Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2010

IRON FIST Will Return for Season 2 on Netflix

It’s official, Fanny Rands (which is what I assume diehard Iron Fist fans call themselves): Marvel’s Iron Fist will return for a second season on Netflix. Marvel’s head of television Jeph Loeb made the announcement during Friday’s Defenders San Diego Comic-Con panel, which also saw a surprise appearance from Jon Bernthal to showcase a first-look at Netflix’s Punisher TV series.

During the panel, Loeb revealed that season 2 would see martial arts master Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) and detective Misty Knight (Simone Missick) teaming up to presumably kick ass and take names. This should come as welcome news to fans of show, many of whom lauded Jessica Henwick’s performance as Colleen Wing as one of the series’ high water marks. However, this should be even better news for fans of the comics as this could portend the arrival of the Daughters of the Dragon, a spin-off comic series from Marvel Comics in the early 1970s that featured the dynamic duo as a detective agency.

Everything you need to know about Iron Fist’s history

Iron Fist tells the story of Danny Rand, who survived a plane crash and witnessed the murder of his parents in the Himalayan mountains. Stranded and freezing to death, he was taken to the mystical city of K’un-Lun where he was trained to become a master of martial arts for 15 years. Imbued with the incredible power of the mystical Iron Fist, Rand returns to New York to seek the truth behind his parents’ murder and reclaim his family’s company. However, when he returns to New York City, he finds himself torn between his past and his future, his duty as an heir to his family’s empire and his responsibility as a burgeoning superhero.

Finn Jones will appear as Danny Rand/Iron Fist next in Marvel’s The Defenders, which unites the stars of all four of its solo Netflix series–Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist–to team up against a brand new villain named Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver), who is the head of an ancient order, which I’m secretly hoping is trying to take revenge on the Defenders for destroying so many hallways over the years.

The first season of Iron Fist premiered to mixed reviews from audiences and critics alike, and engendered casting controversy when Jones was cast as Danny Rand. Although the character was traditionally a white male in the comics, many fans saw Iron Fist as an opportunity to add a hero of Asian descent to Marvel’s ever-expanding cinematic and televised universe. Here’s hoping that the powers that be at Marvel and Netflix have taken the many constructive criticisms in stride and will use it to make the second season stronger than the first.

What would you like to see from Iron Fist season 2? Let us know in the comments below.

Image: Marvel/Netflix

For our complete coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2017, click here.

 

PREACHER Trailer Sends Arseface Through a BILL AND TED-Style Adventure

Even though we’re currently about halfway through season two of Preacher, that didn’t stop AMC from releasing a fast-paced trailer for the homestretch at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday afternoon.

In the first few episodes of season two, Preacher has ramped up the awesomely absurd action-packed nonsense more even that we saw the first year around. The trailer above shines a bit more light on what awaits Jesse Custer, Tulip, and Cassidy in their battle with The Saint of Killers and the mysterious dealings of Herr Starr, Lara Featherstone, and the rest of The Grail.

We also see that Eugene “Arseface” Root and Adolph Hitler (played by Noah Taylor) will get more screen time as they begin a very Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey-esque adventure to escape Hell through its back door. Though we’re still very uncomfortable with Hitler being painted in any sort of sympathetic light, even if he is helping Eugene. Meanwhile, The Saint of Killers will meet up with Hell’s administrative branch (that’s probably the best term, right?) at some point this season and request an audience with none other than Satan himself.

We were already excited to finish watching the current season of Preacher, but setting everything to Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” has us counting down the hours to each episode. The remaining six episodes of season two of Preacher air Mondays on AMC.

What are your thoughts on this season of Preacher? Will Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy defeat The Saint of Killers? Will Hitler will double-cross Eugene? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: AMC

How Will THE DARK TOWER TV Series Connect to the Movie?

The Dark Tower may not be hitting theaters until August but we’ve journeyed to the depths of Mid-World and beyond to bring you the latest details about the hotly anticipated Stephen King adaptation. While at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Nerdist sat down with The Dark Tower director Nikolaj Arcel, who gave us the inside scoop on how the feature film adaptation will tie into the larger world and mythology of Stephen King’s magnum opus.

Arcel revealed which books in the sprawling saga The Dark Tower film will draw from and how they hope to expand the story in a companion TV series, which he is currently writing for and developing. The TV series, which will focus on the younger years of Roland Deschain, will allow the creative team to explore storylines and fan-favorite moments that they simply aren’t able to fit into the 95-minute film.

Speaking of expanding the world of The Dark Tower, no Stephen King adaptation would be complete without a few self-referential Easter eggs. While eagle-eyed fans have already spotted references to beloved characters like Pennywise the clown from It, Arcel revealed that there are loads more in the script, and even hinted at one that’s particularly difficult to find. What movie is it from? How will this burgeoning transmedia universe unfold? Tune into today’s special SDCC edition of Nerdist News to find out!

The Dark Tower opens on August 4, 2017.

What would you like to see from The Dark Tower movie and TV series? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

Editor’s note: Today’s episode of Nerdist News is brought to you by Tor Books.

Image: Sony Pictures

Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

New DUCKTALES Clip and DARKWING DUCK’s Return Hit SDCC Like a Hurricane

Anyone who has ever been to Comic-Con in San Diego can tell you it’s a lot like being hit by a tidal wave of humanity. But today the Nerd Superbowl was a lot more like a hurricane, because Disney XD revealed new footage from their reboot of the classic cartoon DuckTales.

“I’m back!” announces Scrooge McDuck (voice of David Tennant) in this first sneak peek. “Uncharted territory! Bold new discoveries!” As per usual, he’s joined on an underwater adventure to the Lost City of Atlantis by his eager nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie, as well asyoung Webby and the greatest/worst pilot ever, Launchpad McQuack. And while he might not know the names of his three nephews, Uncle Scrooge knows when they need to be reined in.

If you’re like us and grew up obsessed with this show and its characters, you were probably a little worried when you heard about the reboot. DuckTales is sacred animated ground. But then the amazing cast was announced (Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan, Beck Bennett, Toks Olagundoye, and Kate Micucci), and we felt better. Well after this clip we’re all in, because it has everything we want: energy, humor, and adventure.

Oh, and according to Comic Book Resources it also came out during the DuckTales panel today that the show will also see THE RETURN OF DARKWING DUCK!

We’re fine getting hit by a hurricane and tidal wave if it means more Darkwing Duck in our lives.

What do you think of this first clip? What about the news about our favorite superhero duck? Tell us in our comments section below.

Image: Disney XD

THE GIFTED Trailer Shows Us a World Filled with X-MEN

On Friday afternoon, San Diego Comic-Con treated us to the latest trailer for the upcoming X-Men-adjacent series The Gifted, which gives us a much better look at the cast of mutant characters we’ll see in the series.

The video above shines a light on the adventures of Lauren and Andy Strucker, two mutant teens who have to go on the run after Andy’s powers develop at a school dance. Their father, played by True Blood‘s Stephen Moyer, works as a district attorney whose focus appears to be the regulation of mutants in this X-Men-filled world, but (thankfully) knows that family comes first.

Along the way, the Strucker family meets up with a number of mutant freedom fighters that include Blink, Polaris, Eclipse, and Thunderbird. The trailer shows off all of their powers in pretty spectacular fashion, including green accents on Polaris’ magnetic powers and a pretty neat way of showing Thunderbird’s heightened senses.

This series will truly be chock-full of X-men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants references, likewise some Marvel character cameos as the show progresses. Even the throwaway joke made by Eclipse (he’s this world’s Sunspot in case you were wondering) about his girlfriend not minding being burned could be a subtle nod that we’ll someday meet Amara “Magma” Aquilla in the comics.

What are your thoughts on this latest look of The Gifted? What other mutants from the X-Men comics would you like to see in the series? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Fox

TWIN PEAKS Delivered a Funny, Spoiler-Free SDCC Panel

When it was announced that Twin Peaks was going to have a Comic-Con panel, we had a lot of questions. And not just of the “When will Dougie become Agent Cooper again?” or “Who the hell are those dirty-faced guys who show up just to be scary?” variety. No, our questions were more along the lines of this: “Considering David Lynch doesn’t like to spoil, or even talk about, what his own work means, what exactly will they discuss?” I mean, that’s kinda the case with The Walking Dead panels as well, but those can get by on gag reels and Robert Kirkman’s insult banter with Chris Hardwick.

Damon Lindelof moderated a panel that featured Don Murray, Matthew Lillard, Everett McGill, James Marshall, Kimmy Robertson, Dana Ashbrook, Tim Roth, Naomi Watts, and, of course, Kyle MacLachlan (who greeted the panel with a Dougie “Helloooooo!”). Alas, no Mark Frost and David Lynch.

However, the panel kicked off with a “mysterious message” filmed by Lynch, which had him attempt to introduce the panel while constantly being interrupted by things off-camera, like an assistant walking out a four story window, or a horse breaking things, concluding with Lynch yelling, “Your horse stepped on my cat!” followed by yowls and the director complaining he was being scratched.

Then began the discussion about how everyone came aboard Twin Peaks: The Return. As MacLachlan recalls, Lynch gave him a call and told him, “I need to speak to you, but I can’t speak to you over the phone about this.” Upon meeting, Lynch asked MacLachlan if he’d return to Twin Peaks, to which Kyle replied that he never left. Lynch then tried to reach McGill by reaching out to fans on Twitter, and one gave him the phone number of an empty house where he keeps some old cars; McGill happened to be there the day his old rotary phone rang for the first time in 20 years. McGill describes Lynch as funny and warm, and says it’s “womblike” to be around him.

via GIPHY

Dana Ashbrook was heading to a UK fan convention with Sheryl Lee when Lee got the call, and was given permission to pass the message onto Ashbrook. Kimmy Robertson, asked where she was when she got the call, simply replied “in bed.” Later elaborating, she added that when she took the call, she started sliding out of bed, and by the time she was done she realized she was under the bed.

Moving onto discussions of the show itself, we learned that some of the cast is just as in the dark as we are when it comes to the goings-on onscreen. Naomi Watts, for instance, was only given the pages of the script that she was in, and some of the lines were crossed out to boot. She didn’t even know that “Dougie” would turn out to be Cooper.

Matthew Lillard says he still has not seen the original series, but that because the cast are so lovely, he’ll watch it tonight. Asked to assess the current show, he replied, “I think it’s weird! Anyone else?” What’s more, his biggest fear was that, “I would have to do something horrible and naked.”

Lillard’s separation from the Twin Peaks fandom lasts even into the current series, as he says he’s been asked thousands of times about a date he wrote down in one of the show’s episodes. He doesn’t remember! But it’s not as though he doesn’t appreciate his role, saying–upon being asked to read some of his Twin Peaks lines as Shaggy, that he “can’t get away from that damn character!” and would rather be Bill Hastings forever. He did indulge fans with a  “Zoinks!” and “Scoob!” in his Hastings cry-voice.

via GIPHY

Don Murray found his role a real challenge because all his pages were full of dialogue with nobody else saying much. His actor son, Michael Murray (of Cop Rock, Don notes), ran the scenes with him 10 times each day, and while he was initially daunted, he calls the final product one of the greatest experiences of his life. Like the other actors, he watches as a fan, because none of them have read the other characters’ pages. On that note, MacLachlan likes to watch home, alone, with a glass of wine, and Watts has not seen any of it yet, nor has Roth, who want to wait until it’s done and marathon the entirety of Twin Peaks with his kids, telling the audience, “And you’re all invited.”

Upon opening the conversation up to fans, there were plenty of questions for the cast. One viewer asked why nobody’s worried about Dougie, to which MacLachlan answered, “I don’t worry!” and Watts said, “That’s Janey-E’s job.” Robertson explained that if you live in the suburbs and have kids it’s very easy to slip through the cracks and only say one word a month, “And what wife wouldn’t like that?”

Speaking on his scenes set in the Black Lodge, MacLachlan said, “I was very lucky that all I really had to do occasionally in the Black Lodge was walk backwards and sit down.” Lucky MacLachlan got to watch the other actors focus and struggle with backward-speak. He says those sets are very focused and there’s a different kind of electricity buzzing around.

McGill, whose Twin Peaks episodes have yet to air, hadn’t been in front of a camera in 20 years before The Return. He compared it to staring down a loaded gun, and you can’t B.S. it. The actor recalls Lynch’s “sharp edge” when he gave the director some pushback on a really long expository speech; Lynch sarcastically said he could help him with that by running down the hallway and finding another person to say the lines.

via GIPHY

Still, everyone seemed to agree that Lynch is a treasure to work with. Lillard said, “He has this incredible sense of joy about him… and he has this peace about him,” and MacLachlan reaffirmed how accessible Lynch is, and that he’s been spoiled by working with him so much.

“He really shows great appreciation for other peoples’ work,” added Murray, who says Lynch never fails to compliment his cast and make them feel good. Of course, he does has his sense of humor. MacLachlan told a brief story about how Jim Belushi decided he was going to ad-lib a line, which resulted in Lynch yelling, “Mr. Belushi! Do I have to report you to the principal’s office?!” through a megaphone.

Among the remaining fan questions were one about why Audrey never had a romance with Cooper–“Ultimately the writing went a different way, but ultimately [but] she was a high-school student [and] I think that had a lot to do with it,” said MacLachlan–and what it was like to film the sequences opposite The Arm. “To be completely honest, I didn’t really know what we were seeing,” said MacLachlan. “Why was I surprised? It was EXACTLY what I imagined!”

Lindelof closed by noting Peaks would be moving to 8 p.m. in August (presumably to avoid Game of Thrones conflicts) and plugged the Funko and Entertainment Earth exclusives. MacLachlan got the last word, thanking all the fans for being there.

Image: Showtime

Joker vs Harley Quinn Movie Reportedly in Development at Warner Bros.

Suicide Squad wasn’t exactly beloved across the board, but most people who saw the film agreed on two things: Margot Robbie was great as Harley Quinn, and the movie needed a lot more of Jared Leto‘s Joker. Well we say give the people what they want! And it looks like Warner Bros. and DC is going to do just that, with a spin-off that will pit the two love birds against one another.

Screen Rant reports that the live-action Harley Quinn vs The Joker (possibly just a working title) is in development to be produced by Geoff Johns, and it will be set in the DCEU. This movie would be separate from both a Suicide Squad sequel, as well as director David Ayers’ Gotham City Sirens which will also star Robbie.

While not sharing a ton of screen time together, Harley Quinn and the Joker’s twisted relationship in Suicide Squad did show us glimpses as to how it started, and what they were both willing to do to be together, including the Joker breaking her out of prison at the film’s end (and after she had just received her espresso maker!).

Could Harley’s brief experiences as a good guy be enough to get her to see the error of her ways? Or could the Joker’s mistreatment finally push her to get away from him? No matter what causes the rift between them, we’re all in on seeing them fight one another.

Warner Bros. holds their Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow, so we’ll keep you posted if any news about the movie comes out of it.

What do you make of this potential spin-off? Tell us in the comments below.

Images: Warner Bros.

R2-D2 MEGA MAN Mash-Up, Judy Hopps, and More Cosplay by Alston Stephanus

Alston Stephanus found his way to cosplay through his career as a fashion and accessories designer. After finding success with his business, he found he loved cosplay and has been developing as a professional cosplayer ever since.

He’s based in Indonesia and routinely attends conventions around Southeast Asia as a panelist and guest. He also makes regular visits to San Diego Comic-Con. He wore a brilliant Star Wars and Mega Man of his own design to Comic-Con that caught attention both at the show and around the internet.

R2-D2 and Mega Man mash-up | Photo by Maurizio Cortigiano

I adore Alston’s take on Judy from Zootopia:

Judy Hopps (Zootopia) | Photo by Maurizio Cortigiano

Take a leap to the gallery below to see more Alston’s impressive work. You’ll find him dressed as Hiro from Big Hero 6, Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and more. See all of his cosplay creations by following him on Facebook and Instagram and visiting his website.

Do you cosplay or take photographs of cosplayers? Then I want to see your work so we can talk about highlighting your creations in a future Cosplay Friday gallery. If you’re a photographer, maybe we could focus on your images from a single convention. If you’re interested, please get in touch with me at alratcliffe@yahoo.com and send photos you’d like me to feature—the more high-res the photos, the better. Be sure to provide credits for the cosplayers or photographers for each image because giving credit is good manners—bonus points if you include links to relevant Facebook pages or websites. Though I wish I knew all the nerdy franchises, I don’t, so please let me know who or what is being cosplayed.

Images: Maurizio Cortigiano, courtesy of Alston Stephanus

THE SENIOR CLASS is a Beautiful Animated Film with an Ugly Message (Fantasia Review)

The Senior Class is a profoundly frustrating movie. It charges boldly and with best intentions into the razor-sharp maw of a consequential, topical social issue, only to come up insultingly short.

Written by Yeon Sang-ho of Train to Busan and Seoul Station fame, and directed by Hong Deok-pyo, the animated film deals frankly with the love, sex, friendship, and confusion of students on the cusp of graduating from art college. In the vain of The Shape of Things, its main focus is Jung-woo (voiced by Lee Joo-Seung), a shy, sensitive boy who worships a girl in his class, making secret offerings to her in the form of a comic strip that says all the poetic things he can’t bring himself to utter out loud.

The object of his idolization is Ju-hee (voiced by Kang Jin-ah), the most gifted, prettiest, self-isolated girl in the class. She’s creating a complicated maze for her thesis project that represents the paths we face in life and the uncertainty that they’ll lead us where we want to go.

She’s also paying for the school, and an ambitious future grad program in Paris, by working as an escort at a private club. When Jung-woo accidentally discovers her secret, they begin spending time together, and he–after worshiping her–starts to wonder what she’s like as a person.

Their budding friendship has the patina of a romantic comedy, including a surface-level fight after he asks her to quit working as a prostitute, but the film is more interested in exploring young honor and shame than watching these two connect in a gross display of wish fulfillment. The potential of attaining the woman he draws as an angelic bird in his comics, though, makes Jung-woo both thrilled and terrified.

The clearest villain of The Senior Class is Jung-woo’s best friend Dong-hwa (voiced by Jung Young-ki), a blustering asshole who grumbles about debasing himself as an errand boy and talks non-stop about sex. The film’s opening chapter is dominated by his relationship with a dancer at a club he works at, which ignites because he wants her body and fizzles because he thinks she’s bad at giving oral. He chalks this up to incompatibility and not the fact that she was too drunk to consent, she calls him a rapist, and he spends the rest of the movie hiding from her and ducking her texts.

We get to see all of this play out, including the rape, but it’s viewed from the sidelines by Jung-woo who has made a virtue of being invisible to his classmates.

The drama unfolds with Ju-hee’s secret job and her lofty ambitions dangling like a double-edged sword above everyone’s heads. Jung-woo wants her. Ju-hee wants a career. Dong-hwa wants sex.

The Senior Class has to be applauded for its awareness of the kinds of sexism it portrays. It could also be argued that there’s a subversive element to a movie that offers up a narrator protagonist for our empathy only to recognize his White Knightism for a different, dangerous flavor of assholery than the one embodied by his best friend. It certainly could have followed the staid path where a female object of desire, given a name for convenience’s sake, is won by the Boy Who Really Gets Her.

The film is smarter than that, which is why it’s so damn frustrating. It’s like wrapping a diamond in toxic waste. The complicated sexual politics see-saw from refreshing to aggravating and back again because The Senior Class takes the form of every other movie where boy wants girl and the girl’s character is an afterthought.

Jung-woo is a young woman who isn’t at the center of her own story. She’s betrayed by the movie’s disinterest in her actual personality–one defined at all times by other people, selling us the snake oil of her attractiveness using shorthand, and changing her capabilities as the Jung-woo-centric plot demands. She’s displayed both as cleverly manipulative and as harmfully naive to create situations for Jung-woo’s emotions to emerge, and she’s either imminently capable or meekly helpless when the plot calls for it. The reason for these contradictions is that the filmmakers–like their Nice Guy main character–treat Ju-hee as an object and not a human being. They’ve totally forgotten to let us into her head.

If that’s all low level betrayal, the film commits treason against her when it uses Jung-woo’s panicked, jealous fantasies to give us extended looks at her having sex, luxuriating on her naked body, staring at an imagined version of her that’s pliable and enthusiastic, all in the service of the personal growth of some random boy in her class. Voyeurism and validation for angry young men.

For a bit of icing, the only other women in the movie are two gossipy classmates and the girl Dong-hwa date rapes, who may as well have been ordered from The Bimbo Catalog.

Even with flashes of conscience and the struggle Ju-hee must be facing, The Senior Class is guilty of all the storytelling versions of the real-world sins it seems to want to indict. A movie that recognizes the weaponized sexism against women, without recognizing women.

The animation is beautiful, but the plot is impossible to see past.

Rating: 1 out of 5 chaotic burritos

Images: Studio Dadashow

Get Ready for the Beginning/End of 12 MONKEYS with this S4 SDCC Sizzle (EXCLUSIVE)

There once was a serpent

Who only traveled one direction: always forward, never backward.

Until one day the serpent came upon a demon.

The demon cursed the serpent, driving him insane—

Causing him to eat his own tail.

The serpent was blind.

But there were those who could see;

Who knew the serpent’s true path.

So they created a weapon to destroy the demon.

They hid the weapon in the snake’s den, where he waited for his madness to end…

But it never did.

For the seers discovered that the only one who could wield the weapon was the demon itself,

And so the serpent was doomed to circle in madness. Forever.

Certainly, as far as maternal acts go, this mysterious poem—allegedly written by James Cole’s mother, Marion Woods—does not feel like it bodes all that well for the future of our favorite time traveling monkey-hunter. Though briefly glimpsed in the post-credits scene of the season 3 finale of 12 Monkeys, the poem is also at the heart of a brand new sizzle released on Thursday evening during the series’ San Diego Comic-Con panel, hosted by yours truly (hey wait a second!).

Thankfully, series creator Terry Matalas and the folks at Syfy let us borrow one of the Splinter suits in order to travel back in time and write this post up as an exclusive for our beloved Nerdist readers. Now how’s that for having one’s priorities in check when faced with the possibility of time travel?! Don’t ever say we don’t do anything nice for y’all, OK? We could’ve gone to the opening night of Star Wars.

Now, there are a few FAIRLY MAJOR things to notice here—and probably more than a few we haven’t even picked up on yet. But perhaps the most JARRING is the appearance of TWO JONESES:

Oh and what in the ever-loving HELL is going on with Jennifer Goines’ EYES?!

And don’t EVEN get us started on the insane Nazi business:

But definitely DO get us started on Cowboy Cole, the Cole-iest Cole to ever Cole in the History of Infinite Coles (because time travel):

So—anyone else FREAKING OUT about the final season of 12 Monkeys? Were you at the Comic-Con panel? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Syfy

Alicia Lutes is the managing editor of Nerdist, creator/host of Fangirling!, and obsessive 12 Monkeys fan. Find her on Twitter!