One of the world’s largest pop culture events, Comic-Con began five decades ago as a humble comic book-themed gathering in a hotel basement. Today, it draws vast crowds and A-list stars promoting new movies and television shows.
Last year’s edition was dampened by Hollywood strikes, preventing actors from attending and quelling fan interest. However, Comic-Con is expected to draw 130,000 attendees back to the southern Californian city this time around.
The hottest ticket is the Saturday night Marvel movies presentation, where parent company Disney is expected to unveil plans to reboot its mega-grossing superhero film franchise after years of high-profile missteps. This presentation, which will take place inside the 6,000-capacity Hall H, has been billed as a potential “make or break” moment by some observers.
Marvel movies dominated Hollywood and global box offices for years, with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame briefly becoming the highest-grossing film of all time at more than $2.79 billion. However, the past few years have brought more flops than hits, with fans complaining about over-complicated plotlines and mourning the departure of favorite characters like Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man.
The franchise has also been rocked by domestic violence revelations about actor Jonathan Majors, who was set to become the major new supervillain across multiple films. Majors has been dropped by Marvel, but there is no word on who – or what – will replace him.
Susana Polo, for entertainment news outlet Polygon, wrote, “If the company wants to lure in anyone besides the dwindling ranks of… diehards, it needs to bring the answer to these questions to Hall H.”
Also on the Comic-Con lineup from Disney are a look at Alien: Romulus, the latest in the long-running sci-fi saga, and a “celebration” event for this weekend’s major superhero release, Deadpool & Wolverine.
Rival studio Warner, which runs the DC superhero movies, is keeping a lower profile but will offer a glimpse at its Batman spinoff TV series The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell.
Elsewhere, Those About To Die, a bloody romp through Ancient Rome and its macabre world of chariot races and gladiator fights, starring Anthony Hopkins, will host multiple fan events. Amazon’s Prime Video will lift the lid on the second season of its Lord of the Rings television series, which aims to improve on the mixed reviews for its hugely expensive debut season two years ago. Following the success of recent video game adaptations for the small screen such as Fallout and The Last of Us, Amazon will take viewers into the underworld of Japanese crime lords with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, based on the hit games from Sega.
But for many, Comic-Con is primarily a place to dress up as Disney characters or fearsome samurai warriors and meet with like-minded fans to buy and trade comic books.
Comic-Con runs from Thursday until Sunday.
