Anaheim Opens With a Marvel-Heavy First Day
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event got underway in Anaheim, California, with Marvel Studios treating the first day as a content dump – and not the slow-burn kind. A full trailer for VisionQuest led the charge, flanked by a first teaser for Ahsoka Season 2, public release of the Avengers: Doomsday special footage that had been locked behind San Diego Comic-Con attendance last month, a closed-doors sneak peek at Star Wars: Starfighter, casting announcements for the MCU’s incoming X-Men film, and a trailer for LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian, an animated special landing on Disney+ next month.
That is a lot of product to throw at a crowd in a single afternoon. Whether all of it lands is a separate question – but the sheer volume of announcements signals Disney is using D23 as a full-court press heading into what looks like an unusually packed theatrical and streaming calendar.
Where VisionQuest Fits in Marvel’s Streaming Record
Marvel’s Disney+ catalog is genuinely uneven. Some shows punched through the noise – WandaVision being the clearest example – while others faded fast or landed somewhere in the forgettable middle. Agatha All Along, which functioned as a spiritual sequel to WandaVision, held its own critically and managed to extend the goodwill that show built. VisionQuest is positioned as the third piece of that connected story, completing what is effectively a trilogy across three separate series.
That framing matters for how audiences are likely to approach it. Viewers who dropped off after WandaVision without finishing Agatha All Along are essentially missing a chapter. Marvel is betting the WandaVision brand still carries enough weight to pull those viewers back in – or that the VisionQuest trailer is strong enough to do the convincing on its own.
The show centers on Vision, played by Paul Bettany, whose death in Avengers: Infinity War was only a partial ending. WandaVision resurrected a new, all-white iteration of the character, and that version had his memories restored by the finale. VisionQuest is set to pick up directly from that point – exploring what comes after a resurrection that nobody in the MCU really has a framework for addressing.
What the Rest of the D23 Slate Looks Like
The Avengers: Doomsday footage getting a public release is worth noting separately. When it screened at San Diego Comic-Con last month, it was attendee-exclusive – a tactic Disney and Marvel have used before to generate controlled buzz while keeping actual footage off the internet as long as possible. Releasing it publicly at D23 now gives that footage a second wave of attention without Marvel having to produce anything new.
The Ahsoka Season 2 teaser and the Star Wars: Starfighter preview round out the Star Wars side of the day’s announcements. Starfighter remained a closed preview, meaning details on that one are still scarce for anyone outside the convention floor. X-Men casting news was also confirmed, though specifics on who has been cast were part of the D23 reveal – an area that will generate its own wave of fan analysis over the coming days as people parse what those choices mean for the MCU’s mutant lineup.
LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian is the most clearly defined upcoming release out of everything shown. It’s an animated special, it’s hitting Disney+ next month, and it has a trailer – making it the only D23 announcement with a near-term, confirmed delivery date attached.
Disney’s decision to structure D23 as a broad franchise showcase rather than a focused look at one or two titles reflects how the company manages fan expectations now. Spreading announcements across Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney+ animated content means no single miss can define the event – but it also makes it harder for any one project to own the conversation. VisionQuest got the headline slot, which suggests Disney considers it the strongest hook. Whether the trailer delivers on that positioning is what fans and critics are measuring right now.
Paul Bettany has been attached to the Vision character since Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015. Eleven years later, the character’s story still doesn’t have a clean ending – and Marvel is counting on that unresolved thread to drive subscriptions.
