San Diego Comic-Con 2016 Recap

This past week and weekend, millions of pop-culture fans flocked to San Diego, California to enjoy the largest comic and pop-culture convention, San Diego Comic-Con. Any form of entertainment and media company you can imagine was in attendance to treat fans to a once in a lifetime exclusive experience featuring their favorite TV shows, movies, comic books and art.

A view of the comic-con convention hall
Credit: Amanda Levine, TCC Staff

If one word could be used to describe the feeling and theme of this year's comic-con, it would be nostalgic. From the Nickelodeon booth bringing back all of their classic '90s era shows, to the Lionsgate booth promoting their upcoming films, The Blair Witch Project and Power Rangers, to the cast reunion of the classic film, Alien, to the new Ghostbusters film having a large presence, this comic-con was nothing short of a back-in-time experience.

To accommodate their '90s theme, Nickelodeon had one of the largest booths this year. There was a giant presence of the classic show Legends of the Hidden Temple, as it was revealed that the show would be released as a motion picture in the near future. Large props like the large nose from the original Double Dare show also took up space. Marc Summers came to Comic-Con to do a live Double Dare show to celebrate the 30th anniversary. They even dedicated a panel to the 25 years of Nickelodeon original animation featuring well-loved shows from the '90s such as Hey, Arnold, Rugrats and Invader Zim.

Credit: Amanda Levine
Credit: Amanda Levine, TCC Staff

One of the most high profile panels that screamed nostalgia was the epic reunion of the Aliens cast, which included director James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton and even Carrie Henn (who played Newt). The cast reminisced about what it was like on set of the film and revealed some great behind-the-scenes stories.  In addition, they discussed what their characters meant to them. Weaver said she wasn't as brave or tough as Ripley, but the cast confirmed that Weaver was what really kept everyone glued together and tight knit on set. Weaver also discussed the next installment of Alien and that she hopes to begin work on it soon, revealing how amazing the script is.

As for TV shows, the big Hall H worthy series were, of course, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Casts from both shows appeared to release trailer teasers from both of their shows. The Walking Dead teased convention-goers about who could be the big death for the upcoming season.  They also introduced a new character to the series, Ezekiel.  He is popular in the comic book that the show is based off of. The reveal of this character had a lot of fans going wild.

As usual, the AMC show also had actors dressed up in zombie makeup walking around the convention floor hall interacting with guests, along with an interactive booth where you could take a picture with some seriously life-like dummies of the characters from the show including the big baddie from this past season, Negan.

Credit: Amanda Levine
Credit: Amanda Levine, TCC Staff

As for the two big comic companies, DC and Marvel, many big reveals were made during showings of never-before-seen trailers for upcoming movies.

Warner Bros. Entertainment and DC Entertainment shared Hall H on Saturday, July 23 for their big cinematic panel during which they released trailers for upcoming films such as Justice League, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Huge buzz surrounded the Justice League trailer.  It gave fans first looks at popular characters The Flash and Aquaman in their cinematic debut. Fans were also excited for Wonder Woman this year as well.  This was not only because the new trailer was released, but because Comic-Con was also celebrating her 75th anniversary. Convention goers were able to go outside of the convention hall to find Wonder Woman's invisible jet, which was located in the Gas Lamp Quarter of San Diego.  In addition to seeing the jet, anyone could take a free photo sitting inside.

To watch the footage from the Warner Bros Hall H presentation click here.

Marvel's presentation in Hall H on Saturday was no less disappointing to fans. Marvel debuted everything from Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming and even debuted a new logo for their studio. Details for the Black Panther film were revealed, including cast announcements.  These famous names include Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), Lupita Nyong'o and Michael B. Jordan.

Details for Thor: Ragnarok were released and it showed what Thor has been up to recently.  Apparently he has been battling the Hulk, which was shown at the end of the teaser reel. The trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming revealed the villain, which is going to be The Vulture.  This information had fans of the comics simply thrilled.

Perhaps the most news worthy information that came out of the Marvel presentation was regarding Brie Larson.  They revealed the Oscar winning actress would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Captain Marvel. Many rumors had been circulating that she was going to be the new Captain Marvel, so this panel finally confirmed it.

If one wasn't lucky enough to score a badge to the actual convention itself, there was plenty to do outside the convention. The FX network took over the lawn outside of the convention again this year and had interactive exhibits for their shows American Horror Story, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and The Strain. On the same lawn which stretches behind the convention center, Adult Swim took over and opened up their Adult Swim Carnival which allowed guests to enter a crazy carnival with games and chances to win fun prizes.

Across the street from the convention, The Hard Rock Hotel hosted DC's Suicide Squad with an interactive and immersive exhibit.  They entered the Belle Reve prison where they would go on a virtual reality experience with the squad. Guests could take a 360 degree photo inside Harley Quinn's prison cell. Fans could also head to a part of the room which they converted into Harley Quinn's Tattoo Parlor.  They could design and print out their own temporary tattoos. DC partnered up with Samsung to deliver guests the virtual reality experience.  In addition, they offered Samsung holders special additional prizes and freebies.

The last major off-site event was with Comedy Central for South Park, celebrating their 20th season on air. The town of South Park was literally recreated in the Gas Lamp district of downtown San Diego.  Guests could pose and take pictures on sets of some of the show's iconic scenes with the most popular characters. When fans posted their photos to social media they were encouraged to use the hashtag #SouthPark20.

Comic-Con 2016 was an extremely memorable and fun experience for anyone who was in San Diego. Whether or not one had a badge or not there was something to do for everyone.

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