Hey guys! I’m coming to you live from Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. In a few moments, Marvel Studios will take the stage to give folks their upcoming slate of films, including Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and hopefully Captain Marvel. Stay tuned right here to live updates! If you can’t be in the room, I promise this is almost as good!
5:20PM – We are TEN MINUTES (give or take) away from the Marvel panel beginning. Keep your eyes right here for all the news and announcements in real time.
5:35PM – They’re trying to squeeze in as many people as they can for this panel, so we’re running behind guys. Hang tight! Even the press is like sardines. I’m writing from the “press cage” and my laptop is sitting on top of the subwoofer, so getting ready for some sick bass interrupting my typing!
5:40PM – People still milling about. No word yet from the moderator and no “please go to the bathroom mid-panel rather than hold it and get a bladder infection” speech. Tick tock, Marvel. Let’s goooooooooo.
5:42PM – Guys, the press cage is fuller for this than anything else I’ve seen all weekend. We are about to begin! Everyone is being told to make their way to their seats. Only a few more moments. Audience getting antsy, beginning to clap in unison. Except the chanting to start soon. Tell my family I love them.
5:47PM – The chanting has started “We love Marvel” followed by clapping. Totally called it, y’all.
5:51PM – Here we go. We are reminded again we will be seeing exclusive footage and not to videotape it. I will do my best to stream-of-consciousness!
6:00PM – Opens with Ant-Man and Michael Pena about his movie. Then we move to RDJ talking about Iron Man’s mustache and describing it. Then we get to the Huk and Pena’s wearing the Hulk Hands and Ant-Man is like I never saw the Hulk. Then we move to Thor and talking about how cool he is with his hammer. Captain America gets a huge cheer. We see him in his previous movie and the Red Skull. Then the Avengers meet Nick Fury and Scarlet and Loki getting beat up by Hulk (another huge cheer). They move straight to Tom Hiddleston dancing and Ant-Man trying to imitate it. He’s pretty good. Then Iron Man changed his beard for Iron Man 2 and again Iron Man 3. They are super into Iron Man’s mustache. Thor the Dark World doesn’t get the much love and we go straight to Winter Solider and it blowing Ant-Man’s mind that HYRRA invaded SHIELD. Guardians get another huge cheer, then move into Age of Ultron and their robots. VISION lifts Thor’s hammer. Cheer for Ant-Man and compare it to Citizen Kane and Godfather…they decide it’s like Citizen Kane. Pena is still wearing the Hulk hands. I want Ant-Man to explain everything. People lose their shit when Spider-Man goes oscine, big shout for Doctor Strange which surprises me. Quickly moving through the rest, and ends on Spider-Man. Turns out they were talking to Evangeline’s Lilly’s mom Janet Van Dyne Michelle Pfieffer.
Segues straight into a ton of Ant-Man 2 footage including Hank Pym in armor and Wasp costume. Looks like the ants are back. We get the logo for Ant-Man and the Wasp and ends on Giant Man hiding between two skyscrapers.
6:01PM – Captain Marvel is an origin story, takes place in the 90s. Nick Fury will have two eyes and the SKRULLS will appear. They look amazing! Very green, with red evil eyes and almost an elfin quality to them. Kevin Feige loves that he can come here and say the word “Skrull” and get a HUGE reaction. Of course, let the speculation begin on where Captain Marvel has been for the last several decades.
6:05PM – Most of the panel will focus on Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther. Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Rachel House, and director Taika Waititi are all here. The crowd is deafening.
6:06PM – Hemsworth jokes that Thor is getting old and his hair was falling out, hence the haircut. Thor’s having a mid-life crisis he says. Having played the character five times and he wanted to do something different and push the envelope, experiment. That’s what this film was: change the clothes, lose the hammer, shake up the Marvel Universe. Thor gets his ass kicked in this film, Hemsworth promises.
6:10PM – Tom Hiddleston is reminded he came out here in full costume a few years ago. “It was a unique experience for which I will be eternally grateful to Hall H.” Loki was last seen four years ago. Loki is on the throne of Asgard pretending to be Odin this whole time, meaning things are different when Thor comes home. Loki did not focus on good governance, instead of narcissism. He is the god the mischief through and through and no one knows where his allegiance is.
6:12PM – Hulk is different than we’ve seen. He refuses to turn back into Banner. He’s enjoying being a gladiator champion of the world of Sakar. Mark Ruffalo says he kicks a lot of “A” because he’s trying to honor that their are kids in the audience. Hulk is enjoying his life and will be damned if he goes back to Banner. Perms-Hulked to a degree. He’s been in Hulk form for two years so he has the vocabulary of a toddler. May have been a spoiler but too late.
6:13PM – Cate says she first got into Marvel movies because of her kids.
6:14PM – The Grandmaster and the Collector are brothers and are ancient. Oldest race in the universe. Been around since shortly after the Big Bang. Tessa Thompson says Valkyrie is not in a relationship with the Grandmasters, “He’s a friend from work.”
6:16PM – “Are you out of your Vulcan mind?” shouts Karl Urban, garnering a huge cheer. He’s playing Scourge. The panel has now devolved into good-hearted ribbing between the Australian and New Zealanders in the cast.
6:28PM – Korg is the director, an alien made of rocks. Big giant rock guy that becomes a friend to Thor. Based the voice on Polynesian bouncers.
FOOTAGE ALERT
Open on Thor on a moving platform. “Fear not for you are found. You are home. There is no going back. No one leaves this place.” He is in Sakar on a ride that is basically Willy Wonka on crack. I can’t wait for this to be a Disney roller coaster. Thor is not happy with this introduction. It’s like Jurassic Park explanation but creepy because the people who will watch this are prisoners. “You are the property of the Grandmaster. Congratulations!” IT’s getting really weird and then Thor is in the Grandmaster’s pre scene. Screaming like a girl. “He’s wonderful,” says Goldblum from his turquoise friend. Goldblum is playing himself but with blue nail polish. It’s amazing. “I need to go closer,” Grandmaster says and his throne is literally pushed by a minion. Star-off between him and Thor. “I’m not for sale,” says Thor, breaking free of his restraints before being subdued by Valkyrie. Grandmaster clearly likes her, as he pays 10 million credits.
Moving on to a new scene. Thor is in prison, and here’s Korg. He so’s cute “I’m the leader in here. Made of rocks but don’t let that fool you.” The prison looks like it’s a circle. Thor runs off while Korg monologues then comes back up on him. “It’s a freaky circle” says Korg. Lots of sleeping or dead gladiators on the floor. Really fun back and forth, witty, very Marvel. you know what I mean. “I’m getting out of here,” “That’s what Doug used to say. See you later, New Doug.
New Scene. The Gladiator sequence. The stadium is huge. This has been seen in the trailer but it’s Waaaaay bigger in scale. Much closer to fully finished graphics. “Where have you been. Everyone’s worried sick about you. I don’t really hang out with them anymore. Avengers are very corporate.” and scene.
Quick montage of footage. Thor lost his hammer the day before he went to Sakar. Blanchett is fully Hel gear taking over Asgard “Oh, I missed this.” Banner can’t remember who won, Thor says it was him (easily) I’m but Banner says “That doesn’t sound right.” HOLY SHIT there is so much footage you guys, I can’t even. Tessa Thompson and the boys meets Loki and he is tied up in chains. “Surprise,” Loki says. Looks like we’re getting Thor and Loki firing laser guns in another brother adventure, Hulk fighting Fenris, Tessa Thompson on a minigun Heimdall for a hot second, just so much happening. The team meets Hel on the rainbow bridge and we end with Thor on the bridge with rainbow bridge with glowing lightning eyes. I was wrong. We end with Thor fighting Ragnarok monster whose name is escaping me.
6:30PM – We’re moving on to Black Panther and the whole cast is here! This is non-stop, y’all.
6:32PM – Chadwick Boseman says T’challa is returning from the events in Civil War. He’s lost his father and he’s learning how to deal with becoming a new ruler and he’s still mourning his father’s death. It’s a transition period that gets interrupted very quickly.
6:34PM – Ryan Coogler grew up with superheroes but as he got older he wanted to see himself reflected in the pages. He went to his local comic book shop and they showed him Black Panther and he was all in from there. T’Challa got his power from his history and the people around him and that’s important to African culture and he’s excited to bring it to the world.
6:35PM – Shuri is a scientist and the technical genius of Wakanda. To play a smart strong black woman was a dream come true. “It was beautiful to play that.” She creates all the new tech that Wakandans use. She’s also T’Challa’s little sister.
6:37PM – Danai said there wasn’t a lot of technical overlap between her role in Black Panther and Michonne on The Walking Dead. She had to learn how to use the weapons used by Wakandans. Her character does what she does for the love of country, the most advanced nation in the world. And it’s on the continent of Africa.
6:38PM – Michael Jordan’s villain has his eyes on the throne and that’s all he’s allowed to say.
6:39PM – Forrest Whittaker has been giving T’Challa advice since he was young. He was friends with the former King and his character hopes his wisdom will be heeded by T’Challa in ruling Wakanda.
6:41PM – Daniel’s character is T’Challa’s best friend from childhood and he’s the leader of (I think) the Water Tribe. He’s in charge of some aspect of security and checking on contraband coming in and out of the country. Wakanda is LOCKED DOWN. Lupita is a spy that reports back to Wakanda about what’s going out in the world. They’re known as War Dogs. They need to know what’s going on around he world. The world does not need to know what’s going on in Wakanda.
6:43PM – Andy Serkis is excited he gets to wear pants and is happy the Klaw will get (a version) of his hand back. He talks about how good Ryan Coogler was, a liberating director to work with.
6:44PM – This is Winston’s first Comic-Con. He’s never even been here as a fan. U’baku is a big strong, ferocious, leader of the tribe that uses gorillas as visual representations in their culture. He is really loyal to his people and very faith driven. The character has a lot of range. And moving into FOOTAGE.
6:50PM – Exclusive footage coming now.Open with two guys and in suits and some ladies in hot dresses going through a security door. It’s clearly a club of some kind. Kale shows up after T’Challa. It is a beautiful bar, very 1920s. There is something up going on because Danai is here as a spy and the Dora Milae are also here and everyone is mic’d up. Klaw has an actual hand, it’s not robotic or anything but there are weird lines on it that make it look android-ish. Is Watson on the good guys side or not. Something says “FRAGILE” that Klaw is trying to trade. “Now or never,” says Danai. And now we’re fighting. The women have swords and are kicking everyone’s ass in ball gowns. I AM HERE FOR THIS. Watson is a good guy as T’Challa protects him. Black Panther does not need a suit to kill a ton of minions. I can’t wait to see these cosplay outfits, y’all. He is doing everything he would do in his Black Panther costume but in a suit. Oh GOD, Klaw’s arm opens up in to a weapon. Some kind of laser gun. New scene. T’CHALLA WAS WEARING THE SUIT, it transforms from a black tie outfit to the Black Panther outfit.
New scene, the different tribes of Wakanda and this is unlike anything we’ve ever seen, in Marvel or otherwise. We also get a glimpse at Shuri’s costume as the White Panther.
New scenes, Black Panther kicking ass in both the city and the jungle while hip hop music plays. Cut to a museum of ancient Wakandan artifacts. Then we’re somewhere in Aisa and Danai just reversed a car in HALF with her staff while riding on top of a car in a ball gown. GIVE ME A MOVIE ABOUT HER. Oh shit, Killmonger has a Black Panther suit too but it’s gold. They fight.
End scene. This is also the first time the cast has seen this footage. The room is on their feet!
6:52PM – The panel isn’t over. We’re getting something else. INFINITY WAR.
6:59PM – We open on the Avengers Tower, now abandoned and rotting. Cut to an underground cavern wand moving through to see all the Infinity Stones an, Bucky breaking free, Ultron being defeated, and Vision being born. Doctor Strange gets a cameo, as well as the rest of the MCU. So far, nothing new, just setting up the story. “Time can fix anything” with the time infinity stone then Captain America with Old Peggy and back to young Peggy in the first Cap movie and OH MY GOD THEY BETTER BRING HER BACK. Now we have Thanos picking up the Gauntlet. Literally, no new footage save Avengers Tower but they set it up well. The big takeaway here is Peggy is probably returning from the dead. We end on the same scene showed at D23, Thor lands on Guardians windshield. Teenage Groot gives zero shits, is on his phone the whole time and it’s the most accurate teenage thing I’ve ever seen. Thor wakes up “Who are you guys?” and then they’re all traveling together back to Earth “Something is very wrong,” says Thor. Loki standing g in wreckage’s, holding the Tesseract. Peter gets his Spider-Sense on the bus, Tony is ready to fight, standing with the Guardians as a giant ship crash lands somewhere that definitely doesn’t look like Earth but probably is. “This does put a smile on my face,” says Thanos as he appears in a black cloud to fight the ENTIRE MCU. Doctor Strange is fighting alongside Star-Lord, Spidey in his new suit, Bucky arming up with the people of Wakana. Captain America’s beard gets a huge cheer and Black Widow’s blonde bog gets gasps. Looks like Scarlet Witch stole her hair, tbh. Vision might be in prison? Thanks is throwing THE MOON at the Earth with the power of the gauntlet. Dude. The MCU will literally never be the same.
