As excited as I am to learn who's gong to play the DCU's new Batman, I'm also curious to know who's going to play Alffed. The LEGO Batman movie proved Ralph Fiennes culd be an amazing Alfred, though I'd also love to see Pierce Brosnan in the role as well.

I'm so incredibly excited to see Doctor Doom in action in the MCU. While it's expected he'll be fighting multiple heroes in Avengers: Doomsday, I think I'm most excited to see him fight either Doctor Strange, pitting their equally impressive magical prowess against each other. That said, Doctor Doom vs Magneto would be very exciting too.

Richard Rider, aka Nova, has been part of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics. Despite the MCU having explored the idea of bringing the character to live-action and James Gunn's original Guardians of the Galaxy movie having featured the Nova Corps prominently, the director never included Rider because he felt there should be only one human on the team, Chris Pratt's Star-Lord. I would have loved to see Nova in the MCU, but I agree with Gunn, as every member of the team being unique played out for the best. Nova would have taken focus away from Star-Lord.

I think Valeria Richards is the most underrated Fantastic Four character in the comics, so I would love to see her in the MCU. That said, I can't see it happening in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. After all, Reed Richards and Sue Storm's older child, Franklin Richards, will be born throughout the film. With Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Franklin, the whole team, and more to set up, I think there will not be enough time to drop teases that Valeria will one day come to the MCU. That said, I would love to be wrong.

Thunderbolts*'s box office is currently at $369.5 million. While that is double the MCU movie's budget, the film needs to perform somewhere in the $360-$450 million range to break even. Thunderbolts* is unlikely to get to the high end of the projections, and even if the movie does break even or turn a small profit, Thunderbolts* is one of the MCU's biggest box office bombs. Still, I believe Thunderbolts* 2 could happen. They are now the New Avengers and will play a key role in Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars. That could boost their popularity, leading to a successful sequel.

While Superman merch and toys are starting to hit shelves, I can't help but notice the major lack of LEGO sets. This is pretty surprising, especially considering that LEGO does have a DC license. Maybe they're waiting to see if the movie is a success before they green light sets? Either way, I'm bummed there's not a "Superman Meet the Justice Gang" set or "Superman vs Ultraman". Likewise, a Superman/Kaiju model would have been awesome.

The Penguin's showrunner Lauren LeFranc recently confirmed that other The Batman spin-off shows are in the early stages of development. With that in mind, I'd love to see a series about Harvery Dent and his evolution into Two-Face. That said, it would also be nice to finally see a GD series with Jim Gordon get off the ground.

Of the three Deadpool movies, I still maintain that the first was the best, and that Tim Miller is the most talented director to have embraced the character. He recently expressed his interest in directing an MCU X-Men film, and I have mixed feelings about the idea. I'd love to see Marvel's version of X-Men take a more serious, dark tone than previous MCU movies, and I'm not sure if he's really right for it.

This Justice Gang is set to debut in the DCU with James Gunn's Superman. Currently, the known team consists of Mister Terrific, Guy Gardner's Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. While I feel as though most people might say Nathan Fillion's Guy will be the breakout start, I have a feeling that people are going to be loving Isabella Merced's Hawkgirl just a bit more as the biggest fan-favorite.

As much as I'd love to see more Infinity Saga characters returning, and I'm always happy to see Karen Gillan on screen, I feel like her character was always sort of adjacent to Thanos and Gamora. In that sense, I don't really feel like I have much of an idea of what she'd do in a new Avengers movie aside from appearing for a cameo. On the other hand, that might be precisely the reason to bring her on board.

Although it was recently reported that Marvel Studios won't be at Hall H this year at SDCC, they'll reportedly still have a presence at the event. With that in mind, I'm willing to best we'll still see some cool Marvel television announcements, perhaps even some new shows or confirmed new seasons.

The wait continues for an update on Matt Reeves' The Batman — Part II, and I think that Calendar Man would be an awesome villain in Reeves' grounded world. It would be cool if, like in the comics, Calendar Man committed crimes based on holidays and dates, the latter of which could even be explored as having dark past connections to Gotham, much like Riddler in the first movie.

The latest Spider-Man: Brand New Day rumors claim that not only will Mark Ruffalo appear in the movie, but the Hulk will be one of its villains. If that were to be accurate, then I know the perfect way for how it could work in the street-level setting the MCU seems to be going for with the film. The next Spider-Man movie could be about a gang war, with the Hulk turning into his Joe Fixit persona from the comics, perhaps after being influenced by the film's true main villain. I hope we get official story details soon.

Reed Richards and Sue Storm's son, Franklin Richards, will make his MCU debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Franklin's powers to warp reality should put him as the most powerful hero in the MCU. In the comics, he is one of the characters who help recreate the multiverse at the end of Secret Wars. I feel like the timing of Franklin's debut means he will have to play that role in 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars, which means we will likely see Franklin age up in the MCU quite fast.

Out of all the MCU shows, I would have preferred it if Secret Invasion had been a movie instead. Then, it could have had an MCU movie budget with the ability to include more major actors. Many fans would agree that Secret Invasion should have been like Civil War, where it was essentially an Avengers movie. I also think Moon Knight would have been good as a movie as well.

Apparently, EA's Black Panther was set to include T’Challa, Killmonger, and Shuri as playable characters, which alone sounds phenomenal. The more devastating aspect, however, is that the game was creating its own system inspired by the nemesis system from the Middle-earth games. With that system set in Wakanda, the opportunities for exploring and developing unique stories would have been incredible. I'm so bummed about this one.

Though Thunderbolts* seemed to showcase the Marvel Cinematic Universe was getting back on track creatively, the same couldn't be said for its box office, which is looking to lose the studio some money. The franchise's next release is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is now all the more important in the hopes of turning around the box office woes of Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World, and I'm honestly not sure it'll succeed. July is already a stacked month of new releases with Jurassic World Rebirth, I Know What You Did Last Summer and fellow superhero reboot Superman. Given James Gunn's DC Universe starter is also being released so close to Fantastic Four, I get the feeling even the allure of Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic might not be enough. 

James Gunn recently said that things were moving forward on the Wonder Woman side of the DCU, calling it "encouraging," but he claimed that updates on the hero's status were not yet ready to be made public. While I could see how his words could still ring true if Gunn was talking about Wonder Woman being in another hero's DCU movie or a Justice League film, I feel like he has to be talking about a new Wonder Woman solo movie. After all, Batman and Superman have their films announced, so DC Trinity only needs Wonder Woman's to be completed.

All 9 episodes of Daredevil: Born Again season 1 failed to track on the Nielsen viewership charts. Now, it has been revealed that on Nielsen's 100 Most-Watched Series of 2024-2025, Daredevil: Born Again was only the 92nd, with Agatha All Along, which will not return for season 2, ranking quite higher, standing at 45th. If Daredevil: Born Again does not get more viewers, with factors like Jessica Jones' MCU return helping in that regard, then I'm afraid the MCU will not bring it back for season 3 and beyond, which would be a shame.

Thunderbolts* was SO good, and I can't believe it hasn't done better at the box office. While I do see how it might have been a harder sell given the recent state of the MCU overall, I feel like the movie has largely had really good word of mouth. Perhaps part of the problem was the busier release month with Sinners, Lilo & Stitch, and Mission: Impossible.