Another Comic-Con has come and gone, and with it, lots of new TV trailers to endlessly rewatch and dissect. Below, we’ve collected the seven best, buzziest clips that SDCC had to offer, which should please audiences of all stripes, whether you’re a fan of superheroes, anitheroes, or just damn good television in general.
7. Iron Fist
This show remains the most mysterious of Marvel’s four planned TV series that will feed into The Defenders. However, the new teaser should offer fans a few clues about the enigmatic titular character, alias Danny Rand (played by Game of Thrones alum Finn Jones). The clip opens on a plane crash that kills Danny’s mother, and strands the young hero in a wintry landscape, where he’s discovered by two monks. That tableau bleeds into an even bleaker-looking New York City, where an adult Danny is institutionalized, though he eventually busts out. It’s not the most informative or Earth-shattering trailer, though it lays a nice foundation for those curious to see more from the hero.
6. The Defenders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBZtM8q2Z1g
Speaking of The Defenders, this short teaser offers even less intel than Iron Fist‘s promo, though it gets bumped up a spot in our rankings thanks to the excellent musical cue and the significance of a series teaming up Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, as was Marvel’s plan all along for these Netflix shows. There are plenty of Easter eggs sprinkled throughout that call back to key characters and plot points that are relevant to each hero, and the clip ends on Stick from Daredevil sneering, “You think the four of you can save New York? You can’t even save yourselves.” Expect that self-hating mantra to reverberate throughout the show’s run.
5. The Walking Dead
Season six of The Walking Dead was fairly divisive, and it looks like season seven won’t be much different, doubling down on the focus on the nefarious Negan and the expansion of the world outside of Alexandria (hello, The Kingdom). There’s plenty for fans to unpack here (that nostalgia-inducing montage of each of Negan’s potential victims’ biggest moments from previous seasons is a particularly nice/evil touch), though we’re honestly a little tired of the Saviors’ leader getting all the attention. Instead, the biggest impression is made by a new, non-human addition to the ensemble. The image of that roaring tiger will stick with us for the rest of the summer.
4. The Flash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGQRbPERaU
The upcoming third season of CW’s The Flash will introduce a variation on DC’s Flashpoint storyline from the comics, one in which Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) creates an alternate, Flash-less universe for himself and his family and friends. Everything seems to be going great for the young hero (his mother is still alive, for one), until naturally, it all falls apart. The peek into the Flashpoint universe offers a fun twist on existing characters (Cisco is a billionaire in this new world, for one), and the resident speedster is Wally West’s Kid Flash (the scene where they come face to face is particularly cool). “This isn’t your home, Barry,” Eobard Thawne tells him. “It’s a mirage.” It seems Barry already knows that, but how can he fix it?
3. Legion
What if you weren’t actually losing your mind, but were a mutant instead? That’s the premise of this new Marvel and FX collaboration from Fargo creator Noah Hawley, an X-Men-related project that stars Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens as David Haller, who’s been suffering from schizophrenia and is institutionalized. The trailer does an excellent job of visualizing David’s inner struggles (one especially impressive sequence features the contents of his kitchen exploding around him), and Stevens nails the character’s nervous, twitchy energy. “He may be the most powerful mutant we’ve ever encountered,” one man notes, and based on all the mind-bending visuals on display here, it’s hard to dispute that declaration.
2. Luke Cage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymw5uvViqPU
Another Marvel/Netflix property with a killer soundtrack, the Luke Cage teaser features our titular hero beating the hell out of a bunch of unsuspecting dudes to the strains of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.” Watch as Cage (Mike Colter) nonchalantly rips the door off a car, uses it as a battering ram to break into a building, then wields it as a shield and a deadly weapon while he fights off the group of men inside. It’s clear from the clip that Cage is not only the strong, silent type, but he’s also a superhuman, too, if his ability to throw men into ceilings and take dozens of bullets to the chest without flinching is any indication. We can’t wait to see what else he can do.
1. American Gods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyoXURn9oK0
This hotly anticipated adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel looks absolutely stunning, thanks both to the sumptuous cinematography and the breathtaking action on display in the trailer. But then again, would you expect anything different from showrunner Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies)? The clip features the fateful meeting between Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), and the tangled world into which Shadow falls after he’s released from prison, and discovers his wife is dead (or is she?). “Either the world is crazy,” Wednesday tells Shadow, “or you are.” It may be some combination of the two, but one thing’s for certain: We are so in for this series.
