‘Loki 2’ trailer, Park Seo-joon MCU debut, and everything Marvel unveiled at Disney Content Showcase 2022
Where there is Marvel, there sure are seat-throttling surprises. And the studio proves that not only through its films but more so, in its announcements at conventions.
The latest was at the Disney Content Showcase 2022 where Marvel Studios served as the event’s first act, dropping a slew of exciting news and first-look teasers released exclusively to PhilSTAR L!fe and other members of the APAC press.
During the event held on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the MBS Convention Center in Singapore, the superhero powerhouse discussed previously revealed projects, including Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Secret Invasion.
It also unveiled the cast of The Marvels for the first time and shared never-before-seen footage of Loki Season 2. All of these are part of its theatrical and streaming slate for 2023 and beyond in partnership with Walt Disney Studios.
Read on and bookmark this page for everything Marvel Studios announced at the Disney Content Showcase 2022, which you should look out for in cinemas and Disney+ in the coming months.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Marvel ushered in an exciting 2023 as early as October this year when it dropped the first trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The two-minute clip features the two titular characters (played by Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly) exploring the Quantum Realm and shows Scott Lang's daughter, Cassie, growing up to be a smart teenager as interested in physics as he is.
But what takes the cake is the appearance of Marvel's supervillain Kang the Conquerer (portrayed by Jonathan Majors) in the Ant-Man franchise. Kang forrayed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in the Disney+ series Loki last year, with his real identity still kept under wraps.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. the character is finally confirmed to be an enemy of The Avengers. According to Marvel co-president Louis D'Esposito, Kang's official introduction in the film and MCU, in general, is not one you should sleep on.
"We introduced him in [July 2021], we are going to lead him in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we’re going to see him a little bit soon, and the dangerous Kang Dynasty," D'Esposito said at this year's Disney Content Showcase.
"He’s played by Jonathan Majors. He’s an incredible actor and he has to play variations of this character—many, many iterations. That is a very difficult job to do," he continued. "He also does very well being a villain—he’s still likable. He’s a force to reckon with. I enjoy watching him. I can’t wait to see what is out for him."
The Marvels
A year after Marvel announced the sequel to its 2019 film Captain Marvel, the entertainment studio made the rounds online for reportedly adding South Korean star Park Seo Joon to the cast of the upcoming movie. Much to everyone's surprise, Marvel confirmed the inclusion of Park in The Marvels at the Disney Content Showcase last week.
Set for release on July 28, 2023, The Marvels will feature Park alongside American actors Brie Larson, who will be reprising her role as Captain Marvel, Samual Jackson as Nick Furry, and Teyonnah Parris as Monica Rambeau, as well as Pakistani star Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan.
While Marvel has yet to reveal Park's role in the film, the announcement marks the second time the global entertainment company welcomed a Korean actor into the MCU, following Ma Dong Seok who played Gilgamesh in Eternals.
D'Esposito said that the move is a nod to their mission of making Marvel "a reflection of the world outside our room," as initiated by the legendary Marvel publisher Stan Lee.
"We really take that so far. The world is an incredibly huge place and our films have to reflect that. We are an entertainment company, we set out to entertain but we couple that with diversity in front and behind the camera," D'Esposito said.
"We bring diverse people of different races, cultures, religions, and age and gender and we bring their unique perspective and ideas, we bring that together and we couple that with entertainment that inspires. And when you inspire, anything can happen."
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The third chapter of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is landing in theaters next year, and Marvel has jump-started the action with the release of the film's official trailer online last Nov. 30.
In the two-minute clip on YouTube, you'd see Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) floating through outer space and fighting off villains as the cosmos' defenders.
What comes as surprise is that the trailer shows Gamora, Star-Lord's girlfriend and Thanos' adopted daughter, alive and kicking with the team. To recap, her journey through the multiverse ended when she sacrificed her life in exchange for the Soul Stone in 2019's Avengers: Endgame.
And while the clip available online shows little of the former Zehoberei assassin, the video Disney shared at last week's event shows the character seemingly rekindling her romance with Star-Lord. There's a catch, though—Gamora no longer remembers her association with the team.
Directed by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to premiere in cinemas on May 5, 2023.
Loki Season 2
Marvel sure got Loki fans wanting to time-travel to 2023 when the studio announced the titular character's "return in season 2" during the finale of the show's first chapter.
Marvel has been keeping their plans about the film out of sight until they unveiled their new theatrical and streaming slate at the Disney Content Showcase on Nov. 30.
As part of its surprising announcements at the event, Marvel unleashed the trailer for Loki Season 2 which has yet to be released to the public in the coming months.
In the new trailer, Tom Hiddleston is seen reprising his role as the God of Mischief and finds himself in the Time Variance Authority (TVA) headquarters yet again. This time though, the office, which is based in space-time, has turned into a ghost town with not a single Variant in sight.
By the middle of the clip, Loki reunites with his partner-in-crime, Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), and tells him that he has seen "terrible, awful things happen" when the timeline broke apart. The Asgardian prince is also seen breaking down a golden wall at the TVA office to reveal Kang's face behind it.
The upcoming six-episode series is set to stream during summer in the US or between June to August in the Philippines on Disney+.
Secret Invasion
In addition to Loki and Marvel's Phase 5 films, the studio unveiled clips of its upcoming miniseries, Secret Invasion. The show is based on the 2008 Marvel comics of the same name and chronicles how a group of shapeshifting aliens, called Skrulls, are causing mayhem on Earth disguised as the planet's most powerful heroes.
S.H.I.E.L.D. boss Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) then returns to Earth from outer space to stop the Skrulls' full-scale invasion. The series is set after Captain America, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Apart from Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn is reprising his role as the Skrull Talos and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill. They will be joined by cast members Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman, Martin Freeman, and Don Cheadle.
Secret Invasion is slated to stream on Disney+ in 2023.
