Culture Blues

Super Snarky Comic-Con Coverage: Day 3

They all think they're so special

So, Saturday was the big day. Marvel offered panels on Captain America and Thor, and then they brought the Avengers out on stage. All of them. And Robert Downey Jr. worked the crowd like the (formerly) drug-addled attention whore prima donna that he is. It was a historic moment for Marvel and the San Diego Comic-Con, as it kicked off a truly unbelievable two years of rabid anticipation and tidbit reporting to come. Christ, let’s talk about something else.

The Jack Sparrow video played earlier at Com-Con has found its way online and it’s exactly what you’d expect from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – charming, too long and ultimately pointless. Depp really burned through all that good will, huh? At this rate he’ll be starring in 21 Jump Street: The New Class in 2016.

Because no one can get enough of this

A truly landmark moment came in the form of the Street Fighter X Tekken announcement. The two major league fighting game franchises are teaming up for a joint game. Something that would have seemed like only a nerd fantasy years ago is now a reality thanks to the fact that fighting games are a dying breed in the narrative-heavy, arcade-less modern video game landscape. The marriage is sure to not end acrimoniously as Namco has plans to release their own version of the game (Tekken X Street Fighter, seriously) and I can already smell the geek wars between Street Fighter fighting game enthusiasts and Tekken button mashers (how else are you supposed to play as Baek Doo San?).

Finally, in DIY news, two brothers who run an FX shop and gave the world Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem decided that since Paranormal Activity was such a hit, they should obviously get 20 of their friends together and make a large scale alien invasion epic with no money. Great, just what the world needs, more novice filmmaking with CGI crowding every single shot. Look out Hollywood, once everybody is capable of making their own crappy movie and putting it up on Myspace, we all get much less interested in paying for your products, just ask the music industry.

Kind of a slow day as all anyone wanted to talk about was the Marvel panel. I’ll be back to put this whole miserable affair to bed tomorrow.