It might not seem like it to the uninitiated, but composers would maintain that they're just as much storytellers as any writer, director, or actor on a television series or movie. The only difference is that their medium of choice is purely auditory and, unless their name happens to be Hans Zimmer, their tireless efforts may not seem as readily apparent. Thankfully, a handful of some of the most talented and distinctive composers in the business gathered together at this year's San Diego Comic-Con for the eighth installment of The Musical Anatomy Of A Superhero: Film And TV Composer Panel, hard on the heels of their current super-secret upcoming projects that, well, they mostly weren't able to talk about yet.

But that's not to say that this panel was lacking in fascinating insights imparted upon us eager attendees, mind you. Moderated by none other than prolific musical artist Michael Giacchino, the panel featured the likes of Amie Doherty ("Battle at Big Rock," "She-Hulk"), Christophe Beck ("The Hangover" trilogy, the "Ant-Man" movies, "WandaVision," "Shazam! Fury of the Gods"), Christopher Lennertz ("Supernatural," "Agent Carter,""The Boys"), Nami Melumad ("Thor: Love and Thunder," "Star Trek: Prodigy," "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds"), and Natalie Holt ("Loki," "Obi-Wan Kenobi").

During the course of the hour-long panel, the composers answered several wide-ranging questions about the nitty-grittyspecifics of their own unique compositional processes, repeatedly collaborating with specific filmmakers, hiding Easter eggs in their scores, and much, much more.

Marvel and Sony's "Spider-Man" trilogy has quickly become one of the most well-liked and successful movies in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, with last year's "Spider-Man:No Way Home" taking this particular franchise to even greater heights. The added value of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles as their respective versions of Peter Parker essentially the industry's most obvious open secret for months upon months played like gangbusters among eager audiences worldwide.

One of the more nostalgia-driven pleasures of their extended cameos stemmed from MichaelGiacchino's decision to incorporate Danny Elfman and James Horner's memorable themes from Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy and MarcWebb's "The Amazing Spider-Man" movies, respectively. As you can imagine, it wasn't as easy as simply plugging in those motifs during certain moments and calling it a day.When asked about the decision-making process of how and when to push our buttons with those themes, Giacchino immediately pointed to the story.

Of all the reasons that Prime Video's superhero satire "The Boys" has exploded in popularity in recent years,Christopher Lennertz's composing has perhaps flown under the radar the most. Crafting a great score for a movie is one thing, but doing so for multiple seasons on a series provides a singular opportunity for composers not to mentiona unique challenge, as well. Original plans and intentions for certain motifs may end up changing in unanticipated ways over the course of a series ... though, sometimes, it's for the best.

That certainly was the case withLennertz's work on "The Boys." Back in season 1, he crafted a specific theme for protagonist Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) during a pivotal and highly emotionally-charged moment of crisis a meltdown, basically. Lo and behold, when season 2 came around and the much more unhinged character of Homelander (Antony Starr) experienced a similar moment where he, too, went "off the rails," that theme found itself reused once more. According toLennertz, though it came somewhat as a surprise, it proved to be an eye-opening moment.

It goes to show that even for composers who have worked for years and years in the industry, it's not always a bad thing to zig when they expected to zag.

Few characters in the MCU could ever hope to compare to the over-the-top theatrics that fans have come to love and expect from the sometimes-villain, sometimes-antihero Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Even in "death," Loki has managed to live up to his "God of Mischief" title and maintain more than his fair share of grandiosity that director KennethBranagh brought to the original "Thor" in 2011. After all, what else would you call it when our main Loki variant ended up falling in love with the female version of, well, himself during the events of "Loki"?

When it came time to bring over thatoperatic heft into the streaming series, composerNatalie Holt looked to perhaps the very definition of epic: Wagner's classic composition of Ride of the Valkyries. She explained the process of arriving at such an inspiration:

It's no secret that Michael Giacchino and MattReeves have formed something of a tightknit dynamic over the years: from "Cloverfield" to "Let Me In" to the "Planet of the Apes" movies to, of course, "The Batman." Many would claim that their most recent work represents their high-water mark together, resulting in one of the most unforgettable main themes in recent memory.

Naturally, it didn't take long for the topic of conversation to shift towards why Giacchino's favorite part of the composing process involves that back-and-forth, give-and-take "symbiotic relationship" at the heart of his work with Reeves:

It's almost a clich to note that film is inherently a collaborative medium, but few have proven the truth of that saying more than Giacchino and Reeves.

The nature of making movies and television means that the more noticeable a certain aspect feels, the more praise (or criticism!) that element will receive. Remember, it's rarely the bestedited film that wins the Academy Award every year in that category, but the mostedited film. It's easy to see how that would apply to music as well, with the loudest and most bombastic scores (why, hello again, Mr. Zimmer) receiving all the credit. To Natalie Holt, there's room for both extremes to exist. When Giacchino posed the question of what laypeople should try to listen for in a particular score, Holt's response was particularly fascinating.

To her credit, there's ample evidence of both of these seemingly incompatible approaches coexisting in Holt's own work. Her "Loki" compositions rely on quieter mood pieces and epic, all-expansive motifs while her contributions to "Obi-Wan Kenobi" operate on very much the same wavelength. As much as film or television scores can get graded on how noticeable they are or not, composers like Holt continue to show that subtlety and maximalist tendencies and everything in between all have a place.

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5 Things We Learned From The Musical Anatomy Of A Superhero: Film And TV Composer Comic-Con Panel - /Film