For years, people who like comic books have complained that people who like movies based on comic books are taking over San Diego Comic-Con—the one place where a nerd is free to be a nerd, other than everywhere else because it’s 2015 and it’s cool to be a nerd now. However, that one kind of nerd might be taking Comic-Con back from that other kind of nerd, as Marvel Studios—the branch of Marvel that makes movies—might be skipping Comic-Con entirely. This rumor, unthinkable as it is, comes from Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn, who responded to a question on Facebook this weekend about whether or not he would attend Comic Book Movie-Con this year by saying, “I’m not sure. Marvel isn’t going so I’m not sure I will either.”
That sounds pretty definitive, but he’s just the guy who bossed a space raccoon around for a while. He might not really be in the loop on stuff like this. However, this rumor starts gaining a fair amount of traction when you consider the fact that Marvel already announced its entire slate of movies through 2019 way back in October, so it wouldn’t really have much of anything to talk about at Comic-Con if it does go. Sure, everybody would flip out if it marched Benedict Cumberbatch onto a stage with Doctor Strange’s Cloak Of Levitation and the Eye Of Agamotto around his neck, but Marvel doesn’t really need to do that sort of thing anymore. Everyone’s going to see all of its movies, regardless of how many Cumberbatches it puts on a stage, so why bother? Plus, it can keep holding events like the one from October, where it can completely control all of the information that gets out without having to share headline space with anybody else.
If Marvel Studios really doesn’t show up to Comic-Con this year, look for DC to try and do the exact same thing next year, but with fewer jokes.