Written By: Nick Poulimenakos

20th Century Fox is the first company to make an impact at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and they wasted little time as the first film on the slate is Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

The event starts with footage of Eggsy and an unexpected guest.

An Archer-style animation has Eggsy running across a rooftop. He jumps from one to another, grabbing a pole, sliding down. All this while he is wearing a suit, sliding across cars and through alleyways in London, eventually flipping over a table where people are eating and saving an old woman from getting hit by a bus, only to get punched. Ultimately, he arrive at the Kingsman suit shop. Inside, Sterling Archer is there waiting, complaining about the service. “The name’s Sterling Archer, world’s greatest spy.” They debate revealing being a spy being a good idea. Archer has loads of weapons on the ground, eager to show off the secret room. They pull a gun on one another. Eggsy challenges him to a drinking contest. Archer has already downed an entire bottle and then passes out. Eggsy decides he has to go check out America if this is the greatest spy they have to offer.

The panel is moderated by Jonathan Ross. He then introduces the cast and crew from the film.

A video of Matthew Vaughan appears:

“Hey Comic Con, I’m so sorry I’m not there with you right now, but as you can see I’m stuck here trying to get the film finished on schedule. First time I’ve done a sequel, very very difficult, but we pulled it off,” Vaughn said “I can say, there’s enough cool stuff in the first two rows to show you some footage.” They’ll start with the opening of the movie.

20th Century Fox logo plays. Then the Marv logo. “Twentieth Century Fox presents, in association with MAR, a Cloudy production…. The Kingsman story window comes into frame, focused on an orange suit, front and center, with film’s logo from the window. Eggsy walks out, suited up, and checks himself out in a mirror. A man asks to share the cab. Charlie Hesketh, a rejected Kingsman. Eggsy is surprised to see him. He pulls a gun. Three Audi cars pull up and Charlie insists Eggsy get in. . Eggsy opens a door and then fights Charlie. He throws him inside and tells the driver to punch the gas. In the car, Eggsy fights the man as music starts to play. He eventually tases him but it has minimal effect, if any at all. Eggsy opens the door and pushes Charlie out but a metal hand is revealed and saves the man. Eggsy fires a gun at him but they’re stopped by the metal hand. The fight gets crazy and Eggsy hangs from the door. The cars give chase. Eggsy gets himself in the car but is pushed out again when an Audi slams into them. Holding onto the door, Eggsy launches himself above the car just before traffic slams it off. He continues to fight the man but is thrown onto another door, whichhe uses to slide on as he holds onto the bumper. The Audis give chase and try to run him over. Eggsy pulls himself into the trunk and cuts through the seat and into the car. A fight ensues, again, this time stabbing the driver in the neck. The car is about to crash, prompting Eggsy to take cover, and see his enemy launched through the windshield, losing his arm in the process. Eggsy gets in the driver’s seat and presses a button to put the car into a mode which kicks off the hubcaps and slides it sideways before he drives in a circle and flees the Audi cars which have been chasing him. Charlie yells as they drive away. A gunman rises out of one of the cars and fires a turret at Eggsy. He phones home for help but is denied. A chase down the London streets continues. His speed rises as he zips down the streets, through traffic masterfully. Eventually, one of his tires blows, but he zips through a gate and into a park. Merlin gives Eggsy permission to fire a rocket at the cars. One rocket flies upward, splits into three, then takes out all three cars which have been chasing him. Merlin directs him to the rendezvous Swan. Eggsy arrives at a dock and Merlin directs him to drive the car underwater, despite not having a “wind screen.” Eggsy does it as cops approach, with the car turning into a submarine, allowing him to escape. The cops get out of their cars and search for him but see nothing as Eggsy continues to man the car underwater and into a secret entrance. The water is drained from the room and Egsy catches his breathe.

Jane Goldman began talking about how they wanted to expand the world of Kingsman. “We liked the idea of finding the American equivalent. The equivalent was the romanticized idea of the Southern gentlemen. The Statesmen are very much into the alcohol business, rather than suits, and based in Kentucky, they’re finding success with whiskey.”

Lead actor Taron Edgerton took the mic to discuss the underwater sequence. “It sinks in, you take the regulator out, and then you’re stuck under there and you’re strapped in. All I will say is: don’t get in a fight with Channing Tatum.”

Tatum chimed in: “He’s unbelievably talented, maybe not in the strength area.”

Colin Firth dropped a little tidbit about his return to Kingsman saying: “It’s all a mystery to me, really. I mean, I’m in the trailer! I seem to do a lot of shaving and, that’s really all I can say, so…”

When asked about her character, Halle Berry said “She’s kind of the techy, brain, nerdy cahracter of the Statesman. She has hidden depths, just let me say that.”

The conversation then turned to Pedro Pascal who talked about using a lasso. “I was in training with some cowboy experts and learned how to use the lasso. That was my favorite bit, the whip. How many people out there have cracked a whip properly?…You can injure yourself, that’s for sure. I was good at the whip. It’s my specialty.”

Jeff Bridges then discussed his character, the head of the Statesman: “I’m Champagne but I like to be called Champ. He’s challenged by his vices but he’s a tough guy and so he likes to get right up in the face of that vice. I think he wears booze as a cologne actually. He likes to put it on. He likes tobacco but doesn’t wanna smoke because it’s bad for him…He likes to surround himself by what he’s afraid of.”

The audience is then treated to another clip:

In Kentucky, a tour of a whiskey distillery is taking place, with Eggsy and Merlin following behind before scanning into a secret room. They walk through aisles of barrels until they discover an underground structure beneath them. Merlin wants to use an axe to get in but accidentally puts a whole in a barrel of whiskey. Tatum approaches, questioning their British manners. His belt buckle says Statesman. He spits some tobacco to the side. Eggsy claims to have received an invitation and explains they are Kingsman. Tatum asks why that is why they wearing those suits and how they broke through security. He draws his rifle, ultimately and tells them to get on their knees. Eggsy is ready for a fight. Merlin lets the whiskey leak and Tatum closes the whole with dip spit. Merlin is knocked unconscious as Eggsy is left to fight. The watch is set to a timer. Tatum points it at his neck and a tranquilizer dart hits Eggsy in the neck, knocking him out.

The panel now takes questions from the audience.

Tatum says he was a major fan of the first film and “was begging” to be a part of the sequel.

Berry is asked to compare which is more British between Kingsman and Bond. “I’m passing that to Colin,” Berry said before being challenged to chug all of his whiskey, which she does.

Dave Gibbons is asked about the film’s runtime to which he replies: “It’s about two and a quarter without the credits.”

“I don’t think there was great deal of difference, honestly,” Egerton said. “It was the same hours and hours and hours of choreography and breathe-holding…”

Firth was still tight lipped throughout audience questions saying: “I’m just sitting here thinking, what on Earth can I possibly say? To make the tiniest reference to anything I do seems like a spoiler.”

“I think the villain in this movie, amazing,” Jane Goldman said on Julianne Moore’s Poppy.

Jeff Bridges talks about what his Big Lebowski character would think of all the alcohol: “The Dude would probably, number one, he probably wouldn’t make bourbon. He’d make that clear stuff, vodka. I’d probably go deep inside myself and think about what Jeff… I like my Russians clear. No Kahlua. He wipes his mustache and says, “I wouldn’t do that,’ I’d probably…” and takes a shot of whiskey.

The audience puts their Kingsman t-shirts on for a selfie with the cast.

A final clip will introduce “Poppy” the big villain of Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

“My drugs are everywhere,” Poppy said as a clip of a jungle plays. She lives ‘in the middle of nowhere” in a jungle, among ruins labeled “Poppy Land.” There are classic looking stores and movie theaters in this land, taking us right to Poppy Diner.. She is talking to two men. They have golden circles on their chest. She escorts the men to the kitchen, where she puts on an apron and stresses that her authority is never to be questioned. They nod. She mocks them. “I don’t like easy, I like proof.” She tells one man that his friend messed up so she’s going to put him in a mincer. They laugh but she is serious. She turns on the mincer. The man starts to realize she is serious and tries to leave but she whistles for electronic dogs to stop him. The dogs cut him of at the door. He is backed up to the kitchen, again. His friend turns on him and knocks him out, putting him on his shoulders and carrying him to the mincer. He is shredded and sent out of it as chunks of meat, with his blue clothes being spit out the side. Poppy grabs some of the meat and sends the friend, Angel, for a makeover. She puts the meat on a grill and sprinkles some seasoning on it. Elsewhere, Poppy is helped by a robotic woman, where he is told to remove his shirt. His teeth are drilled, his fingerprints removed, and molten gold laced on his chest in a circle. He walks outside and back to Poppy. She hands him a burger and makes him eat it. He is reluctant to do so but does, to save him. He tells her it is delicious before being welcomed to the golden circle.