2015 Comic-Con highlights

July 16, 2015

The 2015 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) came and went last week in the US and film studios, television networks, and various pop-culture properties came out in full force to showcase their material to the fans.

Major Comic-Con highlights usually include film studios and television networks previewing their upcoming material, and this year was no exception.

Despite Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment skipping this year’s event, it was up to Warner Bros, Fox, Legendary Pictures (who’s films are mostly distributed by Universal Pictures), Lionsgate and various TV networks to woo the crowd.

Did they deliver the goods?

Here are some of the major highlights of the 2015 SDCC:

With the absence of Marvel Studios, it was up to Warner Bros. and their slate of DC Comics films to wow the crowd, and judging by all the footage that was subsequently released online, it sure looks like they did.

Batman v Superman once again stole the show with a 3-minute trailer (which can be viewed below) of epic proportions. We discover why the Dark Knight would want to make an enemy of the Man of Steel, while Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) manipulates the situation.

We also get glimpses of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in action, Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons), Kryptonite (Superman’s weakness), General Zod’s (Michael Shannon) dead body, the government’s scepticism of Superman’s existence and finally the pièce de résistance: the battle between the two superheroes.

Yes, the trailer offers a large amount of reveals and revelations so don’t hesitate to have a look!

Next up is DC Comics’ other release for 2016, which is the super villain team-up film Suicide Squad. The very first bit of footage was exclusively meant only for Comic-Con attendees, but due to unauthorised leaks, Warner Bros. officially released the material online.

The material is insane and positions Suicide Squad as an innovative superhero flick, and with its dark and serious nature, audiences can finally see how DC is differentiating itself from Marvel.

Plus, Jared Leto’s impressive take on the Joker featured in the climax of the footage will have audiences shaking with fear as the character seems even more twisted than any onscreen portrayal we’ve ever seen before.

Did you happen to spot Batman at the 02:22 mark of the footage?

According to /Film, Warner Bros. announced at Comic-Con that the 2020 scheduled Green Lantern reboot will be titled Green Lantern Corps, meaning it’ll feature various Green Lantern incarnations in one film.

The studio also shared five minutes of footage from their upcoming espionage film The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and I must confess that it really got me on board with this film unlike the trailers.

According to /Film, Game of Thrones Season 5 director David Nutter told the crowd that he revealed the fate of a certain character to President Obama. But wait… there’s more as Nutter addressed another character’s fate to the Comic-Con crowd. Here’s what he told the president and the crowd.

Zombie TV show The Walking Dead (now approaching its sixth season) and its prequel Fear the Walking Dead both got trailers.

 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 panel screened a trailer which Cinema Blend described as “absolutely going to drop fans’ jaws”. The trailer probably won’t be released online until later on in the year. Guess we’ll have to settle for the description as reported by Cinema Blend.

In the meantime, why not settle for the teaser trailer or the viral video below.

/Film reported that Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson unintentionally let slip that future films might see the light of day despite Mockingjay – Part 2 being the finale.

Despite Hannibal ending after its third season, /Film revealed that the cast and crew were on hand to present a 5-minute trailer focusing on the season’s villain The Red Dragon.

Lucas Film was included on the Comic-Con roster with many sites reporting that they wowed attendees with their Star Wars panel.

Here are the things that /Film learned about the upcoming Star Wars Episode 7 during the panel.

The first official look of Carrie Fisher in character as Princess Leia in Episode 7 was revealed in a behind-the-scenes reel screened at comic-con.

The reel has since been released online which you can watch below:

20th Century Fox, who own the film rights to various Marvel properties such as: X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool, showcased material for all three franchises according to various reports.

Let’s start off with X-Men, which releases its eighth feature film X-Men: Apocalypse next year. /Film reported that five minutes of footage was screened for attendees giving, viewers glimpses of mutants such as Jean Grey, Storm and the film’s big bad Apocalypse – the very first mutant in existence.

The site also adds that Magneto drops the “f-bomb” and that Apocalypse is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Plus he has powerful mutants working alongside him.

Read the detailed trailer description on the /Film website.

Despite the rest of us not getting to see Apocalypse, we at least got a little taste of what to expect via an animated poster released by the film’s director Bryan Singer via Instagram.

A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on Jul 11, 2015 at 3:45pm PDT

 

Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds as the title character, debuted its first footage and judging by the footage description as comprehensively described by /Film, this looks to be a superhero film we’ve never seen before.

According to ScreenRant, Hugh Jackman – who’ll hang up his Wolverine claws after his 2017 solo film – may have revealed which comic book storyline the third Wolverine movie will include.

A Fantastic Four trailer was also screened at the event according to Empire. Watch it below:

Deadline reported that Legendary Pictures was on hand to present footage from filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s gothic horror film Crimson Peak, upcoming “Christmas horror-comedy” Krampus, and a film adaptation of the World of Warcraft video game series simply titled Warcraft.

io9 reported that 5 minutes of footage was screened for fantasy film Warcraft and here’s a description of what they saw.

Some Warcraft character posters were unveiled at the event and have since been released online via the official Warcraft Twitter account:

Here’s an official still from the film released a few months back:

The Los-Angeles Times reported that Krampus follows an “anti-Santa Claus from European folklore who punishes wicked children”. They even quoted director Michael Dougherty as saying: “Instead of bringing presents to good little children, he comes down your chimney, throws you into a sack and beats you with a stick.”

Here’s the movie poster:

A lengthy 3-minute trailer debuted for the Heroes mini-series titled Heroes Reborn.

And finally…

In an interview with IGN, Wesley Snipes revealed that there’s a “strong possibility” of a Blade 4 movie.

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