Hulk is back and appears to be better than ever in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is a bad omen for a character who's close to him. The latest trailer for the highly anticipated solo film unleashes the Jade Giant that fans have been waiting to see smash things since the opening moments of Avengers: Infinity War. Of course, a mysterious villain appears to be behind his upcoming rampage, complicating matters. However, it's just nice to see him back in action.

Without his killer instinct, Hulk's last couple of MCU appearances have been lackluster, to say the least. Bruce Banner appeared in his human form in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, offering the titular character sage advice about the weapons he had acquired from his father. After that, he was in his cousin's corner as Smart Hulk when she became a hero in her own right in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

But playing second fiddle on a Disney+ show didn't mean his story ended up on the back burner. In fact, in the show's final moments, Smart Hulk showed up at the Walters family barbecue with a special guest, his son, Skaar. Bruce didn't know the young man existed until a ship from Sakarr paid him a visit, already putting him behind the 8-ball in the father department.

The MCU is about to begin its long-awaited mutant chapter much sooner than fans expected. While Marvel Studios has spent years laying the groundwork behind the scenes following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, 2026 is now shaping up to be the start of the MCU's X-Men era. In fact, that transition begins this summer, a surprise to many fans, as it's well before the legacy X-Men stars return in Avengers: Doomsday.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is quietly doing something massive for the MCU, and a single subtitle card in the second trailer is the proof. At around the 53-second mark of the second Brand New Day trailer, the captions confirm that Tramell Tillman is playing William Metzger, an X-Men villain whose entire identity in the comics centers on his hatred of mutants.

One of the MCU's best romances since Tony Stark and Pepper Potts just returned in Phase 6. While Marvel has more than its fair share of heartfelt relationships across its 18-year history, a handful stand out more than others to fans. This continues to be the case as the Multiverse Saga progresses, with only a few of those relationships having a major impact on their respective stories.

Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again rekindled the relationship between Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page. This romance was a major part of the season's plot, starting as early as Episode 1, when Matt and Karen trained together and shared their first kiss since the original Daredevil series on Netflix.

DC Studios' Supergirl movie is righting many wrongs from The CW's take on Kara Zor-El/Danvers. Supergirl started life on CBS, completely separate from the Arrowverse, until enjoying its first crossover with The Flash in Season 1's back half. While Melissa Benoist's Kara Danvers remained in her own corner of the Multiverse, she joined the Arrowverse on The CW for Season 2. The Kryptonian saga ended in 2021 after six seasons, introducing Tyler Hoechlin's Superman and merging with the rest of the Arrowverse. Five years later, the Girl of Steel is finally getting a new solo project for James Gunn's DCU, starring House of the Dragon actress Milly Alcock as a distinct Kara Zor-El.

Much like every TV show in The CW's Arrowverse, including The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl had its highs and lows and received plenty of criticism across its six-season tenure, namely due to comic-accuracy. Notably, Melissa Benoist's portrayal of Kara Zor-El was largely a female version of her more famous cousin, Superman, devoid of her unique characteristics.

Marvel Studios unveiled a new piece of villain merch that puts the spotlight on The Void, the destructive force played by Avengers: Doomsday star Lewis Pullman. The Void is the shadowy alter ego of Robert "Bob" Reynolds, the Superman-like hero called Sentry, who tore through the Thunderbolts in a fight before joining the team that became the New Avengers. Pullman already holds a confirmed spot in the Avengers: Doomsday cast, so any fresh attention on his character naturally leads to questions about what Void/Sentry will do in the next Avengers movie.

Hasbro pulled back the curtain on the figure during its June Marvel Legends showcase, pairing The Void with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in a new two-pack. Both figures copy the characters’ look from Thunderbolts, with Valentina's figure rocking a navy blue blazer and a matching pencil skirt. 

The Legend of Vox Machina (TLOVM) co-creator Sam Riegel commented on the status of the fifth and final season of the animated fantasy series. The Prime Video show is focused on adapting the first Dungeons & Dragons campaign by Critical Role, with the 100+ episode original story being truncated into four (soon to be five) seasons of animation. The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4 is only the beginning of the end for the beloved animated series. Season 5 is confirmed to be the last one, and it will round out the final arc with the Whispered One. Just how long fans will have to wait to see the finale, though, is another question. 

During an interview with The Direct for The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4, Sam Riegel (who both produces and voices Scanlan in the show) shared that the release date for The Legend of Vox Machina Season 5 is "up to the whims of television." Riegel tempered expectations, saying "producing a season of animated television takes a long time." He added that the scripts for TLOVM Season 5 were completed years ago, but "there's still more work to be done on other episodes:" 

"We never know, it's up to the whims of television. You know, producing a season of animated television takes a long time. We wrote these episodes two and a half years ago, or something like that. So Season 5 is in the works. We have finished some episodes of it, there's still more work to be done on other episodes. Then when we finish, it has to be adapted into different languages, and subtitled, and dubbed, and shipped all over the world and stuff, so it just takes a lot of time."

James Gunn's crossover plans for the DCU look quite different from how Marvel Studios built the MCU, and they could be a game-changer. Gunn and Peter Safran took over as co-studio heads of DC Studios in 2022, and since then, they've quickly scrubbed the slate clean of the majority of the DCEU and forged ahead with plans for a new DCU. With a fresh start and the benefit of hindsight regarding the MCU and DCEU, Gunn and Safran are free to try something new with their DCU, and they've already made some radical decisions.

Marvel Studios gradually introduced its crossovers in the MCU, beginning with solo projects for heroes like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, set in the same world and sometimes linked by a post-credit scene. It took five movies before Marvel Studios did a full-blown crossover in 2012's The Avengers, which brought together the stories of each of its individual heroes into a team. 

James Gunn did something significantly different when launching the DCU, making the first project, 2025's Superman, a crossover film from the get-go. Superman was mostly focused on David Corenswet's introduction as the Man of Steel, but it also included appearances from Hawkgirl, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Mr. Terrific, and Supergirl, some of whom were very significant to the plot. The intention was clear: the new DCU isn't going to wait to do crossovers.

Lucasfilm is teasing what's ahead for Ahsoka Season 2 with a redesigned logo. The updated branding arrives after the Disney+ series was pushed from a 2026 release to an early 2027 window, meaning fans face at least a six-month wait until launch (no one has forgotten that Season 1 aired in 2023). Still, the fresh look is already generating buzz, with potential hidden details hinting at what the new season could have in store.

Unveiled at Disney Upfront 2026, the Ahsoka Season 2 logo keeps the lettering font the same while changing nearly everything else. Gone is the blue hue of the Season 1 celestial map; in its place is a crisp all-white design set against a star-filled black background.

Marvel just brought the Guardians of the Galaxy's Rocket and Groot back to Disney+ for the first time in years. Before James Gunn jumped ship to DC Studios full-time to serve as co-CEO and lead the rebooted DCU, he returned to the MCU once more for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Despite fears of mass casualties as the Guardians made their final appearance, the entire Vol. 3 roster survived, with most of the OG team going their separate ways across the galaxy, while a brand new team of heroes assembled, led by Rocket Raccoon. 

For the time being, nobody knows when the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy will be back in action, if ever, but Disney+'s Meet Spidey and His Amazing Friends just introduced youthful, pre-school-friendly Variants of Rocket and Groot.

Marvel Studios' plans for its Netflix reboot projects look far less certain after a concerning new Disney+ reveal. The studio revived its old Netflix corner of the Marvel universe with Daredevil: Born Again, which returned Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk to screens in March last year. That revival expanded quickly, as a Punisher special, a teased Jessica Jones project, and a full Defenders reunion all entered Marvel Television's pipeline. The characters that fans bonded with on Netflix were back, and the future looked bright.

New Luminate data shows Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 lost roughly half of Season 1's audience on Disney+. Across the first five episodes of each season, Season 2 drew 4,515,000 views and 10,867,000 hours watched, while Season 1 generated 8,357,000 views and 24 million hours over the same stretch. That works out to a decline of around 46% in views and over 54% in hours. 

Marvel Studios is making a historic decision regarding the release of the comic giant's next Disney+ streaming show. Since diving into Disney+ in 2019, Marvel has had wildly mixed results across the MCU and other Marvel universes, including some of the biggest hits in streaming. As the saga moves further into Phase 6, one of this year's shows will deliver a release timeframe never used before.

Marvel Studios and Marvel Television confirmed that X-Men '97 will begin airing on Disney+ on July 1. This marks the first time any MCU Disney+ show has started airing in July. It is also the third Disney+ show released this year, after Wonder Man debuted in January and Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premiered in March.

Upcoming Marvel Studios Disney+ Shows Release Windows (Expected & Confirmed)

The Avengers: Doomsday trailer keeps taking its time to release online, testing the patience of a fanbase that expected a full look over a month ago. Marvel Studios is uniting the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men in live-action for the first time this December, with Robert Downey Jr. returning to the franchise as the villain Victor Von Doom rather than Iron Man. The studio showed a complete trailer to a private crowd back in early spring, yet everyone else still makes do with written descriptions of what played on screen.

Marvel screened that first full Avengers: Doomsday trailer behind closed doors at CinemaCon in April, the Las Vegas event where studios preview upcoming films for theater owners. The wider public never saw it. Detailed write-ups of the footage spread within hours, but the actual trailer stayed locked away. With anticipation already running hot, this silence looks deliberate, and a few clear reasons explain why an online release is taking so long.

Why Is Marvel Studios Taking So Long to Release the Avengers: Doomsday Trailer Online? 

Marvel and DC have officially made history with their animated slate for summer 2026. The two studios are about to clear a bar this season that no previous summer reached, and it has little to do with sheer volume. Plenty of Marvel and DC cartoons have arrived between June and August before, but none of those years looked like the one now underway.

For the first time, three animated streaming series from Marvel Studios and DC Studios will run across a single summer. Earlier seasons served up Marvel and DC animated shows, too; however, those shows weren’t produced by Marvel Studios or DC Studios and were even sometimes made for preschoolers rather than the older fans these new titles court. This trio arrives with both flagship studios fully behind. These shows have a solid audience and have slowly become almost as important as DC and Marvel Studios' live-action releases.

Marvel and DC Make History With Summer 2026 Animated TV Show Slate

The Acolyte creator and showrunner, Leslye Headland, finally came forward and admitted that the Disney+ show had one major flaw, particularly regarding its release on the streaming platform. Star Wars fans had high hopes for The Acolyte, mostly due to its High Republic era setting and the fact that it was going to bring a new story to the table, not connected to the Skywalker Saga. Unfortunately, the show didn't pan out the way many wanted, and it was quickly cancelled by Disney after it received harsh backlash and demanded an extremely high budget.

In the most recent issue of Empire Magazine, The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland gave a brief quote about the Disney+ show's release in 2024, essentially admitting that there was one major problem with the way the series was given to fans. Since The Acolyte's release, Headland has stood firm in defending her creative decisions throughout its eight episodes and has made it clear that she had specific plans for the show to continue.

The next Spider-Man TV show from Marvel Studios is facing a frustrating hurdle. The web-slinger remains one of Marvel's biggest comic book characters, and as such, Marvel Studios is capitalizing on Spider-Man on every front, pushing him into live-action films, video games, and animation. Beyond the next major release of Tom Holland's fourth MCU Spider-Man film, Marvel Studios has a second Spidey project waiting in the wings, but it has a challenge ahead of it.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is an animated multiverse story that tells Peter Parker's origin during his high school years. Season 1 of the Marvel Animated show was released in 2025, and a second (and third) season was quickly revealed to be in development. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2 has since been on the release calendar for 2026, but without a firm date, and Marvel Television executive Brad Winderbaum just revealed why.

In an interview with ScreenRant, Winderbaum said that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's new season is "complete," but they haven't set a date for a frustrating reason. Winderbaum mentioned that "there's a lot coming out this year," pointing to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, VisionQuest, X-Men '97 Season 2, and Avengers: Doomsday in Marvel Studios' crowded 2026 schedule. The executive said they "want to give [Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man] a good place to live and breathe." 

Marvel just released a new trailer for X-Men ’97 Season 2, and fans think the studio edited out a spoiler before posting it online. The trailer, called "Roll Call," speeds through the show’s enormous roster one mutant at a time, building toward the series’ return on July 1 on Disney+. It sets up a story that throws the team across different eras in time, with the ancient mutant Apocalypse rising as the season’s main threat. The footage plays like a hype reel for most of its run, until you slow down one specific shot.

That shot belongs to Rogue. For her quick moment on screen, the space behind her is a flat blue-black void, while nearly every other character appears inside a real location or beside their teammates. 

Alien: Earth is heading into weird territory for its second season, according to series star Timothy Olyphant. The Alien prequel takes place two years before the 1979 film, exploring life on Earth when an intergalactic research vessel crashlands, carrying with it a set of dangerous extraterrestrial specimens. The Hulu show wrapped up its first season in late 2025, and it wasn't long before a Season 2 was in development. 

Timothy Olyphant, who stars as the Prodigy synthetic Kirsh in Alien: Earth, teased to Empire Magazine in the latest issue that Season 2 of the show is "gonna get weird." The actor shared he'd read six episodes of the new season and praised them as "the best of Noah Hawley," aka the series' creator who also developed Fargo and Legion. Olyphant also hinted that the show has "matured into a really dynamic story," that is "relevant," "funny," and "f***ed up."

"Here's what I can tell you — s***'s gonna get weird. I've read the first six [episodes], and they're really, really, really good. It's just the best of Noah Hawley. Surprising, wonderful characters, rich world. I feel like it's just matured into a really dynamic story — relevant and urgent and funny and f***ed up.

James Gunn’s DC Studios put a release date on its second on-screen Batman project. Gunn and Peter Safran took charge of the company in late 2022, and they stacked the schedule with Batman films and series soon after, treating the Dark Knight as a cornerstone of the rebooted DC Universe and the standalone projects orbiting it. The latest announcement maintains that momentum, expanding the studio's already impressive arsenal of Batman projects.

That project is Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2, which brings all 10 episodes to Amazon Prime Video on Friday, July 31. Prime Video confirmed the date and gave fans a taste of what this season entails with a slew of first-look images. The photos revealed exciting new antagonists, including Edward Nygma and Roxy Rocket, set to wreak havoc on the already chaotic streets of Gotham. One interesting thing about Caped Crusader Season 2 is that it's acknowledged as a DC Studios production, a credit the studio never claimed when the show first arrived in 2024.

Marvel’s forgotten supervillain series, M.O.D.O.K., deserved not to be cancelled because of several strong reasons. Hulu’s M.O.D.O.K. is an adult comedy series that follows the titular Marvel villain as he navigates finding the right balance among his failed attempts at world domination, running his evil organization, AIM, and dealing with his dysfunctional family life. 

The 10-episode first season was widely praised by critics, earning an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the strong reviews, M.O.D.O.K. was canceled after one season in May 2022 due to Marvel Studios' consolidation of content and Marvel Entertainment's strategic shift in priorities away from these Hulu adult animated projects and toward more MCU content for Disney+. 

Why M.O.D.O.K. Deserves a 2nd Chance 

The Star Wars world shifted when Anakin Skywalker turned to the Sith, but Maul - Shadow Lord proved just how much. After serving as a loyal Padawan and then Jedi Knight in the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith saw Anakin Skywalker embrace his dark side and become Darth Sidious' apprentice, the unrecognizable Darth Vader. Vader helped enact Order 66, which eradicated every known Jedi around the galaxy and forced the rest to go into hiding.

Darth Vader's emergence and Order 66 were a turning point in the Jedi's history, and the new Disney+ series, Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, revealed how tough life was for those who survived. Episode 1 of Maul - Shadow Lord introduces audiences to Devon and her master, Eeko-Dio Daki. The two are survivors of Order 66 who have been hiding out on Janix. But with Jedi hunted and shunned throughout the galaxy, life has not been easy for them.

The first episode shows Master Daki eyeing a vendor's fruit, prompting his apprentice to note that he is hungry. Devon suggests that the vendor won't miss it, but Daki stays true to his principles: "I told you already, we do not steal." Devon reveals, "I'm tired of begging," but Daki says they should instead rely on the kindness of strangers. However, the moment after this reveals Daki's misguidedness, as he politely asks a stranger for help, only to be ignored.