Highlights from Saturday’s Avengers panel at ACE Comic Con Chicago

How Chris Evans, Lee Pace and Karen Gillan had audiences laughing till they cried. Fear not, no spoilers were revealed in the making of this article.

Vintage comic books, anime posters, tattoo stations (yes, with the needle), Funko pops, superhero jerseys, and “affordable” autographs. To say it’s “easy” to get lost in the fan-based hustle and bustle of ACE Comic Con Chicago is an understatement. If we attendees were honest with ourselves, we’d admit a panel or two was missed as we gawked, gaped and even drooled over booth merchandise. Luckily, Hidden Remote has the highlights for Saturday’s Avengers panel.

Chris Evans (insert cheers here), Lee Pace (more cheers), and Karen Gillan (and more cheering) took to the main stage at Navy Pier Saturday afternoon to talk with fans about their roles as Captain America, Ronan and Nebula in the Avengers franchise. While there were some truly heart-warming moments, like how Evans and Gillan agreed Pace’s birth was an impacting moment in both their lives, the interview was saturated to the core with hilarity and smart-assery.

The panel started with each celeb being asked about what it was like to first start taking on their superhero, and super-villain, roles.

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“In retrospect, I think it’s kind of similar,” said Gillan on making the jump from Doctor Who to Guardians of the Galaxy. “I worked on spaceships, time-traveled and ran around space for years…I walked on set for the first day with Lee and I realized, ‘Oh, this is just another bigger spaceship. I’ve got this.'”

Pace too felt the essence of familiarity with his villainous role.

“Ronan is a lot more like me than any of the other characters I’ve played,” said Pace. “So, actually, it was a big relief to kind of just…be the real me.”

Still, it took Pace some time to get used to the costume, becoming a blind and deaf deity.

“The first time I walked on set…I was painted blue, and was painted with the big black stuff on my face and I had to put pounds and pounds of costume on and then the helmet, which covered up my ears, and then the contacts covered up my eyes,” said Pace. “So you walk out on stage and you can’t really see anything or hear anything, then they give you the hammer and it’s like, ‘Go!'”

This is probably why, as Pace recalls his most embarrassing moment on set, he couldn’t get back up when he first fell over wearing the costume.

“I wish I’d saw that,” said a giggling Gillan, whose own most embarrassing moment was when her prosthetics would occasionally “shoot” off her body after action scenes, hitting crew members.

“Which is really worse for them,” said Gillan.

Evans, however, gave a very moving answer, despite looking about as bashful as could be after being called “the moral compass of the Avengers.”

“It’s tough because you have memories that are a little more shared and memories that are a little more personal,” said Evans. “I think moments even just like this, it really felt wonderful to hear. It was nice to hear some cheers.”

This, of course, resulted in another eruption of cheers for The Cap.

Evans added, “It’s the more personal moments, without question, the more intimate moments where you process that you are part of something that means a lot to a lot of people…Sometimes it does feel a little out-of-body-ish and over a long enough period of time, you start to feel connected to the experience, connected to the character and connected to the world.”

But the serious didn’t last long there, either.

“Man, I’m really killing this answer, aren’t I? I mean, I really butchered that. That was a lot of talking about nothing.”

Evans, grinning the whole time from audience’s unconditional praise, proceeded to pull down the lid of his navy blue Boston cap. The topic then shifted to what the process was like for how the three physically prepared for their roles. for Gillan, this included making a slight tweak to her normal Scottish accent.

“When I started playing Nebula, the director was like, ‘Can you do an impression of Marilyn Monroe?’ and I was like, ‘Uh, yeah…'” said Gillan, who explains that everything Nebula does, from voice fluctuations to body movements, stems from that one piece of direction.

“Which is so weird because that’s the exact same thing they asked me about Cap,” added Evans.

But it’s true Gillan really dedicated herself to the role of Nebula, not only evident through her stellar performance, but also through the actual shaving of her head.

“It’s very liberating to be bald,” said the actress. “Although, I’m really tall, so a lot of people thought I was a man.”

Yet as far as similarities go, Gillan says she shares very few personal characteristics with Nebula.

“Out of all the character’s I’ve played, this is the biggest departure from my own personality,” said Gillan. “I mean, I hope. She’s like a sadist.”

A few minutes later it was time for fan questions. Naturally, the line of well-over 50 people stretched nearly past the audience. Some of the most memorable moments being when Evans was gifted with a t-shirt reading, “I Don’t Wike It,” and when Pace, in response to the question, “What’s your favorite character line?” said he rather liked when Star Lord called Ronan a “turd blossom.”

It was also a thrilling moment when Gillan described how Nebula might kill Thanos, if she gets the chance.

“Abandoning anything that does or does not happen, I would like to take the infinity gauntlet, put it on, and then strangle him with it,” said Gillan. “Then say, ‘Bye daddy’ or something like that.”

Despite constantly apologizing for “terrible” answers to fan questions (though saying you’d like to someday direct a family film like ET is anything but terrible), Evans had high confidence with two question responses.

One, that Ronan is, as he put it, “kind of a dick,” and can’t hold a candle to Pace’s Thranduil from The Hobbit. Two, that while he can’t say much about the Marvel films of 2019, there’s a lot to look forward to, and fans won’t be disappointed.

“If Marvel has proven anything, it’s that they just know what they’re doing,” said Evans. “They haven’t missed a beat. Their worst mistakes are other studios’ biggest blessings. They don’t miss, and they have not missed with this one.”

What are some of your favorite moments and panels from ACE Comic Con? What are you most looking forward to in the next Marvel film. Share in the comments below.