Comic-Con 2018: Everything that happened on Day 3
It’s day three of San Diego Comic-Con, but the fanfare is not slowing down in Hall H. Panels are set to become even more supersized Saturday as Warner Bros. brings to the iconic stage the still mysterious Wonder Woman sequel, highly anticipated superhero blockbuster Aquaman, question-mark comic-book property Shazam!, and The Lego Movie 2. They’ll be joined by magical Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Conjuring spin-off The Nun.
TV isn’t taking a backseat either, with Arrow shooting to the top of Saturday’s must-see list alongside The Good Place, for which Kristen Bell and Ted Danson are expected to be on hand. To keep your superheroes and sorcerers straight, EW will be rounding up Day 3 highlights.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald unveiled a trailer introducing Nicolas Flamel
The cast of the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel stopped by Warner Bros.’ Comic-Con Hall H panel on Saturday to unveil a new look at J.K. Rowling’s latest adventure. Stars Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, and Ezra Miller were on hand at the panel, as well as series newcomers Jude Law, Zoe Kravitz, Claudia Kim, and Callum Turner.
Johnny Depp also made a surprise appearance during the panel
Johnny Depp took the stage in character as Grindelwald to address the crowd and talk about his anti-Muggle philosophy.
“I do not hate them. I do not,” Grindelwald told the audience. “I say the Muggles are not lesser. Not worthless, but of other value. Magic blooms only in rare souls. It is granted to those who live for higher things.”
The first footage from Aquaman was revealed
The trailer introduces Curry’s mother, Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), and lighthouse keeper father (Temuera Morrison); shows Aquaman in action foiling pirates hijacking a Russian submarine; offers a glimpse of Aquaman facing off against his power-mad half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson); and teases Aquaman and Mera (Amber Heard) on a quest across the surface world for the Trident of Neptune for the power to rule the underwater world.
Big Hero 6 introduced Mini-Max, the Baymax sidekick of your dreams
The cast and creators of Disney Channel’s Big Hero 6: The Series unveiled Mini-Max, the scrappy new addition to the superhero team during the gang’s first-ever panel at San Diego Comic-Con. During Saturday’s panel, executive producers Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley, and Nick Filippi introduced the unexpected new character in a clip that, heroically, EW is also bringing right to you.
Kim Possible made her Comic-Con debut
During the Big Hero 6 panel, the show’s executive producers Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley, and Nick Filippi took a moment to reveal a first look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of Kim Possible, the series which McCorkle and Schooley created in 2002. See the first photo of Kim in costume.
The first trailer for Shazam! was released
The first Shazam! trailer — featuring Zachary Levi as DC’s new superhero — debuted Saturday, and gives fans a sense of the film’s first half, showing Billy (Asher Angel) arriving at a new foster care home, meeting fellow orphan (and comics superfan) Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), and then gradually exploring his newfound power.
Gal Gadot and Chris Pine introduced Wonder Woman 1984 footage at Comic-Con
The stars of the upcoming sequel Wonder Woman 1984 made a surprise appearance along with director Patty Jenkins at the Warner Bros. panel at Comic-Con’s Hall H on Saturday. Production recently started on the film, so Jenkins didn’t have much footage to show, but she did tease a little for the Comic-Con crowd.
Jenkins, Gadot, and Pine were also caught backstage taking a selfie!
Steven Universe: The Movie is happening
Saturday morning’s Steven Universe panel concluded with the announcement that the Cartoon Network series will be getting the feature treatment with Steven Universe: The Movie.
The first trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters was unveiled
While the big lizard may get star billing in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (out May 31), there is indeed no shortage of other giant creatures in the film, whose first trailer was released Saturday. Notably? The three-headed King Ghidorah, the insect Mothra, and another flying monster, Rodan, who in the original Japanese movies could create hurricane-force winds.
Supergirl announced Nicole Maines is joining the show as TV’s first transgender superhero
Transgender activist Nicole Maines (Royal Pains) will play Nia Nal, the newest addition to CatCo’s reporting team who is fierce and driven to protect others. This season, Nia will follow a similar path as Kara/Supergirl that will lead her to eventually embracing her superhero destiny as Dreamer. Hopefully, the introduction of a new CatCo based character means this season will be spending a bit more time at CatCo, which diminished in importance in season 3 due to the fact that Kara was focused on being Supergirl. Read on for more details from the Comic-Con panel.
Chris Pratt debuted new footage from The Lego Movie 2 — and will voice another character in the film
Chris Pratt once again stars in the The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part as the eternally cheery Master Builder Emmet, but it was revealed at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con that he’ll be voicing another character in the film named Rex Dangervest.
The Gifted revealed a trailer for season 2
Fox’s X-Men-adjacent series — about a world in which mutants exist, but the X-Men have disappeared — debuted an exclusive Comic-Con trailer for season 2 that featured, to the delight of fans in the audience, Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) manifesting his powers after having had them repressed; Polaris (Emma Dumont) going into labor; Blink (Jamie Chung) meeting the Morlocks; Eclipse (Sean Teale) unleashing his powers; and Reeva Payge (new cast member Grace Byers) running the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle with a tight, bloody grip.
The panelists — including cast members Natalie Alyn Lind (Lauren Strucker), Skyler Samuels (the Frost sisters), Blair Redford (Thunderbird), Teale, Dumont, Chung, Moyer, along with creator Matt Nix and Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb — teased where each of the characters begin their season 2 journey. Dumont’s Polaris, notably, has become even more torn over her lineage, as Magneto’s daughter. “She’s Magneto in every way, and that’s terrible, and she hates it,” she said. “Now that she’s a parent, she understands that… maybe her dad wasn’t such a bad guy, and maybe they’re alike in every way.”
The Gifted returns September 25 on Fox.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. upped Jeff Ward to series regular and announced Clark Gregg will be returning to direct the season 6 opener
EW exclusively learned that Jeff Ward’s character, the scavenging grandson of Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) from a dystopian future timeline, will feature as a series regular in season 6. Marvel also confirmed via social media Saturday that Clark Gregg — who has fronted the ABC series since its 2013 debut — will return to direct the season 6 opener, titled “Missing Pieces.”
Super Troopers 3 is in the works
After crowd-funded Super Troopers 2 blew up at the box office earlier this year — over the unofficial 4/20 holiday — the Broken Lizard comedy troupe told fans during their Comic-Con panel that they’re working on a Super Troopers 3. And for Super Troopers: Winter Soldiers (the title they’re calling it for now), the quintet swear they won’t dip back into the fan-sourced funding method. The $4.6 million for ST2 was “a favor from our fans. And they delivered. I don’t think we need to make them pay for another one,” said Jay Chandrasekhar.
The Orville panel featured a season 2 trailer — and a lot of dirty jokes
Perhaps inevitably, the panel for Fox’s The Orville, Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi comedy and Star Trek homage, quickly spiraled into madness — in a good way.
After debuting a season 2 trailer that announced its premiere date — December 30! — the panel, moderated by EP David Goodman, began with cast member Penny Johnson Jerald shimmying across the stage to demonstrate her process for getting into character and ended with her costar Peter Macon trying to eat his paper nameplate when asked what Lt. Cmdr. Bortus would eat next season. Oh, and of course, there were dirty jokes involved.
That said, the panel did delve into more serious matters, including what the team learned from season 1. For creator and star MacFarlane, it’s how TV could strike a balance between the comedy and the drama of sci-fi storytelling — season 2 presents “a show that’s even more comfortable in its footing as far as existing in that Goldilocks zone,” he said — and how much marketing matters. “I think initially the show was a little misrepresented in season 1,” he admitted. “It was marketed as a hard comedy, and I’m not sure why. There was maybe a little worry that this was so new and different, it wouldn’t land if it weren’t put in a box.” But, he added, “The work the marketing team did on this season is stellar.”
And no, MacFarlane’s not thinking about leaving the show to do more animation or anything else. Late in the panel, the Family Guy creator explained to a fan that he could always go back to writing animated series, but for now? “I think I’m more comfortable in this genre than I have been in comedy for the past two decades,” he said. “Maybe I’ve been in the wrong job for a long time.”
The Simpsons showrunner revealed how the show could possibly end one day
How could The Simpsons end? That was a fan question presented at the Comic-Con panel hyping what will be the 30th season of the animated series.
“How dare you?” creator Matt Groening joked. But showrunner Al Jean said he did have a clever idea for how to wrap the timeless show someday. “I thought the final episode could end with them going to the Christmas pageant they went to in the first episode, so the whole series is one loop without a beginning or an end,” he said. “But now that I’ve said it, it won’t happen. Thank you.”
