Big Laughs, Big Stars (but No Brad) Open Comic-Con

Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Johan Hill set the tone for the star-studded but very geeky movie and TV expo, and a cardboard cutout of Brad Pitt makes a cameo

San Diego Comic-Con attendees who stood in line all morning for the expo's first major film panel—about animated supervillian movie MegaMind—were treated to Will Ferrell painted all blue, Tina Fey threatening Betty White—and a surprise appearance by co-star Brad Pitt!

Well, not quite:

Pitt, who's currently shooting Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball, was a no-show at the panel for DreamWorks' animated villain adventure Megamind, despite whispers that maybe, just maybe, he'd be in attendance Thursday along with Angelina Jolie.

"Unfortunately, since Angelina's here, Brad had to watch the kids," quipped director Tom McGrath.

Instead, Ferrell, Fey, and Jonah Hill were joined onstage by a life-sized cardboard cutout of Brad Pitt, which Fey sat promptly on her lap during the panel Q&A, explaining, "I've always wanted to do this."

Asked to name her celebrity nemesis, Fey targeted Hollywood's favorite Golden Girl. "Betty White is my nemesis," she joked. "And one day I will fight her in a ball of fire!"

Ferrell, who showed up in blue paint and a full homemade costume dressed like his animated alter ego, Megamind, was more mysterious revealing his Hollywood enemy: "Charlize Theron. I can't really get into it, but there's a lot of bad blood there."

After making a (joking) public stand in support of Mel Gibson, Jonah Hill recanted and made the first big announcement of Comic-Con 2010:

"I'm officially announcing it right now: I'm playing the Hulk in The Avengers movie!"

Right, and that's really Brad Pitt in Tina Fey's lap...

During this morning's other panel, for Disney's Tron: Legacy, fans got a few surprise bits of news:

• Last year's surprise guest Johnny Depp made another unannounced appearance—in character!—as Hall H audiences were treated to a taped message from Captain Jack Sparrow himself. Recruiting members for his next sea voyage (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, in theaters May 20, 2011), he promised "zombies, cutthroats, mermaids, and the vicious Penelope Cruz." 

• Director Guillermo del Toro also popped in unannounced to reveal a teaser for his next project, a film adaptation of Disney's Haunted Mansion theme park attraction that he promises will be scary. More importantly, it will have nothing to do with the Eddie Murphy movie of the same name.