By Amanda Steele
Marvel Animation Presents held a packed panel at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon. This panel was hosted by Cort Lane, the Senior Vice President of Animation and Family Entertainment.
To start off, Lane talked with James Mathis III, voice actor for T’Challa in Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest.
Mathis was asked about what it’s like to playing T’Challa and how he views the character to which Mathis replied,
“T’Challa is the King of Kings. I appreciate his commitment to his family. He’s a very well-rounded man. He’s very sharp intellectually.” He also said that the character is important because he stands for so many ideals that are important for children to see such as honor and nobility.
They also noted that the series has many plans for the characters of Shuri, even beyond Black Panther’s Quest. Lane said he couldn’t give all the details of these plans but that fans could expect to see more of Shuri in the future.
The audience was then shown a clip from an upcoming episode of the show which featured Hydra and Crossbones trying to attack Wakanda and being met by the Dora Milaje.
They also revealed more about the upcoming season of the show noting that T’Challa will be going on a quest where he interacts with past Black Panther’s from other eras.
Mathis said that “he is searching for the king within and to do that he is conjuring up his ancestors.”
Next, the panel talked about the upcoming season 3 of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. This series is also correlated to the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Disneyland and covers similar stories.
We were shown a clip of Gamora as a Disney princess after learning that season 3 would feature each of the guardians being sent to different dimensions with vastly varying animation styles.
Next, a clip of Marvel Super Hero Adventures, which premieres on October 22nd, was shown. This is a show on Disney Jr. that is for young children. The clip featured Spider-Man and Captain America fighting the Green Goblin and was centered around teaching children the importance of listening. Honestly, it was pretty cute.
The biggest announcement of the panel was that Marvel Animation will be making their first ever Lego Spider-Man special. The animation for the series is still being made, and no release date was given. The kids in the audience were clearly excited with the announcement which was fun to see. The show will follow Peter Parker as he tries to keep Green Goblin and Venom from stealing tech and destroying NYC.
Next came the Q & A session. A couple of kids asked some great questions including if they were planning to make a Captain America cartoon. Lane said they had no plans for that but that Captain America would feature heavily in the Black Panther’s Quest story.
Lane said that, “Captain America is a pivotal character in terms of T’Challa’s destiny. After Shuri he’s really emotionally a character that you care so much about in Black Panther’s Quest and changes the narrative for T’Challa.”
The panel then brought up the co-creator of Ms. Marvel, Sana Amanat, and voice actor Kamil McFadden who voices Patriot in Marvel Rising Secret Warriors.
Amanat talks about how excited she is about Marvel Rising and being able to feature so many characters that are inspiring and important such as Ms. Marvel and America Chavez.
McFadden talked about what it was like to be the first person to voice Patriot and bring that character to life. He said that he a is a protégé of Captain America and that the film focuses on his journey to become his own superhero and have his own identity. He noted that Patriot cares deeply about values such as order, honesty, and integrity.
The audience was then presented the entirety of Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors.
