Comic Con France 2025 took place in one of the cavernous exhibition halls near Charles de Gaulle airport, a suitably featureless backdrop for a weekend devoted to fantasy, spectacle, and the many permutations of pop culture obsession. While the event makes no attempt to match the industrial scale of San Diego’s Comic-Con, it has grown into a key date on the French fan calendar—drawing thousands of attendees, countless cosplayers, and a lineup of genre veterans ready to sign posters and pose for photographs.
The major franchises were predictably front and center. Star Wars occupied significant real estate, as did Marvel, their cultural dominance still unshaken. Around them, the exhibition hall was filled with dioramas and full-scale replicas from Ghostbusters, Mad Max, Terminator, Aliens, Batman, The Walking Dead, and Child’s Play. Some installations were impressively detailed; others felt assembled at speed. But the cumulative effect was immersive. It didn’t need to be polished—just familiar, and it was.
Cosplay remained the lifeblood of the event. Attendees moved through the space in a continuous flow of masks, capes, armor, wings, and increasingly elaborate LED arrangements. Some creations were extraordinary; others barely held together. But precision was beside the point. This was about participation and visibility, not competition.
The guest list leaned toward actors with strong genre credentials. Giancarlo Esposito headlined, drawing long queues from fans of Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, and Captain America: Brave New World—as well as from admirers of his early work in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. Other guests included Mathilda May (Lifeforce, The Tit and the Moon), Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead), Brad Dourif (Child’s Play, The Lord of the Rings), Rose McGowan (Scream, Charmed), Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Millennium), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, The X-Files), and Diana Lee Inosanto (The Mandalorian, The Sensei). For a certain generation of fans, it was a remarkably curated lineup... That is what I call efficiently monetized nostalgia!
Midway through the afternoon, a J-pop concert by singer MION was scheduled—a high-energy detour intended, presumably, to widen the programming. The result was catastrophic: a punishing, high-decibel display of vocal overexertion and synthetic sound design. Off-key choruses, chaotic pacing, and stage banter pitched at a shrill, near-parodic frequency made the performance the low point of the day.
That aside, Comic Con France delivered what it promises: a concentrated, often chaotic, sometimes moving celebration of shared enthusiasm. It remains a space where cultural lines blur, memories resurface, and for a few hours, reality is pushed aside. The scale may be smaller than its American counterpart, but the devotion is no less sincere. If future editions can tighten the programming—and apply quality control to the live acts—the event’s momentum will only continue.
