What is the location? There is a hall at the San Diego Comic-Con. It was almost a full year before the COVID-19 Pandemic hit us. What's the surprise? A stage full of superstars, including A-listers, Oscar winners and nominees, gathered for a photo after Kevin Feige revealed the entire slate of Phase 4 projects.

There are contents.

  • For the love of the art
  • A world without the Con
  • Back for round two

Doctor Strange and Wanda teaming up for a multiversal adventure, Wanda and Vision starring in a Disney+ show, and a potential House of M adaptation were all revealed. That wasn't the only thing that happened. There are eternals. It's Shang- Chi! There is a female version of THOR. The entire Hall H had melted into a pool of ecstasy when it was learned that Mahershala Ali would play Blade.

The finished results were disappointing, but the story was different back then. Learning about the reveals in real-time felt like we were watching pop culture history being made. San Diego Comic-Con was the place to be, even though not everyone was personally at Hall H, but news travels fast in a modernized world, and each breaking story confirmed something we had known for a long time: San Diego Comic-Con was the place to be.

For the love of the art

The cast of the Avengers posing together at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

Comic-Con used to mean a lot to the pop culture landscape. Big things were announced at the event by bigger names. Fantasy ran rampant and the nerd culture thrived. Everyone was invited despite the fact that comic books and superheros were cool. There were many expected shows at the event, including Game of thrones and The Big bang Theory.

Comic-Con was a place of genuine camaraderie, where people who loved pop culture met to share, laugh, and celebrate. Comic-Con had a deep appreciation for the artist and the art; it was the place where comic artist Bruno Redondo was as well-known and celebrated as a movie star. Comic-Con was a place where fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and adventure met and drank from the same bottle.

The most important event for nerds was Comic-Con. San Diego's Comic-Con was the place where Tom Hiddleston came out in a costume and Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher kissed each other. It was there that Bryan Cranston showed up wearing a Walter White mask, and then took off and made out with his co-star. It was where the first meeting of the Avenger took place. Dreams come true at Comic-Con.

It was a huge deal to be at Comic-Con. The convention was chaotic and wild and an open invitation to sink into the depths of our inner nerd. The Fourth Doctor and Sailor Moon took pictures with each other. It was the place where Henry Cavill walked around without being noticed. At Comic-Con, everything was doable.

Fans were able to let their imaginations fly thanks to the creativity and thrills of the convention. It was important to cosplay at Comic-Con. Comic-Con has given us some of the most daring and innovative examples of cosplaying ever, and fans from all over the world went out of their way to do it right. The main floor at San Diego Comic-Con was a dream for fans.

A world without the Con

Artwork for DC FanDome 2021.

Our world was changed by the COVID-19 epidemic. Hollywood lost business by closing movie theaters, but it also lost landmark events like Comic-Con. The event that had been a pop culture staple for over 50 years was suddenly stopped in its tracks, stifled by a worldwide Pandemic.

Hollywood needed to market its latest offerings. At least two other major gatherings were already operating under the Comic-Con title. Those were also prevented by carbon dioxide. Hollywood needs to think outside the box now. The movie business searched for alternatives to compensate for the loss of a crucial event, and studios had to come up with creative ways to make up for it.

DC FanDome, a mostly successful event that couldn't help but feel small-scale compared to the heights of Comic-Con, was created by Warner Bros. Disney kept its major announcements for its bizarrely anti-climactic investor day and made full use of the trades, sending blasts via The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and many of the usual suspects Most did a lot of business on the social networking site. They would have been excited if they had been announced on the Hall H stage. The Comic-Con announcement of a Werewolf by Night Halloween Special might have caused fans to learn more about the character, but it was more of a waste of time than a big deal.

The importance of Comic-Con to its functioning was well known by Hollywood. Comic-Con isn't just a fun gathering where fans come to live out their pop culture fantasies, but a massive publicity tool that does half the work in selling any given project. The reality proved more complicated than the obvious solution could have created. Not everyone is in love with superhero content at San Diego Comic-Con. If the reveal happened at an event dedicated to superheros, Trekkies and Potterheads wouldn't know about it.

DC organizing a convention doesn't mean everyone will attend The hard way was learned by Warner Bros.

Back for round two

Kevin Fiege on stage at Comic-Con.

The world has changed since the last San Diego Comic-Con two years ago. Hollywood is not one to go down without a fight and a lot is riding on the success of Comic-Con.

When it was announced that it would return to Hall H, there was a lot of applause. We have nothing, not even a poster, for Black Panther, which is supposed to be the studio's centerpiece. There is a movie called "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" There are a lot of upcoming Disney+ shows that could get a lot of attention. Kevin Feige won't waste the chance to be the star of the first post-pandemic Comic-Con. Some of the best superhero movies first saw the light at the event, and that tradition will be kept alive by the company.

DC kept things simple by only inviting two properties to the party. Disney, Paramount, and Amazon will bring their biggest guns in hopes of leaving a mark on the event. Adult Swim is going to play. The last two years have shown that Comic-Con is important for the movie business. A good sales pitch involves the right stage and paraphernalia because Hollywood isn't Hollywood unless it has something to promote. That is what San Diego Comic-Con is.

The fans who love Comic-Con because of its sense of community. The convention gives meaning, we turn it into a celebration of pop culture, and we make it the place where we can be nerds. We will wear the costumes and attend the panels, but most of all, we will celebrate the chance to be there again, surrounded by people who feel the same as us, but they are not strangers. It will feel like the first day of summer when we return.

I hope you are up because we are all coming over. We will make Comic-Con better than before.

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