Captain Marvel and Aquaman join thousands of Comic-Con cosplayers

Superheroes are back! Batman, Captain Marvel and Aquaman join tens of thousands of cosplay fans in San Diego for first full-scale Comic-Con in three years

  • Batman and Wonder Woman among the most common costumes among cosplayers at famed SoCal geek-fest
  • Attendance at the world’s biggest pop culture gathering set to match record 130,000 who showed up in 2019
  • Some mega-fans even camped outside for 24 hours to be the first back inside giant headline venue Hall H
  • Iconic event began as a comic book-themed gathering in a San Diego hotel basement more than 50 years ago
  • Hyped teasers for Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ series and HBO ‘Game of Thrones’ spin-off set to wow crowds

Tens of thousands of cosplaying fans converged on San Diego yesterday for the beginning of the first full-scale Comic-Con in three years.

Batman, Aquaman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman were among the most commonly spotted costumes so far among cosplayers at the world-famous geek-fest in southern California, which runs until Sunday.

After successive online-only Comic-Cons during the Covid pandemic, attendance is set to match the record 130,000 who showed up in 2019.

Gigantic lines of culture superfans dressed as superheroes and space monsters wrapped around San Diego Convention Center at the heart of the city.

Some die-hards even camped for as long as 24 hours to be the first ones back inside giant headline venue Hall H. 

Derek Shackelton as Moon Knight (L), Jay Acey as Spiderman (C), and Nina Church as Batgirl (R) cosplay at Comic-Con

Inspector Gadgets were pictured handing out leaflets close to the exhibition center in southern California yesterday

Smile if you’re happy: one Comic-Con attendee cuts quite the scary clown as Pennywise, from Stephen King’s 1986 novel It


Left: One DC comics superfan dresses up as Batman, donning the iconic character’s famous purple cape with yellow patches. And right: Another unnamed Comic-Con attendee showed up to the San Diego nerds’ convention as Tomb Raider Lara Croft

‘It has been three years since we’ve been in this room together. How is everyone doing?’ asked Comic-Con programming chief Eddie Ibrahim, to ecstatic cheers from fans wearing masks over their hobbit, dragon and princess costumes.

The event, which began as a humble comic book-themed gathering in a San Diego hotel basement more than 50 years ago, today draws A-list stars and top Hollywood studios including Disney and Warner Bros.

New ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ TV series are set to be unveiled, with celebrity attendees including Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodriguez, William Shatner, Chris Pine, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ben Stiller. 

Hollywood studio Paramount kicked off the four-day comic book, fantasy and sci-fi extravaganza by presenting the first look at its star-studded movie ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.’ 

Pine, Grant and Rege-Jean Page appeared on stage at the 6,000-capacity arena to discuss the movie’s nostalgic and light-hearted take on the world’s most popular role-playing game.

‘It’s like a Spielbergian energy to it – it’s the films that I grew up with in the 80s,’ said Pine, while Grant said the film’s jokey script had ‘a real Monty Python vibe.’

Footage from the movie, out next March, showed a gang of wise-cracking thieves raising corpses from the dead, and being forced to race through a deadly maze pursued by monsters in front of a blood-thirsty arena crowd.

Former ‘Bridgerton’ heartthrob Page described the rigorous stunt training required for his action sequences.

Comic-Con attendee Chad Hatter poses as Dr. Strange outside the convention center yesterday as in-person events returned


Right: Star Wars cosplayer Christopher Canole poses as Dude Vader, a quirky cross between the terrifying villain and the series’ original samurai inspiration. And left: HALO cosplayer Dana Sabbe attends a press conference to promote using public transit to attend Comic-Con yesterday


One guest dresses in cosplay at Comic-Con yesterday, with a tight-fitting black spandex suit and a fashionable face mask (left). And right: a Comic-Con attendee came up with this inventive Spiderman outfit crossed with Captain America

‘I got to swing a sword around for a living… My thighs were killing me and I had the best ass in my life,’ he said, to the delight of many in attendance.

Later in Paramount’s presentation, former ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ star and Comic-Con favorite Sarah Michelle Gellar made a surprise appearance to promote new series ‘Wolf Pack,’ a spin-off from the ‘Teen Wolf’ series and movie.

Disney and Warner Bros. have this week done nothing to quell frenzied rumors of a first look at Marvel superhero sequel ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and a new Superman movie announcement.

A pair of attendees at the convention center dress as villains from the Thor series in snaps taken yesterday afternoon


Couples’ costumes: Thousand Faces cosplayers are pictured by the vendor stands (left) and one man dresses as a Tusken Raider carries one of their fellow Star Wars villains (right)

But headlines are likely to be dominated by two huge fantasy series coming to television screens soon: Amazon Prime’s ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ and HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon.’

‘The Rings of Power’ is Amazon’s enormously ambitious saga taking place in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, and set thousands of years before the events of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy of films.

The series – playing out across five seasons, the first of which launches September 2 – is reported to have cost Amazon well over $1 billion, and will be presented Friday.


One woman dressed as Barbie (left) – original packaging included. A giant porg from Star Wars (right) stands outside in the heat by the convention center

A trio of fans dress as characters from Batman as in-person Comic-Con events got underway for the first time in three years

A group of cosplayers ride the San Diego trolley to promote using public transit to attend 2022 Comic-Con International

The following day, ‘House of the Dragon’ – the first spin-off to ‘Game of Thrones’ set in George R.R. Martin’s fictional world of Westeros, out August 21 – will be unveiled by HBO.

Martin has played down talk of a rivalry between the two mega-franchises, writing in his blog, ‘I want both shows to find an appreciative audience… the more fantasy hits we have, the more great fantasy we are likely to get.’

But HBO hopes its prequel can match the wild popularity of the original ‘Thrones,’ which over eight seasons became must-see television, spawned countless imitations and delivered a record 59 Emmys.


A Wolverine costume isn’t complete without Aviator sunglasses and a cigar (left). Right: Why so serious? A cosplayer dresses as the Joker


Wielding weapons: props are just as important as outfits for these two cosplayers

Starring Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans and Emma D’Arcy, ‘House of the Dragon’ tells the story of the murderous, dragon-breeding Targaryen family, hundreds of years before the events of ‘Thrones.’

Its stars will appear in Hall H immediately after a movie presentation from HBO’s sister company Warner Bros., which is set to feature Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who is promoting his upcoming superhero flick ‘Black Adam.’

The week will also feature a send-off for AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead,’ as the juggernaut zombie TV series bows out with its final season – and launches a new spin-off, the anthology-style ‘Tales of the Walking Dead.’

Inspector Gadget was another popular costume for attendees, with this group of men taking a much-needed break

Cosplayers wear Peggy Carter aka Captain Carter and Deadpool costumes, with ankle-high boots and pink crocs on show

British star Grant, 61, whose fans are more familiar with his back catalogue of whimsical comedies, makes a surprise appearance in ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ as villain Forge Fletcher – but he admitted he almost turned the role down.

‘My agent said, “I’m going to send you this Dungeon and Dragons thing,”‘ he told those in attendance. ‘I thought, “I don’t think that’s for me dear”. And then I read it, and it’s like really hilarious.

‘The two Jonathans who wrote and directed it must have been very steeped in Monty Python or something. Because it was a properly funny script.’

Reflecting on the influence British comedy played in the script’s drafting, co-writer/director John Francis Daley said: ‘[We’re] huge fans. The irreverence of it. The one thing in this that isn’t in Monty Python is the true stakes. This is not a comedy per se.

A general view of the convention center and attendees during the 2022 Comic-Con International: San Diego

Moon Knight cosplayer Derek Shackelton is pictured walking in front of a Halo fan in full robot soldier gear yesterday

‘It was very important to us to make sure that we correctly straddled that line between humour and making sure that the stakes were high and the drama was real. So that was the real challenge.’

For the festival that brings pop culture fans together, the Star Trek star looked handsome in a yellow, short sleeve button-up with a pattern of black geometric shapes on it, gold watch, cropped trousers and brown loafers.

Fans roared in applause and filmed Pine’s every move as he displayed his enthusiasm for the fantasy film, which will hit theaters on March 3, 2023.

During the presentation, Pine admitted he had never even played the game – which has enjoyed something of a resurgence thanks to Netflix drama Stranger Things – until signing up for the project, prompting Grant to crack a joke.


A woman stands proudly outside the convention center in a Cruella outfit (left). Right: Monty Python’s the Black Knight


A man in an Ant-Man costume – human-sized – pictured (left) inside the hall yesterday. Right: a battle-scarred Boba Fett

Guests are pictured attending 2022 Comic-Con International: San Diego inside the Convention Center yesterday afternoon

‘Well, I was a Dungeon Master,’ Grant quipped, according to THR. ‘But it was more S&M and less D&D. It’s the English version.’

The jest caused Rodriguez, who said D&D brought back memories of ‘being a kid in a basement with friends just goofing off,’ to crack up as she retorted: ‘I wasn’t expecting that!’

Later the moderator said he heard that the English actor, 61, was a lifelong D&D fan, to which Rodriguez joked: ‘I think you mixed it up with S&M.’

‘She’s not wrong,’ Grant stated. ‘I’ve been an enthusiastic Dungeon Master for some years now. That’s a British pastime, [a] national sport almost. I believe that’s why the Jonathans [the directors] thought of me for this, my reputation.’

Co-star Page, who plays Xenk in the new film, admitted he was equally drawn by the screenplay’s combination of ‘compassion and adventure.’

He said: ‘I read the script and it was so full of heart and humour, it was so full of compassions and adventure and scope that it made it incredibly hard to say no.

‘That’s kind of what you’re looking for as an actor. You’re looking to pick something up that sparks your imagination, that gives you something that you haven’t necessarily seen before.

‘And gives you a world you want to hang out in. Because then hopefully the audience wants to hang out in it too. And it just ticked all of those boxes.’

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