New York Comic Con 2016 has come and gone, leaving a trail of smelly cosplay outfits but more importantly – tons of amazing reveals including first stunning trailers for Valiant Comics’ webseries Ninjak Vs The Valiant Universe, John Wick Chapter 2 and even more deliciousness – check out my top 10 moments here.
#10. New Trailer for The Great Wall Gives us More Monster Mayhem & Insane Action
From Legendary, Universal Pictures and director Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) comes the action blockbuster The Great Wall. Featuring music by Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi and loosely based on a short story World War Z author Max Brooks. Starring Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau. It hits theaters February 17, 2017.
I have this sinking feeling that The Great Wall could turn out to be one of the biggest messes of all time at the box office… It just… Feels off for some reason and I don’t know if that’s cause of the cheesy arrows sequence in this trailer, or if it’s just cause — look at Matt Damon and his hair in this thing… But you know – I’m a sucker for epic monster battle movies and this looks insane. The action, the bizarre alternate history dealing with why the great wall of China was built – I love all of that. So I’m hoping it doesn’t turn into a giant pile of shit because the previews are goofy ass fun and I appreciate what they were going for here.
#9. American Gods to be Adapted into Comic Series from Darkhorse, Creators P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, Glenn Fabry & Adam Brown
From Darkhorse Comics and based on the acclaimed novel by Neil Gaiman, comes the highly anticipated comic book adaptation American Gods: Shadows. Debuting in March, 2017, the series will be written by P. Craig Russell and drawn by Scott Hampton with covers by Glenn Fabry and Adam Brown.
So – that teaser cover by Preacher cover artist Glenn Fabry is amazing. I realise that a TV series is happening and happening very soon, but I’m more excited for the comic to be totally honest.
“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement, in my house and in the world, about the ‘American Gods’ TV series coming up on Starz. What we’ve managed to keep a secret until now is that there is something just as exciting out there: American Gods, the comic. I’ve been watching P. Craig Russell breaking down the book into comic form, watching Scott Hampton painting the pages, watching Glenn Fabry create the covers, and grinning to myself with delight because the American Gods comic is going to be an astonishing, faithful, and beautiful adaptation.” – said Gaiman in the press release.
#8. Sigourney Weaver to Play Villain in Defenders Netflix Series
From Netflix and Marvel Studios, comes the highly anticipated series ‘The Defenders’ which will assemble Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist into one show. From showrunners Douglas Petrie (Marvel’s Daredevil) and Marco Ramirez (Marvel’s Daredevil) the series will debut in Summer 2017.
With Iron Fist set to debut March next year, it looks as though it will lead directly into the big team-up we’ve all been waiting for – The Defenders. Then after that we are hopefully getting that Punisher series in the Fall – which will more than make up for not getting a third Daredevil season in 2017.
However – that’s not the cool news – the cool news is that we have a villain to take on Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones… We don’t know who the villain is but thanks to NYCC we know who is playing that villain – Sigourney Weaver. Hell yes. Honestly I’d be happy if she just played herself kicking all of those Netflix heroes’ asses.
#7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teaser Clips Reveal Super Shredder & Mark Hamill’s Dragon Villain Kavaxas
Based on characters created by Kevin Eastman and
Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an animated series on Nickelodeon starring Sean Astin, Seth Green, Greg Cipes, Rob Paulsen, Hoon Lee, Josh Peck, Mae Whitman, Nolan North, Kevin Michael Richardson and more. Season 4 is currently airing with a fifth season in the works.
So – how about that Super Shredder? He’s looking mighty pokey these days – blades sprouting all over his gigantic hulking frame and whatnot. It’s an image I didn’t really expect, but it’s one I’m kind of digging as well. It’ll be interesting to see how a mutated Shredder goes to war with the turtles now that the show is settling back to it’s roots in the city (and not that damned intergalactic nonsense which went on for way too long). We also get a nice helping of cult-crazy Tiger Claw summoning a demonic dragon baddie called Kavaxas and as an added bonus – he’s voiced by Mark Hamill. Major points on that one team. He looks amazing too by the way – one of my favorite villain designs ever for the show. (clips courtesy of IGN)
#6. The Walking Dead Season 7 Scene Reveals Aftermath of Negan’s Decimated Victim
The Walking Dead is an AMC television adaptation from showrunner Scott Gimple pulled from the pages of the hit Image comic series by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. The series stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Steven Yeun, Khary Paton, Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chandler Riggs and Melissa McBride. Season seven is set for October 23, 2016.
I’m stunned that The Walking Dead showed such an intense clip ahead of it’s premiere later this month and even though you don’t really know who was killed by Negan and his gore-chunked bat Lucille, you see how hard he swung away at their head…. This brutal scene shows Rick and Negan squaring off with some Emmy worthy acting from both Andrew Lincoln and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.. The use of silence in this scene was amazing – incredibly jarring and uncomfortable. Also – you know – Negan drops a big clue as to who he kills in this sucker. Our main candidates are Daryl, Abraham and Glenn – but I think that Negan takes two out – Glenn and Abraham in the premiere. That’s my educated guess – watch and draw your own conclusions.
#5. John Wick: Chapter 2 Trailer is Just What We’ve Been Craving – Keanu Reeves Killing Everyone
From Thunder Road Pictures and directors Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, comes the highly anticipated sequel John Wick: Chapter 2. Starring Keanu Reeves, Common, Riccardo Scamarcio, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Rose, Bridget Moynahan, Lance Reddick, Franco Nero, John Leguizamo, and Ian McShane, the film hits theaters February 10, 2017.
We finally have the first trailer for John Wick: Chapter 2. It’s just as good as you imagined it ever could be — because Keanu is killing EVERYBODY and he’s doing it so well.
I love the first film and this has to be one of my most anticipated movies of 2017. The contract killer world building that was touched upon briefly in the first film looks like it’s going to be front and center for the sequel with Wick going toe to toe against Common and – well – everyone else who pisses off Keanu. Don’t mess with Keanu people. Baba Yaga is returning, soon…
#4. Power Rangers Teaser Trailer Brings The Intensity & Reveals a Terrifying Elizabeth Banks
From Lionsgate and director Dean Israelite (Project Almanac), comes Power Rangers. The new big screen reboot of the popular kids show was penned by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (X-Men: First Class) and stars Dacre Montgomery (Red Ranger), RJ Cyler (Blue Ranger), Naomi Scott (Pink Ranger), Ludi Lin (Black Ranger), Becky G (Yellow Ranger), Bryan Cranston, Bill Hader and Elizabeth Banks. Power Rangers hits theatres March 24, 2017.
On the heels of some brand new character posters, we now have our first look at the upcoming Power Rangers movie. The teaser which was revealed at New York Comic Con 2016, looks quite good and it really does a tremendous job grounding the ridiculous nature of the original series by building strong characters and giving fans “just enough” of the good stuff before it cuts off at the end. I could’ve used some more of the suits but this is after all a teaser and I think they nailed the tone from the look of this thing.
#3. Iron Fist Teaser Trailer Further Proves that Marvel Loves a Good Hallway Fight
From Netflix, Marvel Studios and showrunner Scott Buck (Dexter, Rome), comes Iron Fist. Finn Jones will star as the title hero in the upcoming original series which debuts in 2017 and also stars Tom Pelphrey, David Wenham, Jessica Henwick and Jessica Stroup.
As much as I’ve been worried about this show because Scott Buck is running it and once upon a time he destroyed one of my favorite series of all time after taking over Dexter — I can’t help but enjoy what little I’ve seen so far. More similar in tone to Daredevil (Marvel’s best TV show and product overall), Finn Jones looks like he’s gonna be kicking all kinds of ass in Iron Fist and we even get a nice shot of him firing up a glowy super punch in this thing – which is wicked. Still no costume shot but hey – it took Daredevil an entire first season before he put on the red suit. Hallways stand no chance in the Marvel Universe.
#2. Black Sails Season 4 Trailer Gives Us a Glimpse into The Stunning End of a Remarkable Series
From Starz, creators Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine alongside producer Michael Bay comes the hit pirate drama series Black Sails. This series stars Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold, Tom Hopper, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Hannah New, Clara Paget, Toby Schmitz and Ray Stevenson. Season three has concluded and a final and fourth season will première January 29, 2017.
The beards appear bigger, the fights look more spectacular… What could you not adore about this trailer for the FINAL season of Black Sails. This is one of television’s most astonishing series and I could be sad that it’s coming to a bloody conclusion so soon, but then I remember that some of my favorite shows of all timecame and went without overstaying their welcome: Spartacus and Banshee are just a couple of shining examples.
#1. Ninjak Vs Trailer Brings Entire Valiant Comics Universe to Life
From Valiant Digital, Bat in The Sun and directors Aaron and Sean Schoenke, (Super Power Beat Down), comes the six part webseries Ninjak Vs The Valiant Universe. The show will launch in late 2017 and stars Michael Rowe (Ninjak), Jason David Frank (Bloodshot), John Morrison (Eternal Warrior), Chantelle Barry (Roku), Kevin Porter (Armstrong), Ciera Foster (Livewire) and Derek Theler (X-O Manowar).
Valiant Entertainment is finally in the big game and even though this trailer for Ninjak Vs The Valiant Universe is for a webseries – the production looks like a full scale feature. Even better – it manages to jampack nearly all of our favorite Valiant comics characters into a minute and a half of brutal action. I’m already in love with this series and it won’t come out for another year most likely, which pains me.
I’m especially stoked for the Bloodshot action we have, which includes Jason David Frank (The Green Ranger) getting a shot to the head and watching it heal – as well as a nasty knife THROUGH THE FACE. You can’t kill Bloodshot dude – but it looks like Ninjack is trying his damndest. The Bat in The Sun production company knows how to do spectacular hero vs hero action and I’m impressed with what they’ve pulled off in this trailer. This is the Valiant Comic Universe brought to life – the costumes are all straight from the pages and even though it’s fleeting – you get a shot of X-O Manowar in this thing too. It’s amazing – easily – THE highlight of NYCC 2016.