Yesterday’s Marvel Pictures panel at the San Diego Comic-Con talked about three upcoming sequels (‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Thor 2’ and ‘Captain America 2’), the recently announced ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movie, and the long-rumored Edgar Wright directed ‘Ant Man’. While they didn’t have much in the way of promo footage or art, Marvel did provide the official logos for the new movies, leaving fans to speculate as to what they may be about. Here’s the breakdown of what Marvel showed in order of their impending release dates…
Iron Man 3
First off, the new logo for ‘Iron Man 3’ (seen above) was revealed. Notice that the film has no subtitle like the other’s… we’ll get to that in a moment. That said, we do have a glimpse into some of what the film will be about. Yesterday, we got a look at Tony Stark’s new Mark VIII armor, which is rumored to be made with Extremis technology. That rumor was pretty much confirmed with the footage that Marvel showed late last night.
According to Blastr, the footage showed Stark getting into his new armor which came to him merely by his pointing at it (implying the Extremis). After Tony is suited up, a voice-over comes on announcing “Some call me a terrorist, but I consider myself a teacher … lesson number one: there are no heroes.” Tony’s Malibu house is attacked and his various suits (except the one he’s wearing) are destroyed. The voice comes back on and says, “As you cry for mercy … you will be silenced.” Then, we get a glimpse of a pair of hands with a ring on each finger! Next is a shot of Sir Ben Kingsley with long flowing hair and robes sitting on a throne. After the footage, ‘Iron Man 3’ director, Shane Black, confirmed the pretty obvious speculation by saying, “Ben Kingsley is going to be great … as the Mandarin.”
Cue fanboy excitement all around! The Mandarin! Despite Marvel pretty much denying that Kingsley would be playing the Mandarin, they’ve pulled the ol’ switcheroo and given fans exactly what they’ve been waiting for since the Mandarin was hinted at in the first ‘Iron Man’ movie. I can’t wait until May 13, 2013 to see this movie!
In other ‘Iron Man 3’ news, Deadline has reported that actress Stephanie Szostak (‘Dinner for Schmucks’) did announce that he has been added to the cast of the film. There’s no word yet on what role Szostak will be playing, but she said of the filming, “It’s a thrill to be part of the incredible Iron Man franchise. Production has been incredibly exciting.” So start speculating now!
Thor: The Dark World
Not much was given on the ‘Thor’ sequel other than the logo and the new subtitle “The Dark World”. What that title implies was left up to fan speculation.
The panel did discuss ‘Chuck’ star Zachary Levi and his taking over the role of Fandral of the Warriors Three in the film. The previous Fandral, Josh Dallas, had to leave the sequel due to his commitments to his role in the television series ‘Once Upon a Time’.
That seems to be it for ‘Thor 2’ news. Speculate away as to what you think this one might be about until we know for sure when it releases on November 8, 2013.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Like ‘Thor 2’ before it, not much detail was given on the sequel to ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ but the logo alone sent a wave of excitement through the audience. Why? Well if you’re not a comic reader, I’ll fill you in. In the comic series, Captain America isn’t the only soldier to have been frozen in ice and rescued. Steve Rogers’ old pal Bucky Barnes is discovered frozen (and missing an arm) in ice by the Russian army. After Bucky is thawed out, conveniently with amnesia, he’s fitted with a bionic arm and programmed to be a Russian assassin called (you guessed it)… the Winter Soldier.
Since we’ve already seen the Red Skull the first time out, I think having the Winter Soldier storyline for a sequel is a wonderful idea of ‘Captain America 2’. I guess we’ll find out when the movie arrives on April 4, 2014.
Guardians of the Galaxy
A ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movie has been rumored for a while now. A few weeks ago, the rumors started flying again. Now Marvel has put those rumors to rest and confirmed that they will be making a movie based on this more obscure team of heroes.
Marvel revealed both the logo for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (above) and the first piece of concept art (below) showing off the team. The lineup for the film includes Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon, Gamorra, Groot and Star Lord.
While an odd choice, being as how most of the general public has no idea who these guys are, the Guardians of the Galaxy are an interesting choice as their storylines do include the godlike Thanos who SPOILER!… appeared in the after-credits scene on ‘The Avengers’. Will Thanos actually appear in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? Find out on August 1, 2014.
Ant Man
The final announcement was a surprise to many con attendees. Director Edgar Wright (‘Shaun of the Dead’) who has long been rumored to be working on an ‘Ant Man’ movie has been tweeting this past week about being in London. So imagine the fans’ surprise when he shows up at the SDCC panel… complete with some test footage for his movie!
Wright confirmed that he is directing an ‘Ant Man’ movie but no release date is yet set. Since Marvel is aiming for two movies per year, I wouldn’t expect to see this one before 2015.
The footage showed some rough footage of Ant Man shrinking and growing while taking out a couple of guards. According to people who saw the footage, it was rough but it showcased clearly how Wright was planning on using Ant Man’s powers on film. The response seemed generally good.
So who’s going to play the titular character of Hank “Ant Man” Pym? One part of the hardcore comic fanbase has been wanting to see Nathan Fillion (‘Firefly’, ‘Castle’) in the role of Pym for some time now. As late as last week, Fillion said he could never be an Avenger since he’s “…not quite at that level yet where I could just be plopped in there but I’m getting there.” But while Edgar Wright did say that no casting had been confirmed, he also said that Ant Man had been at the con all day. Of course, this could be a reference to the test footage but I’m hoping that he was referring to Fillion, who was also making the rounds at Comic-Con after participating in the ‘Firefly’ reunion panel.
Pfew! What a lineup we’ve got ahead of us from Marvel! It looks like the next few years are going to be fun. If there’s anything sad about those announcements is that there was no word on the ‘Black Panther’ film that’s been bandied about as of late. Either way… huzzah, Marvel!
