With San-Diego Comic Con shutting its doors Sunday afternoon, it’s finally time to take a look back at the con’s biggest panels and most-talked about reveals. This also a place for you to react and discuss all the cool stuff (and the lame stuff) that happened at SDCC this year.
—
Wonder Woman
So, it’s not surprising that one of the biggest reveals at the con was the release of the first image of Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. As expected, the geek community seems to be pretty divided on the outfit.
My first reaction to seeing her in costume was actually rather positive. I initially thought they captured the look of the costume from the comics, even with the few obvious changes being quite apparent (No more star-studded bottoms for one). However, I started to notice a few troubling things about the outfit after looking at it closely.
As pointed out by many people critical of the costume online, Gadot’s Wonder Woman is sporting heals. Now, Wonder Woman, being an Amazonian warrior, doesn’t exactly strike me being the type to wear high-heels in a battle against DC’s most notorious supervillains. It’s an odd choice of attire, and it plays into my concerns that Snyder and David Goyer are just trying to make Wonder Woman eye candy for teenage boys. Both the director and writer haven’t exactly had the best track record when it comes to talking about female characters. Just ask Goyer about She-Hulk if you need any reference. In any case, at least the Wonder Woman reveal is opening up discussions about the presentation of female superheroes in leading roles on the silver screen.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Teaser Trailer
It didn’t take long for the Warner Bros. film panel’s teaser trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice to finally leak online only a few hours after its premiere in Hall H. While the cell phone recording of the teaser is hardly the best quality, it did reveal the type of tone and look for the highly anticipated movie.
The teaser opens to a massive thunderstorm above Gotham City. Batman (Ben Affleck), clad in armor reminiscent of the armored suit the Caped Crusader wore in Frank Miller’s iconic graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns, is removing a rain-soaked tarp from the Bat-Signal. He turns it on and it shines brightly into the night sky. Lightning flashes and in the middle of the Bat, floating above, is Superman (Henry Cavil). His eyes flash red with heat vision as he looks down at Bruce who stares up at the Last Son of Krypton with his own glowing white eyes. It cuts to black and the logo for the film appears.
It’s an atmospheric teaser. It sends the points home that this will be a dark film and that these two icons of DC will most likely start out as enemies before inevitably becoming allies.
Legendary Pictures Panel
Legendary, hot after their commercial success with Godzilla, wasted no time announcing that the King of the Monsters would make his return to theatres in the next few years with some other classic Toho creatures. Rodan, Mothra and Godzilla’s arch-nemesis, King Ghidorah will square off against the giant lizard in the tentatively titled Godzilla 2. Director Gareth Edwards is set to direct after finishing his unannounced Star Wars spin-off film.
Other reveals during the panel included Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak, a gothic period piece focusing on a haunted mansion filled with angry spirits, Duncan Jones’ Warcraft, based off of the poplar RTS games of the same name, and Skull Island, a film about the mysterious island abode of the giant ape, King Kong.
Marvel’s Ant-Man
With a series of troubled production developments, new details for Ant-Man are a little scarce. The panel did welcome director Peyton Reed, and stars Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll, along with a trailer.
The footage has Rudd (Scott Lang) and Douglas (Hank Pym) talking about how superheroes are “a goddamn joke.” Pym explains that he needs “a small job” completed by Rudd, and that the only way for it be completed efficiently is to have Rudd don the mantle of Ant-Man. Some more scenes had Lang attempting to escape police while being advised by Pym, instructing him on the proper use of his new powers.
Not surprisingly, there was no Q&A nor any mention of former Ant-Man director Edgar Wright. Principal photography officially starts for Ant-Man August 18 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
“No strings on me.”
The Marvel Studios panel welcomed not only most of the cast from Avengers: Age of Ultron, including newcomers James Spader (Ultron), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver) and Josh Brolin (Thanos), but also some new footage.
While I have yet to see the newly released footage, I’ve managed to find descriptions of it online. Apparently, the first few scenes show the Avengers enjoying themselves at a small party thrown by Iron Man himself, Tony Stark. They laugh, joke and even attempt to lift Thor’s hammer. All but one of them is actually able to move it. Even Thor is shocked to see that this individual might be just as worthy to wield the power of Mjolnir. Thor later remarks that none of them are truly worthy of the power of Thor. Suddenly, a half-completed version of Ultron stumbles onto to screen and remarks that not only none of them are worthy, but that they are not willing, nor strong enough to make a lasting change in the world. The Avengers are then attacked my either Ultron-bots or Iron Man suits. The rest of the trailer cuts to different scenes of various levels of awesome. A twisted version of Pinocchio’s song “No Strings On Me” plays in the background. The final few shots show a seemingly defeated Avengers sprawled across a desolate landscape with an eight-foot tall Ultron bearing down on them.
So far, the trailer hasn’t leaked online, but this footage seems way too hot to stay buried forever.
What about you reader? Any reveals that caught your eye? Let us know in the comments below.
