San Diego Comic-Con 2014: Celebrities, Costumes and Zombies, Oh My!

iStock Editorial/Thinkstock(SAN DIEGO) — Comic-Con International: San Diego officially starts Thursday, and among the almost 130 thousand attendees packing the San Diego Convention Center are stars of the big and small screen — and more costumed fans than you can shake a lightsaber, magic wand or sonic screwdriver at.

Former WWE champ Dave Bautista, one of the stars of the upcoming Marvel blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy, has been coming for the past four years. He tells ABC News Radio, “It’s such a geekfest man, it’s incredible, like the energy there. People are so excited and it’s all just kind of for their love of comics and sci-fi and geekdom and…it’s awesome.”

Bautista knows a thing or two about costuming, seeing as he had to be made up head-to-toe in grey body makeup and tattoos to play the towering Marvel hero Drax. He tells ABC News Radio that even he is floored by the costumers on hand at the event. “I think just all the cosplay, seeing all the costumes and stuff, just crazy,” Bautista said. “I mean people spend their whole year planning it, and it’s very obvious when you see some of the costumes, they’re just insane.”

However, that costuming could be a little intense for some of the younger attendees — a lesson Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Ming-Na Wen told ABC News Radio she learned last year. “There were a lot more zombies than I anticipated,” she laughed, “and it scared the crap out of my seven-year-old. I was like, ‘No this isn’t the normal Comic-Con, I don’t think.'”

The annual event is expected to break news not only in the world of Marvel, but also for upcoming movies like Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and TV shows from The Simpsons to True Blood to The Walking Dead and everything in between. Also on hand will be countless celebrities, and the cutting edge of gadgets, collectibles and video games.

Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio