LEGION Comic Con 2009 Panel

I was really excited to go to the Comic Con 2009 panel for LEGION, especially after seeing the poster for it earlier this week and reading about the story.

To reveal the first footage, director Scott Stewart, Doug Jones, Adrianne Palicki, Tyrese Gibson, and Paul Bettany were all in attendance.

Unfortunately, the footage didn't live up to my expectations at all. The concept sounds way better than the actual footage we saw and what seems to be the story. Instead of being a cool revolutionary Matrix-like movie with Angels fighting each other, like I would have hoped (I know I have high demands...), it pretty much looks like your regular action movie except that this time it's Angels doing the fighting. In fact, director Scott Stewart described it as a movie about "Angels with machine guns."

Now while it might have some entertainment value, I doubt that the movie will blow your mind, although I still want to see it, if only to check out Paul Bettany as the Archangel Michael coming to protect the humans.

Here are some of the highlights from the panel:

- Originally Scott Stewart got involved as a writer, which then developed into him directing.

- Adrianne Palicki revealed that her character, Charlie, is pregnant with the future of mankind and does give birth in the movie.

- Doug Jones got convinced to star in the movie, when they told him that he wouldn't be wearing a mask this time.

- The movie was shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

- Apparently, Paul Bettany desperately wanted to make an action movie. In fact, after shooting this crazy action scene with guns in each hand (sort of like a Terminator moment), he went "I was in the Royal Shakespeare company, but this is why I wanted to be an actor!"

- Kevin Durand, who plays the archangel Gabriel, couldn't make it to the panel because he is currently shooting Ridley Scott's Robin Hood.

- The tattoos that the angel Michael is wearing do have a meaning which is revealed in the movie.

- In the trailer, Michael cuts off his wings which also unlocks his "Halo collar" (which the director described as a "heavenly lowjack"). The Halo collar represents the hold that heaven has on angels.

- Scott Stewart also created a comic book for IDW that takes place around the same time that the movie does. The comic is called "Legion Profits" and comes out in November 2009. Scott Stewart revealed that there would be some explanation about the tattoos on Michael's body.

- And finally, they surprised us with the poster for Scott Stewart and Paul Bettany's next movie together: PRIEST, which they start shooting on August 24, 2009. Check it out here.

Legion comes out January 22, 2010. Until then, check out more pictures from the Legion Comic Con 2009 panel below.