Every kind of pop culture nerd flooded San Diego for Comic-Con International last week. While some simply wanted to show off their Star Wars costumes, many were interested in the panels on popular TV shows and upcoming movies, where trailers were premiered, exclusive footage was screened and iconic actors offered juicy insights into their roles. Here are the 10 biggest revelations to come out of the four-day extravaganza.
In a surprise announcement that prompted a collective “WTF” from a packed Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder unveiled plans for a Warner Bros. movie featuring Superman and Batman together on screen for the first time. The film stars Henry Cavill as Superman, and might even involve a rivalry between the two superheroes.
Marvel Studios drove conventioneers wild with presentations on Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, but that wasn’t the end of it. The Avengers director Joss Whedon also unveiled the title of a sequel to the superhero blowout, Avengers: Age of Ultron, according to Movieviral.
Enders Game author Orson Scott Card’s outspoken stance against gay marriage has sparked a boycott of the sci-fi novel’s film adaptation. As Wired reports, producer Roberto Orci addressed the controversy head-on, saying the filmmakers “completely and unequivocally” support the pro-LGBT stance of their studio, Summit Entertainment.
Fox Studios surprised a packed hall by bringing out the star-studded cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Among them was Peter Dinklage, a.k.a. Game of Thrones’ Tyrion Lannister, who joked that he’s playing Mystique, and then confirmed rumors that he’s playing villain Bolivar Trask, as CNN pointed out.
The sexy, supernatural HBO drama will go back to its roots in small-town Louisiana. Executive producer Brian Buckner announced that he’ll narrow the storylines and place more emphasis on humans and vampires, which must be a bummer for all the show’s witches, werewolves and shapeshifters.
As if things weren’t bad enough for the characters of the hit zombie series, new showrunner Scott Gimple revealed that the fourth season will get “insane very quickly.” Meanwhile, numerous crossbow-wielding Daryl Dixon cosplayers at the convention tried very hard to look as cool as Norman Reedus.
While making quips about the “Red Wedding,” the author of the novels behind Game of Thrones said it’ll be a while before he finishes his sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, thus giving the series more material to work with. “The locomotive is coming down the tracks behind me,” he said, “and I’m still laying the tracks.”
Community creator and recently-returned showrunner Dan Harmon didn’t go into specifics about the sitcom’s fifth season – he’s made mistakes in the past due to “over-planning” – but he did say they’ll do an animated episode. Also, he confessed to being a “creepy jerk.”
There’s no saying whether Fox Mulder and Dana Scully will ever reunite for a third X-Files film, as creator Chris Carter carefully sidestepped the question. But Gillian Anderson did jokingly mention a sex scene featuring the two FBI agents, saying, “We shot it.” Keep your fingers crossed that that’s actually true.
As anyone who stood in the massive line for Hall H can attest, Comic-Con isn’t just about pop culture. More so than ever before, it’s also about camping overnight and sleeping on sidewalks. Anybody who wants to get in to next year’s most popular panels might want to start lining up now.
