--- description: High temperatures in Dubai didn't stop droves of sci-fi and comic book fans from showing up clad in battle armor. At the annual Middle East... title: Comic Con in the Middle East image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcabc43aba4f9800e/69868965cd68487e2e09400a/comiccon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Comic Con in the Middle East by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 7, 2014 10:48 PM CUT  Fans dressed as their favorite characters rushed to Dubai and Middle East Comic Con. Fans dressed as their favorite characters rushed to Dubai and Middle East Comic Con. by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 7, 2014 10:48 PM CUT High temperatures in Dubai didn’t stop droves of sci-fi and comic book fans from showing up clad in battle armor. At the annual Middle East Film and Comic Con, it’s as likely to see someone dressed up as Batman as somebody wearing a business suit. Although a multimillion dollar comic book collection gained the biggest buzz of the show, the convention featured tons of affordable merchandise, from Star Wars to Superman. For those who wanted to portray their favorite heroes rather than just own their likeness, there was even a program that digitally transformed con-goers into superheroes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/52470/comic-con-in-the-middle-east/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/52470/comic-con-in-the-middle-east/"},"headline":"Comic Con in the Middle East","datePublished":"2014-04-07T22:48:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:10:50.874Z","description":"High temperatures in Dubai didn't stop droves of sci-fi and comic book fans from showing up clad in battle armor. At the annual Middle East...","url":"https://time.com/52470/comic-con-in-the-middle-east/","keywords":["Star Wars topic","Middle East","Superman","Batman","Comic Con","Dubai"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcabc43aba4f9800e/69868965cd68487e2e09400a/comiccon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcabc43aba4f9800e/69868965cd68487e2e09400a/comiccon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Comic Con in the Middle East","caption":"Fans dressed as their favorite characters rushed to Dubai and Middle East Comic Con.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/52470/comic-con-in-the-middle-east/","name":"Comic Con in the Middle East"}}]}] ```