NOC Week in Review: August 1-7, 2026

Despite Spider-Man: Brand New Day smashing box office records this week, it wasn’t all good news over at Marvel Studios. Our newest contributor Victoria dug into the pattern of Black-led projects getting stalled, canceled, or barely celebrated — namely, Blade and Wonder Man — in an incisive debut op-ed you should read. Meanwhile, Shawn returned to sing the praises of the web-slinger’s fourth outing. It’s still Spider-Man’s world — the rest of us are just living in it.

Even though he’s been back from San Diego for a week, Mike was still recapping Comic-Con — he caught the ludicrously silly Hall H panel for Spaceballs: The New One, rounded up the best offsites from a portal-hopping HBO Max activation to Billie Joe Armstrong crashing the Fandom party, and closed out the week with Mike Flanagan’s Carrie panel. Nikita went straight from Comic-Con to Universal Studios Hollywood for an early ride-along on the new Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster, breaking down everything from the wait time to whether the 60-second thrill is worth it. Then, Mike and Nikita joined Lauren on video to reminisice about their time covering — and participating in — San Diego Comic-Con.

Elsewhere, Laura scored an exclusive first look at Jameela Jamil’s character in the upcoming PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, and Swara reassembled the NOCs of the Roundtable — alongside Lauren and Edward — for a spoiler-filled review of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. And if your cyberpunk wardrobe needs work, Josephine broke down the new Ghost in the Shell x JINS eyewear collab. Oh, and we have a TikTok now. Dom used it to show why he’s excited for HBO’s Lanterns:

And that’s it for the first week of August. See you next time.

— Keith

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