Comic-Con 2022: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and other big announcements so far

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ trailer has already made the movie one of the most popular things at the Comic-Con. The movie is an adaptation of the iconic tabletop fantasy role playing game from the 1970s called ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, which inspired numerous novels, video games, TV shows and of course movies. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, known for the hit comedy film ‘Game Night’, the film features a team of thieves with each representing a different class of character the players can choose in the games: Bard, Barbarian, Paladin, Sorcerer, and Druid. The trailer promised everything a ‘D&D’ fan would want from a movie set in this world. There is loads of humour, the story feels like a typical round of the game, the action looks well-choreographed, and the quality of CGI also looks good. But even if you are not a fan or haven’t even heard of the franchise at all, 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' should still entertain the hell out of you.

A new trailer for the most expensive entertainment production of all time, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, was also unveiled. The series, despite being called ‘Lord of the Rings’ actually takes place thousands of years before the War of the Ring on Middle-earth. It explores how the future Dark Lord Sauron got the Rings of Power forged by tricking elven smith Celebrimbor. True to its budget, the promos and trailers promise a lavish production worth JRR Tolkien.

This is a big, if disappointing, announcement for those expecting to restore the so-called ‘SnyderVerse’, or the DC cinematic universe overseen by Snyder. Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics and also a living legend, Jim Lee, said during a panel, “You know what's amazing, is we spent two years in lockdown, and here we are back at a convention, celebrating the artform, feeling good. I work on the projects that are in development. I think the SnyderCut was Zack's vision realized and it was a really satisfying story told, but there are no plans for work on that material. I was happy to help contribute to the pitch for the other stuff, and it was fun to see that stuff get out there cause I did that years ago. I actually thought it had been erased, but they had kept it in storage."

It is not even canon to the larger MCU, but ‘I Am Groot’, an upcoming series of animated shorts on the Guardians of the Galaxy member, is garnering a lot of attention thanks to the popularity of one of MCU’s most adorable characters, who is a tree-like humanoid alien that was first seen in James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ series of films. Vin Diesel will reprise the voice-role of Groot through his new adventures. And along for the ride will be Groot’s best friend, Rocket. Bradley Cooper returns to lend his voice to Rocket.