Kellan Lutz’ latest flick, Hercules: The Legend Begins, has just released the first full-length trailer (below). At the helm of the pectoral pictorial is Renny Harlin (of action-dramas Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger) who also co-wrote the script.

The film’s marketers took advantage of this weekend’s New York Comic Con to debut the trailer. Lutz and supporting cast Gaia Weiss, Liam McIntyre and Scott Adkins appeared on the convention’s main stage to promote the film.

Lutz, perhaps best known for his Twilight Saga time as Emmett Cullen, aspires to an Academy Award but this seems unlikely to get him there just yet. Based on early reviews, fans will likely be those who gravitate toward CGI-heavy, dialogue-light, 3D, costume-action-drama films… and a shirtless Lutz.

That is, when it’s finally released in March 2014. Nu Image and Millennium Films are producing and the timing, if all goes as planned, precedes the higher-profile, Paramount and MGM-produced Hercules: The Thracian Wars, in which Dwayne Johnson portrays the demi-god.

In this iteration of the legend, Hercules is exiled from his homeland when he falls in love with his brother’s betrothed, Hebe, Princess of Crete, played by Weiss. Hercules vows to return for Hebe, sets out to fulfill his destiny as offspring of Zeus and battle scenes ensue.

Harlin says of this version, “We wanted to really go to the origins of this character and really start with a young man who doesn’t even know that he is Hercules.”

Weiss is a newcomer to the industry, her two previous productions premiering in 2013. Followers of the Spartacus TV series will recognize McIntyre in the role of Sotiris, Hercules’ trusted battlefield comrade. Adkins has several credits, albeit in smaller roles, with such films as Zero Dark Thirty and The Bourne Ultimatum.

Lutz is busy with other productions as well. He’s joining the Expendables franchise at number three and will voice a character for the animated Guardians of Luna, both due out in 2014.

[Image via YouTube.]