0:00Johnny Depp attends the Paramount Pictures San Diego Comic-Con Ebenezer Office Activation at 235 Fifth Avenue on 23 July 2026, in San Diego, California.
Daniel Knighton/ for Paramount Pictures
- Marvel returns to Comic-Con’s Hall H on Saturday to promote “Avengers: Doomsday,” directed by the Russo brothers and premiering in December.
- Johnny Depp surprised fans in full Scrooge costume to promote his holiday film “Ebenezer,” while Zach Cregger confirmed a “Barbarian” prequel script is in the works.
- Fans camped out overnight for Hall H panels, including a vampire-themed event uniting K-pop group ENHYPEN with “Twilight” cast members.
Comic book fans returned to San Diego, California, on Thursday for the latest Comic-Con, with convention-goers buzzing about this year’s return of Marvel.
The studio skipped last year’s event, but will be back at the coveted Hall H on Saturday to promote Avengers: Doomsday, which is slated to premiere in December.
Under the Russo brothers’ direction, the latest superhero flick will pick up where 2019’s Endgame left off, bringing together heroes and villains from X-Men, the Avengers, Black Panther and the Fantastic Four to duke it out once more.
But surprises are often a major draw for the 130 000 fans who flock to the annual event, expecting to be wowed by movie previews and actor announcements.
Actor Johnny Depp stunned passersby Thursday when he appeared on a street near the convention centre, decked out in full costume as the miserly Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to promote Ebenezer, due in theatres in November.
Later, the famed Pirates of the Caribbean swashbuckler burst into a panel, asking the audience, “Have you no lives? No responsibilities?” before sharing a preview for his new holiday movie.
Johnny Depp speaks onstage during the Paramount Pictures San Diego Comic-Con 2026 Ebenezer trailer introduction in Hall H at the San Diego Convention Centre on 23 July 2026, in San Diego, California.
Barbarian director Zach Cregger confirmed a script is in the works for a prequel to the hit film that’s “got a lot of twists and turns and mysteries and crazy things” to tell the origin story of the terrifying Aunt Gladys character.
The filmmaker also offered a first look at Resident Evil, his adaptation of the video game that is expected to hit the big screen in September.
“About five or six minutes in, he hits that woman in his car, and I wanted to see if I could just put my foot all the way down on the gas pedal and not let up until the end of the movie. That was the challenge,¨Cregger said.
Game Night directing duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley shared teasers of Apple TV’s Cold War comedy Mayday, starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh.
Fans began lining up around noon on Wednesday for Thursday’s events in coveted Hall H, with sisters Adelaide and Delaney Hall heading up the queue.
“I’m gonna be camping out tonight so that I’m in there first thing tomorrow, I’m really excited,” said 21-year-old Adelaide.
Her sister had tried to line up near dawn, but “there was no line, and so she was like, okay. She came home, she rode her bike, and then she grabbed me, and we came down around noon, and then we got in line.”
The San Diego native is eager to see the panel for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, a fantasy TV series with its third season due out on 20 November.
Fans shrieked over another Thursday morning panel titled Bite Me: Calling All Vampires, which brought together K-pop sensation ENHYPEN and some cast members from 2008’s teen vampire blockbuster film Twilight.
Jaeyun Sim, Jongsung Park, Sunghoon Park, Nishimura Riki, Jungwon Yang and Sunwoo Kim of the band ENHYPEN on the panel for “Bite Me: Calling All Vampires” at the 2026 Comic-Con International: San Diego held at the San Diego Convention Centre on 23 July 2026 in San Diego, California.
Michael Buckner/Variety
Since the pop culture festival began in 1970, it has grown into a major event, with thousands of sometimes costumed fans gathering in San Diego to buy memorabilia, see their idols, and celebrate beloved stories.
On Friday, DC Studios will also take over Hall H to preview its HBO series Lanterns, starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as small-town Nebraska detectives, which debuts on 16 August.
The flesh-and-blood narrative offers a new take on 2011’s Green Lantern, a Ryan Reynolds-led space adventure movie.
On Friday, fans will see the hotly anticipated preview for Spaceballs: The New One, a long-awaited sequel to Mel Brooks’ legendary space comedy.
Weeks before its opening in Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be on hand to share new details about its exhibits.
Comic-Con runs through Sunday, 26 July.
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