Marvel Studios descended upon Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday for a major panel promised to include several of their movies – and their stars. With Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 confirmed at the show, and Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman spotted signing at the Marvel booth, the show had plenty of promise for the 4,000 plus fans in attendance.
The panel started by dropping the lights out, and Iron Man hammering. It’s a sizzle reel showing the way these characters and this universe has been built, showing images from the comics, and their live-action counterparts. Guardians got a huge pop, as did Winter Soldier and Ant-Man. Scarlet Witch also got lots of applause, and Civil War made people go crazy. Spider-Man got lots of screams and cheers.
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After the sizzle reel, a new Marvel logo reveal ran for Marvel Studios, now using live-action images instead of comicbook ones. Chris Hardwick came out on stage to moderate.
Head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige was first to take the stage. He praised the new logo, with Michael Giacchino doing the fanfare. He promised they “only come to Hall H when [they] have lots to show the fans.”
Ryan Coogler came out to talk about the film he’s directing, Black Panther. “It’s absolutely crazy to be looking at my people from this view,” he said, noting his first SDCC was in the far back seats for Marvel’s Hall H. “We’re working so hard on the script right now, it’s really early. We know the the best part of the world of Wakanda is the warrior king, and he’s here right now!” And Chadwick Boseman took the stage.
“Thank you for everything you’ve said about the Black Panther, and I promise we have a lot of cool things to show you,” Boseman said. It’s his first comic-con. “I can literally feel a vibrating inside my core. It is amazing. Thank you so much for giving back what we give to you.”
“One of the amazing things about Wakanda is we have these women who are the best fighters in the country – the character Nakia is played by the incredible Lupita Nyong’o,” and she came out. “We have an adversary, named Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan,” and he came out. “And last but definitely not least, the head of the Dora Milaje, a character named Okoye, played by Danai Gurira,” and she came out.
It’s Lupita’s first time at comic-con too. “I’m looking forward to kicking some ass,” she said simply. Danai laughed saying “it’s not my first time at Comic-Con. I love y’all. I can’t believe I’m on this stage with these amazing people. To sit down with Mr. Coogler and learn his vision, I’m just utterly pinching myself to see this come to life.”
“Thank you guys for all your energy, we’re going to take it with a purpose,” Coogler said as they all left the stage.
“We’re filming Thor: Ragnarok right now,” Feige said next. “We’ve got Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba… we’ve got Jeff Goldblum in this movie. We’ve got Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in this film. Mark Ruffalo is playing two roles in the movie. Karl Urban is playing Scurge. And everytime I say this I can’t believe it, but Cate Blanchett is playing Hela.”
Director Taika Watititi put a piece together to explain what Thor was doing during Civil War. “I just am taking a break. We had this cool adventure saving New York, that was pretty great. So I moved to Australia and moved in with Daryl,” Thor says in a documentary-style video. Thor has Daryl help him write an email to both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers about their “Relationship problems.”
“Dear Steve Rogers, remember when I goaded you into killing those prisoners and you made me swear not to tell any of the other Avengers? I still haven’t. Please let me know if you need anything, I’m not doing much at the moment.”
Thor had a wall of conspiracy theory about the Infinity Stones. “Who is the purple man in the chair? He’s purple, has a magic glove, and doesn’t like standing up.”
Thor sits down to talk with Bruce Banner, who gets a call from Iron Man. “No amount of money is going to get me into your little pissing contest,” he says to Tony. Stark doesn’t want to talk to Thor.
Sizzle from the first five days of filming. Thor with marks on his face. Loki with a new costume. Maybe a quick piece of concept art with Eternals on it? A new throne room. GLADIATOR HULK! Hela! Hulk VERSUS SURTUR.
With that the curtains started to pull back, revealing screens all the way around. Smoke filled the room.
“Stephen Strange, forget everything you think you know.” The Eye of Agamotto is on screen, bursting into symbols all around the room. They re-merge, and burst into what looks like a star field all around us. Strange’s symbol appears, and Benedict Cumberbatch takes the stage to thunderous response. Director Scott Derrickson comes out too.
“In the 60s, Doctor Strange entered the Marvel Comics universe, adding a fresh new thing to Marvel Comics. It was an origin story, and a left turn from the rest of the Marvel Universe, and our film is the same thing,” Derrickson said. He then brought out more cast. “Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, and Benedict Wong!”
Cumberbatch says it’s an absolute honor to play Doctor Strange, a character “different from anything [he’s] done before,” and how much he loved his arc. McAdams gave a little bit of information about her character, who has history with Strange and is the only one who’s really part of his life before and after his changes.
Swinton says, “The truth is, any of us can be the Ancient One. Who knows who will be the Ancient One? It’s a title, and everything they do passes it on to the next one. The Ancient One is there pulling it out of everybody in Kamar Taj, it’s all about what’s inside. It’s super super hippy fabulous space daddy.”
Mikkelsen says his character doesn’t think he’s a villain. “He’s a believer,” he says.
Benedict Wong said he “wasn’t really comfortable being the manservant teamaker, so he’s getting a modern update as Master of the Mystic Arts and a Drill Sergeant.”
CLIP TIME
When Doctor Strange meets the Ancient One Tibet, a candle is lit. Strange is looking for Kamar Taj. “What am I doing here.” He sees Mordo. Mordo brings him to “the sanctuary of our teacher, the Ancient One.” “The Ancient One, really? Does he have a real name? Right, forget everything I think I know, sorry.” Strange walks in and is continually greeted by more monks, as he gets tea poured for him by – The Ancient One. “Mister Strange! ” “Doctor, actually.” “Not anymore, really.” The two discuss how she was able to heal a man who was paralyzed. “He couldn’t walk, and I convinced him that he could.” She can do cellular regeneration – or that’s how Strange sees it. “I know how to reorient the spirit to better heal the body.” He thinks it’s a crock. “Where do we start?” She shows him chakras. Accupuncture, and an MRI. “Each of those maps was drawn up by someone who could see in part, but not whole. You’re a man looking at the world through a keyhole, spent your entire life trying to widen that keyhole, and now you’re being told you can and you reject that possibility.” He replies, “We are made of matter and nothing more. Just a tinyspeck in the universe. I see through you!” She grabs his hand and smacks him, projecting his astral form. “What’s in that tea? LSD?” “Just tea, with a little honey. For a moment, you entered the Astral Dimension, a place where the soul exists without the body.” She tells him to open his eye, and sends him flying through dimensions, light streaming everywhere, space bending around him, a butterfly in orbit, a black hole… and he lands back in front of her, on his knees, looking at his broken hands. “Teach Me.”
New trailer! “Through the mystic arts we harness energy and shape reality. We travel great distances in an instant.” She takes Strange through a few portals and reshape the world. Strange meets Wong, “the guardian of these books. If a volume should be stolen, you’ll be dead before you leave the compound.” Lots of humor. The full magical symbols, and Strange manages to make a wall of crystal emerge. “There’s a strength to him,” Mordo says, “But is he ready?” Wong asks. “I am death and pain,” says villain Kasillius. The magic is ll about bending reality. The world gets destroyed and rebuilt around them. Strange finally puts on the cape, and it seems to almost attach itself to him.
“I’ve got that Strange shake back again. Thank you very much for letting us watch that with you,” Cumberbatch told the audience.
Feige said that comics can be very diverse, very different. The classic sixties Spider-Man theme played, and Spider-Man: Homecoming logo came up! Footage!
Clip starts with Tony and Peter meeting in Civil War. It shows Spidey’s best moments from the airport fight. Finally, the after-credits scene of his new communicator/webshooter. Tons of applause, and Tom Holland hits the stage. Director John Watts joined him. Feige thanked Amy Pascal from Sony for “making this happen, because putting everything else aside, this was what was best for Spider-Man.”
“The MCU is a pretty cool universe to live in!” Watts said. “This is a high school movie. We’re going to learn what it’s like to have just finished going through puberty, being in the tenth grade.” Clip time! Some of the high school stuff.
Bad Reputation plays, and shots of high school. “Every Story” then shots of Tony, Rhodey, each character in high school. “Every journey. Has a beginning.” Peter is walking through school, and a homecoming banner goes up. 9:30am Science. Peter’s looking at footage of himself taking Giant Man down. Flash Thompson is played Tony Revolori. The Disney channel star Zendaya is playing Liz Allan, it sounded like, but it was hard to hear over the constant screams! In Chemistry, Parker works on his web fluid on the side. A girl is playing F, M, K with Avengers. Liz thinks Spidey is hot. One of his other friends is trying to figure out what he’s hiding. Jump cuts of him running down a hallway zipping a hoodie over the costume, and climbing up a wall, and finally, he and the “Ganke type” doing a handshake. Then VULTURE comes down a tube, with crazy armor.
Peter’s high school classmates come out on stage. Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, and Zendaya.
James Gunn took the stage after their photo op to talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. “This is our home! I love you guys so much!” Gunn screamed.
The lights came up in the house, and cast members started running out in full costume. The Ravagers are running through the audience right now.
They get to the stage and take all the seats. Sean Gunn says “Y’all are stupid” and they all start berating the fans for waiting in line for hours.
With that, the actual cast took the stage. Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Karen Gillan as Nebula. Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, new addition Pom Klementieff as Mantis, new addition Elizabeth Debiki as Aisha.
Clip!
Rocket and Yondu fall into a jail. “We deliver you to the Kree in the morning. Neither one of you will last much longer after that,” The Ravager says. They have baby groot in a cage, and put him in a Ravager outfit. Yondu is trying to get Baby Groot to help them. There’s a “prototype fin” that he wears on his head. YES. He comes back with underwear, a severed toe, a mechanical eye, a desk. Baby Groot stealing stuff covertly is amazing. He brings the fin. AWESOME. A Ravager is shaving, and music starts to play. He has the fin! It glows when he uses his whistle arrow power. The song is being piped over the speakers. They’re terrified he has the fin. “Come a little bit closer” plays, and Yondu, baby Groot, and Rocket walk confidently to the Ravagers. Yondu kills about 20 of them with one whistle. Holy crap.. They keep walking through this huge Ravager base, the arrow flying and bodies falling all around them. Groot is riding Yondu’s shoulder now. He runs after someone screaming, grabs him with vines and tosses him off a balcony. Huge pop.
Michael Rooker took the stage in costume as Yondu – now with the fin. Awesome.
“It’s a much better pressure when people are excited about seeing your movie than waking up in the middle of the night thinking you’re making Pluto Nash,” Gunn said of the new pressure.
“He’s famous now,” Pratt says of Star-Lord and the Guardians “for saving a bunch of people. This movie picks up just a couple of months after the last one.”
Saldana said she loves getting to work with her friends again.
Gillan’s hair is still there. “I look like a female, not a really long baby,” she said. She got to keep her hair. There’s “an undershave,” she showed off.
Mantis has “empathic powers and spent [her] life with Kurt Russel’s character,” Pom said. “And that’s all I can say!”
Drax is “more confused. Now he’s surrounded by people using metaphors, and he’s trying to figure it out. Makes for a lot of good laughs,” Bautista said.
Ayesha is a leader of “the Sovereign people, a species we haven’t seen yet. She enlists the help of the Guardians and things turn sour.”
Kurt Russell says he’s shocked to learn his costars are “fantastically beautiful,” and that it’s a special and wonderful moment being in this movie. “James wrote a great character. I had a great time with these guys.”
Rooker campaigned hard for more Yondu – he even brought Yondu cookies to a party!
Guardians of the Galaxy announcement! They are coming to a major theme park attraction!
Teaser video: Gunn and the cast, making an amusement park ride for Disneyland California Adventure. They’re all doing action scenes, Pratt, Saldana, and Bautista: Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout is replacing Tower of Terror officially!
More video coming! “The Ravagers are cool and Yondu is amazing, but I think people want a little bit more,” Pratt said.
Awesome Mix Vol. 2, and Baby groot is plugging it in. Gamora and Star-Lord and Drax are on a building, hired to stop an interdimensional beast. Rocket’s there, too. It’s a trailer, y’all. The Sovereign we get to meet. They’re golden, and Rocket says “They told me you’re conceited douchebags, but that isn’t true at all.” Star-Lord calls Rocket a Raccoon, gets yelled at, and calls him a Trash Panda. They fight a giant space squid. Rocket shoots with Baby Groot on his shoulder. Stallone! Lots of punching, fighting. A huge egg-shaped thing lands, and it’s Kurt Russell emerging. “After all these years I found you. My name is Ego, and I’m your dad, Peter.” He wanted to experience what it was to be human. “I created what I thought a biological being would be like.” “Did you make a penis?” Drax asked. “Yes, Drax, I got a penis. It’s not half bad, either.”
Every panelist from the panel came out, and Brie Larson joined announced officially as Captain Marvel. That’s a wrap!
