Iron Man

The "Iron Man" portion of the panel started off with a video of director Jon Favreau sitting in his editing room apologizing for not being able to attend the Con and not having any real footage to show. He went on to say that they were finished shooting and he was in the editorial process, but they did have some very early, unfinished animatics to show that he thought would get the Comic-Con crowd buzzing. The presentation then cut to an Iron Man cartoon from 1966 and played for a good 45 seconds before the familiar chords of a newish cover of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" roared through the auditorium followed by Favreau emerging with a camcorder aimed at the raving crowd. He tried to play coy saying that he was going to show the footage at the Marvel Studios panel on Saturday and didn't have it with him, but eventually relented to the cheers from the crowd and showed an "Iron Man" trailer.

The trailer opened by introducing us to weapons manufacturer and billionaire playboy Tony Stark who is accurately played by Robert Downey Jr. Tony eventually finds himself in a battle zone and shortly thereafter caught by the enemy. When he wakes up he finds out that his heart was damaged by shrapnel and the only thing keeping him alive is an electromagnet hooked to a car battery that some other prisoner installed on him. The trailer does not go into the story very much and is somewhat disjointed if you aren't already familiar with the Iron Man origin (I feel confident saying that most Comic-Con attendees are.)

The action footage from the trailer mostly dealt with the gray version 1 of the Iron Man armor and Stark's escape from the prison camp after building it in secret, although there was one very nice shot of the mark III armor suit. The gray suit is big and clunky (as it should be) but still devastating to the unsuspecting enemy soldiers. What was probably the best footage was the unfinished CGI footage of Iron Man flying in the mark III armor in the clear blue sky with air force jets. It hints at some fantastic mid-air combat and chase scenes that could be like nothing audiences have ever seen but what comic fans will demand from a big-budget Iron Man movie. The Iron Man armor is basically the most advanced fighter jet in the world, it just happens to be shaped like a man. The footage was all Tony Stark and Iron Man, so sadly there was no Mandarin. The special effects could be dazzling enough, but mix in the rainbow magic of the Mandarin and we might be in for some top-notch super hero action next summer.

Indiana Jones 4

Steven Spielberg did his part of the presentation live from the set of the fourth Indiana Jones movie (which he refused to give a proper name). He mentioned that that they had been shooting for 25 days and were all having a blast. Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, and Shia LaBeaouf were all present but nothing was said about the actual plot of the film. Spielberg just assured the fans that this movie was being made for us. Personally seeing Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones costume was fantastic and he looks like he hasn't missed a step. All the actors looked like they arrived to the interview dragged behind a truck, so the fourth Indiana Jones movie promises to be as hard on the characters as ever. Finally at the end of the presentation Spielberg walked off camera and brought out a director's chair with the name Marion Ravenwood on it and then invited Karen Allen out to talk to the crowd a bit. So there you have it, Marion is definitely back.

Star Trek XI

The Paramount panel ended by J. J. Abrams coming out with Damon Lindelof and three other people involved with "Star Trek XI". Abrams talked about how the script was so good that he had to direct it and that they were still looking for their actor to portray young Kirk. They were able to reveal a bit of casting news when they announced that Zachary Quinto (who plays Sylar on TV's "Heroes") would be filling the role of the young science officer Spock. After revealing that Sylar would be Spock Abrams invited out the original Spock Leonard Nimoy to take the stage and talked of him being in the movie as well...playing Spock. Details about two actors portraying the venerable Vulcan were not discussed, but what we do have is a release date of December 25, 2008.

The Paramount presentation at Comic-Con also featured footage and panels on "Hot Rod", "Stardust", "Drillbit Taylor", and the "Spiderwick Chronicles" but it was "Iron Man" that stole the show. I was extremely disappointed that there was Indiana Jones footage (considering the early trailers for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" showed behind the scenes footage and stunt work) but just seeing Ford embody the costume covered in scrapes, bruises, and dried blood was enough for now. We're looking forward to the Warner Bros presentation on Friday and, one would hope, some footage from "The Dark Knight".

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