Suvudu Universe

Quick as it came, the San Diego Comic-Con is now behind us.  While there was plenty of things shown at the event for fans to digest, there were some notable absences as well this year.  Rumors had been swirling for months about what would be showcased, and now that the event’s over I was surprised at some of the no-shows.  

I can’t honestly say I’m disappointed that these things below didn’t make an appearance at SDCC.  We got some awesome stuff, and saw more on some projects than anyone expected (Mad Max, Batman v. Superman teaser, Godzilla 2).  Still, I can’t help but feel a little saddened, if only because I’m looking forward to some of these so much.  It’s important to take this article as such.  It’s not meant to be negative, nor do I feel like SDCC was a “failure” (as some fanboys are calling it) because these things didn’t pop up.  

Let’s face it folks, SDCC isn’t the ONLY place out there for movie studios to show off.  If it were, Cinelinx and many other websites would be really bored throughout the rest of the year….Anyway, below you’ll find my list of the most “surprising” no-shows at this year’s SDCC and why I can’t believe they didn’t get a mention.  

Jurassic World

I know that this is a VFX heavy film (we’re talking CGI dinosaurs here), but they’ve made no secret of the fact that they’ve been using a hefty dose of animatronics in their filming as well.  So why wasn’t anything shown.  Even an official still shot of the new dinosaur, which we’ve only seen concept art so far, would have been fairly exciting.  Jurassic World is a big franchise return that’s coming next Summer, and many are interested in it...yet it wasn’t even mentioned in either the Universal or Legendary Pictures panels.  

What made this most surprising, is that they seemed to be gearing up towards talking about it at SDCC.  They had a truck driving around the convention (with a big Jurassic World decal on it), dishing out those sexy art posters for the film and they were auctioning off a giant T-Rex head for some lucky (rich) fan.  Just seems kind of odd that they’re willing to talk about what monsters we’ll be seeing in Godzilla 2 (which likely won’t hit until 2017 or 2018) but can’t show us anything or even make mention of a film coming out less than a year from now?  Strange. 

Star Wars Movies

Star Wars certainly had a massive presence at this year’s Comic-Con, and to say otherwise is folly.  We got new information on Star Wars Rebels which included a swanky new trailer, a new book was announced, and three new Marvel comic books were also revealed.  Not to mention a ridiculous amount of new toys they revealed (all of which made my wallet hurt in anticipation), so yeah, Star Wars was in full force this year and I’m totally fine with that.  

Sadly, however, Episode VII was a total no-show.  It’s not entirely surprising, however, given the film isn’t coming until December 2015 and they’ve been awfully secretive regarding the film (though everyone is starting to get tired of it).  Something from Episode VII would have been great to hear.  Even if it were nothing more than an official title, fans would have gone nuts.  By the same token, some information on the first spin-off film would have been nice as well. 

I can see why nothing happened, because they didn’t want anything else to overshadow Star Wars Rebels (which is debuting in just a couple months).  It’s a bummer, nonetheless, however as many fans are growing tired of the mystery box and the severe lack of pertinent information.  Hopefully they won’t leave us in the dark much longer, but one can never tell with Abrams.  We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.  

Justice League/DC’s Future Films

Oddly enough, considering the HEAVY amount of rumors, Warner Bros. was strangely silent regarding their upcoming slate of DC universe films.  A couple months ago a rumor hit the net detailing WB’s plans for multiple films over the next few years, with the caveat that this reveal was all part of WB’s reveal for SDCC...Yet we didn’t get any of it.  

Sure, they brought the house down with the Wonder Woman reveal and even that sweet teaser trailer (which I’m praying they release at some point), but other than that, we got no hint of their future plans.  Perhaps the “leak” of their line-up of films caused them to wait and not discuss them at Comic-Con, but considering some of those films would be coming up shortly, you’d think they would want to talk about them soon.  

Not to mention The Rock has been teasing Shazam for a while now and the day before the Con, even said an announcement would happen soon.  We all expected that to be revealed during WB’s panel along with official casting announcements for the other major superheroes.  It’s hard to complain, since we got something unexpected (BvS footage), but something Justice League related would have been nice.  

Marvel’s Massive Slate

Marvel brought some goods to Comic-Con this year, and showed footage from Age of Ultron that seemed to blow everyone away (including shots of Hulkbuster and everything).  Ant-Man also got some details and information with the cast on hand talking about the upcoming film.  Yet Marvel remained mum on all of their other upcoming films that they’ve scheduled release dates for.  

The week before SDCC, Marvel dropped a bombshell by announcing release dates for films leading all the way up to 2019 (and then another one when ).  Many people assumed that by announcing all this before the Con, they’d announce what a couple of those films would be.  Many assumed Doctor Strange would at least be given one of those dates, since it has a director attached and likely is the next Phase 3 movie after Ant-Man.  Nope, nada.  Not even an announcement on who will be playing the Sorcerer Supreme in the film.   

It’s understandable that Marvel wanted to focus on Age of Ultron (being that’s the biggest thing they have coming up soon), but it seems odd to announce so many release dates, but not give us any clue as to which films will be attached to them.  It felt like they were using pre-SDCC time to gear up for some big announcements, but they didn’t. 

Fantastic Four/X-Force

I can’t honestly say I’m surprised that nothing was on display from these films, but I am a little worried.  For one, X-Force was announced last Summer with Jeff Wadlow attached to write the script and potentially direct the film.  Since then, however, all has gone quiet on that front.  With the success of Days of Future Past and Apocalypse on the horizon, there’s been rumblings that X-Force has been pushed back to account for more X-Men related films.  It’s absence at SDCC this year makes me think this might be the case, and I’m bummed about it (I’m ready for something different from Fox with the mutants).  

The upcoming Fantastic Four reboot seems to be off on the wrong foot.  All the press that comes out for this film seems to do nothing but upset fans and make people question whether or not they need this film to be made.  Seems like the Con would have been a great way for Fox to show people they know what they’re doing.  While Simon Kinberg told people FF wouldn’t be there because they wanted something “really good” to show people, I can’t help but think a shot of them all suited up (except for a CGI the Thing), would have helped a lot.  

There are still plenty of events coming up in the next few months for these films to make an appearance (or even doing so on their own time), so there’s still hope we can learn more in the near future about them.  While we may be bummed that they didn’t show up, we can’t abandon all hope. 

These are my pics for the most surprising no-shows at the Con, now it’s time to share yours.  Were you expecting/hoping for something to be there that wasn’t?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!  

-Jordan

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