During George Lucas’ first appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, he revealed some exciting Star Wars and Marvel items headed to his new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that’s set to open in Los Angeles in 2026.
Lucas, who was joined on stage by Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro, Academy Award-winning artist Doug Chiang, and Grammy- and Emmy-winning artist Queen Latifah, discussed this museum that aims to be a “temple to people’s art.”
As for what items fans can expect, a special video preview of the museum showed guests can expect to see Luke’s X-34 Landspeeder from A New Hope, General Grievous’ TSMEU-6 Wheel Bike, Anakin’s N-1 Starfighter from The Phantom Menace, and even the Speeder Bikes from Return of the Jedi. There will also be concept art and much more from that galaxy far, far away.
On the Marvel front, the original 1968 drawing of Iron Man’s first cover and the original drawings of Black Panther from 1968 will be on display. These will be joined by the very first character drawing of Flash Gordon from 1934, original sketches from Peanuts comics from the ’50s and ’60s, and art from Norman Rockwell, Jack Kirby, Frida Kahlo, and many more.
Lucas shared a bit about his history with art and comics, sharing that he couldn’t afford real art in college, so he bought comic art. Over the years, he has amassed a collection of over 40,000 pieces and he refuses to sell any of them.
“If you have an emotional connection, that’s art,” Lucas said. “The idea that people can tell you what art is… from my experience making movies, other people’s opinions don’t mean much. The only thing that matters is what you do and how you feel about it.”
Lucas said this museum is dedicated ot the idea that a story is written to affect people and build community and that it is extremely important to society and in building community. Furthermore, genres like Science Fiction can inspire us because “when the idea is implanted, then we think we can do it.”
del Toro spoke on the importance of comics and art, and reminded us that comics were the “first ones to punch Nazis” and that DC Comics were “the first ones to have a social conscience.” He then touched upon AI and using an app to make art.
“People say you can do art with an app and, i’m sorry, but you can’t,” del Toro said. “It’s the difference between eye candy and eye protein. Personality and emotion are what you need. I’m sorry, they don’t happen in a f****** app.”
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is co-founded by Lucas and Mellody Hobson, will debut in 2026 in a 300,000-square-foot building with expansive galleries, two state-of-the-art theaters, over 150,000 objects, and much more.
For more Star Wars at SDCC, check out all the news out of Lucasfilm Publishing’s panel, the stunning new Star Wars figures revealed at the show, and Heroes & Villains’ SDCC Star Wars collection.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.
