Popverse's top stories

• DC to reveal the secret history of the Absolute Universe, and how it changes Superman's place in it all
• Watch now: Warner Bros.'s official Mortal Kombat II panel from NYCC 2025
• Sadie Sink's Max Mayfield Is the True Hero of Stranger Things — and could be the heart of the show’s series finale

As we write this, the third day of New York Comic Con 2025 for fans is winding down. The show floor is closed, many of the panel rooms and activity areas are as well - the After Dark programming is firing up, for many of us it's time to catch our breath, chat incessantly with friends, family, and the casual acquaintances you meet on the street as you leave the Javits Center. A lot happened; too much for one single organism to witness it all. Good thing we're Popverse, with over a dozen writers, photographers, and video crew roaming the halls to capture it all and bring it to you.

So far, Popverse attended over 50 panels, interviewed over 30 celebrities, took hundreds of photos, and livestreamed 24 of the biggest panels free online to anyone in the world. Don't believe us? Check out the loads of best NYCC 2025 cosplay so far, then dive in here: 

NYCC 2025 Panels

This year’s NYCC 2025 panel schedule was packed to the gills, but even then there were surprises that made it bigger. Lee Pace made a surprise appearance as the newest star of Prime Video's Invincible, and then the mysterious Marvel Television panel wow-ed us with surprise appearances by Vision Quest's Paul Bettany, Wonder Man's Yahya Abdul Mateen II and Sir Ben Kingsley, and Daredevil: Born Again's Charlie Cox and Krysten Ritter. (Yes, the show's officially called Vision Quest.) That's in addition to Popverse moderating reunion panels for Metal Gear Solid, Marvel Studios' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,  Disney Animation's Little Mermaid, and more. Many of these panel we livestreamed for free, and will be making available on-demand beginning later this month for Popverse members.  

(And that's not to mention our super-secret Enter the Popverse panel coming Sunday for Popverse members only, with surprise guests and surprise giveaways.)

We also sent writers to many of those Main and Empire panels, as well as other panel rooms for things such as DC Comics' Vertigo: We're Back panel, Marvel Comics' Spider-Man panel, and the Stranger Things: First Shadow panel. Look for more on that in our news section below.

We still have one more day of NYCC to go, and we will again be livestreaming some panels free. Check out our schedule of the livestreams here.

The big news of NYCC 2025

We are two days into New York Comic Con 2025 (remember, we were here for the Retailer day on Wednesday, October 8), and our team has been catching, processing, and contextually several pieces of big news - both in the obvious places you'd expect, and in perhaps some of the places you'd least expect. Here are some highlights:

Critical Role news from NYCC 2025

• Critical Role creator Matthew Mercer: The Mighty Nein being longer than Vox Machina means there will be more time to cry
• Critical Role star Travis Willingham says The Mighty Nein is different from Vox Machina because the characters will be rougher
• Critical Role cast worried that animators would be too stressed by how many lands get explored by The Mighty Nein
• Critical Role adds Wayne Brady as Taryon Darrington for Vox Machina season 4 (and more cast revealed, too!)
• Critical Role animated series The Mighty Nein adds Lucy Liu as the Bright Queen, more cast revealed at NYCC '25
• Is Critical Role teasing a massively popular Dungeons & Dragons villain for The Legend of Vox Machina season 4? Yes and no

MCU news from NYCC 2025

• Marvel adds a new hero is a dude who wants a job and to eat a hamburger, says Wonder Man star
• Charlie Cox's Daredevil, the Venom symbiote, and a Spider-Gwen-less Gwen Stacy promised in Marvel's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2

DC Comics news from NYCC 2025

• Batwoman, Lobo and more take DC Comics to the Next Level in 2026 with new comic book series
• DC Comics rejects AI-generated stories and art, with publisher/CCO Jim Lee speaking out as its boss and as an artist
• Mortal Kombat collides with the DC Universe in February 2026's DC K.O. special issue
• DC's Swamp Thing is coming to James Tynion IV's creator-owned series Something is Killing the Children for Adults-only crossover
• Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Black Canary are bringing Sex and the City to Gotham City in new DC Comics mature-readers series
• Superman falls into public domain in less than nine years - but DC Comics believes it's already found a solution to that problem
• Absolute Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and more will be "completely unimpeded" by DC K.O., says Scott Snyder
• DC relaunches 100 Bullets with original creators
• DC reunites Hellblazer team for horror book in Vertigo relaunch
• DC unveils 2026 Vertigo relaunch: See the full list
• DC to finally let Swamp Thing meet Jesus Christ in a new four-part restoration of a cancelled, controversial 1989 storyline
• Batman swings into action courtesy of Spawn creator Todd McFarlane in a new Whatnot NYCC 2025 exclusive

Marvel Comics news from NYCC 2025

• Marvel shutters its best-selling Ultimate Universe in April 2026 - for real, they promise
• Marvel has a 20+ year old Spider-Man comic by Jeph Loeb and J. Scott Campbell locked away until "the time is right"
• X-Men leader Cyclops gets his first solo series in a decade
• Marvel's Ultimate Wolverine gets reimagined by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman for Whatnot’s Year in Marvel ‘25 at NYCC
• Spider-Man and Venom to team up (or maybe come to blows?) in upcoming Marvel Comics crossover event called Death Spiral
• Spider-Man's new outer space costume has a deep dive X-Men origin, Marvel writer reveals
• Venom villain Knull and Thor villain Hela are the odd couple at the heart of the 2026 Marvel event Queen in Black
• Peach Momoko brings the best out of Spider-Man’s on-off love interest, Black Cat, at New York Comic Con 2025, thanks to Trinity Comics

And we have several interviews in the pipeline, from our two NYCC 2025 interview suites and more. 

NYCC 2025 Artist's Alley, Exhibitors, and Booths

The Popverse team has been up and down the aisles of New York Comic Con 2025 since Wednesday, getting the early word on exclusives, doing some back-issue bin diving, and catching up with creators. We got our booknerd fix in with a trip to Kingdom of Threads, and checked out the screen-matched and original sabers from Vader's Vault, One of our team is on a quest to find the most expensive comics in all of New York Comic Con, and what he found - and the story behind it - is amazing. Look for that later this week! We also interviewed several businesses on the floor, and caught up with one of our favorite comic creators, Cliff Chiang, for an interview to run later this year on Popverse. We have a full list of all the Artist's Alley creators right here, as well as a curated list of some of our favorites for you here, too.

If you’re looking for more guidance when it comes to exhibitors outside of Artist's Alley, we’re here for you with our choice of some of the finest booths at the show.

New York Comic Con 2025 runs through October 12 at the Javits Center in New York City.

Here's how to watch all the big panels from New York Comic Con 2025.