Saturday Night. Comic-Con. Hall H. The final panel of the evening. Marvel is known for giving a good show at Comic-Con, and this year is no different. Even though we are fresh after The Avengers and Iron Man 3, there is still quite a bit of news to be excited about. Let’s get into it!
Thor: The Dark World — Comic-Con gets a special visitor from Asgard
Chris Hardwick has returned to moderate the Marvel Panel. He begins with introducing the president of Marvel, Kevin Feige. Kevin Feige says hello, which is responded to with screams, of course. They first talk about the success of Iron Man 3. Chris Hardwick asks what is coming up next, to which Feige responds with, “We are in post production of a movie called Thor: The Dark World right now.” The room goes dark, and we have the villain of Avengers come out, Loki, Tom Hiddleston in full costume. He puts on a good show, if you want to see his monologue, you can see the full video of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki monologue here:
While I enjoyed Tony Stark showing up for Iron Man 3 last year, I thought this was a lot of fun too. It is really cool seeing the actors get so into their roles, providing a little fun for the fans, and hopefully he has a little fun too. I am a little uncomfortable with Loki saying, “I will give you what you need” though… I think that was meant for the ladies…
After Hiddleston’s monologue, we get some additional footage for Thor: The Dark World, which looks very entertaining. It seems we may have Loki betray Thor in the film, at least that is what appears to be happening at the end of the footage.
Thor: The Dark World is set to hit theaters November 8, 2013.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier –– Chris Evans, SHIELD and even a few villains come to Comic-Con
After the footage of Thor: The Dark World, Kevin Feige goes right into Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Kevin Feige says that this movie is still not done filming, and has one week left of filming. But he did bring some people to say, “Hi”. He brings out the directors, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. He continues with introductions: Frank Grillo as Rumlow, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Sam Wilson as The Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Emily VanCamp as Agent 13, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson as Nastasha Romanoff, and Chris Evans as Captain America. It was a full house for the Captain America: The Winter Soldier panel.
Chris Hardwick begins with asking Chris Evans how it feels jumping back into the Captain America suit. Chris Evans says, “It’s getting better every time I put it on”, and discusses the movies getting better and better which each one made, which I would say is mostly true. He praises Marvel for “knowing what they’re doing”, and he is excited to put the suit on again. Hardwick asks about Captain America’s adjustment from being pulled into this present after being frozen for 50 years, and Chris Evans explains he feels it isn’t so much the technology that is jarring, but the societal differences. He talks about Captain America coming from a world that was, “a little more trusting”, and he has a harder time figuring out who is right and who is wrong.
Moving on to Scarlet Johansson, Chris Hardwick asks how important her character Natasha Romanoff is to the story of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, to which Scarlet defers to Feige, who answers, “She and Chris share this movie in a big way”. I think Scarlet was trying to avoid getting into trouble with plot point reveals here! Scarlet continues talking about their working together, and how they work as “partners”. Scarlet describes how we will see Natasha Romanoff in a more, “Casual working relationship with somebody”. Scarlet describes the movie as “gritty” and “knuckle-bearing” in terms of the action. Chris Hardwick asks about the relationship between Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers (Captain America, if you do not know his real name). Chris Evans jumps in saying that both characters have, “different approaches to morality”, which makes for “an interesting dichotomy”. He describes them as, “an odd couple”.
Chris Hardwick moves to Nick Fury, A.K.A. Samuel L. Jackson. Chris Hardwick asks Samuel, “How does it feel every time the eye patch goes on?”, to which in pretty much “Samuel L. Jackson” style, he responds, “Pretty bad-ass”. Chris Hardwick then asks Samuel L. Jackson how Nick Fury feels about the people he is working with in terms of their relationship. Samuel L. Jackson describes them as, “co-workers, sub-ordinates in a sense, instruments of justice, tools, but people that he cares about.” He describes Steve Rogers as being a soldier, and Nick Fury relates with him on that since they have that in common. Samuel L. Jackson does acknowledge that, “Almost everything that comes out of his [Nick Fury’s] mouth is a lie”. This of course elicits some chuckles from the audience. Chris Hardwick then asks about how much Nick Fury knows about “What is going on”. Samuel L. Jackson seems to think that, “He has a very good idea about what is going on, but his paranoia keeps him from believing what’s going on” but “He kind of goes around the corner to see what’s really happening”.
Moving down the line, Chris Hardwick moves on to Sebastian Stan, who again is playing Bucky Barnes. For those who don’t remember who he is from Captain America: The First Avenger, he was Steve Rogers’ friend, who, during the train scene of the movie, falls to his death rather abruptly. So apparently he survived this fall somehow, and will be returning to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Chris Hardwick’s first question for Sebastian Stan is, “So tell us a little bit about what’s going on this idea of the Winter Soldier and Bucky”. Sebastian reveals he was happy this story would be shown. Chris Hardwick asks how the story relates to the comic version, and Kevin Feige responds, “Pretty close, in its specifics as they relate to Bucky”.
Chris Hardwick moves down to Sam Wilson as The Falcon, a character we have not seen in the Marvel universe yet. He asks Sam about The Falcon in this movie. Sam Wilson reveals, “I have wings and a gun. Right? That’s all you need, right?” He is a pretty funny guy.
Chris Hardwick moves back to Kevin Feige, asking why the Russos for Captain America. He describes some of their past work, which included Arrested Development. But rather than talk about it, he opts to show us a clip of the movie to convince us.
The film clip involves Steve Rogers going into an elevator of some business building. As the floor stops at each level going up, we see Chris Evans getting more anxious, as more people get into the elevator. We then see that these guys are armed, and probably aren’t going to give Chris Evans a good time. We eventually see Rumlow (Frank Grillo) enter the elevator. Finally, Chris Evans as Captain America says to the crowd, “Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?”
Fighting breaks out, and the men try to use very strong magnets to lock his arms down. They manage to get one, but he is able to break free before they can secure both. The fighting continues, until Captain America seems to have succeeded. So far at least. Then there are a few scenes after the elevator, giving some pretty good footage, making me really excited for this film, including scenes with Nick Fury and The Falcon.
After the panel, Chris Hardwick asks how they managed to snag Robert Redford, who we saw in the trailer as a upper level SHIELD member. They talk about his greatness in the film, since he was a great 70s political thriller actor, which this film has a similar vibe to. The Russos seem very excited to be directing this film.
Chris Hardwick wants to make a quick pass down the panel for people we haven’t heard from yet, starting with asking where Cobie Smulders’ character is. She says she can’t reveal too much, but says that, “trying to find our way in this new world we find ourselves”. Moving down to Emily VanCamp, Chris asks how it was for her coming into this cast as the fresh person. She describes it as being, “awesome”, but “a little bit intimidating”. Frank Grillo seems to echo Emily’s thoughts, and they all seem to be hush, hush because they can’t reveal any big plot points.
This ends the Marvel panel, no audience questions here. They were probably strapped for time, considering the panel is only an hour long. I actually prefer this as many of the questions are either impossible for the panelists to answer, or silly questions that shouldn’t have to be answered. The cast takes a photo shoot at the end of the panel, which Hall H demands for Chris Hardwick to photo bomb. After some resistance, he eventually caves in and does it after some Hall H pressure.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier will hit theaters next year, April 4th, 2014.
