10 Awesome Comic-Con 2010 Moments

Adorable moppet Chloe Moretz confirms she is the World’s Smartest 12-Year-Old in a chat with Total Film after the Let Me In panel. How did she approach her toothy character?

“You think about the different aspects that Abby has,” she explains. “You have Little Girl Abby, you have 250-Year-Old Abby, and you have Vampire Abby. And the vampire is more of the devil inside the Little Girl Abby. At the same time there’s the old soul. So it’s like this three dimensional character that you have to portray in a two dimensional film.”

Safe to say we’re firmly outside of Twilight territory here. “I haven’t really seen them,” Moretz says. “Our film is definitely deeper and darker and grittier.”

Joss Whedon gets an eardrum-threatening ovation as he announces that he’s the man Marvel picked to head up their superhero ensemble.

“That’s not an official thing,” Whedon goaded during a panel with J. J. Abrams, before adding, “I think Marvel couldn’t afford a press release. So can I just make that an official thing? I’m directing The Avengers .” He’s ever-cool about it, though, shrugging: “It’s just a gig.”

Stating that he’s still working on (and reworking) an early outline, Whedon goes on to add:

“The thing that I love about it is how completely counter-intuitive it is – it makes no sense, these people should not even be in the same room. And that, to me, is the very definition of family.”

“What the fuck was that?!” yells Guillermo Del Toro, his voice booming around Hall H. “I wrecked my pants!” He’s talking about Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark , the horror remake that he’s produced starring Guy Pearce and, uh, Katie Holmes.

Don’t be fooled, though, the footage that we glimpsed had us equal parts shivering in dread and excitement. A dark and brooding prequel had a young maid lured to her death, and having her teeth hacked out with a chisel…

“I wanted to re-invent the story, make it much more contemporary,” Del Toro elaborates. “Part of what made it work is it’s hard-hitting, it’s scary, it’s classical, and the ending hits you like a motherfucker. If there are children in the audience, it’s too late.”

Shove Will Ferrell into any panel discussion at Comic-Con and it becomes a ticking time bomb of unpredictable hilarity. For the Megamind panel, he came out in full Megaming regalia – which made his appearance at the discussion for The Other Guys in just shirt, trousers and sunglasses look tame.

Until the Q&A session that is, when a pre-teen questioner got royally ribbed for fancying Eva Mendes not only by Ferrell – who screamed “Boner alert!” over and over at the top of his lungs – but also Mark Wahlberg, who told the young lad Eva’s “ready for him”. All fine – until the boy’s mother appeared at the mike and condoned such behaviour.

Then Marky Mark starts swearing in Hebrew, before Eva accosts another nubile young thing... Raucous stuff: a perfect panel.

Though most people attended the Green Lantern talk in the Convention Center’s infamous Hall H to catch a glimpse at new footage, it was Ryan Reynolds reciting the Green Lantern oath that got people in a tizzy.

Sat there wearing the Lantern ring, Reynolds began reciting the hallowed words on request of a young Lantern aficionado, and you could feel chills ripple through the audience… “In brightest day, and blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power: Green Lantern’s light.” Cue deafening cheers all round.

The complete antithesis of Star Wars ’ legendary “I am your father” jaw-dropper, this line uttered by a de-cragged Jeff Bridges in eight minutes of exclusive Tron: Legacy footage had our inner child whooping and screaming.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg. The near-complete scene from the sequel that we glimpsed showed Garrett Hedlund's bumpy entrance into computerland, replete with some of the most gorgeous imagery and scoring ever . “It’s very sexy,” Beau Garrett, who plays the white-haired siren already glimpsed in the trailer, later admitted to Total Film . No kidding.

While talking up her role in apocaflick Battle: Los Angles , Michelle Rodriguez is a giggly delight – as far removed from her usual muscular roles as it is possible to get.

But she reminded us that she’s still a force to be reckoned with even when she’s done up to the nines. Asked if she would ever consider doing a movie that didn’t involve shooting a firearm, she quipped: “Get raped and win an Oscar?”

Ouch.

The first trailer for The Green Hornet had us all a-quiver - but that wee slice of Hornet action was nothing in comparison to the footage unveiled at Comic-Con. Silencing naysayers, Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry put paid to the doubters with a near-complete 3D sequence in which Rogen’s Britt Reid is saved by sidekick Kato from a knife gang.

The crisp 3D is some of the best we’ve seen thus far, while Gondry’s distinctive visual flair is readily evident in some brilliantly quirky flourishes to what could have been a very generic fight sequence. Shades of Kill Bill (great music), Batman and Spider-Man here – definitely one to keep a pair of 3D glasses aimed at.

Comic-Con favourite Jon Favreau returns to the home turf where buzz for Iron Man was first stoked, and manages to cause a whole new shit-storm with some shot footage from comic adap Cowboys & Aliens .

“We planned this,” says Favs. “When I got the job, I said, ‘We’ve got to get something big and grand for Comic-Con.’ We’ve only been shooting for about four weeks. So this is not a trailer, this is just a few scenes I put together in the editing room. So let’s roll that.”

What followed was ten minutes of footage tracking filthy cowboy Daniel Craig, who returns to his home with a strange futuristic device strapped to his wrist. After being slammed in jail, his night-time transportation to the courthouse is interrupted by Harrison Ford who wants Craig for himself.

It’s at this moment that something comes soaring out of the sky – alien crafts – and the little Western town is laid almost entirely to waste. Eruptions, like, erupt everywhere. Then Craig emerges, and shoots one of the crafts from the sky using his wrist gadget…

This is gonna be good…

Chris Hemsworth tells Total Film that there’s no chance his turn as thunder god Thor will go to his head. Chatting with us after we've had a first look at the film’s thunderous trailer, he’s all about humility.

“Tom Hanks told me once that he doesn’t think fame changes you, it just heightens what you already are,” Hemsworth says. “I came from a great family, great parents, and had a lot of lessons in humility as a kid and appreciating where you are. We just keep pinching ourselves going, ‘God, this is cool.’”

He really means, it, too. “It was nuts, I kept thinking, ‘I’m on the wrong stage here,’” he says of being a part of the film. “[Working with] people I’ve been inspired by for years. To be up there with them is incredibly exciting.” God bless him.