Since the launch of "All-New, All-Different Marvel," X-Men fans have eagerly awaited the reveal of what exactly went down between Cyclops and the Inhumans during the eight-month gap following "Secret Wars." Now, all stands ready to be revealed. As part of the upcoming Marvel NOW! initiative, the publisher will launch "Death of X" -- a series designed to specifically address all the questions X-fans have been asking about the conflict between mutants and Inhumans.To set up the series as well as run through what's in store for the X-Men and Inhuman lines, Marvel held a "Death of X" panel at San Diego's Comic-Con International. Moderated by Marvel talent scout Rickey Purdin, editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, writers Cullen Bunn ("Uncanny X-Men"),Tom Taylor ("All-New Wolverine"), and artist Scott Koblish ("X-Men '92") took the stage to discuss all things X and Inhuman.

"Death of X" #1 variant by Aaron Kuder

"This is a huge story that’s going to fill in the gap between 'Secret Wars' and where we are now in current continuity," said Alonso. "You’re going to find out where Cyclops and Emma have been and that involves the X-Men and the Inhumans." Purdin then showed off some of Kuder's interior art, which featured Cyclops and a group of X-Men on a Blackbird jet, as well as a look at the Inhuman Royal Family.The presentation turned to "Uncanny X-Men," and Bunn spoke about his book's new arc. "From the first issue we've been hinting at the Hellfire Club and what they've been up to. With issue #11, we're going to reveal a new version of the Hellfire Club and the way it's connected and opposed to Magneto's team of X-Men is real interesting and will change how you look at the team. Information about issue #13 was revealed, stating that the X-Men and Hellfire Club will have a begrudging team-up. "They're not pals or buddy buddy, but they are working together against a new threat," said Bunn. "It's a new threat but also has some deep connections to Magneto."Bunn's other series, "Civil War II: X-Men," came up next. "The arrival of Ulysses in the Marvel Universe has set a lot of different factions at odds," said Bunn. "Magneto's interested in Ulysses and thinks it's the key to the ongoing survival of mutants. He's decided the only way to make sure Ulysses benefits mutantkind is to take him off the board and put him in Magneto's camp. Magneto's making moves to secure Ulysses." In issue #3, Magneto's team will go through changes with some "fan favorite" characters showing up in the series.Tom Taylor spoke about "All-New Wolverine's" "Civil War II' arc and the positive responses to the book -- and Laura Kinney's pet wolverine Jonathan. "Basically we've had Laura meet Old Man Logan, her estranged non-father from another dimension," said Taylor. "The tension caused by that is interesting. Essentially because of 'Civil War,' there's a prediction about Logan that might put him at odds with the all-new Wolverine."

"All-New Wolverine" #13 cover by David Lopez

"All-New Wolverine" #13 variant by Ron Lim

The next arc after "All-New Wolverine's" "Civil War II' tie-in is "Enemy of the State II." "I don't want to give too much away," said Taylor. "If you've read 'Enemy of the State,' I was pitching something early on and we realized it was the spiritual successor to 'Enemy of the State.' It's not going to be pretty. This is one of those instances. Laura's going to murder a bunch of people and that's going to put her at odds with the world and she will be unhappy, out to find whoever controlled her and forced her to do this thing. And people like Nick Fury will be coming after her."Koblish, who is illustrating the upcoming "Deadpool Annual," talked about the special issue which is done in the style of "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends." "It's 'Deadpool and his Insufferable Pals,'" said Koblish. "All the expectations you'd have about watching a 1983 cartoon, the villains have expectations about how they'd be treated but they aren't treated that way by Deadpool." The issue will be done as if it's a pilot of a failed '80s Deadpool Saturday morning cartoon. Koblish changed his art style to mimic accurately the animation style of early '80s cartoons. The Sinister Six will be the villains in the annual. "I thought I could draw it kind of straight, or I could draw it like a 1980's cartoon," said Koblish, noting that he didn't differentiate line weight when illustrating the issue and also drew things "wrong" and "clumsily."

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"Death of X" #2 cover by Aaron Kuder

"Deadpool" #19 will continue the running "Deadpool 2099" arc, which is also illustrated by Koblish. "It ties in heavily with the storyline going on now [in the modern-set 'Deadpool' issues]," said Koblish. "The great thing about Warda is that she's as unbalanced as Deadpool... When I did the design for the facemask, I did it like a broken heart and I wanted to show that not everything is great in [Deadpool's] family. I think about these things, I swear.""Extraordinary X-Men" came up next, with Purdin catching up the audience on recent events in the Jeff Lemire-written series. Issue #14 will focus on the fall out from Colossus' involvement in "Apocalypse Wars," as he's still tainted with the villain's essence. Victor Ibanez will draw the arc following "Apocalypse Wars."Wolverine and Angel will headline "All-New X-Men" #12. Issue #13 will follow Idie, Evan and Iceman as they encounter the terrigen mist for the first time in the series' run. And issue #14 will focus on Cyclops, especially following his fight with Toad that left him badly injured. Purdin said the issue will have a "Rear Window" feel to it.The focus shifted to the Inhumans, with "Uncanny Inhumans" #12 appearing on the screen. That issue will show the Inhumans getting revenge on Iron Man following events in "Civil War II." The cover for "Uncanny Inhumans" #15 was shown, which is the first issue after "Civil War II" and shows Medusa shaving her head.Alonso talked about "Mosaic" #1, saying that he's a character without a body that jumps from host to host. "He not only brings his own powers, but also the powers and memories of all the hosts," said Alonso. "He's able to see what it's like to walk in other people's shoes. He's a flawed character. He has more of a curse than a gift. He's a character to watch and he has a huge role in an upcoming storyline."

"Death of X" teaser by Aaron Kuder

The floor opened up for questions, with the first one being about the key word in the title of the upcoming series "Death of X" -- "Death." Alonso said that Marvel has been dealing with rumors of the X-Men's demise for years, and maybe Marvel likes teasing with fans just a little bit. But joking aside, he urged the fan to check out "Death of X" and wait to see what it really is -- and also thanked the fan for his question. Alonso answered the next question about Cyclops, saying that the character is his favorite X-Man. Purdin pointed out that "Death of X" will reveal what happened with Cyclops in the eight month gap, as well.Another fan asked about the other Summers brother, Havok, who's been missing for a while. Bunn answered, saying "his absence is purposeful. There's a reason you haven't seen him. But you will definitely be seeing some Alex Summers soon."After prompting from a fan, Bunn revealed that he has written more than a few letters to his editors asking when Magneto will fight the Inhumans' leader Black Bolt. Alonso said he "wouldn't be surprised" if we saw that throw down at some point.The panelists then talked about planning out their stories, with Alonso saying that they're usually planned out with the big picture for a year. "We've been building to 'Death of X' for some time," said Alonso. "It's an explanation point. When we were planning 'Secret Wars,' we knew there'd be an eight month gap and what it meant. We've known for at least 18 months to two years where Cyclops and Emma have been -- at least in the broad strokes. At least 16 to 18 months before, we know what the story is about."Purdin then surprised Koblish with a question about the grossest thing he's drawn in "Deadpool"; Koblish said it was a guy he drew that had been cut in half, which he treated like "an anatomy lesson."Alonso said he wants to see more of Iceman -- both of them -- especially in light of his recent coming out. "It's not something we did lightly," he said, reiterating that there are more stories they want to tell with both the young and adult Iceman. "We do have plans for both of them, obviously they're in different books right now. I wouldn't be surprised if you see him doing bigger and better things in the future."

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A fan asked about Gambit's future, and Alonso said that there are more plans for the Ragin' Cajun. Bunn mentioned that Gambit's in "Civil War II: X-Men," but he doesn't know if there are any plans to have him on a team book right now.Bunn brought up an idea he's tried to get greenlit for a while, which spins out of "Siege" when the Avengers Sentry ripped Ares in half. "I've long pitched a story where Deadpool teamed up with the left half of Ares."A passionate X-Men fan then asked the panelists what they need fans to do to really support the book. "If you adapt the mentality that you're going to wait for trade, what you're doing is contributing to the cancellation of the series. Comics count on people being there once a month to pick them up," said Alonso. "It's important to support that small book. If we were to launch an 'Iceman' solo, support that book. Don't go, 'That first issue was great, I'll wait for the trade.'" Alonso continued, pointing out the criticism and hate that some creators and storylines get online. "The discourse on social media is also very shrill. If we only followed social media, people want us to tell them how the story ends. To the degree that you can help make that discourse more reasonable, please do. It's the people that type in caps that get heard the most."

Tom Taylor chimed in and said that he would like to hear people talk more about what they love. "We get on Twitter and we love seeing what fans love. We understand what you want to see less of because it's loud and all in caps, but tell us what you love." Bunn said that he wants people to talk about the books they love in their comic shops. (Via CBR)

Don’t expect to see Vincent D’Onofrio show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It seems the rights to the character still precludes him from appearing in a film unless Sony wants him to. Which, yes, Brand New Day is a Sony/Marvel production… but while visiting the Bingworthy podcast, the Kingpin actor responded to the question about the current mayor of the MCU NYC showing up by saying, “No. I think I’ll just wait until they have the rights to my character and they put me in one of those movies, and then I’ll figure it all out.” This makes sense that Marvel can’t just have the character show up in any random film, like The Thunderbolts, without Sony saying okay, but he is available for television appearances. Why Sony has chosen to not let the character show up in a Sony film though seems a little odd, unless the actor is using the rights issue as a cover to keep from telling us that Wilson Fisk will not be the mayor after the events of the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again season two, which is scheduled to release in March and complete well before Brand New Day hits theaters. 

In 1989 writer/artist John Byrne was working on the West Coast Avengers title for Marvel and decided to have some fun. Since there was both an east and west coast version of the team, he decided to make a third one, in the middle of the country, and keeping with the body of water theme to the names… we got the Great Lakes Avengers. The team was made up of five founding members: Mr. Immortal, Flat Man, Big Bertha, Dinah Soar and Doorman and while the team has probably had more cease-and-desist lawsuits filed against them than real battles, they have been around for years now and have popped up a lot. The interesting thing though is that two of these members have now made appearances in the MCU. And not just blink-and-you-missed-it moments. Both Mr. Immortal and Doorman have had at least half, if not a full episode of a series dedicated to them. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, David Pasquesi plays Craig Hollis aka Mr. Immortal who has his immortal ability and uses it to get out a marriages, which he has a lot of. When pressured by his own attorneys, he leapt out of a high-rise window and plummeted to the street below, slamming into the roof of a car, only to pop right back up and walk away. It doesn’t end well for him though as he is forced to pay off all of his exes. Then we get to meet DeMarr Davis aka the Doorman in the new Wonder Man series. Byron Bowers plays the man with the ability to use his body as a door in and out of the dark dimension. While he is a mutant in the comics, in the MCU he gets his abilities by touching toxic waste from Roxxon, similar to how Cloak & Dagger got their powers. DeMarr becomes a cautionary tale about chasing fortune and fame in Hollywood that may have cost the life of beloved actor Josh Gad. It also made the industry enact a law banning superpowered people from working in show business. This is a major plot point in the series. With two of the five characters both located in Southern California, could we end up getting the rest of the team at some point and them relocating for a fresh start? Sounds like the perfect idea for one of those Marvel Spotlight one-hour specials. 

Fans are eager to see the upcoming Lanterns series on HBO and besides a still shot and a few seconds of footage, very little about the series is known at this point. We got our first comments about it from series star Kyle Chandler who will be playing one of the most well-known Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan. Chandler was being interviewed on the Today Show for his new film The RIP with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. During the interview he was asked about Lanterns and said, “I’ve never had as much fun shooting something as I did that. The people from the top to the bottom. I can’t say enough about Chris Mundy, and the producers, the DC folks. It was an excellent experience. I expect the show to be as good as the experience I had. Aaron Pierre, who I worked with, he and I had a great time.” The series is slated to be released later this year and comes from Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King. Joining Chandler and Pierre in the cast are Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner and then Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Jason Ritter, Poorna Jagannathan, and Paul Ben-Victor. There will be eight episodes and it is said to be mostly an Earth-based mystery set in the heartland of America with a True Detective vibe. 

Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. has stirred plenty of speculation across Hollywood, but one message from the streamer’s leadership has been unusually clear: the theatrical experience isn’t going anywhere. In fact, if the sale closes, Netflix says it will strengthen Warner Bros.’ traditional theatrical model rather than shrink it. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co‑CEO, has repeatedly emphasized that Warner Bros. films will continue to enjoy a 45‑day exclusive theatrical window—a stance that directly counters fears that Netflix would rush major releases to streaming. Sarandos described Warner Bros.’ theatrical distribution as a “phenomenal” engine that generates billions in revenue, insisting Netflix has no intention of putting that at risk. This commitment marks a notable shift in tone for Netflix, which historically prioritized streaming-first strategies. But after reviewing Warner Bros.’ financials, Sarandos acknowledged that the economics of theatrical releases are stronger than Netflix had previously modeled. He framed the 45‑day window not as a compromise but as a competitive strategy: Netflix wants to “win opening weekend” and “win box office,” embracing the same metrics that drive traditional studios. Industry observers have taken notice. While some feared the acquisition would accelerate the decline of theatrical exclusivity, Netflix’s public stance suggests a more balanced future—one where streaming power and box office ambition coexist. For now, at least, moviegoers can expect Warner Bros. films to keep lighting up big screens for a full month and a half before landing on Netflix’s platform. 

The DCU is expanding with the casting of one of the universe’s biggest bads… Darkseid. While this seems to go against something co-studio head James Gunn has said previously about staying away from the cosmic threat, but this casting isn’t for Man of Tomorrow, but rather the upcoming Mister. Miracle animated series and you can’t really tell the story of Scott Free with mentioning his adopted daddy. Writer Tom King was on the Word Balloon podcast when he talked about the series that he is showrunning and said that they had cast Darkseid and Orion along with Mr. Miracle and Big Barda. If you’re not familiar with these characters, they are all part of the Fourth World Saga created by comic legend Jack Kirby during his short stint with DC Comics. It tells the story of two warring factions, the New Gods and the planet Apokolips and a deal that was made in an attempt for peace. The leaders of the factions, High Father and Darkseid, would exchange children… this sent Scott Free to be raised on the oppressive planet while Orion was sent to the peaceful New Genesis. Scott would become and escape artist, finding a way off of Apokolips with the female warrior, Barda, and eventually come to Earth. Exactly what part of that history the series will focus on is unclear, but we do know that Darkseid and the others will be involved. Gunn also confirmed on social media that the series will be cannon to the DCU that includes the recent Superman movie, the Peacemaker series and the animated Creature Commandos. This means that whoever is voicing these characters in the series would also play them in live action in the future and King has said that the Mister Miracle series will have big ramifications on the DCU as a whole. No word on when the series will debut, but with the casting already made, we can expect an announcement in the near future. 

Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up to the 2023 Godzilla Minus One is set to hit North American theaters on November 6th, 2026, three days after its premier in Japan. The Academy Award winning film took in $11.4 million in the US on its opening weekend and $57 million total during its domestic box office run. Godzilla Minus Zero is the second film in the franchise from Gkids since taking Toho acquired the company in 2024. David Jesteadt, president of Gkids, said in a statement: “Gkids is proud to bring Godzilla Minus Zero to North American audiences, following the incredible global reception of Godzilla Minus One. This next chapter is sure to become another defining moment for the most colossal monster ever to dominate the screen. It is only fitting that this bold, new Godzilla event be experienced in its fullest theatrical glory, and we’re honored that Toho has entrusted us to carry this legacy forward.” 

As we get closer to the start of production on Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part 2, the cast starts to take shape with the second MCU veteran being added to the cast. We heard of Scarlet Johansson’s casting earlier in December and now multiple sources are saying Sebastian Stan has come on board as well, with the Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision report claiming that the actor who plays Bucky Barnes will now take on the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. This lines up with the rumors that Johansson would be playing Gilda Dent and that the story may be following the Long Halloween, a popular comic arch by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. While the story does focus on the Dents, many of the other characters in the story have already appeared in The Batman and The Penguin and have already been eliminated. Plus, the setting of the sequel is said to be set around a week after The Penguin series ended, just before Christmas. How ever the characters are used, if Stan is in the film, it then puts the fate of his MCU character in question as The Batman Part 2 will be filming around the same time as Avengers: Secret Wars. While the casting of both Stan and Johansson have not been made official, neither have they been denied by Reeves, James Gunn or DC Studios. 

Deadline is reporting that Mike Flanagan is working on a new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. Flanagan said his plan is to adapt the beloved franchise into a five-season series that would then be capped off by two stand-alone movies. The acclaimed horror director recently told Empire Magazine, “We’ve got a lot of scripts done for it. It’s the first priority.” He also made it clear that he doesn’t want the 2017 Idris Elba/Matthew McConaughey film to be the final word on the property. That adaptation has a 16% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Though Flanagan and Intrepid Pictures have a deal with Amazon, the rights to the Dark Tower were specifically carved out of their arrangement and could end up with another studio, but Amazon is also a possibility. Flanagan is known for his work on films like Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep and the Life of Chuck as well as series like The Fall of the House of Ushers, The Midnight Club and Midnight Mass. He also came up with the initial story and script for the upcoming Clayface movie that was so strong that James Gunn and Peter Safran has to greenlight a body horror film starring a B-level Batman villain as the third film released in their new DCU.   

Now that we’re in 2026, we need to keep an ear out for casting news for the two big DC Studios films shooting this year, Man of Tomorrow and The Batman Part 2. The Superman follow-up is the one going first and we already got the casting announcement for the main villain, Brainiac with the addition of German actor Lars Eidinger to the cast. There have been rumors that there was a female role being cast for a potential hero that many have assumed was going to be this universe’s Wonder Woman, and while that has not been confirmed, John Rocha of the Hot Mic podcast says his sources confirm that James Gunn is looking to cast the Amazon warrior for the film. That would make sense with the idea that DC is pushing Wonder Woman for a new film with Supergirl scribe Ann Nogueira said to be working on the script. This still falls into the rumor category, but Gunn has not debunked the story as of yet. With the film expected to begin production in the spring, more casting news is expected in the next few weeks/months, and we know that if the “scoopers” have it right, DC likes to get the news out their themselves as they did with Eidinger. So I wouldn’t trust any of the rumored castings as of now. 

James Gunn took to social media this morning to welcome Lars Eidinger to the DCU and Man of Tomorrow in the role of Brainiac. Eidinger, while not a household name, is best known for his roles in Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper but also appeared in the recent Netflix film Jay Kelly. Gunn talked about a worldwide search for the iconic Superman villain led to Eidinger rising to the top. He will join David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan as the film is expected to begin shooting in the spring of 2026 for a release in July of 2027. There have been multiple attempts to use Brainiac in a Superman film, but each attempt has fallen to the wayside, and his only live-action appearance so far was in the short-lived SciFi series Krypton where he was played by Blake Ritson.