Dig this, bury that

“Fan participation” takes on a different meaning at Comic-Con, which is expected to draw a sold-out crowd of roughly 126,000 people. To promote the film “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” meanwhile, Universal is staging an “immersive experience” at the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Hotel where DJs will spin music and cast members will sign autographs and make T-shirts for fans. From 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Fox will park a taco truck at the corner of 5th Avenue and J Street to promote Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete”; later that evening the first 500 fans at the site who are 21 or older will be able to view advance footage from the film on a special outdoor screen. At the Lionsgate booth in the Convention Center, meanwhile, the upcoming film “Buried” will try the captive-audience approach: Willing participants will be filmed while they’re “trapped” in a coffin-like confined space for 30 seconds, and the video will be posted in a virtual cemetery online.

Star track

The biggest room at the Con is Hall H — it doesn’t stand for Hollywood, but it really should, considering it’s the place where the studios parade their stars and filmmakers to win the hearts of the audience (and the world, which plugs in via Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc.). The stars in Hall H this year include Angelina Jolie for “Salt,” Will Ferrell for “Megamind,” Jeff Bridges for “Tron: Legacy,” Ryan Reynolds for “Green Lantern,” Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone for “The Expendables” and Helen Mirren (!) for “Red.” What about rumors that Brad Pitt, who is the good guy opposite of Ferrell’s evil-genius in the animated November release “Megamind,” will make his Comic-Con debut on Friday, the same day Jolie is scheduled to appear? Pitt wasn’t listed in the Con’s first official lineup announcement and Ferrell was slippery on the topic: “Oh, yeah, yeah, the other guy … there’s an outside chance that someone with that name will be there. Or not. Maybe.”

It’s about the comics, man

Four decades ago, the first Comic-Con in San Diego was staged in a hotel basement, and there was nobody in attendance that looked like Jolie. It was pretty much all about comic books back then, and though they’re now second fiddle (or third) there is some strong comic-book programming. Neal Adams, the comics titan whose sleek and shadowy version of Batman in the late 1960s and early 1970s reclaimed the character from Adam West camp, will join old writing partner Denny O’Neil for a Saturday panel that might make some middle-aged fans swoon with Gotham City nostalgia. More of the moment: Marvel Comics writer Matt Fraction has a Sunday spoken-word performance keyed to comics history (think “Swimming to Cambodia” meets superheroes), and his Saturday summit with Marvel writers Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Waid and Chris Claremont will be analyzed for secret meanings and hints. There’s the annual tribute to the King of Comics, the late Jack Kirby, on Sunday, and there also will be some last-minute programming additions, no doubt, to mark the recent passing of Harvey Pekar, the crankiest voice in underground comics.

First contact

Jon Favreau just started filming “Cowboys & Aliens” in the New Mexico desert with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, but he persuaded the film’s producers (including Steven Spielberg) that it was worth his time to fly to San Diego to talk to fans about the movie — about space invaders who land in the Old West — even without footage to show them. Other 2011 films looking to make a mark include “Battle: Los Angeles” (Aaron Eckhart leads urban war against aliens); “Drive Angry,” a body-count vendetta film with Nicolas Cage; and Zack Snyder’s insane-asylum fantasy “Sucker Punch.” Says Snyder: “It’s absolutely important to start a conversation with the fans, and Comic-Con is the place to do it.”