[PHOTOS] San Diego Comic Con 2026 brings sex appeal (and sanity) to queer nerdom

San Diego Comic Con has evolved far beyond comic books.

Over the past 56 years, this celebration of geek culture has grown from a single-day shindig in a local bookstore to a week-long event hosted in the San Diego Convention Center, showcasing not only nerd-centric media, but also community.

Running July 23-26, SDCC 20206 featured a plethora of comic book-themed art, collectibles, and panels, as well as high-profile television and film announcements. Most prominent was Ryan Gosling saying, ‘hey girl’ to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the upcoming Ghost Ridermovie.

This Ken-ergy wasn’t the only element electrifying the MCU this year. The highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday will officially introduce the X-Men into Marvel’s filmography.

And while these hero flicks feature heaping helpings of homoerotic musculature and booty-hugging super suits, actual queer representation is disappointingly anemic. This stands in stark contrast to previous years, where racial and female representation was proudly thrust to the forefront. A prominent example is SDCC 2019, when the CW proudly debuted its new series Batwoman, which featured Ruby Rose as Gotham City’s resident lesbian crimefighter.

This dearth of queer representation may be a reflection of what Amanda Marcotte has described in a recent Salonarticle as “The MAGA-ification of Hollywood.” Simply put, moves such as the Ellisons’ attempt to snatch Warner Brothers into their conservative media empire are moving mainstream media.

Fortunately, this rightward skew coincides with the return of X-Men 97 to Disney+. A continuation of the lauded 20th-century animation pioneer, this iteration of The Children of the Atom has long embraced its queer fan base. To Lenore Zann, the long-time voice of Rogue, the series’ resident steel magnolia, the X-Men reflect the values not just of LGBTQ+ viewers, but of the broader side of “good.”

“We’re the sane ones,” Lenore explained during an interview in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel across from the San Diego Convention Center. “We’re the ones that are on the right side of history. Maybe the pendulum might swing a little bit back the other way, but it’s bound to go back to the other direction, because it only makes sense. I mean, who cares who somebody loves, so long as it’s mutual? I just believe that we’re all in this together, that the world is a better place when we all accept each other and ourselves for who we are.”

The X-Men have long reflected minority communities, beginning as a commentary on civil rights. Over the decades, the franchise has integrated myriad underdogs, most recently by fleshing out Morph, the X-Men’s resident shapeshifter, as a genderqueer hero. For JP Karliak, the talented voice actor who has developed this character’s direction over the past two seasons, Morph’s journey paralleled his own.

“I got this role during the pandemic, which is when I came out as gender queer,” JP reflected during an interview before his Saturday afternoon panel, ‘To You, Your X-pod.’ “So really, as I was discovering Morph’s gender identity and sexuality, it was really getting to know myself better.”

JP posits that the reason a progressive show like X-Men 97 is able to thrive in this increasingly right-leaning media landscape is that it slid through in the nick of time.

“X-Men 97 kind of got in under the gun,” JP explained. “It’s so hard to get a show that has any queer cast members or queer characters present in it at all right now. So the fact that X-Men 97 was produced during the height of DEI, which is crazy to think that that was five years ago, and now it’s been almost completely obliterated. Now it’s part of its pedigree. Nobody’s going to change it because he’s doing so well. I think it’s so important that we’re showing that it can be popular, that it can be critically acclaimed and well received.”

For queer audiences, a major theme X-Men offers is the importance of community.

“I think one thing that humans have in common is that we all want love,” Lenore mused. “And we want to belong to something, to somebody, to some tribe. And feeling outcast and feeling alone, and ashamed is really toxic and can lead, I think, to early death. So, embrace it. Find others who have similar loves.”

For those who weren’t able to be at San Diego Comic Con and embrace its queer community, we’re snatch some of our favorite images from the week.

Photography courtesy of Liam Koji

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