UPDATED: Marvel Studios SDCC 2014 Roundup: Ultron, Ant-Man, and Guardians 2

Marvel Studios had its highly anticipated panel in Hall H at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Some big things were revealed, and some big things were surprisingly not. There was no discussion of Doctor Strange, even as rumor after rumor of who will be cast in the title role gets passed around the Internet. We didn’t get any info about Captain America 3, though since it’s happening in 2016, it’s understandable that they may want to wait until next year to discuss it further. As for all those mystery projects that were recently announced, we got nada on those too (well, except for one, but more on that later). But we did get some (positive) casting news for Ant-Man, as well as some tidbits about The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Let’s start with Marvel’s next project to be released after Guardians of the Galaxy (which comes out this week). The sequel to the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time—and one of the highest-grossing movies ever—The Avengers: Age of Ultron sees the Avengers come together again to fight a new threat, the robot Ultron, created by Tony Stark as a means to replace the Avengers as protectors of the planet. Obviously, that didn’t turn out so well. Marvel released a poster, piece by piece, of the Avengers fighting off Ultron’s robotic army, including new cast members Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (there’s also a figure floating in the air that is assumed to be our first look at Vision). We showed you the first two pieces before, but here’s the full poster below:

A teaser was also shown during the panel, though sadly the footage is not yet available online. Screenrant and EW, however, have a summary of the trailer, which apparently included a fun scene where various Avengers attempted to lift Thor’s hammer, only to be interrupted by the murderous Ultron. But another interesting bit of news was when Josh Brolin walked out on stage, confirming that he will be playing Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy and beyond (will he show up in Age of Ultron, perhaps?).

The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be released May 1, 2015.

Ant-Man

Ant-Man was actually the first film discussed at the panel, but since it comes after Age of Ultron in Marvel’s film schedule, I’m going to deal with it second. We’ve only heard bits and pieces about Ant-Man over the years, with the most we’ve heard recently being that of Edgar Wright’s departure as well as this weekend’s cast shakeup. But now we have a more in-depth plot summary as well as some casting confirmations we’ve been waiting for.

We already knew that Michael Douglas would be playing Dr. Hank Pym, who created the technology to allow Ant-Man to shrink and grow, and that Paul Rudd would be playing Scott Lang, a thief who teams up with Pym (and becomes the new Ant-Man) to steal back the Ant-Man tech he created. However, Evangeline Lilly has only been rumored as a cast member until now. During the panel, she was officially confirmed as playing Pym’s estranged daughter, Hope. But that’s not the only casting news we received. Corey Stoll will be playing the antagonist, Darren Cross. Cross was a former protégé of Pym’s, but he’s taken over the business Pym helped found as well as Pym’s tech. Cross will use Pym’s technology to become Yellowjacket, so we can probably look forward to some shrinking hero/villain battles. Filming hasn’t started yet, so there wasn’t any footage from the movie itself, though Marvel did create a short teaser for Comic-Con, where Pym and Lang discussed plans for their heist to steal back the Ant-Man tech.

Ant-Man will be released July 17, 2015.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Last but not least, Marvel made their only announcement for a new film at the end of the panel: Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The first installment hasn’t even been released yet, but with all the positive buzz that’s surrounded it since the first trailer was a hit with fans across the Internet, it’s felt inevitable that a sequel would be greenlit. Not only has it been greenlit, we already have a release date, July 28, 2017. And James Gunn will be back, according to Nicole Perlman, the co-writer for the first Guardians.

What do you think about all this new info? Looking forward to the films? Disappointed at not hearing about Doctor Strange? Sound off in the comments!

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