Popverse's top stories of the day

• Dan Da Dan's most emotionally devastating sequence proves that sometimes words aren't necessary
• WATCH: Inside the fiendish creations & comic book secret origin of David Dastmalchian in Popversations
• Every upcoming A24 movie, from 2024's Queer to 2025's The Legend of Ochi and beyond

Marvel Studios stole all the headlines on Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con when they announced that the Russo Brothers were back to direct the next two Avengers films and then stole their own headlines by announcing that Robert Downey Jr. was returning to the MCU – but as Doctor Doom – in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. However, that isn’t the only way they’re trying to recapture that old MCU magic – they’ve also tapped the screenwriter for the first three Captain America films and Avengers: Endgame to pen the scripts.

Stephen McFeely has been signed on to write both Doomsday and Secret Wars scripts for Marvel Studios. On one hand, it makes absolute sense that Marvel would look to the man who, along with his frequent writing partner Christopher Markus, wrote the second highest-grossing film of all time in Avengers: Endgame. McFeely has collaborated with the Russo Brothers on several non-MCU films in the years since Endgame, so they clearly have a solid working relationship. However, it is tough to convince fans that you’re moving forward when you’ve got the director, star, and writer of previous Marvel hits returning to right the ship after a disappointing 2023 and a sparse 2024 at the box office for the MCU. 

We know Stephen McFeely can write a great superhero script, but will Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars feel like a fresh take on the MCU? Or will it end up feeling like two steps back after the first real slump in the franchise’s history? We’ll have to wait until Avengers: Doomsday is released on May 1, 2026. Its follow-up, Avengers: Secret Wars, is due out on May 7, 2027.

Get a fuller San Diego Comic-Con experience with a full rundown of our SDCC 2024 stories, as well as all the big SDCC 2024 news, how to make the most out of San Diego Comic-Con, and the real burning question: how much does it actually cost to go to SDCC?