Did You Hear? is a weekly examination of headlines in the entertainment industry and a take on what they could mean for the future of the industry and (often), the little geeky bubble that we occupy.
Welcome to our post-San Diego Comic-Con Special installment where we are going to break down five stories that we think dominated the biggest event in the nerd world this year!
The Entire MCU Slate: Beginning with Thor
I mean … we all knew this was coming! In the current climate of the entertainment industry Marvel Studios is reigning monarch of this space. Their Hall H appearance was left until the end of the day on Saturday, which for any other studio could have been a death sentence, while they held the crowds (probably to the detriment of many off-site events set during the same time slot)!
Big announcements came out all around. In last week’s classic Did You Hear? I wrote about the announcement of director Taika Waititi returning for Thor 4. Announcements where piled on top of this at Hall H beginning with the title: Thor: Love and Thunder and the reveal that the movie would feature Jason Aaron’s colloquially known “Lady Thor” storyline with Natalie Portman reprising her role as Jane Foster and becoming the Goddess of Thunder.
Several questions remain about Portman’s very public dislike for the Marvel Studios and just how they were smoothed over, but in the meantime, my favourite Thor story is coming to the big screen and that is definitely worth getting excited for!
Based on comment made in later interviews it appears most of the credit goes to Waititi, himself, for convincing Portman to come back. It was also confirmed that Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie would confirmed as the first LGBTQIA+ MCU superhero. Rumours have already began swirling about whether or not this will include a romance with Jane Foster. TBD.
Blade is Back!
Amidst a stunt that involved Black Widow baseball hats, Mahershala Ali emerged at Hall H with a baseball cap of his own reading “Blade” and cementing his third Marvel character in recent memory. He debuted in Netflix’s Luke Cage season 1 as the villain Cottonmouth, appeared last year in Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as Aaron Davis a.k.a. The Prowler AND has two Academy Awards under his belt.
The Daywalker is a highly-anticipated addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I, honestly, can’t think of a better casting choice. Ali is excellency in his craft. The response to this announcement has been so overwhelmingly positive it stands poised to breathe life into a franchise that was responsible for starting off our currently superhero movie boom!
Simu Liu is Shang-Chi
If you stick around Major Spoilers a lot you may remember a listicle I wrote last year after Marvel Studios 
announced they would be producing a Shang-Chi about 5 actors who should play the Master of Kung Fu. At #3 I had the man who was walked out on stage and announced for the titular role: Simu Liu!
Also if you listen to the Major Spoilers Podcast you have heard both Stephen and myself extoll the virtues of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience, which Liu stars in.
Thanks for getting back to me https://t.co/FFRuM03p20
— Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@SimuLiu) July 21, 2019
Along with Liu playing Shang-Chi, Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell), and Tony Ciu-Wai Leung (Lust; Caution), would be appearing as well. Leung will be rehabbing The Mandarin for the movie and Awkwafina’s role has yet to be confirmed.
There isn’t too, too much yet known about Shang-Chi, but it is the announcement I was singularly the most excited for.
Feige Confirms Fantastic Four
During a brief interview with Variety, MCU mastermind Kevin Feige gave a soft confirmation of the Fantastic Four’s inclusion in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
Kevin Feige on bringing back #Marvel’s first family the Fantastic Four #SDCC https://t.co/KN7sAI9ED1 pic.twitter.com/IaQ6zsipdK
— Variety (@Variety) July 21, 2019
While there are little-to-no details, and obvious avoiding of the question, on behalf of someone holding a lot of secrets close to the vest there is no denial that the first family are finally on the brink of getting the Silver Screen treatment they deserve.
Anyone who watches this clip can see it is a far cry from Hall H, yet this short clip has garnered more coverage and buzz than the reveal of the Doctor Strange 2 title: In the Multiverse of Madness. As someone who really enjoyed Doctor Strange, I don’t mean this to come across as disrespectful to the sequel or anyone involved in it. I do find it fascinating, though, that the Fantastic Four still has this much love and momentum behind them.
Superman Returns – Returns!
While Warner Bros. elected not to have a Hall H presence this year, the Arrowverse of shows still showed out in a big way at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Various details about the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover and the final season of Arrow were revealed, but the moment that stole it all was when former-Superman-current-Atom, Brandon Routh, strode out on stage wearing a Kingdom Come Superman logo on his t-shirt blinded fans to anything else.
Since the beginning of the high-level crossover episodes fans have been screaming for Brandon Routh get Superman again and now he is finally going to!
… the question now seems to be whether or not Routh’s Superman will take on the role classically stepped-into by Earth 2 Superman in the original comic book event.
