As they’ve done in previous years, Marvel Studios once again returned to Hall H at San Diego Comic Con and proceeded to bring the house down. Last year had Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ant-Man, and the year before had The Avengers (among others), so how in the world could Marvel pull out the stops and win Day 3 in Hall H? One word: Fans!
Chris Hardwick, stand-up comedian and head of Nerdist Industries, moderated the panel (among many others this weekend at the con) and was backed up by Kevin Feige, the President of Production (and mouthpiece) of Marvel Studios. They were shortly joined on stage by Tom Hiddleston in character as Loki, garb included, whose appearance churned the audience into a fervor. He toyed with his screaming, adoring fans for a minute or two before appeasing them with a Con-exclusive trailer. Considering the readiness of the trailer, along with the rough trailer/sizzle reel from the X-Men: Days of Future Past appearance at the 20th Century Fox panel earlier in the day, one can hope that one or both will drop in front of The Wolverine come this Friday, but one can only hold out hope.
Next up, some of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier cast (Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Anthony Mackie) and crew (The Russo Brothers) took to the stage for a little moderated Q&A, along with a Con-exclusive sizzle reel featuring an appearance of The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and a glimpse of The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). As the film is still in production, it’s safe to assume that a teaser will drop in front of Thor: The Dark World in November.
You might be thinking at this point, “Okay, so Marvel has previewed their two big returning superheroes. What else can they pull out of their hat?” My answer to you: “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Kevin Feige proceeded to bring to the stage (fresh from London!) James Gunn, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, and Benicio Del Toro. The main juicy news that was provided, apart from the fact that the film is already two weeks into production, was casting confirmations: Benicio is The Collector, Lee is Ronan The Accuser, a bald Karen Gillan is Nebula, and Djimon Hounsou is Korath, all characters steeped in Guardians and intergalactic Marvel lore. And did we mention that they brought footage (and a new title card) to show before jetting back to London to resume filming?
The new logo was premiered at the Marvel Studios’s SDCC ’13 panel.
And last, but certainly not least, Joss Whedon surprised everyone, took to the stage, and announced that The Avengers 2 would be Age of Ultron (along with a short teaser and a new title card) before dropping the mike and leaving the stage. (Maybe we’re exaggerating a little with the mike drop. But that would have been the perfect closer, would it not?)
The first logo for the ‘Avengers’ sequel premiered at Marvel Studios’s SDCC 2013 panel.
Judging from the reactions across Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook, Marvel once again pleased fans, fan-boys, and fan-girls alike, and left them pining for more reveals that are still a secret, like what Marvel role Vin Diesel is in consideration for and who in the world will be voicing Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy. But those secrets are for another time.
If you’re curious about any or all of the previewed footage, detailed descriptions can be found on numerous other film blogs (and Tumblr, too), but if you want to stay in the dark, by all means, be my guest … if you can resist.
Thor: The Dark World is directed by Alan Taylor and will be released on November 8, 2013.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and will be released on April 4, 2014.
Guardians of the Galaxy is directed by James Gunn and will be released on August 1, 2014.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron is directed by Joss Whedon and will be released on May 1, 2015, followed shortly by Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man on November 6, 2015.
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