Comic-Con Day 4: From 'Chuck' to 'Iron Man 2'

Normal 0 SAN DIEGO - "Lost" and "Iron Man 2" had the places of honor in Hall H, where the most anticipated productions and fan favorites (although I'm sure some would debate the latter) begin and end the day. 

I love "Lost," and though it is entering its last season, I chose to go to the "Chuck" panel in Ballroom 20 instead. The feeling is, "Lost" doesn't need my support, but "Chuck" needed a fan campaign and a sponsor to save it from cancellation. At a party Friday, Yvonne Strahovski (the lovely Sarah Walker on "Chuck") said that filming would begin in August and the show would  be back in March, but co-creator Josh Schwartz said at the panel it might be back "sooner than has been reported." I can't wait. 

The panel opened with a video of Schwartz, Chris Fedak and star Zachary Levi sitting in an office and learning that the show had indeed been saved, but then they reveal that they have no new ideas from the point where "Chuck" left off in season 2 - the better to pretend to write down every suggestion the fans made during the Q&A. 

After the video came a live performance by Jeffster - cast members Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky - rocking out on Queen's "Fat-Bottomed Girls." As impressive an entertainer and showman as Robert Downey Jr. was at both the "Sherlock Holmes" and "Iron Man 2" panels, nothing at Comic-Con was more fun than Jeffster and the appreciative cast and execs of "Chuck." 

After the panel, it was back in line for Hall H for almost two hours in the hot sun. (I think my sunburn may actually turn into a tan for once!) Before "Iron Man," the big panels with exclusive footage were for "Solomon Kane," based on the stories by Robert E. Howard ("Conan"); the Mike Judge comedy "Extract," with Jason Bateman and the seemingly ever-present Mila Kunis ("Family Guy" and "Book of Eli"), who seemed very comfortable coping with the adoring guys in the crowd; "Zombieland," which stars "Adventureland's Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson in a bloody good time with a "Shaun of the Dead" vibe; Roland Emmerich's latest disaster film, "2012"; and, finally, "Iron Man 2." 

For the Marvel Studios' second venture into the Iron Man story, the panel began a lot like the "Chuck" panel, with a tame video that director Jon Favreau said was the only footage available for the movie, due next summer. Then Downey wandered onto the stage, called the footage b.s., lead the crowd in "Happy Birthday" to Favreau's son, and then the real clips began, beginning with Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury calling out Downey's Tony Stark on his lone-wolf ways. That's a theme that will carry throughout the second film in the series, which adds Don Cheadle (replacing Terrence Howard), Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell. 

Downey said of Rourke, "And I thought I was eccentric," then sent Rourke's apologies for being tied up elsewhere. The star of "The Wrestler" has a Russian accent to play Whiplash, so he went to Russia to research it - in a Russian prison, Favreau said. 

The footage wasn't quite as exciting as two years ago, when the team was working with an origins story. This time around, the conflicts go deep within Stark and Cheadle's Jim Rhodes, a military man and Stark's good friend. Cheadle gets to don the War Machine suit this time around. 

I'll write more about all things Comic-Con during the next few days, when I'm visiting L.A. and getting ready to return and switch off my geek brain and switch on the real world as the Post-Gazette gears up for the G20. 

Pittsburgh should give the folks in San Diego a call about handling the influx of tens of thousands of people in a concentrated place for a few days. Then again, there are no protestors here, and everyone is pretty patient about the crowds and long waits. It's a pain, but there's usually a big payoff - in stars and entertainment -- at the end of the line.