As the cards fall due to the writer’s strike, another card may be pulled out from the deck, a potential protest from SAG-AFTRA. And that potential strike is laying out the ice for multiple studios withdrawing from the heat of July’s Comic-Con.

From the spiraling rolodex of Screenrant, San Diego Comic-Con 2023 will, with heavy laces and capes, have substantially fewer panels this year as companies scatter out of a dark street while a possible SAG-AFTRA boycott drives wildly down it. The strike began on May 2 when writer’s wills to live finally crumbled after talks with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to offer writers fair salaries, streaming residuals, and limitations on using AI. June 30 could explode with SAG-AFTRA protesting as well if the fires don’t last for both sides.

In anticipation of an actor’s strike, which would prohibit actors from appearing on the San Diego Comic-Con console or any other promotional entanglements, studios have, hands up, backed away slowly from the event. Such looming shadows as Disney, which includes Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, Netflix, HBO, Universal Pictures, and Sony Pictures have disappeared in light of a protest. Any ladder going up to movies and shows like House of the Dragon, Ahsoka, The Exorcist, Kraven the Hunter, Loki, and a bunch more have been burned.

Comic-Con presentations and panels have fed pop culture like popcorn with fans gifted earthshaking announcements, trailers for awesome new movies and series, and a little behind-the-scenes wisdom. Although cosplayers and comic books (title of my nerd club) will continue to slay together, there may be a lot of on-the-job Batmans yelling, “Shows over, go home folks” fairly early in the night. Does Batman say folks?

While plenty of studios proactively dropped out, some studios are in iffy town and others plan to sprinkle in a few presentations. Amazon Studios will promote The Boys: Gen V and The Wheel of Time but who knows how potently. Other studios that may pickle at Comic-Con include NBC, Peacock, Max, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros.

If SAG-AFTRA joins the Jedi, more of these studios will retreat. Some will continue onto Comic-Con with half-baked panels, finding desperate ways to hype their sci-fi/fantasy, animated, and comic-rooted projects. However the magic wand is waved, the pulse of Comic-Con just won’t be the same this year.