The biggest news out of Comic-Con, from 'South Park' to 'Peacemaker'
No Marvel? No problem.
The Avengers and their cinematic universe skipped Comic-Con this year – they're off fighting Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in the UK or something. But John Cena was there, dressed as his DC superhero Peacemaker. Ryan Gosling was there, giving us a taste of his alien bestie Rocky in "Project Hail Mary." Even "South Park" guys Trey Parker and Matt Stone were there, a day after lampooning the sitting president of the United States.
The San Diego pop-culture fest didn't have the same heat as last year or in previous editions. The grand stage of Hall H was full but not crazy-packed, and without any big "event" panels, many movies and TV series were able to show their newest wares to their own fandoms but also to newcomers giving things a try. I'm not an "NCIS" guy by any means, yet it was cool to see how into "Tony & Ziva" their die-hards are.
With my 14th Comic-Con officially in the books, here are my favorite things from this year's iteration:
'South Park' creators play it cool with mainstream controversy
It didn't take too long during their appearance at Comic-Con for "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to weigh in on the kerfuffle of their Season 27 premiere, which drew ire from the White House. (Depicting President Donald Trump nude with Satan will do that.) Their response was true to form: "We're terribly sorry," Parker said, tongue fully in cheek.
But that animation panel, which also featured "Beavis and Butthead" honcho Mike Judge and "Digman!" creator Andy Samberg, was a fascinating mutual admiration society. Parker and Stone told Judge how much his show meant to them in college, and the "South Park" guys were very honest about having to now compete with talented kids on TikTok when it comes to topical comedy. "We have a great gig but I'm jealous," Stone said.
Superman who? John Cena's 'Peacemaker' takes DC's superhero baton
James Gunn got a victory lap of sorts at Comic-Con, getting a standing ovation for how much of a hit the new "Superman" has been. But if you dig that movie, then gird your loins for "Peacemaker." The second season hits Aug. 21, and a new Comic-Con trailer gave us a look at the show's humor, insanity and, yes, even some emotion – all set to a lot of catchy sleaze metal.
What makes the show special is John Cena's portrayal of a complex antihero with a traumatic past who can save the day (barely) but can't get out of his own way. It's the one role that has really let Cena's talents shine. When Gunn says Cena's performance in the new season is "really something to see," best believe him.
Ryan Gosling's astronaut Everyman fuels 'Project Hail Mary'
The best thing about the long wait until Ryan Gosling's sci-fi epic "Project Hail Mary"? You have some time to read Andy Weir's brilliant book before going on this epic space adventure. With so many franchises taking up space at Comic-Con, the "Hail Mary" panel delivered refreshing humor and stunning visuals to a psyched Hall H crowd.
Gosling plays a middle-school teacher launched into space – very reluctantly – in a last-ditch effort to find a new home for mankind. Everything they've shown so far is top notch, including the first five minutes where Gosling's character is an amnesiac mess who gradually figures out he's alone in the middle of space. He does find a friend, and a first look at the alien Rocky, just showing his little rock hands, was the most adorable thing outside of the Hello Kitty booth. Get ready, because "Project Hail Mary" is going to be a thing in 2026.
'It: Welcome to Derry' is a best bet to be your Halloween obsession
It's a huge year for Stephen King movies and TV shows, and the freakiest of the bunch looks to be "It: Welcome to Derry." A prequel to the hit "It" movies, the series mines more of King's seminal horror novel and its first season is set in 1962. Jovan Adepo and Taylour Paige star as a couple who've moved their family to the cursed Maine town of Derry and soon learn that things ain't right. At all.
Bill Skarsgård is back as Pennywise, which is scary enough, but a Comic-Con peek at the opening of "Derry" hints at so much more chilling stuff than just an evil clown who comes back every 27 years. A woman giving birth in a car, rather graphically, to a demon baby with wings and two heads who then goes bat-nuts crazy in said vehicle? October can't come soon enough.
Even more Comic-Con goodness to check out!
Got thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns, compliments or maybe even some recs for me? Email btruitt@usatoday.com and follow me on the socials: I'm @briantruitt on Bluesky, Instagram and Threads.
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Major spoilers ahead for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. You've been warned. * * When the comic debuted in 1961, not even Stan Lee could foresee how popular The Fantastic Four would be – that Marvel's 'first family' would spawn hundreds of collections of comics that continue to this day. However, that popularity didn't translate as well to the movie versions that popped up over the years. It seemed like nobody could get Fan 4's particular brand of goofy, family-friendly adventure right for the big screen. But now The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes a huge, ambitious, risky swing at it. Does it score? Read on to find out. RELATED: Superman Spoiler Review So, it's important to note that this version of Fantastic Four takes place on Earth-828, in 1964. And in this glorious, retro-futuristic (think Tomorrowland at Disneyworld) version of New York is where the Fantastic Four make their home. While Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic (Pedro-I'm-in-friggin'-everything-Pascal) tears the bathroom apart looking for something, his wife and colleague, Susan Storm, aka Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby) tells him to wait just 12 more seconds. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn in The Fantastic Four: First Steps She goes to just the right drawer, finds the thing he's looking for and gives it to him. Then, she gives him a pregnancy test blinking positive. Reed's both nervous and excited, given that they've both been genetically altered. But Sue says it's going to be okay. They can do this. A TV show plays, 'The Ted Gilbert Show,' going over the events which led to the Fan 4 becoming the supers they are. As astronauts, Reed and Sue, her brother Johnny, aka Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and pilot Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) went to space and were exposed to cosmic rays that altered their DNA. RELATED: Movie Review: Osiris For those unfamiliar, Reed became super-stretchy; Sue can turn invisible and create force fields. Johnny can turn into flame and fly, and Ben turned into a super-strong rock monster. Over the years, the Fan 4 became Earth's heroes, protecting people from supervillains like Harvey Elder, aka Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser). But at least with Mole Man, Sue was able to broker a peace deal so that New York and his city beneath the city, Subterranea, could coexist. Sue and Reed join Ben and Johnny for their traditional Sunday dinner. Ben can immediately tell that Sue's pregnant. Everyone celebrates, including the family robot, H.E.R.B.I.E. (Matthew Wood). Over the next few months, everyone works on baby-proofing the penthouse and lab. Meanwhile, Reed also works on a teleportation machine but can't get it quite right. They also pick up a broadcast from space in a strange language, which H.E.R.B.I.E. records. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Matthew Wood in The Fantastic Four: First Steps While out buying cookies for Sue (but mostly himself), a bunch of schoolkids see Ben and cheer for him, wanting him to pick up a car. They want him to throw it, but of course, Ben won't do that. The kids' teacher, Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), comes out to talk to him. Ben's clearly surprised that she isn't frightened of him or just wants a photo. They strike up a conversation, and Rachel invites Ben to stop in and visit next time. Ben walks away with a new crush. Aww. Picking up a strange signal coming into the city from space, the Fan 4 fly their Fantasticar to Times Square as a strange being arrives. It looks like a metallic, humanoid, female-looking alien hovering on what looks like a surfboard (Julia Garner). She asks the Fan 4 if they're Earth's protectors, and they say yes. The Herald announces that Earth is marked for destruction by her master, Galactus (Ralph Ineson). RELATED: Movie Review: The Fantastic Four: First Steps She says that all Earth's inhabitants should spend what little time they have with their loved ones. Then the Herald flies away, back toward space. Johnny 'flames on' and follows her, catching up to her and grabbing the board. The Herald says something to him in her language and then knocks him back, sending him falling back down. Meanwhile, as the public starts panicking, Reed assures them that they will protect them. The Fan 4 go back to the lab, and Reed analyzes what info they have. Based on her looks, they decide to call the Herald 'Silver Surfer,' and identify other planets where her energy signature has been – other planets that have been destroyed. Even though Sue is ready to deliver any day, the Fan 4 realize they have to go back to space. So, they hop in their Excelsior rocket and take off with the world anxiously waiting. Julia Garner in The Fantastic Four: First Steps Reed finds the planet that Galactus is currently consuming. His massive ship pulls the Excelsior inside, and Silver Surfer meets them, bringing them to meet Galactus. Reed guesses that she is the one who decides which planets to destroy. And Johnny asks her what she said to him. She tells him it was a blessing: 'Die with yours.' The Fan 4 finally see Galactus, the ultra-humongous cosmic god, and Reed asks that Earth be spared. Galactus detects Sue's baby and also detects the baby's power. He says that the child shares the same power as he does, and that the child could take his place so that he could finally rest. Galactus gives them an ultimatum: sacrifice the child or sacrifice Earth. RELATED: Thunderbolts* Spoiler Review Unwilling to give up the baby, the Fan 4 make a break for their ship and manage to break free of Galactus' ship. But Silver Surfer chases them, even following them at faster-than-light speed. Sue goes into labor while Reed tells Ben to fly them toward a black hole. Johnny fires their guns at Silver Surfer, but the wormhole bends the beams. Ben flies them closer to the black hole, close enough to start ripping parts off the ship – but also close enough to trap Silver Surfer in the gravity well. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby in The Fantastic Four: First Steps The Excelsior barely makes it out but manages to get home, and Sue gives birth to a baby boy, Franklin. When they get back to Earth, everyone's excited to see the baby but upset when Reed tells the press that they couldn't defeat Galactus – because the price was too high. When Reed reveals that they wouldn't sacrifice Franklin, public opinion immediately turns on them. Meanwhile, Silver Surfer tries to reason with Galactus, saying that killing a baby is going too far. But Galactus lifts her off her board, choking her for daring to question him. Back on Earth, while Reed desperately tries to come up with some way to defeat Galactus, Johnny decides to do some work on his own, analyzing all those recordings of those space broadcasts until he finds one that contains the same language Silver Surfer spoke to him. RELATED: Movie Review: Jurassic World: Rebirth From the penthouse, Sue looks down on the angry mob protesting outside the Baxter Building. She takes Franklin and goes outside, telling them that while she will never sacrifice her child, she also won't sacrifice anyone else's. She asks everyone to just have some faith that they'll be able to save them, which seems to lessen the crowd's anger. Reed finally perfects his teleportation device and scales it way up so that they'll be able to actually teleport the entire planet. This means building special rigs all over the world and nightly global blackouts to conserve power. But it works, and as Galactus approaches Earth, Reed throws the switches. But then Silver Surfer shows up and zips around destroying all the rigs. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby in The Fantastic Four: First Steps Johnny goes after her as she reaches New York and catches up to her. He speaks to her in her language, addressing her by her real name: Shalla-Bal. Apparently, she was a scientist on her own world, and when Galactus came calling, she offered to become his servant in exchange for saving her world and her child. Haunted by the deafening screams of the dead, Silver Surfer flees. RELATED: Captain America: Brave New World Spoiler Review With the planetary teleportation plan blown, the Fan 4 have one play left – to teleport Galactus when he arrives. But the only way to get him away from his ship is to lure him. And the only thing they can lure him with is Franklin. It's a scary, horrible plan, but even Reed and Sue know it's the only way. And to get the many civilians out of harm's way, Sue reaches out to Mole Man and gets him to agree to let the people stay down in Subterreanea. The Fan 4 set up the teleporter and put Franklin in a baby seat/protective pod in the center of it while they hide out of sight. Galactus shows up as expected, tromping the city under his massive feet. But just as he's heading for the teleporter, he realizes the baby's not there. He scans around and finds Franklin in the Baxter Building instead, the Fan 4 having pulled a switcheroo. The Fan 4 use all their powers to try and stop him, but individually, they're just no match. Galactus gets a kick out of stretching Reed to almost snapping him in half. Johnny and Ben manage to temporarily burn Galactus' eyes and clobber him, but they both get knocked out of the way. Only Sue can generate a forcefield powerful enough to push Galactus toward the open porthole. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn in The Fantastic Four: First Steps But Sue's tiring fast, and they can all see that Galactus might pull himself out before it closes. So Johnny makes the fateful decision to sacrifice himself and flies toward Galactus with all speed, to push him back in. But then suddenly Silver Surfer reenters the fray and comes flying in, shoving Johnny out of the way. She launches herself at Galactus, and they both disappear into the porthole as it closes. RELATED: Kraven The Hunter Spoiler Review Sue collapses. Reed, Johnny and Ben rush to her side with baby Franklin. Reed does CPR on Sue, but she's gone. Baby Franklin cries, reaching for her, so Reed puts him down on her chest. Franklin touches her, and after a moment, she comes back (like there was ever any question). Everyone's relieved, and Sue says Franklin's more special than they could've imagined. All's well that ends well, and just as the Fan 4 are about to go onto Ted Gilbert's (Mark Gatiss) show, they receive a distress call. Ted Gilbert opens the curtain on an empty stage while the Fan 4 are outside by the Fantasticar. Holding Franklin, Sue smiles while watching Reed, Ben and Johnny argue over putting the baby seat in right. Then, once they get it figured out, they zip off to their next mission. Then, in the mid-credits scene, four years later, Sue reads a book to Franklin. He asks for another, and she goes to get one. When she comes back, she hears a weird noise and prepares a force field. She sees Franklin touching the face of someone in a hooded green cloak, holding a metal mask – Doctor Doom. Vanessa Kirby in The Fantastic Four: First Steps And in a last stinger, a main title sequence for an animated Fantastic Four cartoon plays, and a quote from the late comic creator Jack Kirby: 'If you look at my characters, you will find me. No matter what kind of character you create or assume, a little of yourself must remain there.' *** I'll be the first to admit that I'm suffering from a pretty acute case of superhero fatigue – especially Marvel fatigue. The MCU's Infinity Saga was such an incredible ride, such a perfect case of lightning in a bottle. They've been trying like crazy ever since to recreate the magic. But with each new flick or series or whatever, it makes part of me wish they would just stop altogether. RELATED: Art Book Review: Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga – Avengers: Age of Ultron: Art of the Movie None of the flicks that Marvel's put out since Avengers: Endgame (2019) have retained the same level of narrative quality. While Thunderbolts* came pretty close, and as appealing as they are, it's clear that Yelena and Bucky and company (or street-level supers like Daredevil and Punisher, who have the best written series) aren't the kind of supers who are going to defeat something like Galactus or the Celestials. But the next iteration of the Avengers is slowly coming together anyway, although it's not at all clear how – or how well – they'll work as a team. But what is clear is that the Fan 4 are an integral part of this new version of the Avengers. So, in order for the team to work, their own flick's launch has to be a success. And thankfully, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is not only making a profit, but it's also just really, really good. Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal in The Fantastic Four: First Steps The most impressive thing about it is, without a doubt, the gorgeous production design. Director Matt Shakman's previous work on WandaVision (2021) clearly informed his decisions here, to amazing effect. It's not often that the worldbuilding and visual scope of a flick impress me enough to make my jaw drop, but I was in awe. It was Tomorrowland to infinity. From the Fan 4's penthouse to Galactus' ship and the Interstellar -inspired black hole. Truly outstanding work. Thankfully, just as much work has been put into the writing. With the Fan 4, it's easy to get mired down by their – let's face it – pretty corny powers. But what's focused on in First Steps is each character, even if, like in Ben and Johnny's cases, they aren't given equal screen time. RELATED: Art Book Review: Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga – Captain America: The Winter Soldier: The Art of the Movie Even though one could say that Pedro Pascal's Reed is a little too understated (and in need of a shave), he certainly portrays Reed's conflict of being the world's smartest guy while also being scared. Vanessa Kirby's Sue is the most powerful and the most confident of the family, but she too contends with the conflict of being a heroine and now a new mother. While they toned way down the goofy, sibling-like rivalry antics between Ben and Johnny, each of them gets their moment. Instead of just being the vapid, attention-seeking womanizer, Johnny actually gets to do some science-y stuff and forms a connection (though tenuous) with Silver Surfer. He even displays selflessness and courage at the end. Ebon Moss-Bachrach in The Fantastic Four: First Steps And then there's Ben, whose story is the most endearing. Even though attention to him is slight, what he does get is quality time. Though he keeps up the Thing's wisecracking bravado, Ben's loneliness is evident. When Natasha Lyonne's Rachel takes the time to notice him, to just talk to him as a person, it's so genuine. They're so sweet together, and I totally ship it. RELATED: Top 10 Badass Marvel Female Characters First Steps also manages to present one of Marvel's most unwieldy super-mega-humungo-villains, Galactus, in such a way that he actually looks like he's supposed to look, but not so far gone that he looks silly. In fact, as he's presented here with a ship that he's built into, Galactus is pretty creepy. And I gotta give them props for that. I'm really happy to say that I walked out of The Fantastic Four: First Steps with a big sigh of relief, instead of more fatigue. While Marvel will never recapture the magic of the Infinity Saga, First Steps gives me hope for at least Avengers: Doomsday . Given the strength of Fan 4, I have hope that Marvel's first family will be the right leaders of the next generation of Avengers. Directed by: Matt Shakman Written by: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, Stan Lee (comics), Jack Kirby (comics) Release date: Jul 25, 2025 Rating: PG-13 Run time: 1hr 55min Distributor: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER Spoiler Review
