For the first time since 2019, the Comic Con Experience returned to São Paulo, Brazil. The pop culture convention kicked off on Thursday with Disney’s Magical World at CCXP22: a three-hour panel filled with reveals and sneak peeks from Marvel, Star Wars, and Avatar, including the first trailers for Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Outside of the Disney-verse, Paramount Pictures unleashed the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons in the action-packed first footage from next summer’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
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Below, we’ve rounded up the highlights from the first day of the Brazil convention running December 1st-4th, including all the major trailer reveals.
Avatar: The Way of Water Footage
In her first trip to Brazil, Avatar star Zoe Saldana joined series producer Jon Landau on stage to present an exclusive, extended sneak peek at Avatar: The Way of Water (in theaters December 16th). While the nearly 20 minutes of footage was screened only for the convention crowd, Saldana and Landau participated in a post-panel discussion about the triumphs and tribulations of shooting the James Cameron-directed sequel underwater.
“It was the new set of challenges that Jim presented to us. In the first Avatar, it was archery and horseback riding and learning how to become a Na’vi and speak like a Na’vi,” Saldana said. “The second time around, we had the opportunity to refresh everything that we had learned, and then he presented a new set of challenges that were almost unimaginable.”
The cast, which includes Sam Worthington’s return as Jake Sully, needed to “learn to free dive,” Saldana added. “Not just perform five feet underwater — 30 feet underwater. And obviously, it’s James Cameron. You’re not going to say no.”
Saldana also teased what’s facing Jake and Neytiri’s clan, which includes their children Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuktirey “Tuk” (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver).
“The thought of losing something that you love more than you love yourself is unimaginable. So that sort of fear has entered Jake and Neytiri’s realm,” Saldana said. “But these children are mighty, they’re just magnificient, because they are of Neytiri and of Jake. So we’re going to get to experience Pandora through their eyes, and we’re going to do everything for the very first time as they’re doing it for the very first time, and it’s very beautiful.”
Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 3 Release Date, New Look
Disney and Lucasfilm screened an exclusive extended version of The Mandalorian Season 3 trailer that dropped during D23 Expo in September. Series creator Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni made virtual appearances during the panel to reveal a March 2023 release date, and a new image of the reunited Mandalorian and Grogu.
Pedro Pascal, who returns as the helmeted bounty hunter Din Djarin, appeared in person to tease what happens when Din and Grogu make their pilgrimage to Mandalore after the events of The Book of Boba Fett.
“There’s so much that you’re going to see. I think some of the best things about Season 1 and Season 2 of The Mandalorian were the surprises,” Pascal said. “We were all able to keep baby Grogu a secret, we were all able to keep Luke Skywalker’s return to the world a secret. So there are more secrets to keep.”
Asked to describe the upcoming third season of the live-action Star Wars series in one word, Pascal answered: “Epic.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Trailer
Disney and Lucasfilm then whipped up the first trailer for Indiana Jones 5, revealing the sequel’s subtitle: Dial of Destiny. Directed by James Mangold, taking the reins from franchise filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny finds the aged archaeologist (Harrison Ford) on another global adventure alongside his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in 1969.
In Ford’s final outing as the iconic, whip-cracking creation of George Lucas, the film also features a digitally de-aged Indy as Dial of Destiny turns the dial back to the character’s glory days in his last hurrah. Also starring a cast that includes Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and John Rhys-Davies, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens only in theaters June 30th, 2023.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Special-Look Teaser
Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige joined Ant-Man director Peyton Reed and Quantumania cast members Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Jonathan Majors to reveal a special look at the legacy of Ant-Man.
In the first film of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania finds the Ant-Fam — Scott Lang (Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Lilly), Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) — sucked into the Quantum Realm, where they encounter the time lord Kang the Conqueror (Majors).
A tight-lipped Majors, who made his MCU debut as He Who Remains in the first season finale of the Disney+ series Loki, said it’s “wicked” playing the biggest, baddest Marvel villain since Thanos. “It’s incredible, absolutely incredible.” Not only does the Ant-Man threequel kick off Phase 5 of the MCU, it’s sure to set up the return of Majors’ villainous Variant in the two-part Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2025 and 2026.
“We’re really, really excited. We’re starting off Phase 5 in a big, big way,” Reed said. “This is the biggest adventure that Ant-Man and Wasp have ever gone on. We’re going to strange places and we’re encountering an antagonist that’s unlike anything they’ve ever experienced — and that includes Thanos.”
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th, 2023.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Trailer
Saldana returned to the stage to join Feige in unveiling the first trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the third and final installment of director James Gunn’s intergalactic trilogy that started in 2014. Appearing for the first time since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Saldana reprises her role as 2014-era Gamora opposite Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his crew of cosmic superheroes.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the beloved band of misfits are looking a bit different. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill must rally his team around him to defend the universe and protect one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.
The trailer revealed the first look at the all-gold Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), as well as the returns of the Guardians: Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens only in theaters May 5th, 2023.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Trailer
Paramount Pictures presented the primal first trailer for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the 1990s-set sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee. From director Steven Caple Jr., Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a ’90s globetrotting adventure and introduce the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on earth between Autobots and Decepticons.
Featuring a human cast that includes Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, Beasts also stars Peter Cullen as Autobot resistance leader Optimus Prime, Ron Perlman as Maximals leader Optimus Primal, Peter Dinklage as Terrorcons leader Scourge, and Michelle Yeoh as the Maximal Airazor. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts rolls out in theaters on June 9th, 2023.
