Joe is front row enter at Marvel’s Age of Ultron panel at C2E2! Keep refreshing your browser for updates as fast as I can type them!
Thirty minutes until the panel begins… The slowly is slowly filling up behind me!
Marvel Director of Communications Arune Singh and Editor Extraordinaire Tom Brevoort have arrived with a young lady I don’t immediately recognize.
Ryan “Agent M” Penagos is here, along with several well-known comics journalists whose names you would probably recognize. I suddenly feel completely inferior.
Age of Ultron artist Brandon Peterson has joined the group.
Time to start!
The mystery lady is editor Ellie Pyle. There you go!
Rick Remender is here.
Brevoort is recapping the story thus far…
Remender talking about his tie-in: Uncanny Avengers #8AU. Adam Kubert will draw the issue and it will tie in to the current Apocalypse Twins story.
Brevoort talking about the very limited number of tie-ins, due to the very quickly shipping main series.
Tom says they like to say the “AU” like “OW,” as in ” Uncanny Avengers #8 OW!” Like James Brown would yell it, not like when you stub your toe.
Ellie Pyle said a few words about the Fearless Defenders tie-in, and octal led one lucky fan up to read the issue early!
The creative team on AoU #8 is BANANAS. Bendis, Hitch, Marquez, Guice, Pacheco, Maleev, Peterson, and Quesada!
Peterson is speaking about the fun he’s having on the book. Brevoort “has some thoughts” about Peterson’s next project. Mysterious!
Arune: “How did you manage that huge creative team?” Brevoort: “It kind of looks like a car crash.” But seriously, each artist is doing specific sequences in the issue that will make sense.
Time to talk about Angerla. Who has “appeared in some other comics that we won’t talk about.” Angela appears for the first time in AoU #10, before moving to Guardians of the Galaxy #5. Neil Gaiman will co-write the entire story, not just that issue.
Very few words about Age of Ultron #10AI by Mark Waid and Andre Araujo. Or if you prefer “AoU #10 AIIIEEE!” Hank Pym will go through a very transformative experience “considering that he’s DEAD!” It leads to the new Avengers AI ongoing series.
Age of Ultron #10 UC?! They can’t say ANYTHING about it, not even the creative team. This is what that HUNGER teaser was referring to months recent Marvel solicits.
Time for a funny video parody of the “original ending” to AoU…
Agent M got to work out with Jake the Snake Roberts in the gym this morning!
Q&A time! “We’ll even answer your DC questions!”
Q: why the slow build up in early issues? A: throwing readers in in mid-story let’s the readers feel the confusion and disorientation the characters are feeling. The character stuff plays to Bendis’ strengths.
A lot of the folks in the audience are “not tin a rush” for Peter Parker to come back. ZOINKS!
Q: was Bendis’ Moon Knight a prelude to AoU? A: YES!
Q: will we see a flashback to Ultron’s actual attack on Earth. A: not really.
Some Hank Pym love… Brevoort is really messing with the guy. All of Pym’s greatest stories never happened because he was killed in the past. Brevoort: “Age of Ultron #10AI is the book for you.”
Somebody questioning Remender about the logistics of Wolverine killing Daken vis a vis healing factors. That’s hardcore. This kid seems pretty bummed about it. Remender and Brevoort: without real stakes the stories are meaningless. Nuff Said, True Believer!
Another Daken fan…SHEESH!
Q: what comic/character helped mold you into the creator you are today (paraphrase).
Remender: the issue of Secret Wars where Hulk holds up a mountain.
Peterson: Dark Knight Returns. At the Marvel panel? For shame, Sir!
Brevoort: Stan Lee “the best Marvel character there is.”
Ellie Pyle: Rogue and/or Jean Grey.
Arune: Superman. “I won’t see more because we’re in a Marvel panel.”
Q: why kill off Taskmaster the way you did in AoU? The fan thought his story was going somewhere. Brevoort (joking): “turns out it wasn’t.”
Q: why have Wolverine kill Hank Pym? A: he’s the obvious choice. Wolverine is the Marvel Universe’s “ultimate pragmatist. If you line up all the characters and ask ‘who’s going back in time to kill Hank Pym.’ Well…”
Somebody wants Wonder Man back in the leisure suit. Remender: “for you? Done.”
Q: where are the rest of the Avengers robotic allies during AoU (Machine Man, Jacosta, etc.)? Also, what happened to the Ultron from back in the day that had an epiphany and loved humanity? A: “his Commodore 64 Keats crashing…” There wasn’t a specific choice not to use the robotic characters, but the small cast implies that most of the other heroes are lost/dead. Plus, humans against machines fits better thematically.
Q: something about “Phase 3” of the movies, specifically Ultron, considering how the films are influencing the comics (big Thanos push, Guardians of the Galaxy return, etc.). Brevoort: “that’s a question for Marvel Studios but I wouldn’t be surprised if they get around to Ultron.”
Q: with Doom’s time machine being used, how does the “Doom Lock” from Peter David’s X-Factor come into play (meaning that Doom’s time machine doesn’t splinter alternate realities)? A: this is definitely the main Marvel U. No alternate timelines at work.
Side note: Peter David is recovering nicely. He recorded a video for tomorrow’s X-Men panel.
I’m falling behind, but I’m pretty sure Brevoort just said that Age of Ultron and Infinity are separate. One doesnlea have a cliffhanger leading to the other.
Sentry fans rejoice! The character will be back as a “Horseman if Death” alongside Grim Reaper, Daken, and Banshee in Uncanny Avengers.
Brevoort just used the word “synergy” in reference to Marvel’s stories influencing other products (ie: the video games, a Fantomex action figure, etc.)
That’s it! I’m already exhausted… See you soon for the next panel!
