By Anthony Breznican
The Associated Press

Sometimes the archenemy of a superhero movie is the super-fan, the kind with the power to create a firestorm of negative buzz over a perceived injustice to a beloved character.

Now Hollywood has discovered a place where it can try to leap that fan skepticism in a single bound: Comic-Con International.

The sci-fi gathering in San Diego was attended by an estimated 80,000 people this weekend, including celebrities and filmmakers from such forthcoming films as Batman Begins, Fantastic Four and Constantine, who tried to show their reverence for the comic book characters they are bringing to the screen.

"There are 80,000 people who are going to pass through here, and there are only 35,000 at the Democratic convention. What does that tell you?" said Lance Henriksen, star of the upcoming Alien vs. Predator film.

Thus Michael Chiklis, Emmy-winning star of The Shield, showed up to talk about his new role next summer as The Thing - the mutated, orange rock-man from Fantastic Four - and outed himself as a fellow comic book geek.

"When I was 18, I said, 'If they ever make a Fantastic Four movie I'm going to play Ben Grimm (The Thing's human name),' " Chiklis said. "I had a big affinity for (The Thing) - a kinship for the lovable lug with a temper."

Unlike people who favor comedies, dramas, mysteries, thrillers or romance, the sci-fi and fantasy fans take an almost possessive stance on their entertainment and relentlessly hound transgressions in chat rooms and Web sites in the months leading up to a movie's release.

Such aficionados turned green with anger over the computer-animation for The Hulk, and mercilessly whipped Halle Berry's leather dominatrix costume in Catwoman - two films that couldn't recover from the early online drubbings.

Constantine, which stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, a vigilante who comes back from the dead to fight evil, had a number of hurdles to overcome at Comic-Con.

Director Francis Lawrence said the movie title was changed from the original Hellblazer because it was too close to Hellraiser, the horror series about the demon Pinhead.

Once blond and British, Constantine is now the dark-haired American Reeves. Lawrence said he felt confident the "Hellblazer" comics lovers could be persuaded to accept the changes.

Other movies that fit into the fantasy genre - but are not necessarily comic book adaptations - also showed up at Comic-Con to win approval.

But fans don't just want respect for the characters; they also want respect for themselves.

When Sarah Michelle Gellar arrived Saturday to promote her upcoming horror thriller The Grudge, the first question she got was: Why, during seven years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, had she never visited Comic-Con?

Gellar anticipated that reaction and read a top-10 list of excuses. The audience laughed only sporadically - they wanted a real answer.

They eventually warmed to her, but first she had to give them some tough love back.

When one woman asked Gellar whether she ever turned to her characters for the inspiration to solve real problems, the actress quipped: "You know they're not real, right?"

That finally earned her an unrestrained laugh from the crowd.

'Star Wars' title revealed

The title of "Episode III" of George Lucas' Star Wars series was announced at the Comic-Con convention. Click here for story.