San Diego Comic-Con took over the San Diego Convention Center from July 23 through July 26, drawing well over 135,000 badge holders and a whole lot more fans to the activations spilling out across the Gaslamp Quarter. Marvel Studios owned the weekend, but DC, Prime Video, Amazon MGM, Hulu, and the comics world all showed up with news worth catching up on. Here is the full rundown of what went down.
Marvel Studios Took Hall H and Ran With It
After skipping its Saturday Hall H slot last year, Marvel Studios came back at full strength. Kevin Feige greeted a crowd of more than 6,500 people and set the tone early, telling them the focus this year was movies.
The two biggest reveals were casting bombshells. Ryan Gosling is the new Ghost Rider, with the film set for 2028 and Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) directing. Levy is currently in post on Star Wars: Starfighter, also starring Gosling, so the actor is about to headline both the Star Wars and Marvel universes back to back.
Ryan Coogler confirmed he is returning to direct a third Black Panther, and he introduced David Jonsson (The Long Walk, Alien: Romulus) as the new Black Panther. Jonsson plays T’Challa II, also known as Toussaint, the son of the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. Letitia Wright and Winston Duke are back alongside him, and the film is aiming for 2028 with Coogler shooting on large-format celluloid.
There was also a new Avengers: Doomsday trailer, which reportedly featured Steve Rogers returning the Infinity Stones ahead of the film’s release later this year.
Ryan Reynolds Crashed the Marvel Panel in Costume
This one was pure Comic-Con. Reynolds spent part of the weekend wandering the convention floor in a grey X-Force Deadpool suit, then revealed himself from the audience during the Marvel panel under the alias “Ricky.” He needled the Avengers: Doomsday cast, asked Paul Rudd why Thor was crying (Rudd’s answer: he is a Wrexham fan, a nod to the Welsh club Reynolds co-owns), and pressed Robert Downey Jr. on when Doomsday starts filming. Downey’s reply, that the movie is already in the can, sent Ricky off to call Happy Hogan for a ride.
The Marvel Games Slate Delivered Too
Insomniac dropped a new story trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine that opened on a tense standoff between Logan and Jean Grey. It spotlighted the Hand and Lady Deathstrike as antagonists, and Insomniac paired it with a prequel comic written by narrative director Walt Williams to set up the main story. On the live-service side, Marvel Rivals revealed an Age of Ultron PVE mode that launched July 30, letting players fight through Avengers Tower against Ultron’s army.
DC Studios Kept It Small but Gave Lanterns Fans a Lot
DC had a quieter presence this year, but the Lanterns panel did heavy lifting. Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre led a cast that included Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, and Nathan Fillion, with co-creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King on hand. The team confirmed Sinestro appears in the series, that the shape-shifting Manhunters serve as the villains, and that Laura Linney plays a Guardian with plenty to say to John Stewart about the job. The HBO Max series follows Stewart (Pierre) and veteran Hal Jordan (Chandler) as two intergalactic cops pulled into an Earth-bound murder mystery with cosmic ties, and it premieres August 16. Fillion’s Guy Gardner factors in, tying the show to next year’s Man of Tomorrow.
Clayface also got a few minutes during Jim Lee’s panel. The film, directed by James Watkins, follows actor Matt Hagen, whose career is destroyed by a gangster and who joins an experimental drug trial that transforms him into the clay-based villain.
Prime Video Gave The Rings of Power a Big Reveal
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brought a first look at its third season. The headline: Simon Pegg voices the Balrog, the demonic creature that helps Sauron forge the One Ring and later becomes known as Durin’s Bane. Season three centers on the War of the Elves and Sauron as the Dark Lord works to craft the Ring. New additions include Eddie Marsan and Zubin Varla, and the season premieres November 11.
Star Wars: Detours Is Finally Coming Out of the Vault
During a Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel, Seth Green revealed that Star Wars: Detours, the Simpsons-style animated comedy he built with George Lucas more than a decade ago, will finally be seen. Shelved since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the series already has completed episodes and multiple ready scripts, and a curated selection will screen for the public at the Lucas Museum when it opens in Los Angeles this September.
Futurama Landed Season 14 Plus Three Specials
The Futurama panel in Ballroom 20 delivered a Season 14 trailer with a premiere date of August 3, and Hulu announced three “XXXL-Sized” specials on top of it, kicking off in 2027 with a Christmas episode. The full voice cast turned out, including Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, and Maurice LaMarche, alongside Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.
Rick Moranis Came Out of Retirement for Spaceballs
Amazon MGM used its Friday Hall H slot to promote Spaceballs: The New One, the sequel to Mel Brooks’s 1987 parody. Kevin Smith moderated, director Josh Greenbaum and a cast including Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, and Lewis Pullman attended, and the team parodied Marvel’s own Hall H style with a mock Spaceballs Cinematic Universe across the room’s screens. The emotional high point was Rick Moranis, long retired, turning up in his Dark Helmet costume to a standing ovation.
The Rest of the Film Slate
John Cena promoted two projects, the live-action Matchbox with Jessica Biel (arriving October 9 on Apple TV+) and Coyote vs. Acme, which debuted its full trailer. Guillermo del Toro used a 20th-anniversary panel for Pan’s Labyrinth to speak out against the use of AI in filmmaking, noting he did not use it for the film’s 3D conversion.
The Comics World Had Its Moment Too
The Eisner Awards recognized the best of the year, with DC’s Absolute Martian Manhunter taking best limited series and Javier Rodriguez winning best penciller/inker and sharing best cover artist. George Takei won best graphic memoir for It Rhymes With Takei. On the publishing side, Marvel announced Indiana Jones and the Sword of Pandemonium, a five-issue series picking up after Raiders of the Lost Ark.
What It All Means for the Year Ahead
Between the Ghost Rider and Black Panther reveals, a strong Lanterns first look, and the surprise returns of Rick Moranis and Star Wars: Detours, SDCC 2026 packed more genuine surprises into one weekend than the last couple of years combined. With Avengers: Doomsday still on the calendar and a busy fall of releases ahead, this was the convention setting the table for everything coming next.
Sources: Forbes | Marvel | KPBS | Sideshow | ComicBookMovie
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