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(Guest Post by Curtis)
How Dallas Fan Expo Reminded Me That Sometimes the Best Things Aren’t What We’re Searching For
There is something truly awesome about attending a comic convention with friends. For a few hours, the ordinary rules of reality seem to bend. Superheroes walk among us, villains become celebrities, and entire universes collide beneath one convention center roof. At the 2026 Dallas Fan Expo, I found myself surrounded by the incredible worlds of Marvel, DC, anime, gaming, and pop culture. Everywhere I turned, there was another character to recognize, another artist to admire, and another piece of nostalgia waiting to transport me back to childhood.
But I wasn’t there simply to admire the multiverse. I had a mission. I was searching for a Black-Suit Peter Parker Spider-Man Funko Pop for my nephew.
Simple enough, right?
As any superhero fan knows, however, even the simplest missions have a way of becoming origin stories.
The Mission is a (Spider) Man
In the Marvel universe, Peter Parker has worn many suits. The classic red and blue. The advanced technological suits. The Iron Spider armor. And, of course, the iconic black suit, a darker version of the familiar costume that carries its own fascinating history.
The black suit represents something more than a costume change. It symbolizes transformation, hidden potential, and the delicate line between power and responsibility. It is a reminder that even our favorite heroes can become something unexpected when circumstances change.
That made finding the Black-Suit Spider-Man Funko Pop feel like the perfect mission.
I had a specific target in mind, and I was determined to find it. Walking into Fan Expo, I imagined myself navigating a maze of collectible displays, hunting through boxes, scanning shelves, and eventually spotting that unmistakable black-and-white spider emblem.
In my mind, the ending was already written.
My friends and I would locate the figure, secure the prize so I could deliver it to my nephew. Mission accomplished. Heroic music would play somewhere in the background. Somewhere in the multiverse, Peter Parker would give an approving nod.
Unfortunately, reality had a different script.
Searching Through the Multiverse
Dallas Fan Expo was filled with enough collectibles to make even Tony Stark consider expanding his storage space. Vendors displayed everything from rare comics and original artwork to action figures, memorabilia, and Funko Pops representing characters from nearly every corner of popular culture.
Every booth offered another possibility.
I continued searching - maybe the next vendor would have it. Maybe the figure was hiding behind another character. Maybe one more aisle would bring me face-to-face with exactly what I had come to find.
But the Black-Suit Peter Parker Spider-Man remained elusive.
Eventually, I encountered a figure that wasn’t what I had envisioned: a Venomized Miles Morales Funko Pop.
Now, if you’re familiar with Marvel, you know Miles Morales is already an extraordinary character. He represents a new generation of Spider-Man, proving that the mask can belong to more than one person and that heroism isn’t restricted to a single identity. Add the visual influence of Venom, and you get something that feels like a collision between two powerful forces.
It was certainly cool. It was also not the figure I had been searching for.
/My original plan had been straightforward: find Black-Suit Peter Parker, buy Black-Suit Peter Parker, give Black-Suit Peter Parker to my nephew. Venomized Miles Morales wasn’t part of the plan.
But sometimes the universe doesn’t care about your plan.
The Unexpected Plot Twist
I brought home the Venomized Miles Morales Funko Pop and mailed it off, and here’s where the story took a turn worthy of a Marvel post-credits scene.
My nephew liked it even more than the figure I had originally intended to find.
The thing I hadn’t been looking for turned out to be the better choice.
I had spent my time focused on one particular outcome, convinced that I knew exactly what would make the mission a success. Yet the actual outcome exceeded my expectations in a way I hadn’t anticipated.
In superhero storytelling, we often see this happen when a character’s journey takes an unexpected turn. Peter Parker doesn’t always get the life he wants. Tony Stark doesn’t always emerge from a battle with the outcome he planned. The Avengers themselves discover that saving the universe sometimes requires abandoning the strategy they thought would work.
The detours become part of the story.
My little Funko Pop adventure wasn’t exactly an Avengers-level threat, but the lesson was surprisingly familiar.
I went looking for one thing and found something else. And the person I was trying to make happy preferred the unexpected discovery.
Sometimes, the plot twist is the point.
The Problem With Having a Script
How often do we approach life the same way I did at Dallas Fan Expo?
We identify something we want, create a mental picture of what success looks like, and begin working toward it. We establish a destination, develop a strategy, and convince ourselves that happiness is waiting at the end of that particular road.
Maybe it’s a job we believe will finally make us successful. A relationship we think will complete our story. A business opportunity we are certain will change everything. A particular milestone, possession, or achievement that becomes the centerpiece of our expectations.
There is nothing wrong with having goals. In fact, goals give us direction. Without them, we risk wandering through life without ever pursuing the things that matter to us.
The problem begins when we become so attached to one version of success that we stop recognizing it in other forms.
We become convinced that there is only one acceptable ending. In the language of the multiverse, we fixate on a single timeline and forget that countless other possibilities might exist.
What if the job you didn’t get would have kept you from an opportunity better suited to your talents? What if the door that closed forced you to discover a skill you never knew you possessed? What if the plan that fell apart was making room for something you couldn’t have imagined when you first started?
We cannot always know the significance of a detour while we’re living through it. Sometimes, all we can see is the thing we didn’t get.
Every Universe Has a Different Story
One of the most fascinating ideas in superhero fiction is the multiverse: the possibility that countless versions of reality exist, each containing different choices, consequences, and outcomes.
In one universe, Peter Parker might make one decision. In another, he might choose differently. Each path creates a different story, with its own victories, losses, and unexpected discoveries.
Our lives aren’t quite as neatly divided into comic-book panels, but the metaphor is powerful.
Every decision opens certain doors and closes others. Every unexpected circumstance creates possibilities we might never have considered. And every disappointment can become the beginning of a story we didn’t know we needed to tell.
We spend so much time wondering what would have happened if we’d gotten the thing we wanted that we sometimes overlook the beauty of what actually happened.
Perhaps the opportunity we missed wasn’t our only chance at happiness. Perhaps the person we met by accident will become one of the most important people in our lives. Perhaps the alternative we initially dismissed will eventually become the very thing we’re grateful we discovered.
We don’t have to believe that everything happens for a reason to recognize that something meaningful can come from an unexpected outcome.
Sometimes, life doesn’t give us the ending we requested. It gives us the opportunity to write a different one. And occasionally, that ending is even better.
Keep Searching, But Stay Open
My experience at Dallas Fan Expo didn’t teach me to abandon my goals or stop pursuing the things I want. I’ll probably keep an eye out for that Black-Suit Peter Parker Funko Pop, because the hunt isn’t necessarily over.
But I walked away with something more valuable than the collectible I had originally imagined buying.
I was reminded that the purpose of a mission isn’t always limited to the object we’re pursuing. Sometimes, the real reward is the experience, the discovery, or the happiness we get to share with loved ones along the way.
I went to Dallas searching for one Spider-Man and came home with another. My nephew was happier than I expected, and I gained a reminder that will stay with me long after each year’s convention floor is packed away.
So, by all means, set your goals. Chase your dreams. Put on the suit, study the map, and embark on the adventure. Just don’t become so obsessed with finding your Black-Suit Spider-Man that you overlook the Venomized Miles Morales standing right in front of you. Because life is full of unexpected crossovers, alternate timelines, and plot twists that no amount of planning could have predicted.
You may be pursuing one particular future, convinced that it is the only one worth having. But somewhere along the journey, you might discover an opportunity, a relationship, an experience, or a new direction that makes you grateful things didn’t go according to plan.
And maybe that’s the real superpower: not controlling every outcome, but having the courage to recognize something extraordinary when it appears in an unexpected form.
After all, even the greatest superheroes don’t always get to choose how their stories unfold.
They simply have to decide what they’ll do next.
