What an infuriating end to the major movie presentations. To put it bluntly: Paramount rescinded my free pass, as well as the passes for editors from other sites such as Wired, UGO, and Cinematical, for Marvel’s Iron Man 2 panel. No explanation was given, and their chief publicist had nothing to say on the matter — no apology, no work-around, nothing.

I don’t think press or movie people are more VIP than the public; I feel when you’re handed a golden ticket, you deserve entrance into the chocolate factory. This was one of my most anticipated panels, and I was excited to write about it for those of you who graciously have followed our Comic-Con coverage and offered all sorts of awesome feedback on our presence here this year.

The best course of action at the end of the day is to release my feelings of confusion, irritation, and suspicion — the early footage must not be any good? I wondered — since there are plenty of enthusiastic write-ups from the session. Personally, however, I’m sorry to disappoint our readers by not being there.

Good luck Tony Stark; it was fun to be in your presence. Last year.