Die-hard Marvel fans filled San Diego Comic Con’s massive Hall H on Saturday night, some even camping out for more than 30 hours. But when the 40-minute panel concluded with just two surprise announcements (a Ghost Rider movie starring Ryan Gosling and “Black Panther 3”), it’s hard not to feel: “Is that it?”

After a 30-minute delay, the panel began with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige acknowledging writer-producer Stephen Wacker’s new role as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He then released a trailer for the re-release of “Avengers: Endgame,” called “Endgame Encore,” which will have an exclusive preview of “Doomsday.” But fans were eager for new announcements, not a re-edited trailer for a movie they’ve probably seen several times (and will no doubt see again).

Gosling and director Shawn Levy reteaming for a Ghost Rider movie was a surprise, although the actor has been attracted to it for years. The announcement capped off a lengthy segment with “Happy Sad Confused” host Josh Horowitz recalling all the times he asked Gosling about the long-rumored film in interviews. Unless fans have been keeping an eye on all the MCU rumors, Horowitz’s introduction of Gosling didn’t pan out well on stage. After Marvel’s “Blade” movie never fully materialized, it’s hard not to take an “I’ll believe it when I see it” stance on “Ghost Rider,” even though “Deadpool and Wolverine” director Shawn Levy is already signed on.

The other awkward moment of the Marvel panel came during a confusing Deadpool cameo. As the extensive “Doomsday” cast took the stage, a very recognizable voice shouted from the sea of ​​fans. Deadpool, dressed in his gray X-Force costume, appeared in the crowd, but never removed his mask to show who was underneath. It certainly sounded like Ryan Reynolds was asking for a role in the film, but it was unclear if Reynolds himself was in the suit. Joe and Anthony Russo joked that production on “Doomsday” was over, but… that was it. While there has been much speculation that Deadpool could make a cameo in both “Doomsday” and 2027’s “Secret Wars,” Feige missed the opportunity to confirm Reynolds’ return to the MCU.

Instead, Feige and the Russos went straight to showing an exclusive trailer for “Doomsday,” which featured more backstory for Downey’s villain, but also some recycled footage from the last trailer. We learn more about Doom’s complicated history with the Fantastic Four and his seemingly tortured past, but much of the plot is still covered up. The most exciting moment came when Doom resurrected a fleet of giant sentinel robots (robotic villains from the “X-Men” universe) to fight the heroes.

The panel ended with another long-rumored announcement, Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther 3,” but with a big surprise: “Alien: Romulus” actor David Jonsson will take on the lead role. He will play T’Challa II, the son of the late Chadwick Boseman’s hero, in what will undoubtedly be another emotional film for Coogler and the Wakanda team. Jonsson is an exciting young actor on the rise and was excellent in last year’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Long Walk.” It will be impossible to fill Boseman’s place, but Jonsson will be one of the most important pieces of the next era of Marvel.

So far, “Ghost Rider” and “Black Panther 3,” both scheduled for 2028, are the only films in Marvel’s next phase after “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars.” Fans have long hoped, and Feige has stated as much, that the X-Men will help lead the future of the MCU, but there wasn’t a single X announcement on stage Saturday. Several of the stars of Fox’s “X-Men” will return for “Doomsday,” but there was no indication whether they will return for “Secret Wars” or beyond. Rumors about the next X-Men cast have circulated online, but at the panel, all the attention was focused on “Doomsday,” not what’s coming next.

Maybe the expectations were too high. The last time Marvel attended Comic Con was in 2024, when the studio revealed that Robert Downey Jr., the actor who carried the MCU on his back for more than a decade, would return as its next big villain: Doctor Doom. That announcement nearly blew the roof off Hall H, but nothing matched that intensity this year. Seeing the crowd of fans dressed in Doom costumes was fun for a few seconds, but seeing everyone gather around for a selfie (and getting no more information about “Doomsday”) was not.

Luckily, Disney has its D23 event in just three weeks, where more news will surely come. However, Comic-Con is usually a film-focused event, where D23 has more TV shows. Everyone expects “Doomsday” to be a much-needed hit for the MCU later this year, but can it rise to the $2 billion heights of “Endgame”? And how will he fare against Warner Bros.? “Dune: Part 3”, which will hit theaters on the same day, December 18? As the “Dunesday” showdown approaches, Marvel needs all the publicity it can get to pave the way for its future, and Comic-Con could have used a few more big announcements to cement it as a can’t-miss cultural event.