By Ana Gomez Salcido
Fans of pop culture enjoyed four days full of comics, movies, TV shows, previews, and exclusives at Comic-Con 2016.
The international event held in and around the San Diego Convention Center from Thursday, July 21 to July 24 offered entertainment to people of all ages.
There was an estimated attendance of 130,000 people inside Comic-Con. However, thousands and thousands more took part in the many activities throughout Downtown San Diego and the East Village. Those without Comic-Con passes were able to enjoy many events at galleries, bars, hotels and Petco Park’s parking lot which featured enjoy games, rides, activities, freebies, and even autograph opportunities.
Inside the San Diego Convention Center, halls A through G hosted the Exhibit Hall, where visitors could find toy exclusives, collectibles, special costumes, special edition comics, and much more.
This year, the most anticipated panels were for Game of Thrones, Fear The Walking Dead, and The Walking Dead, all hosted at the ever-packed Hall H. To get into one of these panels, hopeful fans camped outside Hall H one day before to get one of the 6,500 seats available.
In the last episode of the last season of The Walking Dead, a new character named Negan kills a main character of the series, but the killer’s identity remained a mystery. This year, Comic-Con attendees wanted to know more of the first episode of the new season which returns on October 23.
The Walking Dead panel included the presence of most of the main characters of the series and the executive producers. However, little information about the new season was released, although a trailer and pictures of some of the zombies featured in the show were shown to the audience.
Movie fans also saw previous of the most awaited superhero movies to be released soon. The Marvel and Warner Brothers panels were the most anticipated for future movies like Suicide Squad, the Justice League, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and more.
Warner Brothers opened the Saturday line up at Hall H, where instead of using only the main screen at the panel, they extended the screens to give an IMAX feeling to the audience. The panel hosted by TV anchor, Conan O’Brien had an A-list lineup including Academy Award winners like Ben Affleck, and Eddie Redmayne.
One of the big surprises at the WB panel was the announcement of the Justice League cast. Among the stars to be featured were Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg.
At the Marvel panel, the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 cast stole the show with the presence of Ravagers actor Michael Rooker, who was in full character as Yondu. The audience was also given a behind the scenes look at the new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction at Disney’s California Adventure that will open in late-summer 2017.