Marvel’s latest hit show What If…? has confirmed once and for all exactly why The Avengers really are the most powerful heroes in the MCU. Ironically, this elevated status doesn’t necessarily come from extraordinary abilities or physical prowess – although those, clearly, are also in ready supply. Instead, the supergroup’s definitive ranking is actually down to something much more intangible that ultimately causes their opponents to underestimate them time and time again.
Throughout the MCU, Earth’s mightiest heroes have developed a happy habit of overcoming overwhelming odds in almost impossible circumstances. Whether it’s repelling an invading Chitauri army as a team during the events of the very first Avengers film, or acting alone during their various solo projects, the six original superheroes have, without a doubt, an impressive track record. Ultimately, as seen during the climax of the Infinity Saga, the crew is even capable of defeating an intergalactic titan capable of wiping out half of existence.
Given the long list of enemies who have fallen foul of The Avengers, their reputation is clearly well-earned. However, for all their firepower, What If…? makes it clear that the real key to The Avengers success actually lies in their humanity. As Jeffrey Wright’s omniscient Watcher explains while watching Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov search for the key to defeating Ultron, “You’re human you keep hope against the best of odds.” This highlights a consistent theme running throughout the MCU – that it is the optimism, determination and refusal to be beaten that defines humanity that ultimately makes The Avengers such a dangerous prospect for Earth’s would-be conquerors.
This argument is evident as far back as Phase 1 of the MCU, and is most obviously on display during the first Avengers movie. For example, Tony Stark’s iconic “you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it” quip to Loki is far more than a call-back to the movie’s title – it also highlights his indomitable spirit, flying in the face of Loki’s belief that humans are “made to be ruled”. Similarly, one of the movie’s most powerful moments comes when an old man stands up to Loki in the face of imminent destruction. This serves as a reminder that, even without any superpowers, humanity is capable of extraordinary bravery. It is this quality that ultimately makes The Avengers capable of their most extraordinary feats.
In many ways, the plot of What If…? episode 8 really emphasizes the point that humanity is the greatest power in the MCU. It is extremely telling that, in the aftermath of Ultron’s assault, it is Barton and Romanov – on paper the team’s most under-powered human characters – that are the last two left standing. It is their human spirit, shared with the likes of Stark, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner that allows them to unlock the key to saving the universe. Although the MCU is inhabited with innumerable fantastically powered superbeings, time and time again it is those who have a close connection to humanity who emerge victorious.
The clothing brand Vans has dropped a new collection of horror themed apparel involving The Shining, Friday the 13th and more. Just in time for Halloween, the Vans x Horror collectionallows a variety of big screen icons to be available on a range of Vans products. Vans, known for their classic streetwear look, has embraced pop culture many times in the past through collaborating with behemoths of film, TV and video games. Before these monsters, franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter and The Simpsons have been given the Vans treatment.
It has been a while since some of these characters were seen on the screen. The A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise hasn’t recovered from its failed 2010 reboot, and the rights to Friday the 13th have been, until recently, tied up in a series of lawsuits. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has managed to stand the test of time and Doctor Sleep, the long awaited sequel directed by Mike Flanagan, has kept the horrors of the Overlook Hotel in the zeitgeist. Younger audiences may be more drawn to Pennywise than the other villains, with both films in the recent adaptation of Stephen King’s It being smash hits at the box office.
The collection is available to purchase on the Vans websiteand includes an array of clothing, from socks and shoes to hats and hoodies. All the films that inspired the collection, which includes the previously mentioned franchises and also The Lost Boys and The Exorcist, were given their own shoe designs as well as other unique clothing items. The new release combines Vans’ classic designs with images inspired by some of cinemas greatest horror movies. Check out a sampling of the Vans x Horror collection, below:
As was the case with Vans’ other pop culture collaborations, this collection is only on a limited release and will not last forever. Some of the designs include hi-top shoes with “REDRUM” written on the midsoles, a white t-shirt with Pennywise’s evil grin printed on it, and a black hoodie with Jason Vorrhees’ famous hockey mask emblazoned on the front. Horror heads are likely to go mad for these fresh looks. Fans who want to be seen in shoes that are designed after Freddy Krueger’s famous striped sweatshirt will have to act fast.
Vans’ past pop culture releases have all proven to be wildly successful, and horror fans are often among the most loyal (going by the longevity of some of these series) so this feels like a match made in heaven. These designs by Vans could become an annual uniform for spooky season, or just an everyday fit for gore fans. The launch of this range may also help some of these waning franchises recapture the attention of audiences, and with Jason Blum rebooting The Exorcist, the timing feels right.
Warning: Contains SPOILERS forVenom: Let There Be Carnage.
The post-credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage reveals a huge twist by transporting Eddie and Venom to the MCU, but how exactly do they get there? One minute, the two are relaxing after defeating Carnage and talking about the boundless knowledge Venom has access to through the symbiote hivemind. The next, the room trembles and changes, and the TV shows the unmistakable face of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
Previously, it was believed that the Venom films took place in a different canon than the MCU. The Spider-Man movie rights are complicated and can be a bit confusing, but the gist is that Sony still holds the rights to the character and allows him to feature in the MCU through separate deal with Marvel. Sony is currently in the process of setting up its own cinematic universe of Spider-Man characters, which will include Morbius, Kraven the Hunter, and the Venom films. Now, it looks like Holland’s Spider-Man could be a part of that universe as well.
So, how do Eddie and Venom get from reality to the MCU? The Venom 2 post-credits scene intentionally keeps things mysterious, but the teleportation almost certainly is tied to the MCU multiverse, which has become the focal point of the story in Phase 4. The leading theory is that Eddie and Venom are brought to the MCU by the multiverse shenanigans caused by Doctor Strange’s spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s a fair guess seeing as how their jump to the MCU was accompanied by a singular blinding flash of light, which is the same thing that happened in the No Way Home trailer at the moment Strange cast the spell and it went awry. Another possibility is that Venom’s accessing of the symbiote hivemind through Eddie caused something to malfunction in some way. Considering how hard the characters of MCU’s Phase 4 have been tampering with the multiverse, it’s even possible that it was an entirely different multiverse event that brought Eddie and Venom to the MCU.
Since other major characters from past Sony Spider-Manfilms like Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus and Jamie Foxx’s Electro are returning in No Way Home, it wouldn’t be out of place for Hardy’s Venom to show up as well. There’s been no confirmation yet that he’ll be in the upcoming Spider-Manmovie, but because both franchises are produced by Sony Pictures, it seems most likely that Eddie’s arrival in the MCU is tied to the multiversal chaos in No Way Home.
Of course, there are still a number of things that haven’t been revealed about the MCU multiverse, any one of which could be to blame for Venom’s sudden change of reality. A powerful Scarlet Witch was messing with the Darkhold in WandaVision; Sylvie broke the timeline wide open in Loki; even Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings touched upon alternate dimensions. The Venom 2 post-credits scene may simply be setting up a Tom Holland Peter Parker cameo in Sony’s universe rather than a Venom debut in No Way Home. Either way, the ending of Venom: Let There Be Carnage sets up a lot of exciting possibilities for the character’s future.
Ninjas are cool, as are tabletop roleplaying games; therefore, tabletop RPGs with ninjas in them must be extra cool! But what is a ninja, exactly, and what makes them such a staple of pop culture? The following RPG systems, each with their own stylized take on Ninjas somewhere on the spectrum between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, try to answer this question.
Ask most people born in the 20th century what a ninja is, and they’ll generally think of a stealthy assassin dark clothes and a hooded cowl, wielding exotic weapons such as throwing stars, sickles, and Sai daggers. Ask people who grew up during the 2000s or 2010s, and they may cite the Ninja Gaiden series or the Lego Ninjago franchises, media about warriors who wield magical “Ninjutsu” techniques and exotic martial arts. Ask a historian about Ninjas, and they might mention the “Shinobi” mercenary underclass that emerged in 12th century Japan, who hired themselves out as spies and assassins to warlords, wielded weapons inspired by agricultural tools, and would frequently disguise themselves as menial servants to close in on their targets.
Many of the roleplaying games listed below were written by people who did their research about actual historical ninjas, then decided to wholeheartedly embrace the stylized, pop-culture conception of ninjas, “Shadow Clones” and all. Some of these ninja RPGs take place in historical fantasy settings similar to the times actual ninjas existed in (as with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s setting and NPCs), while others have ninjas leaping across the rooftops of modern day metropolises; each, regardless, are about roleplaying ninjas in stylish, stealthy ways.
The 2nd edition of The Ninja Crusade, available on Drivethru RPG.com and set in a fantasy version of medieval Japan, are about heroic ninjas from the Lotus Coalition, fighting a war of resistance against the militant forces of the Izou Empire. Players create characters aligned with one of the ten clans of the Lotus Coalition, each specializing in certain skills and embodying different archetypes of ninja. The wandering adventures PCs go on in The Ninja Crusade draw heavy inspiration from the Ninja Scroll anime, along with more modern works such as the Naruto franchise.
Legend of the Five Rings started out as a collective card game franchise with a rich meta-plot, then expanded into tabletop roleplaying. The latest edition of the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game can be used to tell stories about noble samurai and magic-users fending off the dark entities of the Shadowlands, or political plots with scheming courtiers and genius generals. If players choose to create characters who hail from the mask-wearing, ninja-patronizing Scorpion Clan, they can also immerse themselves in tales of stealth, infiltration, lies, and assassination – dishonorable deeds committed for the greater good of Rokugan.
Shinonbigami, an RPG translated from Japanese after a successful Kickstarter, is set in modern day Japan and is centered around a shadow war between the members of rival ninja clans – who also have day jobs, families, schoolwork, and other everyday concerns. The gameplay cycle of a Shinobigami session is broken into four parts. In the first three “Cycles,” each ninja player character takes a turn in the narrative spotlight to pursue their secret goals, learn the secrets of other characters, and develop their relationships. The final part, a “Climax Phase,” is a free-for-all battle between players and groups of players where secrets are revealed, relationships are pushed to the breaking point, and spectacular ninja arts are employed.
Ninja Burger is a low-prep RPG about ninjas. Who work in the fast-food industry. Set in a world that’s a madcap blend of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, and the “Deliverator” scene from the cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, the goal of players in a Ninja Burger session is to use the stylized ninja skills of their PCs to deliver meals to customers (undetected) within 30 minutes or less. No matter what. Obstacles standing in the path of Ninja Burger PCs can range from mutant sewer dwellers and hostile ninjas to rival fast food franchises such as Pirate Pizza, making this a tabletop RPG with ninjas that can provide as much amusement as adventure.
An artist has recently created 35 different colorful icons of villains in the Final Fantasy series. With 15 mainline entries and numerous spinoffs, the series has presented many antagonists throughout the years, and some fans do their best to recreate their favorites with fan art. Final Fantasy is known for its games featuring rag-tag casts of heroes facing off against powerful villains who threaten the fabric of existence in their worlds.
This comes on the heels of the Tokyo Game Show, where publisher Square Enix has announced new games and provided updates on upcoming releases in a stream. New information on Final Fantasy 16, the next mainline game, is sparse, but the company did reveal a new trailer revealing Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin‘s release date. This title is an action-RPG spinoff co-developed by Team Ninja, known for its work on the Nioh franchise.
Related: FF7 The First Soldier Gameplay Shows How Classes & Chocobos Will Work
On Reddit, user Old-Biscotti647 posted fanart with colorful depictions of 35 different Final Fantasy villains. This picture includes many of the main villains for each game in the series, from FF 1‘s Garland up to FF 15‘s Ardyn Izunia. The art covers the highest number of villains from entries 7 and 9, and when a Reddit user asked about it, the artist mentioned that those are among their favorites, 9 in particular. When also asked about missing villains, such as FF 12‘s Vayne Solidor or FF 6‘s Emperor Gestahl, the artist assured that those characters will be joining the roster soon. The artist also creates fanart for movies, TV shows, and other games, demonstrating them in the Instagram account platesandoatcakes. Recent games the artist has covered are Borderlands, Overwatch, and Deltarune.
Sharing fan art is a popular activity for many gamers. Recently, the Mega Man Zero artist created Metroid fanart in his signature style to celebrate the upcoming launch of Metroid: Dread. Many talented artists from all spectrums of fields like to share their love for their favorite games, movies, and television shows, and they often garner praise. It’s especially interesting to see artists present characters or scenes from different games in their own unique style, which gives the art a different flair.
Whether it’s official art, concept art, or fan art, people love to enjoy these works as they celebrate their favorite series. And Final Fantasy is no stranger to fan art since its first release in 1987. The series is also known for having crossover bosses, such as Final Fantasy V‘s Gilgamesh appearing across the series, as well as reoccurring summons. In the meantime, there’s a lot to be excited about in the near future for Final Fantasy, and fans can bide their time by checking out art like this from talented creators.
Tiffany Mitchell opened up about being named America’s Favorite Player on Big Brother season 23. Tiffany won the coveted title after a seven-day period during which viewers could text the name of their favorite houseguest to cast their votes. The prize was doubled to $50,000 this year. With this win, Tiffany joins an elite group of Big Brother houseguests who won the respect and hearts of fans of the show. The award was introduced on Big Brother 7: All-Stars, and its first-ever recipient was Big Brother legend Janelle Pierzina. Janelle expressed her support for Tiffany on her Instagram this season, encouraging her fans to vote for her. Other notable winners include Keesha Smith (BB10), Britney Haynes (BB12), Elissa Slater (BB15), Victor Arroyo (BB18), Tyler Crispen (BB20), Da’Vonne Rogers (BB22) and Jeff Schroeder, who is the only houseguest to win the prize twice (BB11 and BB13).
Tiffany proved herself to America by creating the strategy that helped the Cookout alliance to reach the Final 6 fully intact. Her idea was nicknamed “the master plan” and consisted of each member of the Big Brother Cookout having a plus-one with whom they would share a place on the chopping block as a pawn, thus disguising the Cookout and ensuring the votes to keep it safe. Fans of the show were in awe of Tiffany’s masterful gameplay, praising her intelligence and physical prowess, and her commitment to the mission of the Cookout to crown Big Brother‘s first Black winner.
In an interview with Parade, Tiffany discussed her win. Before revealing the result, host Julie Chen Moonves said that it was a close vote between Tiffany and fellow fan favorite Derek Xiao. Even Tiffany was surprised when she won against him because she knew how much America loves him, and she loves him too. She added, “When Julie said it was between Derek and myself, I was definitely thinking, ‘Come on, America, I need the money!’ I did not think that I would beat out Derek because who doesn’t love him? But the fact that America loves me, I am so appreciative of that because I talked to America every single day. America was the only person I was loyal to.” Tiffany often spoke directly to the live feed cameras, explaining her gameplay and figuring out her next move. She gained the respect and admiration of fans, including Big Brother legends like Janelle Pierzina, who campaigned for Tiffany on Twitter.
When she was informed that several Twitter users had changed their usernames to “Text TIFFANY to 97979,”Tiffany exclaimed, “Get out of here!“still in awe of her win. When told that America felt she should be rewarded for her contribution to the Cookout, Tiffany again expressed her gratitude, saying, “Wow, that means so much to me. I really did feel accomplished making a contribution to the Cookout. The contribution that I made was really just a gift that was passed through me that I shared. And I’m so glad that we all welcomed the master plan. It feels great to be acknowledged in that way for what my contribution was.” Once Tiffany became a member of the jury, America clearly felt that she deserved some accolades and some prize money. Her loyalty to her alliance and her plan to get them to the end of the game helped her to earn the respect of fans of the show. Her willingness to share the credit for the success of the Cookout with the rest of the alliance shows that she is a humble and grateful player.
Tiffany Mitchell participated in a season that will go down in Big Brother history for finally crowning its first Black winner. However, Big Brother season 23 will also be remembered for Tiffany’s iconic “master plan.” Perhaps one day, fans will see Tiffany back for an All Stars season, teaming up with her fellow America’s Favorite Player legendary winners.
Phantasm is one of the strangest horror franchises ever, but tying it together is The Tall Man, a towering villain who’s taken multiple forms. The Phantasm movies have often been likened to nightmares captured on film, especially the 1979 original, with the kind of bizarre twists, unexpected surprises, and lack of conventional logic that often make up dreams. The Tall Man himself is certainly a nightmarish figure, and in an odd circumstance for an initially mysterious horror villain, the additional background information revealed about him in the sequels doesn’t really make him any less scary.
Played to widespread acclaim by late genre mainstay Angus Scrimm, The Tall Man is, to make a long story shorter, a being far beyond normal humans, despite his human appearance. The Tall Man is strong enough to lift a full casket without help, commands an army of brain-destroying flying metal spheres, and takes dead bodies to another dimension, where he transforms them into tiny servant creatures resembling Jawas from Star Wars. He’s also, perhaps most importantly, nearly impossible to damage, much less kill.
As if all those features weren’t enough to make Phantasm‘s Tall Man a formidable adversary, he’s also able to make use of a trait common to many of the best horror villains: shape-shifting. The Tall Man can use this ability to lure victims in, as well as to further terrify them. Here’s every other form, aside from his standard one, The Tall Man has taken over the course of Phantasm‘s five-movie run.
One of the most memorable scenes in Phantasm sees Tommy – a friend of major characters Jody and Reggie – making the odd decision to get intimate with a blonde woman in a striking lavender dress while in the local cemetery. The pair have sex, but then the Lady in Lavender (Kathy Lester) kills him, before shifting back into The Tall Man. The Tall Man tries to pull the same trick on Jody – older brother to protagonist Mike – later, but things thankfully get interrupted. The Lady in Lavender does later sucker in ice cream man Reggie later, stabbing him to death.
Or at least that’s how it first appears, as it’s later revealed that the whole movie was a dream Mike was having, following the actual real-life death of Jody in a car crash, and that Reggie was still alive. Or maybe it wasn’t a dream, since The Tall Man then appears to kidnap Mike to end Phantasm. Phantasm 2 picked up from the latter scene, and was a bit easier to follow. The Lady in Lavender wouldn’t appear again until Phantasm: Ravager, the long-delayed fifth movie, again played by Lester. Oddly, Ravager seems to imply she’s a separate, albeit still connected, entity to The Tall Man, despite the previous shape-shifting being shown. Reggie kills her, but The Tall Man continues on.
While Phantasm 2 is easier to follow than the original, it’s still pretty confusing at times, although diehard fans wouldn’t want their Phantasm movies any other way. During the sequel, Mike and Reggie are trailing The Tall Man’s path of death across the country, eventually picking up a young female hitchhiker named Alchemy (Samantha Phillips). Mike immediately feels uneasy, as she resembles a strange nude apparition he had seen in a previous dream, but Reggie has no such qualms, almost succeeding in sleeping with her – although thankfully for him, it got interrupted.
After Mike, Reggie, and their new companion Liz seemingly kill The Tall Man via embalming him alive, the trio is “rescued” by a hearse driven by Alchemy. Reggie is grateful, but Alchemy starts pulling her own scalp off, revealing that she’s been evil the whole time. Reggie is attacked and thrown from the hearse, which then drives off. Mike thinks it’s all a dream, but The Tall Man opens the divider between the front and back of the car, and assures him it’s not. In an earlier version of Phantasm 2, the fact Alchemy was The Tall Man in disguise was made more explicit, as part of the transformation was shown onscreen, but it was cut due to effects issues.
This inclusion is an odd one, but it’s also one that fits perfectly in with the abject strangeness of the Phantasm franchise as a whole. Phantasm 3 picks up right where Phantasm 2 left off, with Reggie outside the hearse, and Mike and Liz still inside. The vehicle then crashes and explodes, but things are a bit hard to make sense of from there concerning The Tall Man.
Mike survives the crash, while Liz dies, but Alchemy/The Tall Man is nowhere to be seen. Reggie runs over, collects Mike and tries to make a run for it, only for The Tall Man – now completely intact and without even a scratch – to march up from behind and try to get them. This Tall Man was shown emerging from an inter-dimensional portal earlier on in the opening scenes, with the embalming method having indeed killed the Tall Man that served as Phantasm 2‘s primary villain. This concept of more than one Tall Man existing was made even clearer later in the movie.
Considering everything seen of The Tall Man in Phantasm 1-3, many no doubt justifiably assumed the creature was simply a monster or an alien, and was never a human being. That’s not true though, as Phantasm 4: Oblivion revealed. The Tall Man was once a 19th-century mortician named Jebediah Morningside, and was by all evidence a perfectly nice, normal person. That was until his macabre job eventually led Morningside to become overly fascinated with death, and where people go afterward. He was able to make a portal capable of taking him to an unknown other world, but this ultimately proved a terrible decision.
Not long after Jebediah made his trip to the other side of the portal, he returned, but no longer as the man he once was, having been turned into The Tall Man. Or considering there’s more than one Tall Man, it would seem he somehow became the original Tall Man template. Jebediah later appears in one of the realities shown in the perhaps most confusing of all Phantasm: Ravager, sharing a hospital room with Reggie long enough to have a conversation. Phantasm: Ravager ends on another ambiguous note, which makes sense for a Phantasm movie, but is also undeniably sad, since Scrimm’s death effectively precludes a follow-up.
Apple called its App Tracking Transparency framework one of the most impactful moves towards creating a more private ecosystem, but recent independent research shows that it is not really effective against third-party trackers and doesn’t block the transfer of personal or device data either. The core premise of the ATT framework was to offer users more transparency about their data, such as which apps collect information, what data they extract, and how it is shared. More importantly, each app was mandated to ask users explicitly about tracking via a pop-up notification.
Of course, the likes of Facebook, whose coffers are generously filled by its massive advertising business, wasn’t too happy about the change and resorted to an industry-wide lobbying campaign. However, Apple remained adamant that it wants to give users a choice whether they want an app to show them personalized ads by tracking their activity across the web and apps. Following a fierce backlash and claims of Apple not implementing the rules on its own apps, the company temporarily delayed the ATT implementation for months and eventually enabled it with the iOS 14.5 release. However, the whole system might not be as effective as Apple claims.
In a study conducted by Lockdown Privacy — whose members are said to be ex-Apple engineers — App Tracking Transparency didn’t create any difference when it comes to disabling third-party trackers associated with an app and is minimally effective at blocking connection requests. As part of the research, the team selected ten top ranked apps on the App Store and monitored third-party tracking for each one under two scenarios — ATT enabled and ATT disabled. Apps like Grubhub, DoorDash and Peacock TV were found to have roughly the same number of active third-party trackers even when users enabled ATT. Another study earlier this year in June also arrived at a similar conclusion about the inefficacy of the ATT system.
The Yelp app was found to have allowed at least six active trackers even with ATT enabled using the “Ask App Not To Track” prompt. Interestingly, the same six trackers were observed when ATT was disabled. Likewise, 39 tracking attempts were recorded, which is only marginally lower than the 42 attempts when ATT was disabled. Lockdown Privacy concluded that enabling or disabling ATT didn’t make any difference for the 50 trackers they observed while running the selected pool of apps. When it came to tracking attempts, enabling ATT only reduced the number by a mere 13-percent.
In terms of the kind of data that the apps were able to share with third parties, everything from time zone, carrier name, iOS version, and iPhone model to more sensitive details such as the user’s first and last name, location with exact latitude and longitude, free storage on device, battery and volume levels, as well as accessibility setting details were included. Lockdown Privacy mentions that in all test scenarios, the IP address of users was exposed as well. Contrary to what Apple claims, there was no automatic blocking of tracking requests either. Even if users denied an app’s request for tracking their activity, a majority of the test apps did not seem to honor that choice at all.
The study is a sign that Apple may need to implement a more stringent vetting process to ensure that apps do not avoid the ATT norms and violate user privacy despite an explicit denial for tracking. If it continues the same way, Apple might not be too far from another lawsuit over privacy concerns, misleading advertising, and/or more regulatory scrutiny.
DC’s Stargirl has just upgraded Joel McHale to a series regular for season 3. Stargirl, which follows Courtney Whitmore, a teenager who joins the Justice Society of America, premiered on the CW in 2020 and is currently airing its second season, which is set to conclude on November 2. The series stars Brec Bassinger, Anjelika Washington, Trae Romano, Amy Smart, Luke Wilson, Yvette Monreal, and Cameron Gellman.
Joel McHale has appeared as Starman on five episodes of the series. Starman’s cosmic staff is the source of his powers, and following his supposed death in the show’s pilot, Courtney discovers it in her stepfather’s collection. When she realizes she can activate the power of the staff, she assumes Starman is her father and takes up the mantle Stargirl. At the beginning of the second season, it is revealed that Starman is still alive and looking for Courtney’s stepfather, but the show has held off on revealing further details.
While appearing on an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show guest hosted by Arsenio Hall, Joel McHale confirmed that he will be a series regular on the next season of Stargirl. With typical humor, he exclaims, “In the first episode of the first season, my character dies. But now I’m back!” He says he’s excited to be joining the show in a fuller capacity because lead Brec Bassinger is a “dynamo” and Luke Wilson and Amy Smart are “no schlubs” either.
Yes, [I’ll be a series regular in season 3.] I was just appearing. In the first episode of the first season, my character dies. But now I’m back! So hold onto your hat or your cosmic staff, [which] is what my character holds.
I’m Starman, but Stargirl is played by Brec Bassinger, who is a 22-year-old dynamo actor… When I was 22, I was like, “I don’t have any shirts. And I’m just gonna go out without one.” And so she’s very very, she’s great, and Luke Wilson and Amy Smart are in it, and they’re no schlubs… I’m very happy to be part of the show, so thank you Geoff Johns who invented it. It’s the greatest show on television streaming that’s ever been made, so there you go.
Joel McHale is best known for playing the sardonic Jeff Winger in the beloved cult sitcom Community, though he has branched out quite a bit since it went off the air in 2015. On the darker end of the spectrum, he starred in the demonic possession thriller Deliver Us from Evil as well as two science-fiction reboot series: The Twilight Zone and The X-Files. He has also appeared in the TV comedies The Great Indoors and Santa Clarita Diet and stopped by the Netflix film A Futile and Stupid Gesture to cameo as his Community co-star Chevy Chase.
Starman returning to Stargirl full time is big news for fans of the show who want to explore the mysteries of their relationship. This provides the potential for a lot of storylines down the road, especially considering that she has modeled her alter ego after him and is in fact using his staff. There will certainly be some conflict about who gets to wield it, and whether or the nature of their familial relationship will come into play. What is certain is that the dynamics of the Justice Society are about to have a wrench thrown into them.
Long before characters such as John Walker took inspiration from Captain America, Stan Lee’s first superhero was a Cap pastiche named Destroyer. Though the character did enjoy a brief time in the spotlight of Marvel’s early heroes, he quickly faded into obscurity. Still, his legacy as Lee’s very first superhero has always piqued the interest of comic creators who grew up in Lee’s shadow. The most radical departure came from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who turned Destroyer into an absolutely brutal hero.
Created in 1941 by Stan Lee and Jack Binder for Mystic Comics #6, Destroyer is the secret identity of Kevin Marlow. Marlow was a journalist in pre-World War II America who jumped at the chance to investigate Nazi atrocities when their existence was still controversial. He was quickly captured and stuffed into a cell with a Nazi scientist who was working on a super-soldier serum. The scientist sees Marlow’s good nature and gives him the serum so he can break out. Marlow then becomes the superhero Destroyer, fighter of dictators worldwide. Several other characters would later take up Destroyer’s mantle, with some even retconning Marlow out of existence. In 2009 though, he was brought back in a way that nobody expected.
Created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker for Marvel’s darker MAX imprint, the five-issue Destroyer series followed a much older Kevin Marlow in the modern day. Despite his advanced age, Marlow is still working as Destroyer and still serving the government to fight off terrorists. His world is turned on its head though when he receives news from his doctor that his heart could give out at any moment. Wanting to make sure his family is safe after he’s gone, Marlow goes on a quest to kill every single one of his villains. The journey that follows is incredibly violent. After Marlow murders all of his villains, he finally has a heart attack in his bed. His rampage doesn’t stop there though, as he kills the three grim reapers sent to take him to the after-life, allowing him to make a full recovery.
What makes Kirkman and Walker’s short run on Destroyer so shocking is just how far its violence goes. Without having to worry about maintaining Marvel’s typical PG-13 level of violence, Destroyer is able to truly live up to his name. He repeatedly crushes skulls with his fists in a move that will make readers think more of Mortal Kombat’s fatalities than anything from the House of Ideas. During one notable encounter, Marlow literally rips a villain’s arm off and tries to feed it to him.
Though the ultra-violence is easy to focus on, what makes this run on Destroyer such a treat to read is how uncynical it is. Unlike many stories of aging superheroes inspired by The Dark Knight Returns such as Marvel’s own Spider-Man: Reign, Marlow’s life is fairly good. He has a wife, a daughter, and a granddaughter. He even has a solid relationship with his former partner, Turret (who is his daughter’s husband). Despite the abundant bloodshed, this is not a story interested in examining the psychological impact of living a life of violence.
Stan Lee’sDestroyer may have started out as a pastiche of Captain America, but evolved into a much better, and much more violent, hero than John Walker could ever be.
Although Star Trek Generations saw the return of the original series star William Shatner, the iconic actor wasn’t joined by colleagues Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley. Instead, Shatner appeared alongside Walter Koenig and James Doohan, who reprised their roles as Chekov and Scott respectively. Paramount Studio’s original plan was for the entire cast of Star Trek: The Original Series to appear in Generations in order to pass the torch to the TNG crew. However, it soon became clear that several original members were unhappy at the prospect.
Released in 1994, Star Trek Generations marked Star Trek: The Next Generation’s leap to the big screen. Not only was it the first and only meeting between Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk and Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but Star Trek Generations also climaxed with the death of Captain Kirk. As the screenplay took shape, it became clear that other TOS legends would appear in the film’s prologue set in the 23rd century, with Kirk moving into the 24th century to meet Picard and heroically die fighting the film’s villain, Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell).
As a result of this change, the challenge of finding adequate roles in the story for every member of the TOS cast proved incredibly difficult. Many of the classic Star Trek actors were disappointed that their appearances basically amounted to cameos instead of sharing equal screen time with The Next Generation‘s cast. However, the studio was adamant that Star Trek Generations primarily focused on TNG‘s actors since they would carry the Star Trek movie franchise forward. As a result, and despite the integral William Shatner signing on, both Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley decided not to appear in the film.
In The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years oral history of Star Trek by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, DeForrest Kelley explained that he was disappointed that Dr. Leonard McCoy and his crewmates only appeared in one scene, commenting: “When I read the script and saw we were only in the first ten minutes, I thought it was best to pass and go out with [Star Trek] VI.” At that time, Kelley didn’t know that Nimoy also said no and he admits, “I certainly wouldn’t have done the film without him in it.” Both Kelley and Nimoy agreed that the well-received Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was a rousing and satisfying farewell for the original cast.
Leonard Nimoy’s issues with Star Trek Generations ran deeper than simply disliking Spock’s minor role in the story. Not only was he not happy that the Vulcan had what amounts to an inconsequential cameo, but he had also been Paramount’s original choice to direct the movie. However, Nimoy, who both developed the story and directed the incredibly successful Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI, hated the screenplay for Star Trek Generations. When producer Rick Berman refused to change the script, Nimoy walked away from Star Trek Generations entirely. In fact, Nimoy went on to candidly voice his disdain for Star Trek Generations in The Fifty-Year Mission, revealing: “My feeling about Generations is very negative… Generations bothered me. My God, what are they doing? Why that scene? What’s this scene about? Where are they going with this? That was the reason I wasn’t involved in making it.”
For his part, William Shatner tried to get Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley to sign onto the film anyway, but to no avail. Instead, the only actors featured in the Star Trek Generations scene aboard the USS Enterprise-B with Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) were James Doohan as Scotty and Walter Koenig as Chekov. It was especially bizarre for Trekkers to see Kirk joined by Scotty and Chekov instead of Spock and Bones since Doohan and Koenig had long-standing personal issues with Shatner. Star Trek Generations ultimately delivered on its gimmicky conceit, but unfortunately, audiences never got a true Star Trek crossover movie where The Next Generation meets The Original Series casts that they, as well as Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley, hoped for.
Why the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Phase Four will have the weakest version of the Hulk so far.Avengers: Endgamechanged a lot of the stakes in the MCU moving forward. It also dwindled the number of Avengers, with three of the team’s six original members dead (Black Widow, Iron Man) or displaced to another time (Captain America). The film also introduced a new version of the Hulk while also giving him a grievous injury.
The Hulk smashed his way throughThe Avengers, petulantly argued with Thor inThor: Ragnarok, and fought alongside his teammates as a whole new person — with Dr. Bruce Banner fusing the best of himself together with that of his angry green counterpart to become Smart Hulk — inAvengers: Endgame. While the Hulk’s proclivity to throw and break things was put to the side, smart Hulk was powerful enough to don the Infinity Gauntlet and successfully bring back half of the world’s disappeared population. But his action wasn’t without its consequences.
Following Thanos’ defeat, Hulk’s gauntlet-wielding arm is still very much damaged and he’s wearing a sling during Tony Stark’s funeral. While the green Avenger’s arm will likely heal, it’s possible that there will be nerve damage that will take a lot longer to fully clear up. This could result in the Hulk being weakened in the MCU’s Phase Four, potentially benched from missions he would have otherwise been able to join in on. With superhero injuries, it’s been rare that anything beyond death would remove an Avenger from fighting against any villain. But considering that the Hulk’s arm was damaged by the Infinity Stones, which were powerful enough to burn and permanently damage Thanos’ left arm, it makes sense that the Hulk’s injury from wearing the Infinity Gauntlet would also yield the same results.
This long-term healing — that is, if his arm ever does heal fully — occurring in Phase Four makes sense for the sake of MCU continuity. It also leaves the Hulk out of commission when it comes to helping other superheroes in upcoming films and TV shows, including Hulk’s cousin Jennifer Walters (aka, She-Hulk). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Fans know that Mark Ruffalo will reprise his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk in Marvel’s Disney+ seriesShe-Hulk, but he might only be around to offer a bit of advice to his cousin rather than aiding her in battling villains. This would allow She-Hulk to strike out on her own and show off her skills without needing to rely on Hulk for any back-up.
The MCU has rarely, if ever, explored a superhero who has sustained a potentially long-term injury and it could start by doing that with the Hulk in Phase Four. The character may be at his weakest physically after his stint with the Infinity Gauntlet inAvengers: Endgame, but an injury wouldn’t make the Hulk any less valuable. It would also be realistic and pertinent for a nearly life-ending injury to be given time to heal while the character gets some further exploration in Phase Four outside of the field.
Along with finding collectibles, there are other reasons to explore in Kena: Bridge of Spirits, including to find and make use of Meditation Spots to raise Kena’s maximum HP. There are various quests to complete throughout Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and at least 16 challenging bosses to fight.
The game has 12 Meditation Spots scattered across various areas. Some of them can be difficult to locate, but finding all of them is worthwhile. At each spot, Kena will stop to meditate which permanently increases her health. With bosses like the Corrupt Rot God to fight later in the game, increasing Kena’s health is can have a significant effect on how challenging each boss is. Players can track down the Meditation Spots in seven different areas of the game.
Finding every Meditation Spot in Kena: Bridge of Spirits will take some time. They are located in the Village, Taro’s Tree, Rusu Mountain, the Forgotten Forest, the Fields, the Village Heart, and the Mountain Shrine. Each area has one to three Meditation Spots for Kena to visit and utilize. The spots can be identified by the glowing blue circle found at each location.
The Village
Defeat the Mask Maker boss and head to the right to find the Meditation Spot at the edge of a cliff.
There’s a Meditation Spot straight ahead after beating the Hunter boss.
After receiving the Village Crest relic, there will be a Meditation Spot right in front of Kena.
Taro’s Tree
This spot will appear ahead of Kena after defeating the Corrupted Taro.
Rusu Mountain
Leap to the broken bridge to the right of the Rusu’s Backyard warp stone. Shoot the arrow on the tree to warp over to the Meditation Spot.
The Forgotten Forest
Go to the Sacred Tree warp stone and follow the path until reaching a small bridge. Go left to follow the river upstream to find a blue stone across the water. Shoot it to raise two platforms, then continue to the Meditation Spot.
There’s a Forest Tear on the path to the Lantern Cave that can be used to clear the corruption on the left. Doing so will reveal another Meditation Spot.
The Fields
There’s a Meditation Sot overlooking the sea on the plateau of the tall tower beside some ruins.
Go to the Forge warp stone and into the back room. There’s a spot that Kena can climb up and shimmy across to reach a ledge and jump across to the next building over. The Meditation Spot will be inside.
This Meditation Spot will appear in front of Kena after defeating the Corrupt Woodsmith.
The Village Heart
Go into the cave near the Village Heart entrance. Head through the cave and outside to the left, then clear the corruption below. Use a bomb to bring up the platforms and get across the gap to find the Meditation Spot.
The Mountain Shrine
The last Meditation Spot appears after defeating the Corrupt Rot God and completing the game. Players may need to leave the area and go back to meditate if it doesn’t work the first time.
Players should focus on finding Meditation Spots if they are having trouble surviving in combat. Increasing Kena’s health will help with boss battles, especially later in the game. Finding all 12 spots in Kena: Bridge of Spirits will take a bit of time and exploration, but they grant a decent reward, and any completionist player will want to track them down.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdomwill introduce the deadly apex predator Karshon (The Shark) to the DC Extended Universe. For many fans, this will be their first time experiencing the lesser-known Silver and Bronze Age villain. However, Karshon isn’t the only interesting character set to appear in the film.
The titular hero Aquaman (Jason Momoa) will be back in addition to the returning Mera (Amber Heard), Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), King Orm (Patrick Wilson), and King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren). Vincent Regan has also been confirmed for the movie as Atlan, the ancient ruler of Atlantis, while actress Jani Zhao makes her English-language film debut as Stingray.
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Karshon, also known as The Shark, is a fascinating character to include in Aquaman 2 as the name actually points towards a very specific arc in comic book history. While the super-powered shark hasn’t been at the forefront of a major DC Comics story for nearly 35 years, Karshon has taken major Justice League mainstays like Green Lantern and Aquaman to their absolute limit on multiple occasions.
There has been some confusion surrounding the character, as Karshon and The Shark are not necessarily interchangeable names for the same thing. The Shark was first introduced in the 1963 comic book Green Lantern #24 as a literal tiger shark that developed superpowers after being exposed to the full force of an atomic blast. The incident accelerated the animal’s evolution by millions of years in the span of seconds, taking on a more humanoid look in the process. The Shark retained the baser instinct to hunt, but his super-powered intellect and abilities made preying upon regular people a dull affair, leading to him actively seeking out superheroes to hunt and devour.
The Shark took on the name Karshon specifically for his most famous battle against Aquaman. During a 1976 arc in Adventure Comics, the disguised villain hatched a plot to completely strip the Protector of the Deep of his title, his people, and even his family—basically everything important to him. Working in tandem with Black Manta, the Ocean Master and the Fisherman, he was able to seize power over Atlantis and convince the public that Aquaman had stollen something called Serum X, which the Justice League member was accused of selling to corporations on the surface who would mine the oceans for profit. None of this was true, but Karshon was able to turn the people against Aquaman, take his throne and kidnap his family before finally revealing he was The Shark all along.
The character was reintroduced in Tom Taylor’s 2019 Suicide Squad series as The Shark, but like many of the group’s seemingly disposable members, he doesn’t last very long. On his first mission with Task Force X, the team encounters a band of freedom fighters called The Revolutionaries, and after a battle that results in casualties to both sides, The Revolutionaries are implanted with bombs and forced to become members of the Suicide Squad. During the fight, The Shark kills and devours an Atlantean named Scale right in front of his telepathic twin brother Fin. The two were expected to work together or risk being detonated by their superiors, but Fin was pushed too far and gets his revenge by stabbing The Shark with his own tooth and summoning more sharks to eat him.
The original Green Lantern depiction of The Shark comes with a set of powers that even the mightiest of Earth’s heroes would have a difficult time combatting. The atomic blast that accelerates his evolutionary process essentially gives him the ability to manipulate matter just by thinking about it. In his first few pages as a sentient being, The Shark uproots a tree by creating a tornado, melts a rock formation, and kills an unspecified “heavyweight champion” by simply looking at him. He can also infiltrate the minds of others over a vast distance, so the longer he is around people, the more information the supervillain picks up. The Shark uses that link to instill fear into his victims, which feeds his bloodlust as an apex predator and makes him even stronger.
It is unclear which abilities the modern Suicide Squad version of The Shark possessed, as the character was killed off before writers could explore his backstory. When he brutally murders Scale he actually rips him in half between his teeth with all the effort of snapping a toothpick. He then uses telepathy to constantly antagonize Fin, forcing the Atlantean to feel what his twin brother felt whilst being turned into chum. The rest of The Shark’s more deadly psionic abilities are not mentioned, but he was unable to stop a shiver of normal sharks from killing him after spilling blood in the ocean, potentially indicating this version of the character was more limited.
It’s true that Karshon will actually be the second character based on a shark in the DCEU, but the relatively obscure comic book villain has very little in common with The Suicide Squad‘s beloved demigod King Shark. The biggest difference between the two characters, by far, is their intelligence. King Shark isn’t exactly the most scholarly member of the Suicide Squad and can be somewhat difficult to contain once the overwhelming bloodlust sets in. He’s a simple kind of shark who just wants to eat people.
Karshon, on the other hand, is a super-genius with seemingly unlimited potential to continue growing smarter the more minds he has to explore. He actively hunts down superheroes because eating regular people is far too mundane. That’s not to say King Shark could never win in a fight, as the comics have shown Karshon (as The Shark) being bested by sheer brute force, despite an ability to manipulate matter on a whim that one would think makes him nearly invincible. In their first encounter, Green Lantern was pushed to his limit but ended up beating The Shark by hitting him with a block of ice so densely frozen it simply knocked him unconscious. That said, in a battle of pure intellect, the fight goes to the DCEU newcomer every time.
Indya Moore is stepping into the character of Karshon in what will be the actor’s first venture into the world of comic books movies. They are coming off three very successful seasons on the Emmy award-winning FX series Pose and have appeared in feature films like Escape Room: Tournament of Champions and Damon Cardasis’ 2017 drama Saturday Church. No details about how Karshon will enter the DCEU have been revealed at this time, but it will certainly be interesting to see what Moore can bring to the role when Aquaman 2 hits theaters in 2022.
While nothing has been confirmed by the studio thus far, the movie’s specific use of Karshon instead of the character’s more widely used name The Shark is indication filmmakers are at least aware of the original Adventure Comics arc and could have drawn upon aspects of the story for inspiration while writing Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. More information will likely be revealed when Warner Bros. releases the first trailer for the highly-anticipated sequel.
For Boyka’s return to the ring in Undisputed 5, Michael Jai White should also be brought back as George “Iceman” Chambers. The Undisputed martial arts movie franchise first got rolling in 2002, but didn’t really get underway in its current form until the straight-to-video follow-up Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, in which Michael Jai White took over the role of Chambers from Ving Rhames in the first film. Scott Adkins also debuted as the Yuri Boyka, the self-proclaimed “Most Complete Fighter in the World” who would go onto to become the star of the series with the subsequent entries, Undisputed 3: Redemption and Boyka: Undisputed.
While Adkins’ Boyka has effectively become the main character of the Undisputed series, White’s Chambers is no less of a crucial pillar to the franchise. Beginning as the villain of Undisputed with Rhames’ portrayal, Chambers returned in Undisputed 2 with much the same attitude of bullying aggression and insufferable behavior. With Adkins’ Boyka as a driven and determined (if overzealous) fighter viewers got behind — despite him originally being a villain in the Undisputed series — as Chambers, White pulled off the rare feat of making viewers actively root for the protagonist’s downfall.
Both Chambers and Boyka had let their victories in the ring go to their heads, and Chambers’ experience of wrongful imprisonment in order to set up his fight with Boyka brought him down to Earth in realizing how much he had to adapt to a much more versatile opponent. Boyka, in turn, learned the most painful way possible that despite his undeniable formidability, he was not the invincible ruler of the ring he thought he was. In a skewed way, even as they were at each other’s throats, Boyka and Chambers learned a lot from each other, but with only Boyka’s subsequent story having been shown (with Scott Adkins’ character essentially saving the Undisputed franchise), viewers are left wondering Chambers’ fate. The best way to rectify this would be for Chambers and Boyka to cross paths again in Undisputed 5.
Admittedly, the logistics of their pairing would be a bit challenging, since Boyka is now back in prison at the end of Boyka: Undisputed. Whether by an unexpected early release or a second chance at escape, Boyka could emerge a very different man from the one Chambers knew. Chambers would also be a changed man himself, and probably after continuing his MMA training after Undisputed 2, could even be a radically different fighter than in his two matches with Boyka. Undisputed 5 would have the potential to show Chambers as an MMA fighter who could match Boyka’s every technique, along with an even more unexpected prospect — specifically, that through the new challenge they’d be confronted with, the two former enemies could actually be forced to join forces and fight side-by-side.
Outside of simply continuing through Undisputed 5, there’s also been talk of the franchise transitioning to a Boyka-led Undisputed TV series. Chambers’ return in that format could even take the form of episodes alternating between where Boyka and Chambers currently are before building back up to their unexpected meeting years later. Whether the Undisputed franchise is to continue in an episodic approach or by just jumping into Undisputed 5, George “Iceman” Chambers is due for a return, and after his last match with Boyka, the possibilities are endless for the kind of fighter, enemy, or ally he could return as now.
