SDCC 2006: Day 3 and 4

Ok fans, get comfortable because there are a LOT of updates in this one. Instead of the usual breaking up the updates by company, this time around I’m going to break it up by properties (ie. Transformers, Marvel Superheroes, Star Trek, etc)

To view all the updates, continue on after the jump. Please note that I will be updating this constantly for a while until I feel I got everything I needed to.

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica Panel on YouTube

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Marvel Superheroes
The Marvel Studios panel was covered here. I’ll do some highlights below.

Iron Man
Movie News:
Jon Favreau was on-hand to talk about the Iron Man movie.

• a teaser movie poster was revealed.
• The villain will be the Mandarin. (classic Iron Man villain)
• Favreau commented a little bit on the Mandarin here.
• It sounded like Stark’s alcoholism probably won’t be a factor in this film. He mentioned that in the comic it didn’t happen for decades and I’d have to agree. No need to rush things. Stark will have enough real world pressure he will have to deal with.
• Jon mentioned that Foggy Nelson had played Tony Stark in the 2003 Daredevil movie, but wouldn’t commit to saying he was pursuing him for the role.
• Iron Man artist Adi Granov will be involved.
• Favreau is definitely looking at the comics as a reference and this is very much a good thing.
• ComicContinuum has him quoted as saying, “If he builds it in captivity, he can’t build a Lamborghini in a cave,” meaning, he’ll be starting with the original gray armor. “And then I think we go through a few different sets, eventually moving to the gold and red and it will evolve into a weapons platform.”

Ant-man
I did not get the good feeling I got about Iron Man and the Hulk when I read about the Ant-man commentary by the Director. Aside from my phobia of insects, Wright kept talking about wanting to bring the Tales to Astonish feeling back to the character and didn’t want it to come out corny. His commentary was pretty brief and that pretty much sums it up.

Incredible Hulk
Louis Leterrier was also on hand to talk about his work on the Incredible Hulk movie. From what was said I have a much better feeling about the Hulk this go around. Leterrier really seems to get the Hulk.

• No Hulk Dogs!
• Abomination will be the villain
• He mentioned that the Hulk is not about him getting his powers, its about him struggling with them. Banner hates the monster he becomes and he’s constantly on the run because of him too.
• General Ross will return
• While previous reports had said this will not be a sequel, I’m not convinced of that because Leterrier mentioned that the nice thing about sequels is that you don’t have to go into the origin and then cram a plot in the last 45 minutes of a movie.
• It was said that we should not be surprised if an Avengers movie comes along eventually and that it is no coincidence that all the properties they have currently slated are Avengers members (Ant-man, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor) and all under their own production company.

Movies slated for production:

• Captain America
• Nick Fury
• Thor

Spider-man
See Zac’s post here for Spider-man 3 goodness.

Ultimate Avengers 2 was screened at the con. ComicsContinuum got an interview with the writer here.

Details from the Mondo Marvel Panel are here.
There are some interesting things coming up including a mini-series called Bullet Points where the doctor who gave Steve Rogers the super soldier serum was shot 24 hours earlier. Steve Rogers becomes Iron Man, Reed Richards Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Peter Parker, the Incredible Hulk. crazy!

Also mentioned:

• The Return of Onslaught (I can’t imagine this being good at all and Liefeld is doing the art.)
• Gwen Stacy Returns
• Pete Wisdom gets his own MAX book
• Ultimates 3 will be followed by Ultimate Power and then Ultimates 4
• and lots more

Marvel’s Cup O’ Joe Panel was somewhat enlightening as to the purpose of Civil War and House of M and possibly foreshadows something to come. There was a bunch of information tossed around so give it a look here. Also noted, Joe Quesada will be on the Colbert Report on Thursday July 27th for Civil War and he is more nervous for this interview than he has been with any of the others he has done before.
Some highlights:

• An unreleased issue of the Fantastic Four is going to be released. The kicker is that the art if from Jack Kirby and Stan Lee will be rewriting all the dialogue. This was from an early version of 102, before a script re-write forced Kirby to shelve the art he had already done.
• The Eternals will be brought into the mainstream Marvel Universe and used in plots and stories in the future.
• The identity of the Daredevil impersonator will soon be revealed.

The Hasbro/Toy Biz Panel was highly enlightening and a little disappointing in some regards. Either way this is a must read for any Marvel Legends fans. Go here for the full write up and audio.

DC Superheroes

Superman
Bryan Singer announced his intention to direct a sequel to Superman Returns. No deals have been struck with Warner Bros. yet, but he said he’d like to do it for 2009.

November 28th will see the release of Superman II: The Richard Donner director’s cut.

Donner and Geoff Johns will be writing for Action Comics.

Batman
Kevin Conroy, THE voice of Batman from Batman:TAS through JLU will be Dick Grayson’s father in the The Batman series. I’m underwhelmed.

DC will be entering the Direct-to-Video market with three new entrants under the supervision of Bruce Timm.

• Superman/Doomsday
• Justice League: The New Frontier
• New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

More details can be found here in addition to more info from the DCU Panel. Each creator/contributor had to tell one secret about the project they are working on!
Comic News International also had a write up of the DCU Panel here.
Best question asked by a fan at the DCU Panel from Comic News International’s coverage:

Perhaps strangest of all though was the fan question asked to settle a $50 bet. Is Wonder Woman a virgin? This question rattled the panel for a few minutes until DiDio eventually answered that yes, she is a virgin.

In the toy department for DC, Mattel presented what they had to offer soon at their panel. Some details can be found here. Mattel doesn’t seem to get the whole articulation thing.

Hellboy
It looks like the Hellboy sequel is looking less likely by the day, but they are still trying.

Other News from SDCC

• Quentin Taratino announced that he wants to do two anime prequels to Kill Bill. The first an origin story of Bill and his teachers, while the second is another tale about the Bride.
• Frank Miller’s 300 movie adaptation made its presence known with a new trailer that was so well received the audience would not relent cheering until it was agreed to be shown again.
• Some details on how Joss Whedon got to do the script for Wonder Woman
• The Star Trek franchise refuses to die.
• Neil Gaiman on the status of a Death movie

Sources:
ComicsContinuum
Toy News International
Comics News International
SuperHeroHype