Batman, Superman and Ultron: The Big Revelations of Comic-Con
by EG
For a few days this week, San Diego replaced Hollywood as the place to be for A-list celebrities, as Comic-Con doled out a steady stream of big TV and movie announcements with an impressive herd of cast members, filmmakers and fans in attendance.
The days when a major comic convention could be dismissed as the domain of nerds and fanboys are long gone; comic-based movies are among the highest-grossing and highest-budgeted films going, and the star power present at Comic-Con proves that, as of right now, comics rule the filmmaking world.
The big comic franchises did their best to grab headlines during Comic-Con. Zack Snyder, director of "Man of Steel," announced that Superman and Batman would share the screen in 2015 in the sequel to this summer's super hit. "Avengers" director Joss Whedon revealed the title of the upcoming sequel to his own hit movie ("The Avengers: Age of Ultron"), giving away the identity of the movie's mystery villain in the process, and audiences also got peeks at Marvel franchise films "Captain America: The Winter Solider," "Thor: The Dark World" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."
There was plenty of TV news revealed, too. "The Walking Dead" trotted out a trailer for its new season, a teaser that hinted at even scarier zombies than the ones fans already love to fear. Marvel stole the TV spotlight, though, when it screened the pilot for Whedon's upcoming "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." series in its entirety.
It wasn't just hot new properties on display at Comic-Con. Old favorites Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were on hand to plug their new film, "Escape Plan," due out in October. "The X-Files" stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny also fueled fans' nostalgia by reuniting on a panel, but the pair and series creator Chris Carter declined to suggest that a new "X-Files" movie is in the works.
Overall, the event helped to maintain enthusiasm for comic-based blockbusters at a time when comic movies are proving to be inconsistent box-office performers. In just the last two weeks, three movies based on comics ("Pacific Rim," "R.I.P.D." and "RED 2") have had debuts ranging from financially lackluster to disastrous.