I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around this year's San Diego Comic Con lineup, namely the fact that Twilight: Breaking Dawn will have a Hall H panel, while Marvel's The Avengers won't. It's totally backwards and is a perfect for showing how the event's original purpose has completely disappeared. When it was made official that Marvel wouldn't be hosting a Hall H panel, however, the news came with a silver lining: while they won't be hosting an event on the main stage, they will have a presence during the event. Now the details of that plan may have been revealed.
First Showing has discovered from an unnamed source that much like the studio's presence at WonderCon, Marvel's Comic Con presentation will revolve largely around S.H.I.E.L.D., the super-secret government organization that oversees super-powered individuals and orchestrates the formation of the team. While government vehicles, sponsored by Acura, will be scattered around the convention, the big show will be on the floor of the exhibition hall, which, according to the source, will feature a model of the Helicarrier bridge (in the comics, S.H.I.E.L.D. operates out of a city-sized base that floats in the sky). This would be somewhat similar to Odin's Throne, which was built for last year's Comic Con. There will also be monitors set up showing footage, but it's unknown as to what exactly will be shown.
Furthermore, the site reports that some of the film's stars will also be making appearances. According to First Showing Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) may show up to sign autographs at the booth. Backtracking a bit, the story does say that plans could be altered as actors' "availability changes in an instant" and says that Disney had no comment.
While I still wish they were doing a Hall H panel so that we could get an early look at some Avengers footage, this really is probably the best way to handle promotion at Comic Con. Instead of limiting the reach to just people in Hall H at the specific moment the panel begins, everybody with a Comic Con badge throughout the weekend may have the chance to step into the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and possibly meet an actor playing their favorite superhero. Nothing wrong with that, right?
