuri, aka Black Panther. The Wakandan figure is labeled "Black Panther (Shuri)," and the need to clarify that this is Shuri's figure may suggest that she won't be Doomsday's only Black Panther.

Nearly a decade after its July 2017 release, Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Homecoming is still entering MCU-related conversations. Following Holland's on-screen debut as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, the first of director Jon Watts' Home trilogy kicked off a generational run of both critical and box-office success. While many recall the highs of No Way Home and the arguably slight fumble of Far From Home, Homecoming remains the basis for it all, introducing Holland's Peter Parker as a kid just trying to go to school and figure out a superhero life—and that was the point.

Spider-Man: Homecoming writers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley recently discussed their approach to developing Tom Holland's Peter Parker upon his full theatrical debut. Regarding the high school environment and tone of Homecoming, Goldstein said that was exactly the goal, in that they didn't want to show that "just because you get superpowers doesn't mean you become an adult:"

"We take great pride in having sort of laid the groundwork for everything that came after. We really wanted it to be a high school movie with superpowers, and that's what Homecoming was. And, I think people really responded to the relatability of that. We always said while we're writing it, that just because you get superpowers doesn't mean you become an adult. And, that was sort of Peter Parker's journey."

Spider-Man: Brand New Day stayed grounded, as much as a movie about mind control and the Hulk could be. The larger MCU events were largely an afterthought, with the focus on Peter Parker and his struggles to maintain a social life while also serving New York City as its greatest hero. One character broke through the roadblock, though: Yelena Belova, a member of the New Avengers. Despite only appearing briefly in Brand New Day, Yelena took a huge leap in her superhero career, one that Avengers: Doomsday might be ignoring.

Yelena's next MCU appearance puts her in unfamiliar territory. Of course, she spent most of her life working for the Red Room. Her sister, Natasha Romanoff, helped show her that there was more to life than working alone. After Natasha's death, Yelena joined the Thunderbolts and tried to do some good in the world. She was rewarded by becoming one of the New Avengers' leaders and being afforded the oppurtunity to adopt the Black Widow moniker that her sister once held. 

A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment from the new VisionQuest trailer may hint at the inclusion of another major MCU superhero. Completing the trilogy that started with 2021's WandaVision and 2024's Agatha All Along, VisionQuest will bring Paul Bettany's titular Vision back into action beginning on October 14, continuing his run as one of the MCU's longest-running stars. 

Marvel Television released the first official trailer for the VisionQuest series on Disney+ during its presentation at the 2026 D23 Expo. At the 0:56 mark, fans see the first look at James Spader playing Ultron in human form, which will give the villain a new feel in his first MCU project in more than a decade. Additionally, a quick flash shows Ultron in his classic robot form for the first time since 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Seven years ago, Marvel Studios wrapped up the Infinity Saga with the releases of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, and after that, a huge mistake was made with the MCU that only Avengers: Doomsday has the opportunity to fix. In 2019, when Avengers: Endgame was released, Marvel was the biggest and most beloved franchise on the planet. Although everything fans had known essentially came to an end, the future felt bright. However, things quickly changed.

After the release of Avengers: Endgame (which is about to come back to theaters), a new era was ushered into the MCU in the form of the Multiverse Saga. Immediately, Marvel Studios made the critical mistake of not quickly establishing a core group of superheroes as the next faces of the Avengers. Instead, the franchise spent time telling self-contained stories with characters like Moon Knight and Kate Bishop, instead of connecting everything together.

Because Marvel didn't use the early days of the Multiverse Saga and essentially all of Phase 4 to establish a new group of characters who would eventually come together to fight against a common threat, fans quickly lost interest in the MCU as a whole. Everything felt disjointed, the direction of the franchise as a whole wasn't clear, and no one knew who would be brought back in future titles.

Marvel Zombies Season 2 just got an exciting update ahead of its return to Disney+. The series, set in an apocalyptic reality where Earth's Mightiest Heroes get infected by a zombie plague, was renewed for a second season earlier this year. Since the renewal, news on the follow-up and the direction it's set to take has been scarce. However, fresh information surfaced regarding a major creative addition the show just made for Season 2.

Animation director Seth Kearsley is officially joining Marvel Zombies Season 2, and he shared the announcement on his X page to the excitement of many Marvel fans familiar with his previous work. Breaking the news, Kearsley stated that he "couldn't be more excited":

"Just confirmed, I can say what I'm working on and nothing more. Marvel fucking Zombies!!! Couldn't be more excited. Career full-circle moment with The Maxx and Mummies Alive. No holds barred martial arts and gore."

This summer, a beloved MCU character returned to the big screen following their demise five years earlier, joining the ranks of others Marvel Studios is preparing to bring back. As the saying goes, no one is ever truly dead in a comic book universe, even when their death appears definitive. Characters can return through unexpected twists, alternate variants, or, in the rare case of Robert Downey Jr., by having an actor return in an entirely different role. Sometimes, however, bringing a character back serves another project, allowing their return to enhance a new story rather than undoing their original death.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day featured historic new scenes with Marisa Tomei's Aunt May following the character's death in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home. Tomei appeared in flashback sequences in Spider-Man 4, depicting an interaction between May and Tom Holland's Peter Parker after the end of Homecoming, in which May discovered that Peter was Spider-Man. In Brand New Day, however, the scene served a greater purpose, becoming a pivotal moment in Sadie Sink's journey as Jean Grey.