SDCC 2013: Marvel Studios – Avengers 2 is Age of Ultron

Apologies for being so late on this, but I tweeted the one major news tidbit when it happened – the panel ended with Joss Whedon coming out and showing a quick video that panned across the various Avengers character armors being tooled and shaped into something new, until finally the camera pulled back to reveal a perfect Ultron face.

Cue title: Avengers 2: Age of Ultron.

Aside from that: No Dr. Strange announcement. No Rocket Raccoon casting, No anything else surprising. But for details on more Thor and Cap, click on through…

Comic Con’s Eddie Ibrahim asks how many people in Hall H has been here all day. Nearly everyone says yes.

Chris Hardwick came back out to a huge ovation. Since he also hosted the WB one, I figure he can be the judge…and he seemed excited. He introduced Kevin Feige.

The lights went out as a threatening voice berated us for spending hours waiting in the heat and sweating in the dark. Bright flash of light, and Tom Hiddleston in character as Loki appeared! Calling Hall H a meager place of Midgard, he used flowery language to insult us for wasted effort, said we should have let him rules us when we had the chance. “Your eyes crave unseen sights! Your imaginations hunger!”

“Claim loyalty to me and I will give you what you need. Say my name! SAY MY NAME!”

The crowd does. “It seems I have an army.”

New footage from Thor: The Dark World showed an epic scope, with a medieval battlefield where the Warriors Three and Thor fight Dark Elves with lasers, barbarian warriors, and a giant rock monster. Giant invisible palaces appear, Odin talks about an ancient threat returning, there are Norse flying machines, remarks about destroying the fabric of reality…Thor turns to Loki for help.

“I wish I could trust you.”
“If you did, you’d be the fool I always thought you were.”

He gets slapped by Natalie Portman because she’s from New York and is still pissed.

Final scene seems to show Loki inevitably betraying Thor to Malekith, making a deal which will let him see Earth burn.

I liked Thor quite a bit and this looks like a worthy followup in the same vein. Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgard are also back.

Captain America panel has Chris Evans, Sam Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Sebastian Stan

Evans says it was easier to know good and bad in the forties because everybody knows Nazis are bad,

“They’re still bad, by the way” – Hardwick.

Black Widow is like a full-on partner for Cap in this one.

“Almost everything that comes out of Nick Fury’s mouth is a lie. Sometimes he has to wonder ‘am I lying to myself?'” – Jackson.

Feige says this is pretty close to the Brubaker story arc. The surprise is for Cap, not the audience, in Winter Soldier’s identity.
“When you go to the grocery store, don’t you want wings and guns? That’s what I got!” -Mackie.

The Winter Soldier clip began with a great sight gag – Cap is in an elevator that keeps stopping to let on ever more threatening people. At a certain point, he realizes the inevitable and asks before they begin if anyone would like to get off. It’s a crowded elevator, but he proceeds to take everyone out spectacularly.

Then there’s the SHIELD helicarrier, and Fury talking about stopping threats before they materialize. When Cap objects that that’s a trial without a crime, Fury gives him a Rumsfeldian line about dealing with the world the way it is, not the way you wish it were. The Falcon is clad in metallic gray, and looks like a more detailed missing member of Silverhawks. And oh yeah…the helicarrier goes down in flames in a giant crash. Final scene is an unmasked Winter Soldier picking up Cap’s shield.

James Gunn and cast of Guardians of the Galaxy just flew in from London, and are going back tomorrow! Karen Gillan is confirmed as Nebula and Benicio del Toro as the Collector.

Pratt jokingly denies that his new workout was to do with the movie. Says he had a tapeworm. Actually, when he got the role, they said he was too fat and got him a trainer. Describes his character as “a guy who lives in space..he goes around in space makin’ out with hot girls, being a rogue and a bit of a jerk.” Je learns the value of friendship, of course.

“I’ve been blue once, so why not try green?” – Saldana. “I play an assassin from space.”

Bautista earned the job by auditioning 6-7 times, says he wanted it more than anything else in his life, and broke down and cried when he got the part.

Whoa! Karen just took of her hair! She shaved her head to be Nebula! It works for her, though – she still looks good.

Wow, that Guardians clip is insane. Very James Gunn in tone, if super-huge in budget. All look pretty close to comic couterparts.

John C. Reilly: “They call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy”
Other guy: “What a bunch of a-holes”

“Hooked on a Feeling” on the soundtrack. Star Lord upset that his soft rock collection is found.

The best way I can describe what I’m seeing is to say that it’s as if the director of Slither got all the money in the world to do a smartass remake of Farscape. The characters look great – we see Rocket in action firing his gun, Drax has the red areas on his torso raised like scars, Groot looks like the test art and can grow, and Gamora looks hot. Star Lord is clearly in the mold of Han Solo and Mal Reynolds. Most of what we see is interiors, but Djimon Hounsou’s character is referred to as working for Thanos, so I think that’s where that big bad comes in.

And then all that was left was Joss.