Comic Con, the place where dreams come true, is also known to be a hub for studios to drop major news, first-look footage and all kinds of tidbits on some of the most anticipated films being released in the next year. With that in mind, here is a list of ten things we want to see or hear coming out of this year's Con.
1. The full cast of The Avengers.
When the whole situation unfolded with the re-casting of The Hulk, most sources reported Marvel’s intention to introduce the full cast of its 2012 superhero spectacle this year. Well, Saturday evening has the Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger panels, so what better time? We have the big three set in Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans). Hawkeye has also been confirmed and will be played by 2010 Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner. We also have Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The unconfirmed/rumor department has The Hulk, currently expected to be Mark Ruffalo, as well as Dr. Hank Pym (Ant-Man) and Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp) both rumored to be played by Nathan Fillion and Eva Longoria.
2. Some more details about the J.J Abrams/Steven Spielberg collaboration Super 8.
Remember that totally weird trailer before Iron Man 2 with the derailing train and mention of Spielberg and Abrams? Well, that’s Super 8, a film that appears to be a 1970s Area 51 film involving some creature that escapes. If you consider that the marketing for this Summer 2011 film began in May, you can bet that the viral campaign would like to use Comic Con to get fanboy nation on board with the Cloverfield-esque project. Any peculiar clues would be welcome as well as some confirmation as to whether this is going to be low-budget with no-names like the aforementioned Cloverfield or if there’s any other high-profile names attached.
3. Anything that represents forward progress on The Hobbit.
In other words, if Peter Jackson would just frigging confirm that he was directing this project, we could all breathe some sort of sigh of relief. TheOneRing.net is usually the vehicle for these kinds of announcements (they got to beak the news of Guillermo Del Toro leaving) and they have a panel, so that’s Jackson’s chance to reach out and drum up some huge cheers at one of the finest gatherings of dorks on the planet at Comic Con 2010.
4. Some sort of plan or at least a juicy bit of information from DC Comics about the third Batman film or Superman (with an appearance by Christopher Nolan).
First it was revealed based on Warner Bros. deal with IMAX that release dates were set for both “Batman 3” and the long-awaited retooling of the Superman franchise after disappointment with Superman Returns. Then news broke that Batman director Christopher Nolan would be mentoring/godfathering this new Superman vision because the WB clearly recognizes the kind of mind they have in him. Now that Inception has finally been released, Nolan might be more inclined (if he shows up to Comic Con) to talk about both projects, or at least comment on the rumors of his brother and The Dark Knight co-writer Jonathan helming the Superman film. Either way, DC Comics could use the boost. Imagine if during the Green Lantern panel Warner Bros. pulled something like Marvel did a couple years back announcing Thor, Captain America and The Avengers movies. They could steal a lot of Marvel’s thunder. Then again, they might wait to see how The Green Lantern performs next June and make that announcement next year. Either way, some new tidbits to keep us occupied as thoughts quickly turn from Inception to Nolan’s next projects would be awesome.
5. Some more revealing stills and/or footage of Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde in Cowboys & Aliens.
We’ve seen a couple non-revealing photos from Jon Favreau’s first non-Iron Man action movie, which is more than we’ve gotten from any film expected to be released in late July of next year. With that established, I should hope fans of Favreau and of the comic on which his film is based would get a healthy taste of what to expect. It would be wise for Universal to do so as Cowboys & Aliens is its biggest film of Summer 2011 unless you count the fifth film in the Fast & Furious series.
6. A future directorial project announcement from Guillermo Del Toro now that he’s not attached to The Hobbit.
Del Toro should have a lot of time on his hands, so he better have a plan with what to do with it. The Mexican director will be present to promote the film he co-wrote and produced, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, but he has no films on his slate for which he’s officially expected to get his hands dirty in the director’s chair. Hopefully he knocks something out of the park with a cool announcement at Comic Con.
7. A trailer for at least one of the following spring movies: Paul, Sucker Punch and Battle: Los Angeles.
Considering how much Zak Snyder dished out on Watchmen the Comic Con before its eventual spring release, the leading bet is for this teen action fantasy starring a cast of beauties to have something for us. This is, after all, Snyder’s baby, so he could well relish the chance to show it off. Personally, I would like some sort of media on Battle: Los Angeles, a film being touted for awhile now, enough so that director Jonathan Liebesman has been tossed around as a name for some much bigger projects. Considering Paul is a film about comic geeks, there should also be plenty on this Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland) film starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
8. Footage of both the hammer-wielding Norse god Thor and the intergalactic defender the Green Lantern in action.
We’ve seen some teaser images of these 2011 summer blockbusters-in-waiting. Now it’s time to see them in action! Give us a scene, a teaser anything to make all of us who can’t be at Comic Con wish we had been there and frustrate us to the point where we juice up the hype for these films even more.
9. Matthew Vaughn magically showing up on behalf of Fox to give us some cast confirmations for X-Men: First Class.
Fox is the one studio that will be absent from the festivities this year because it was really behind the ball in choosing its summer blockbuster schedule. Both X-Men: First Class and Rise of the Apes are currently finishing casting and both are slated for June 2011. The Green Lantern (a Warner Bros. project) will be out in June 2011 and could well have a teaser of some kind at the con, to give you an example of just how much Fox is failing by not having anything to show for movies that will already be in theaters by Comic Con 2011. Vaughn’s last film, Kick-Ass was a major player in last year’s convention, so I hold out hope that he might show up with stars James McAvoy and/or Michael Fassbender to get some word out for the film and maybe confirm Cyclops and some other younger editions of our favorite X-Men.
10. Some announcement from Edgar Wright and Marvel/Disney confirming the development of an Ant-Man movie.
We know Marvel has been meeting with Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) about his Ant-Man script and since both Wright and Marvel will be present, it’s time let us have that confirmation report (and maybe even a tentative release date). This would potentially be the first major Marvel hero under the Disney banner and the tiny scientist would be perfect – not to mention Wright’s involvement exciting the fanboys in their own nest.
Thanks to Cinematical for some of the panel details and a couple ideas.
