Once again, that which cannot be shortened to be called a comic-con has come and gone in Salt Lake City. The Spring show was billed as being smaller, and it was. Fewer vendors, panels, and crowds. Occasionally FanX has done smaller Spring shows, kind of to give everyone a breather, and then they bounce back with a huge show in the fall. Interesting tidbits from the show:

Zachary Levi Spotlight Panel

It turns out that Zachary Levi is a pretty funny guy, and his panel was full of laughs and fun throughout.

Zachary describes Shazam’s powers as two gods, two demi-gods, a titan, and a man of god. When asked which of those powers he would want for himself, he said “wisdom of Solomon.” He explained his choice by saying that was that power he saw as the biggest potential for doing good in the world. He also said with the wisdom of Solomon, he should be able to build a suit that gave him all the other powers.

When asked if the suit was padded or if he was just that big he said “asking if the suit has padding is like asking if there is sugar in Coca Cola.” He went on to say that he spent 18 months physically training for the role and that DC basically paid him to get into the best shape of his life.

Clark Gregg Spotlight Panel

Clark Gregg said that he directed the first episode of season six for Agents of SHIELD. He went on to say that sometimes the show has had tv quality special effects, but that he feels that season six has cinematic quality special effects.

The audience asked about Avengers: Endgame, to which he said he hadn’t seen it (he later said that he would see it Monday night (April 4/22)). They also asked him about season six spoilers, the only thing he said was that most of the team is off in space looking for sleeping Fitz, and the rest is back on Earth. He said that they are already half way through filming season seven.

How long did Gregg know Coulson was going to die in Avengers just to be brought back for Agents of Shield? He said just before the 2010 Thor San Diego Comic-Con, Joss Whedon came up to him and said they wanted the character in Avengers, and that “what happens to you brings the team together.” But he said not to worry about it because they were planning on bringing Marvel to TV and he was going to be a part of it.

Disney of Yesteryear

This panel included a 20+ year Disney Imagineer, a technician who has help build and redesign 4 of Disney’s parks, and other former Disney employees and extreme fans. It was a very good lineup of panelists to talk about past Disney experiences and rides, and it was complete with personal photos and videos taken to show off some of the things kids these days have probably never even heard of.

Just some random stories came out of this. The Finding Nemo ride was originally being redone to be an Atlantis ride, but because Atlantis: The Lost Empire did not do well, they decided to retool it as Finding Nemo. In the renovation of Tower of Terror to Guardians of the Galaxy, they felt the original ride was far too slow, so they added more boosts up and down to get the ride to feel more interesting, even though it is the exact same length of time as its predecessor.

Cosplay

As expected there was a lot of cosplay, although not as much Captain Marvel as I would have expected. For me, the best costumes were from a favorite childhood film called Willow. No doubt in honor of the fact that Warwick Davis was at the convention.

Queen Bavmorda, Sorsha, and General Kael

Outside the convention center, a woman and her child stopped me and asked why so many people were in costume. I tried to explain there was a comic convention going on. At the end of my explanation she turned to her kid and said “so it is just like a big costume party people are going to.” I said “no, that’s isn’t quite right, it is a lot of things, but people also enjoy dressing up as their favorite characters to go along with it.” But then we parted ways, she had learned everything she needed to know about these strange people.