Written by Jon Williams
Last week,
the annual event that is Comic-Con International took place in San Diego,
California. The four-day extravaganza allows fans, celebrities, and creators to
come together in a celebration that generally centers on science fiction and
fantasy but branches out to encompass all aspects of pop culture. As happens
each year, there was plenty of news and buzz to come out of the many panels and
presentations that made up this year’s convention.
Marvel is
the biggest name in movies right now, and coming off the success of the blockbusters
Avengers:
Endgame and
Spider-Man:
Far from Home, there wasn’t much of a blueprint for where the franchise
would go for “Phase Four” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is no longer
the case, as Marvel used Comic-Con as a platform to announce its slate for 2020
– 2021. In theaters, first up is the previously announced
Black Widow, starring
Scarlett
Johansson along with
David
Harbour and
Rachel
Weisz. Then fans can look forward to
The
Eternals, a superhero ensemble that will include stars such as
Angelina
Jolie,
Salma
Hayek, and
Richard
Madden, in 2020. The following year will kick off with
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, featuring a martial arts
hero that has been a part of Marvel Comics since 1973 but has not yet made it
onto the screen. Then comes
Doctor
Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with
Benedict
Cumberbatch reprising his role from the
2017
film in what is being teased as Marvel’s first horror movie. Finally, there
will be
Thor: Love and Thunder,
directed by
Ragnarok’s Taika
Waititi and with
Natalie
Portman returning to the franchise to become the goddess of thunder. And for
television, there’s even more Marvel news. Familiar
Avengers characters will come to the small screen in
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (
Anthony
Mackie and
Sebastian
Stan),
WandaVision (
Elizabeth
Olsen and
Paul
Bettany),
Loki (
Tom
Hiddleston), and
Hawkeye (
Jeremy
Renner), while
What If…? will be
an animated series that featuring
Jeffrey
Wright and a number of familiar voices as it explores alternate realities.
Marvel wasn’t
the only beloved franchise to make waves at Comic-Con.
Patrick
Stewart’s return as the beloved character Jean-Luc Picard from
Star
Trek: The Next Generation was announced last year, but a new trailer provided
the first extended look at the new series (simply titled
Picard). The trailer contained some surprises, such as the return
of other fan-favorite characters Data (played by
Brent
Spiner) and Seven of Nine (
Jeri
Ryan), while the panel revealed that
Jonathan
Frakes and
Marina
Sirtis would also be appearing in the show in their familiar roles from
The Next Generation. While that was the
biggest news, the panel also covered the upcoming third season of the acclaimed
Star
Trek: Discovery, as well as the upcoming series
Lower Decks. Expected to premiere in 2020, the show will focus on
lower-ranking officers on a non-vital starship, and will be the first
Star Trek in animated form since
The Animated Series furthered the
adventures of the original crew from 1973 – 1975.
Horror had
quite a presence at this year’s SDCC. The biggest release was probably the new
trailer for
It: Chapter 2, which
comes to theaters on September 6. It’s the sequel to the
2017
blockbuster that became the highest-grossing horror movie of all time, and it
picks up (more or less) 27 years after the first film left off. Both movies are
based on the
Stephen
King novel of the same name, which is frequently cited as one of his best.
Staying in the King family, it was announced that the show
NOS4A2 (based on
a
novel by Joe Hill, King’s son) had been renewed for a second season. Hill
also discussed the upcoming shows
Locke
& Key, adapted from a
series
of comics he created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez, and
Creepshow,
which is based on the 1982 movie written by King and directed by
George
Romero. That show will be produced by Greg Nicotero, who is most famous for
The
Walking Dead, which offered plenty of details for the original show and
the spinoff
Fear
the Walking Dead, as well as a new show yet to come. There was also an
interactive exhibit promoting the new season of
American
Horror Story and a trailer for
Guillermo
del Toro’s adaptation of
Scary
Stories to Tell in the Dark.
And still
there’s more. Tom Cruise showed up to surprise the crowd with a trailer for
Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited
sequel to the
high-flying
1986 hit. There was also a trailer for
Cats,
the upcoming movie version of the
Andrew
Lloyd Webster musical that will star
Taylor
Swift,
Idris
Elba, and
Judi
Dench, to name just a few. There was also a look at
Terminator: Dark Fate, which will welcome
James
Cameron and
Edward
Furlong back to the franchise and pick up following
Terminator
2, with the intervening installments being considered part of a
different timeline. For TV, there was plenty of info on new shows
The
Dark Crystal,
His
Dark Materials, and
Snowpiercer,
as well as new seasons of
Westworld,
The
Expanse,
Rick
and Morty,
Preacher,
and more.
Those are
just the highlights of the shows, movies, and more that presented at this year’s
Comic-Con International in San Diego, and you can bet your patrons will be
looking for all of these titles and their related media. Let us know what you’re
looking forward to, and stay tuned to Midwest Tape for news on these and other
exciting releases as they approach.