The Best Of Comic-Con 2014

By Brian Frosti on July 31, 2014

Image via screenrant.com

Every July, San Diego hosts Comic-Con International. This annual event is as much a celebration of geek culture as it is a launching pad for some of the year’s biggest movies, shows and games.

This year was no exception.

The 2014 Con saw the release of new footage and trailers for upcoming blockbusters, confirmations of new sequels and reboots, and much more.

If you didn’t make it out to San Diego this year, don’t worry! What follows is a compilation of the most exciting news and the juiciest details from Comic-Con 2014.

New Trailers

Image via giantfreakinrobot.com

A staple of Comic-Con is the release of new movie trailers and this year was no exception. The first day brought a new trailer for Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic, “Interstellar.”

The trailer has yet to be officially released to the rest of the world but the footage has leaked online. This new look gives a more detailed view of the drama that will unfold and shows some interesting pieces of several potentially great performances. Is this another Oscar nom for the reigning champ?

Another first day trailer was Jack Black’s “Goosebumps.” There is no leaked footage for this one, but you can probably picture what this movie will look like given Black’s involvement. It should be a fun take on the successful children’s series, likely similar in style and quality to Black’s recent endeavor “Gulliver’s Travels.”

Third up is “Horns.” Based on the bestselling book this twisted tale of murder, religion and revenge stars Daniel Radcliffe and is without a doubt one of the most interesting films of the coming year. This trailer is available to all on Youtube and looks incredibly promising, if somewhat odd.

The fourth trailer is the first for a film that has long been in the works, “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

This new chapter in the Mad Max story, now starring Tom Hardy, is described as neither a sequel, prequel, nor reboot, but simply a new adventure for the character.

Hardy definitely looks the part and it’s being made by the creator of the original trilogy, so “Fury Road” absolutely has potential to be a blockbuster thrill ride.

Last but certainly not least is the first trailer for “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.”

This is the conclusion to the “The Hobbit” trilogy and the Middle Earth saga as a whole, until they adapt one of the games that is.

Peter Jackson described it as his favorite “Hobbit” yet and for anyone who knows the story this is likely to be the most action packed installment yet, on par with “Return of the King,” though it’s doubtful it’ll have the same Oscar winning quality.

Superhero Movies

Image via cnn.com

It wouldn’t be Comic-Con without superheroes. This year fans were treated to quite a show from both Marvel and DC/WB.

Marvel wowed viewers with scenes from 2015’s “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” and showed off some props and concept art from the Paul Rudd led “Ant-Man.”

But Marvel actually disappointed fans a little with the lack of announcements of new films. It was expected that the studio would film some of its future release dates with the likes of Doctor Strange or The Inhumans, but the only new announcement was confirmation of a “Guardians of the Galaxy” sequel.

On the DC side, Warner Bros had perhaps the most exciting showing with footage from “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

The footage reportedly included some eye-popping visuals as well as new looks at the updated Batman and Wonder Woman costumes. DC desperately needs this movie to be on par with “The Avengers,” and so far they’re on track.

Video Game Movies

Image via mmo-champion.com

The laughingstock of the blockbuster world is starting to make some waves. There are plenty of upcoming films in the genre, but Comic-Con 2014 only highlighted two of them.

The logo and weaponry for “Warcraft” were unveiled as well as a yet to be released teaser.

The most exciting display however was footage from “Hitman: Agent 47.” The franchise lost star Paul Walker this past year but is charging full steam ahead now and judging from Con reactions it’s looking like a winner.

Monster Movies

Image via recarpetnewstv.com

A few months ago director Gareth Edwards successfully rebooted Godzilla for American audiences and he won’t be stopping there. Legendary Pictures announced a sequel to the king lizard flick and Edwards himself teased the appearance of several famous Godzilla foes like Ghidora, Mothra and Rodan.

The surprise announcement was a reboot/origin story for King Kong titled “Skull Island.” There isn’t much known about this one other than the premise.

But something to keep your eye on is the fact that the same studio now owns “Godzilla,” “King Kong” and “Pacific Rim;” is a crossover in the works?

Television

Image via mightymega.com

Of course Comic-Con isn’t all about movies. 2014 was an exciting year for TV news as DC brought all four of its television properties along. Attendees were shown the new trailer for “Arrow” season three (TRAILER CONTAINS SEASON TWO SPOILERS), a show that has developed a massive following and is just now hitting its stride.

Along with “Arrow” was the pilot episodes for three freshman comic book dramas: NBC’s “Constantine,” The CW’s “The Flash,” and FOX’s “Gotham.”

All three were met with immensely positive reception but it remains to be seen if the shows can find an audience outside of geek heaven.

But perhaps the biggest TV display had nothing to do with superheroes or comic books.

This fall “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” will be burying the hatchet and doing a crossover event. Along with the panel came a five minute preview that is as smart as it is hilarious and should have fans of either show excited for the event.

Video Games

Image via loadthegame.com
(not the official logo)

Finally, we come to the interactive portion of geek culture. Comic-Con isn’t the usual stomping ground for video game announcements, with E3 just a month earlier, but that didn’t stop developers from dropping some exciting new tidbits.

BioWare had a panel discussing “Mass Effect 4” where they revealed the game to be still in the early stages of development. However, that didn’t stop them from releasing some details. The Mako will be returning from a two-game hiatus and the new protagonist character will once again be an N7 operative.

The other major gaming announcement was for an online game set in the world of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly.” “Firefly Online” puts gamers in the captain’s chair with the chance to be big damn heroes and plenty of opportunities to misbehave.

Those were the highlights in the opinion of this writer, but Comic-Con 2014 can’t be summed up so simply. There’s always exciting things going on when a collection of geeks and celebrities of that caliber are stuffed into a convention center together.

From the new “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” footage to Daniel Radcliffe covertly walking around the floor in a Spiderman costume, 2014 was never a dull affair.

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