This year, the foam sword will drop on the superheroes at Comic-Con 2012. With all the Evil Queen worship, the absence of Star Trek 2, and the undeniable dominance of fantasy television, there's no doubt that the world of magic and dragons is poised to gobble up Comic-Con faster than a Khaleesi munching on a horse heart. Just look take a look at the evidence.
In 2011, we crowned television the king of Con. A year later, TV still governs the San Diego Convention Center with an iron fist. The bulk of well-attended panels at Comic-Con these days are all tube-centric, with a once faceless group of TV scribes heralded like gods. George R.R. Martin can barely walk through the floor without a standing ovation. We can't wait to see what would happen if Community creator Dan Harmon strolled in so shortly after his unceremonious exit from the series. It would be like a Palm Sunday of flying geek bodies.
And if television is the king, then fantasy is its queen. Take a gander at just a few of the attending TV series below. The list of fantasy (and urban fantasy) projects is long. We're counting about fifteen (popular) TV shows, and those are just the confirmed programs in attendance. No doubt there will many more announcements as we get closer to the actual convention date. These sheer numbers suggest that fantasy is swallowing up San Diego.
Even more telling for 2012, Game of Thrones has been officially moved from Ballroom 20 (which can hold 4,000 people) to Hall H (6,500). And it's not being banished to the lighter Sunday schedule either — GOT's popularity nabbed it a Friday spot in Hall H. What's filling the Ballroom 20 space? More fantasy. Possibly one of the best scripted dramas currently on television today, The Legend of Korra, is poised to take over Hall H — and it's a cartoon. Korra will join Once Upon a Time, True Blood, 666 Park Avenue, Beauty and the Beast, and a collection of fantasy shows. Also it's probably important to note that Game of Thrones was chosen for this Friday spot over such critically acclaimed series as Dexter and Breaking Bad.
As for film, there aren't as many fantasy-heavy movies as there are television shows, but one could argue that the most buzzed-about features are the fantasy inclined. The convention is opening with some exclusive, never-before-seen footage of Breaking Dawn: Part 2. Why? Because the ravenous Twilight fans' thirst for new Cullen blood is so strong that it's best to let these masses attack early to make way for even more convention attendees. That's right, there are so many Twi-hards in attendance at Comic Con that they'd inundate Hall H all day otherwise.
But possibly the biggest win for fantasy at SDCC is the fact that Star Trek 2 will be MIA this year. This leaves a giant hole easily filled by The Hobbit. True, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is rumored to be revealing a trailer, but what is a short trailer compared to actual panel time (and footage) with Peter Jackson? Is anyone even that excited for this Superman movie? Pair that buzz with the fact that The Avengers has already filled our quota of Robert Downey Jr. sass for this year — Iron Man 3 better show us something new or we're going to spend our time waiting in line for the exceptionally charming stop-motion zombie movie ParaNorman.
Then there are the attendees themselves. Cosplay is a huge part of the convention experience. Before most professional cosplayers reveal their suits at the big show, they test them out at smaller conventions across the globe. And if WonderCon is any indication of what's in store, we're going to be seeing a ton of fairy tale characters. Each past convention was littered with Disney princesses, Hobbits, and bunny-hat warriors from Adventure Time. We're personally holding out for an all Evil Queen cosplay corner, hopefully Snow White and the new Maleficent movie inspired the masses.
Here's a current list of the participating fantasy mediums at this year's Con. Mind you, this is just the tip of the foam sword for magical movies. We predict a few more big surprises in 2012.
List of Fantasy at Comic-Con 2012:
MOVIES:
- The Hobbit
- Breaking Dawn
- ParaNorman
- Evil Dead Remake (not confirmed)
- Maleficent (not confirmed)
- Oz: The Great and Powerful (not confirmed)
- R.I.P.D. (not confirmed)
- 47 Ronin (not confirmed)
TELEVISION:
- The Legend of Korra
- Game Of Thrones
- True Blood
- Once Upon A Time
- Vampire Diaries
- Adventure Time
- Dreamwork's Dragons: Riders of Berk (the TV show version of How to Train Your Dragon)
- Teen Wolf
- 666 Park Avenue
- Supernatural
- Once Upon A Time
- Beauty And The Beast
- Grimm
- Merlin
- Being Human
- American Horror Story (not confirmed)
Top Image via Game of Thrones Facebook.