Comic-Con: Keeping up with the Joneses

On Thursday, Paramount stole the day — and possibly the entire four-day Comic-Con show — with their drool-worthy, standing-room-only, two-hour presentations. Here's what we learned...

The fans like them some Iron Man. And Paramount like them some Black Sabbath, based on the three or so times they cued the band's song "Iron Man" (if only Beavis & Butthead figured in somehow). Superskinny director Jon Favreau — who told EW he's lost 80 pounds ("I just ate less") — introduced his trailer, which featured Robert Downey Jr. effortlessly nailing the role of Tony Stark, the cocky billionaire who dons a metallic suit after a near-mortal injury. Biggest nerdgasm: Watching I-Man fly the sky in his Mark III suit with jet propulsion capabilities... in his freakin' hands!

Steven Spielberg led a taped on-set message from the Indiana Jones cast on-set and in costume: Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, and Shia LaBeouf inexplicably, though perhaps tellingly, wearing biker gear. The big announcement: Karen Allen (pictured, with Spielberg, on the Indy IV set) will reprise her role of the whiskey-swilling Marion Ravenwood from 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. This almost makes up for the absence of Temple of Doom's Short Round. Almost.

Damn you, J.J. "Tight Lips" Abrams! We actually know less about your untitled Cloverfield monster movie than we did going in.

Paramount cruelly dangled a carrot in front of us — the logo for Sweeney Todd — only to pull a bait and switch by showing us this poster (but, to be fair, a cool poster).

Okay, we take back what we said about Tight Lips Abrams. He did confirm the long-standing rumor that in his upcoming Star Trek, Heroes' Sylar, Zachary Quinto, will play Spock. As will Leonard Nimoy. That's right, people: Two Spocks for the price of one movie. Quinto stars as the Vulcan in his younger years, Nimoy as the elder Spock. When asked why he'd revisit the pointy-eared smarty-pants of his past, Nimoy said: "The answer is, it was logical."

What's this? Stardust might not suck after all! Introduced by English screenwriter Neil Gaiman (the Frank Miller of this year, also touting his other Hollywood project, Beowulf), the genuinely goofy scene from this fantasy movie followed a witch (a well-humored Michelle Pfeiffer) as she hatches a plan to — stay with us here — catch an anthropomorphized star (Claire Danes) by using two goats, an inn, and some magic.

Why must you toy with us so, Hot Rod? First, we were psyched to see a teaming of our favorite SNL hipster talents — not-ready-for-primetime player Andy Samberg, bit-player Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer, who directed digital shorts like "D--- in a Box." Then we saw the trailers, which teeter closer to cluelessly lame than ironically funny. But now, Hot Rod, you gotta come to Con and unleash some priceless footage of motor-bike racer Samberg's angsty dance sequence, which gleefully apes moves from Kevin Bacon in Footloose with a hint of Jennifer Beals' Flashdance.

Not to be outdone, Lost... okay, they were outdone. Still, later that day, the cryptic comedy duo of producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse kept fans on their toes with their quick wits. Ready to sound desk bells at their sides — should the other start to disclose too much, you know, clarity — the duo welcomed returning actor Harold Perrineau (Michael) to the stage, after emphasizing how bummed they were that news of his return as a cast regular was leaked at a Television Critics Association event (by ABC) instead of at Comic-Con.

Though loath to reveal any more details about season 4, they did tip off fans to a few, often cryptic, coming attractions. Jack and Claire will likely figure out that they're brother and sister. We'll find out why Ben came to the survivors' side of the island in the first place. The Kate/Jack "flash-forward" in the last episode last season does not take place at the end of the series. Libby, who's backstory will be explained this season, may have been a Dharma employee. And remember those  mobisodes? They'll hopefully, finally launch in the fall. The pair also tipped Con-goers off to a few questions fans should be asking: "Who's in the coffin?" and "Who's on the freighter, and what do they want?" Then just when you thought you couldn't get more confused, the duo unveiled another choppy Dharma Initiative reel, which you can see by going to ABC.com today at 5 p.m.

So what do you think about this new Dharma footage? Red herring? Packed with clues?