Movies also in the spotlight
Comic-Con fans get a look at ‘Ant-Man,’ ‘Black Panther’
Saturday is no joke SAN DIEGO on Comic-Con’s biggest stage: Hall H saw Steven Spielberg (unveiling the first trailer for Ready
Player One), Harrison Ford (talking up Blade Runner 2049) and Justice League make appearances, but the day was ruled by the jam-packed Marvel Studios panel.
‘ANT-MAN’ ADDED TO ITS SIZABLE CAST.
Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly return as the leads in Ant-Man
and the Wasp (in theaters July 6, 2018), which has boosted its ensemble with Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s playing Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp and wife of scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who in 2015’s Ant-Man was thought lost forever in the quantum realm.
Plus, Walton Goggins has joined the crew as antagonistic businessman Sonny Burch, Hannah John-Kamen as the villainous Ghost and Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster, a scientist who worked alongside Pym.
‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ WILL HAVE A RETRO STORY.
Marvel gave the faithful a big chunk of news about its upcoming superheroine. Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019), starring Brie Larson, will take place in the early 1990s — before the events of
Iron Man — so Samuel L. Jackson will have both his eyes and the shapeshifting galactic race the Skrulls figure in as the movie’s chief villain.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige also introduced new concept art of Larson in her superhero outfit and punching a bunch of aliens, which drew a huge response.
‘THOR: RAGNAROK’ INTRODUCED A NEW SUPERGROUP.
Chris Hemsworth was on hand to present new specifics about his thunder god: new hair, a new foe in Hela (Cate Blanchett) and a new team of heroes he’s running with. The latest trailer for the film (out Nov. 3) revealed how Thor, fellow Avenger the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), frenemy/brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and warrior woman Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) find themselves on the same side as Hela tries to take down Asgard, while a clip offered Jeff Goldblum at his Goldblumiest as the Grandmaster.
‘BLACK PANTHER’ SHOWCASED TWO GREAT VILLAINS.
Director Ryan Coogler unveiled a batch of footage from his new movie (Feb. 16) that featured the Wakandan superhero (Chadwick Boseman) and friends Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) engaging in spycraft in a casino and a trailer that offered a look at the film’s politics as well as its insane action.
Fans also got a glimpse at what a pair of Black Panther’s notorious villains can do: Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) is an arms dealer with a transforming robot arm, and Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) makes a play for the throne and has his own cool supersuit.
‘AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR’ IS STACKED WITH STARPOWER.
Marvel didn’t do anything special for its third Avengers film (May 4) other than show the same footage that played a week earlier at Disney’s D23 fan event, but it still wowed the crowd when Thor meets the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America (Chris Ev- ans) emerges from the shadows in a full beard as a fugitive and Thanos (Josh Brolin) comes to Earth looking to destroy its mightiest heroes.
BUT DC SHOWED UP WITH PLENTY TO THRILL FANS, TOO.
The Batfleck’s not going anywhere. At the Warner Bros. panel, Ben Affleck joined his co-stars in
Justice League (Nov. 17) and publicly confirmed his intention to keep playing Batman.
“Let me be very clear, I am the luckiest guy in the world,” Affleck said. “Batman is the coolest (expletive) part in any universe, DC (or) Marvel.” League co-star Ezra Miller, aka The Flash, chimed in, “Don’t believe the hype.”
There was neither a release date announced for the Wonder
Woman sequel nor confirmation of director Patty Jenkins’ involvement. But Gal Gadot is definitely in. “There’s nothing not to love about her,” the actress said about Wonder Woman.
The MVP of the panel was Jason Momoa, who introduced the first clip of his upcoming Aqua
man film (Dec. 21, 2018) after just flying in from the set in Australia.
“He’s sensitive. He’s a big onion and we’re just peeling it away. He’s just a big teddy bear,” Momoa said of his character.
He also excitedly threw around chairs after the unveiling of the new Justice League trailer and allowed that his favorite moment was surfing on the Batmobile.
“My kids are watching it, and I’m like, ‘Daddy’s gotta go to work!’ ”