This week San Diego goes wild with Comic-Con, the biggest comics-related event, and, with the possible exception of WorldCon (the World Science Fiction Convention), the biggest geek event of the year. This year, there’s a lot of buzz going on, mostly about the slew of upcoming movies and TV series based on comics, games, and novels. But when you’re visiting Comic-Con this year, try to catch these 7 smiles, if you can.
Ryan Reynolds
You can’t see it under his mask, but Deadpool seems like he’s always got a grin on his snarky lips. That’s good because Ryan Reynolds can smile with the best of them, and Wade Wilson will serve his temperament a lot better than Hal Jordan. He’s not a confirmed guest at Fox’s Panel, but he’s likely to show up anyway, as they promote Deadpool alongside X-Men: Apocalypse.
Melissa Benoist
Melissa Benoist stars in the new Supergirl series that some say looks like a Saturday Night Live parody of a superhero-movie-as-chick-flick. Nonetheless, all eyes will be on this series to see if it can fly alongside smaller successes like Arrow and The Flash.
Orgrim Doomhammer
Few video game franchises can claim the longevity of Warcraft. Who would’ve thought that, more than 20 years after we got a kick out of making a peon go, “Stop poking me!!!” we’d be eagerly awaiting the first Warcraft movie? But we are, and people should get to see Orgrim in the trailer for the 2016 release at Legendary’s panel.
Carice van Houten
Carice van Houten portrays the Red Woman Melisandre on Game of Thrones, and this year’s panel is likely to be even more highly anticipated than ever. Since we don’t know what to expect in the upcoming season, any announcement of casting (especially Kit Harington) will be closely watched.
Harrison Ford
Is there a smile more iconic than Han Solo’s in the Star Wars universe? (Okay, maybe Lando, but he isn’t in The Force Awakens.) Another not-confirmed-to-appear guest, it’s likely that some or even all of the cast will nonetheless be in attendance. And then there’s the chance that we could see the debut of the next trailer, and he was such a hit in the last one, expect to see more of him.
Gal Gadot
Taking up the golden lasso of Wonder Woman is definitely a daunting task. Maybe that’s why Gal Gadot is mostly shown with her sword, foregrounding the changed nature of the character. Writers for the 70s TV series always found an excuse for Wonder Woman (then portrayed by Lynda Carter) to smile at the end an episode, but so far we haven’t seen anything more than a slightly upturned lip from Gadot in stills for the upcoming Batman v. Superman.
Celebrity Cosplayers
Okay, so you won’t know their identity when you see them on the convention floor, but there will be several celebrities wandering around in costumes that conceal their faces. At some point during the Con, they will reveal themselves, and you’ll get the delight of knowing that you were standing next to someone who is both a celebrity and a geek just like you.
So get out there and mingle! Who knows what unforgettable smiles you might see.
