Comic-Con 2013 Round-up

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his year’s Comic-Con, as ever, has induced every nerd into a fever pitch with tantalising movie news. Comic-Con is one of those great phenomenons whereby, for four days a year, the biggest reveals in movie-land are bestowed upon the world. It is geek Mecca.

The biggest news to escape the costume littered halls of the San Diego Convention Centre this year is the official announcement from Mr. Zach Snyder himself that his Man of Steel follow-up will feature Batman. The sequel will land on our screens in 2015 and we will have a new actor donning the famous black cape and pointy-eared mask since Christian Bale has already confirmed he will not be returning to the role. And as if that wasn’t exciting enough, the film will lay the path for the long-gestated Justice League film, which is expected in 2017, oh and we might also see The Flash whiz onto our screens in 2016. And Breath.

This year’s Marvel Panel has been the busiest, with a whole bundle of news and footage. Let’s begin with X-men Days of Future Past, which not only brought us a look at the full cast but also a sneak peak at some early  footage. The footage was able to reveal some insight into the plot, which will feature a visibly older Wolverine sent back to his younger body to warn the 70s incarnation of the X-men of a dark apocalyptic future, in which mutants are hunted by giant robot sentinels built by Peter Dinklage’s Boliver Trask.  Along with the footage came some new images of the future X-gang in full costume, including a first look at Omar Sy’s Bishop, which you can view here.

Next up on the Marvel panel was Guardians of the Galaxy, which not only brought us some new footage but also a full cast. The cast is as follows: Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Michael Rooker (Yondu), David Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Benico Del Toro (The Collector), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser), Karen Gillian (Bravely sporting a shaved head as Nebula), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), and John C. Reilly (Rohmann Dey). The new footage gave us a good sense of the tone as well as  Chris Pratt’s take on the intergalactic policeman. Typical of director James Gunn the film looks to be incorporating influences of the action-adventure genre, such as Indiana Jones and Star Wars. The first trailer focused mainly on Pratt’s Quill who delivered a lot of laughs. The rest of the footage displayed an impressive onslaught of space-fun, including the first look at Rocket Racoon and Groot, whose voices are yet to be cast.

Marvel also took time to reveal a new title for their Avengers sequel, which will now be called Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ultron, for those who don’t know, is a maniacal robot being whose soul purpose is to wipe out humanity. Perhaps more importantly, Ultron was created by Dr. Hank Pym, or as you might know him, Ant-Man. This could be Marvel’s way of introducing Pym, who is set to be brought to the screen by Edgar Wright, to the Avengers universe.

In other news we were also treated to the first footage of a whole host of exciting films. Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave us a look at a new more serious tone as well as a gothic-inspired Winter Soldier. Thor: The Dark World delivered some brilliant action sequences, which reflect those depicted in the epic Game of Thrones, of which direct Alan Taylor is an alumni. We were also treated to footage from Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, which displayed a stockier version of the famous Kaiju as he trampled a large city. The Robocop remake gave us a look at the law-enforcing machines’ new sleek black look. The footage also displayed some of the films themes, with a focus on the struggle between Robocop’s mechanical side and his human side. Duncan Jones showed off some concept art for his World of Warcraft film, which showed a lone warrior facing off against a giant troll in a barren wasteland.

So, it would appear that this years Comic-Con was a roaring success with an onslaught of exciting movie news. The period following the famous expo is also one to be desired as we can expect some of the footage and images displayed in San Diego to emerge on the internet in the weeks to come. But for now, that’s all folks!