Another day means it’s for another wild update involving Marvel’s Blade reboot. This update comes from David S. Goyer, the screenwriter who penned New Line Cinema’s Blade trilogy.
While speaking with Variety, Goyer revealed that many people asked him to help Marvel on their Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali.
“It’s so funny, about eight months ago — when, not the latest hiccup hit, but like the prior hiccup — I had so many people that would say to me, ‘Dude, would you get in there on Blade? Would you just get in there?’” Goyer said. “Whether it be friends or fans or people on social media.”
It turns out Goyer followed their advice and reached out to Marvel to offer his services.
“And I wasn’t even really thinking about it, but then I had my agent call Marvel and say, ‘Do you guys need any help?’ And they said, ‘We love you, but we think we’ve cracked it now, and we’re in a good place.’ And then the latest thing happened,” Goyer explained. “And so no, they haven’t contacted me.”
Ever since Marvel’s Kevin Feige announced Ali’s involvement at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Blade has been a cursed project. Ali has remained attached to playing the vampire slayer the entire time. However, the project has cycled through numerous directors and writers. Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange both signed on to direct before eventually dropping out. Screenwriters who have received passes on the script include Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Beau DeMayo, Michael Starburry, Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Green, and Eric Pearson.
New Line Cinema
What’s clear is that Marvel has not “cracked” Blade. The movie was removed from Marvel’s release schedule in October 2024, with development was officially paused earlier this year.
Perhaps Marvel should return to Goyer and ask for help with Blade, considering the Foundation co-creator would do it.
“I might consider it because I love the character, and it sort of started my superhero career,” Goyer said about a potential return to Blade. “Even though I’m now considered a DC guy, I started as a Marvel guy. I would consider it. It would be fun to return to that world. That being said, I’m pretty much otherwise 99% done with superheroes. I love this stuff. I watch all the movies, but I’ve just done so much in the world. But yeah, I would consider it, just for old time’s sake.”
Goyer’s next project, The Sandman season 2, premieres July 3 on Netflix.
Watching Captain America and Iron Man duke it out is nothing new, but they’re not usually speaking Japanese. At Wednesday’s State of Play, Arc System Works debuted a brand-new Marvel fighting game called Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. Arc is known for its excellent fighting entries, and this game looks to be more of the same, featuring fan-favorite characters with a distinctive anime-like flair.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a four-versus-four tag team fighter that’s reminiscent of games like Marvel vs Capcom, with colorful characters, over-the-top abilities, and bouts set against vibrant stage backgrounds. While there aren’t a lot of details yet, PlayStation Studios announced the game will release on PlayStation 5 and PC in 2026.
The trailer opens with Captain America and Iron Man preparing to duel, right alongside Cap’s quip of, “We’re friends. Why do we keep doing this?” Other characters like Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, Storm, Star Lord, and several more also made an appearance. There’s no word on the exact number of characters, but Arc says it will continue to announce more characters as the game’s release nears.
In a post-trailer interview, Michael Francisco, senior product development manager at Marvel Games, said “PlayStation approached us with this vision to bring Marvel back to the forefront of the tag fighting genre.” With regard to working with Arc system works, Francisco said, “It’s always refreshing to work with a team that will take on the challenge of tackling Marvel and putting their own spin on it, and then just uppercutting that challenge into the stratosphere.”
Arc System Works is known for critically-acclaimed franchises like Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, and more. The influence is clear in the trailer, whether it’s from Captain America’s coat that looks like it would be right at home on an anime superhero like All-Might or the Gundam/mecha-inspired twist on Iron Man’s suit.
A game pitting eight characters at once against each other is sure to have a spitfire roster. Due out in 2026, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is poised to bring superhero-focused fighters back into the spotlight.
Marvel Studios seems ready to make a comeback with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars around the corner. As Doomsday is still in development with the Russo Brothers directing, one can only wonder what the filmmakers have in store for fans in 2026 with their next superhero crossover film. However, until Doomsday arrives, it is questionable whether the film can match the success that Avengers: Endgame achieved in 2019.
Having garnered extraordinary reviews and nearly a record-breaking $2.8 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, Avengers: Endgame seemed to be the best movie that the MCU would ever produce. Since the film premiered, Marvel has struggled to recapture the magic that it presented in cinemas with their ongoing Multiverse Saga. While the MCU was never going to be the same after Endgame, it appears that this blockbuster phenomenon was the peak of a franchise now struggling to keep its footing.
Avengers: Endgame set an impossibly high bar for the MCU
Marvel Studios / Marvel Studios
Following the many hit-or-miss movies and shows that came out after Endgame, it seems like Doomsday may not achieve the same level of hype from fans as the former movie. Critics have repeatedly described MCU films like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Deadpool & Wolverine, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Thunderbolts* as the best Marvel movie since Endgame, showing how it is now widely considered the gold standard for all MCU projects. However, whenever someone compares a new MCU film to Endgame, it seems to nullify all the positives about the many great post-Endgame movies.
Avengers: Endgame shouldn’t even be considered the top benchmark for the MCU, as the film isn’t without its flaws. There are multiple plot holes, some fan service is forced, Hulk’s character arc is rushed, and the jokes made about Thor’s weight go too far. In many ways, Infinity War was arguably a superior film. Nevertheless, audiences had never seen a superhero blockbuster like Endgame before it came out, and it will be hard for the sequels to live up to everyone’s expectations set by the Avengers’ exciting fourth film.
Endgame left a massive MCU without a clear roadmap
Marvel Studios / Marvel Studios
The story for Endgame was the product of over ten years of buildup that began with 2008’s Iron Man, with Thanos lurking in the shadows since 2012’s The Avengers. After the extraordinary success of Endgame and the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, the MCU seemed to be going off in several different directions, with the studio unsure of what to do next. As Marvel was trying to create more and more content for audiences to enjoy in theaters and on streaming, it was still trying to figure out the plot for its next crossover event, not knowing how all these pieces would come together in the end.
That isn’t to say that Marvel Studios had the entire Infinity Saga planned out from the beginning. The Infinity Saga succeeded as Marvel focused on releasing one to three films each year, with critical and commercial failures becoming rare as they prioritized quality or quantity. However, as Marvel tried to keep the hype train rolling after Endgame with a steady supply of films and TV shows, the MCU seemed to lose its way as the studio focused on keeping people on board instead of setting up a clear destination, leading to several rushed and clunky stories.
Marvel has trouble moving on from its original cast
Marvel Studios / Marvel Studios
Due to the events of Avengers: Endgame, the film made it difficult for the MCU to move forward in a new direction. Specifically, the movie featured the heartbreaking deaths of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, as well as the disappearance of Steve Rogers. The legacies of these beloved heroes and the actors who played them have been hard to live up to in the post-Endgame era. Even with younger proteges like Peter Parker, Sam Wilson, and Yelena Belova standing tall on their own, the MCU is still struggling to fill the void left behind by some of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Right now, it seems Marvel is still trying to capitalize on Robert Downey Jr.’s popularity as Iron Man by having him play Doctor Doom, replacing Kang the Conqueror as the main villain of the Multiverse Saga. This move invokes memories of Disney bringing Emperor Palpatine back as the villain of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker after the divisive reaction to The Last Jedi. While there will be more buildup for Doom’s introduction with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel risks pulling a hasty course correction with legacy casting in order to bring the franchise back to its Endgame glory days.
Overall, Avengers: Endgame didn’t exactly ruin the MCU. While there have been some poor decisions with the franchise following the film’s release, there have been several outstanding movies and shows that prove that Marvel still has it. While Avengers: Doomsday may not stick the landing and achieve the love and success garnered by Endgame, final judgment about the film can’t be passed until it hits theaters.
Marvel heads into Phase Six with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The studio’s immediate future is riding on the critical and financial success of the film as the MCU moves into Phase Six. If the first test screenings are a sign of what’s to come, Marvel might be worried.
In a rare move, Marvel publicly test-screened The Fantastic Four: First Steps nearly two months before its July debut. According to Jeff Sneider, the results were mixed.
In a recent edition of The InSneider newsletter, Sneider’s source gave First Steps a mediocre review. “My source called it both ‘mid” and “meh,’ and ‘not that bad, but not that good, either,’ Sneider wrote. “More concerningly, they said it featured weak character development and bad CGI, though the latter issue will certainly be addressed over the next month.”
Sneider’s other source, who has not seen the finished film, described the film as a “mess” and a “huge problem movie.” These troublesome feelings likely led to Marvel running a test screening.
On the positive side, Ralph Ineson as the villainous Galactus received high praise. “It sounds like Ralph Ineson’s Galactus went over well with the crowd last night, which is encouraging, seeing as how Marvel has had a villain problem of late,” Sneider said.
Because Marvel conducted a test screening nearly eight weeks in advance of Fantastic Four’s release date, the studio has time to fix some of the so-called problems, including the CGI.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps welcomes Marvel’s First Family into the MCU. The titular group includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. Ineson voices Galactus, while Julia Garner portrays Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer.
Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles also star.
Marvel Studios
Matt Shakman directs First Steps. Shakman produced and directed the Disney+ series WandaVision.
After the disappointing returns of Captain America: Brave New World, Marvel bounced back with positive acclaim for Thunderbolts*. The Fantastic Four is the final Marvel movie of 2025. With Avengers: Doomsday moving to December 2026, the next MCU movie after First Steps will be Spider-Man: Brand New Day in July 2026.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25.
The Avengers will assemble again. However, it will be at a later date.
Disney has delayed the releases of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday andAvengers: Secret Wars.Doomsday moves from May 1, 2026, to December 18, 2026. Secret Wars heads to December 17, 2027, instead of May 7, 2027.
Disney was not done with Marvel announcements. The studio also removed three Marvel dates from its calendar: February 13, 2026; November 6, 2026; and November 5, 2027. The February date has no replacement movie, while the two November offerings are now slotted as untitled Disney films.
Only four MCU movies in Phase Six have release dates:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps – July 25, 2025
Spider-Man: Brand New Day – July 31, 2026
Avengers: Doomsday – December 18, 2026
Avengers: Secret Wars – December 17, 2027
With Doomsday moving to December, Marvel will have a year betweenThe Fantastic Four and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s Marvel’s longest theatrical movie gap since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021’s Black Widow. COVID-19 played a factor in that break from 2019 to 2021.
Disney still has a few release dates with untitled Marvel movies scheduled. July 23 is the only 2027 release besides Secret Wars. 2028 features a trio of movies on February 18, May 5, and November 10.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has now implemented a quality-over-quantity approach with Marvel projects. In May 2024, Iger said on an earnings call that going forward, Marvel will only release about two to three movies and two TV shows per year.
Marvel is betting the house on Doomsday and Secret Wars, so the Russo Brothers getting more time to deliver these two tentpoles makes sense. These two Avengers films will transition the MCU into the Mutant Era, where the X-Men will play a prominent role.
Filming on Avengers: Doomsday is underway. Marvel announced theDoomsday cast in March via live stream that ended with Robert Downey Jr. walking into frame. Downey will play the film’s villain, Doctor Doom.
Marvel currently has Thunderbolts* in theaters everywhere. The movie has grossed over $331 million worldwide in three weeks.
Marvel’s next genius is Riri Williams, who sets out to build something iconic in the first trailer forIronheart.
After first appearing in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, MIT student Riri (Dominique Thorne) returns to Chicago with plans to build an armor suit similar to the one worn by Tony Stark. Riri’s quest leads her to Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), aka The Hood, a mysterious figure who offers the young heroine a chance to complete her vision.
However, Robbins is willing to bend the law and do some “questionable things” to get the job done. Riri’s loved ones warn her about Robbins’ intentions, fearing it will send her down a dark path. Ultimately, it will be Riri’s decision as to how she wants to achieve greatness.
Ironheart’s cast includes Lyric Ross, Alden Ehrenreich, Regan Aliyah, Manny Montana, Matthew Elam, and Anji White.
Marvel Televison/Disney+
Chinaka Hodge is the creator and head writer of Ironheart. Executive producers include Zoie Nagelhout and Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler. The series balances elements of magic with science, resulting in a “crazy combination.”
“Riri is definitely in conversation with a street-level show like Daredevil,” Coogler explained to Marvel.com. “You’ve got characters trying — both heroes and villains — to make do with what they have. Then you combine that with cosmic Marvel, characters who would be at home in Doctor Strange or WandaVision. That [mix] of street-level Marvel and magical Marvel is a pretty crazy combination.”
The visual effects company Digital Domain has shared an exclusive clip with Digital Trends showcasing the work that went into making one of the most pivotal scenes in Captain America: Brave New World. At over eight minutes long, the scene shows Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and the Falcon (Danny Ramirez) intercepting a dogfight over the Pacific Ocean between US and Japanese forces that could lead to a full-blown war.
But what really makes the scene unique is that it’s almost entirely CGI. “There was a lot of footage where they captured Anthony Mackie on all these wires. But by the time it was over, it was all CG,” previsualization supervisor Cameron Ward told Digital Trends.
In the previsualization (previs) clip, we get a good glimpse at the early-stage CGI they used to build the scene completely from scratch, including the massive open-ocean setting. Ward said the biggest challenge in the scene wasn’t creating such a large space. It was the speed at which all the characters and objects were traveling.
“The biggest challenge with this scene was the speed at which everything was moving,” Ward said. “We had 600-mile-per-hour missiles flying through the air above an open ocean that we had to build from scratch. You have to set up your camera in a way that feels like Cap just flew by at 600 miles an hour chasing after them. So we had to ask ourselves, how do we visualize that?”
Marvel / Digital Domain
Creating the characters wasn’t the only challenge
Creating the clouds was also a surprisingly hefty task for the team. Digital Domain created its own proprietary cloud shader tool to help produce the right sizes, shading, textures, shadows, and various levels of opacity that we see in real clouds. The team even layered four to six cloud renderings on top of each other to give each cloud a varying level of brightness and depth, as we see in real clouds.
Light and shadow were another huge focus for Digital Domain. Taking place over a reflective surface like water meant the team needed to accurately recreate the way sunlight reflects on the ocean. They also needed to create shadows to help give the scene a photorealistic look, so the team made sure to pay attention to every frame that involved a jet or character soaring through the air so they could create a shadow that would be cast on the ocean below.
Before Captain America, Ward had worked on tons of huge projects, like The Last of Us,Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Thunderbolts*. But he says Brave New World was his biggest venture yet and said that Digital Domain worked on the movie for an entire year. “I’ve been with DD for five years,” he said, “and this is the biggest, longest sequence I’ve ever worked on. It actually became much more CG than intended as the project went on, after they realized some of the plates didn’t work because of things like reflections in the shot.”
Now you can watch Captain America: Brave New World at home. The Marvel film arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on May 13. Disney+ subscribers can stream the film on the service starting May 28.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has been delayed from its initial 2025 release until “early 2026,” according to a social media announcement from its team. There has been little to no news about the game in recent months, so the delay doesn’t come as much of a surprise. The team also didn’t reveal the exact reason for the delay.
“Taking this additional time will allow us to add more polish, and make sure we give you the best possible experience, and one that lives up to our vision,” the post reads. “We have some exciting things in store and look forward to sharing more soon!”
This is the second highly anticipated game to move out of the 2025 holiday season, following in the footsteps of Grand Theft Auto 6. It joins a lineup of other notable games that were meant to launch in 2025, including Fable.
The good news? It sounds like Skydance Games might have a new trailer to share soon, giving us another look at the title. Details have been few and far between, but we know Marvel 1943 is set to be a narrative-driven action game set in the 1940s. It was first shown at Epic Games’ State of Unreal event at GDC as part of a tech demo, an impressive display of graphics that made it look almost like another Marvel movie.
The official page for the game reads, “In the chaos of war, worlds collide. Captain America and Azzuri, the Black Panther of the 1940s, must overcome their differences and form an uneasy alliance to confront their common enemy. Fighting alongside Gabriel Jones of the Howling Commandos, and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris, they must join forces to stop a sinister plot that threatens to turn the havoc of WWII into the ultimate rise of Hydra.”
The game sounds like players will be setting foot inside the MCU, and that’s something we can get behind.
Your first look at Spider-Noir, a new live-action series starring Nicolas Cage, coming 2026 in both black-and-white and color. pic.twitter.com/i1xStMpJb0
As noted in the message above, Spider-Noir will be streaming in both black and white like the original comic and in color as well. Spider-Man Noir was created in 2009 by writers David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky, artist Carmine Di Giandomenico, and the designer of the costume, Marko Djurdjević. This version of Spider-Man was introduced as part of a Marvel Comic event that featured some of the publishers’ top characters re-imagined in noir setting during the Great Depression.
Spider-Man Noir reappeared in several comics including the initial Spider-Verse crossover. Cage went on to voice the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s unclear how many changes the show will make to the character or if he will even be called Peter Parker in this incarnation. The show’s description simply states that Spider-Noir “tells the story of an aging and down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero.”
Cage briefly played Superman in The Flash feature film, which was a nod to the Superman Lives movie by Tim Burton that was ultimately never made. The actor also starred as Ghost Rider in two live-action feature films.
The primary cast of Spider-Noir includes Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, Abraham Popoola, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, and Jack Huston. Amazon hasn’t set a date for the show yet, but it will premiere on MGM+ in the United States and stream on Prime Video worldwide.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*.
The asterisk in the Thunderbolts* title was the biggest mystery in the lead-up to the Marvel movie. Now that Thunderbolts* is now in theaters, the symbol’s meaning has been revealed.
After the Thunderbolts save the city, the group plans to arrest the mastermind behind the conflict, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Right before they can apprehend her, de Fontaine holds a press conference and announces the Thunderbolts will be known as the New Avengers.
Marvel Studios is now officially changing the title to The New Avengers in all of its branding and marketing. Members of the New Avengers include Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, and Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost.
The ending post-credits scene jumps ahead 14 months into the future, with the New Avengers and Bob (Lewis Pullman) living at the Watchtower, the old Avengers’ tower. The New Avengers are in a legal battle with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) over the copyright ownership of the Avengers trademark.
After the comedic moment, the big reveal comes toward the end of the scene, when the New Avengers learn that a ship with the Fantastic Four’s logo is heading toward Earth. This meeting sets up the eventual team-up between the New Avengers and the Fantastic Four in Avengers: Doomsday, which is now filming in London.
Directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* registered an opening weekend of $76 million domestically, which puts it in the neighborhood of 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($75 million).
Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers is now in theaters nationwide.
