Marvel is skipping Hall H at Comic-Con and that’s no surprise

Marvel and Disney are not planning a Hall H presentation at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, according to a report from The Wrap. The panel is normally the biggest of the convention, but it seems this year Marvel’s presence will be limited to a booth on the show floor. Disney hasn’t made it official, but this is not surprising.

It is possible that the MCU will not be attending the event because it does not have writers or performers to participate in the panel. At the moment, the Writer’s strike against studios is still ongoing, while the Screen Actor’s Guild approved a strike that could arrive on July 1. Without actors or writers participating, it’s hard to imagine directors being enthusiastic participants in a panel, and it would be awfully difficult for Marvel to hide the number of stars missing from the event. And this issue isn’t limited to Disney. The Wrap’s report also mentions that HBO and Universal might not host panels, either.

Another issue for Disney and Marvel might be that they just don’t have many announcements to make. During last year’s SDCC panel, Marvel gave fans new looks at Secret Invasion, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Ant-Man & the Wasp – QuantumaniaAnd more. The focus is on projects which were expected to be released soon, but have been now.

As we know from the creative schedule-shifting that Disney’s done in the last few weeks, there aren’t many new movies or shows on the immediate horizon for the MCU. And with the writer’s strike still ongoing, it’s possible more projects could get pushed back in the near future.

Disney Plus is still working on a number of series, though there could be no one around to help promote these. There are certainly a lot of casting announcements that would be exciting, but those can’t be announced during a strike.

Fans can rejoice that announcements regarding the MCU’s next step will be made in some way. Disney and Marvel have skipped Comic-Con and Hall H in the past, and often replace the blitz of announcements that would normally happen at the panel with a presentation during Disney’s investor day — which often happens in either November or December. This timing also makes a little more sense for any potential strikes, which would hopefully be resolved by that point in the year, freeing Marvel up to reveal what’s next for the MCU.