Marvel Studios Will Reportedly Not Have Any Comic-Con at Home Panels
By George Robbins
Just like any other conventions, Comic-Con is a multi-day event that gives fans a chance to both speak with one another and find out new information about things they are interested in. Conventions are a time where people of all kinds with a common interest can meet up and talk about the things they like. The thing about conventions is that they often times have hundreds to countless thousands of people gathering together in a relatively confined space. This is already an issue normally because so many people close together usually results in illnesses of all kinds being transmitted. Obviously this is an issue nowadays as the Covid-19 pandemic is sweeping across the world and it is so easily transmitted.
Thus, just like any other large gatherings, all conventions through the end of the year have been canceled and rescheduled. In most cases, people have been able to get refunds if they already bought their tickets or they could put it towards the next time the conventions can take place. The biggest upcoming convention that many people knew about was San Diego Comic-Con which would have taken place nearer to the end of the summer. This is considered one of the biggest events of the year with, often times, the largest crowds seen gathered in one place. This gives the best reason as to why they can’t hold the event even if they tried reducing the number of attendees.
San Diego Comic-Con is the perfect opportunity for companies to bring news of their newest works to the public which helps in more ways than one. Not only are they officially revealing their upcoming projects, but they are also showing it to devoted fans who will help with marketing by spreading the word. So now that the convention will not be held, the question these companies have now is what they are going to do moving forward. As of now, there will be a virtual convention which allows anyone to access new products and news for free from the safety of their home. It also allows companies to hold panels for any new announcements they may have, but it appears not all companies will be taking advantage of this.
San Diego is far from being the only convention that was canceled this year as the yearly Star Wars Celebration was canceled as well and won’t be back until 2022. Also similar to Comic-Con is the DC FanDome event which will be happening around the end of August which will be taking place entirely online just like Comic-Con at Home. This shows that it is still entirely possible for these events to have some semblance of normality but it will take more effort than usual to make it work. There isn’t necessarily anything keeping companies from bringing something to these events, it’s just that it may not really be worth the effort on their part. If something goes wrong on the technical side of things, then a company’s entire demonstration could end up ruined and could cause bad press. So it really isn’t too surprising if they don’t bring anything to the event this year, and it means they will have more for next time.