- calendar_today August 8, 2025
Storytelling Legends Unite at Comic-Con 2025
Comic-Con begins in San Diego on Sunday and, as usual, draws tens of thousands of pop culture fans from across the world. But there is one first-time attendee in particular who has fandom on tenterhooks.
George Lucas is set to attend the event for the first time, despite Comic-Con’s close ties to his storied franchises “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones.”
“Throughout his career, [Lucas] has revolutionized world-building and visual effects while embracing the power of storytelling on film, television, and in comics,” Comic-Con chief communications and strategy officer David Glanzer said in a statement.
Glanzer also highlighted that “nearly 50 years ago, Star Wars made one of its earliest public appearances” at the San Diego convention, going on to say that Lucas’s appearance is a “true full-circle moment.”
Lucas will be a part of a Sunday panel with Queen Latifah, moderated by the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which will open next year in Los Angeles. He will also be joined by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro and Oscar-winning artist Doug Chiang, who has worked with Lucas on the Star Wars franchise for decades.
The panel will center around the museum and its celebration of “illustrated storytelling and visual communication through film, comics, concept art, and popular culture.” The new Lucas Museum will also feature “extensive archival components from Lucas’ collection.”
A Brief History of Comic-Con
Comic-Con started out small in 1970, a con just for comic book geeks in San Diego. Now, the comic convention is a pop culture behemoth, with around 130,000 people attending each year.
Comic-Con fans not only love getting together to dress up as their favorite characters, and swap trading cards. They also congregate in San Diego to get the first look at sneak previews and panels from their favorite movies and shows.
Sci-Fi Iconography Overwhelming at Comic-Con 2024
Comic-Con is known for being the place to see the latest teasers for the biggest Hollywood blockbusters, and many exciting projects are expected to show up throughout the three-day convention.
Alien and Predator are stealing the show at this year’s Comic-Con, with a host of new looks and panels across the weekend. The upcoming series Alien: Earth will have its world premiere at Comic-Con on Sunday.
Alien: Earth is set to premiere on streaming services in August and will focus on the origin story of the alien in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi film, according to Deadline. The series will be helmed by Noah Hawley and will be set a few years before the events of the film, in an era of first contact.
New take on Predator to be Unveiled at Comic-Con
Director Dan Trachtenberg, who joined the franchise in 2022’s Prey, is set to appear on the panel for the new Predator film, Predator: Badlands. Trachtenberg has helmed a reboot of the popular franchise, and Predator: Badlands takes an interesting twist on the series, with the Predator being hunted for the first time.
Actors Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who plays the alien Dek in the film, will also join the director on the panel. Fans will be hoping for a look at what’s next for the reimagined Predator storyline.
Marvel Shy Away as Sci-Fi Joins the Fray
Marvel Studios, in a surprise, will be absent this year. According to Variety, Marvel has decided to “pull back” from the event due to the release of the next Avengers film being “fluid.”
The studio has chosen to forego their annual Hall H presentation, due to the move to shoot the next installment in the UK, which would have “presented enormous logistics issues for Marvel.”
Sci-fi fandom is not letting the lack of Marvel’s presence weigh down Comic-Con. Comic-Con organizers announced earlier this week that this year’s line-up in Hall H is “sci-fi heavy.”
Ryan Gosling and Peacemaker are Comic-Con Headliners
Ryan Gosling is set to headline a panel on Saturday at Comic-Con for Project Hail Mary, which is based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name. The film will be a follow-up to The Martian, and Weir is also set to appear on the panel. The film is set to be released in theaters next year.
Project Hail Mary stars Gosling as a former schoolteacher who wakes up from cryogenic sleep, alone on a spaceship hurtling through space, to find that he is the last remaining hope for the future of the planet.
The film will be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are also set to join Gosling at the panel. Lord and Miller have worked together on a number of big projects, most notably the Spider-Verse trilogy.
Gunn on the Peacemaker Series and Beyond
Peacemaker fans will be able to catch a sneak peek at the upcoming season two, as the cast and creator James Gunn will be on a panel at Comic-Con, talking about the series.
Fans will be looking to Gunn, who has also been put in charge of DC’s bigger cinematic reboot with Superman, to talk about what’s next for the Peacemaker series and the DCEU.
Peacemaker is one of the many spin-offs spawned by the success of the DC flagship The Suicide Squad and is one of several series now coming out of the studio.
The Social Aspect of Comic-Con is Still Important
Fans will also gather at Comic-Con in droves to dress up and meet like-minded people at the largest events celebrating comic books and popular culture.
In Hall H alone, comic book movie stars, authors, and storytellers will gather to make announcements and panels throughout the weekend. Costumed attendees dressed as princesses and warriors, aliens and robots, superheroes and fantasy figures from a thousand worlds will also fill the expansive Comic-Con convention center.
Comic-Con will run through Sunday, July 27.
