As Saturday drew to a close at Comic Con in Hall H the moment and the panel everyone wanted and had waited hours for was about to begin. The Marvel Studios panel was about to commence. People slept over night just for a glimpse of what was to come in this, the most anticipated panel for the whole weekend. Marvels Panels in the past have had more surprise than anyone could count. And this year was going to be no different. As the lights came up and Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige took the stage with moderator, The Nerdist, Chris Hardwick all seemed normal, until the light went out, lighting stuck the stage and villainous Loki appeared to start what was to be the panel to ends all panels at comic con.Loki (Tom Hiddleston) took to the floor expressing himself as the master of all the audience. Mostly quoting lines from his two films (Thor and Avengers) he got the coward all in an uproarious cheer as they shout his name, “ Loki, Loki, Loki”. He promised them a he would win over whatever heroes come to fight him and he will ever be the God to rule them. And with some more lighting effect Loki was gone and the panel kicked in to high gear by discussing Thor: The Dark World, which opens this November.
Up next was Captain American: The Winter Solider. The panel was brought out which was almost everyone from the cast: Chris Evens, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Sebastian Shaw, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo and directors Anthony and Joe Rosso.
Chris Hardwick did a good job by asking each cast member at least one question and keeping the panel moving forward at all times. Each actor got to be funny and talk a little about what it’s like coming back to roles they have a pretty good handle on. Anthony Mackie had a chance to talk about being the new guy coming in to an established world as a new hero, The Falcon, and what changes he had to make to himself for the role. As did Emily VanCamp, who is also new, taking on the character of Sharon Carter/Agent 13. VanCamp went on to say,” her character takes an interesting turn as the plot develops and that this movie is just the beginning for her character.
The directors talked about in what direction the movie was going in and how awesome it was having Robert Redford coming on board for the movie. (Redford as not in attendance for the panel) And what challenges they had, to make a cool, 70’s inspired spy-comic-book movie. They showed some footage from the flick, which the coward went nuts for, took some final pictures from the reporters and then the cast of Captain America: The Winter Solider was off.
Next was the Guardians of the Galaxy portion of the panel. Which was kind of a surprise because they had just started filming and didn’t have much to bring to the table. But Marvel doesn’t disappoint to its fans. Bringing out the cast and director who had just flown in from London just for this panel: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Benicio del Toro, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou and director James Gunn.
Once more Hardwick made sure each cast member got a question and got a chance to speak about their character and how they are bringing it to life for the screen. Pratt talked about how he got into “superhero” shape for the role. Where Saldana was overjoyed to be playing the best badass assassin in space, saying, “I played blue, why not green next. And I get to kick ass.”
What was most remembered from the panel was when Hardwick asked Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan what was like to play evil Nebula and isn’t she bald. Gillan’s response was to whip off her red wig and throw it into the coward showing that she is so into her role she even shaved her head for it. Her and Rooker had a laugh being the bald couple on the end.
Director James Gunn had a chance to discuss the challenges of making this movie and not having much to show, because they had just started a few weeks ago. But they never the less showed some of the footage they did have, which of course the crowd went nuts for.
Before the panel was done Marvel had one more surprise up its sleeve to share. Bringing out director and god among nerds Joss Whedon, who didn’t have much to say really other than announcing the title of the next Avengers movie: Marvels Avengers: Age of Ultron. Which was greeted with gasps, shocks and enough cheers that could be heard thought out the entire con floor. Whedon then dropped the mic and was off!
What a why to end a panel on a high note! The Marvel panel each year is a highlight and keep getting better and better. If you can manage to get it the panel, and wait all day for the goodness to come then you get to have some of the best con/geek memories to last a lifetime.
