After a tough few years that forced Comic-Con to cancel in 2020, go virtual in 2021, and present an actor-less edition last year due to the Hollywood strikes, the fan favourite event returned in style over the weekend.
Screen looks at some of this year’s key talking points. The event ran at San Diego Convention Center from July 25.28.
Everything looking rosy at Marvel Studios, for now
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige pulled a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday in a typically rambunctious Comic-Con panel at Hall H. Having fired Jonathan Majors, the intended star of the studio’s 2026 tentpole Avengers: The Kang Dynasty who is serving a non-custodial sentence for assault and harassment, and seen that film’s director Destin Daniel Cretton depart to focus on other Marvel projects, the head of Hollywood’s biggest hit factory knew his intellectual property motherlode was in danger.
Rather than recast Kang, Feige and his writers have seemingly pivoted to a new story and called back some old friends. Anthony and Joe Russo, the masterminds behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, will direct the next two Avengers instalments and none other than Tony Stark/Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., will play the main antagonist, Victor von Doom aka Doctor Doom.
The recently anointed best supporting actor Oscar winner for Oppenheimer appeared on stage at Hall H in a dramatic live de-masking that drew prolonged screams from the thousands in attendance and recalled the Hall H reception for Tom Hiddleston as Loki back in 2013. When the euphoria dies down, will audiences buy Downey Jr. in another Marvel role? How will the storyline fit within Marvel Cinematic Universe’s overarching Sacred Timeline? We’ll have to wait and see. Avengers: Doomsday opens in May 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars arrives a year later.
Less than a year after the Majors incident, not to mention lacklustre 2023 box office for Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and the massive misfire that was The Marvels, things are looking up for Marvel Studios. On Thursday Feige brought Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy and stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on stage to cue up a preview screening. By Sunday the tentpole, which perhaps crucially can be viewed as a stand-alone, had opened to a massive $444.1m.
Where were the Warner Bros and Sony film panels?
Neither studio’s film slates were anywhere to be seen in Hall H. Perhaps Warner Bros Discovery head David Zaslav was too busy watching the Olympics in Paris, where Lady Gaga, a star of Todd Phillips’s upcoming Venice world premiere Joker: Folie a Deux, performed at the opening ceremony. Maybe it was a simple schedule clash, however with a slate that includes Lido opening night selection Beetlejuice Beetlejuce and the animated The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim all set for later this year, the studio was missed. DC Films head James Gunn has just wrapped production on Superman, but there was no footage.
It was a similar story with Sony Pictures, whose participation seemed a shoo-in leading up to releases later this year for Kraven The Hunter and Venom: The Last Dance featuring Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Russell Crowe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ariana DeBose. Alas it was not to be. Neither studio has commented.
Activations take over downtown San Diego
No Comic-Con marketing push is complete without a noisy activation these days and two were particularly notable over the weekend. Roland Emmerich’s Roman era series Those About To Die, which airs on Peacock in the US and stars Anthony Hopkins, Iwan Rheon and Sara Martins, took over a section of the Gaslamp district in downtown San Diego with its very own Circus Maximus replete with a chariot race simulation. Emmerich and his cast also participated in a panel.
On Thursday Marvel Studios deployed drones in a spectacular display against the night sky promoting The Fantastic Four: First Steps and their nemesis Galactus. On Saturday the film’s full title was revealed. Cast leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn appeared on stage at Hall H, when director Matt Shakman said the setting would be an alternate, retro-future 1960s New York. The film opens on July 25, 2025.
Emergency services to the rescue
Jennifer Garner got stuck in a lift in Hard Rock Hotel San Diego for more than an hour at the weekend before appearing on a panel to support Deadpool & Wolverine. “I could use a Wolverine, I could use a Deadpool. I could use someone,” the star joked in a series of Instagram posts. In the end, after one hour and 11 minutes, a call was made to 911 and firefighters saved the day. The A-lister (and others) emerged relatively unscathed, albeit somewhat “schvitzy” as Garner put it, using the Yiddish term for sweaty.
Emergency services were also in action when firefighters attended a blaze at a building in the Gaslamp district on Friday afternoon, forcing a press preview of an activation for HBO show The Penguin to be evacuated at the Iceberg Lounge. Activities resumed an hour later. The incident followed another alert earlier in the day when someone pulled the fire alarm in San Diego Convention Center, causing the whole building to be evacuated briefly.
Will Comic-Con stay in San Diego?
The organisers hope so, but it’s uncertain what will happen after the convention’s contract with San Diego expires in 2026. Two cancellations due to the pandemic hurt the non-profit, and there have been reports that some hotels in the area are no longer offering block booking for attendees. Other locations will be considered, according to Comic-Con spokesperson head David Glanzer. In the past year the AFM and Slamdance have decided to relocate, and Sundance is weighing up a move.
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