Popverse's top stories of the day

• Winona Ryder was reduced to tears on the set of Stranger Things when the young cast couldn't identify a vinyl record
• Watch: The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power cast explains what's coming in season 2
• Bleach's character designer says pop culture's greatest villain isn't from anime, but Disney

San Diego Comic-Con has come to a close.

As Popverse prepared for its third SDCC, we made copious notes about what might've been announced this past weekend - or, if nothing else, where to look if something is announced. Besides just circling, underlining and bedazzling the Hall H schedule, we poured over the full SDCC 2024 schedule, as well as the press releases, website posts, sly celebrity social media posts, and more to come up with our best guesses - or informed opinions - on what was coming.

Over the course of the con, we shared with you what we've learned from the glittering halls of the San Diego Convention Center, and now, that list is complete. Now that the entire show has officially wrapped - and San Diego is firmly in recovery mode - let's get into it.

Marvel's SDCC 2024 news & announcements

Kevin Feige & Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con after a year off, and they brought not one but two official panels that sucked the air out of the room for anything else that went on in those time spans. We were there live for Thursday's Deadpool & Wolverine Celebration of Life panel in Hall H, and then there again on Saturday for Kevin Feige's Marvel Studios Hall H panel.

So what have we learned? For the Deadpool & Wolverine panel, there was full on-spoiler talk about Deadpool & Wolverine since it's officially out in theaters, plus we got to see Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, and director Shawn Levy surprising the fans in attendance with a surprise screening - as was done for Scott Pilgrim and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

And if you thought the House of Ideas couldn't get even more electric after Deadpool & Wolverine, you had another thing coming after the Marvel Studios Hall H panel. We don't even know where to begin with all the news that came out of that panel - adamantium was revealed to be in the MCU, Giancarlo Esposito's Brave New World character was revealed, there was Fantastic Four footage and, oh yeah, WE KNOW WHO'S PLAYING DOCTOR DOOM.

Just go ahead and check out all our Marvel Studios Hall H updates to see the full list. And prepare for some shockers.

On the comics front (our first love), Marvel Comics brought the excitement to Day Two with two big panels - its usual Marvel's Next Big Thing panel, and then a panel with editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski and the comics division's new boss, Kevin Feige (Hey, we know that guy!). From these panels we learned about a new miniseries starring the Loki show's TVA, a Dogpool comic on Marvel Infinity, Spider-Man's new (magic) duds, Ultron joining the West Coast Avengers (what?), the next phase of the Ultimate Universe, a Werewolf by Night/Man-Thing buddy-up, and Doctor Doom's status as both the new Sorcerer Supreme and... the Marvel Universe's new overlord.

Oh! We also got some new Marvel scoops about Deadpool's daughter, a new Spider-Girl, and some major changes headed to the Fantastic Four. And we learned about upcoming X-Men solo books starring Psylocke and Laura Kinney. 

DC's SDCC 2024 news & announcements

DC's big news of SDCC was seemingly leaked weeks before, but DC came in hot with news that it's revamping its comics line under the banner name of 'All In'. On Day One, we learned about the revitalization of its current line and the launch of an all-new, Ultimate-style (or is it All-Star?) universe called the Absolute Universe in a panel (appropriately) titled Absolute Power. Attending the panel were Paul Kaminski, Mark Waid, Nicole Maines, Daniel Sampere, Josh Williamson, Chris Conroy, Katie Kubert, Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Hayden Sherman, and Jason Aaron, who gave us a few interesting teases about the Absolute Universe. For example, it appears Absolute Alfred has never been a butler.

Learn more about the Absolute line of DC Comics via our liveblog.

On Day Two, DC news came mostly from the annual Jim Lee & Friends panel, where we learned about Absolute Green Lantern and witnessed DC reverting to its classic logo, company wide.

Then on Day Three, DC rolled out much more comics news in the What's Happening in the DC Multiverse and DC Gotham panels We learned about Batman's new line editor, Rob Levin, then heard about all-new JSA and New Gods comics.

DC Comics wasn't as they brought in their DC Studios brethren. While James Gunn has resisted the urge to return to SDCC this year, The Batman spinoff show the Penguin had a much-anticipated Hall H panel on Saturday that featured some of the cast, plus a new trailer and a release date reveal. 

Also, Amazon Prime Video's Batman: Caped Crusader made its debut at SDCC 2024 this weekend - with a screening, and first official appearance of the cast including Midnight Mass' Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne and Minnie Driver as... The Penguin?

Star Wars' SDCC 2024 news & announcements

While Lucasfilm itself is skipping SDCC in favor of D23 Expo a few weeks after this, there was an under-the-radar Star Wars panel Thursday evening, where we heard some news. With The Acolyte season 1's finale etched into our minds, we were excited to hear of some spinoffs from that show in the form of two prose novels - one about Vernestra Rwoh, the other a YA story about breakout character Yord. Then, of course, there was the final arc of the overarching Star Wars: The High Republic era, coming to us via a Lucasfilm/Marvel team-up comic called Fear the Jedi.

Lord of the Rings' SDCC 2024 news & announcements

With getting into San Diego Comic-Con is becoming more and more like a Mordor-style quest, the actual Lord of the Rings franchise returned to SDCC in a big way. On Friday, Amazon Prime Video hosted an official Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power panel, where the new Adar was welcomed onstage by an orc army, more creatures were promised in season 2, and a fan-favorite Tolkien character was confirmed to be headed to the show... we just don't know when.

Oh yeah! And we got a new trailer!

The Boys' SDCC 2024 news & announcements

What could be better on a Friday morning than a heaping helping of The Boys and their hero-ish enemies in Homelander and the Seven? Amazon Prime Video's hit superhero series was the first Hall H panel on SDCC Friday, and we got a victory lap about the recent fourth season, and some talk about the upcoming fifth season. Even bigger than that, though, was the announcement of Vought Rising, a Boys prequel show that will star Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy and be set in the 1950s.

Star Trek's SDCC 2024 News & announcements

Four big things happened for Star Trek fans this SDCC. First was the Hall H Star Trek Universe panel with cast & crew from Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and the Section 31 movie. We got to see the first teaser for Star Trek: Section 31 and were excited but a little bit saddened to hear about the final season premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks. (Unless, of course, it can be saved...?)

The second big event for Star Trek at SDCC was IDW's Star Trek comics panel, and the third was a panel for the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy. Although it lost its home on Paramount+, Netflix picked up the series for its most recent season - but its future past that seems darker than space. 

Finally, the fourth big event at SDCC for Star Trek was the most dark horse candidate of it all: a pseudo-official panel with Star Trek TV boss Alex Kurtzman and Doctor Who boss Russell T. Davies. This crossover panel is described as a mere friendship panel, but we couldn't help but remember Davies talking years ago about wanting a Star Trek x Doctor Who crossover event? Unfortunately, that was not exactly the announcement we got.

Other SDCC 2024 news & announcements for comics

All the big comic book publishers were at SDCC, including BOOM! Studios and their second year with a Hall H panel for BZRKR (thanks, no doubt, to Keanu Reeves involvement). But what was continually on our mind on the comics front was the annual Friday night Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards ceremony - find out who the big winners were here.

Other SDCC 2024 news & announcements for TV & movies

There's more potential news than is fit to print, but here's a rundown of what else we know and what else we expect:

• Disney+'s Percy Jackson & the Olympians season 2 isn't scheduled to begin filming until August 2024, but creatives Jay Duplass, Jon Steinberg, Virginia Kull, Aryan Simhadri, Leah Jeffries, Adam Copeland, and Walker Scobell showed up to take part in a Thursday Hall H panel (for which we were in attendance). There, we learned that the character of Tyson has been cast for season 2.
• The cast & Crew of FX's What We Do In Shadows just wrapped their final season, and at San Diego Comic-Con they kicked off what they're calling their 'Farewell Tour'. There was some blood, a whole lotta laughs, and maybe a few vampire tears as the cast and creators talked about the upcoming finale.
• In addition to the semi-official Star Trek x Doctor Who panel, there was an official Doctor Who Hall panel Friday in Hall H where got some info about the future (and past, and present, and splintered timelines) for the Doctor and pals. There, we got an update on The Doctor's latest companion, as well as some stuff about our pal Ruby Sinday.
• What's San Diego Comic-Con without the Walking Dead? The zombie horde was here once again, with panels for both the spin-offs Dead City as well as Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol. That latter show has been renewed for a season 3 and, excitingly, will take place in Spain, where Rick Grimes's brother Jeffery was located in the comics. 
• The new Alien film, Alien: Romulus, stalked the halls of SDCC with a big Hall H panel on Friday night. Director Fede Álvarez and star Cailee Spaeny were there, along with David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Álvarez confirmed that anyone can enjoy Alien: Romulus, whether they've seen the other Alien movies or not.
• And last but not least (though appropriately at the bottom of this list), we got the best kind of news at the Hazbin Hotel panel, where we learned that Amazon Prime Video has renewed the animated comedy for season 3... and 4.

While the show has ended in terms of, you know, actually physically taking place, San Diego Comic-Con 2024 isn't entirely over, because we're going to continue rolling out coverage from the event over the next few days, so keep your eyes on the front page for more from one of the biggest pop culture events in the world. There really is a lot more to come.

Get a fuller San Diego Comic-Con experience with a full rundown of our SDCC 2024 stories, as well as all the big SDCC 2024 news, how to make the most out of San Diego Comic-Con, and the real burning question: how much does it actually cost to go to SDCC?