In case you missed it (and you probably did if you are reding this) Disney’s own version of Comic-Con happened this weekend with D23. After the acquisition of Lucas art’s D23 became a big thing with Disney and an annual event, now in 2022 D23 covers Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Lucasarts, Marvel and of course all of Disney+ into one weekend long event.
A mixture of streaming panels thanks to this year D23 beginning with Disney+ Day and in-person closed door sessions there was a lot that happened at what you could call an extension of SDCC so what do you need to know from this combination gaming, tv and movie (and parks) event? There is a lot to cover so here are the highlights so far:
Disney
- Beginning with gaming Disney’s version of Animal Crossing – Dreamlight Valley released for consoles and PC
- The Tom Hanks led live action Pinocchio released for Disney+
- Hocus Pocus 2 will be streaming on Disney+ October 30th
- Disenchanted (the Enchanted sequel not the Matt Groening animated series on Netflix) will be on November 24th as confirmed by it’s new trailer
- Peter Pan and Wendy as a Disney+ movie got a mention and a poster ahead of it’s 2023 release
- The Lion King is getting a spin off with ‘Mufasa‘ coming in 2024
- Snow White is in the works with Rachel Ziegler and Gal Gadot for 2024
- A first look trailer of the live action The Little Mermaid also appeared
- Also in gaming Illusion Island is what looks to be a 4 player Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy based platformer coming to the Nintendo Switch that we are very excited for
- Disney Speedstorm is like Mario Kart but with Disney that was mentioned previously but got another mention over the weekend
- Disney Mirrorverse, a mobile RPG was all about the villains with Ursula, Hades, Oogie Boogie and Scar battling monsters in a video clip
- Strange New Worlds the Oscar Isaac’s animated film will be on Disney+ November 23, 2022
- Iwaju is an original Disney+ animated series from Disney Animation journeying through futuristic Lagos, Nigeria set for 2023
- National Treasure the series Edge of History will start streaming on Disney+ on December 14
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians reboot was previewed
- The continuation of The Santa Clauses continues with Tim Allen and The Santa Clauses
Not-Disney (20th Century)
- The Simpsons got another Disney+ themed Disney+ day special (and also held a parody of the Marvel MCU Phase announcements at D23 making fun of Kevin Feige)
- As part of the Disney/Lucasarts/Marvel gaming panel a first look at the Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was shown along with some Avatar: Reckoning (a previously announced game) being shown at D23
- Alien: Dark Descent had some gameplay shown with a top down style similar to Diablo or RTS but without the turn based combat system
Pixar
- The Car’s franchise got a short series that dropped on Disney+ with 10 minute episodes of Lightning McQueen and Mater going on a cross country road trip
- Elemental is the next Pixar movie is aiming for a June 16, 2023 release
- Pixar ‘s new Disney+ series with Will Forte – ‘Win or Lose’ was previewed at D23 before it’s release in 2023
- A new adventure ‘Elio‘ got a still image announcement with a release in 2024 with it being the story of a boy transported across the galaxy
- And finally Inside Out 2 is the sequel to of course Inside Out with Amy Poehler returning (so we are assuming it is inside the same body)
Lucasarts
- Willow got a trailer with Christian Slater in it
- The first trailer for Indiana Jones was shown with Harrison Ford on stage, it was only at D23 so we are still waiting
- Return to Monkey Island was part of the DIsney/Lucasarts/Marvel games panel ahead of it’s release next week on Talk like a Pirate Day
Star Wars
- Andor, the Rogue One prequel series which begins on September 21st with 3 episodes is already getting a second season with filming beginning soon
- Tales of the Jedi is made up of 6 standalone episodes following the early days of Jedi from the current lore such as Dooku and Asoka and not in the era of the Dark Horse and previous novels (which is not surprising seeing how Disney has Star Wars: The High Republic set in that era now). It is in the same style as the Clone Wars so expect returning voice actors such as Anakin. It begins October 26th
- Jude Law in Skeleton Crew got a in person first look at D23
- The Asoka series was largely mention with Ezra Bridgers casting being confirmed over the weekend
- The Mandalorian Season 3 got a trailer with Babu Frik
- In gaming no big announcements (and nothing on the open world Star Wars game by Ubisoft) but Lego Star Wars is getting some Disney+ Obi-Wan characters being added to the game
Marvel
- New Black Panther 2 footage was shown with the film being centred around the rest of the world looking to exploit Wakanda when it is at it’s most weakest (after losing it’s King)
- Ironheart footage was shown at D23 (it is produced by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler)
- Quantumania got some footage shown with the film being described as Kang forcing Ant-Man to go on a heist in the Quantum realm and it links directly to Avengers: Kang Dynasty. Oh and Jimmy Woo is returning
- X-men ’97 got a small panel with returning voice actors
- The long rumoured Halloween special Werewolf by Night is no longer a rumour with a trailer shown and if you pause at just the right moment Man-Thing is clearly in shot
- Secret Invasion got a first full trailer
- Armor Wars which was missing from SDCC was confirmed as still being on the books with Secret Invasion and Armor Wars going hand in hand with Rhodey appearing in both
- Loki Season 2 footage was shown at D23 with a more action’y Kang
- No casting was announced for Fantastic 4 despite the photoshop rumours however the director of Wandavision was confirmed as the director for FF
- Echo footage was shown that confirmed an eye-patched Kingpin proving that if they do not die on screen in the MCU they didnt die, looking at you Multiverse of Madness
- Daredevil Born Again will begin filming next year for it’s 18 episodes
- Captain America: New World Order will be a paranoid thriller like Winter Soldier and will include the return of The Leader from the Incredible Hulk
- The Thunderbolt’s got a confirmed line up with Ghost, Red Guardian, US Agent and Taskmaster with Yelana and Bucky being the main leads (we are still holding out hope for Songbird)
- The Marvels was mentioned and suggested that the 3 leads (Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel and Photon are changing places when they use their powers)
- And there was a live performance from Rogers! The Musical performed live on stage at D23
- In gaming Marvel Midnight Sons got some new character intros with an updated release date of December this year
- Marvel Strike Force is getting a Hulk centric update with Red Hulk, She-Hulk and others battling Abomination in a new trailer
- a Black Panther/Captain America game is in the works from Skydance Interactive (makers of a lot of Walking Dead games)
- And the makers of Pokemon Go are working on Marvel: World of Heroes so prepare to go outside again
