It's been over a week since the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, and yet I'm still reeling from all of its announcements. Clearly THE nerd event, Comic-Con is the place to go to get the scoop on the biggest nerd films of the next few years, as well as events in TV, video games and comics. It's an understatement to say that a lot happened. The pilot episode for the MCU show Agents of SHIELD was aired. Footage from next year's Robocop reboot was shown. We got our first look at anticipated films like "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "Godzilla," seeing an aged Caesar and glimpses of the atomic breathing lizard fighting and killing other giant creatures. But of course, the biggest announcements at the Con came from the film adaptations of Marvel and DC, so naturally, in this reaction piece, I plan on focusing on them.
First up is Marvel, and what better place to start than with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Joss Whedon already screened the SHIELD pilot, which drew unanimous praise from fans thanks to its Whedonesque dialogue and the return of Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson. While that show is set to focus on how human society is reacting the events of "The Avengers," this November's "Thor: The Dark World" will see the cosmic aftermath. Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston, appeared at the Con in character to promote the film, rallying the crowd by asking "Where are your Avengers now?" and getting them to say his name. This was a treat to see, since Hiddleston clearly relishes the role and the audience really loves him. The film might break a billion easily just by having Loki in it.
But as to the footage screened, from what I hear it detailed a lot of what was seen in the first trailer, with Thor taking Jane to Asgard and visiting Loki in prison. What was new was a brief clip of Thor fighting a giant rock creature, and Loki betraying Thor and apparently cutting off his hand. If this is truly in the film, then the Thor sequel looks to be a huge improvement over the original. Since Alan "Game of Thrones" Taylor is on board as director, I was hoping we'd get a more dark fantasy feel from this film, as befitting a Viking god. It looks like that's exactly what we're getting, and thanks to that footage description I'm more excited than ever for the film to drop in November.
Next up is "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." While I'm not as pumped for the Cap sequel as I am for Thor, this is based on my favorite Captain America arc from the comics, detailing Bucky returning from the dead as a brainwashed Soviet assassin. As shown in the picture above, Cap is set to get a new suit, heavily inspired by his Secret Avengers comic costume and containing a blue and white stealth shield. The footage shown at the Con revealed Black Widow and Falcon in action, the SHIELD Helicarrier crashing, and a final money shot of the Winter Soldier picking up Cap's shield.
This all sounds fantastic, and while Cap is not my favorite Marvel character, I'm genuinely interested in seeing his adventures in modern day as he comes to understand his role in the present. On a side note, the Con also screened the Marvel One Shot that will come with the "Iron Man 3" DVD, Agent Carter, which will follow Peggy Carter after the events of the first Cap film. I sincerely believe we should get a Marvel film with a female character, and if the reaction to the Agent Carter film is any indication, it's proof that a solo female adventure can be done well.
We were all expecting Thor and Cap news, but the real surprise was footage from "Guardians of the Galaxy," which is still filming. Besides Chris Pratt's Star Lord, Zoe Saldana's Gamora and Dave Bautista's Drax, the panel confirmed John C. Reilley as Rhomann Dey of the Nova Corps, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser (leader of the Kree Empire) and "Doctor Who's" Karen Gillian as Nebula, the granddaughter of Thanos. Gillian revealed she was wearing a wig at the Con and took it off to reveal her bald head, having shaved her hair for the role. Now that's commitment.
The footage that follows shows the entire Guardians line-up in a Nova Corps rap sheet. Groot and Rocket Racoon are featured, Star Lord has some great one-liners, and the tone seems like that of an actiony sci-fi comedy. It all sounds very promising, so I'm fully on board for the MCU's first foray into the cosmic universe. Specifically, the development of Thanos and the existence of both the Nova Corps and the Kree is promising. Maybe down the line we'll get Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock and Nova. That thought alone is salivating. "Guardians" is still a big risk for Marvel, but based on this footage, I think it'll pay off in a big way.
Which brings us to the last MCU announcement. Many fans were expecting some Phase Three news, maybe a Doctor Strange confirmation or something about the Ant-Man movie. Ironically, we got nothing on Ant-Man but something very big about his creation. Joss Whedon confirmed that 2015's "Avengers" sequel will be called "Age of Ultron," which will bring the iconic robot super villain to life. I had a miniature heart attack at the news, since Ultron is one of my favorite Avengers villains and it will be amazing to see him fight Earth's Mightiest on screen. We know that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (sans mutant backstory) will be in the film, and now we have our main antagonist. However, fans raged when Whedon revealed that Hank Pym, aka Ant-Man, Ultron's creator, wouldn't be in the film.
Personally, I don't have a problem with this. We already have a basis for A.I. and robots thanks to Stark's JARVIS program and the Iron Legion, which could very easily become corrupted and turn into Ultron. Maybe SHIELD has something to do with it, creating a fleet of Ultron drones from Stark tech as a replacement for the Avengers to deal with threats. Since the Ant-Man movie drops a few months later, it could be Pym could get a mention or a cameo as a SHIELD scientist involved in Ultron's creation, as a way of hyping up his solo film. Not a lot is known at this point, but one thing we do know is Ultron is coming. Just as I suspected, Thanos will be built up using Guardians and most likely saved for Avengers 3, leaving this film to fully develop Ultron as the threat he was meant to be. Color me beyond excited.
But despite my excitement for the main Marvel films forthcoming, I'm anticipating even more the Marvel films from Sony and Fox- "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past." Spidey and the X-Men were my gateway drugs to the Marvel Universe, and even if these cinematic versions aren't apart of the MCU, the success of "The Avengers" is clearly inspiring them to take larger risks and be more comic-book accurate. The panels for both films were wildly celebrated, thanks in no small part to Andrew Garfield appearing in costume and character as Spider-Man and the entire cast of the next X-Men movie showing up.
As a huge Spider-Man fan, it was an absolute joy to see Garfield embrace the role as his own, cracking wise the way Spider-Man would and bouncing off the likes of Marc Webb and Jamie Foxx. Speaking of which, the leaked footage for the film of Foxx's Electro looks absolutely breathtaking. Electro seems to have a solid character arc of going from a nobody to a feared menace, amassing god-like power as he performs feats like blacking out all of Times Square. I have no doubt that Foxx will dominate the role, and make Electro a true threat for Spidey to face. This could very well be the best Spider-Man film of all time, between the look of the suit, Spidey at his comical best, amazing action, and a truly threatening villain.
In regards to the X-Men, while I've enjoyed the series as a whole thus far, I still take issue with both the liberties taken from the comics and the lack of continuity between "First Class" and the other films. Thankfully, "Days of Future Past" seems to be correcting all of that. Peter Dinklage, who excellently plays Tyrion Lannister on "Game of Thrones," is playing Bolivar Trask, creator of the Sentinels, and with him comes the entire arc from the comics, complete with time travel. True, Wolverine will be the time traveler instead of Kitty Pryde, but I'm still beyond psyched.
The very idea of all the cast members returning to do a massive crossover event between all the X-films, ironing out the continuity and possibly resetting the timeline "Star Trek" style, is really appealing to me. The end scene of "The Wolverine," wherein old Xavier and Magneto recruit Logan as Trask Industries gathers power, had me cheering, and this entire panel did too. Between the cast members old and new, our first look at the Sentinel robots on the Con floor and some fantastic footage (including a meeting between young and old Xavier), this looks set to fully redeem the X-Men franchise and carry it into the future.
In the midst of all the Marvel news, however, the biggest announcement came from DC. Ok, so we still don't know if they're working on Justice League, Flash or Wonder Woman films. But those movies could very well be in our future if this next film is a success. I don't see how it couldn't. When Zach Snyder announced he would be directing a "Man of Steel" sequel, he brought out Harry Lennix to read a passage from "The Dark Knight Returns" comic, before showing a Superman/Batman logo on the screen. The crowd went nuts, and I nearly died. At long last, DC is finally taking advantage of their properties and building a shared universe. A film with both Superman and Batman together? It will destroy the box office. Granted, this will be a new Batman, but the popularity of the character alone will ensure its success.
I've given this movie a fair bit of thought, of course. As big of a Marvel fan as I am, I want to see DC succeed just as well. The tentatively titled "Batman vs. Superman" film could organically spin out of the events of "Man of Steel," forwarding Superman's character as well as warming audiences up for a new Batman. I could see Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor pooling resources to rebuild Metropolis, distrusting Superman, eventually leading to Bats and Supes fighting each other, before teaming up to take down Luthor and maybe a couple of soldier villains. I could see Superman, racked with guilt over the destruction in Metropolis, embrace his role as the optimistic, uplifting savior after seeing the good in humanity within Batman while also having an example of what not to be (dark, brooding and cynical). I could see Superman and Batman form a solid partnership that could lead to the revelation that other heroes exist in this world, building towards "Justice League."
No doubt about it, the future of the DC Cinematic Universe lies with this film. But then again, maybe it would be better to forward Superman's character arc in another solo film before moving on a crossover. Maybe Batman needs time away from film so people can forget the "Dark Knight" saga. Maybe DC is only doing this to capitalize on Batman's popularity and the "Avengers" crossover appeal. There's no doubt this has the potential to be either an amazing film or a rushed cash-in. But either way you look at it, the fact of the matter is we're getting the two most iconic superheroes in pop culture together in a movie. Stuff like this is what Comic-Con's all about, and I'm hoping for great things to come out of this movie.
But nerddom is far more than just Marvel and DC. I've already mentioned footage from "Agents of SHIELD," "Robocop," "Godzilla" and "Planet of the Apes," to say nothing of "Ender's Game," "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," season 2 of "Legend of Korra," season 4 of "The Walking Dead," updates on season 3 of "Sherlock" and the 50th Anniversary special of "Doctor Who" and even an In Memoriam video for all the deaths on "Game of Thrones." Not to mention Duncan Jones' test footage for his upcoming "World of Warcraft" film. There's so much that happened this year at Comic-Con it's hard to really comment on all of it. I will say that I'm excited for all of it.
The shows mentioned above are either my all-time favorites or slowly becoming favorites, while the footage from the genre films of late this year and next year all look promising. I'm so glad to live in an age where nerd culture is accepted and embraced by millions, and Comic-Con is living proof of that. I hope one day to visit the Con for myself, but until then, just basking in the geeky glow of all the major movies and TV shows is good enough.
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