Marvel Studios really knows how to make a splash at Comic Con in San Diego. Going all the way back to the promotion of Iron Man, Marvel has been using the stage in Hall H to promote its films in a huge way, whether having Robert Downey Jr. charm the pants off the crowd, Tom Hiddleston appearing in costume as Loki, or confirming the cast of The Avengers by bringing every single major team member out on stage. But that won’t happen this year, as Marvel is skipping Comic Con 2015.

James Gunn mentioned the fact that Marvel won’t be at Comic Con on Facebook, and made an unrelated statement on Twitter that nevertheless reinforces the FB statement. (Facebook screencap via MCUExchange.)

After a Twitter discussion about characters which won’t be appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Gunn said this, which is not directly related to the comment above, but serves to underline that statement regardless.

“@starglooms: @JamesGunn @DrunkenShots guys, he could be lying” I have never lied about anything to the fans, ever. — James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 7, 2015

Back in October, Marvel Studios did something new when it staged its own event in Hollywood, announcing a slate of films through 2019, including Back Panther, with Chadwick Boseman appearing on stage at the event, and The Avengers Infinity War Parts 1 & 2. That could be the way of the future for the studio.

Since then it has been revealed that Marvel is working with Sony on a new Spider-Man film, and while Marvel is skipping Comic Con, Sony could still be there. Which means we may see some Marvel presence regardless; the Con would be a great place for Sony to do something with Spider-Man, even though the new film from Sony isn’t set to be released until 2017.

And there’s a precedent for this in Marvel’s recent history. The studio could be waiting for the New York Comic Con in October, as it did in 2011 when the studio also skipped San Diego.