Disney has their own bi-annual convention, which used to really only be for mega fans, but once they started releasing news about Marvel and Star Wars a few years back, D23 has become a major source of upcoming Nerdd news. This year was no different. Let’s get into it.
Marvel
If you are anything like me, you are a little worn out of MCU lately. It seems that Disney’s latest projects are just being pumped out in record time, and the quality is inconsistent. I’ve already done an update on the full lineup, but let’s see what news we got.
Werewolf By Night, this is a Halloween special for this year, just an homage to classic Universal horror monster movies.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Secret Invasion
Loki Season 2 will have Ke Huy Quan, the husband from Everything Everywhere All At Once, joining the cast.
Ironheart‘s Riri Williams will be played by Dominique Thorne, and her villain will be The Hood, played by Anthony Ramos (In the Heights). The Hood is a comic character who uses magic, so this should be a fun twist, since they won’t have the same powersets.
Captain America: New World Order has two pieces of news. The first is that a villain will be Tim Blake Nelson, who played Samuel Sterns in the 2008 The Incredible Hulk. The character had created a possible antidote to the Hulk from gamma radiation, but in the end of the movie, he is exposed to some chemicals that grows his brain, becoming a character from the comics called “The Leader” known for his swollen brain. The second, is the character Sabra, an Israeli, who served on the Israeli Secret Service in Tel Aviv. She is known for fighting against the Hulk and being on Team Iron Man in the Civil War.
Thunderbolts, a team of anti-heroes, has announced their lineup. Led by La Contessa Valentine Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the team consists of Yelena, Red Guardian, and Taskmaster from Black Widow, Winter Soldier and US Agent from Falcon and Winter Soldier, and Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp, we have quite a good collection of anti-heroes here.
The last bits of news are that Armor Wars will include Rhodey (Don Cheadle) which I thought was already known, and Fantastic Four will have the same director as WandaVision and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
I feel I should mention that a new Marvel video game is coming out, but we don’t even know what it’s called. All we know is that you can play as Captain America, a US Soldier, Black Panther, or a Dora Milaje, in World War II.
Star Wars
Next we have some Star Wars news.
Andor has a new trailer and poster. Also, I was able to go see the Rogue One rerelease in IMAX with exclusive Andor footage which was an expansion on that conversation with Stellan Skarsgard and the scene with the chains, and it was amazing. I can’t wait!
Tales of the Jedi is a new animated show by the creators of Clone Wars, and while each of the six episodes are anthologies, I am so excited to see young Dooku as a Jedi!
Bad Batch Season 2 will release January 4, 2023
The Mandalorian
Skeleton Crew follows a group of children lost in space, which takes place the same time that Luke starts training Grogu and Boba Fett goes to war with the Pyke Syndicate.
Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie is also confirmed to still be happening.
Live Action Disney
Movies that are in the works include:
- The Little Mermaid (remake)
- Mufasa: the Lion King (prequel to live action The Lion King)
- Snow White (remake)
- Peter Pan (remake)
- Haunted Mansion (remake)
- Disenchanted (sequel)
- Hocus Pocus 2
- Avatar 2
- Indiana Jones 5
There are two live action series announced as well:
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- Willow
Animated
Three animated movies:
- Iwaju, set in futuristic Nigeria, is an animated series that has a lot of Afro-Futurism aesthetics, and was made by Ziki Nelson, who also made the anthology comic Kugali.
- Strange World is an action-adventure film that follows a family of explorers that “journeys deep into an uncharted and treacherous land where fantastical creatures await.”
- Wish is a movie about Princess Asha and her pet goat (Alan Tudyk), and the story reminds me of the movie Stardust a lot. We’ll see!
Pixar
Pixar gave us a couple of new movies to look forward to:
- Inside Out 2, which I believe will follow Riley into puberty, but I can’t get any confirmation
- Elio follows an 11-year old boy, seemingly out of summer camp, as he accidentally becomes the ambassador for Earth in a type of alien United Nations situation.
- Elemental is about Zootopia, but instead of animals living together, it’s the four elements just chilling out.
Parks
Lastly, a few interesting notes about the parks.
- Galaxy’s Edge West will get a Grogu
- The Avengers Campus will have a ride featuring King Thanos, and the Hulk will be available for Meet-and-greet
- Pacific Wharf (California Adventure) will become San Fransokyo from Big Hero Six
- Paradise Pier Hotel will become Pixar Place Hotel
- Splash Mountain will become Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, but will still be a log flume with a big drop
- EPCOT is still working on adding the Journey of Water area inspired from Moana
- Shanghai will get a new Zootopia land, including Officer Clawhauser
- Hong Kong and Paris will both be getting Frozen lands.
The Nerdd 