Find Out Why Scarlett Johansson, Joss Whedon, Martin Freeman and More Were Missing at Comic-Con

Several famous faces were not in attendance for the annual event

By Lily Harrison Jul 28, 2014 6:15 PMTags
Scarlett Johansson, Martin FreemanGetty Images

Sure, there were plenty of surprise appearances at this year's San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, but there were also a few celebs missing from the festivities.

Scarlett Johansson and Joss Whedon are the first names that come to mind when we think of who we thought we were going to see at the convention. And let's not forget about The Hobbit himself, Martin Freeman.

So how come these stars were absent from their respective panels? Let's take a look:

First up, there's ScarJo. The blond bombshell was notably absent from her Lucy promotions and most likely focused on her major upcoming role: motherhood.

The pregnant actress has been spotted out and about in Paris, where she's setting up a home with her fiancé Romain Dauriac. It was revealed back in March that the engaged duo is expecting their first child together—which means their little one should be here in the very near future!

Johansson didn't miss Comic-Con entirely, though, as she was featured heavily throughout the video introduction of the new Avengers flick.

There's also a perfectly reasonable explanation for Mr. Whedon's absence from Comic-Con. The Avengers writer had knee surgery but made sure to Skype into the NerdHQ Conversations for Cause panel over the weekend from his bed.

He also tweeted shortly before the highly anticipated Marvel panel, "Tomorrow Marvel will dazzle with stars galore and mega mondo movie magic MADNESS!!!! Also, I will be live tweeting my soup. #parsnip."

Lastly, Freeman wasn't able to attend as he was busy performing as the titular role in Richard III at Trafalgar Transformed. And he wasn't the only Hobbit star who wasn't on hand for his panel. Sir Ian McKellen (who was busy filming an upcoming project) and Richard Armitage (who was hard at work onstage in London) were also sadly absent from their event.