Once again showing the disturbing new trend in the overall objective of the San Diego Comic-Con, the only big news coming from the mega-event were adaptations of comic-books, or anything from film or television, instead of anything from the medium itself. Of course, considering that the current works from the big two companies are currently proving a famous quote from Madame de Stael to be true, "One must choose in life between boredom (Marvel) and suffering (DC)", it is probably for the best that they hide behind the shadows of Hollywood. Especially with the continuing creator rights controversy with both.
As discussed thoroughly on Comics Alliance, The Marvel Studios panel revealed "Phase Two" of the Marvel movie universe. After the colossal success with The Avengers, as well as its noteworthy ending that had many non-readers scratching their heads, Marvel and Disney are continuing their plans to produce sequels to their big three superheroes in the next couple years, before the inevitable tent-pole Avengers sequel.
Released in the popular month of May next year, the 13th to be exact, is Iron Man 3. Footage and pictures were released, with two things being major stories. The first is the slightly strange tan-dominated new Iron Man suit, which would fit for say desert recon and camouflage. The other is that Ben Kingsley will in fact, as expected by all, be playing the vicious Mandarin. Helmed by Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang director Shane Black and based on Warren Ellis' "Extremis" arc, this looks to be a major departure from the first two films.
Set to come out on November 9th, 2013, the awaited Thor sequel will be numberless but with the attached subtitle The Dark World. The subtitle draws up nothing for me, I was never an avid Thor reader, but Comics Alliance theorizes that it will involve the world of the Dark Elves, Svartalfheim. However, my wishes and expectations seem to be coming true, as news/rumors have revealed that the Enchantress will be featured heavily in the next installment. This holds a bit of truth, considering others have said that Thor's relationship with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster will be more important to the plot. The film already has some bad news to report, with Mads Mikkelsen removed from the project. Expected to be the main villain of the story and coming off a major acting win at Cannes, it does bring a little suspicion to the creative side of things.
April 4th, 2014 will bring forth Captain America: The Winter Soldier, an announcement that caused major Cap writer Ed Brubaker to shout out two words, eight letters over Twitter. He should be happy, since he is the person who created the Winter Soldier character, that being the never dead, Russian re-programmed and former friend of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes. Studious fans of Captain America: The First Avenger, or anyone with a DVD copy of the film, will remember that Bucky was rescued by Cap in a dangerous, green-lit science office, where no one sent there came back alive. His later CGI-helped fall into a winter river will prove the second clue. This looks exciting, especially with the potential of bringing Captain America into the modern warfare of black ops, call of duties, and whatever other popular video games the creators will use for research.
"Phase Two" will also have two other entries that many have caught on to and expected to be placed into production. On August 1st, 2014, The Guardians of the Galaxy will come out. Since the appearance of Thanos at the end of The Avengers, this is the first thing many were waiting to be announced. The fairly obscure superhero team, seen in the concept art above conceived by Charlie Wen, have been popping up recently in video games (Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3) and T.V. (The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes), but all that truly matters is the film itself. Marvel Studios is going to need to push their marketing power for this one, avoiding the faults seen in the build-up of John Carter, to make it work with jaded viewers. The current release date in August shows this fear. But when you take in the fact that one of the heroes is a talking raccoon, the popular Rocket Raccoon, it should be no problem making a space action-comedy out of the material.
Edgar Wright and his long-time friend/collaborator Simon Pegg have not been very secretive of them being attached to Ant-Man, the long-gestated film whose hero wasn't included in The Avengers, despite being a founding member of the team in the comics. Test footage was shown and given good grades, so there is hope. However, I just hate Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, who was either a wet blanket or a wife-slapping scumbag. The new film might have a better version of the character, plus the more enjoyable Wasp, so I will hold my feelings for now, though this is still the one I don't care for as much as the others.
The only thing to come from DC Comics, who have been tripping over themselves constantly with their lack of competition in the film division beyond Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, was first footage and the teaser poster for Man of Steel. I don't usually like to critique the posters for major releases, but I had the same opinion for trailers and look where I stand on that. The poster is pretty blah but made worst by the distracting detail of the suit. It looks like the Supes' blanket was made by the Michelin Man.
Other posters and footage shown were for other big sci-fi flicks to come, including Guillermo del Toro's robot vs. kaiju Pacific Rim, which just got a spread in Entertainment Weekly, and the return of the Americanized kaiju king, Godzilla. I'm looking more forward to the former than the latter.
One of the things floating around the web instead of the Con was a comic fan movie. Unlike the many others, this one had some talent behind it. Thomas Jane, who played the Marvel vigilante The Punisher in an unpopular 2004 film, made his own 10 minute movie/test reel/viral campaign to return the role. As seen here, titled with the Twitter tag #DIRTYLAUNDRY, the film is entertaining and feels more at place with the comic book than the very misguided 2004 film, mixing harsh gore (which is unfortunately CGI) with sadistic acts of revenge. I get the early build-up to introduce the scum you want to see be scrubbed off the street but it goes a little too long before Castle finally snaps. Still though, Jane got the voice back and he swings a mighty Jack Daniels.
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