The Final big day of San Diego Comic Con came and went; and it was by far the biggest day yet. It wasn’t so much quality vs quantity – as DC and Fox were the only real presenters of the day – although these two giants showed us TONS of different projects they have in the works. From giants like Batman v Superman and X-Men: Apocalypse to the small TV scale of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow – and even the fun and crazy like Deadpool – this day had it all. So let’s begin!

DC Cinematics Panel – Batman v Superman & Suicide Squad:

Saturday was basically the day for DC and nothing represents that more than more than the completely insane trailer we got for Batman v Superman. Though it didn’t end there as we later got a leaked version of the Suicide Squad trailer, which LITERALLY looked insane. If you came into these films with any hesitation, these trailer erased all of that! So for an in depth look at the Batman v Superman Trailer and the Suicide Squad Trailer, please check out my linked articles on those. Because now we move onto DC’s other universe, TV!

DC Entertainment Panels:

• Arrow:

As the show that started it all, it’s fitting to start off with Arrow – although it was Stephen Armell who truly killed things off in his new Green Arrow uniform – that’s right, GREEN Arrow! New Suit! New Name! New City – officially renamed Star City! Though that’s not all you can expect this season since when we last saw Oliver he was driving off into the sunset with his love Felicity. So this season when we pick up, Oliver – and everyone for that matter – is in a much better place. So this season won’t be as ‘Woe as me” dark as last season. There will be humor and some laughs, but still the gritty rooftop show we love! This Season isn’t about who Oliver has ‘been’ or ‘became’ but rather who he is ‘going to become’ – The Green Arrow!

Though the fun doesn’t stop there! We’ll have more characters – good and bad – such as Damien Darhk, Anarchy and a new hero introduced to the Arrowverse – Mr Terrific! After these reveals we checked with each character and their journey through the season – for which I certainly have to point out Willa Holland and John Barrowman. While Willa discussed Thea’s journey, Barrowman reacted to each life event with the hilarious climax being when Willa started to talk about Malcolm coming into her life. For the rest of the panel, Willa even called him “Daddy” – usually to tell him to calm down when he wanted to offer Paul Blackthorne some of the ’outfits’ in his closet. LOL Seriously, you’ve got to love John Barrowman – he even had a casual Ras al Ghul ring made for himself when he’s not shooting!

Speaking of costume props, Diggle finally has his new costume and will have been leading Team Minus Arrow for the past few months when the show picks up. As Paul Blackthorne pointed out, Diggle seems to sulk a lot; but as David Ramsey reminds him “I do sulk a lot, but … I look good!” We have some early renderings of the suit as you can see above, but you might be wondering how can they fund all this. Well you could say Malcolm’s – and thus Thea’s – money, but also remember that Felicity is now the owner of Palmer/Queen Consolidated. Looks like Oliver has a “Suga Momma”!

• The Flash:

It was time to introduce some Speed to SDCC – or at least try to – and that’s where The Flash came in. After a look back at possibly the greatest first Season ever, we got a ton of hints of next season: Caitlin leaving, Barry regretting not saving his mother, and a mysterious new speedster known as Zoom! Faster than the Flash and faster than the Reverse Flash. Could the time paradox and wormhole cave caused a much more dangerous villain to be born? Seems likely! Though with new villains come new heroes.

As hinted at in the finale Jay Garrick will be making an appearance, played by Teddy Sears. In fact, a fun little Easter Egg of Garrick is how when Garrick’s helmet is thrown into Barry’s world its in episode 1.23 – which is the Comic Issue when Garrick and Allen first meet (#123). Patty Spivot (played by Shantel VanSanten) will also be joining the series as Barry Allen’s lab assistant at the CCPD. And finally, Wally West will also be joining the team! So “where on infinite earths are we going to start Season 2?”

 

Well Season 2 picks up a few months later and will immediately start dealing with the fallout of the cataclysmic event in the Season 1 finale. Just like how the Particle Accelerator introduced many heroes and villains in Season 1, the Worm Hole will bring heroes and villains from Earth-2 to Central City (ie: Jay Garrick). As for Barry specifically, he finds himself under a lot of pressure as THE Hero of Central City, but he knows in his heart that it was actually Eddie who was the hero and made the ultimate sacrifice. This will make early Season 2 Barry much more the lone wolf, fearing that anyone working with him could get hurt.

As for the rest of the crew, Cisco will be discovering more of the changes his body is going through – not puberty – and will have a big part in interacting with the Multiverse. Iris will become a more central part of the team and represent the heart and sensibility of Team Flash. Although it is Tom Cavanagh (Dr Wells) who has us the most intrigued as this season we will get to hang out with the REAL Harrison Wells – since Thawne was erased from existence! And as for our favorite lady Caitlin Snow, Danielle Panabaker is hoping just as much as we are that we get to see more of this ‘Frosty’ new character – yah she did!

• Legends Of Tomorrow:

Though now it’s time to meet the next installment of the Arrowverse, Legends Of Tomorrow! As for how this show will kick off, that will all be set up early on in episodes of Arrow and The Flash this season. For example we heard how there is a prominent Captain Cold episode early on in Season 2 of the Flash. Similarly, there has to be a League episode of Arrow where Sarah is brought back to life. We also need some time set aside to show Palmer isn’t dead, but instead just small – and needs to get unshrunken. All of these moments will serve to set up the chess board for Legends of Tomorrow just as brilliantly as Arrow set up for The Flash 2 Seasons ago. This will all culminate in the yearly Arrow/ The Flash crossover episode, which will directly cause Legends of Tomorrow to come on during the MidSeason.

The only new piece of the puzzle that has to be added is Hawkgirl, but she’ll get her own story told through the season – along with an appearance or two from Hawkman! Though even beyond new characters, we’ll have new dynamics as Palmer adjusts to ‘Team-Life’. Similarly, as we saw with Thea, those who enter the Lazarus Pit aren’t necessarily the ones who come out. As Caity Lotz points out Sarah was always a little unhinged so who comes out of the Pit might be even more vicious. And on that note, Captain Cold and Heat Wave will have to find their groove as they’re forced to work together but aren’t exactly the most altruistic of people.

As for the show as a whole, with time travel involved they’re allowed to use all the crazy ideas they never got to use in Arrow and The Flash. This will especially become important as we see our Legends not tip-toe through time, but rather bust through different time zones and see if they’ve caused just as much damage as the series villain Vandal Savage! In short, they plan on making this show as radically different from The Flash and Arrow and The Flash was from Arrow when it first premiered. 

• Vixen:

Now it might not be Live-Action, but the new Animated series from DC Entertainment Vixen is just as much Canon as any of the other shows. In fact, Stephen Amell, Grant Gustin, Emily Bett Rickards and Carlos Valdes will all lend their voices to this show. But what about the lead heroine herself – Vixen. Well Vixen will be voiced by Megalyn Echikunwoke, and in case Vixen ever needs to cross over into the Live-Action segment, it’s a good thing that Vixen is modeled off of Echikunwoke just as the other characters are of their DCTV counterparts.

As for the series itself, you can see from the trailer above that this will follow Mari McCabe in her quest to find answers not only about herself and her powers, but also those who killed her family and seek to use her mystical Totem for evil. The trailer is full of great alludes to the main Arrowverse series in how its confirming Mari as an external metahuman as well as uses the Arrowverse love of ’52 Easter Eggs’ (ie: 52 Million Dollar Question – New 52 Comic Series which the Arrowverse draws from a lot). With Super Speed, Super Strength and Super perservence, Vixen looks like the perfect addition to the Arrowever. And if they need to do this animated series-wise to get the job done for now – considering they’re already doing 3 mega live-action shows – then so be it! Expect Vixen to come along sometime this summer – and as for where it’s placed within the Arrow/Flash continuity, check back here after it premiers on streams.

• Supergirl:

Even though the first episode leaked online a while back, Supergirl still flew into SDCC and just incase the episode didn’t make you excited for this new series, the panel did! Despite being on CBS rather than CW, there are still a lot of parallels to draw to the series, including how like Stephem Amell and Grant Gustin , Melissa Benoist was the first person to audition for the role and get it despite the 1000+ auditions after her.

Though even if you saw the Pilot and feel you know everything there is to know, think again. Additional villains were announced for the season, such as Livewire. Further more, Maxwell Lord was revealed as his actor Peter Facinelli – aka Carlisle Cullen from Twilight – took the stage. The panel ended with them showing the Pilot once again – which you can find the Supergirl Pilot Episode Analysis and Easter Eggs article here – ;but you can all watch it when Supergirl comes to CBS in October

Fox Panels:

• Deadpool

Well the main attraction of the Fox Panel was Deadpool by far – sorry X-Men I’ll get to you in a second. In fact, the Deadpool trailer itself might have been the most well received trailer at Comic Con this year. The trailer was of course leaked – but I’m sure it’ll be taken down before long – so if you want to check out what happened or see some screenshots, head on over to my Deadpool Trailer Analysis/Recap.

Though the Deadpool panel was just as enjoyable as the trailer itself in that Reynold is ACTUALLY Deadpool. He even went so far as to horribly mock not only the past incarnation of Deadpool in the Wolverine film; but even mocked his role as Green Lantern that one time. Throw in some Horse-Sex jokes and Joey Lawrence love and you have possible the funniest and randomest panel yet. But overall the main take away the panel wanted to us is “Thank you”, HUGE thank to everyone who bent the Studios arm to make this happen. Though don’t take my word for it, you can watch the Panel below thanks to Flicks & The City.

• X-Men: Apocalypse:

Not to be outdone though, the X-Men panel was full of emotional hellos and goodbyes – even before they got to the X-Men: Apocalypse stuff. To kick things off, Hugh Jackman came out quickly to thank everyone involved in the Wolverine and X-Men films, as well as to announce that the next Wolverine film would be his last time putting on the claws. As if that didn’t hit you in the feels enough, Jackman then brought out Bryan Singer to recount how he got the role of Wolverine almost 16 years ago. *dries eyes*

Though now it’s time for the real focus of this Panel, and that was X-Men: Apocalypse and how it will close out the First Class trilogy of X-Men films. X-Men: Apocalypse will take place 10 years after Days Of Future Past and – as we assumed from the DOFP – follows a completely different time stream than the original ones. It’s now the 80s and the world has already accepted and embraced Mutants thanks to Raven’s (Mystique’s) heroism. Each character in the film finds themselves in different places. For starters, Mystique is now back to being Raven (which of course sides her with Xavier more). Magneto will of course remain the ‘misguided hero/villain’, but the film will begin with him largely having settled down and “hung up his cape” – until he gets drawn back in.

Apocalypse is going to change a lot of things and he’s basically awoken because the time stream is so changed. It seems as though he will try to cause this unrest and fighting once again, and to do so he will need his Horsemen – which have been revealed to be Magneto, Storm, Angel and Psylocke. Some footage was shown but it was PRE-effects and only represents about 5 weeks of shooting, but still portrayed the dark and mysterious tone this film is going for. Although as I hinted at above, Deadpool still won the trailer battle as even Nicholas Hoult (Beast) couldn’t take his mind off it.

And so ends another awesome San Diego Comic Con! Hope you enjoyed my daily Highlight – SDCC Day 1 & SDCC Day 2 as well – and stay tuned here for more closer looks and detailed analyses of your favorite stuff. Thanks again and see you all soon!

*Special Thanks to Flicks And The City for providing the Panel streams for this article*