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• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
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Marvel Studios has become a quintessential part of San Diego Comic-Con tradition - both for fans who attend, and even more so for fans who follow it from afar. When Marvel Studios comes to SDCC, big news follows - and in the years they chose not to attend, that's almost as big news as anything else that weekend. WIth all that, though, we've noticed a seemingly new trend being snuck in under the radar by Marvel Studios.

Whereas for years DC and Marvel have released superhero movies on the first weekend of May (something which Free Comic Book Day jumped on to be its annual event day), now it seems Marvel Studios is targeting to release a MCU movie on the weekend of San Diego Comic-Con every year - and they've already locked down the next two years.

In 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine is being released the same weekend as San Diego Comic-Con (Remember, that wasn't the movie's originally planned date). Next year's big MCU film The Fantastic 4 is coming out on July 25 - which happens to be the weekend of SDCC 2025. Twice, back-to-back? A SDCC-centric release date certainly seems like something Marvel seems to be thinking about.

Before you ask, yes: Marvel's staked out a late July 2026 date for an as-yet untitled film on July 24, 2026. There's also Avengers 5 on May 1, 2026 - that could be pushed back into this slot, or a new film would be announced for this slot. San Diego Comic-Con hasn't announced their 2026 dates, but if I had to guess, I bet they'd share their plans with Marvel Studios early.

SDCC weekend as an optimial movie release weekend isn't new. In 2011, it was when Captain America: The FIrst Avenger hit theaters, and in 2013, 20th Century Fox's The Wolverine was released during the convention.

If you think about it, it makes sense. For those not coming out for SDCC, their minds will be on movies like this as they wait for big news announcements, and people around the world can come out for Marvel's movie that same weekend. And for publicity, with all of the world's top genre press in San Diego for SDCC, Marvel Studios' reveals at SDCC would get even more attention with a hit movie in theaters to accompany it.

Think of it as a post-modern movie world premiere, for movies of this ilk.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• With Daredevil, and spinoffs from Black Panther, What If, and more, Marvel Studios' 2025 Disney+ slate is bigger than ever, and that might be a big deal for the future
• If Kraven the Hunter flops, Sony's Spider-Man Universe could look for a Marvel-assisted reboot
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.