SAN DIEGO — Comic-Con 2025 showed that fan fervor is still running high at the annual five-day convention in San Diego, even when Marvel and DC aren’t taking up all the oxygen in the room. As major studios skipped this year’s outing, the con’s premiere venue was still lively and engaged crowds that cheered for breakout panels from 20th Century Studios’ “Predator: Badlands,” Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary” and Disney’s “Tron: Ares” – proving that there is still genre fare outside of superhero movies to get the con’s most sought-after room hyped.
Indeed, as TheWrap previously reported, Comic-Con’s two biggest draws over the last two decades – Marvel and DC movies – opted to skip panels in the famed Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center this year. That didn’t seem to matter, as this reporter observed the 6,500-person room was frequently packed to capacity even without Kevin Feige or any Avengers holding court.
“Comic-Con’s still alive and well without Marvel and DC panels,” Ian Kerner, VP of Business development at Lightiron and 30 year Comic-Con veteran told TheWrap. “It existed before them, and exists fine without them.”
Comic-Con has become the most important showcase in Hollywood for genre properties, where the goal is to create a groundswell of instant hype while measuring fan reaction as it happens in real time. The annual confab is where studios and filmmakers can get a direct line to their most passionate fanbase and create viral moments with the audience who can make a project go from zero to “must see” status.
For Hollywood, more reliant than ever on IP that can anchor franchise films, Comic-Con is about using the Hall H buzz to propel potential blockbusters into box office gold. The downside, of course, is poor reception that could kill a film or show’s prospects before it even hits theaters — or forces a costly last-minute course correction.
But this year, there were a lot of winners, and TheWrap was down in San Diego to check them out. Here were some of the highlights.
“South Park” creators make a well-timed appearance
Comedy Central’s Animation Panel on Thursday had the most pre-panel buzz because it featured a rare Hall H appearance from “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It’s been nearly a decade since their last appearance, but this one was particularly special because it marked their first public appearance since decimating parent Paramount’s settlement with Donald Trump — as well as the president himself — during the show’s Season 27 premiere Wednesday night. The panel, which also featured “Beavis and Butt-Head” creator Mike Judge and “Digman!” star and co-creator Andy Samberg, was largely free of controversy or political talk, with Parker only offering a deadpan, “We’re terribly sorry.” His quiet nod elicited another round of laughter and applause.
Predators invade Hall H
For the “Predator: Badlands” panel, an actual Predator stepped onto the stage and scanned the hall with its signature laser thermal vision while speaking Yautja to the audience, creating one of the most immersive and unique experiences ever to grace Hall H. The crowd ate it up. That dramatic stunt was followed by a preview of the first 15 minutes of the 20th Century Studios film, which gets a theatrical release this fall. The footage centered on hero Predator Dek, who is trying to prove to his father that he is worthy of the Predators’ legacy.
“In the ‘Predator’ movies, the Predator never wins. They are supposed to be the greatest warrior in the galaxy, and they are always the bad guy,” said director Dan Trachtenberg, who reinvigorated the franchise with 2022’s 1700s-set “Predator” film “Prey.” This new film finds the Predator paired up with a robot played by Elle Fanning.
“The Predator is not a friendly creature…it is ferocious, a bad ass, and very much an anti-hero. And I was really interested in switching that up and pairing a Predator with someone totally unexpected and taking these two unique characters on an incredibly emotional and visceral journey,” the filmmaker explained.
“Tron: Ares” brings Jared Leto, a laser show and Nine Inch Nails music
Rogue programs from “Tron: Ares” breached the Hall H stage Friday afternoon and made the coolest entrance of the con as attendees were treated to a preview of the film’s light cycle chase scene. Fans loved it and were dialed in. Jared Leto, who plays the eponymous Ares, made his first Hall H appearance in years alongside OG “Tron” star Jeff Bridges who returned for 2010’s “Tron: Legacy.”
“I am an official Tron superfan. If I wasn’t on the stage, I would be in the audience right now cheering like all these crazy people here,” Leto said at one point. The panel also featured an extended first look at the Dillinger Grid – an immersive digital world created by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), and ended on a high note with a light show and the music video of “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” performed by Nine Inch Nails.
“Coyote vs. Acme” is alive and well
“Coyote vs. Acme,” the hybrid live-action/animation movie that for a moment seemed doomed as Warner Bros. Discovery aimed to shelve the film for a tax writeoff, celebrated its resurrection on Saturday morning inside Hall H as director David Green and Ketchup Entertainment announced an August 2026 release date.
“The real hero of this movie is all of you guys sitting in those seats,” star Will Forte told the crowd, who eagerly agreed with applause. “Like Wile E. Coyote, you guys were an underdog who fought against a major corporation, and because you never gave up, this movie is now going to come out in wide global release.”
The panel concluded with the premiere of the film’s teaser trailer after an Acme lawyer (played by P. J. Byrne) and his gang of interns tried to shut the panel down.
Ryan Gosling and “Project Hail Mary” charm the room
In terms of reception and execution, the “Project Hail Mary” panel came in a close second to the Disney panel thanks largely due to Amazon MGM’s use of all of the monitors inside Hall H to create a massive widescreen experience with the film’s first 5 minutes of footage. The project already garnered plenty of buzz coming off its CinemaCon presentation in April, and star Ryan Gosling and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were keen to keep the momentum going alongside author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard.
The sneak peak showed Gosling’s Ryland Grace waking up from a deep cryo sleep. “It’s a story about connection,” Miller said, as Amazon appears to be holding aces judging by CinemaCon, the blockbuster trailer reception online and now this Comic-Con panel. We’ll find out when the film hits theaters in March 2026.
While Amazon MGM was riding high with “Project Hail Mary,” it missed an opportunity to showcase “Masters of the Universe,” a genre epic that would have nicely filled the void left by DC and Marvel.
James Gunn gets a standing ovation at DC Studios’ “Peacemaker” panel
James Gunn returned to Hall H alongside John Cena to premiere the latest trailer and tease the upcoming second season of “Peacemaker,” his DC Studios series on HBO Max. Cena and moderator Josh Horowitz led the Hall H crowd in a standing ovation for Gunn’s victory lap as “Superman” exceeded $500 million worldwide, and the filmmaker — no stranger to Comic-Con — was visibly touched.
The story of “Peacemaker” Season 2 will center on Cena’s title character discovering an alternate world where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery also forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands. In a clip, Gunn previewed a key fight scene from the second season showcasing Emilia Harcourt’s (Jennifer Holland) combat skills in a saloon brawl. Gunn teased that some characters from the “Superman” movie will appear in “Peacemaker” Season 2, which takes place a month after the events of the film that jump-started Gunn’s rebooted DC universe. Of note, though, some SDCC fans were disappointed there were no sneak peaks at the upcoming “Supergirl” movie or HBO Max series “Lanterns.”
George Lucas makes his first-ever Comic-Con appearance
George Lucas is in a class all his own as Comic-Con granted him the only Hall H panel on Sunday. Making his first-ever appearance at the convention, the crowd went absolutely wild and gave Lucas a roaring standing ovation and hero’s welcome with lightsabers held up high. It was the loudest reception this reporter heard this year, and the panel was also the con’s most poignant Hall H panel as the legendary filmmaker gave a preview of his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and 40,000 piece art collection. Some highlights include the very first character drawing of Flash Gordon from 1934, Peanuts comic sketches from the 50s and 60s, original drawings from the first Iron Man comic and an original ink splash of Black Panther, to name a few. The 11-acre Los Angeles campus and 300,000-square-foot building designed by architect Ma Yansong includes 30 art galleries, two screening rooms, a library, a restaurant and an event space.
“It’s more about a connection with the work, not how much it costs or what celebrity did it, it’s more a personal thing… if you have an emotional connection to something, that’s art,” Lucas said, closing out Comic-Con 2025. It was a fitting conclusion to a convention that has celebrated narrative art for the past 55 years.
