UPDATE 8/25: Toho has added a panel to the Saturday schedule. Godzilla Minus Zero takes Room 405 at 12:30 PM on October 10 with producer Kazuaki Kishida and three members of the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One VFX and sound team.
UPDATE 8/24: DC Studios is still missing from the schedule, but James Gunn will be in the building. He is speaking at Crunchyroll’s Anime Future Forum at the Javits Center on October 7, the day before NYCC opens, alongside Guillermo del Toro and the Beyond the Spider-Verse directors.
ReedPop revealed the first wave of New York Comic Con 2026 programming on Wednesday, and the schedule leans hard into television, streaming and comic book publishing, with a presences from Anime and theatrical.
NYCC celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and returns to the Javits Center October 8 through 11. ReedPop is running Coney Island as the official theme for the milestone, pairing one New York institution with another.
Cosmic Book News will be on the ground in New York.
Here is what stands out from the first wave.
Marvel Comics Books Four Panels And Teases A Spider-Man Bombshell
Marvel Comics is the biggest publishing presence on the schedule with four panels, and the most interesting one is the one with the vaguest description.
Marvel Comics: The Spider-Web runs Saturday, October 10 at 3:30 PM in Room 405. Coming off September’s release of Amazing Spider-Man #1000, Marvel is promising a look at the future of Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy along with a major announcement the publisher says will turn their world upside down.
New Editor-in-Chief Stephen Wacker gets his first NYCC spotlight with Marvel Comics: Bullpen Bulletins, Friday, October 9 at 3:30 PM in Room 405. Wacker replaced C.B. Cebulski in July as part of the publishing overhaul under Brad Winderbaum, and the panel bills him as charting the future of the Marvel Universe and probably saying too much while doing it.
Marvel Comics: The Midnight Hour follows Friday at 5:00 PM, also in Room 405, covering Midnight Spider-Man, Midnight Fantastic Four and Midnight X-Men. The timing matters. All three launch October 7, one day before NYCC opens, which makes this the first live read on whether the horror line actually landed.
Marvel Comics: House of Ideas closes the publisher’s slate Saturday at 5:00 PM in Room 405, billed as the wall-to-wall announcement panel.
Marvel Television And Animation Take The Empire Stage
The only Marvel Studios adjacent panel on the schedule so far is Up Next From Marvel Television and Marvel Animation, Thursday, October 8 at 4:15 PM on the Empire Stage.
ReedPop is not naming guests or titles yet, only promising an inside look at the most anticipated upcoming Disney+ series.
There is no Marvel Studios film panel in this wave, which tracks with how completely the studio has moved its theatrical reveals to D23 and its own marketing calendar.
DC Takes Four Rooms With Jim Lee Headlining Saturday
DC matches Marvel with four panels, and all four are comics.
DC’s Vertigo + Black Label opens the run Thursday, October 8 at 2:30 PM in Room 409, promising exclusive announcements across horror, crime, fantasy and sci-fi.
DC’s Absolute Universe lands Friday, October 9 at 11:00 AM in Room 405. The Absolute line has been the most commercially reliable thing DC publishing has going, so expect a full reveal slate.
DC’s Next Level runs Saturday, October 10 at 11:00 AM in Room 409, covering the newer publishing initiative and what is coming for its expanding roster.
Then Jim Lee holds court. DC’s Jim Lee & Friends is Saturday at 2:00 PM in Room 405, with the DC President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer moderating and promising surprise announcements and guests.
What is missing is DC Studios. James Gunn’s side of the company has no listed presence in this wave, and with the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger reshaping everything above it, that absence is worth watching. ReedPop says more panels are coming. Gunn himself is in New York that week for an anime summit, not Man of Tomorrow.
Violent Night 2, Whalefall And Crystal Lake Carry The Film Slate
Theatrical film will also be at the NYCC.
Universal brings Violent Night 2 to the Empire Stage Friday, October 9 at 5:30 PM, with David Harbour back as Santa Claus and Tommy Wirkola returning to direct for 87North. The panel includes never-before-seen footage.
That one runs straight into BlumFest 2026 in the same room with no clear, so Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s film, TV and games slate follows immediately.
Earlier that afternoon, 20th Century Studios and Imagine Entertainment bring Whalefall to the Empire Stage at 3:30 PM. Director and co-writer Brian Duffield joins author and co-writer Daniel Kraus and star Austin Abrams for the survival thriller, which opens in theaters October 16.
Peacock and A24 get Thursday night with a first-look screening of the Crystal Lake premiere at 6:30 PM on the Empire Stage. Creator Brad Caleb Kane attends with Linda Cardellini, William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, Gwendolyn Sundstrom and Callum Vinson. The Friday the 13th prequel went through a very public creative overhaul, so this is the first real look at what survived it.
Star Trek Hits 60, Dexter Hits 20, Percy Jackson Gets Season 3
Paramount+ is running the Star Trek franchise’s 60th anniversary through NYCC.
The Star Trek Universe panel is Saturday, October 10 at 3:15 PM on the Empire Stage, with a sneak peek at season two of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and surprise franchise guests.
Dexter hits a milestone of its own. The Dexter: Resurrection season two panel opens the convention Thursday at 12:30 PM on the Main Stage, marking 20 years since the original series premiered.
Walker Scobell closes Saturday night on the Main Stage at 6:00 PM with a conversation about season three of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and adapting The Titan’s Curse. Avatar: Seven Havens gets Friday at 11:15 AM on the Main Stage, timed to its premiere day.
CBS is loaded in across the weekend. Ghosts and new vampire comedy Eternally Yours share the Main Stage Friday at 1:45 PM, NCIS: New York opens Sunday at 11:00 AM with LL Cool J and Scott Caan, and a screening of Einstein with Matthew Gray Gubler and Melissa Fumero runs Sunday at 1:45 PM.
NBC marks its 100th with a Brooklyn Nine-Nine retrospective Thursday at 12:30 PM featuring co-creator Dan Goor.
AMC+ takes the Main Stage Friday at 3:30 PM with Kill Jackie, YAGA, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Shudder gets its own horror panel Saturday at 6:30 PM, and The Boulet Brothers celebrate ten years of Dragula Saturday at 2:00 PM.
FX brings out Sarah Paulson, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman for a late-night costume panel Friday at 8:00 PM, ahead of the September 24 premiere of American Horror Story: 13. And Bob’s Burgers and Futurama take the Main Stage back to back Saturday at 11:00 AM, with Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, Katey Sagal and Maurice LaMarche on the Futurama half.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation Opens The Convention
Square Enix gets the first Main Stage slot of the entire show. Final Fantasy VII Revelation assembles its full main English voice cast Thursday at 11:00 AM alongside director Naoki Hamaguchi, with behind-the-scenes footage from the recording sessions. It is the first time the cast has been on stage together for the finale of the Remake trilogy.
Gundam follows Thursday at 3:30 PM on the Main Stage with a showcase built around Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM ZERO.
The anime slate is deep. One Piece gets a Crunchyroll and Toei dub panel Friday at 12:45 PM with Colleen Clinkenbeard and Ian Sinclair ahead of the Elbaph Arc dub premiere. Hikaru Midorikawa brings Garou to a One-Punch Man panel Saturday at 1:30 PM. Naruto voice actors Junko Takeuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama lay out a franchise roadmap Saturday at 5:00 PM on the Empire Stage, and Tokyo Revengers closes the convention Sunday at 3:30 PM.
Horror manga fans get the U.S. premiere of Face Thief from Strange: Junji Ito’s Tales for Sleepless Nights Friday at 5:45 PM, with a Q&A featuring director Yuta Shimotsu. Junji Ito appears by video message only.
Todd McFarlane, Brian K. Vaughan And The Creator Panels
Todd McFarlane returns for a spotlight Friday, October 9 at 1:30 PM in Room 406.3, covering comics, movies and toys.
Image Comics puts Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang in conversation Saturday at 4:00 PM in Room 1B02-04, with the Paper Girls team hinting at a surprise or two for the room.
Dark Horse takes Thursday at 2:15 PM for a manga and manhwa panel with announcements attached, and the Last Podcast on the Left hosts talk about their jump into comics Thursday at 5:00 PM.
Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid And A Sold-Out Saturday
The guest list ReedPop previously announced includes Star Wars stars Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid for photo ops and autographing, along with Lena Headey, Matt Smith, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Muppet puppeteers Matt Vogel, Dave Goelz and Bill Barretta. There is no Lucasfilm panel in this wave.
Casts from Jurassic Park, Smallville, Scream, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Superman & Lois and Robocop are in for signings, plus comic creators Frank Miller, Jim Lee, James Tynion IV, Stephanie Phillips, Nick Dragotta and Scott Snyder.
On tickets, single-day badges remain available for Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Everything else is sold out, Saturday included.
Artist Alley, Writers Block and exhibitor lists arrive Tuesday, August 25, and ReedPop says more panels are still to be announced in the weeks ahead.
