One of the biggest conventions in the U.S. took place over recent days — and we don't mean the Republican gathering in Cleveland. Comic-Con International attracted some 130,000 fans of comic books, movies, TV shows and gaming to San Diego over the course of four days.
Two of the juggernauts in the comic book world — Marvel and DC — debuted their upcoming film slates in the largest hall at the San Diego Convention Center — the massive Hall H, which seats more than 6,000 people.
There were new trailers for DC’s “Wonder Woman,” “Justice League” and “Suicide Squad.” And Marvel previewed its “Guardians of the Galaxy” sequel, “Black Panther,” another “Spider-Man” movie and “Doctor Strange.”
Vulture.com senior editor Kyle Buchanan was at Comic-Con and spent the majority of his time in Hall H. The Frame's John Horn spoke with Buchanan about DC and Marvel, and which studio came out on top.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
DC has been struggling recently on the film side. "Batman v. Superman" got bad reviews and did not perform well at the box office. But this past weekend, it seemed like they were getting on the right track.
They've been promising their shareholders that they're going to get their act together and make these movies more palatable to a mass audience — and now's their chance. What they really were leaning heavily on was a sense of humor,which I think was very much lacking from what we've seen Zack Snyder do with "Man of Steel" and "Batman v. Superman."
They presented "Wonder Woman," which is directed by Patty Jenkins. It does have a sense of humor [and] was showing off some of those jokes. It has a super-heroine, which Marvel still hasn't had — a full-fledged leading super woman, and "Wonder Woman" is going to get there first next Summer.
Marvel also presented at Comic-Con. Did they impress the audience as they have in years past?
What they had total confidence in is their slate of movies, and when you watch what they're showing us, it's hard not to share that confidence. They have a sequel to "Guardians of the Galaxy," which was a major hit for them. They have "Doctor Strange," which is a new character they're excited about with Benedict Cumberbatch. Tilda Swinton is also in that.
"Black Panther," which the crowd is extremely hyped for, is directed by Ryan Coogler. And the cast is a who's who of black excellence: Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira. It looks amazing. And I gotta say, even the "Spider-Man: Homecoming" trailer...
This is reboot number three?
Reboot number three of this character [in less than] 10 years. So not something you would think you would need, but it is the first time that Marvel Studios itself has gotten to put their hands on that character. Marvel Studios has had great success with their "Avengers" universe and they've brought Spider-Man into that.
I really like what I saw. They were going for a high school-John Hughes vibe that was really appealing. They've casted really well — this really ethnically diverse, very now New York kind of vibe. It's so appealing watching Peter Parker and his friends having these high school adventures. [Then] when a giant super villain crashes in, it does come as a shock.
It has taken Marvel 17 movies to hire a non white-male as a director. Taika Waititi is now making a "Thor" sequel. How did DC and Marvel's directing lineup in terms of diversity compare?
Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler, who is directing "Black Panther," are certainly a step in the right direction for Marvel, though they still haven't hired a woman to direct any of their movies. They will inevitably with "Captain Marvel," which is their new stand-alone movie featuring Brie Larson, but they didn't announce a female helmer.
It's striking because when DC, which is a younger production unit, brought up all of their directors of future movies at their panel, there was that diversity. You had James Wan, an Asian director, who is doing "Aquaman." You had Patty Jenkins, who is doing "Wonder Woman" and was at one time pursued to direct a Marvel movie. They just sort of fell out over creative differences.
You have Rick Famuyiwa who did "Dope" and is directing "The Flash." I'm really excited about that because it's not like they gave Rick the black Warner Bros. character, Cyborg. They gave him The Flash. And rightly so, he's a great director. I really hope that in the future Marvel will start mixing it up.
I have some faith that they will. There was a behind-the-scenes creative, Isaac Perlmutter at Marvel, who is very old-school and used to run their toy division. He was very much insistent on all of the characters having to be white and really focusing on the guys because, "girls don't buy toys and boys don't buy girl toys." I think that with [Perlmutter] having a reduced role now, Kevin Feige, who runs Marvel and who is much more progressive, is really trying to make good and give everybody representation on screen.