NEW YORK — Nas, Laurence Fishburne, and the stars of HBO’s “IT: Welcome to Derry” and Prime Video’s “Cross” were among the Black artists who made speaking appearances at the 2025 edition of New York Comic Con, which took place Oct. 9 to Oct. 12 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The annual event—which focuses mainly on science fiction, fantasy, action, and horror—attracts an estimated 200,000 people, according to event producer ReedPOP. 

Hip-hop superheroes have mass appeal at Marvel

The record company Mass Appeal has partnered with Marvel Comics to release the first issue of a limited-edition “Legend Has It…” comic book series (written by Brandon Thomas and illustrated by Sanford Greene) that reimagines hip-hop stars as superheroes. The comic book series is inspired by the “Legend Has It…” album series and honors several of New York’s most influential artists: Nas, DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Raekwon, the late Big L, De La Soul, and Slick Rick. 

Several of the surviving artists said during an Oct. 10 panel that hip-hop’s street names and alter egos are versions of superhero culture. Music, just like a superhero power, gives the artists a sense of immortality. 

“We have all this music in us. … We leave the world all of our thoughts,” Nas said, adding that he and DJ Premier are still working on an album collaboration.

No clowning at “IT: Welcome to Derry” panel

HBO’s “IT: Welcome to Derry” series is the first on-screen adaptation in the “IT” killer clown franchise (which started with Stephen King’s 1986 novel “IT”) to feature Black actors in the majority of leading roles. “IT: Welcome to Derry,” which premieres Oct. 26, is a prequel to the “IT” movies and takes place in Derry, Maine, in 1962. Series co-stars Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, and Stephen Rider appeared on an “IT: Welcome to Derry” panel and said the set had a family atmosphere.

Adepo said that playing U.S. Air Force Maj. Leroy Hanlon is special to him because Adepo’s own father was in the U.S. Air Force. 

“We had a military adviser who described to me that during that time, to have a young Black man as a major in the Air Force, with the racial tension being apparent, meant that he had to be an exceptional soldier — I mean, incredibly intelligent, driven,” Adepo said. “He’s able to ignore what he is absolutely going to face being a Black man in the military with his white colleagues. And so, I wanted to be able to play a representation of that.”

Paige said of her role as homemaker Charlotte Halloran, Leroy’s wife: “Charlotte was involved [in the civil rights movement] and has dreams. She’s a whole person, like everyone here. I think about my grandmother, who was born in the late ‘30s. What dreams died with people because of the year in which they were born, or where they were born, or what skin color they were born with.”

Chalk, who plays community leader/former U.S. Army soldier Dick Hallorann (originally a character in King’s 1977 novel, “The Shining”), said his version of Dick is different from the “super-nice” psychic depicted in other on-screen versions of the character. 

“You’re going to meet him at a stage where he has a different relationship with his internal self, with his spiritual world, and his biggest fear is himself and losing control,” Chalk said.

Changes for “Cross” 

Prime Video’s drama series “Cross” (named for crime-fighting detective Alex Cross) was a big hit when the show’s first season premiered in November 2024. 

Actor Aldis Hodge, who plays Cross (a character created by author James Patterson), said on an Oct. 9 panel that there will be “a lot of surprises” in the show’s second season. Hodge’s co-star and showrunner Ben Watkins, who has a guest role as FBI character Roy McElhannon in season two, t joked that he had to audition for himself. 

“One of the themes for Season 2 was this question about what really makes a hero because there’s a vigilante element in Season 2,” Watkins teased.

Morpheus makes revelations about “The Matrix”

“The Matrix” co-star Laurence Fishburne said during an Oct. 12 panel with fellow co-star Joe Pantoliano  that he declined to be in the 2021 sequel, “The Matrix Resurrections,” because “it just didn’t pan out.” He added that he might consider another sequel depending on “how good it is” and if “it made sense.”

James Earl Jones, Muhammad Ali, and Roscoe Lee Brown were some of the actors who influenced how he portrayed the Morpheus character, Fishburne said of the series launched with the Oscar-winning, 1999 sci-fi movie. Fishburne also appeared in the 2003 sequels “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions.”

Sneak preview of “Wonder Man,”

“Wonder Man” star/executive producer Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, star and executive producer of Marvel’s upcoming “Wonder Man” TV show, shared how he has had to adjust in transitioning to playing villain Black Manta in two “Aquaman” movies (based on DC Comics.

“I had been very serious over in the DC world, which was great, but I wanted to do something different, where I could live and grieve and smile and be nervous and be happy,” said during an Oct. 11 session that included a “Wonder Man” sneak preview. “I’m excited to be over here on the Marvel side.”

Mateen and co-star Ben Kingsley introduced this Disney+ limited drama series, which premieres on Jan. 27.