Wizard World Chicago took over the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois this past weekend and Hypable was lucky enough to attend and experience everything it had to offer!

When it comes to comic cons, Chicago really pulls out all of the stops. Wizard World Chicago not only had some of the best talent that’s currently on TV and the silver screen, but also drew in large crowds of dedicated fans. There’s nothing quite like the con atmosphere and Wizard World Chicago totally nailed it.

Over the course of three days, we experienced quite a few panels and saw so many awesome things. Here are just a few highlights that we think you’d really enjoy.

The Cosplay

While there actually weren’t as many cosplayers at Wizard World Chicago as we had expected, the ones that were there were awesome. From video games, to movies, to TV shows, all mediums were represented by some pretty hardcore fans. We loved the enthusiasm demonstrated not only by the cosplayers themselves but by the other attendees as well when they would take pictures with the cosplayers.

One trend that we noticed was that there were SO many Black Widow cosplayers. It was AWESOME. Little kids, adults, even men. The appreciation for Black Widow was definitely present. (Can we get a movie now?!)

We posted a few of our favorite cosplayers on our Instagram, including a really great Kaylee Frye cosplayer (who does that for a living), a pretty impressive Peter Quill and Gamora duo (pictured), and a Captain America who donned his classic motorcycle mission outfit. We also saw quite a few Groot cosplayers (mostly kids, interestingly enough) and a pretty great Rocket Raccoon. Other notable mentions include a Lego Captain America, a pretty impressive Stan Lee, and zombie Star Wars characters. To see more photos of cosplayers at Wizard World Chicago, check out their photos from their costume contest!

The exhibitors and artists

There were no Groot Funko Pop Vinyls to be found anywhere. They were sold out within the first few hours of the first day (Thursday). Even though we were really disappointed that we couldn’t find one, we have to admit that that’s pretty impressive, especially since the upcoming Baby Groot Funkos were announced before Wizard World Chicago started.

There was, however, Groot art aplenty in the Artist’s Alley, quite a few which included Rocket as well. We actually bought a print that had both Groot and dancing Baby Groot on it and may or may not be totally in love with it. Winter Soldier art and gifts were also pretty popular, as were Power Rangers and Star Trek merch. We especially loved to see quite a few booths dedicated to Harry Potter and other literary works, as well as just word art in general.

There was really a wide variety of artists and vendors at Wizard World Chicago which meant that there was a little bit of something for everyone, including those who may not be huge Marvel or superhero fans. We’re not lying when we say that after just an hour of walking around the convention center, we truly wanted to buy everything.

The panels

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s ‘Winter Soldier’ panel/comedy hour

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are quite the duo. Even though they didn’t have many scenes together in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, they have a ton of chemistry. The two of them know it too because when asked what kind of genre they would like a Bucky/Sam Wilson Marvel movie to be, they answered a buddy cop or rom-com kind of movie. Mackie took it a few steps further, saying that he imagines the two fighting over Black Widow as a love interest and having Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers in a sort of wacky neighbor-like role (which we’d totally love to see!).

On a similar note, when asked what they think Captain America 3 will be about, Mackie said that he could see Steve and Sam looking for Bucky and then the three of them becoming a sort of “three-man duo” (his words, not ours). They’d “save the world, beat up Batman and Superman, and have a theme song.” Again, we’d be all for this.

One more item of note during this panel is that both Stan and Mackie each have another Marvel character in mind that they would want to play if they didn’t already have their roles. While Stan would choose Dr. Strange, Mackie would totally go for the ever-feisty Rocket Raccoon. We could definitely see both of them in those roles, especially Mackie.

So many other hilarious things happened during this panel that we couldn’t possibly touch on all of them. But we know from experience that you’ll be able to read about a lot of them on Tumblr! Just search for “Sebastian Stan” or “Wizard World Chicago.” It’s all there (including Stan and Mackie’s response to “Chris Evans’ left boob grab” tendency).

Continue to the next page to find out what our other favorite panels were and learn about the interesting tidbits we took from them (including some Guardians of the Galaxy fun facts)!

Free ‘Gotham’ pilot screening

We’ve discussed the Gotham pilot before, but, after Wizard World Chicago, we have a few more things to say about it.

Gotham is sure to entertain all sorts of Batman fans. While they haven’t had overwhelming film success during the Marvel era that we’re currently in, DC has been doing some great things with television. Gotham is no different. It has the quality of a film but the brevity of a television show. At times, it feels like a prequel to Nolan’s Dark Knight series, complete with a loud Hans Zimmer score.

We especially loved how they introduce the audience to characters that we know before they become what we know. Our favorite introduction was that of The Riddler, not just because the actor was there at Wizard World Chicago to introduce and talk about the show. The character seemed so interesting in the short time that he’s on screen.

According to Cory Michael Smith (the actor playing The Riddler), the cast is currently filming episode six and just got the scripts for episode seven. While he wouldn’t tell us anything specific about the episodes or the show in general (besides the fact that it’s a procedural drama with a long narrative arc), he did say that episode seven will not be a procedural “case of the week” episode and blow everyone’s mind, so if we could just stay with it until then we’ll be happy. His words, not ours. Judging from the pilot episode, the series as a whole has a lot to live up to, production-wise.

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ panel with Dave Bautista and Michael Rooker

Karen Gillan (Nebula) was supposed to be there but her schedule changed at the very last minute. Even though we would’ve loved to have seen her, the panel was seriously enjoyable without her. There were so many fun things that happened with this panel that we’re just going to list them for you!

• Bautista (Drax) came out to applause, Rooker (Yondu) came out to “I Want You Back,” grabbed a metal trash can, jumped in it and started dancing like Baby Groot. Bautista then turned to look at him and he of course stopped. When Bautista looked away, he started dancing again. Thanks to Rooker, “Groot-ing” is a thing. (He even coined the phrase!) This was definitely the highlight of our weekend. You can watch Michael Rooker “Groot-ing” in the video above!
• Bautista’s favorite song off of the soundtrack is “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” because he really likes how everyone comes together in that scene. He of course also likes “I Want You Back.”
• Bautista’s favorite scene in the film is the scene where Yondu takes out a troop of Ronan’s men on the ground during the final battle.
• While there weren’t many pranks that happened on the set, Bautista did tell us about the time where they were shooting the scene where Quill tries to have a dance-off with Ronan. While dancing to “O-O-H Child,” Pratt “passed off” the dancing to Lee Pace (Ronan) who then started dancing. Bautista looked over to Saldana (Gamora) and she had started dancing too. At that point, because he’s not the best dancer, he was like “awww shoot.” Bautista says that he’s pretty sure the outtake will appear on the DVD/Blu-Ray’s special features/outtakes.
• Sean Gunn (better known as Kirk from Gilmore Girls) was Rocket’s physical stand-in while also having his own character, Kraglin.

The Stan Lee panel

On Sunday morning, we attended the Stan Lee panel in the convention center’s largest room and it was awesome. The best way to describe Stan Lee is that he’s a warm and funny old man. He constantly cracked jokes about his age and would answer anyone who said anything like, “You’re my hero” with “As it should be.” He was just super sassy and fun to listen to, especially when he had one-liners like “Thor is a woman? I’m leaving!” or “I am my own biggest fan.”

He gave us a few fun tidbits throughout the panel. For instance, the cameo that he just filmed for Avengers: Age of Ultron is his favorite cameo to date. He said that it’s the funniest one that he’s done, but he unfortunately wouldn’t tell us why (spoilers, and all that).

We also learned that a film version of The Inhumans IS happening, that he’s not surprised that Groot has become such a beloved character, and that if he could change anything he’s ever done, it would be his original concept for Iron Man’s armor. Stan Lee is a huge fan of Iron Man’s armor in the movies and wishes that he would’ve been able to come up with something like that.

His panel ended with a representative from Illinois’ Governor Pat Quinn announcing August 23-24, 2014 as “Stan Lee Weekend” in Illinois, and then Stan Lee doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Except he didn’t really do the challenge. A Stan Lee Funko did it instead.

Final thoughts

From TV and movie stars like Sebastian Stan, John Barrowman, and Matt Smith to well-known comic book writers like Stan Lee to WWE wrestling stars like Dave Bautista, Wizard World Chicago can draw some of the biggest names in the business because it has the audience to do so.

While it’s not nearly as big as San Diego Comic Con, it offers so many things to do and see for people of all interests. The Wizard World staff and volunteers are incredibly patient and helpful, which is especially great for first-time con-goers. Unlike other cons, Wizard World Chicago’s organization was impeccable and their ability to communicate with their guests and update all of us about schedule changes was top-notch. Not only that, but their organization of panels and exhibitors was logical and easy to navigate. We never had a problem getting around the convention or finding where we needed to go. Wizard World Chicago is extremely professional in the way that they handle themselves and their events which really makes the con-going experience a great one.

Whether you’re from the Chicagoland area or Illinois in general, or you’re just looking for a great time, don’t miss out on Wizard World Chicago. (And if you can’t make it to Chicago, find the Wizard World comic con nearest to you!)

For more fun Wizard World Chicago tidbits than we could have possibly packed into this article, check out this writer’s Twitter!

Have you attended Wizard World Chicago or another Wizard World con before? Tell us about it!