SDCC 2022: What's the event all about?

The event is expected to attract more than 100,000 people!

It's a big week for comic book lovers!

San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) has kicked off and will see thousands of fans head to California for the four day event.

The festival starts on Thursday 21 July and will end on Sunday 24 July.

It's the first full-scale event that has taken place in three years and follows last year's virtual festival.

Attendance this week is expected to match pre-pandemic levels, with more than 130,000 fans expected to take part.

"I think it'll look like Comic-Con from 2019," said the event's communications and strategy chief David Glanzer.

"We weathered it. And now coming back, maybe we're going to have tears of joy... it's very emotional," he told AFP.

There'll be lots of people dressing up as their favourite characters at the event and this is also known as 'cosplay'.

What's Comic-Con all about?

Comic-Con is a big deal for comic book lovers

The name Comic-Con is short for comic convention.

The San Diego Comic-Con, which is one of the biggest comic conventions in the world, began all the way back in 1970. Around 300 comics, movie and science fiction lovers came together in the city to put on the event.

Fast forward more than 50 years, and the event has now become an internationally recognised festival which celebrates all things comic book related, from the cool characters, to comic inspired films, movies and artwork.

What's happening this year?

Are you dressing up for Comic-Con this year?

There's expected to be lots of exciting stuff going on at this year's event, including some exclusive film news.

Hollywood studios, including Disney and Warner Bros, will be in town to show off their upcoming films, and there have been rumours that fans will get to see the first footage of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is the sequel to the 2018 blockbuster.

A new Superman movie is also expected to be announced and there will be a panel for an upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a prequel TV series set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.

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