James Gunn, there’s a Johnny Depp impersonator who would like to have a word about DC.
“I think the new ‘Supergirl’ sucks,” 39-year-old Oklahoma City native and devoted DC fan John (go figure) says from San Diego Comic-Con’s main floor. He looks exactly like “Pirates” era Depp, with chunky silver rings, a goatee, and a wide-brimmed fedora. Strangely enough, when asked if he’s cosplaying as the Hollywood bad boy, he tells me, as if offended, “Not really.” Returning to what ails DC, he adds, “I think they tried too hard. They’re trying to be like Marvel, and they need to really just be their own thing.”
San Diego Comic-Con is the sweltering core of the sights, sounds and sometimes smells of zealous fandom. It was intense, to say the least, for an SDCC rookie like me. The foot traffic could power a small city for a month, and navigating the convention hall in a sea of sweaty cosplayers felt like front row seats to “The Odyssey” in 4DX. But even for a first-timer, battling overstimulation and dehydration, it was obvious the annual gathering of geeks is ruled by three kings: Marvel, DC and “Star Wars.”
Once immortal titans of nerdom, the big three have recently lost their grip on the zeitgeist, especially in movie theaters. Marvel, which once set box office records with a snap of an Infinity Gauntlet, is struggling in a post “Endgame” era with relative duds like “Thunderbolts*,” “Fantastic Four” and “Captain America: Brave New World.” DC Studios, under the watch of co-CEOs Gunn and Peter Safran, launched to immediate success with last year’s “Superman,” but saw “Supergirl” flop in June. “Star Wars,” the original blockbuster muscle, returned to theaters after a six-year hiatus with “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” only to be met with a lukewarm reception and lackluster revenues. There have been enough think pieces about why this is happening to fill Stark Tower, but for the real scoop, SDCC superfans told Variety about why their favorite franchises are stumbling and what they can do to reclaim their former glory.
Back on the topic of DC, not everyone was as blunt as John about the studio’s future. Nathan, a 28-year-old Angeleno in a Lobo costume, was “skeptical” when Gunn took control, and feared he’d turn “Superman” into a “Guardians of the Galaxy” sidegrade. However, he “loved” the movie after seeing it for himself, and feels confident Gunn’s vision for DC “is really well intentioned.”
“I like James Gunn’s mission statement of every movie is going to be a reflection of the character and the writer and director that’s working on it,” Nathan says. “I love that they’re throwing ‘Clayface’ in there. ‘Clayface,’ they’re saying, is gonna be a straight-up horror movie.”
Nathan suspects the reason “Supergirl” failed was because of a divergence from Gunn’s promised blueprint. THR reported in early July that, due to disappointing audience scores, DC held a bake-off between two versions of “Supergirl” before release. One was from director Craig Gillespie and the other was from the studio. The DC cut won out after earning slightly better results. Nathan, referencing the story, believes giving focus groups the final say is a mistake, since “general audiences don’t know what they want.”
“They just need something different shown to them. And they are going to like it because it’s different,” he adds. “If it underperforms, at least it was left intact. At least it was the vision.”
Nathan never mentioned seeing the early “Supergirl” drafts, and it’s impossible to predict what the outcome would’ve been if Gillespie’s cut was chosen. This comment is still significant because it points to the industry-wide disconnect between studios and audiences. Questions about what movies get butts in seats have dominated the business since it emerged from COVID and the dual labor strikes. The problem is not only in the superhero world, but it could feel more significant to superfans like Nathan, considering Marvel, DC and “Star Wars” movies once towered over all others.
When looking for a dedicated “Star Wars” fan, Jermaine stood out from the rest. Instead of dressing like Obi-Wan, the 36-year-old L.A. native constructed a 14-foot-tall lightsaber cosplay. From the inside of a giant metal hilt, Jermaine told me he’s “hopeful” about the future of “Star Wars,” despite critical and commercial woes. He admits that the recent films are a “mixed bag,” but he considers the Disney+ series “Andor” a “masterpiece.”
Kyle, a 29-year-old San Diego local dressed as a Rebel Commando, isn’t as hot on the “Star Wars” streaming titles. He says having so much content on Disney+ has “oversaturated” the IP, and thinks “Star Wars” would fare better with a methodical, theatrical-minded approach.
“I think that if [the franchise] returned to the big screen, and had more time to develop and prosper, then it would probably have more of that ‘Star Wars’ root in it,” he says. “It feels like they’re trying to push things out onto a streaming service rather than actually make something grand and adventurous.”
It’s important to note that neither Kyle nor Jermaine had seen “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” If a man who built a lightsaber suit taller than an NBA basketball hoop didn’t rush to see a “Star Wars” movie after a six-year drought, there could be some truth to concerns that Disney+ has conditioned fans to follow the franchise from home.
Finally, on to Marvel, which still remains the belle of the ball. The entire weekend is essentially a lead-in to the company’s Saturday Hall H presentation, during which Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige routinely drops news about what to expect from the MCU in the coming years.
Marvel fans said “soft reboot” and “rebuilding phase” many times while discussing the state of the MCU, but most seemed energized about where it’s heading. Cameron, a 34-year-old from San Diego who dressed as Cyclops for SDCC, finds it “exciting” that Marvel is in a “transitional” period and feels confident it will find a new path forward. Nate, a 23-year-old Spider-Man cosplayer, is likewise optimistic. He’s glad Marvel is past its “filler” era, and is “super excited” to see the worlds of “X-Men” and “The Avengers” collide in December’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”
“Doomsday” is consequential for Marvel buffs and Disney execs alike. It promises a super team-up of Marvel heroes past and present, obvious hype fuel for fans. Through a more critical lens, many in Hollywood will treat its box office result as a litmus test for Marvel’s health for 2026 and beyond. If “Doomsday” is a big hit, it’s full steam ahead for Feige and friends. If it underperforms, it’s easy to imagine Marvel asking itself, “Now what?”
33-year-old Jordan isn’t so certain about the direction of the MCU. She thinks the Marvel brand, with the success of its animated series “X-Men ‘97” and its popular video game “Marvel Rivals,” is in a “pretty healthy place,” but insists the studio is not. One big reason she is “not that excited for ‘Doomsday’” or much else on the slate is because of “the lack of women.”
“If you look at the [’Doomsday’] posters, it’s 25 men and five women, and there are a lot of powerhouses, like She-Hulk, for example, that are just totally left out of the cast,” she says. “I feel like the MCU is at a strange point where only some of the shows on Disney+ are good, and nothing else is really exciting.”
Ferlie, a 56-year-old ex-cop dressed as Sue Storm, hesitates to say Marvel is “trending upward,” since “nothing is going to be like ‘Endgame.’” She also feels “iffy” about Robert Downey Jr. going from Iron Man to Doctor Doom. However, Ferlie, like many Marvel fans, loves Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” series, which she says is “in a league of its own.”
Inside Marvel’s Hall H panel, you’d never think Feige had something to worry about. Fans, most of whom secured a seat at noon to wait for the 6 p.m. show, went berserk when Ryan Gosling was announced as the new “Ghost Rider” and David Jonsson was named the new Black Panther. In the minutes before go time, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” blasted into the stuffy auditorium, which felt like a not-so-subtle message to any doubters in the room.
In a post-panel chat, Sophia, a 34-year-old dental receptionist, said she’s gone to SDCC for years, and Marvel’s 2026 Hall H showcase was the “best experience” she’s ever had at the con. Joshua, a 33-year-old school psychologist, thought the panel was “amazing” and mused about how Marvel is masterfully uniting “some of the greatest heroes from the last 20 years” for an ultimate “Doomsday” crossover.
On the other side of the aisle was Marissa, 28, and Froylan, 57, a father-daughter duo from Murrieta, Calif. They waited since Thursday for their Hall H pass and were left unimpressed by the roughly 40-minute exhibition. Marissa worries that Marvel, instead of executing a meticulous plan, like in the “Infinity Wars” days, is cobbling together a new MCU by “falling back” on IP and stars they “know are successful.” On the “Ghost Rider” reveal, she points out, “Obviously everyone’s gonna love Ryan Gosling.”
One of the only people who skipped IP opinions and identified broader issues was Cyrstal. “Streaming really destroyed a lot,” says the 44-year-old from L.A. She used to be a TV editor and now works as a paralegal. Crystal hates that shows drop an entire season on release day, and thinks streaming has eroded the monoculture that used to propel powerful franchises to billion-dollar heights.
“I think that art is meant to be consumed together as a culture. It’s more valuable that way,” she says. “Too many streaming platforms, too many series, all at once.”
She also believes politics is a major distraction in the entertainment landscape, a phenomenon most recently exemplified during “The Odyssey” press tour. “People are so divided on politics, and everything has to align with, ‘Is this liberal or is this conservative?’ Which viewpoint is it?'”
Through all the chatter, it was Ruby, a San Francisco construction worker who called me “rude” for asking her age, who best channeled the mixed feelings of Comic-Con’s franchise fans. She said in her post-Hall H reaction, “That’s pretty good. They did put on a show. They always do nice surprises. But we’ve also been promised movies before that never came. So, it’s really cool to see ‘Ghost Rider,’ but are we gonna get ‘Ghost Rider?’ I’m still waiting for ‘Blade.’”