Comic Con 2012 Highlights: Halo 4, Iron Man 3, and Supernatural Come Out Swinging
For the past four days, many fans have been ignoring everything from proper nutrition to familial ties for one reason: to get each and every scoop from Comic-Con 2012 at the SDCC. Well, now is the time for everything to end, at least for the San Diego convention. In a couple of months, Comic-Con will come to New York. Until then, however, we have more than enough to occupy ourselves before the next unforgettable event of the year. Check the earlier updates to recap, in case you missed anything and enjoy this final coverage of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con 2012.
Games:
• Bioware (Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire) teased new down-loadable content for Mass Effect 3, which seemingly takes place beneath sea level.
• Playstation All-Stars revealed three new characters including the titular duo from the famed platforming series Jak and Dexter and Cole from the action-adventure game Infamous.
Movies:
• Guillermo Del Toro showcased the upcoming science-fiction film, Pacific Rim.
• Zack Snyder displayed footage from Man of Steel, the latest and easily darkest cinematic take on the Superman character yet.
• Richard Armitage discussed his role as Thorin Oakenshield, the dwarf leader in Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit.
Television:
• The creators of Star Wars-The Clone Wars showcased a new scene from season 5, featuring the animated Obi-Wan.
• The Simpsons panel, including series creator Matt Groening, all facetiously discussed the show, with Groening even drawing out Homer Simpson to prove that his autograph is engraved into the character’s head. The light-hearted tone of the panel was best demonstrated when Carrie Fisher, a.k.a. Princess Leia, actually showed up while holding a Duff plush and then just left when told by a producer that she had never been on the show.
• Comics legend Joseph Loeb discussed the upcoming animated series, Hulk-Agents of Smash and Avengers Assemble; footage was also shown but Loeb stressed that this was strictly for testing purposes and may not be included in the final show. He then addressed the “elephant in the room” by talking about the end of the well-received Avengers-Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, stating that 52 episodes was a lengthy run for animated television and that is exactly how long the show was meant to be.
• Kevin Bacon discussed his role in Fox’s upcoming The Following; the show will revolve around an agent surrounded by manufactured serial-killers and will be Bacon’s first foray into a permanent television spot.
• Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) showcased the unfinished pilot to Revolution, the latest series by J. J. Abrams (Lost).
• Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) discussed his upcoming NBC series, Hannibal Lecter and mentioned how the concept for the series was actually developed on a plane flight. The series will revolve around Detective Will Graham and Lecter, both characters having been first introduced in the novel Red Dragon.
• The cast and creators of Person of Interest dropped some hints about the future of the show.
• The cast and crew of Supernatural promoted the eight season of the CW show.
• The creators and cast of Fringe met with the fans for what may be a last time for the show as it enters its final season.
• The second season of Once Upon a Time will feature characters such as Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, Mulan and Herbie the Love Bug.
• Marvel announced the second phase of movies to be released based on the publisher’s comic franchises; the movies will be Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy (referenced at the end of The Avengers). Also revealed were the members of the Guardians film, proof of concept for Ant-Man, and the subtitle to the second Thor movie, The Dark World.
• Creators discussed Iron Man 3 and the increasing amount of properties being incorporated in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Comics:
• Joe Quesada, Axel Alonso, Christos Gage, Nick Lowe, and C.B. Cebulski all discussed the future of the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline. This was essentially a rehashing of the previous Marvel panel, Cup o’ Joe; even the panelists, save for Lowe, were all present at the previous version and similar things were discussed, such as the aftermath of the AvX storyline and another reminder of the upcoming A-Babies vs. X-Babies storyline.
• The Avengers and the Punisher are expected to cross over as Greg Ruckia ends his run with the latter in the miniseries, Punisher: War Zone.
• Venom and Scarlet Spider will join forces to fight Carnage, the alien “symbiote” that shares its origin with Venom, in the upcoming series Minimum Carnage. Carnage will be known most famously to fans for his appearance on 1994’s Spider-Man The Animated Series and as the main protagonist is the Sega Genesis beat-‘em-up Maximum Carnage.
• Dan Slott, who was unable to make it to Marvel’s panel, was given a call by Marvel’s Arune Singh and he answered questions on the phone, including definitively stating that he does not intend to bring back Gwen Stacy, a character recently portrayed by Emma Stone in the most recent cinematic version and whose death is crucial to the Spider-Man character in the comics.
