8 of the weirdest things we've learned from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con
From John Barrowman's squirrel cosplay to Kurt Russell's celestial genitals
This year's San Diego Comic-Con was a smorgasbord of trailers, cast announcements and general geek nirvana – but among all the exciting reveals, a few announcements stood out to us as just plain WEIRD.
Here are just a few of the things we discovered from this year's panels that left us more likely to say "wuh?" than "wahey!"
1. Rihanna is going to play a character from Psycho
The internationally-renowned pop star is following up her acting debut in Battleship by joining the cast of Psycho prequel Bates motel, where she’ll be adopting the role Janet Leigh played in the 1960 Hitchcock classic – Marion Crane.
Yes, that’s the lady who gets stabbed to death in the shower, and no we’re not entirely sure why this was one of the few acting roles Rihanna fancied trying out – but Bates Motel’s producers had an idea or two.
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"We wanted to thrust the iconic role into a contemporary spotlight," they said at the convention. "We also heard Rihanna was a fan, and we were huge fans of hers, so it was the perfect collision of creativity and fate."
2. The cast of Sherlock played games to win a ticket to Comic-Con
At least that’s how they portrayed it in this special sketch, anyway, which also saw Lestrade actor Rupert Graves wearing a rather fetching pinny.
3. Ghost Rider has been demoted to TV
After making two blockbuster films starring Nicholas Cage as demonic motorcyclist Ghost Rider (aka Johnny Blaze), the character is being brought back – but only in a guest role on superhero TV spin-off Agents of SHIELD.
Of course, this is a different version of the character called Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna) rather than Blaze, but it’s safe to say it’s a bit of a comedown for a hero who could once headline his own movies.
4. John Barrowman is still the cosplay King
The Doctor Who, Torchwood and Arrow star has become known for wearing brilliant geek chic dresses at various conventions, but at San Diego this year he really stepped up his game for a series of impressive cosplays.
Should the best dressed award go to his Harley Quinn, Squirrel Girl, Kylo Ren in dress or Zapp Brannigan? We can’t pick between them.
5. David Tennant will play the Doctor for a fart-themed Family Guy sketch
You can watch the Scottish actor appear in 'Doctor Who Farted?' at around 1 minutes 5 seconds in the above sizzle reel for the US carton. Not quite the return for the character Doctor Who fans were hoping for...
6. The Blair Witch project is getting a surprise sequel
Well, this was unexpected – an upcoming found-footage horror movie called The Woods has been revealed to be a secret sequel to 1999 classic The Blair Witch Project, with the film’s true nature (and name – it’s called Blair Witch) revealed during a screening at Comic-Con this weekend.
And if you’re finding this story familiar, it’s because it’s an awful lot like what happened with Cloverfield sequel/spin-off 10 Cloverfield Lane earlier this year, which was only revealed to be linked to THAT popular found-footage movie a few months before release. You can’t trust anybody these days.
7. The new King Kong movie is more Apocalypse Now than Godzilla
We hope you love the smell of ape-arm in the morning – because Tom Hiddleston-starring monster epic Kong: Skull Island looks more like Francis Ford Coppola’s classic than any King Kong movie we’ve seen before.
8. Star Lord’s dad is a planet with a penis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
As it turns out, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Kurt Russell is playing the father of Chris Pratt’s character Peter Quill, and he's a living planet called Ego who took human form to explore the universe and later met Quill’s mother.
In a clip shown to audience, Quill’s teammate Drax (Dave Bautista) enquired as to whether that meant he’d had to magic himself some genitals, to which he replied “Yes, Drax, I have a penis.”
Films are weird.
