Every other year, as soon as D23 rolls around, the same rumor starts making the rounds online: “D23 means Marvel Studios won’t be at San Diego Comic-Con.”
It’s a belief that has become so common that many fans online now treat it as fact. The thinking is, “Why would Disney bring Marvel Studios to San Diego Comic-Con if it has its own convention just weeks later? Surely Disney would want to save all of its biggest announcements, trailers, and reveals for D23.”
Except that’s not what history tells us.
First, Let’s Define What People Mean by “Marvel at SDCC”
When most fans say Marvel isn’t coming to Comic-Con, what they’re actually talking about is Marvel Studios and a Hall H presentation. That’s an important distinction because Marvel has a presence at San Diego Comic-Con every year.
Marvel Entertainment exhibits on the convention floor every year, even in years when they aren’t in Hall H. Marvel Comics also hosts panels annually throughout the weekend, and Marvel animation projects have frequently appeared at the convention as well.
The real question isn’t whether Marvel will be at Comic-Con. The question is whether Marvel Studios will take over Hall H.
Marvel Has Attended SDCC in D23 Years — Many Times
If D23 automatically meant Marvel Studios skipped Hall H, we’d expect to see a clear pattern over the years. Instead, the opposite is true.
Since Disney launched D23 in 2009, Marvel Studios has appeared in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con during seven of the nine D23 years. In other words, the overwhelming historical trend is that Marvel Studios attends both events.
Here’s the track record:
- 2009: D23: September 10-13 | SDCC: Marvel Studios held its first-ever Hall H panel
- 2011: D23: August 19-21 | SDCC: No Hall H panel
- 2013: D23: August 9-11 | SDCC: Marvel Studios appeared in Hall H
- 2015: D23: August 14-16 | SDCC: No Hall H panel
- 2017: D23: July 14-17 | SDCC: Marvel Studios appeared in Hall H
- 2019: D23: August 23-25 | SDCC: Marvel Studios appeared in Hall H
- 2022: D23: September 9-11 | SDCC: Marvel Studios appeared in Hall H
- 2024: D23: August 9-11 | SDCC: Marvel Studios appeared in Hall H
- 2026: D23: August 14-16 | SDCC: Marvel Studios will appear in Hall H
That means Marvel Studios has held a Hall H panel during nearly 80% of all D23 years.
In fact, some of Marvel Studios’ biggest San Diego Comic-Con presentations have happened in D23 years. In 2019, Marvel attended both events, with Kevin Feige using Hall H to unveil much of the studio’s upcoming slate. Many would argue that the biggest Marvel news of the year actually came out of Comic-Con, not D23.
Likewise, in 2017, Marvel Studios still appeared in Hall H despite D23 taking place just one week earlier.
So if history tells us anything, it’s that D23 and San Diego Comic-Con are not competing priorities for Marvel Studios. The studio has repeatedly shown it’s willing to do both.
When Marvel Skips Hall H, It’s Usually Because They Don’t Have Enough to Show
So what of the years Marvel Studios does skip? Well, it often has nothing (or anything) to do with D23, but rather with whether they feel they have enough new material to justify a Hall H presentation.
That explanation comes directly from Feige himself. When Marvel skipped Hall H in 2018, Feige explained to Den of Geek, “That’s one of the main reasons we’re not going to Hall H this year, is because Ant Man & the Wasp will have just been released, Infinity War will be out, Captain Marvel will have just finished filming, Spider-Man will have just started filming, and we’re not gonna be making any other announcements. So we’re gonna wait until Comic-Con next year.”
Quite simply, the decision wasn’t about D23. It was about whether Marvel had enough to show fans and really wow them with their presentation.
That explanation also lines up with what Feige has said elsewhere about the importance of Comic-Con to the studio. In 2024, Feige told Deadline, “We build movie schedules often times… literally designing our film schedules around what we would have ready to show at Comic-Con.”
You heard it from the man himself. San Diego Comic-Con is a vital, important piece of Marvel Studios’ marketing strategy, because they know that’s where their core fanbase is.
