The Comic Con International 2026 recap

Last Sunday, the sun set on yet another edition of Comic Con International aka San Diego Comic Con, aka SDCC — the 57th since the event began in 1970. It has a reputation for being “the premiere comic book and popular arts convention in the world.” This year, the number of attendees was placed at 135,000, with 460,000 square feet of exhibit and floor space and 2,000 hours of programming.

Last Friday, P-Pop sensation Bini surprised the cheering attendees at Ballroom 20 when they closed the “Forgotten Island” panel with a performance of “A Parallel World.”

The panel had the writer/director duo of Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, along with H.E.R., Liza Soberano, and Dave Franco. Making the press rounds was Shawn Michael Serrano, aka Shawn Wasabi, who co-produced “A Parallel World” with Nathan Matthew David. The movie is set for release in the Philippines on September 23.

Director Zach Cregger and actor Austin Abrams (who last worked together in “Weapons”) were around to promote a new “Resident Evil” movie, which will be a departure from the previous franchise installments with Milla Jovovich. This movie, made for Imax, looks to be a tight and exciting hour and half survival horror film which is meant to approximate how a player would feel while completely immersed in the game. The pair talked about the film at a satellite event downtown at a venue dressed up to look like Raccoon City — with fake snow falling on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

After Collider’s “Directors on Directing” Hall H panel which featured Cregger (plus Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley who worked on Apple TV’s upcoming “Mayday”), Johnny Depp made an unscheduled appearance, he walked on stage leaning on a cane and carrying a candle taking on the persona of his latest character, Ebenezer Scrooge. He asked the crowd in character, “Have you no lives? No responsibilities?”

The “Ebenezer” trailer refers to the actor as the “Master of Misfits,” and this movie will gauge just how ready the US and global audiences are to welcome him back to Hollywood films.

Hall H was also the home for announcements for the new season of Prime’s “Rings of Power.” Jamie Campbell Bower (“Stranger Things”) will be joining the cast as Celeborn and the Nazgnagöl, or early versions of the Ringwraiths will be introduced. Prime also promoted the “Bladerunner 2099” series with Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer.

Anniversaries were likewise celebrated at this year’s SDCC: the 60th year of “Star Trek” and 20th year of “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Director Guillermo del Toro, Doug Jones, and Ivana Baquero were reunited and spoke about the cinematic re-release of “Pan’s Labyrinth” on October 9 in North America. There’s also more good news for del Toro fans, Criterion Collection will release physical media of his director’s cut for “Frankenstein” also in October.

Folks lined up on Friday morning to get wristbands in the evening to eventually get a spot at the Marvel panel late Saturday afternoon. “Avengers: Doomsday” was promoted, and big casting announcements were made: Ryan Reynolds as Ghost Rider and British actor David Jonsson as the new T’Challa in Ryan Coogler’s third Black Panther film.

Dates have already been announced for next year’s convention, and in a few months, the mad scramble for precious badges will once again commence.