Another New York Comic Con is in the books – specifically, the 20th anniversary of the annual pop culture convention – and it was a packed weekend of fan culture, jaw-dropping cosplay, and of course, big announcements from the worlds of movies, TV, comics, video games, and more.
In fact, there are so many things going on at the same time that even if you were at the convention, you likely missed out on a good chunk of it… While official attendance numbers haven't been revealed for this year's convention as of this writing, past years stretched to 250,000 attendees, dwarfing even the legendary San Diego Comic-Con. And thanks to a new reservation system introduced this year, if you didn't put in your request for some of the bigger panels ASAP, well, you're more out of luck than Dungeon Crawler Carl when Princess Donut goes rogue.
Most of you, though, likely weren't in New York, or perhaps (spitballing here) had "other things to do with your lives." So in the interest of getting you caught up quickly, here are the biggest announcements from New York Comic Con 2026, including two intriguing announcements from Marvel TV, an extension of the world of Avatar, and more.
Marvel's Zodiac
No, we won't finally be learning what Captain America's horoscope is ("Signs all point to you being able to do this all day"), but instead the 2028-debuting Zodiac is a live-action international spy thriller set inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe… And notably, debuting some time after the currently scheduled release date of Avengers: Secret Wars, meaning it takes place in whatever the post-Battleworld MCU looks like.
As for who is in the show, who is writing the show, or any other details? Well, we don't know for sure, but an eye-opening logo provided included at least two clues. The first? The "A" in the logo is styled like the logo for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and given Marvel TV chief Brad Winderbaum recently binged the series, and Phil Coulson himself, Clark Gregg, reposted the announcement, it seems plausible that some AoS characters may return. And the "O" in the logo is a reference to "The Great Wheel," a conglomeration of spy organizations from Marvel's Secret Warriors comic. Speculate away, Marvel spies.
Marvel Zombies specials
While the Zodiac announcement had been in the Hollywood trades well before the panel, the big surprise was not one, not two, but three different Marvel Zombies specials, each arriving on subsequent Halloweens (or thereabouts). The first in 2027 is Marvel Zombies: The Winter Soldier. The second in 2028 is Marvel Zombies: The Fist of Khonshu. And the third in the impossible-to-imagine future of 2029 is Marvel Zombies: The Last Guardian.
While no further details were shared other than it'll be a return to the gory, envelope-pushing world of the previous animated series (will it take place after the events of the original, or before that Twilight Zone-esque rug-pull Marvel Zombies ending?), we can certainly intuit a few things from the titles. The first special almost definitely focuses on Bucky Barnes, the second on Moon Knight (or more likely the Blade Knight introduced in the 2023 series), and the third on the last member of the Guardians of the Galaxy standing. Who that is, Winderbaum wouldn't say on stage. But our money is on Groot, only because that's the funniest/saddest option.
Avatar Kuruk: Wave of Chaos
Fans of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are absolutely eating now, thanks to the recently released Avatar Aang movie and now the Seven Havens sequel series currently streaming on Paramount Plus. And that doesn't seem like it'll be stopping any time soon, thanks to the announcement that Seven Havens, already planned for two seasons (or "Books") has been extended to four seasons.
But the bigger surprise? Another Avatar spinoff is in the works, focusing on Avatar Kuruk, who was briefly introduced in the original animated series. Here, Kuruk is a 14-year-old wild child who decides to learn bending on his own, journeying around the world in what's described as a more comedic take on the franchise. It's voice-directed by Janet Varney (aka the voice of Korra), and created by Bryan Konietzko (aka, the co-creator of Avatar), and other than that we don't know much… Other than yip yip, let's go, the more Avatar the better!
The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer
After a wobbly few years, Blumhouse went hard at its annual New York Comic Con panel, laying out nine movies coming up in 2027, announcing the director for the live-action adaptation of the hit comic book Something is Killing the Children (that would be Craig Zobel), and even a partnership with YouTube legend MatPat, which is not just a theory.
But all of that was overshadowed by Mike Flanagan's upcoming The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer. The horror legend has had a busy few months with the recent release of Carrie on Prime Video, and the upcoming release of DC's Clayface (which he wrote). But the first look at the Exorcist sequel/reinvention is the thing that left jaws on the floor. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and more, the spine-tingling trailer builds the horror, ends with a killer last line, and is making the wait until the movie releases on March 12 so unbearable we might just vomit up pea soup.
Absolute Justice
Hey, remember how New York Comic Con is ostensibly supposed to be about comics? There were, indeed, plenty of announcements and reveals from publishers, including a line of Blumhouse comics from IDW's Dark imprint, Marvel teasing more about their Star Wars crossover that is somehow in continuity, and more. But by far the biggest bomb was dropped by DC Comics, which is basically doing a victory lap at this point thanks to surging sales and critical acclaim: Absolute Justice.
The highly anticipated five-issue series will debut in April of 2027, and will be written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferrayra, the current team on the best-selling Absolute Superman. For the first time, the title will bring together DC's reimagined characters, including the game-changing Absolute Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, and Green Lantern to fight back against an array of villains, including a body horror Brainiac. How will these thus far disparate titles weave together? We'll just have to wait until April to find out.
In addition, at the annual Jim Lee and Friends panel, the DC chief brought on Warner Bros. Animation execs and the Absolute Batman team of Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta to present a very early look at the upcoming animated version of the comic book series. While strictly telling everyone in the room not to film or take pictures, they did show off the development art Dragotta has been working on for the adaptation… And an animation test, taking a sequence from an early issue of the comic with Batman fighting the Black Mask's gang and translating it to a mix of 2D and 3D animation. In two words, even at this early stage, having been in the room where it happened? Absolutely stunning.
For the full list of news and announcements from Marvel's New York Comic Con panel, head to our Marvel TV and Animation panel liveblog.
