Normally, San Diego Comic-Con is an event that grinds everything in media journalism to a halt. Since the meek did inherit the Earth (at least when it comes to blockbuster cinema), it’s a go-to forum for all sorts of wacky announcements — Marvel and DC basically put on their own versions of Apple’s WWDC, with a tinge of Wrestlemania to the proceedings — but it turns out that the con’s Kryptonite is organized labor. Hell, even the pandemic didn’t totally stop the SDCC train, but actors and writers taking up proverbial arms against studio bosses make it quite difficult to make the types of announcements that they’re famous for. SAG members aren’t doing promotion for their soon-to-be-released movies, and doubly so for movies that haven’t even started shooting yet.
After a weekend of patience and careful monitoring, here’s your reward: A new trailer for The Marvels that dropped over the weekend. Yeah, that’s about it. Sure, we could write about how Homelander from The Boys is gonna be in the new Mortal Kombat, but honestly, it ain’t Robocop or Rambo.
There have already been a dozen thinkpieces penned (and pre-penned) about how the eventual break between major corporations and comic-book conventions, and we agree with them, for the most part. The trend, at least in the world of gaming, is for the studios to do virtual announcements, á la Sony’s “State of Plays” or Nintendo’s “Directs,” leaving behind the costs and such of in-person promotion, outside of small, ingratiating appearances in person at smaller cons.
On the other hand, the growth of these events was a sort of Faustian bargain made with capital itself — once that money pulls out, it’s hard for fan enthusiasm just to sustain things at the same revenue-generating capacity: those Hall H announcements put butts in seats, and as much as we hope that the semi-pastoral dreams of nerds everywhere can come true, it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
But, anyway, here’s the trailer:
Here’s a synopsis:
“Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe,” reads the synopsis. “When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as ‘The Marvels.'”
The Marvels hits theaters on November 10. We’re gonna set that as the line for strike-related gambling purposes. Odds are as follows: -150 that the dual strikes will be over by that point and +150 that they’ll still be going on. And yes, we’re being pretty hopeful with those.