Ryan Gosling’s Hail Mary Debuts at Comic-Con

Comic-Con opened on Thursday in San Diego, with tens of thousands of fans from around the world descending upon the city. But this year, the world’s largest pop culture convention is getting a particular historical first that is having fans of a certain franchise buzzing with excitement.

Iconic filmmaker George Lucas is attending Comic-Con for the first time this year. It marks the first time the convention’s biggest guest will attend the annual fan gathering and expo that celebrates the world of stories and storytelling through film, literature, and video games. Comic-Con has close ties to two of Lucas’ most well-known franchises—Star Wars and Indiana Jones—but this will be his first time appearing at the three-day event.

This year is kind of a full-circle moment for the man who brought Star Wars to the screen. In a statement to Comic-Con News Daily, David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer for Comic-Con, said: “Nearly 50 years ago, Star Wars made one of its first public appearances at our convention, with a booth that included [comic book artist] Howard Chaykin’s now legendary Star Wars poster as a promotional giveaway. Lucas’s attendance this year is a true full-circle moment.”

Lucas will attend a special Sunday panel that will be moderated by Queen Latifah and will focus on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that he is currently building in Los Angeles, which is set to open next year. Lucas will also be joined on the panel by Oscar-winning artist Doug Chiang, who has worked on Star Wars for the past 35 years, and Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. The three will discuss the upcoming museum, which aims to be a celebration of illustrated storytelling through film, comics, and concept art. Lucas will also be donating his own personal archive to the museum.

Comic-Con is a Con for Fans

Comic-Con was first established in 1970 as the “Golden State Comic-Con” as a smaller convention that focused primarily on comic books and culture. In the 51 years since its inception, Comic-Con has grown exponentially, with about 130,000 people attending the convention each year. Fans attend Comic-Con for the big announcements, the world premieres, and the chance to meet and see some of the biggest names in Hollywood before their projects even hit theaters, but it’s also a fun celebration of comics, cosplay, and the cultures surrounding fandoms.

Alien and Predator Movies Are Back in Action

In a move reminiscent of James Cameron’s past two presences at Comic-Con, this year will see both Alien and Predator make significant appearances at Comic-Con.

This year’s first movie reveal is the world premiere of Alien: Earth, the newest series set in the universe of Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien film. The series, which is set to debut on a streaming service next month, was created and directed by Noah Hawley and will serve as a prequel to Alien. Set a few years before the events of the original film, Alien: Earth will premiere on Friday in Hall H, which is the convention’s largest venue, and fans will be able to see a world that will be infiltrated by an alien Xenomorph.

Predator: Badlands will also be taking up a significant amount of space in San Diego. While the film and franchise have long been entrenched in the world of science fiction, this most recent adaptation will turn the franchise on its head by giving fans the first Predator who will be the hunted. Helmed by director Dan Trachtenberg, who returned to the series with 2022’s Prey, the film is about an alien who “has never lost” and his eventual “doom” will be revealed during a panel with actors Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who will be playing the alien Dek.

Marvel Studios Steps Back This Year

Marvel Studios, which is also helmed by Comic-Con veteran Kevin Feige, will be taking a backseat to some of its past Comic-Con appearances. Variety reports that the reason Marvel will be “scaling back” its presence this year is because the most recent MCU installment, Avengers: Doomsday, is still in production in the United Kingdom, making planning difficult for the studio and the showcase that it usually has in Hall H. Feige’s quote from the report reads: “This year we had to make the call, which was tough, because we all know what a bucket list thing it is to have a Hall H presentation at Comic-Con. But we had to do what was right for the film.”

While the MCU has certainly taken some of the shine away from some of Comic-Con’s past features, the gap is certainly being filled by its long-time counterpart: science fiction. The Hall H programming for this year’s Comic-Con is set to be even more stacked than in years past, and sci-fi will be the subgenre at the center of that.

In addition to all the alien-based events listed above, Ryan Gosling will be taking the stage on Saturday in Hall H for Project Hail Mary, a new film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, author of The Martian. Gosling will play the title character of Ryland Grace, who is a former schoolteacher who awakens alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and then learns that he might be the only person on Earth who can save humanity. Joining Gosling on the panel will be directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are known for directing the Spider-Verse trilogy of movies.

Elsewhere at Comic-Con this weekend, James Gunn will be on stage to talk about the new season of his Peacemaker series for DC. Gunn, who has also just been announced as the one calling the shots for DC’s reboot with the upcoming Superman film, will be joined by the cast of the series for on-stage footage and a sneak peek at Season 2.

Dress-Up and Con Art

Fans of cosplay will also be donning their outfits for some serious picture taking in San Diego. The convention runs through Sunday, July 27, and while most of the big announcements will have been made on the weekends and are typically reserved for media and media passes, fans dressed as princesses, warriors, monsters, and heroes will be dressed up throughout the entire weekend and will be bringing Comic-Con to life with their costumes.