Warner Bros. calms fans with fun ‘Justice League’ footage

After “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” put the launch of the DC/Warner Bros. universe on shaky ground, the studio came back swinging at Comic-Con Saturday armed with movie stars, brand new footage and a sense of humor.

The 6,500-some fans in Hall H got a glimpse of never-before-seen footage from the superhero all-star film “Justice League” from director Zack Snyder, as well as the action-packed first trailer for “Wonder Woman,” starring Gal Gadot.

Snyder and the cast flew in from London to tease “Justice League,” which is currently in production and not set to hit theaters until November 2017.

The lively “Justice League” footage highlights Bruce Wayne’s recruitment of what will be the Justice League team, including The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa). Ben Affleck, who plays Bruce Wayne/Batman, hyped the film with his fellow cast mates, including Gadot and Superman actor Henry Cavill — putting to bed any lingering suspicions that his character was actually killed off for good at the end of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

The lighter touch in the “Justice League” reel is likely a direct response to the widespread criticism of the self-seriousness of “Batman v Superman,” and will be a pivotal moment for the studio in bringing together all of the personalities that they hope will also stand on their own, much like Marvel and Disney have done with “The Avengers.” Warner Bros. has 10 films pegged to the interconnected universe over the next few years including “Suicide Squad,” which comes out next month, “Wonder Woman,” “Aquaman,” “The Flash,” and the stand alone “Batman” film, which Affleck is directing and starring in.

To kick things off, Affleck was joined on stage by all of his fellow directors David Ayer (“Suicide Squad”), Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman”), James Wan (“Aquaman”), Rick Famuyiwa (“The Flash”) and Snyder.

“DC is the foundation of what we all know about comic books and heroes. To have my voice be a part of that is really exciting,” Famuyiwa said.

Wan, who made his name in horror films like the “Saw” and “Conjuring” films said that he’d be bringing some of that sensibility to “Aquaman” as well.

Neither Wan nor Famuyiwa had any footage to show, since “The Flash” and “Aquaman” don’t come out until 2018, but fans did get a first look at director Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman ,” which highlights the romance and World War I-era adventure of Diana Prince’s origins. The movie comes out in June of 2017 and will be the first time the iconic superhero has had her own film in her 75-year history.

“Knowing how many people care so much for this character ... it was important to portray (her) in a way everyone can relate,” Gadot said, seated alongside co-stars Chris Pine and Connie Neilsen, who plays her mother. Audiences first met Gadot’s “Wonder Woman” in “Batman v Superman.”

The baddies of “Suicide Squad,” out Aug. 5, took the stage too, including stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto.
“This is not a movie about good versus evil,” Smith said. “This is a movie about bad versus evil.”

It wasn’t all comic books and superheroes in the studio presentation, though. Audiences saw the first trailer for “Kong: Skull Island,” a 1970s-set King Kong story starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman and “Straight Outta Compton’s” Jason Mitchell and Corey Hawkins, from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts that comes out in March 2017.

“Kong is film history. Kong is where genre met mainstream,” Vogt-Roberts said of the classic character.

The studio also unveiled a trailer for “The Lego Batman Movie,” an irreverent, joke-packed spinoff of the breakout “Lego Movie” character voiced by Will Arnett set for February 2017.

Charlie Hunam was also there to tease “King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword,” which looks as frenetic and deadpan as most of director Guy Ritchie’s films, as was the cast and director of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ,” coming to theaters this November.

‘Wonder Woman’ trailer premieres

Warner Brothers gave fans a sneak peek at the upcoming “Wonder Woman” on Saturday, showing the hotly-anticipated film’s first official trailer at San Diego Comic-Con.

The preview opens with the Amazonian heroine, played by Gal Gadot, leaning over Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) after he has washed up on a beach.

“You’re a man?” she asks him, and he replies: “Yeah, do I not look like one?”

The teaser moves on to the brunette warrior -- alias Diana Prince -- moving away from the lush island of Themyscira into modern civilization.

Trevor asks: “Have you never met a man before? But what about your father?

“I had no father. I was brought to life by Zeus,” she replies.

After several action-packed battle sequences the footage closes with Wonder Woman meeting Trevor’s secretary Etta Candy played by Lucy Davis, who was Dawn in the British version of sitcom “The Office.”

“What is a secretary?” Wonder Woman asks.

“I go where he tells me to go and I do what he tells me to do,” Candy responds.

“Well where I’m from, that’s called slavery,” the Amazonian replies.
Warner was holding court in Comic-Con’s Hall H in a two-hour slot, with Conan O’Brien as host, to pull back the curtain on its highly anticipated slate of both DC Comics movies and non-superhero offerings.

Stars expected to show up on stage include Pine and Gadot, while Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne and director David Ayer are due to present “Suicide Squad.”

Next spring’s “Kong: Skull Island” will be presented by Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and John Goodman and there will be a first look at Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” with Eddie Redmayne and Colin Farrell.

Another of the most talked-about offerings of the convention will be Marvel’s Hall H presentation later on the same day, which should include an appearance by Chris Pratt for “Guardians of the Galaxy 2.”

Ringmaster Kevin Feige may also treat audiences to a peek at “Dr Strange,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Thor: Ragnarok.”
“Wonder Woman” is scheduled to hit theaters on June 2, 2017, focusing on a character who was introduced earlier this year in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

Gadot said at a publicity event for that film in March that she had never planned to be an actress and felt grateful to be playing a character her four-year-old daughter could look up to.

“I am so happy I’m going to be the one who’s going to tell the Wonder Woman story,” the 31-year-old former Miss Israel added.

“It’s such an important story... But I also think it’s so important for girls -- and boys -- to have a female, strong superhero to look up to.”