SDCC 50 day 3 kicks off pretty early for my friends and me on Friday. We decide that we’re going to separate for some of the day with the girls doing their own thing while Jake and I attempt to brave the line of Hall H for Conversation With The Russo Brothers panel at 11 AM. It was fitting that this would be Jake’s first panel since he’s a huge comic book fan but an even bigger fan of what the Russo Bros have done with the Marvel films beginning with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The question was: would we actually get in?
We arrived at the same time as I did for the Terminator: Dark Fate panel the day before, which was also in Hall H. This proved to be a bit of a poor decision because the turn out for this one was immensely bigger than Thursday’s kick-off. A part of me was naive to think that most people wouldn’t want to hear the director’s talk but I think any taste of the MCU experience was what this crowd was craving.
The panel started at 11 AM and at 11:10, we still aren’t in the room and the line is at a halt. Jake wonders if we should bail and do another panel but I decide lets wait it out for ten more minutes and just decide from there. Thankfully it was smart to wait because suddenly the line starts moving and we are legit one of the last clumps of people to get in before they halted the line again.
The Russo Bros were already on stage so we did miss some of the panel but it becomes clear fairly quickly that we didn’t miss much. We asked people seated next to us what we missed and they said they just showed a long sizzle reel of what the Russo Bros had accomplished since joining the MCU and essentially different entities praising their contributions. Would’ve been cool to see but at least we didn’t miss anything crucial.
One of the first questions we could focus on was about The Secret Wars and if they would be interested in adapting that sprawling story for Marvel. Joe Russo says the whole series was read by him in a sitting at 12, and he loved it growing up while Antony Russo says his run at Marvel was one of the best creative times ever, and they would love to work with the studio again. When asked again about Secret Wars, Joe says a 6-film series would work best to tell that story properly.
The conversation then shifts to Avengers: Endgame’s massive box office (the next day it would be announced that the film officially topped Avatar at the worldwide box office). Anthony says the film is a cathartic one and a big thrill. James Cameron is an idol of the brothers, so to be so close to one of his great films is special says the brothers. I wonder if they had an inside track that they were about to not just be close to Cameron and his record but surpassing it?
A funny conversation then begins about who ruined the most takes in their experience making the films. Apparently, Anthony Mackie and Mark Ruffalo are the culprits for different reasons. Ruffalo gets lost in the moment while Mackie gets lost outside of it with jokes. When asked who usually nails it in one take, the brothers waste no time giving Scarlet Johannson her props.
It was then asked what was the most difficult VFX shot and both brothers agree it was the dusting from Infinity War. Joe said it was more that there essence was being absorbed thus the dust evaporating. As for a VFX shot in Endgame, it was the portals during the final epic battle of the film. They also said Smart Hulk was a task because they honestly couldn’t see how much it actually worked until weeks before the film was released. It really came down to hoping that it would work.
They were then asked which day on set they would want to relive the most and Joe says Robert Downey Jr’s last day of shooting was that day for him. It was done on the sound stage next to the one he did his original stage test on for Iron Man, and it was also the day he delivered the “I am Iron Man” line.
As for which films were the most difficult and least difficult to shoot it was revealed that Infinity War and Endgame were the most difficult because they were done back to back with very little break while Winter Soldier was the easiest because it had the smallest ensemble of the films they did.
The cool thing about the panel was that some of the questions were submitted via video by some of the Avengers themselves. Included in the cast video questions were Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman & Robert Downey Jr. Their questions were all relatively silly with the videos just genuinely showing their witty banter with the brothers.
Mark Ruffalo sent in a question for the brothers, asking them if now that Banner and Hulk have come to terms with each other if that means that if Smart Hulk is now the smartest and the strongest Avenger. Joe was skeptical, pointing out that a lot of people consider Tony Stark to be the smartest Avenger while Anthony made the point that people consider Shuri from Black Panther to be the smartest Avenger. No matter how you spin it, the moment was just another example of how much the crew loves to playfully not give Mark Ruffalo his just do.
Chris Evans also submitted a video wondering what the Russos thought Cap did first after returning the Infinity Stones and dancing with Peggy, as depicted in the closing moments of Endgame. The brothers were a bit divided on this one. Anthony suggested that Steve and Peggy probably made “trying to make a baby” as their first order of business which made the crowd laugh but Joe thought that Steve probably had to use the bathroom after all that travel which also got a chuckle from the crowd.
Tom Holland and Chadwick Boseman chose to talk about working with the brothers in other projects that are upcoming. Holland stars in their film Cherry, an R-rated drama about the opioid crisis and set in Cleveland that sounds like a true departure for Holland. Boseman discussed being cast by the brothers and then working with them on the upcoming film 21 Bridges, which they executive produce (some of us have seen that trailer…A LOT).
The last video question comes from Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. He asked about Tony Stark’s journey from his first press conference “I am Iron Man” proclamation in Iron Man to his final declaration in Endgame. The brothers went on to describe his journey as the growth that a occurs after a man is forced beyond self-involvement, to a point of sacrificing themselves for the greater good.
What I believed would be a by the numbers discussion with filmmakers, actually turned into something very insightful and it just drove him how much these guys have brought to the MCU. It’s pretty clear the films wouldn’t have made it to this point without them.
After The Russo Bros panel, we learned that the girls had popped into the Veronica Mars Panel in Ballroom 20. Jake and I decide to make a dash for it to see how much we could catch. Thankfully Ballroom 20 is close and it’s nowhere near an issue to get into unless The CW DCTV shows are on display, that’s when things get crazy in there.
The good thing about splitting up is that the other part of the group can fill you in on things you missed. When Jake and I arrived in Ballroom 20 the panel was well underway with the cast and crew already on stage. Kudos to Morgan and Erika for scoring great seats because we were relatively close for such a fairly popular show panel.
The cast in attendance on the panel were Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars), Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablancas), Francis Capra (Eli ‘Weevil’ Navarro), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel), and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, a newbie to the Neptune world who plays a take-no-shit bar owner. They were also joined by executive producer Diane Ruggiero-Wright and show creator Rob Thomas.
Morgan informed me that the panel began with the Kristen Bell exclaiming that the only reason that this cast was at SDCC that day was that the fans kept watching. Veronica Mars is the very definition of a show with a cult following. It didn’t run all that long on television but the fanbase is vocal which led to a crowd-funded movie in 2014 and now a revival series on Hulu. SDCC is the ultimate fan experience and their voices apparently echoed as Bell thanked them for keeping the show alive.
By the time Jake and I arrived had joined the panel, the conversation was about how this was a Veronica Mars for the next generation although it does respect the fans of the original series. Essentially the show isn’t about solving the next caper anymore but also about how the characters have grown. The cast and crew have grown older as well; it has been 15 years since the first season of Veronica Mars premiered, and both Bell and Thomas now have kids of their own. Both of them talked about how becoming parents have impacted them.
“My daughter was born in Season 1 of the show. Getting prepared to write this, I sat down and binged it with my 13-year-old daughter, which was amazing. She kept saying, ‘Oh my God, Dad, these things coming out of Keith’s mouth, you say them to me!’ It was great, it felt like I had written the show for my 13-year-old daughter. It felt really good.” – Rob Thomas
Bell also talked about how her kids impacted her decision to do Season 4:
“This show is a beast to shoot. It’s really hard. It’s really long hours, it’s really intense. I was hesitant to do that, with two young kids. I had to make the decision of whether I’m going to miss six months of bedtimes to put Veronica back into the world…it was a hard decision, at first, but then I was like, ‘No, you have to—you have to have this character, this superhero without a cape, out there as an example for your children.”
The big news for fans during the panel was that Hulu put up all eight episodes of the revival a week ahead of its initial release date (I honestly thought some fans were going to run out to find the first available laptop or TV to watch it on the spot). The final question for Bell was how long she could see herself doing Veronica Mars and she gave a very fitting answer:
“I’ll play Veronica until everyone in Neptune is dead.”
After the Veronica Mars panel was over it was already time to head over to the Batwoman Party hosted by “Buzzfeed.” Like a lot of parties at SDCC this year, it started pretty early but I’m thinking this was done so people could get a lot of time in at different arenas since there is so much to do. Erika opts out of the party so she can change at the hotel so Jake, Morgan and I attend the festivities.
The party was hosted at a pretty swanky rooftop hotel but before you were allowed to take the elevator upstairs, you were given your option of beer or wine from the open bar and a photo opportunity in front of Batwoman’s Bat-signal, which of course, we partake in. When we head upstairs we enter a pretty crowded rooftop party with a crazy view of San Diego and various flatscreen TV’s showing some of the Batwoman pilot and various sizzle reels from the show. The drinks upstairs were all Batwoman themed and all three of us had the “Batwoman’s Kiss” which color scheme matched the character’s costume. The drink was delicious but the black sugar rim proved to be quite a messy endeavor.
All of us also got temporary Batwoman tattoos (Jake was bold enough to even do one on his face) and we just mingled with people who seem to be pretty stoked for the series’ potential. I would say out of all the TV shows at SDCC that weekend, Batwoman had the most buzz. There were a lot of murmurs about it essentially taking on the mantle of leading the Arrowverse now that Arrow would be ending.
After spending a good three hours at the party we decide to leave and by the time there wasn’t a lot for us to do. There weren’t more panels we were dying to see so we decided to walk the convention floor some more. Jake bought a whopping $400 dollars worth of stuff and then begged me to hold onto his wallet so he didn’t go crazy in one 45 minute trip on the convention floor. Once we do our rounds on the floor, Erika meets up with us again and we decide to do dinner and drinks to cap off our day. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this but I want to give credit to the sushi restaurant we went to called Bang Bang which was by far one of the best sushi experiences I ever had. It was a restaurant/club that was the perfect atmosphere for the event and they even changed their video installations to incorporate comic book themes. We actually spent several hours there on Friday night and it was just a perfect end of the day, enjoying time with friends and just taking in everything we did that day. For me, it was seeing how happy everyone I knew was to be there. That’s what it’s all about.
