Forget Comic-Con, because geekdom's biggest movie event of the year took place this weekend -- and we have all the highlights from the D23 Expo to prove it.
The name sounds like some kind of futuristic multi-vitamin, but D23 is actually the annual convention for Disney fans, which means huge movie announcements from not just Disney but also Pixar, which announced two brand new films, and Marvel Studios, which dropped the convention's biggest bombshell during its "Avengers" panel.
To quote Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man: "We have a Hulk."
As you may recall, superhero fans were disappointed when Marvel decided not to host an "Avengers" panel at Comic-Con. Now, however, we know why: because they were getting ready to blow your minds at D23. And according to Hollywood.com, it's mission accomplished thanks to brand new footage (introduced by Downey Jr. in person, along with several of his co-stars) that not only showed the Avengers facing off against Loki -- the villain of this summer's hit film "Thor" -- but also gave fans their first look at the brand new CGI version of the incredible Hulk.
Marvel wasn't the only branch of Disney putting on a show this weekend, though, as Pixar also made news of its own by announcing two brand new films. Unfortunately, neither of them yet have actual titles, but thanks to ScreenCrave we know that "The Untitled Pixar Film About Dinosaurs," which takes place in a world where dinosaurs never died off, is scheduled for the 2013 holiday season, while "The Untitled Pixar Film That Takes You Inside the Brain" will debut in the summer of 2014.
And not to be outdone, Disney itself made waves thanks to Jason Segel, who was on hand to screen some brand new clips from his upcoming comedy "The Muppets." That was the highlight of a live action panel that also presented new footage of the sci-fi epic "John Carter," the nature film "Chimpanzee" and a trailer for "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," which was introduced by star Jennifer Garner.
More importantly for animation fans, though, Disney reaffirmed their commitment to traditional (which in this case just means "non-Pixar') animation by showing off footage of their new animated feature "Wreck-It Ralph," which features Jack McBrayer ("30 Rock") as a video game villain looking for a little pizzazz in his life. Best of all, the producers of Tim Burton's stop-motion film "Frankenweenie" were also on hand to discuss how the legendary auteur is expanding his classic 1984 short to feature-length.
Disney also announced a new straight-to-video spinoff of "Cars" called, appropriately enough, "Planes."
Muppets, Hulks and Frankenweenies. One thing is clear: If the D23 Expo didn't have it, you don't need it.
