My Top 6 Highlights From San Diego Comic-Con

Howdy ladies and gents, time for some frigging news and recaps! So over the past weekend San Diego Comic-Con went down and it was a pretty crazy session with a good number of stories that dropped online. There was so much news not only for films, but also for TV and comics and I wasn’t able to see it all because I was at work. 😦 This was the first year for a while when I was working during the actual event so a lot of stories dropped while I was at work and I didn’t find out about it until I got out at 2am UK time which SUCKED! So rather than trying to talk about everything I’m just going to talk about my highlights from the convention. Oh by the way I will be talking about the leaked trailer for certain films but I won’t be showing the trailers because I don’t want my blog posts being shut down. 😛

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Trailer

It was kind of given that this would be the first topic of conversation and probably the biggest highlight, but it’s hard not to be hyped for this film now. I will say that I’m not going gaga over this trailer, some fans have been losing the frigging minds over this, but that’s not me. I do like this trailer a lot, but some of my concerns about the film still stand but I’ll get into that later.

I’m going to do a mini review of the trailer and keep my thoughts brief. All in all, the more I see from this film, the more hyped I get. This film is looking better with each new reveal, I love how they’ve tied BvS into Man of Steel by putting Bruce Wayne right in the thick of the chaos that went down when Superman fought Zod, and having been a witness to the destruction and death that happened, Bruce now has a reason not only to hate Superman but also to resurface as the Batman. I also like how Superman is being handled, the world is split on him, some love him and some hate him, and he’s also being held accountable for the damage he caused and is being brought to court (where’s Matt Murdock when you need him :P). Everything about this film is looking pretty cool, the story is looking good, I’m liking the character motivations and dilemmas, the action looks kick ass and very Snyder-like (super stylish and crazy) and there’s a lot of cool quotes being thrown around too. That being said I did think the trailer felt a little crowded especially with the appearances of Wonder Woman (still wondering how she fits into this film), also I’m not over the moon about Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor (though that red capes line is hilarious) or Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman (notice how there was no dialogue for her), I’m still waiting to be wowed. Otherwise all you need to know is that my general consensus is that I’m really looking forward to this film and I want it now.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Panel & Behind-The-Scenes Footage

While I’m not the biggest Star Wars nerd ever, my love for the films and the franchise as a whole is undeniable and I’m so hyped for The Force Awakens and the panel just gave me more confidence in the cast and crew behind hit. Hearing the answers from JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Kennedy given by fans and the host made me feel so at ease and just reconfirmed my hopes for the film. It also helped that the cast both new and old are so charming, down to earth and excited for the film to be released.

But then that behind-the-scenes video was the part that really got me giddy. Take a look:

There is just too much to mention. Hardcore SW fans must be having a field day picking apart the footage for me I just loved seeing these on-set locations whether they were exterior or interior, I loved the concept art and the practical animatronics and the lighting used for the darker scenes during filming. I like the stormtroopers, I love the explosions, the sets look incredibly detailed and big, and seeing the cast’s enthusiasm for the film is infectious especially from Simon Pegg. I think Mark Hamill said it best, “Everything’s changed but nothing’s changed, that’s the way you want it to be really.” It truly seemed like the filmmakers want to bring fans back to the beginning of the series but modernize it and I’m hyped.

Deadpool Trailer

It feels like this film has been in development for AGES, for the longest time it was all just talk and hoping that a Deadpool film would happen, but it’s actually happening and it’s still kind of surreal. But seeing the trailer in action just put things in perspective and I know now that Deadpool, so far, looking awesome and I want it now! Now I will say that I watched the leaked trailer online, but hey if you’re not at Comic-Con and its online, you have to watch it right? So I took a peek and it looks just as mad as I had hoped. There are jokes galore, breaking the fourth wall, references to other superhero films, violence and action and at the center of it there’s just this wonderful sense of madness and fun. I loved the use of DMX in the trailer, Ryan Reynolds is on top form with this role and I like TJ Miller too. I’m totally down for this film.

Suicide Squad Trailer

I was actually really hyped up when this leaked online. I know it’s not good to hope for exclusive film footage to drop online, but when you’re not an attendee of fancy events like these it is great to get to see something cool ( even if it is a bit blurry and out of frame. What I will say about the Suicide Squad trailer is that it felt right, it felt so right. I know only the tiniest bit of info about them from the source material, but from what I know about them they seem correct. I love the tone, it’s serious, but not too dark, I love the look of the film, the use of colour, lighting and action looks nice too, plus the cast look pretty badass especially Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Killer Croc and the Joker too. I also liked the references to Man of Steel creating a sense of continuity and this film feels like the starting point of expanding the DC cinematic universe in a really good way.

UPDATE: Here’s the official trailer:

X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer

This was the last leaked trailer that I saw because it was a little more recent and again I was glad it found its way online because it looks awesome! I’ve heard people talk about this trailer online, but you can only imagine how they feel when you haven’t seen the footage yourself, but after seeing this trailer I can understand the hype. X-Men: Apocalypse looks like it could well be the best X-Men film yet, the sense of disaster, dread and end of the world kind of tone can be felt all over this trailer. I’m really liking how in this film, it seems like the film is progressing when it comes to the looks of the characters when it comes to the costumes, hair and make-up. Characters like Storm, Nightcrawler and Professor X look really great, but Apocalypse was the real surprise, Oscar Isaac was shown right there in full make-up and costume and he looked SO beastly and unrecognisable. I just like some of the stuff they’ve carried over from First Class and Days of Future Past into this one, I’m just in a proper good mood to see this film.

Game of Thrones Panel

And finally we have the Game of Thrones panel, while nothing too significant got revealed, I just found it entertaining to watch as 2015 has found me at the peak of my GoT hype and since I’ve never watched a panel on this show I found it really fun, interesting and surprising too. I’ve not really seen many of the cast for the show outside of their characters besides Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Gwendoline Christie, so it was firstly just fascinating to see them all talk in their normal accents and interact in a more relaxed and playful manner. i liked hearing about the cast’s experience doing season 5 and answering some of the questions that fans gave. Though I thought Conleth Hill was the highlight of the panel and stole the show, his normal speaking voice was so much more manly than expected, but beyond that the guy is just hilarious, he cracked so many jokes and said a lot of humourous things, Hill just seems like the best kind of guy ever to hang out with in real life. I want him as a best friend.

So that’s me done, do let me know about your highlights from this year’s SDCC and what your thought of my mine in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀

 

San Diego Comic-Con 2014 – My Highlights

Good day to you ladies and gents, well the annual San Diego Comic Convention is totally in full swing and news, images and videos have been released all over the internet and it has sent fans into a frenzy so far. So far from what I’ve seen and read it has been a pretty amazing session so far and I wish I could attend, but alas I am too poor lol. So just like last year I’m gonna do a news round-up of all the updates from Comic-Con that have caught my eye. So hold on tight as I have a lot to get through, let’s rocket! XD

Wonder Woman’s Costume Revealed

For me one of the biggest things to come out of Comic-Con was the reveal of Wonder Woman’s costume and I have to say that I like it. Gal Gadot looks fine in it and the costume is clearly more practical and let’s revealing than the comic book versions of the past. Though it wasn’t until I saw a meme online where someone pointed out that the BvS Wonder Woman costume is pretty much the same as Xena from the old Xena: Warrior Princess TV show, really after you do a quick comparison is kind of hard to ignore. Whether or not the costume designers were aware of this or not remains to be seen, either way it is pretty interesting to note.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Footage

Obviously what could be described as the biggest announcement from Comic-Con this year would be the reveal of the short footage from the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which features an armoured Batman in the rain setting up the Bat signal and Superman hovers in the sky looking down with glowing eyes like they’re ready to duke it out. Now thanks to the power of the internet I saw some blurry leaked footage and from what i could tell it looked pretty awesome, Batman looked badass and the way Gotham City has been crafted visually is so good and the way these two titans are just staring at each other you know that shit is gonna go down. Everybody has been freaking out about this footage and while I think it was cool, it was by no means anything earth-shattering.

Avengers: Age of Ultron Massive Picture, Footage & Info

Not to be outdone by DC completely Marvel assembled nearly all of their cast for the Avengers: Age of Ultron panel where they were all introduced in style to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Til You Enough” and we learnt a few more details about some of the characters here and there. In addition to that we got a beautiful concept art poster of all the Avengers assembled battling the Ultron army [pictured above} which looks totally badass and is my new wallpaper haha. And then there’s the footage (which at this point has yet to be leaked online), which apparently has the Avengers chilling out with each of them trying to pick up Thor’s hammer and failed, only Captain America has the power to budge it a little. And Ultron apparently comes a long and messes things up and then there’s a montage of all sorts of things (man I hope that trailer gets leaked.

Check out the panel here:

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 & Animated Series Announced

So Guardians of the Galaxy is just under a week away and so far it has been getting early positive reviews which is awesome and now it has been announced that there is not only gonna be a sequel to Marvel’s sci-fi adventure but there will also be an animated series too. When it comes to Guardians 2 I say bring it on, if the first film is as good as I am hoping then I would love to see more from that universe. As for the animated series, I’m not sure, Marvel have had a dodgy track record with animated shows after Spectacular Spider-Man, Avengers: EMH and Wolverine and the X-Men ended and if it looks anything like the Avengers Assemble cartoon that that won’t be good thing for me, that art design is a bit too stylized and funky, but I’ll wait until the trailer comes out before I start to complain.

Legendary Pictures Announce Godzilla 2 With More Classic Monsters & King Kong Reboot Entitled ‘Skull Island’

Now there were some surprising things to read on Saturday from Legendary Pictures’ announcements. No not that Godzilla was getting a sequel, but that there was going to be the return of classic monsters in the future like Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah. When I read that I was like “YES!” (In a high-pitched voice). I don’t car what anyone says, Godzilla (2014) was killer and worked where it needed to most, the monster fights, and if the filmmakers are gonna bring in my classic monster for some fighting action I say bring the hell on! Then there was the news that King Kong was gonna get rebooted and focus on the place of his origin, Skull Island. It does feel a bit soon to reboot the big ape considering that the Peter Jackson version was only 9 years ago, but hey reboots are the ‘in-thing’ so why not do it? Now the reason I’m down for this is because since both Godzilla and King Kong are under the same studio roof, maybe there will be the chance for another King Kong Vs. Godzilla film? Wishful thinking I know but one can hope. 😛

So this concludes the first part of my news, all in all it’s been a pretty good session though not nearly as exciting or unexpected as last year I have to say. Anyway which of these stories stood out the most to you and is there anything on here that I didn’t mention that you think was worth talking about? Whatever it is be sure to comment below and I’ll ya around on the next blog post yo! 🙂

 

First Image From Dawn of the Planet of the Apes!

Hi peeps, more Comic-Con stuff to talk about today and now I move onto the subject of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I dunno if you lot have seen it yet, but an interesting image was released yesterday in relation to the film which I think is worth showing so yeah I’m gonna talk about it.

Here’s the image:

Look at this badassery. There is so much you tell or speculate just from this image alone.

Well this is a surprising image, just looking at it you can see that the tone and atmosphere are completely different from the previous film. There seems to be a much darker feel, Caesar  looks like a hardened warrior who’s seen rough times and he and his mates look like they’re ready of action at any given time. I actually forget that this film takes place a fair amount of time after the last film (I think by at least 10 years). Here he have Caesar along with his ape people in the trees. What I get from this image is that a lot of time has passed since the film, and I can only assume that things haven’t gotten easy for Caesar and his friends. This looks like a scene from the film where the apes are travelling but are told to stop by Caesar for some reason.

Well in conclusion I’m liking the look of this image and can’t wait to see more images and info emerge over time.

 

The Avengers 2 Officially Titled Avengers: Age of Ultron!

Well this is the point yesterday when I was just like “Oh shit, Marvel be getting series now!” Yesterday at Comic-Con there was a little information about The Avengers 2 which got it’s official new name which now has us fans all speculating like hell as to what to expect it 2015. Anyways here’s the news from the article on superherohype:

“At the Marvel Studios panel in Hall H, writer/director Joss Whedon took to the stage to announce that the official title for the sequel to The Avengers will be Avengers: Age of Ultron! Whedon also revealed a brief logo teaser for the film and here’s the description from our own Silas Lesnick:

The Avengers footage is super quick, featuring lines from the first Avengers.

Slowly, CGI images form Ultron’s face.

Then the title comes up. Avengers: Age of Ultron!

You can read our full recap of the Marvel panel by clicking here.

Featuring favorites from the first “Avengers” film and new Marvel characters never before seen on the big screen, Avengers: Age of Ultron is slated to begin production in March 2014 and open in theaters on May 1, 2015. The official logos for “Age of Ultron” along with Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have also been revealed. Check them out below!”

Well this is something I wasn’t expecting. Ultron eh? My first instant reaction to this is the word “Awesome!” Now I’m fully in the know when it comes to Ultron but from what I do know his character has a lot of great source material to work from in the comics.I like this direction because this was one of the characters I said that I’d like to see in the universe especially since he connects to Hank Pym aka Ant-Man, so yeah the connective tissue between these films should be pretty strong and intriguing to discover the course of the next few Marvel films. I first learnt about Ultron in Marvel Ultimate Alliance as he was a key enemy in the game, and I like how he was created and then became a corrupt villain due to his advanced intelligence. I feel like this would be a tie-in for the upcoming Ant-Man film and I feel like he’d make a great enemy for the Avengers due to his absurd level of intelligence and stuff.

So yeah I’m hyped for this sequel and can’t wait to see what unfolds, obviously this leaves more questions than answers but I love to speculate so that works for me just fine. 🙂

 

New Guardians of the Galaxy Concept Art Shows Off the Team

Howdy ladies and gents, got just a bit of news to share with y’all today on the Marvel side of things. Yesterday we got some new concept art from Guardians of the Galaxy, but what was interesting about this concept art is that it gave us a much more specific look at the group than before and gives us a better idea of what to expect.

Here’s the image below:

Looks pretty cool, I love how one of the guys at IGN highlighted the whole Usual Suspects look and vibe to this image.

Honestly I’m liking the look of this image. This looks like the team prior to the assembling, like this is what they look like as individuals and proper form the team and then done the look and stylized costumes we saw later on in the film. Each one of these characters looks unique and that’s the key element that I think stands out. When it comes to Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora: and Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, you can really see them in these characters now. Their costumes look cool and think it really shows how us how these actors will eventually look in live action. What I find interesting is the shadows behind the characters, they look like the character poses from the concept art last year with their other costumes. I guess you can consider that foreshadowing of the people they’ll become in the film maybe?

Whatever the case is, this film is getting more and more interesting by the day and the recent interviews with James Gunn and the cast on IGN recently has give me more hope that this gonna be a badass film when it hits next summer.

 

My Thoughts on Man of Steel 2 Announcement With Batman Set to Appear!

Okay. I think this single-handedly is the biggest news to come out of Comic-Con this year. While I’m not over the moon about it, I’ve seen all over the internet, loads of DC fanboys blowing up everywhere. I am of course talking about the fact that in Man of Steel 2 we’re also gonna get Batman in the film too. THIS. IS. BIG. NEWS. Now as I’ve said before on numerous occasions I’m a Marvel fan more so than DC, however Batman and Superman together is a concept that I’m totally up for and would love to see go down in a live-action adaptation… Provided that the filmmakers can create a logical and comprehensive story that would justify them being in the same film together.

Anyways here’s the official article from superherohype for you to wrap your heads around:

“Warner Bros. has just revealed plans for their own DC Cinematic Universe with the announcement of a Man of Steel sequel that will feature none other than Batman! Snyder took the stage at the Warner Bros. panel to announce something and brought up actor Harry Lennix to read a special message.

“I want you to remember, Clark,” Lennix said, “in all the years to come. In all your private moments. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember, the one man who beat you.”

And with that famous speech from The Dark Knight Returns, Snyder unveiled the logo below. No further details were announced but WB has revealed that Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane will return along with the Man of Steel himself, Henry Cavill.”

There it is, the logo that made loads of comic book fans shit their pants.

Honestly this is good news for DC fans and I am pretty interested to see how this’ll turn out. Because let’s face facts, as good as Man of Steel was, DC and Warner Bros. were still wanting to do Justice League after that in 2015 and logically there is no way that would have worked without easing in another character or two through a second Superman film or one of their own solo films. I guess the big question now is who are DC gonna get to play Batman. We know Christian Bale is out of the question because he officially ruled himself out (though I dunno if that’ll be the case forever), I’m just not sure of any particular actor who could take on the role. I guess I would prefer someone a little under the radar, say like how Henry Cavill wasn’t all that big until he became Superman, so yeah an unknown actor would work just fine for me.

So yeah for once DC are playing it smart and I want to see how these two iconic characters come together, I hope  it’ll be similar to the good stuff I’ve witnessed in Batman: The Animated Series or the Justice League TV series. All I know now is that 2015 is a gonna be a filthy year for films, I dunno if I’ll survive with all this awesomeness going down in the cinema, I might blow up.

So what are your thoughts on this revelation? Drop off in the comments below! 😀

 

My Comic-Con News Round-Up Part 2

Okay so here’s the second half of all the stuff I’ve read up on and feel is relevant from all the happenings at Comic-Con 2012.

Man of Steel

Besides all the crazy stuff going down at Marvel this was something I was curious to know more about. The new Superman film entitled Man of Steel has me intrigued. To be honest I would really like to watch a good Superman film, besides the first Superman film with Christopher Reeve in the 1970s and even that doesn’t really hold up well in the current world of superhero films in my opinion (besides having a badass theme song by John Williams!). There hasn’t been a proper good, modern Superman film to compete with the likes of Spider-Man and Batman and while I don’t like Superman nearly as much as the two previous superheroes  just mentioned, I do have a nostalgic place in my heart for Superman from watching the 90s animated TV series and Justice League too. So when I heard Zack Snyder was gonna direct the film I was hella worried, while he has the action side of things down, not many of his films have much beyond that, but since Christopher Nolan is supervising the project too it gave me some hope.

So at Comic-Con there was much to be said about Man of Steel and from what I’ve read on multiple websites the overall response to the new film is very positive and shows good promise for the future… And it’s all thanks to the trailer that was shown at Comic-Con. The trailer happens to have a much more grounded and realistic tone to it and it also features a lot of connections to the comics too. The fan response has been amazingly positive with many saying that any doubts about the film have been discarded altogether. As far as I know the trailer won’t be released to the public until The Dark Knight Rises comes out, but since that’s not that far away now I really can’t wait to see it myself. Other than the trailer that was shown, the new Superman costume was on display giving us a much better look at the finer details of costume and there’s also been the confirmation that Hans Zimmer’s score of Man of Steel will not feature the classic Superman theme song as they want to create a soundtrack of their own as if the original one didn’t exist. Overall I am really interested in seeing how this new Superman film turns out, I just Zack Snyder’s crazy influence doesn’t mess up the good source material.

Godzilla Reboot

Now this was something I was not expecting to hear about at all. I was just cruising through IGN checking through a lot of the Comic-Con news and then out of nowhere I was stuff about the Godzilla reboot and I mentally blew up! This is something that I have been paying attention to for quite some time and the fact that there was even just a poster shown meant that this film was definitely going into production sooner rather than later with Monsters director Gareth Edwards at the helm. Apparently there was some sort of test footage shown which was apparently a short CGI video made by Industrial Light & Magic and apparently it was well-received by most who saw it and it set the tone for this new film. I for one am interested to see where this new Godzilla film goes, I mean it can’t be any worse than the that American version from the 90s right? Haha.

Deadpool Game

Okay when I heard this game was announced on Superherohype I was automatically happy and excited for the prospect of a comic book character like Deadpool getting his own video game. For me Deadpool is one of the most underappreciated comic book characters and to be honest he deserves as much as publicity as Spider-Man, Batman and Superman because he is that awesome. So I thought we were just gonna get the announcement and nothing more and then I went back to Superherohype the day after and saw this trailer was out:

 

Now I don’t know about you guys but thing this is one of the coolest trailers I have seen for a video game in a while. It hits all of the right notes when it comes to Deadpool’s personality and character traits, its violent, action-packed, has sexual references and feels like the comic come to life. This game just looks like a right good time and I love how it’s being developed by High Moon Studios the developers behind Transformers: War for Cybertron and the upcoming sequel Fall of Cybertron. I think it also helps hat Deadpool has gained popularity in the last 3 years thanks to the Wolverine film and his increased appearances in video games from the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games to Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 too. This new Deadpool game is slated to come out in 2013 and I for one can’t wait to see how it turns out yo! Rock on Deadpool!

Well that’s it ladies and gentlemen, there was many other things going on at Comic-Con that I really didn’t have much time to write about but some of those films and TV shows were: The Hobbit, Pacific Rim, Community and Fringe. But obviously there is the big vast internet to use to catch up in all the big happenings at Comic-Con. I’m still trying to catch up on all the live panels I missed lol. Alrighty well at the next time people, laterdays!! 😀

 

My Comic-Con News Round-Up Part 1

Howdy ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another blog post. Now recently there’s been a lot of crazy happenings at the San Diego Comic-Con over the last few days and with all of the crazy and beautiful things I have read about I just had to blog about it. Oh and for those who either live under a rock and have knowledge of what Comic-Con is here’s a small summary, it’s basically a massive convention that takes place at the San Diego Convention Center every July every year and it showcases all things related to comic books, films, television, video games and so much more. It’s really a nerd’s paradise and its a place I’ve always wanted to go to for SO LONG! So today I am going to do a special blog post on all of my favourite happenings at Comic-Con 2012 starting with Marvel movie news and all the happenings surrounding their Phase 2 set of films. So here we go:

Iron Man 3

Now while I knew there was going to be many other big things going down at this big convention this year to be honest before Comic-Con even started the only reason I was paying attention to it this year was because of Iron Man 3. I’ve been following this sequel very closely since Shane Black was attached to the project and when Sir Ben Kingsley was announced as the yet-to-be-announced villain at the time. But time has moved on, we have gotten more casting information, concept art, production stills and many rumours and now here we are in the week of Comic-Con where we all get solid forms of information about the film, it’s characters a new logo (see above) and a solid look at the new armour Tony Stark will be rocking in the next film.

So from what I’ve understood reading up on IGN, Superherohype and EmpireOnline it seems like people who attended the Iron Man 3 panel were treated to some footage of the film. It was only around 5 minutes in length but it did get played for the audience twice and while I didn’t read the details because I want to avoid spoilers from what I gathered the fan response form the footage shown seems to be positive and seems to highlight the different direction Shane Black will be taking the Iron Man films into. One other thing that I was thankful for was the confirmation that Sir Ben Kingsley IS actually confirmed to be playing the classic Iron Man villain known as the Mandarin, when I saw those words on IGN the other day I felt so satisfied that they’d finally stopped messing around and decided to put him in third film already. It all sounds pretty exciting and I can’t wait, however there is one BIG thing I have saved for last that just NEEDS to be highlighted… The new Iron Man suit:

Now I don’t know about you guys but this suit wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, I mean the overall design of the suit isn’t bad, I think it’s just more to do with the choice of colour. I’ve always liked the classic red and gold look of the Iron Man suits, it’s just a look and style that works and really should be tampered with. But now it seems like they’ve reversed the colour scheme and now Iron Man has more gold than red and it is a bit off-putting and the funny thing about the gold colour is that it’s more a beige kind of colour and it just doesn’t fit very well. Now obviously this only a showcasing at Comic-Con and maybe the suit will look better in the film when it’s moving in action or maybe this is just one of the suit designs between the Mark VII and Mark IX, but only time will tell.

Thor: The Dark World

So here we have our new logo for Thor 2 now renamed as Thor: The Dark World. I think it was a smart move to give the Thor sequel a subtitle because I don’t think that Thor 2 would sound right especially when announced in a trailer format. Plus I don’t think that ‘Thor 2’ would sit very well with the whole god-like persona and mythology that comes with Tho rand the rest of the nine realms. Other than the new name changed there hasn’t been much developments or news for the next installment in the Thor films series besides a few bits and bobs prior to Comic-Con. The only major thing that’s happened recently is the fact that Mads Mikkelsen was offered a role as an unnamed villain in the film a little while ago, however it’s been confirmed recently that he cannot be in the film because of his prior commitment to his role in the NBC Hannibal TV series. But yeah other than that nothing else to mention really I really want to hear some juicy news about the next Thor film because next to Iron Man 3 its my most anticipated Marvel film yo.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

So along with Thor, Captain America’s sequel also got a new title and logo showcased at Comic-Con in the last two days. The new Captain America film will be entitled; Captain America: The Winter Soldier and for me this is where this film sequel gets interesting. As soon as I read the title for the Captain America sequel I grinned purely because I think I know the direction they will be going in. It’s in the subtitle. Winter Solider. Now for those in not in the know the Winter Soldier here’s a summary: Winter Soldier is actually the alias of Bucky. When Bucky survives the plane explosion a Russian patrol submarine finds him in the ocean missing one arm, he’s then taken to Moscow where he’s revived but suffers amnesia because of the explosion. He then get’s a bionic arm and is trained to be an assassin under the code name the Winter Soldier. To be honest I was hoping that Marvel would go down this route of the Captain America story as it seemed the most feasible and most-likely one to work in the modern-day setting, plus it could add a lot of drama and emotional weight the this sequel too if down correctly.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Okay now this was the film I really didn’t expect to see at Comic-Con this year, an actual confirmation that Guardians of the Galaxy was not only getting it’s film debut sooner than expected, but it was also going to be part of the Phase 2 Marvel films. Sure it had been mentioned before at Marvel Studios and it had been rumoured to have a 2014 release, but the fact that it’s actually real and that it’s actually happening is just astounding and very exciting! I mean considering how far-out-there this material is compared to the previous films that Marvel Studios have done, it really shows that Marvel are pushed the boat out with their source material and are going above and beyond to deliver new experiences for fans and newcomers alike. So if the cool logo design (see above) doesn’t spark your interest take a look at the concept art below:

This concept art alone made my interest in the Phase 2 Marvel films rise up a hell of a lot more. The fact that there was actual concept art for this film mean t that Marvel weren’t messing around and that they were series about bringing these larger-than-life characters to the big screen. I only found out who these characters were when a version of this group showed up in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, I was a little taken back by how out-there they were, more specifically the fact that they had a moving tree and talking racoon as part of their team. I literally said to myself “Thank god this is a cartoon, this sort of stuff would never fly in a live-action film.” And now we are here, at the starting point of a live-action adaptation of what could be one of Marvel’s most difficult properties to try and sell on the big screen. To me the Guardians of the Galaxy are sort of like what Green Lantern is to DC; a larger than life story, with characters and settings far beyond that of human comprehension that could only work in the world of fiction. Now the reason that the live-action Green Lantern film didn’t work last year was because it was a cluttered mess, that was CG heavy, featured too many weird places and people, but most importantly there was no sense of realism and grounded storytelling. Now because of this property Marvel could actually fall into that same trap and fail like DC did. However since DC did it first I think there may be a chance for Marvel to learn from that mistake and make a much better film so long as they have the right vision and director to house the film. 2014 is still a long way away but if Marvel play their cards right, Guardians of the Galaxy could well be Marvel’s most interesting film yet and tie-in to the appearance of Thanos in The Avengers 2 perfectly.

Ant-Man

The announcement of this film was also unexpected too, while there have been talks about this film’s existence for years and the fact that Edgar Wright and Stan Lee have had meetings about making the character in live-action and also more news this year bout the Ant-Man film still being in development, the fact remained that there hadn’t been any solid news on the Ant-Man film for quite some time, until now! Along with Guardians of the Galaxy and the Iron Man, Thor and Captain America sequels we also got a new logo for the long-awaited Ant-Man film which definitely means that Marvel are moving ahead with this film. I was also very happy to learn that this film would be part of the Phase 2 set of Marvel films which obviously meant that this was going to be a film under Marvel Studios rather than a company like Fox or Sony which was something I initially feared. Since Ant-Man is one of the founding members of The Avengers in the comics, but had yet to make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe line-up, one could assume that he was going to have to show up at some point and since he’s now set to show up somewhere in the Phase 2 set of films I’m well happy about the development on this film finally going forward. Another big thing to note is the fact that Edgar Wright made an appearance at Comic-Con to showcase some test footage he had made for the new Ant-Man film and even though it was unfinished, from what I’ve read the response to the test footage has been good and sounds promising. While not as complex and strange as Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel will have their work cut out fo themselves to try and make a superhero like Ant-Man seem cool, I never really cared for him until I started watching the current Avengers cartoon and saw that they was an interesting story to tell and while his powers are pretty interesting, one could argue it’s still not as cool as an iron suit or being a god or being a big green angry monster. Hopefully the right cast and crew are put together for Ant-Man and I hope that Edgar Wright will blow us out of the water with this comic book movie.

Okay people well that’s my fill of Comic-Con stuff for now, come back later in Part 2 when I’ll upload my thoughts on other stuff related to Comic-Con in the shape of more films, video games and possibly TV stuff too. Until the next time, laters people! 😀