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SDCC 2014: Marvel Hall H – Here We Go!

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All right then… the moment we've all been waiting for.  Dr. Strange? Inhumans? A sequel or two probably…?  We're about to find out.

Capacity crowd, they're turning down the lights now… People chanting and doing the wave!

Ok, Hilton Collins and Will Romine are ready to roll for BC coverage… looks like they're finally getting the panel started.

And now here's Hilton Collins on live updates:

They're showing a hodge-podge of clips from a bunch of previous Marvel Studios movie right now, and the crowd is cheering and going wild.

Guardians, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Avengers… they're all in the bevy of Marvel studios clips, but they're all bleeding into one long Guardians clip. Applause is thunderous.

Chris Hardwick from the Nerdist is moderating, and he welcomed Kevin Feige, Marvel's chief movie guru and architect, who just came out. Feige says that Guardians, which comes out next Friday, is the 10th Marvel Studios movie, and it all starts with the people in Hall H welcoming and watching at Comic-Con.

In 2015, Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out, and then Ant-Man is finally coming out. Director Peyton Reed, Paul Rudd (Scott Long), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne.

It's Paul Rudd's first time at Comic-Con, who said he's a Comic-Con virgin, as Lilly called him. He says it's unbelievable and he's honored to be a part of everything. Rudd's been acting as a job for a while, but being in Ant-Man is something else entirely, and he's thrilled to be working with such great people.

Douglas, for his part, is also new to Comic-Con. He joked that he's popped enough cherries himself (or maybe he wasn't joking). He's always looked vicariously at Marvel Studios with envy because he's always played these realistic characters in his career. He's looking forward to this new experience playing a comic based on Stan Lee writing Dr. Pym in 1962, a man who developed a serum that allowed people to reduce themselves to ant-sized, and to communicate with them. This movie is a story about one Ant-Man passing the mantle to his successor.

[Mark adds official Marvel blurb]

Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll have found their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the female lead and antagonist, respectively, in Marvel's "Ant-Man," in theaters July 17, 2015!

Lilly will play Hope Van Dyne, the daughter of Hank Pym, while Stoll will play Darren Cross, a.k.a. Yellowjacket, the antagonist of the film. The two join stars Paul Rudd (Scott Lang) and Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), along with director Peyton Reed, for the size-changing super hero's first cinematic adventure.

Lilly talks about Hope van Dyne, and her experience so far has been evading the press and saying she's not in Ant-Man, but now she can be honest about it and confirm rumors that she's playing it. She's saying she can't say much about Hope because she hasn't read a script, though. Lilly's busy because she's working a lot but she's also a mother. She loves being at conventions, and the audience has always supported things she's been in, with things like Lost and the Hobbit films.

Stoll, who plays Yellowjacket, who's named Darren Cross. He was also Hank Pym's mentee and has now taken over Pym's company, and some people think his taking it over is evil, but Cross just wants to take things in a different direction. But Cross gets ahold of Pym particles and becomes the nefarious Yellowjacket.

They start filming the movie in two weeks in Atlanta on August 18th, so no footage to show, but even so, Feige said there's some footage they can still show. Quick footage, coming now.

 

The Ant-Man cast is leaving the stage now, to make way for…

Joss Whedon, director of Avengers: Age of Ultron, is recovering from knee surgery, so he's not here at Comic-Con on doctor's orders.

Cast comes out, from left to right, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth Cobie Smulders, Sam Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, James Spader, and Elizabeth Olsen.

Downey, who's part of an ever-growing family of Marvel Movies, says he's becoming less significant over-time because more and more characters come out, but he's fine with that. Renner is always thrilled and is glad to be in Hall H.

Ruffalo, who was overwhelmed at this first Comic-Con when he played the Hulk in the first Avengers, says he's treated VERY well at the con, which is different than how he's treated at home. He says people on the street don't even know who he is other than the Hulk.

Hemsworth shows off a buff bicep, and the audience, especially the women, goes wild. Being Thor's one of the best characters he's ever played and being a part of the "madness" is one of the bets experiences he's had. But turning into a woman (like what's happened to Thor in the comics) is something he'd want to play… it could be his Oscar-winning role. Renner jokes that Hemsworth would be an ugly girl, though.

Smulders did her first signing with cast mates at the con and it was fun and is happy she gets to play Hill again. Jackson said that a Comic-Con is amazing and he's been coming there since Star Wars I in 2000 and the reception is validating for him.

Evans said that it's difficult to stand next to Thor. Hardwick congratulates him on Winter Soldier's success. His character Steve Rogers is still trying to fit in and find his way but it's not as bad as it was in the beginning to fit in.

Taylor-Johnson is thrilled to join the group, and what Whedon did with the first Avengers was make these different characters gel with action and comedy both.

avengers-panel

 

Bettany, who's playing Vision, says that everyone's been welcomed and it's the most exciting thing for his children, who love that he's playing a superhero. Spader came last year to Comic-Con for the Blacklist but this year, he's back and thinks the con is the craziest, weirdest place he's ever been. As for Ultron, an eight foot robot, it was exciting and challenging to play that kind of character in this new, sci-fi business and new to him because he's played other types of roles before.

Olsen thinks it's awesome to play Scarlet Witch and was intimidated at first but was welcomed by the cast. There's magic in the movie now and… She was about to say mutant but stopped likely because Marvel Studios can't use the word mutant. Downey joked that Olsen cast a spell on him and it "burned" but was it love? Johansson said hi to the audience via pre-recorded video footage. She can't be here because she's pregnant but wanted to be.

A trailer from Avengers 2 is shown… And the crowd goes wild.

 

 

 

Downey says that Marvel's always got the next great thing up their sleeve… And then Josh Brolin walks out wearing an Infinity Gauntlet because he's playing Thanos.

[Mark here with the official Marvel blurb on Josh Brolin]

Thanos, Marvel's most cosmic villain, now has a face as Josh Brolin joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

The celebrated actor can first be seen and heard as the Mad Titan in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," in theaters August 1, and will subsequently play Thanos in future Marvel Studios films.

"Josh brings all the weight and stature necessary for a character as iconic and significant as Thanos," said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. "We're incredibly excited for fans to see more of him as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand."

Via video, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and actor Chris Pratt (Star Lord) announced that Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is coming out July 28th, 2017…

 

And… That's the end of the panel.

 

Now here's Will Romine with his complete write-up:

Well folks, here it is. I am in the thick of the action. MARVEL STUDIOS IN HALL H!!!! The last time I was here, America was in the grips of Avengers fever and no one could imagine that a talking raccoon and an anthropomorphic tree could carry a movie. Well folks, we're two years older and a whole lot wiser.

This is a two movie panel friends. First up, Ant Man

Lots of gold dropped from the get go. First, the cast. Of course, we all know that Michael Douglas will play Hank Pym and Paul Rudd will play Scott Lang. However, Corey Stoll and Evangelyne Lily also came along for the ride. Evangelyne Lily plays Hope Van Dyne and Corey Stoll plays Darren Cross, a former mentee of Hank Pym who has taken over his company and eventually obtains Pym particles to become a villainous Yellow Jacket.

The footage showed was amazing. The camera pans over Hank Pym's workshop. We see a retro-style Ant-Man helmet that indicates Pym's past activity as the original Ant Man. There is a voice over conversation between Pym and Lang about Pym's desire for Lang to become the next Ant Man. Lang responds that he isn't a superhero. Pym retorts by saying that that's a good thing; "You're not egomaniacal, not causing more destruction than you prevent. Superheroes, what a joke." He is grooming Lang to be an anti-superheroThe next seen shows Lang testing out the Ant Man suit while his mentor coaches him via an in helmet speaker. Seems like this film is the Batman Beyond of the Marvel film universe. Ant Man hasn't begum filming, but will do so in Atlanta.

Next, we have the Avengers panel. They certainly didn't skimp on the talent. This is the first time I thought they would run out of space on the Hall H dais. We had Robert Downey Jr, James Spader, Josh Brolin, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Sam Jackson, Aaron Johnson, Elisabeth Olson, and Paul Bettany. For most of the table, this was a repeat visit to SDCC. I thought the most interesting comment of the evening came from Elisabeth Olson, when she said that her and Aaron Johnson's power set brought something different to the Avengers universe. I agree. If you think about it, this is the first set of offensive powers that doesn't involve hitting or shooting. She also made the major faux pas of describing her and Johnson's characters as "mutated humans."

The footage they showed was similarly amazing. They start out in a very clever, Whedonesqe scene of the Avengers throwing back a few beers. Tony Stark tels Thor that the "Whosoever holds this hammer" inscription is bullshit and bets him that he could lift it. First, Tony tries, sans armor, then with armor, then Rhody tries, Steve is able to move it a little, to Thor's surprise. When Thor says that none of them are worthy, a ramshackle version of Ultron, composed of scrap metal, says that none of them are worthy, that the uman race isn't worthy. That's when the sizzle reel starts. We see armies of Ultrons, we see Hulkbuster armor, we see clips that convince us that Ultron is indeed a threat that no single hero can handle.

If that wasn't enough, James Gunn and Chris Pratt announced, via a pre recorded video, a release date for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (July 28, 2017)

Well, that's all folks! It's been intense and I need a nap.

I'll be here all weekend, so follow me @notacomplainer.

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Mark SeifertAbout Mark Seifert

Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler. Machine Learning hobbyist. Vintage paper addict.
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