On July 24, while students were either actually finishing their summer homework or prolonging their procrastination, the 2014 Comic-Con International: San Diego opened its doors to nerds and fans from around the world.
Comic-Con is a four day convention where entertainment and comic franchises promote themselves through workshops, merchandise, special screenings, and panels featuring producers, directors, and actors.
The original Comic-Cons only showcased comic books until the industry expanded to include collectible toys, artwork, and movies. Today, the Comic-Con is not limited to comic-related showcases; the convention now features video games, TV shows, and movies, in a variety of genres. Because there is so much to see and do, convention attendees usually make a short list of what they want to see in the limited amount of time that they have. Although I did not go to the event this year, here is my rundown of the top five things that I would have wanted to see at Comic-Con 2014.
5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Teaser Trailer
While The Hunger Games did not have its own panel in Comic-Con 2013, the movie franchise didn’t leave fans in the dark for Mockingjay, the first of two movies based on the the last book of the series. Mockingjay will premiere on November 21, 2014. Samsung premiered a trailer at the Capitol Gallery in downtown San Diego, and a teaser trailer was released globally after the convention. The Hunger Games books are some of my favorite novels. However, in the trilogy, Mockingjay is my least favorite. After seeing the trailer, which is a good first look at the movie, I did not become any more excited to see the movie. I’m merely interested in seeing how they split the book into two movies.
4. The Boxtrolls Food Truck Event
The Boxtrolls, from the creators of the Coraline and ParaNorman (both creepy but great movies), is the story of an orphan raised by trolls who wear boxes and live underground in fear of humans, who are also scared of the trolls and want to exterminate them. I immediately fell in love with the teaser trailer, which was released in the beginning of July. At Comic-Con, there was a food truck event themed after the movie which served real food from the fictional diet of boxtrolls, such as Tempura Tarantulas and Teriyaki Grasshoppers. The best part of this event was that it took place outside the convention hall, so even attendees without a badge for Comic-Con could enjoy its weirdness and get introduced to the movie.
3. The Marvel Studios Panel
This major production company showcased an exclusive trailer of the highly anticipated Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, which is set to be released on May 1, 2015. Marvel also announced the release dates of several upcoming movie productions: Ant-Man in July 2015, Dr. Strange in 2016 (a personal favorite), and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in 2017. It remains unclear when Iron Man 4 will be released and whether or not Robert Downey Jr. will be playing the Armored Avenger. Personally, I am excited for a Dr. Strange movie because he is my favorite Marvel superhero. I am both interested and scared for Ant-Man as he’s not necessarily the most interesting or appealing superhero, but it’ll be interesting to see how the movie does. Meanwhile, I can’t wait for the global release of the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer.
2. DC Universe TV Shows: Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, and Constantine
The DC Universe is expanding! There are three new TV shows based on characters from DC Comics. The Flash, premiering in October on The CW network, stars Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, who in a freak accident, gains superhuman speed and becomes the Flash. The Flash will also appear in another The CW show Arrow, which centers around DC Comics superhero Green Arrow and is premiering its third season in October.
Premiering in September on the Fox network, Gotham is loosely based off the Batman comics and centers around detective James Gordon in his early days of police work. The aim of the series is to tell the origin stories of characters including Bruce Wayne/Batman, the Joker, the Penguin, and even new, original characters made for the series.
Lastly, there is Constantine, which will premier in October on NBC. This series is based on the Hellblazer comics and centers around John Constantine, a magician that has the power to interact with the supernatural and uses his powers to protect humanity.
TV shows pretty much help me get through the school year as I’m not always able to go out to the theaters. I’m really excited to see what these TV shows will bring to the table.
1. Warner Brothers Entertainment Panel
Of course, Warner Brothers couldn’t slip past this Comic-Con without saying anything about its highly anticipated Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, which is scheduled to be released in May of 2016. At the panel, an exclusive trailer of the movie was shown to the attendees and has not been released globally. Also, the actors of the Big Three (Wonderwoman, Batman, and Superman) made an appearance together on the panel, which is considered a big promotional moment, bringing a lot of people closer to the reality of a Justice League movie. However, new pictures of Batman and of Wonderwoman were released publicly, and while the reviews are mixed, I want the movie to do well so that future DC Comics movies can be made.
However, the biggest highlight of the entire convention for me was the release of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies teaser trailer. This final piece in The Hobbit trilogy is set to be released on December 17, 2014, signifying the completion of the entire The Lord of the Rings franchise. Unlike Mockingjay, this trailer captured me and makes me really want to see the movie. If Mockingjay’s release was delayed, I’d be fine; if The Battle of Five Armies was delayed, I would be devastated.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
