After days of thrilling news and announcements for the world of pop culture, San Diego’s Comic-Con International 2012 finally came to a close Sunday.
After days of thrilling news and announcements for the world of pop culture, San Diego’s Comic-Con International 2012 finally came to a close Sunday. (Jay M. Stevens/SWRNN)
The four-day convention is one of the biggest events in the world of “geekdom,” bringing fans of all stripes under one roof in a celebration of pop culture.
“Avengers” director Joss Whedon was in attendance, although surprisingly not because of the success of the multimillion dollar superhero movie that dominated theaters this summer.
Two of Whedon’s biggest cult hits — the television shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly” — are celebrating major anniversaries (“Buffy” is turning 20, while Firefly turns 10). Whedon was on hand with the entire cast of “Firefly” for a tearful reunion, the first since the show’s cancellation in 2002.
Many of those in attendance had camped out at the convention center overnight to do so and were treated by a surprise visit by Joss Whedon himself at 3:30 a.m. for a meet-and-greet with his most dedicated fans. The show had been planned to span multiple seasons but was canceled during the first, becoming a cult hit but leaving many plot lines unresolved. In the panel, the group answered fans’ questions, including the question of how the show would have ended if it had survived its first season on air.
Marvel Comics showed off footage from “Iron Man 3,” featuring Ben Kinglsey as the Mandarin, a major villain from the Iron Man comics. They also gave subtitles to the sequels for Captain America (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) and Thor (“Thor: The Dark World”) and announced a new movie, “Ant-Man,” directed by Edgar Wright and based off of the comic of the same name.
DC screened a trailer for next year’s new Superman movie, “Superman: The Man of Steel.” The movie adopts much of the same tone as Christopher Nolan’s popular “Batman: The Dark Knight” trilogy, taking the Superman character into darker territory, both visually and thematically.
Photo Gallery courtesy of Jay M. Stevens:
“Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson was also in attendance, screening 12 minutes of footage from this fall’s “The Hobbit,” telling the story of how the One Ring from “Lord of the Rings” fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, who would later pass it on to his adopted son Frodo to be destroyed. The movie will be split into two parts, one to be released this year and one the next, although Jackson mentioned that he wanted to film extra footage as well, creating either extended editions of each film or a new film altogether.
Finally, Microsoft and Ubisoft showed off “Halo 4″ and “Assassin’s Creed III” respectively, both of which had playable demos available for fans at Comic-Con. “Halo 4″ is the beginning of a new trilogy of Halo games under a different development company, while “Assassin’s Creed III” wraps up the story of its main protagonist in the years of the American Revolution.
Jay M. Stevens is an emerging writer and new contributor to SWRNN.
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