Marvel Animation Brings Black Panther’s Quest, Spider-Man & More to SDCC
Marvel Animation is back for more at Comic-Con International in San Diego. On Sunday morning, SVP of Animation and Family Entertainment Cort Lane, SVP of Production and Creative Director Eric Radomski and Senior Director of Development and Production Harrison Wilcox brought a few special guests and a sneak peek of upcoming series like Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest and Marvel’s Spider-Man to the convention center.
Lane opened the panel by thanking the people who made the presentation possible. He welcomed Radomski, Wilcox, James Mathis III (T’Challa) and Daisy Lightfoot (Shuri) onto the stage, then rolled a clip from the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest.
The clip found T’Challa fighting Tiger Shark, who had come into possession of a magical conch shell — one that may look familiar to fans of the comics. He went toe-to-toe with Tiger Shark until the other Avengers, including Captain America and Black Widow, showed up to help.
“We saw T’Challa almost exclusively with the Avengers,” Mathis shared. He explained that the addition of Shuri will give T’Challa a new dynamic to play off of.
“He is extremely frustrating some times,” Lightfoot said. “He is the king, but she brings him down to size times… you see the value she has to him as a man and as a king.”
Another clip showed this dynamic in action, as Tiger Shark pursued Shuri. Though Shuri wanted to fight back, T’Challa told her to stand down and developed a plan with her. The two bantered together until they trapped Tiger Shark.
“This season, an old foe… returned and actually infiltrated Wakanda,” Wilcox explained. He added that Black Panther will have to take some actions that the Avengers may not necessarily agree with. “We’ll see a lot of what goes on inside Wakanda… in fact, we dedicate an entire episode of previous Black Panthers.”
The Shadow Council will appear in the series, which will feature villains Killmonger (Keston John), M’Baku, Klau (Trevor Paul), Zemo, Madame Mask (Wynn Everett) and Tiger Shark (Matt Mercer). Scott Porter will play White Wolf. Stan Lee and Mark Hamill will also lend their voices to the show, though their characters were not revealed.
Lane invited Kathreen Khavari, who voices Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Man actor Robbie Daymond to the stage as well.
Black Panther’s Quest will debut September 23rd on Disney XD.
“What I love about Ms. Marvel, what I love about Kamala Kahn, is that she’s shaping young minds that haven’t been affected by propoganda yet,” Khavari shared. “Kamala means the world to me because she’s helping shape the mind of those kids who have not yet been corrupted by hate yet and see a Muslim character and goes, ‘Oh cool!'”
Marvel’s Spider-Man will also welcome villains like Mysterio, Silvermane, Hippo, Panda and Overdrive. An outside force will send these villains after Spider-Man, complicating his life even further. “It’s a pretty exciting arc and it’s really divided into two halves,” Lane explained. Spider-Gwen, Spider-Girl and Miles Morales “will come to the forefront when Spider-Man is a little out of play.”
Marvel will release new Super Hero Adventures shorts. Gwen Stacy’s Ghost-Spider, Anya “Spider-Girl” Corazon and Falcon will appear in the new season. The studio also showed a new Funko animated short, which featured a team up between Spider-Man and Iron Man as they attempted to take down the Vulture.
Asked if M’Baku will appear in Black Panther’s Quest, Wilcox said, “Yes, he will be a villain — for this season.” He emphasized the last part, hinting that could change.
Another fan wanted to know if Black Panther could meet Storm. “Not yet!” Lane answered with a laugh.
Daymond’s Spider-Man will appear on Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest this season.
Black Panther’s Quest will send Killmonger to Atlantis. According to Wilcox, the show will “craft our own version” of the Marvel setting.
Asked about Hawkeye’s involvement this season, he said, “Troy and Hawkeye have a huge, huge role to play this season.”
Airing Mondays on Disney XD, Marvel’s Spider-Man Season 2 stars Robbie Daymond, Laura Bailey, Nadji Jeter, Melanie Minichino, Max Mittelman, Scott Menville and Josh Keaton.