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SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2010

C2E2: MARVEL ANIMATION

CHICAGO -- The world premiere of a trailer for Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes highlighted Marvel Animation's panel at C2E2 on Saturday.

Panelists included Josh Fine, Joe Quesada and marketing's Arune Singh.

Following are highlights:

* Quesada said The Super Hero Squad Show has "been doing very, very well." Production on Season 2 is underway, but not far enough along to show any footage yet.

* Pre-production has begun on Season 2. An image of upcoming characters Bucky, Captain Marvel, Hercules and Zeus was shown.

* Ultimate Spider-Man is targeted for fall 2011, Fine said. "It's actually a pretty surprising show," Quesada added. "It's a little bit different than any other Spider-Man shows throughout the history."

* A fourth Marvel Knights animation motion comic is in the works.

* Scripts are coming in for the second season of Iron Man: Armored Adventures.

"He's got more armors, there's more villains, all the stuff you love from the first season, bigger and badder," Fine said.

* Fine called Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes "the classic Avengers show you've been waiting for all your life."

A teaser was then shown from the series.

It opens with a voiceover about four major super-villain prisons, followed by an apparent break-out. Nick Fury then warns Iron Man, "You can't do this alone."

A roster of the Avengers in action follows: Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man and Iron Man.

Among the villains shown were Whirlwind, Ultron, the Red Ghost, the Wrecker, the Enchantress, the Executioner, Viper and Loki.

Loki ends the clip by saying, "No one is ready for what comes next," and a huge chunk of New York is elevated."

* Designs of characters from other than the main team were shown, including Loki, Hawkeye, Ultron, Black Widow, Kang and several Hydra villains.

The floor was then opened to questions.

* A Marvel/Pixar team-up? "It would be spectacular to see, but it's still too early to say," Quesada said. "It's still in the infant stage."

* What happened to BET's Black Panther? "You will eventually see it," Quesada. "Those are sort of the inner-workings and dealings that I can't talk about in public. Trust me, you will eventually get it."

* The Specatacular Spider-Man's fate with Ultimate Spider-Man on the horizon? Fine said there will be a press release coming to clarify the matter, but it's a case of Spectacular being produced by Sony and the character came back to Marvel.

"Our goal is to bring Spider-Man back to animation and that's why we greenlit (Ultimate Spider-Man) as soon as possible," Fine said. "The hcaracter is too great to not be in animation."

* Will there be a Season 2 of Wolverine and The X-Men? "Unfortunately, we have been unable to work out financing with our financial partner, so it looks like we not be moving forward on Season 2 of Wolverine and the X-Men," Fine said.

* Why no Spider-Man on Super Hero Squad? "It's just a matter of oversaturation of certain characters," Quesada said.

Quesada noted the "lay of the land will change" in Season 2 of Super Hero Squad, and stories will be more cosmic. He added that Spider-Man probably wouldn't fit too well in those cosmic stories.

* How will Ultimate Spider-Man differ from The Spectacular Spider-Man? "I can't say much. It's too early. But the title takes on many meanings," Quesada said. "It's a different kind of Spider-Man show, but it's still Spider-Man at the end of the day."

* More Next Avengers? "Nothing right now in animation," Quesada said. "I do believe they will be making a guest appearance in a comic. (Brian Michael) Bendis is using them in an Avengers story."

* Update on Marvel's anime projects? "They're in production on them," Fine said. "They are well into scripts on Wolverine and Iron Man."

There will be four series, 12 episodes each, Quesada said.

* Is Bendis involved in Ultimate Spider-Man or will the series follow his run? "It's an amalgam," Quesada said. "Brian will be involved. It's going to be really fun. It's a bigger show than Spectacular in scope. it's going to put Peter Parker in some very cool and unusual circumstances."

* Fine said there is some synchronization with the live-action movies and the Avengers animated series.

"You will find Iron Man to be very similar to his theatrical counterpart," he said, noting that some story elements with the feature-film Tony Stark and the Hulk will carry onto the animated series.

Quesada said the actor who does Iron Man's voice sounds like Robert Downey Jr.

* Any discussions of adapting of Civil War or Secret Invasion into animation? "Yes, yes, yes," Quesada said. "We've had discussed it and I can't say any more about that."

"Some of them may be integrated into projects that are coming very soon," Fine added.

* Fine said the Avengers will "cover a lot of ground." "If there are cameos of characters you wanted to see, there's a chance you're going to see them," he said.

* Asked about Old Man Logan in animation, Quesada said Marvel isn't done with the character yet, particularly in publishing.

* Any creators attached to Ultimate Spider-Man? "We're already in the developmental stage of thh project, so people have been hired," Quesada said. "The bible has already been written."

Fine added voice casting has not taken place for the series, and it's possible Josh Keaton could be considered.

* Fine said there are no current animation plans for Deadpool, after the character's planned appearance in Season 2 of Wolverine and the X-Men died with the show.

* Fine said it's hard to end animated series with a big tease, and there have been discussions on how to move forward with those stories.

* Will the rest of the Ultimate characters be in animation? "Anything is possible," Quesada said, noting there are no plans.



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