By Michael Sowell
Marvel Television and Marvel Animation arrived at New York Comic Con 2026 with plenty to prove and enough exclusive footage to keep the Empire Stage busy for the entire hour.
With NYCC celebrating its 20th anniversary, Marvel packed the Javits Center’s 3,000-seat Empire Stage for a Thursday afternoon presentation focused entirely on what is coming next to Disney+. There was no Avengers: Doomsday detour and no attempt to turn the session into a larger Marvel Studios movie presentation. Instead, the spotlight stayed firmly on television and animation, with Marvel Zombies, X-Men ’97, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Daredevil: Born Again, VisionQuest, and the newly announced Zodiac all getting time.
The panel was moderated by Brandon Davis, with Marvel Head of Television, Animation, Comics & Franchise Brad Winderbaum guiding much of the presentation. Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Stephen Wacker also helped open the session before the television announcements took over.
For anyone wondering whether Marvel Television still has major swings left in it, the answer coming out of NYCC was yes.
Marvel Zombies Is Becoming a Halloween Tradition
The undead are not going anywhere.
Marvel confirmed that Marvel Zombies will continue with three new two-part event series spread across the next three years.
Marvel Zombies: The Winter Soldier arrives around Halloween 2027, followed by Marvel Zombies: The Fist of Khonshu in 2028. The story then concludes in 2029 with Marvel Zombies: The Last Guardian.
Winderbaum teased that the team is already deep into the animation process and promised that the franchise is not suddenly becoming tame.
“We’re about halfway through animatics, and it is a blood-splattering good time, but it’s also quite beautiful.”
— Brad Winderbaum
He also joked that he still cannot believe Disney+ lets them get away with what they are doing.
The structure effectively turns Marvel Zombies into an annual Halloween event, with each chapter moving into a different corner of the Marvel universe. The titles alone suggest a wider range of characters and mythology than the first season explored, particularly with Khonshu pointing directly toward Moon Knight’s supernatural world.
Winderbaum would not reveal who the “Last Guardian” is, only calling the answer “very, very exciting.”
X-Men ’97 Season 3 Brings Back the Brotherhood and Wedding Bells
The room also got an exclusive first look at X-Men ’97 Season 3, and the footage suggested the series has no intention of backing away from the political and cultural metaphors that have always defined the X-Men.
The clip featured tense border crossings, Sentinel action and the return of the Brotherhood of Mutants, while continuing to draw connections between mutant persecution and real-world discrimination.
But the biggest crowd reaction may have come from something much more personal: Rogue and Gambit are heading toward a wedding.
That development gives longtime fans an emotional payoff while continuing the show’s balance between superhero spectacle and character drama. The new season is expected in 2027, and Marvel also confirmed that a fourth season is already planned.
Winderbaum sounded particularly emotional about where the series is heading.
“We’re hard at work on the third season, and it’s incredible. I mean, I’m actually getting choked up thinking about one of the episodes right now.”
— Brad Winderbaum
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Gets a Symbiote Problem
Creator Jeff Trammell joined the panel to preview the second season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which arrives on Disney+ January 13, 2027.
The footage showed a much more confident Peter Parker than the teenager audiences met in Season 1. This time, Peter is no longer simply learning how to become Spider-Man. He is moving into larger threats with considerably less guidance.
That does not necessarily mean he will be handling those threats alone.
‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ creator Jeff Trammell – Marvel.com
The clip featured Spider-Man interrupting a confrontation between Doctor Octopus and Norman Osborn at a fundraising event, followed by an extended action sequence in which Peter has to rescue Harry Osborn from the side of a skyscraper.
Then came the tease everyone was waiting for: Venom.
Trammell summed up the shift by explaining that Peter no longer has the safety net he relied on in Season 1.
“In Season 2, he’s ready to go, and he’s got big threats. He might need a little help. And, you know, sometimes that help comes in the form of inky black goo from space.”
— Jeff Trammell
That black symbiote immediately gives the new season a darker edge and opens the door for one of Spider-Man’s most important relationships to enter this animated universe.
The Defenders Assemble for Daredevil: Born Again Season 3
Being at the Javits Center also meant being only a short distance from Hell’s Kitchen, so Marvel took advantage of the geography.
Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter and Finn Jones surprised the crowd to preview the third and final season of Daredevil: Born Again. Mike Colter was unable to attend because of a last-minute scheduling conflict, but the cast said he sent his regards.
The response in the room made one thing immediately clear: Marvel fans are not particularly interested in saying goodbye to this corner of the MCU.
When the final-season designation was mentioned, the crowd responded with good-natured boos.
The footage itself gave them even more reason to want the story to continue. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Danny Rand are pulled back into the orbit of Matt Murdock, while Wilson Fisk and Bullseye remain major threats. Matt is still behind bars, and the preview included a brutal prison fight with Daredevil right in the middle of it.
Cox acknowledged the fan reaction with a callback to the campaign that helped bring the character back in the first place.
“I imagine the Save Daredevil campaign will be gearing up for Round 2.”
— Charlie Cox
The return of the Defenders may ultimately become one of Season 3’s biggest selling points. Marvel spent years keeping these characters separated after their original Netflix runs, and seeing them reassemble gives Born Again a sense of culmination beyond Matt Murdock’s story alone.
Season 3 premieres in 2027.
VisionQuest Brings Ultron Back Into Vision’s Story
The panel saved its biggest presentation for last.
Paul Bettany, James Spader, Ruaridh Mollica and Emily Hampshire joined showrunner Terry Matalas to preview VisionQuest, the next chapter of the story that began with WandaVision and continued through Agatha All Along.
Bettany joked about what Vision has been doing all this time, while seeing him share the stage with Spader immediately brought the history between Vision and Ultron back into focus.
The upcoming series also reconnects audiences with another member of the Maximoff family. Ruaridh Mollica plays an older Tommy Maximoff, continuing a character previously portrayed by Jett Klyne.
Exclusive footage shown during the panel featured mindscape sequences, robots inhabiting human forms and Vision searching for a way to save his children. The material appeared stranger and more introspective than a conventional superhero series, continuing the tonal experimentation that helped make WandaVision stand apart.
Then Marvel went further than simply showing a trailer.
The audience got to watch the entire first episode.
The premiere played like a quirky combination of WandaVision and Loki, leaning into identity, memory and the increasingly complicated question of what makes Vision a person. It is introspective and self-aware without feeling overly burdened by everything happening elsewhere in the MCU.
That smaller emotional focus may be exactly what the character needs.
For all the artificial intelligence, android mythology and larger Marvel connections surrounding Vision, his most interesting stories have always come back to surprisingly human questions about family, grief and belonging.
VisionQuest now streaming on Disney+ after premiering October 13.
As the Empire Stage emptied, Danny Elfman’s New Avengers theme from Avengers: Age of Ultron played through the room, a fitting reminder of just how long Vision and Ultron’s history has been building.
Zodiac Opens Another Corner of Marvel Television
Marvel also surprised the crowd by announcing Zodiac, a new live-action series heading to Disney+ in 2028.
Winderbaum revealed the logo and described the project as a spy thriller, while keeping nearly everything else secret. Production is scheduled to begin in the spring.
The logo itself was presented as part of the mystery, with hints and Easter eggs that may offer clues about what characters or organizations could become involved.
For now, Marvel is clearly enjoying the speculation.
What matters more is that Zodiac suggests Marvel Television is still looking for different genres in which to tell superhero-adjacent stories. A spy thriller gives the studio room to explore a part of the universe that does not necessarily need gods, multiverses or world-ending threats to generate tension.
Marvel Television Still Has Range
The panel began heavily on the animation side, but by the end of the hour it had moved through zombies, mutants, Spider-Man, street-level heroes, androids and an entirely new spy thriller.
That variety was the strongest argument Marvel Television made at NYCC.
Marvel Zombies is becoming a recurring Halloween event. X-Men ’97 continues using superhero storytelling to explore social and political tension. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is moving Peter Parker toward the symbiote era. Daredevil: Born Again is reassembling the Defenders for one final season, while VisionQuest appears ready to close another chapter of the Maximoff story.
Then there is Zodiac, sitting almost entirely in the shadows for now.
Marvel’s theatrical future may continue to dominate the biggest conversations, particularly with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars ahead, but the NYCC presentation made a compelling case that television is still where the company can experiment most freely with genre, tone and character.
The biggest movies may carry the weight of the universe.
Marvel Television still gets to explore its corners.
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I’m a dedicated aficionado of all things movies, pop culture, and entertainment. With a passion for storytelling and a love for the silver screen, I’m constantly immersed in the world of cinema, exploring new releases, classics, and hidden gems alike. As a fervent advocate for the power of film to inspire, entertain, and provoke thought, I enjoy sharing my insights, reviews, and recommendations with fellow enthusiasts.