Marvel reveals new projects, dates, nerd stuff at Comic-Con: boring or amazing?

All of the Marvel fan-boys and fan-girls nearly fainted over the weekend and I’m still struggling to understand why. Yes, Marvel revealed some new information at Comic-Con. Yes, many of the Avengers came out to Comic-Con. Yes, there was some new footage from The Age of Ultron, but Marvel hasn’t released it online and all we’re getting is reporting on what the footage contained. But that’s it. This isn’t like “OMG, let’s all watch this new trailer together!” I think people are just buying whatever Marvel is selling these days and Marvel knows it. So, Marvel is selling… Ant-Man. And I find it tedious.

So, let’s see… this is what happened:

Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders and Samuel L. Jackson. There were the new additions: Paul Bettany (Vision),Josh Brolin (Thanos), James Spander (Ultron), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver), and Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch). And that’s not including the Ant-Man cast! And, of course, the biggest stars of the panel: Kevin Feige.

Here’s everything we learned from deep within Hall H:

Ant-Man: You can stop asking her now, people: Yes, Evangeline Lilly has officially joined Ant-Man as Hope Van Dyne, Hank Pym’s daughter (NOT The Wasp, as was rumored). And she was on hand to take the stage with Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll (who will play villain Darren Cross aka Yellow Jacket), and director Peyton Reed. (We missed you, Patrick Wilson!)

After nearly a year of pre-production and countless behind-the-scenes shakeups, the movie will finally start filming in August. But Feige & co. screened the first official look at Ant-Man. And it’s weird. And amazing.

We saw a shot creeping through a laboratory as we heard Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang fighting with his mentor, Douglas’ Hank Pym. Lang: “Doctor Pim, you seem very nice, but I’m no superhero.” Pym: “Superheroes, what a goddamn joke!” Lang hesitates. “I think someone already shrunk your balls,” Pym quips. And then we see, oh you know, MINIATURE PAUL RUDD riding a FLY.

Phase Three: Marvel recently announced a slew of mysterious release dates extending into 2019. Well, now we know at least one of those films: James Gunn and Chris Pratt appeared via video from London to announce Guardians of the Galaxy 2 coming July 28, 2017. No Doctor Strange. No Black Panther. Yet.

Avengers 2 First Look: You didn’t think Mr. Whedon would leave us without a look at next year’s Age of Ultron, did you? Even though Joss was not in attendance (he had surgery in London) he sent along a clip.

[From E! News]

The Age of Ultron clip included all of the Avengers hanging out in Tony Stark’s mansion and everybody’s trying to pick up Thor’s Hammer. None of them can, although Captain America comes the closest. Ultron (played by James Spader) shows up and says something about extinction. Tony Stark sees a bunch of dead Avengers. Something something. Blah. Why does it matter if we’re only reading it? Why not just put the footage online? Here’s the introductory video from Comic-Con:

Anyway, enjoy the photos.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.