Marvel’s Hall H presentation happened Saturday night, and though Kevin Feige was focused on the future of the MCU, it felt like a blast from the past, with stunts and a huge assemblage of famous people to promote upcoming films. Kayleigh Donaldson called it a “recession indicator” in the Squawk chat which made me laugh.

The two biggest pieces of news are two new casting announcements, which might be proof that Marvel isn’t dead yet. The first is that David Jonsson, from Alien: Romulus, The Long Walk, and Industry, will appear in Black Panther 3 as T’Challa’s son, Toussaint, and he will be taking over the Black Panther mantle. We saw Toussaint as a young boy in the post-credit scene of Wakanda Forever, I’m guessing he ages up to a 20-something via some multiverse hijinks.

Ryan Coogler is once again writing and directing, and I am glad he is getting to round out his vision for Wakanda, though, of course, the loss of Chadwick Boseman is still a great void at the center of everything. But people seem excited by David Jonsson joining the MCU and the prospect of another Black Panther movie, in general. Black Panther 3 is expected on December 15, 2028.

The other big piece of casting news is that Ryan Gosling is joining the MCU and will star in Ghost Rider, which is due on an unspecific date in 2028. Shawn Levy, who directs Gosling in next year’s Star Wars film Starfighter, is directing him again in Ghost Rider. This comes after Gosling expressed an interest in playing Ghost Rider at Comic-Con in 2022 (I wonder if he got the idea from Eva Mendes, who starred in Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage in 2007).

Gosling is now fully in his franchise era. Throughout the 2010s, his fame outpaced his box office, but more recently, he is finally seeing some big returns from general audiences. Barbie started it, delivering an Oscar nomination and billion-dollar box office. But then The Fall Guy bombed the very next year, though this year he once again saw box office success with Project Hail Mary. Let’s call it a .500 batting average with mass market blockbusters so far, as Barbie was not sold on his name alone. Starfighter will be the real test of The Gos’s box office mettle in his franchise era. We’ll find out if audiences are finally ready to embrace Ryan Gosling as a box office superstar.

Finally, Marvel released their upcoming slate of films, which, in a departure from the past, is actually quite sparse. This year they have, of course, Spider-Man: Brand New Day opening this week and Avengers: Doomsday opening in December. Next year, though, they have only Avengers: Secret Wars slated for December 2027. And then in 2028 they’re back with Black Panther 3 and, probably, Ghost Rider (“probably” because they haven’t pinned down a specific release date yet). Compared to how hard they’ve been going, with two or three movies every year, pandemic years aside, this feels like a slowdown.

Which is not a bad thing, they need to go back to letting audiences build up a little anticipation in between big projects. This intended schedule feels like a long overdue correction, and their appearance at Comic-Con this year might be a recession indicator, but it does also feel like a much-needed reset for the MCU. They teased a big crossover film, they introduced some new projects that got the nerds hyped, and, perhaps most importantly, they got out of the weekend without too much criticism. People actually seem enthusiastic about their upcoming projects. Combine that with a slowed down release calendar, and Marvel might have found a path back to, if not total pop culture domination, then at least sustainability. Though a lot still rests on what happens in December, when Dunesday falls upon us.  

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Kevin Feige, Letitia Wright, Ryan Coogler, David Jonsson, Winston Duke attend the Marvel Studios Panel at 2026 San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2026 in San Diego, California/ Ryan Gosling, Shawn Levy and Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel at 2026 San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2026 in San Diego, California

Photo credits: Albert L. Ortega/John Salangsang/Shutterstock

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