Spider-Man 3 Footage at Comic-Con Panel!

The entire cast of Spider-Man 3 appeared at the San Diego Comic-Con to present some new footage and answer questions from a very excited, jampacked crowd.

First, they introduced director Sam Raimi and producer Laura Ziskin who were a bit uncertain whether to show some new footage, since a lot of it was unfinished, but the crowd quickly convinced them to do so, and they ran an exclusive extended teaser.

It opens with Tobey Maguire looking into a mirror and opening his shirt to reveal a black costume, with a voice over from Aunt May, “Uncle Ben wouldn’t want us living with revenge in our hearts, just like voices that take you over and turn us into something ugly.” The daunting title card comes on saying “All Will Be Lost,” and then the next scene shows Topher Grace as Eddie Brock walking through a church with a voice over of him asking someone “to do one thing for me. I want you to kill Peter Parker.” Parker also has what appears to be a nightmare sequence where he looks into a bathroom mirror and Venom is a brief flashing screeching reflection. (The movie sounds like it may be very dark, doesn’t it?).

The rest of the teaser footage went by way too fast to describe in detail, but we did see Harry Osborn in a black ninja-like suit swinging a samurai sword at Peter Parker and there were extensive fight scenes between Spider-Man and Sandman, which weren’t even close to being finished, but looked quite fantastic. There was also a little more footage of the new Harry Osborn/Goblin character, which Raimi explained later wouldn’t be called either the “Green Goblin” or the “Hobgoblin,” but it is Harry using his father’s Goblin equipment to get revenge on Peter Parker. (So that’s two people who don’t like Peter Parkerâ€¦ not to mention the Sandman!)

The footage ended with Topher’s Eddie Brock feeling something black and gooey hit his hand–obviously the symbiote–and it cuts to the very first image of the computerized Venom, who looks exactly like he does in the comic book if rendered in 3D, looking straight into the camera with his jaws wide open and drooling. If you’re a fan of Venom, you’re not likely to be disappointed.

Director Sam Raimi then introduced the entire cast of the movie, who showed up in San Diego unannounced in the program (though you read about it right here on ComingSoon.net/SuperheroHype.com). Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), Bryce Dallas Howard (Gwen Stacy), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman), Topher Grace (Eddie Brock/Venom) and Tobey Maguire (duh) all came out to the type of rapturous applause reception that the Rolling Stones must experience at every show.

They immediately went to questions from the audience, with a lot of it focusing on Grace, who admitted to being a fan of the comics, particularly the Todd McFarlane ones, and he liked being able to play a darker version of the Peter Parker character.

Everyone on stage seemed to be having fun, Raimi and Tobey doing a bit of a schtick about how Tobey lied to Raimi about being a big fan of Spider-Man before getting the part, and one poor fan wearing a large “S” on his shirt was heckled a bit, before Raimi quipped that he liked the “new Spider-Man logo.”

Before the end of the panel, they showed a few new images of all the characters new and old. Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane was surrounded by what looked like black webbing (though it could have been strands of the symbiote), Bryce Dallas Howard was simply sitting in a chair, Tobey Maguire had a very Superman-like pose with him ripping open the shirt to show the black costume. The two new villain shots were the most interesting, as Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman had his back towards the camera with a small child holding a teddy bear standing behind him (which will probably be a big part of his story) and Topher Grace was in profile with the symbiote covering the back of his head and starting to spread over his face. (These pictures should be available soon to those who couldn’t make it to the Comic-Con.)

Spider-Man 3 opens on May 4, 2007 and ComingSoon.net/SuperheroHype.com is sure to have a lot more between now and then. (Look for our exclusive interview with Thomas Haden Church in the coming weeks.)

Source: Edward Douglas