Jason Momoa aka Aquaman in Hall H at Comic-Con. Photo by Sarah Mason
Our third day at Comic-Con was spent almost entirely in Hall H. Was the five straight hours of standing in the press cage on concrete worth it? We'll tell ya tomorrow if we're still able to communicate.
Here's what we got to see -- Warner Bros. started the day off with the Justice League. But before they took the stage Jason Momoa made a rock star entrance as Aquaman. This was undoubtedly the most exciting moment of the day. There's been a lot of buzz online about Marvel kicking DC's ass at Comic-Con, not true, not true! Hey Avengers, you may have a Hulk, but we've got a Momoa.
After intimidating Chris Hardwick for several minutes, who proclaimed himself "Aqualad" after Momoa handed him his Trident, the excited Hall H crowed was treated to a special video message from Director, James Wan who presented never before seen footage of his film AQUAMAN, which hits theaters December 21, 2018. Spoiler alert, Momoa let it slip that the villain he's fighting is his brother, Ocean Master, whose Armada was featured in the footage. It looked a lot like the underwater alien ships from James Cameron's film THE ABYSS. Nevertheless, super cool!
Momoa then introduced his fellow Justice Leaguers who were all in attendance, Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Godot), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). The Justice League entered from the audience, like Aquaman. Chris Hardwick chatted with them for a bit then opened the floor to questions. Ben Affleck neither confirmed or denied the rumors that he will no longer be Batman after the Justice League movie. But he did say that he is loves being Batman and the studio is committed to him in the role (for now) and he is humbled to be there in Hall H stating, "How many guys get to sit on the stage in Hall H and say, I'm Batman".
Then we got to see the new trailer for JUSTICE LEAGUE which was amazing. It apparently was on the internet within an hour of showing it in Hall H for which we say, WTF? Seriously, people camp out all night to get into Hall H, we are told repeatedly that we cannot film anything and it's exclusive just for the fans in Hall H, then an hour later the studio releases it to the public? Come on now, give the good folks who waited in line a feeling of some kinda exclusivity, at least for a few days or a week or something. Not cool.
After taking a much needed break from the smells of Hall H (it's pretty spectacular, not in a good way), we headed to the outside attractions.
Harley Quin bike at Comic-Con. Photo by Sarah Mason.
The lawn area in front of the Hilton Bayfront included FX American Horror Story, The Strain. They also have little stations with sun lotion which is super cool and helpful. Fox had The Orville, The Gifted and Ghosted interactive displays and games. There was a Legion VR experience produced with VR company, HERE BE DRAGONS. Amazon had The Tick take over. Along the harbor there was an Adult Swim carnival with Rick and Morty front and center. Lots of Rick and Morty cosplay at Comic-Con 2017. And IMDB had their annual IMDB Party Boat hosted by Kevin Smith. Syfy also had Live at Comic-Con hosted by Zachary Levi.
Adult Swim Carnival at Comic-Con. Photo by Jake Essoe.
The weather has been so perfect in San Diego, no wonder this is always cited as one of the best climates in the U.S. After we soaked up the sun for awhile it was time to go back to smelly Hall H. But we quickly forgot how unpleasant it was to stand in a cage with a bunch of reporters (most of who were not fans like us, at all) when the cast of Stranger Things took the stage. The panel, hosted by Patton Oswald was wonderful. There's very few folks who can moderate really well, he's one of them and of course Chris Hardwick is the master. Gotta give it to him pulling double, triple duty all over Comic-Con.
David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown aka 11 at the Stranger Things panel. Photo by Jake Essoe.
The entire cast showed up, (minus Wynona Ryder) and we met a few new characters from Season 2 including Paul Reiser who takes over the bad government agent guy role from Matthew Modine who was also in attendance, and gave us a hi five when we shouted VISION QUEST! From the press cage.
We got to see the trailer for Season 2, and holy shit it looks amazing! If you thought you couldn't binge watch a show any faster than Season 1 of Stranger Things, get ready for Season 2.
An audience favorite moment was when Barb, actress Shannon Purser, asked a question from the audience then joined her Season 1 castmates on stage. No word on whether a resurrection is forthcoming.
The cast of Season 1 and 2 of Stranger Things at Comic-Con. Photo by Jake Essoe.
Time for Westworld! The entire cast with the exception of Anthony Hopkins showed up to bring the fans footage of Season 2 -- badass doesn't quite cover it. Despite the uber cool star power, this panel was one of the weakest, no fault of the cast and show creators, hubby and wife duo Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Comedian and James Cordon's band leader, Reggie Watts was the moderator and as cool and funny and smart as he is, not a good moderator. As stated previously, takes a special talent to moderate these panels. He focused all his questions on technical and filmmaking aspects that only Nolan and Joy could answer so the actors barely spoke. That would have been cool if it was for a USC film school seminar, but not in Hall H. Hey man, the fans want to hear from the actors. At one point Lisa Joy took a question he threw her and pivoted to the actors, many of whom grabbed that bait and ran with it, but there were a couple, notably Rodrigo Santoro who plays Hector Escaton, literally said nothing. Ed Harris got in a few words as did Jeffery Wright, Thandie Newton, James Marston and Evan Rachel Wood gave excruciatingly long and nonsensical answers to questions she wasn't asked.
Ed Harris hugs Tessa Thompson as the cast of Westworld leaves the stage at Comic-Con. Photo by Jake Essoe.
Next up in Hall H, Marvel, oh shit! The already crowded press cage got even more jam packed as Chris Hardwick returned to moderate along with Marvel super star creator/producer, Kevin Feige, who brought with him footage and panels for THOR: RAGNAROK and BLACK PANTHER.
The begin with Thor, and I gotta say we were pretty excited when Director, Taika Waititi came out cause we are huge fans of his work, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS and HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE. The entire cast of Thor followed including Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) new villain Hela (Cate Blanchett), Valkyrie (Tess Thompson), Grandmaster the Collectors brother (Jeff Goldblum), Skurge (Karl Urban) and Rachel House who we LOVE from all of Taika's films and most she was grandma recently MOANA.
Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Thor: Ragnarok Director, Taika Waititi at Comic-Con. Photo by Jake Essoe.
The footage we saw from THOR: RAGNAROK looks like Marvel's got a new spin to its stale blueprint. It's gotta be that Taika had some control and was able to infuse his comic vision into the Avengers universe. Here's hoping.
Equally fresh looking is BLACK PANTHER. The footage was amazing. It looks so badass director Ryan Coogler (CREED, FRUITVILLE STATION) was visibly emotional as he spoke to the Hall H crowd recounting the story of his childhood love for comic books and how his first time in Hall H he camped out and was all the way in the back and now here he is on the stage. It was an authentic and sweet moment.
The biggest cheers from the audience came for Andy Serkis who sheds his motion capture uniform to play nefarious character Ulysses in the film. Before the panel Serkis walked through the outside line of people waiting to get into Hall H and shook hands and signed autographs. What a classy man.
The cast of Black Panther at Comic-Con. Photo by Jake Essoe.
Before leaving, (Kevin Feige wasn't gonna leave us with just two film clips?!), Loki and a couple Avengers came back on the stage and introduced footage from AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. It looks like everything a Marvel fan could ever want from this ride we've been on since IRONMAN. Oh! That reminds us, Paul Rudd and Michael Pena did a special taped intro/recap of all the Marvel universe films starting with IRONMAN just to get us up to date. The video message preso ending to reveal that they had been giving this synopsis to Michelle Pfeiffer who we discovered will star in Summer 2018's ANTMAN AND WASP alongside Rudd, Pena, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas and new cast members, Walt Goggins and Laurence Fishburne.
Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman and Mark Ruffalo at Marvel Panel. Photo by Jake Essoe.
We ended our very long, thrilling day at Comic-Con with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20th Anniversary party at San Diego's Side Bar. It was exactly what our tired feet and thirsty mouths needed. The bar was filled to the rim and there was a long standby line out the door down the street to get in and party like the Annointed One -- who is all grown up and hanging with the Buffy fans.
Stay tuned for our final day at San Diego Comic-Con 2017 along with our full podcast review. Follow our social feeds for realtime updates on our antics.
We unfortunately didn't make it to the Cosplay Masquerade ball this year, boo! But here's a look at some of the amazing cosplay.
The 2017 Comic-Con International Masquerade on day three of Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA., Saturday, July 22, 2017. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Southern California News Group)
LISTEN to Sarah and Jake's San Diego Comic-Con 2017 Diaries Full Review & Recap
