Joss Whedon made a huge splash at the Marvel Studios panel today, when he announced the title to the Avengers sequel, and shocked the crowd.
But before we get to that let’s talk about the rest of the panel (which you can watch here) showcasing some footage from both Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The new footage from Thor was introduced by a fully costumed Tom Hiddleston as Loki, which Hall H ate up. You can check his intro after the jump:
This was followed by the new footage:
[box_dark]Giants, dark elves, Sif kicking all sorts of ass, Volstagg, too. The rainbow bridge opens, and Mjolnir flies out, it disappears and Thor catches it, taking down a bunch at once. Sif, “I’ve got this completely under control.” Thor: “Is that why everything’s on fire?” A new giant comes, and Sif says, “All yours” It’s one of the Kronans from his fearly days!
“There are dark forces that have survived” says the voiceover. Thor takes Jane to Asgard. Loki gets threatened by pretty much the whole supporting cast. Foster slaps him and says “That was for New York.” “I’ll find a way to save us all,” promises Thor. And huge applause. The inevitable betrayal by Loki was teased at the end, with him seemingly taking Thor’s Hand![/box_dark]
This was followed by the cast from Captain America: TWS and a brief discussion with the cast along with a clip from the film:
[box_dark]It starts with the Triskelion. Cap’s in his Super Soldier costume and looks awesome. He’s going down an elevator with some guys with guns who have their hands on the holster. He notices, and is worried. One starts to sweat – something is up. Three huge guys get on the elevator. Cap feels like he’s being set up (and is probably right). “Before we get started, does anyone wanna get out?” They all attack him, and he systematically DESTROYS them. Insane applause at the end, and he flips his shield into his hand. “I joined SHIELD to protect people,” he says to Robert Redford’s character. “Captain, to build a better world sometimes means tearing the old one down.” Quick shots of supporting castmembers. A new helicarrier. In fact, many of them. “This isn’t freedom, this is fear.”
Black Widow kicking ass. Agent 13, too. Falcon dropping from the helicarrier and extending his wings. A helicarrier going down, and the logo – crowd goes wild. Shield is down in the ground, and Bucky’s metal arm picks it up. And scene.[/box_dark]
Next up was some of the cast of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, on stage together for the first time. This cast appearance featured Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, Karen Gillan, Benicio del Toro, and Lee Pace. This marked the first time a few roles have actually been confirmed, and we learned that del Toro will be playing the Collector, with Gillan as Nebula and Pace playing Ronan the Accuser. This moved on to a brief screening of raw footage (they are only two weeks into filming) which is described below:
[box_dark]Star-Lord exploring some kind of chamber, fins an artifact, and takes it. Soldiers led by Korrath come in. “Who are you?” “Star-Lord.” “Who?”
Nova Corps members! Drax, Gamora, in full makeup, Rocket Raccoon CGI’ed, he looks like a real raccoon in his GOTG outfit. GROOT! Full CGI. “Peter Jason Quill,” also known as Star-Lord. “Who calls him that?” “Mostly himself.”
They’re being marched through a prison. The ship! Grootcarrying Rocket as he fires. Tons of action already. Rocket going crazy with a gun. “They call themselves the guardians of the galaxy.” “What a bunch of A-holes!”[/box_dark]
Which brings us back to Joss Whedon, who briefly announced the title to the Avengers sequel which marked the end of the panel. The exact reveal is described below by SuperHeroHype:
[box_dark]The Avengers footage is super quick, featuring lines from the first Avengers.
Slowly, CGI images form Ultron’s face.
Then the title comes up. Avengers: Age of Ultron![/box_dark]
This comes as a bit of a surprise, as Ultron is a villain with a huge amount of history that many might feel this would be a bit to early to tackle in the MCU. With the announcement of the title, we see that Marvel will obviously be pulling from the recent mini-series that shares the same name. This series featured a lot of time travel as well as a menacing future version of Ultron, which would help explain his presence this early on in the MCU.
We’ll discuss that a bit more in the future, as right now our minds are still a little blown at yet another great Marvel Studios Panel!
What was your favorite part of the Marvel Studios Panel this year? Sound off in the comments section below!
Grizzly Bomb 