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San Diego - Marvel's all-conquering superheroes ripped through Comic-Con Saturday as the next batch of blockbuster movies were revealed to a hysterical crowd, and Disney declared the wait for Avengers: Endgame to break the global box office record over.
Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Rachel Weisz will join the most lucrative franchise in film history; it was revealed in an announcement prompting a collective fan meltdown and ending frenzied speculation over the films' future.
They appeared on stage in San Diego alongside Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and others who will return in the upcoming - and sure to be multi-billion-grossing - movies.
"I can spend 90 minutes talking about what we've done, or I can spend some time talking about what we're about to do," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told the world's largest pop-culture fan convention.
Giant screens in Hall H revealed a timeline of films and television shows scheduled for the next two years including new outings for popular characters Thor, Black Widow, Doctor Strange and Loki.
Portman who played Jane Foster in the first two Thor films will become Mighty Thor, Goddess of Thunder in the next instalment. Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and director Taika Waititi all return for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Feige also confirmed sequels to Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain Marvel without providing details.
He finished the show - the most anticipated of the four-day event - by announcing that Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali will front a Blade reboot.
RECORD WAIT OVER?
The Marvel films have collectively grossed over $22 billion at the global box office.
Jolie and Hayek will front ensemble film The Eternals in November 2020. It will be followed in February 2021 by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the first Marvel superhero film to be led by an Asian actor, Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience).
Benedict Cumberbatch will return for the second film in the Doctor Strange franchise, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Elizabeth Olsen will star in the upcoming sequel.
Mega-budget shows to air on Disney+, the new streaming service from Marvel's parent company, include Wandavision starring Olsen, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Jeremy Renner in Hawkeye.
Marvel's next round of new films kicks off with Johansson's Black Widow in May.
Disney simultaneously announced that the series' most successful film, Endgame, will become the highest-grossing movie of all time this weekend.
It was just $500 000 behind the $2,789.7 million record set by James Cameron's Avatar, and "will close this gap by tomorrow," it said.
"You have to shout out to James Cameron who held that title for a long time," said Feige. "But for right now today in Hall H, thanks to you, Avengers: Endgame is the biggest film of all time."
On Sunday Avengers: Endgame officially became the top grossing film of all time.
(Photos: Getty Images)
