If you follow any prominent journalist, critic or entertainment reporter on Twitter or Facebook, you may have noticed the past few weeks have been spent dreading Comic-Con. There are some prominent exceptions, but for the most part the San Diego pop culture extravaganza is one of the toughest and most stressful events to cover on the entertainment calendar. As members of the media, we often becomes so fixated on the negatives we forget how often Comic-Con brings joy to the movie or TV fan inside all of us. And frankly, it's our job to convey that excitement to all of our readers who can't make it down to Hall H or Ballroom 23.
A lot has been written about why Comic-Con is important to Hollywood or genre fans or comic book fans or pop culture fans, but beyond its inherent abilities as a hype machine, why it deserves all this attention is really quite simple: Comic-Con transcends a photo op or a press conference when something special happens. And over the years, there have been some truly unexpected and amazing moments. Especially on the movie side.
With the 2014 edition of the Con right around the corner, HitFix's movie team compiled our top 10 panels of all time. (OK, we weren't there in 1976 or 1991, but let's be honest. Comic-Con didn't really take off until 2000 or 2001.) It's a great walk down memory lane even if you didn't get the chance to experience it in person. Do you remember hearing about the first footage of “Iron Man” or the screaming Beatles-esque fans during “Twilight” or the shock of complete footage for a “TRON” sequel?
Check out these historic movie moments and more in the embedded gallery at the bottom of this post.
Were you at any of these panels? What's your favorite Comic-Con movie memory? Share your thoughts below.