Marvel creatives and writers sat down for a conversation with fans on Friday during San Diego Comic-Con. Moderated by comedian Paul F. Thompkins, the panel brought Marvel Studios' head of streaming television and animation Brad Winderbaum, head of visual development Ryan Meinerding, director of What If...? and executive producer of Marvel Zombies Bryan Andrews, What If...? writer and executive producer AC Bradley, X-Men '97 writer and executive producer Beau DeMayo, I Am Groot writer, director, and executive producer Kristen Lepore, and Spider-Man: Freshman Year writer and executive producer Jeff Trammell. For those looking forward to these projects, the group revealed exclusive clips, first looks at characters, and screenings of full episodes from these upcoming shows.
I Am Groot
Kristen Lepore offered a new look at I Am Groot, premiering the official trailer of the season, consisting of five shorts, and the poster for the series.
The delightful trailer shows off the adventures of a young Groot, once again voiced by Vin Diesel. Lepore also confirmed that Bradley Cooper would also be voicing a character, assumedly Rocket Racoon, in the series. The new series premieres August 10, 2022 and is technicolored and full of life. On top of that, the panel revealed that five more shorts are currently indevelopment. They capped off everything with a screening of a full short titled "Groot Takes a Bath."
In the short, we see a young Groot enjoying himself in a forest and coming across a miraculous muddy spring. After enjoying some spa time and immersing himself in the magical mud, he wakes up from a nap covered in leaves. Admiring himself in leaves, he begins pruning the leaves to give himself exciting new looks. From pretending to be a centaur to dressing like Marie Antoinette, clearly, Groot enjoys himself. But, the leaves don't last forever, so he must keep going back to the spring. I won't spoil it all, but suffice it to say that even without the magical mud he leaves the forest with a new addition to his closet.
Kevin Feige. Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and James Gunn serve as executive producers.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year
Jeff Trammell revealed not only new suits for Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Freshman Year, but also Peter's friends, his enemies, and surprising new allies. This pre-Civil War Peter will be in the streets protecting people with his own homemade suit. Trammell announced that Freshman Year would have a release window for 2024 and is currently working on Sophomore Year aka Season 2.
Introducing Peter's friends, we meet Amadeus Cho, Lonnie Lincoln, Nico Minoru, Asha, and Harry Osborn.
Trammell also revealed the villains that Spider-Man will face in Freshman Year will be (from left to right in the image below) Unicorn, Scorpion, Tarantula, Butane, Dr. Otto Octavius, Carmilla Black, Rhino, Speed Demon, and Chameleon.
He also showed off some of Spider-Man's different suits on top of the classic suit, including a white Oscorp branded suit!
During the panel, Trammell revealed that not only would Paul F. Thompkins, the moderator, voice a character named Bentley Whittman, but Charlie Cox would return as Daredevil and be one of Peter's allies. On top of that, Peter will have the help of Doctor Strange and the guidance of Norman Osborn.
What If...?
After a successful and inventive first season of What If...? the creatives behind the show return to Ballroom 20 for not only a look at what is to come for the next season, but also to announce that a third season has been greenlit. AC Bradley and Bryan Andrews talked about how Season 2 would be crazier and more of what we loved from Season 1. The trailer they debuted included shots of Hela, Peter Quill, Ta Lo, an old Bucky Barnes as the head of SHIELD, T'Challa, Tony in the Hulkbuster on Sakaar, Valkyrie, Korg, the Grandmaster, and a fateful fight between a conquerer Odin and the Mandarin wielding his ten rings. On top of all that, we get a glimpse at a version of Marvel 1602, a limited comics arc by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove, and Scott McKowen, featuring Marvel superheroes in the Elizabethan era.
At the end of it all, the panel also revealed that the audience would be previewing the first episode of Season 2 of What If...? featuring Captain Carter fighting the Hydra Stomper. The episode, without giving too much away, is a mirror of the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Black Widow. Peggy discovers that Steve is still alive and in the Hydra Stomper. We see Bucky as the head of SHIELD and Natasha working side-by-side with Cap. Before the screening, during the panel, Andrews also mentioned that the Captain Carter who met with Wanda and Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is indeed not the Cap that we've come to know and love in the What If...? universe.
Marvel Zombies
Bryan Andrews also offered some background on what is happening with Marvel Zombies that arose after the episode of What If...? in Season 1. He presented concept art showing that our heroes of the series would be Yelena Belova, Katy Chen, Kate Bishop, Red Guardian, Death Dealer, Kamala Khan, Shang-Chi, and a very capable post-apocalyptic Jimmy Woo! They'll have to face off against zombies like Hawkeye, Ghost, Captain Marvel, Wanda, Okoye, and oh Cap is still alive! Or at least his upper torso is. On top of that they'll have to face off against a Skrull biker gang, a zombified synthezoid, and a gang of Widows.
Along with Andrews serving as executive producer, the series will also be written by Zeb Wells.
X-Men '97
Finally, the panel revealed what fans have been waiting for for years, the return of the X-Men, a continuation of the 1997 series. Written and executive produced by Beau DeMayo, DeMayo revealed that we would be getting much of the original voice cast from the original series back. This includes Chris Potter, Lenore Zann, Chris Britton, and Cal Dood. The music, composed by the Newton Brothers would be featuring the theme from the original series. The influential series returns and the creatives say that there is still much more story to be told. The series will feature villains like Mister Sinister but also leading the group will be Magneto! A surprising twist given where Magneto has historically stood when it came to mutant rights.
If you haven't seen X-Men, Disney+ has rearranged the episodes of the original series into the proper order as the show was intended to be viewed. And make sure you catch up on those episodes because the series will be picking up with storylines from this series in the new revival that is set to come in Fall of 2023.
They showed a rough animatic AV look at one of the episodes of the series where we see Trask letting loose his giant Sentinels against Cyclops, Roogue, Gambit, Wolverine, and Beast. The gang fights off the giant mechs, but Beast manages to rewire one of them and begins to use it to his advantage. Though brief, the sneak peek offered a lot for those who love the original series and it's an exciting promise for the future. With a second season already confirmed, it will be exciting to see Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, and Beast back in action!