Comic-Con has been over for just over a day now, and having covered it for the site myself, I’m settling back into my daily routine here at JoBlo. In fact, last night, as soon as I got off my plane home, I drove to a press screening of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so there’s no rest for me! However, it was a stimulating few days full of big reveals. I must admit that I’m still relatively new to SDCC, having missed out on its heyday (which everyone seems to agree was during the 2010s), as I only started attending after the pandemic. Yet, there was still a ton of big news stories, and here are the ones that seemed to score the biggest.
New Marvel Castings
Marvel always dominates whenever it does a big Hall H presentation, and this year was no exception. Not only did the studio bring out the cast of Avengers: Doomsday—with Ryan Reynolds crashing the event as Deadpool—but it also made two huge movie announcements for 2028.
The first was that Ryan Gosling would be playing Ghost Rider for director Shawn Levy in a solo film, fulfilling years of fan casting. The other was that David Jonsson is going to be the new Black Panther in the trilogy-capping third film directed by Ryan Coogler, which is set for a December 15, 2028 release. Some were surprised at Jonsson’s casting, but if you watch him in Alien: Romulus or The Long Walk, there’s no doubt this guy has the chops needed to carry a franchise like this.
Rick Moranis Is Back
Perhaps the most touching part of Comic-Con was the first public reveal of footage from Spaceballs: The New One, which doubled as a long-overdue welcome-back party for the long-retired Rick Moranis. This will be his first live-action film role since 1997, when he starred in the direct-to-video Disney film Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. The film opens April 23rd, 2028. It’s a long-overdue return, and the audience gave him a lot of love—which you can see for yourselves here:
Moranis’ return aside, the movie looks like a ton of fun. I was wary of a sequel without Brooks himself directing (unlikely given that the man is 100), but the director, Josh Greenbaum, made one of my favourite comedies of the last decade, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. If Spaceballs: The New One is half as funny as that, we’re in good hands.
Johnny Depp Is Ebenezer
Another long-overdue return comes from Johnny Depp, who was at Comic-Con promoting his first major studio release in years, Ti West’s Ebenezer. His appearance was more secretive than Moranis’, with Depp crashing an Ebenezer activation for fans and also showing up unannounced at the “Directors on Directing” panel to debut the film’s first trailer. People at the convention were buzzing about what seems to be a movie that could turn into a major box office comeback. Ebenezer opens November 13th.
Blade Runner 2099
Prime Video made a big show of premiering its new Blade Runner series, with stars Hunter Schafer and Michelle Yeoh appearing at the panel and demonstrating their strong chemistry. The premise of the show—that it takes place in a world where replicants dominate—is intriguing, as is the production design. But call me a cynic: I’m still not sure it will work as a series. It drops on November 25th.
Onslaught
While it wasn’t the biggest panel, there was a ton of buzz surrounding Adam Wingard’s latest movie, which serves as his tribute to John Carpenter and continues the world-building he began in You’re Next and The Guest. The new trailer dropped yesterday (see it above), and the extended footage we saw was totally killer. This movie opens on Labor Day weekend (September 4th) so we’ll see it soon enough.
Who won Comic-Con for you? Let us know in the comments. Plus – if you want to see what the convention floor is actually like, check this out:
