The DCEU is coming to an end. Warner Bros. hired James Gunn and Pete Safran as co-CEOs to lead the superhero franchise into a new, more unified DCU. While that will soon mean an entirely different Superman, the two aren’t starting over entirely from scratch. The Flash‘s time travel adventure is a bridge between the two eras, with Barry Allen’s foray into the past changing the present and future forever.

Ultimately, The Flash didn’t deliver the definitive hard reset some expected. It certainly changed things in a big way, but rather than establish the DCU outright, The Flash instead provided the blueprint for how it might happen eventually.

How Does Time Travel Work in The Flash?

As Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne explained, time is not linear in the world of The Flash. If you go back to a specific point in the past and change what happened you don’t merely change the events that follow that moment—you also change what happened before it. In this superhero franchise, there’s no clean split from the timeline into an alternate one.

Back to the Future, which The Flash vaguely referenced with its spaghetti scene, would be fundamentally different if it had the same rules of time travel as The Flash. It would mean when Biff gets the Sports Almanac in the original 1955 timeline, the original timeline no longer exists. The new one would simply share a single point with the old one the moment Biff got the almanac.

That’s why Barry’s time travel resulted in the world getting an entirely different, much older Bruce Wayne than the one he knew. When Barry saved his mom it altered the future along with everything that happened long before that day. In that alternate reality Bruce Wayne was born much earlier. Just as Kal-El was not the Kryptonian who safely made his way to Earth, a place without Aquaman or Wonder Woman.

The results of Barry’s actions didn’t just change history and even people. It nearly doomed the entire world.

How Did Barry Allen Fix the Timeline in The Flash?

Once Barry understood his mother had to die to save the world, he went back to the moment he saved her. (That was the single cross point between the original timeline and the new one he created.) Once there, he removed the can of tomatoes he’d previously placed in her shopping cart. Her death was the only way to save the world from General Zod and restore things as they were. It was tragic for Barry, but also necessary. He’d seen firsthand from Dark Barry, who’d spent countless lifetimes futilely trying to keep their mom alive without destroying the planet, that some things simply cannot be changed

Only, the original Barry couldn’t help but alter one thing in the past. And while it didn’t lead to the end of the world, it did lead to the beginning of the end for the old DCEU.

Why Did George Clooney Replace Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne?

Barry’s goal in the present was to exonerate his father Henry (Ron Livingston). Barry thought he finally had evidence to prove his dad didn’t kill his wife, but it was insufficient. Henry had been shopping during his wife’s murder, and Bruce Wayne used his technology to clean up the previously useless corrupted store security footage. Only Henry never looked up high enough for the camera to capture his face. Without that clear shot to establish his alibi he’d be doomed to a life behind bars.

So instead, moments after removing the life-saving/world-destroying can of tomatoes from his mother’s cart, Barry rearranged all the cans. He made it so the specific variety his father needed would be on the top shelf. That meant Henry would look up high enough so that camera could capture his face. He did, resulting in him going free in the present.

Henry Allen walked out of court a free man. And outside that court Barry Allen discovered what else he’d done by moving those tomato cans. His friend (played by Ben Affleck) had once again been replaced as Bruce Wayne. Instead of the Caped Crusader who helped Barry get his dad out of jail, the Flash found a different, quite dapper Bruce Wayne instead. “Who the f***” was it? It was George Clooney, who originally played the role in 1997’s much maligned Batman & Robin.

Why The Flash Did Not Fully Establish the DCU

The Batfleck is (seemingly) gone, but Jason Momoa’s Aquaman is not. Barry explained to his very drunk fellow Justice League member about what he’d done to the timeline and to Bruce in the film’s only post-credits scene. (Which established both that Barry didn’t undo his tomato can switch and that no one else in this new timeline remembers the old Bruce.)

Clearly the franchise is not the same one it was before The Flash started. But there’s probably a zero percent chance 62-year-old George Clooney is going to be the DCU’s new Bruce Wayne either, so clearly the movie did not end with a total reset.

Something else (or elses) is going to lead to whomever ends up as Batman in the DCU eventually. That means Momoa’s presence only confirms he’s still Aquaman for now. (He does have a sequel coming after all.) Clearly lots more will change eventually, we just don’t know when they will. We just know how they might.

How The Flash Paved the Way for the DCU

The DCEU/DCU is a place of countless dimensions and timelines. Multiple Supermans and Batmans all exist at the same time on many parallel worlds. And Barry Allen can change or destroy all of them by going back in time. He could seemingly even make it so he’s a totally different human in his own timeline, just as he changed Bruce Wayne.

So while The Flash didn’t entirely bid farewell to its old franchise anymore than it said hello to its new one, whenever James Gunn and Peter Safran decide to fully establish their new superhero era they have a very fast way to do it.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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The Flash wasn’t the franchise game-changer some superhero fans expected, but it still delivered some big superhero changes. The film’s surprise ending and post-credits scene revealed exactly how Barry Allen’s actions in the past altered both the present and future. What does it all mean, including for Warner Bros.’ switch from the old DCEU to James Gunn’s new DCU? Here’s what happened and what it tells us about a post-Flash timeline.

Why Did George Clooney Appear as Bruce Wayne at the End of The Flash?

“Who the f*** is this?”

Uh, it’s Batman. No, not that one. No, not that one either.

Michael Keaton’s Batman wasn’t The Flash‘s only alternate Bruce Wayne to appear. Once Barry Allen realized he couldn’t save his mother’s life without dooming the whole world, he went back and stopped himself from stopping her death in the first place.

Doing so had created an entirely new reality. Time in The Flash is not linear, and by altering one single event Barry changed history both before and after his mom was supposed to die. Letting her go, painful as it was, stopped General Zod from conquering Earth. But Barry’s decision to ensure his father’s eventual release from jail still resulted in an alternate timeline.

By moving those tomato cans to the top of the grocery store shelf years earlier, Barry exonerated his dad in the present. He also completely changed Bruce Wayne as a person. Instead of the version played by Ben Affleck, Barry walked outside the courtroom to discover a different version of Bruce Wayne. He was now played by George Clooney.

When Did George Clooney First Play Batman?

George Clooney’s first (and until now only) time playing Bruce Wayne came in 1997’s Batman & Robin. Fans have panned both the film and his performance since the movie’s release.

Clooney himself agrees with that assessment. The Oscar-winner has said he messed up the role “so bad.” (In fairness, there’s only so much you can do when your Batsuit has nipples.)

Not only did The Flash give Clooney a bit of Bat-demption with his surprise cameo, it also used turned his previous performance into a great meta joke. Upon seeing the alternate Bruce get out of his sports car, Barry said, “You’re not Batman.” To that an incredulous Clooney answered, “What’s wrong with you?”

As the movie’s post-credits scene revealed, what’s wrong with Barry is that he didn’t feel the need to immediately fix his timeline and bring back his friend.

What Did The Flash‘s Post-Credits Scene Reveal About the New Timeline?

Ben Affleck’s Batman might be gone (at least for now), but Jason Momoa’s Aquaman is still around. An extremely intoxicated Arthur Curry appeared with Barry Allen in The Flash‘s only post-credits scene. Though mostly played for laughs,* the scene did provide vital information about the state of the world, the timeline, and reality at the end of the film.

Barry was trying to explain to his fellow Justice League member that he had traveled back in time and altered the past, resulting in an entirely different Bruce Wayne. Arthur had no idea what he was talking about, showing that only Barry remembers the old Batman. The Flash is the only bridge between the world that was and the reality he finds himself in now.

This reality still resulted in Barry working with other meta-humans and heroes. But to get Batfleck back, he’d need to go back in time again and put the tomato cans back where they originally went. Clearly he did not do that, and there’s no indication he has plans to anytime soon, if ever.

That leaves George Clooney in place as Bruce Wayne, for now anyway, along with all the other changes to the timeline we don’t know about yet. To save his father Barry sacrificed his friend, which raises one last major question.

*A passed out Aquaman can’t drown in a puddle. But you can. Even if you have a friend who can travel back in time, please drink responsibly.

Did Barry’s Decision to Rearrange Those Tomato Cans, and Thus Change Bruce Wayne, Completely Undermine His Entire Character Arc in The Flash?

Yeah, kinda! Weird, right?

But time travel and tragedy are both complicated. Besides, if there’s one thing we learned from the end of The Flash it’s that Barry Allen can always go back and change things if he wants.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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The Flash made its rules of time travel easy to understand by comparing Barry Allen’s impact on the space-time continuum with Marty McFly’s. But it also utilized Back to the Future for its plot. DC’s speedster realized what a mess he’d made of the past even before he met Michael Keaton’s Batman. He knew when he learned Eric Stoltz drove Doc Brown’s Delorean to fame rather than Michael J. Fox. Of course, Stoltz wasn’t a random recasting. He really did star as Marty McFly before Fox replaced him during production. That was just one of the many ways The Flash used famous sliding doors moment in Hollywood history to reimagine its world. From Nicolas Cage’s lost Superman and two big screen Kryptonians who never met, to Kevin Bacon and a reshuffling of the 1980’s leading men, these are the real stories The Flash turned from “almosts” and “what ifs” into alternate timelines.

Why Did Nicolas Cage Appear as Superman in The Flash?

In 1996, Warner Bros. executive Jon Peters hired Clerks‘ Kevin Smith to write the script for a movie titled Superman Lives. Eventually Batman‘s Tim Burton signed on to direct. He had his famous Man of Steel ready to go, too. Thirty million dollars later and all Warner Bros. had to show for their efforts was some test footage of a long-haired Nicolas Cage in a Superman costume. Eventually the rest of us got one of the most notorious stories in Hollywood history and a documentary about the calamitous project. That is, until The Flash finally brought Cage’s Clark Kent to the big screen for some alternate timeline fun.

Kevin Smith’s tale about his absurd meeting with Jon Peters is infamous with good reason. (Whether you’ve never heard it or know it by heart, it’s always worth listening to.) Among Peters’ many ridiculous comments and requests, he didn’t want Smith’s Superman to fly or wear his red and blue suit. What he did want was for Superman to fight a giant spider at the end.

Burton had Smith’s script rewritten when he joined the production. He also had Nic Cage outfitted for a suit with traditional Superman colors. But all that time, money, and talent didn’t matter. Shortly before filming began Warner Bros. pulled the plug, denying us a Man of Steel who apparently really dug The Cure.

Now The Flash has finally rectified that. It has given us Nic Cage—who named his son Kal-El—as Kal-El. His Superman exists in another dimension. He also flies. That’s not what Jon Peters wanted, but at least he got to see Cage fight a big giant spider. (Which the producer did make happen in Wild Wild West.)

But that wasn’t the only alternate (super) reality Barry Allen let us see come to life. The Flash also brought together two children of Krypton that never got to share the silver screen even though they existed at the same time.

The Flash Brings Together Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Helen Slater’s Supergirl

In 1984 Helen Slater brought Supergirl to theaters. The spinoff took place in the same universe as Christopher Reeve’s Superman franchise. His Clark was originally set to appear in the movie, too. Supergirl was going to rescue him from captivity. But following the disappointment of Superman III the previous year, Reeve decided against starring in the film. Instead Supergirl‘s script explained Superman’s absence by saying he was in another galaxy on a “peace-seeking mission.”

Slater’s Supergirl did not return in 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which was Reeve’s last time playing the hero. As a result the two ’80s Kryptonians never got to appear on screen together. That didn’t happen until The Flash showed them united side-by-side in their dimension, thereby creating a cool alternate timeline.

The Flash used another famous film franchise of the ’80s to create an alternate reality, too. It found inspiration in a time travel series that had fun changing events of that decade. Only Back to the Future did so both on screen and off.

Why Did The Flash Choose Eric Stoltz to Play Back to the Future‘s Marty McFly?

Michael J. Fox was Robert Zemeckis’s first choice to play Marty McFly. But with Fox unavailable due to Family Ties‘ filming schedule, Zemeckis cast Eric Stoltz in the role.

However, after six weeks of filming Zemeckis realized Stoltz just wasn’t working out. While the director has always praised Stoltz’s work and commitment on the movie, the actor just wasn’t bringing the comedic element the part required. That led to Zemeckis and producers firing Stoltz and developing a production schedule that allowed Fox to film Back to the Future on nights and weekends.

Deleted scenes and images from Stoltz’s performance have made their way out into the world since his departure. And it seems like one scene with Stoltz (or at least his fist) actually made its way into the final film. Otherwise, his version of Marty is lost to time. At least it is in this timeline.

In The Flash‘s alternate timeline, Stoltz didn’t just stay in the role. His version of Back to the Future was still a monumental hit. It catapulted him to stardom. It led people to get his face tattooed on their thigh calf. Was that because the movie was just that good it would have worked with anyone? Or because Stoltz made it good? What about the timelines where Ben Stiller or Jon Cryer nailed their (very real) auditions and got the part instead?The only way we’ll ever know if is Barry Allen messes with the timeline and therefore Back to the Future again.

Obviously Marty McFly wasn’t the only famous ’80s movie the Flash changed via time travel. He caused a chain reaction of big-time recasting.

Was Michael J. Fox Almost Cast in Footloose?

Famous casting “what ifs” are rarely as well-documented as Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future. Most auditions go nowhere. Sometimes performers discuss a potential role without ever seriously considering it. Other times they do want the part but aren’t seriously considered for it. And casting directors, producers, writers, and directors throws out big name as a possibility without ever having a chance of landing that actor. And yet, years later those people will still be mentioned as the list of people who “almost” got the role.

Still, even by those very (foot)loose standards there’s no evidence Michael J. Fox was ever up a possibility to play the part of Ren that Kevin Bacon made famous with his feet. That alternate timeline is totally unique to The Flash.

However, there is still a very fun connection between Footloose, Michael J. Fox, and The Flash. According to IMDb, Kenny Loggins wrote that Footloose‘s final scene was not filmed with his theme song playing. It was only added in post-production.

On set the actors actually danced to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” the very same song Marty McFly performed at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in Back to the Future.

Strands of spaghetti, indeed. And that’s just the beginning of The Flash‘s alternate Hollywood dominoes.

Was Kevin Bacon Almost in Top Gun?

While there’s no evidence Michael J. Fox was ever up for the lead role in Footloose, The Flash‘s other ’80s leading man switcheroo was a possibility. Producers did consider Kevin Bacon for the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. A bevy of other actors either turned it down or got passed over, too. (Tom Cruise, the top choice, initially didn’t want the part.)

(In The Flash‘s timeline where Bacon is Maverick, do you think him and Cruise also swapped roles in A Few Good Men?)

The list of other potential Petes included: Matthew Modine, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Matthew Broderick, Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox, Scott Baio, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Charlie Sheen, Jim Carrey, Rob Lowe, Kevin Bacon, Robert Downey Jr., John Travolta, and Eric freaking Stoltz!

As if all of that isn’t enough, the movie originally considered having TOTO or REO Speedwagon record “Danger Zone” before turning to Footloose‘s Kenny Loggins.

And with so many real world connections in alternate version of 1980s Hollywood that The Flash gives us, at this point we have to wonder if Barry Allen really did go back in time and alter our actual timeline. Maybe he’s the reason Michael J. Fox replaced Eric Stoltz in the first place. That worked out for Back to the Future, but we can’t forgive him for Nic Cage’s lost Superman Lives. Especially now that we know he would have kicked that giant spider’s a**.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Some Indiana Jones fans will go into The Dial of Destiny merely hoping for something better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Those people will be very happy. The fifth and (supposed) final installment in the series is a big improvement over the fourth. But those who go in with loftier aspirations—viewers eager for a return to the experience and feeling delivered by the first three entries—won’t be so lucky. Because while Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has some truly great stretches and leading man, it has fundamental problems, too. An average script and a lack of joy combine to only dig up the franchise’s most “okay” film.

If you’ve ever watched an Indiana Jones movie and wished its titular archeologist was very sad, uh, good news? The Dial of Destiny features a depressed, lonely Professor Jones. After a truly amazing life, his only remaining companion is the bottom of a bottle. He does have a good reason to be miserable after suffering an unthinkable tragedy (yes, you can guess exactly what that is), but the state of his life casts a shadow over the entire movie. This is a very serious film that is downright dark at times. It’s just very different in tone than its predecessors. It’s not that the movie is entirely joyless. This isn’t Indiana Jones Goes Emo. It’s just not joyful. That’s a missing foundational piece of the magical Indiana Jones formula.

The film is also not especially funny. It has lighthearted moments, for sure. They’re mostly delivered by Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena Shaw whose energy stands in stark contrast to the older Indy. She’s his rogue goddaughter whose nefarious activities leads him to take one last adventure. But like Ford himself who outshines the film’s writing, Waller-Bridge’s charming performance as a dashing woman who is equal parts brilliant and reckless can’t give the movie the kind of levity it so desperately needs. The end result is a story that feels like too much of a course correction after the overly silly Crystal Skull rather than a return to form.

The movie, as absurd as this will sound, also suffers from too much action. The Dial of Destiny mostly operates at a proverbial 9 or 10 at all times, same as Waller-Bridge. But both her and the script would have greatly benefitted from an influx of quieter moments. (The few moments like that we do get are really effective, among the movie’s best.) That might sound antithetical to an Indiana Jones movie, but it was greatly needed with such a serious script. It’s just as much a drama as it is an adventure story. Once the movie opted to introduce a sad Indy it needed a different approach to telling that kind of story.

(It also could have used far fewer car chases. Or at least made some of them shorter. Eventually I started to wonder if I’d accidentally walked into a Fast & Furious prequel.)

The film does provide a fun MacGuffin for everyone to chase. The actual Dial of Destiny is an ancient device of Archimedes that legend says will let its user travel through fissures in time. That’s the driving desire of Mads Mikkelsen’s villain, a former Nazi scientist named Jürgen Voller now helping the U.S. land on the Moon. He wants to control “yesterday” so he can win a war he thinks Hitler foolishly lost. Mikkelsen’s stoic baddie makes for a worthy antagonist, but isn’t especially memorable like the franchise’s best villains.

What is scary (in 2023 especially) is the thought of surviving Nazis going back in time to change the outcome of the war. But the film’s use of its premise isn’t as good as the premise itself. The movie spends a lot of time driving to the fireworks factory only to set off a fraction of the fireworks it should when it arrives there. For an entry with a series-long runtime of over two hours and thirty minutes, it doesn’t use all that time as well as it should. That results in an ending that is not especially satisfying.

There are also basic storytelling mistakes that are so obvious they’re inexplicable. Great moments you think are being obviously foreshadowed don’t get payoffs. Meanwhile important moments that should be foreshadowed aren’t. There’s simply more promise in this script than there is payoff. If only someone could use the Dial of Destiny to go back and give the screenplay another pass…

So why isn’t the movie outright bad if it has so many problems? For one, none of its issues are true disasters. They all have a high floor that tend to go no lower level than mediocre rather than being outright awful. But more importantly, the film has a lot of great elements, too.

The first 25 minutes (set in 1945) are among the best in Indiana Jones history. If the whole film matched the quality of its start, we’d be discussing this as the best entry ever. There are also other sequences, like a lengthy chase through Tangier in Morocco, that is everything you’d want from one of these movies. The Dial of Destiny also features what might be the best de-aging in Hollywood history, a technological feat that genuinely enhances the plot. And its callbacks and Easter eggs to previous films never feel forced or overwrought. It not only gives us the right amount of them, they all feel like well-earned rewards for loving these movies rather than fan service.

And, even if we don’t like seeing him sad, its always fun spending time with Dr. Henry Jones Jr. Especially when Harrison Ford’s moving performance shows how much he clearly still cares loves the character and these movies. Indy might be heartbroken, but there’s still a lot of heart left in him. That comes across throughout the film and makes it better. It just would have been a lot more fun to see him again under better circumstances.

For some viewers that serious tone will be too much for the movie’s successful elements to overcome. For others it will absolutely work. They’ll love getting a new type of Indiana Jones story, one that is meaningfully different than the other four. But for most it will just make for an okay viewing, which is exactly what Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny ultimately is.

⭐ (3 of 5)

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Over twenty years ago, Ginger, Rocky, and the rest of the chickens fled the Tweedy farm to live their lives in freedom. And Netflix is celebrating the stop-motion classic’s two-decade-plus anniversary in the best way. The streaming site has announced that Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is coming to Netflix in 2023. In addition, the streaming service dropped a few more important nuggets: a teaser, the voice cast and the release date.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Teaser Trailer and Release Date

The movie will find Ginger and Rocky, now parents, having to upend their safe human-free life in paradise to do the unthinkable. They have to go back. And now know when they’ll do it. Chicken Run 2 will officially release on December 15.

In addition, here’s the official synopsis from Aaardman and Netflix:

Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk – this time, they’re breaking in!

Chicken Run 2‘s Voice Cast

The film features a mixture of new and returning actors. But most notably, both Ginger and Rocky will have new voices in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi will voice Ginger and Rocky, respectively. The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey is Molly. Rounding out the cast are Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, David Bradley, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays, and Nick Mohammed.

Sam Fell (director of Flushed Away and ParaNorman) will direct Chicken Run 2 with a script from Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell, and Rachel Tunnard. Nick Park (creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep), Kirkpatrick, Peter Lord, and Carla Shelley are executive producing.

More About the Chicken Run Sequel

The biggest surprise of this news might be that Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget won’t get a theatrical release. Especially given that the original grossed over $224 million at the worldwide box office, and remains one of the most successful stop-motion animated films ever. Not that we’re complaining. We’ve waited two decades for a Chicken Run sequel to take flight. And now we’ll get it without even having to leave the coop.

The project was first announced in 2020, on the 20th anniversary of Chicken Run‘s debut. While initial reports over the years indicated Chicken Run 2 was a go, the official report certainly had us sighing with relief. As mentioned, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will officially release on Netflix in December of this year.

Originally published on June 23, 2020.

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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It is … Jack Quaid’s Man of Steel! Adult Swim, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC have released a new trailer for the upcoming series My Adventures With Superman. And if you thought it was already hard enough for a young person entering the workforce, wait until you see how tough it is while also learning how to be a superhero at the same time. The trailer for My Adventures With Superman also reveals its July release date. Plus—we get a tease of the show’s fun new theme song and opening sequence.

The music is by punk band Kyle Troop & The Heretics, and the theme song and opening really set the tone for the series to come. We don’t yet know if this is an abridged version of the opening or not, but we like what we have so far. And we can’t wait to see this version of the Man of Steel fly into action. Luckily, the trailer for the show gives us an even better look at the adventures in store.

As we can see in the trailer, Clark Kent’s story will get a modern day twist on My Adventures With Superman. We’ll be joining Krypton’s favorite son at the start of both of his professional careers. The show will follow young Clark at the onset of his budding journalism work alongside his new friends. Only, he’ll be doing that while learning about himself, developing romantic feeling for his co-worker, and being a superhero. Here’s the show’s official synopsis from Adult Swim:

My Adventures with Superman is a serialized coming-of-age story catching up with twenty-somethings Clark Kent, the bright and driven Lois Lane, and their best friend Jimmy Olsen as they begin to discover who they are and everything they can accomplish together as an investigative reporting team at the Daily Planet. The story follows Clark as he builds his secret identity as Superman and explores his own mysterious origins. Lois, on her way to becoming a star reporter, teams up with photographer Jimmy Olsen to break the stories that matter. All the while, Clark and Lois are falling in love… as Lois gets closer and closer to uncovering his secret identity!  Our trio share adventures, take down bad guys, stumble over secrets, and discover what it means to be heroes in their own right.

In addition to Quaid’s Kent, the show stars Alice Lee as Lois Lane and Ishmel Sahid as Jimmy. My Adventures With Superman debuts at Adult Swim with two episodes at midnight on July 6. New episodes will follow every Thursday. They’ll then be available on Max the next day.

That’s good in case you miss them live—no way a young Superman would already have time travel figured out at this point in his careers.

Originally published on June 5, 2023.

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For more than 45 years fans have had a bounty (hunter) of ways to explore Star Wars. From movies and TV shows, to comics and video games, to novels and board games, there’s no shortage of venues to experience the galaxy far, far away. But soon we’ll have yet another, one that is long overdue. The first trailer for Star Wars Outlaws brings an open world adventure to the franchise during a famous—and very dangerous—era.

Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft, and Lucasfilm Games won’t just let us meet some unsavory characters in their new collaboration. They’re going to let us work for them. Here’s the official synopsis for Star Wars Outlaws, an historic entry in the franchise’s video game library.

Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game, set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Explore distinct planets across the galaxy, both iconic and new. Risk it all as Kay Vess, an emerging scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. Fight, steal, and outwit your way through the galaxy’s crime syndicates as you join the galaxy’s most wanted.

Lucasfilm also shared more insights in its official trailer announcement. Kay isn’t just looking for a big score. She is going to “attempt one of the biggest heists the Outer Rim has ever seen.” Let the speculation begin!

Good thing her and her adorable bud Nix will have some help with the job. Joining them is a mysterious BX-commando droid who sports a trench coat.

“It’s a dream come true to be able to collaborate with the team at Lucasfilm Games to create Star Wars Outlaws, the first open-world Star Wars game,” said Julian Gerighty, creative director at Massive Entertainment, in a statement. “Our team at Massive Entertainment has a great deal of experience in open-world games backed by strong technology, and it’s the perfect time to tell an original scoundrel story that will resonate with fans. With the Galactic Empire on the heels of the Rebel Alliance, and the criminal underworld thriving, an outlaw like Kay Vess has a whole galaxy of opportunity in front of her.”

Ten minutes of gameplay footage show the corners of the Star Wars galaxy many fans have wanted to explore:

While an open world experience is long overdue, we’ll have to wait a little longer to play. Star Wars Outlaws will arrive on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2024. That is unless someone steals it before that. What? Don’t rule that out. In the galaxy far, far away someone is always trying to steal something.

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Movies don’t exist in a vacuum any more than the people who make them do. That’s never been more true of a film than The Flash, a movie many will justifiably refuse to see because of the abhorrent off-screen actions of its leading star. We all have our own personal line of when we can’t—or simply won’t—separate the art from the artist, and Ezra Miller easily crossed that for some long ago. Despite all the awfulness surrounding DC’s latest feature film, though, it’s still a movie with huge ramifications for a billion dollar franchise. Moreover, it’s one that thousands of others who’ve done nothing wrong worked hard on. And it features characters that mean a great deal personally to generations of fans. The Flash doesn’t merely belong to the Flash. All of which is why it ultimately needs to be evaluated on its own merits.

By that standard it’s unlikely to make anyone happy. Because if you were rooting for The Flash to be a huge disaster, it’s not. It’s never really bad. If instead, you were hoping for the greatest superhero movie ever, it’s not even close to that. The Flash looks unfinished and is thoroughly mediocre until it realizes it’s an emotional drama and not a comedy. Once it understands what it should have been all along it really excels with a moving and powerful story. But that might be the most frustrating part of what this movie delivers on screen. It wasted an opportunity to make something special.

The first two-thirds of The Flash plays more like a whimsical comedy than the intense emotional drama its trailers promised. That approach, which has been done far better by far superior superhero movies, is completely at odds with the very nature of the story being told. Barry Allen is a sad, awkward, lonely superhero who realizes he can go back in time. That means he can stop his mother’s murder when he was a kid, which would also save his wrongly convicted father from prison in the present.

That approach might have still worked if the movie’s dialogue and gags weren’t woefully mediocre. Some jokes occasionally land, usually the ones that come entirely from characterization. But far too many feel easy if not downright lazy. Others are more clever than actually humorous. And making it all worse is that there are just far too many of them. This movie only takes off when it takes itself seriously. Some of the funniest moments actually happen when it does, because they’re organic and character-driven in the moment.

One huge issue that is true even when the film is at its best is that its CGI often looks awful. There are sequences in The Flash that look far cheaper, unfinished, and downright terrible compared to anything Marvel Studios has put out during its current VFX problem era. (Yes, I saw Quantumania.) There are moments when both versions of Barry Allen are on screen that look so clumsy it almost feels intentional. Apparently someone destroyed the technology that believably put two Lindsey Lohans on screen at the same time in Parent Trap 25 years ago.

However, what’s really bizarre about the film’s special effects is that not all of them look awful. Some actually look great, like when Barry travels faster than the speed of light. Clearly DC had the ability to pull off good VFX. (As it has in the past and surely will again.) Apparently nine years of development just wasn’t enough time for this specific entry.

So how can a movie that doesn’t look good and is stunningly mediocre for 66% of its runtime not be outright bad? The Flash has a high floor even at its relative worst because of its characters and cast. And the other third of the movie—the portion that knows why we love these heroes and understands the nature of the story it’s telling—is genuinely excellent. I was bored to tears for long stretches, yet still very emotional at others.

Ben Affleck is really good in what is likely his final, short Batfleck performance. His Bruce Wayne, first introduced as bitter and angry, has arrived at a place that resemble the best version of the character. Meanwhile, Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle are both standouts who lift every scene they’re in. Keaton’s return as an older Bruce Wayne feels true to the character we once knew. He fully commits to the role. There’s also just enough of him that he’s a major part of the film without it being his movie. And Calle is so good as Supergirl it would be a shame if this is her only time playing her. She does so much as Kara Zor-El without a lot of dialogue. Her mere presence outshines the size of her role.

It also does an incredible job of making them feel like an actual team. During their big battle they have defined roles that complement one another. These aren’t four heroes (there are two Barrys) working next to one another during a big fight. They’re working together, in a way that makes sense and makes the sum greater than the parts. This element is strengthened by the movie’s opening sequence, when we see the regular timeline’s Justice League mostly working as a group of individuals with a common cause. The Flash understands what a team is in a way most superhero movies don’t, not even some of the best.

But the best part of The Flash comes when it embraces the heart of its story, which is a tragedy and not a comedy. Inevitably Barry Allen must face the consequences of saving his mother. That forces him to make an impossible choice. The way that happens is among the script’s smartest, most well-written moments. And it leads to the film’s most emotional scene. It’s when we finally get the movie we should have been watching from the start, the one that lives up to its entire premise about facing our past, who we wish we got to be, and who we are. Sometimes the most heroic thing we can do is recognize “not every problem has a solution.”

Which brings us to The Flash‘s biggest problem, the one that does not exist in a vacuum. This is Ezra Miller’s movie in every way. And if you can’t separate the art from the artist, nothing else matters. If you can’t root for the two Barrys because of who plays them, don’t bother watching this film. It’s not nearly good enough to even try and overcome your misgivings if you’re on the fence.

All the fun surprise cameos in (the multiple versions of) the world can’t overcome The Flash‘s problems. Neither can its performances and the powerful, smart, emotional scenes that show how good this movie could have been in a different timeline. Average writing, below average effects, and a refusal to embrace its emotional core make for a mediocre viewing experience far longer than The Flash provides anything great. And that would be true even if everything outside the vacuum of this movie wasn’t so awful.

⭐ (2.5 of 5)

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Fast X was supposed to be the beginning of the end for the Fast & Furious franchise. The film was announced as the first of a two-part finale for the series. But buckle up, because Vin Diesel just turned on the NOS. At the Fast X premiere in Rome, Dominic Toretto dropped a blockbuster. Diesel said Fast & Furious might actually say farewell with a trilogy, and that would mean the high-octane franchise will race to the finish line with Fast 12. And, most recently, he seemed to tease that the next entry into the Fast & Furious world already has a release date.

April 4, 2025. That seems like when we’ll get more Fast and Furious. Whether this is Fast 11 or Dwayne Johnson’s Fast 10.5 is not clear. But at least we have a date to keep our eyes on. Diesel also teased a couple pieces of concept art which seem to show Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Cipher (Charlize Theron) surviving in treacherous conditions and perhaps getting rescued.

Either way, there may yet be even more after this outing. Variety reports Vin Diesel unexpectedly turned Fast X‘s red carpet into a red press conference. He said Universal Pictures’ reaction to the film is so good they asked about extending the franchise for one more installment than were previously planned.

Diesel said, “Going into making this movie, the studio asked if this could be a two-parter. And after the studio saw this one, they said, ‘Could you make Fast X the finale, a trilogy?’”

Diesel and his longtime co-star Michelle Rodriguez then refused to confirm a twelfth film was definitely happening. Diesel walked away from the follow-up question saying he was going to get “in trouble.”

If, like me, you’re a fan of this franchise both on-screen and off, you know this is the most Vin Diesel Fast & Furious moment ever. He absolutely, 100% might be talking entirely out of his tailpipe. This whole “here’s some major news I won’t actually confirm” could simply be a ploy to pressure Universal into making another film. Or that might be exactly what the studio wants and now has planned. Maybe Fast X really is so good they want to make an extra film and he just couldn’t help himself from announcing it.

Both options are totally in play. I don’t actually care which one is true, though, because all I care about IS GETTING THAT TWELFTH MOVIE! Twelve is better than eleven! I don’t even know they’re going to stop them in the first place! The franchise is more absurd than ever and I mean that in the best way possible.

The last one sent a normal car to space. A normal car drove in space. But there’s still so many more ridiculous roads to travel on: aliens, time travel, the multiverse, other movie franchises. Forget ending with Fast 11 or 12. I want to see what happens with Fast 37. Could that movie take place inside Fast 5?!

The possibilities are endless. So you keep up the pressure, Vin Diesel. Don’t hold back on the proverbial NOS. Not now, not ever. Not while the family of Fast & Furious fans wants you to keep going.

Originally published on May 12, 2023.

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Henry Cavill is leaving the Continent, but not before he has one more adventure with Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, and Joey Batey. The Witcher‘s third season will be the final time the show’s stars perform together on the fantasy series. That will make for a bittersweet installment, but based on Netflix’s latest trailer their swan song might also be their best. Monsters and magic are just two of the many problems this complicated family will face. Everyone and everything is out to find Ciri, and neutrality is no longer an option for the man sworn to protect her.

That might be the best trailer in show history, which is really saying something because The Witcher promos always deliver. From Ciri’s father and his deadly army, to rogue mages and the Wild Hunt, this latest look at season three shows why the Continent has never been more dangerous. (Though there’s always still time for at least some fancy clothes and dancing.)

That’s why it will be important for Geralt and Yennefer to do more than just protect the most powerful person in the world. They need to teach young Ciri how to fight for herself. Here’s season three’s official synopsis from Netflix:

As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line — or risk losing each other forever. 

In addition to its returning stars, season three will also feature newcomers. Robbie Amell, Meng’er Zhang, Hugh Skinner, and Christelle Elwin are joining the show. You can learn more about who they’re playing here.)

After a trailer this good we’re glad we don’t have to wait long to watch the actual show. The Witcher‘s first five new episodes arrive at Netflix on June 29. The last three, and the end of Henry Cavill’s time in the Continent, will follow on July 27. It will be a bittersweet farewell, but it also should be an incredibly entertaining one, too.

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Diego Luna and Hayden Christensen are both famous Star Wars alums who recently did something that once seemed unlikely: they returned to the galaxy far, far away. Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ provided a way for each of their characters to return. What was their latest go-around like compared to their initial foray into the franchise? That was just one of the many things they talked about when the two sat down for a new installment of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series.

The famous Star Wars actors got together to discuss their experiences in one of the world’s most beloved franchises. Their talks included casting Hayden Christensen as a teenager and the secret process that led to Diego Luna joining the galaxy far, far away. Not that he ever expected someone who sounded like him to get such an important role in Rogue One.

But their first days in Star Wars is just the beginning of this fun discussion. It’s full of Star Wars goodies that cover both their childhood fandom and the bruises they suffered while filming. They also got into what Star Wars meant for their lives and careers and their recent work.

We especially loved learning Christensen’s daughter worried about his lightsaber battles on Obi-Wan Kenobi and hearing more about Andor. As well as finding out what items they took from set and more.

They might be famous alums, but this discussion shows they also have something in common with us. They’re big Star Wars fans.

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Coca-Cola Creations is the soft drink company’s line of innovative limited-edition flavors. But it doesn’t focus on normal flavor crossovers. It has let us drink computer pixels, the stars, and even dreams. Surprisingly most of them tastes like soda mixed with a hard-to-identify fruit. But we have no idea what to expect from the experimental platform’s newest release. Because when you partner with League of Legends the only things we expect to taste is either a sweet victory or a bitter defeat.

The world’s most famous soda brand wants you to enjoy “the XP.” You might have no idea what that even means, or you’ve won enough experience points in your life to totally get it. Either way it’s not exactly clear what this Coca-Cola Ultimate concoction (that we first heard about at DesignTAXI) will deliver in terms of flavor. All we can go on is past releases. And most Creations sodas range from decent to genuinely excellent.

We do know the black and gold bottles and cans take their inspiration directly from Riot Games’ League of Legends. They fittingly feature a blue crystal based that’s based on a magical in-game technology known as Hextech. It makes it possible to combine both elemental and spirit magic together to make items everyone can use, not just those with arcane.

Again, you either know exactly what that all means or you don’t. But as far as inspirations for a video game/soda crossover go, that’s as good as you’ll find. Plus, you can drink a soda even if you’ve never played a video game in your life. No one can stop you. Not even Cassiopeia.

The limited release comes in both regular and Zero Sugar. Meanwhile League of Legends fans will also be able to get in on the fun by completing in-game missions where they can earn limited edition emotes. Those will be available starting July 18. Maybe by then we’ll have figured out what XP actually tastes like.

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Most adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein famously feature a scene that doesn’t appear in the novel. It’s an infamous moment when an angry mob chases the “monster” through the streets. We don’t know if that exact hunt will happen in the next film to take inspiration from the sci-fi horror classic, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, but we doubt it. Not because we’re positive it won’t take place, but rather because his creation is far more likely to dance through the streets instead of running. The film’s newest trailer focuses on the growth of Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter, a woman who must learn how to live so she can truly live.

Even if we didn’t know this movie comes from the director of The Lobster and The Favourite we think we’d probably be able to guess he’s behind it. This visually stunning film looks weird and surreal, but also entirely humanistic. And it’s themes of individualism, family, feminism, bigotry, love, and self-discovery should make for a rich story. Plus it has Willem Dafoe playing a mad scientist with a reconstructed face. That’s more than enough to get us into a theater seat.

What exactly is happening here? This is the film’s official synopsis from Searchlight Pictures.

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Poor Things also stars Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael, and Christopher Abbott. It dances its way into theaters this fall, September 8. If it lives up to the promise of this trailer there won’t be any angry mobs leaving the theater.

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Across the Spider-Verse revealed just how wild and diverse its multiverse really is. Its countless parallel worlds are populated by both humans and animated figures. It also consists of little plastic toy people. LEGO Spider-Man got in on the fun during one of the movie’s most memorable sequences. How did the creative team behind the film bring that tiny block world to life? We would have guessed producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller turned to the team they used for The LEGO Movie franchise. Instead they hired a 14-year-old who impressed them with his LEGO versions of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailers.

Collider recently hosted a screening of the Across the Spider-Verse with the film’s co-director Joaquim Dos Santos. During a Q&A session after the movie an audience member asked about the challenges of creating the film’s LEGO dimension, which we saw when The Spot popped into it during an early part of the film.

Turns out it was simple: they simply hired a teenager named Preston Mutanga. Lord and Miller got YouTuber LegoMe_TheOG to make their LEGO Spider-Man universe.

They asked the youngster—who worked on the sequence with his dad—about contributing to the film after seeing his recreations of the film’s trailers. When you watch this 14-year-old’s work, you can see why they trusted him to get the job done for Across the Spider-Verse.

Obviously everything about this story is incredible. But somehow it’s even more impressive than it sounds. While the movie took years to make, Dos Santos said they only approached the young filmmaker a few months before the movie premiered. That’s a quick turnaround for a blockbuster movie that could take home a very big Oscar next year.

Whether or not it takes home any golden statues, though, we have a feeling this won’t be the last time this kid has a chance to win one.

Originally published on June 5, 2023.

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The MCU’s multiverse is no longer the purview of a handful of characters and a few movies. Avengers: Endgame‘s Time Heist might have saved the universe, but it also set the MCU on a much more complex path. Infinite paths actually, to infinite dimensions and parallel worlds. These branching timelines and other realities are changing the face of the entire franchise for every Marvel Cinematic Universe hero and villain. And that’s true for both new and (very) old characters alike.

Marvel’s multiverse can be a lot to keep track of, even for those creating it. But while all those roads can be confusing, they are important. Especially after Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Fortunately, we’re here to help break down the multiverse’s most important figures, storylines, and innumerable divergent paths. From Doctor Strange‘s dimensions, the Quantum Realm, Loki‘s Variants, and more, here’s everything you need to know about the MCU’s multiverse.

What Is the MCU’s Multiverse?

As laid out by the Ancient One in Doctor Strange and confirmed by He Who Remains on Loki, the MCU exists in a world “without end,” because the MCU’s multiverse is infinite. Vastly different parallel worlds, along with vastly different dimensions, all exist. Anything and everything can happen within them. And they can cause utter destruction to one another. There are differences between other dimensions and parallel worlds, though.

Another dimension is an entirely different plane of existence within a shared reality. It’s also possible to be in one plane while still observing another. However, if you travel the multiverse and go into a parallel world, you have entered another reality entirely. If that’s confusing, here are a couple of analogies to help make sense of the difference.

Sometimes in the MCU, being in another dimension is akin to being a ghost. If you become a ghost, you exist in a different dimension, but you can still see the plane of existence you left behind.

Meanwhile, visiting a parallel world is more like walking through a portal into a new destination. Imagine if you walked into a world identical to our world, except the sky is purple instead of blue. In the purple world, you would no longer see the blue sky of home. Also, your actions in the purple world would impact everyone there instead.

In the MCU, other dimensions in a shared reality sometimes have no ability to impact each other. Even when one can be perceived within another. But both parallel worlds in other realities, along with other dimensions within the same reality, sometimes pose existential threats to other dimensions and worlds in the multiverse.

Marvel’s Multiverse Explained By Dimension, Realm, and Property

Countless dimensions and realities (a.k.a. parallel worlds) also mean countless sinister dimensions and threats too. The Ancient One explained that chilling fact to Stephen Strange when he first arrived at Kamar-Taj in the first Doctor Strange.

“This universe is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and life giving. Others filled with malice and hunger. Dark places where powers older than time lie ravenous…and waiting.”

The “infinite dangers” the former Sorcerer Supreme warned of have already been seen in many of the MCU’s dimensions and parallel worlds. But so have other less nefarious places. These are the most important ones—good, evil, and in-between—to appear in the MCU so far. (Please note, this article deals only with the MCU, not Marvel Comics or non-Marvel Studios Marvel movies.)

The Many Dimensions of the First Doctor Strange Movie

Stephen Strange first saw the true scope of existence when his soul traveled through many dimensions in his debut film. Some were beautiful, others nightmarish. His journey took him through wonderfully named planes like the Mandelibus, Actiniaria, Flowering Incense, and Grass Jelly Dimensions.

He then got a glimpse of the diversity of parallel worlds during his unplanned “jump” with America Chavez in Multiverse of Madness. The pair dived through realities of paint, cubism, animation, and more.

These briefly seen places are all visual marvels worth exploring for any sorcerer-in-training. But thus far, these dimensions have been unimportant in the MCU. The first Doctor Strange film did introduce three vital dimensions to the franchise, though.

Astral Dimension

The Astral Dimension, sometimes called the Astral Plane, is “a place where the soul exists apart from the body.” Masters of the Mystic Arts can leave their physical bodies behind and enter the Astral Dimension. Within the Astral Plane they exist as pure energy, though they still look like ghostly versions of themselves. Sorcerers can also push other souls into this plane. The Ancient One did that to Stephen Strange. She also pushed Bruce Banner’s soul out of Smart Hulk in Avengers: Endgame. And Strange himself did this to Spider-Man in No Way Home.

Marvel’s Astral Plane exists around/next to the physical Earth realm. Souls in the Astral Dimension float through the real world, but the two are not the same place. They are different and independent planes of existence. What happens in the Astral Dimension does not affect the physical world. An astral projection can reveal itself to a physical being, though, as Stephen Strange did to Dr. Christine Palmer.

Time also works differently within the Astral Dimension. A single moment can be stretched out so that a dying Sorcerer Supreme can have a long conversation with the next one. In Doctor Strange, we see a discussion start and end before a bolt of lightning hits the ground.

This plane of existence also lets those who access it multitask. A body can sleep or enjoy a mug of tea in the physical realm while the soul reads a book in the Astral Dimension. Doctor Strange made use of the Astral Realm while studying the Mystic Arts. In WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff also used this aspect of the multiverse to study the Darkhold. And it was also within the Astral Plane where Wanda heard the voices of her sons, Billy and Tommy. (Though what dimension her original kids—not their Variants—currently exist—if they exist at all—is still unknown.)

Non-sorcerers can access the Astral Plane and have done so at other points in the franchise. However, depending on the MCU property, this dimension goes by other names and appears differently. We discuss the Astral dimension’s presence in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Moon Knight, and Thor: Love and Thunder—as well as its overall importance to the MCU’s multiverse—later in the article.

Mirror Dimension

Sorcerers also frequently access the Mirror Dimension. This dimension is an exact copy of the physical world it parallels. “Ever present but undetected,” the Ancient One said. “The real world isn’t affected by what happens here.” It’s why Masters of the Mystic Arts use it “to train, surveil, and sometimes to contain threats.”

A sorcerer working to save the physical world can lock an enemy within the Mirror world. Nearly every person gets stuck in there if they don’t have a Sling Ring, which sorcerers use to access the realm. Without a sling ring they have no way of getting out. That’s how Peter Parker managed to imprison Doctor Strange inside the Mirror Dimension in No Way Home. Only the supremely powerful Wanda Maximoff found a way out of a mirror dimension prison. She escaped by moving through reflections in the real world.

A Mystic Arts master might also learn new skills in the Mirror Dimension that they can then use against an unsuspecting and unprepared enemy. It’s the ultimate secret training ground.

The Mirror Dimension is not invulnerable, though. Doctor Strange attempted to use it in his fight with Thanos on Titan in Infinity War. But Thanos used the Power Stone to shatter the Mirror Dimension and turn it against Strange. And while it can be used for good, the Mirror Dimension can also be used for evil purposes. Those who practice dark magic can also hide, train, and jail foes within it. Their willingness to access another dimension’s terrible power also gives them additional strength within the Mirror world.

Dark Dimension

You don’t get a name like the Dark Dimension because you’re full of sunshine and rainbows. You get that moniker because you belong to the Cosmic Conqueror, Dormammu, Doctor Strange‘s interdimensional monster. The Dark Dimension is also known by the equally unpleasant moniker the Hell Dimension. If that name is not an exaggeration it might also be home to the much-anticipated Mephisto. What it definitely contains, though, are all of the worlds consumed by Dormammu.

This terrible fate awaited Earth, but Doctor Strange struck a bargain with the MCU’s Eater of Worlds.

Earth almost became part of the unnatural Dark Dimension because a former Master of the Mystic Arts, Kaecilius, and his followers fell prey to its promise. The Dark Dimension is “a world beyond time” and therefore a world beyond death. The Hell Dimension is so strong it’s possible to draw power from it to extend your life in other dimensions. Sorcerers who do harness this dark energy, known as the Dark Force, become more powerful inside the Mirror Dimension.

But it’s not just misguided magic users who sometimes draw from the Dark Dimension. The Earth-born Ancient One used the Dark Dimension to live for hundreds of years, violating the natural order. Messing with Dark Force is a dangerous game for everyone and every dimension.

That was equally true for anyone learning the secrets of the Darkhold. That sinister book of dangerous magic was made by Chthon from the Dark Dimension’s dark energy. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed just how much “the book of the damned” corrupted its users, even those with good intentions. But that wasn’t the only major contribution the film made to the ever-expanding multiverse of the MCU.  

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the Connections Between Realities

We knew about the existence of the MCU’s parallel worlds before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We also knew about Variants. But what we didn’t know was just how connected they can be. The film introduced new concepts that completely change the possibilities for everyone in every universe.

Incursions and the Destruction of Entire Universes

An incursion is when two MCU realities collide with one another. When that happens either one or both of them are completely destroyed. That’s why the Illuminati killed the facial hair-free Supreme Strange of Earth-838. His use of the Darkhold caused an incursion that destroyed an entire universe, killing trillions.

A type of incursion can also happen when someone toys with the fabric of reality itself. Two Doctor Strange Variants did this, bringing about the destruction of their own universe. The first happened on What If…? The other happened in Multiverse of Madness with Sinister Strange. When an entire reality comes apart it fades away into nothingness, like a cloud of ink vanishing into an ever-darkening sky.

The introduction of incursions to the MCU could mean the franchise is now building to its next big event, Secret Wars. That would mean war between every dimension, realm, and parallel world, exactly what He Who Remains warned Loki and Sylvie about.

Waypoints and the Gap Junction

The Book of Vishanti, the antithesis of the Darkhold, rested in a nexus dimension between the infinite worlds of the MCU’s multiverse. That dimension is known as the Gap Junction. Doctor Strange 2 didn’t invest much time explaining why it looks the way it does, but we did see Variants from multiple universes access it. That included Defender Strange and the MCU’s main Stephen Strange, who went there from Earth-838 via a secret portal called a Waypoint.

If a door exists in one world to the Gap Junction, theoretically you can travel to parallel dimensions via that nexus. Or you can rely on the singular nexus being who has the ability to hop between worlds.

The One and Only America Chavez

America Chavez has no Variants. She also has an incredible power. America can move freely between the realities of the MCU’s multiverse, an ability she finally learned to control by the end of Doctor Strange 2. A powerful being can absorb her power, but if anyone succeeds she will die during the transfer.

Others, even the most powerful beings in Marvel’s multiverse, can’t do that. But they do have another way to make their presence felt in other universes.

Dreams and Dreamwalking in the MCU

When someone in the MCU has a dream they aren’t seeing a creation of their subconscious. What they are seeing is the real life of one of their Variants from the MCU’s multiverse. Main Stephen Strange didn’t imagine Defender Strange and America running from a demon in the Gap Junction. He saw what really happened to them. Anytime someone in the MCU has a dream (not necessarily a vision) they are introducing a new Variant to the franchise.

While dreams are passive links between Variants, dreamwalking is an active connection. Not to mention an evil one. The Darkhold allowed its users to remotely control one of their Variant’s bodies across dimensions. Wanda did this from Earth-616, turning Wanda Mom of Earth-838 into a “meat puppet.” Doctor Strange also did this with his Variant’s corpse. Dreamwalking is the darkest of magic (using a dead body is especially forbidden), and whether or not anyone can do it now that Wanda destroyed the Darkhold in every universe is unknown.

Black Panther‘s Ancestral Plane

The Astral Plane is a dimension living souls can access, but we’ve never seen a dead person’s soul there. Meanwhile, the connected Ancestral Plane of Black Panther is a realm where a soul goes after its body dies. It’s not limited to just the dead, though. T’Challa and Killmonger both traveled there while still alive and each spoke to their deceased fathers.

Marvel Studios’ T’Challa and Killmonger each journeyed to the Ancestral Plane after they consumed the Heart-Shaped Herb and had themselves buried alive. This ethereal world appeared differently to each of them. T’Challa went to lands similar to his country, but it was a world of non-Earth-like bio fluorescence and beauty. Meanwhile, Killmonger went to the home he grew up in with his father in Oakland. When each man woke, far less time had passed on Earth than he had experienced in the Ancestral Plane because time moves much slower there.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever added another layer of depth to the Ancestral Plane. When Shuri travelled there she expected to meet her recently deceased mother. Instead she found her cousin Killmonger waiting for her. She was angry to see him sitting in the equivalent of Wakanda’s throne room, but he said she “summoned” him. It’s not clear how much we can trust him, but if he told the truth, those who eat the Heart-Shaped Herb and go to the Ancestral Plane call a family member to meet them rather than their dead loved one coming to them, an interesting twist to that spiritual world.

The Astral Plane and the Ancestral Plane share many of the same traits and are clearly connected. As are other realms of the dead in the MCU.

Moon Knight and the Duat

Marc Spector and Steven Grant went to the Duat following their death on Moon Knight. There they encountered the Ancient Egyptian hippo goddess Taweret. She told them they were not in “the” afterlife, but merely “an” afterlife.

According to her, “many intersectional planes of untethered consciousness exist.” That particular realm of the dead, the one Ancient Egyptians believed in, leads to a soul either becoming forever frozen in the sands of the Duat or living for eternity in the paradise known as the Field of Reeds.

But Taweret still knew about the “gorgeous” Ancestral Plane of Black Panther. Supernatural beings who live in one realm of dead soul still know—and can seemingly visit—other realms of the dead. Unlike the Ancestral Plane, though, there is a way for souls in the Duat to return to the land of the living. Osiris must allow them passage through his gates. If it’s possible to move between “intersectional planes of untethered consciousness” it’s possible for anyone to return from the dead.

As for the Field of Reeds, it’s unclear if all those intermediary planes of the dead lead to one single paradise for all souls. Those who die in the MCU appear to arrive in afterlife connected to what they believed in while alive. That’s what happens to Viking warriors of Asgard.

Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Valhalla

Asgardians believe the souls of warriors who die on the field of battle will ascend to Valhalla. The good news is that they’re only half right. Valhalla exists, but you don’t need to specifically die valiantly at the hands of an enemy. Jane Foster went to Valhalla, where Heimdall greeted her, even though she died of cancer and not from Gorr’s sword. And just like Steven Grant returned from the sands of the Duat, and Marc Spector returned from the Field of Reeds, to go back to the dimension of the living, there’s reason to think those in Valhalla can also find their way back to life.

At the very least, what does seem clear is that each and every realm of the dead belongs to a dimension that contains all souls and their subsequent realms.

Infinity War‘s Soul Stone and Soulworld

When someone uses the Soul Stone, they enter a separate dimension inside the magic space rock. Thanos went there after his Snap in Infinity War. In Soulworld he met his daughter Gamora as a small child. Smart Hulk visited that plane too after the Blip, though we didn’t see what he encountered there. And before he died Tony Stark saw his young daughter as a grown woman in an Endgame deleted scene.

The Soulworld is not only where people go when they use the Soul Stone. It’s where souls go when they die. The Soul World may hold the Ancestral Plane, the Duat, Valhalla, and every realm of the dead. And just because the Soul Stone is not destroyed doesn’t mean it is.

What really matters, though, is that a world beyond life exists in the MCU. It has many names and takes many forms, and it can be accessed in many ways, but it’s all one place, hidden in Marvel’s multiverse.

Ant-Man‘s Quantum Realm and Loki‘s Citadel

The Quantum Realm is so important to the MCU we wrote an extensive primer about it before Avengers: Endgame. Then Scott Lang realized it could be used as a portal through time. (An ability only Kamala Khan’s bangle has also provided.) You’ll definitely want to read our Quantum Realm breakdown, as it explains why that realm is not merely a smaller-scale version of Earth’s realm. It is actually an entirely different dimension. If you shrink your physical form down enough, you leave your own plane of existence and cross over into another one. The MCU’s Quantum Realm is a unique dimension, just as the Astral or Mirror dimensions are. But it’s seemingly more important than both combined.

The Quantum Realm first reshaped the MCU by undoing the Snap. But that was only the beginning of its role in the MCU, especially if the Quantum Realm exists beyond the end of time itself, a place as we saw in Loki‘s finale.

The castle known as the Citadel of He Who Remains exists in a dimension outside and independent of time itself. Where that Citadel is located exactly is still unknown. But its surreal, swirling environment full of color looked a lot like the Quantum Realm. Considering the Quantum Realm can be used to hop in and out of a timeline, it’s the best candidate for where the Citadel exists. If that’s true, He Who Remains and the staff of the TVA are essentially time travelers who don’t age.

For a brief moment Doctor Strange and Peter Parker also entered an identical-looking plane when Strange’s spell broke apart in Spider-Man: No Way Home. That very well might have been the Quantum Realm. And not just because of how it looked. Strange’s spell pulled in other Peter Parkers and their enemies from multiple dimensions. But they each came out of different points in time, even those who came from the same parallel world. That spell didn’t just open the multiverse, it opened up portals through time.

Loki‘s Variants and Parallel Worlds

Loki’s six-episode run on Disney+ took everything we knew about the MCU and flipped it on its head. Then it twisted and spun the entire franchise and its history all around, so we have no idea which way is up. Because as soon as He Who Remains gave us answers to monumental questions, Sylvie created even bigger ones when she killed him. (The show also left some important topics open to interpretation rather than explicitly addressing them.)

Some valuable lessons Loki taught us about the MCU’s multiverse still remain true, though.

The dimension where the Avengers live, now labeled Earth-616 by some and Earth-199999 by others, has an infinite number of parallel universes “stacked” on top of it. Many of those parallel realities look similar to each other. Doctor Strange 2 confirmed that fact which was first introduced on Loki where Variants and the many versions of He Who Remains fought a Multiversal War. Some Variants look like exact copies of each other, and their worlds have similar histories. But even those can have significant differences. Loki can, for instance, lose the Battle of the New York in one part of Marvel’s multiverse but win in another. Sometimes the difference between realities can be a single moment or event that leads to a vastly different world.

The existence of infinite parallel realities has major ramifications beyond even what we’ve seen in the MCU so far. For example, Tony Stark is dead in the universe we know. But an infinite number of Tony Starks must still live in parallel worlds. In some, he could be evil. In others, he didn’t defeat Thanos with the Snap because another Avenger did. Other Variant Tonys never even became Iron Man. Instead, they died in that cave. Or they lived their whole life as an uncaring genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist. The same holds true for every character—living or dead—in the main timeline.

What If…? and the Illuminati Show Anything (and Anyone) is Possible

Marvel’s What If…? series introduced some of these alternate realities. On the animated series Peggy Carter stayed in a room instead of leaving it. Because of that one decision she ended up a Super Soldier instead of Steve Rogers, thus changing her world’s history forever. Those alternate realities/parallel worlds can co-exist in peace. It’s even possible to travel between them and share knowledge and technology. So long as multidimensional travelers avoid three potentially catastrophic pitfalls. 1) don’t fight with each other, 2) don’t cause branches to the Sacred Timeline that keeps every parallel world contained, 3) don’t cause an incursion.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also showed famous figures never before seen in Earth-616’s reality exist in the multiverse. Professor X and the rest of the Illuminati showed just how similar yet different worlds can be at the same time. The group included other versions of characters we know from the main timeline alongside important characters that don’t have main MCU counterparts. Yet.

Multiversal War and the Sacred Timeline

He Who Remains won a Multiversal War against his own Variants. (Possibly/likely not the first such war, and definitely not the last.) Once he and his Variants learned inter-dimensional travel between parallel worlds, some versions of He Who Remains sought to conquer the others. That battle threatened to destroy all of reality. That war was nearly the end “of everything and everyone” in every universe and dimension, the ultimate incursion.

To prevent a potential multiverse apocalypse from happening again, He Who Remains organized all of those parallel worlds into one Sacred Timeline. Thus, Variants and parallel worlds co-exist on top of and next to one another in a single loop of time. Different realities have their own existence, but He Who Remains created the TVA to make sure they all stayed on the same path of time to ensure they didn’t destroy one another.

If a Variant causes a Nexus Event, which results in a branch from the Sacred Timeline, they are ripped from their reality and sent to the Void at the end of time. Those branches must be pruned lest they result in another all-out war between dimensions.

The TVA is the MCU’s most Machiavellian creation. It sacrifices the lives of some to protect the lives of everyone. It’s neither inherently good nor bad, and even similar Variants disagree on its merits. Loki ultimately decided the TVA was a necessary evil, a form of control that kept the worst outcomes at bay. Sylvie did not. She believed the universe and its infinite dimensions want to break free from control. Results be damned.

How one world can be so different, to the point Variants can be entirely different species (looking at you—from a safe distance—Alligator Loki), yet not constantly cause branches to the Sacred Timeline is hard to fathom. But that’s how powerful a Nexus Event is. It can destroy everyone everywhere.

That’s because it’s not actually the greatest threat to the multiverse. That title belongs to a very dangerous man and all his Variants.

Quantumania, Kang the Conqueror, and the Council of Kangs

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fundamentally changed what we knew about the Quantum Realm, the Sacred Timeline, and the most dangerous man of any time or world.

The Quantum Realm is far more diverse and strange than we ever realized. It’s home to an advanced civilization of living buildings where broccoli people live alongside humanoids and goo with no holes. Time seems to work differently there, too, more evidence that’s where He Who Remains built the TVA. The main city of the Quantum Realm also looked like the one seen outside the TVA building.

It was also used to imprison Kang the Conqueror outside of time so he could no longer threaten the multiverse or the Sacred Timeline after he had already destroyed entire dimensions. We know one of He Who Remains’ Variants replaced him after Sylvie killed him. Was that Kang the Conqueror? If so, when exactly did he take over the TVA? Before or after the events of Loki? There are so many questions we don’t have answers to yet, including how Kang survived and when in time he ended up. But Quantumania ended with the Council of Kangs coming together. He Who Remains was right about what would happen if he no longer controlled the Time Variance Authority. Worse versions of him returned.

Only, Kangs now see the Avengers as their greatest threat, not one another. Every world in the MCU’s multiverse now has to countless Variants of the Conqueror to fear. But it’s not like that’s the only danger the multiverse faces.

The Existential Threat of Ms. Marvel‘s Noor Dimension

Kamala Khan’s great grandmother, the ClanDestine Aisha, came from the Noor Dimension. That’s a parallel dimension of Earth. The Veil separates the two, and opening that portal threatens the entire dimension of Earth. Left unclosed the Noor Dimension would completely consume the dimension of Earth.

The Noor is a powerful dimension if someone can harness its powers. Aisha imbued her bangle with her Noor power, and that artifact helped unlock Kamala’s powers and sent the teenager back in time. It was also powerful enough to instantly transport and swap Kamala, Carol Danvers, and Monica Rambeau places across the universe.

Is Shang-Chi’s Ta Lo a Part of the MCU’s Multiverse?

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ Ta Lo is a pocket dimension that exists parallel to Earth, making it a part of the MCU’s multiverse. The residents of Ta Lo—who put magical dragon scales on their weapons—protect Earth and its people. But getting to this beautiful realm of peace is almost impossible. A shifting, moving maze of trees and dirt keeps its Earthly portal hidden. Access is only possible once a year. However, a resident—either human or one of Ta Lo’s magical creatures—can direct an outsider through the otherwise impenetrable maze any time of the year.

The Ta Lo village seen in Shang-Chi is just a small part of this multiverse dimension. But it long stood guard against a creature that threatened both Ta Lo and Earth. The extra-dimensional beast the Dweller-in-Darkness, leader of the Soul Eaters, waged war against Ta Lo thousands of years ago. Thanks to the Great Defender dragon, the people of Ta Lo locked the Dweller-in-Darkness behind the Dark Gate. It stayed there until it lured Xu Wenwu with the false promise of seeing his wife again. He freed it with the Ten Rings. Shang-Chi ultimately killed the massive leviathan, keeping both Ta Lo and Earth from becoming victims of the massive eater of souls.

Thor Visits Omnipotent City, the Shadow Realm, and Eternity

In addition to Valhalla, Thor: Love and Thunder introduced other new realms to the MCU. The first was Omnipotence City, a secret haven for all gods led by Zeus at the Parliament of Pantheons. Thor, Jane Foster, and Valkyrie also traveled to the Shadow Realm, a land without color and shadow monsters where Gorr the God Butcher resided and drew power.

The God of Thunder also followed Gorr to Eternity, an abstract entity. Gorr and Thor walked through a portal opened by Stormbreaker to reach Eternity, which stands as the living embodiment of all time and space everywhere. It can also grant any wish, which reverberates throughout that world’s reality. And each reality has its own Eternity.

Non-MCU Marvel Movies and the Multiverse 

The parallel worlds of the MCU are no longer limited to only the universes and dimensions created within the MCU and its parent company. Spider-Man: No Way Home made non-Disney Marvel movies a part of the MCU’s multiverse too. Then Multiverse of Madness made it so entirely new actors could play roles still only seen in non-Disney Marvel movies thus far. Reed Richards appeared on the big screen before, but never before by John Krasinski.

And these crossovers are just the start. Kevin Feige has already promised Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool will join the MCU. And Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage added another wrinkle to the franchise crossover fun. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also made direct mention of the events of No Way Home. (Though whether or not Disney officially considers every Sony Marvel movie canon for the MCU is unclear. That might just be a one-way street for now.)

That opens the (parallel worlds) door to any and all Marvel movies ever made now being canonically folded into the MCU. Especially when magic—intentionally or not—can bring in anyone from anywhere at any time. It’s why Chris Evans could return to the MCU not as Steve Rogers or even one of his Variants, but as Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four. As could another former Johnny Storm, Black Panther‘s Killmonger, Michael B. Jordan.

The (former) Netflix Marvel shows and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, which no longer seemingly exist in the same universe as the MCU, are already making their way into the franchise proper. Daredevil‘s Matt Murdock and Kingpin are now a part of the MCU. And someone like Wesley Snipes’ Blade could one day help Mahershala Ali’s upcoming MCU version of the character fight vampires from across the multiverse.

And, of course, any and all members of Fox’s X-Men franchise could join Disney’s franchise at any point. Evan Peters’ Quicksilver on WandaVision stands as a bit of stunt casting. But we could soon learn Ralph Bohner’s resemblance to the X-Men character was not a mere coincidence. Ralph might be a Variant of the cinematic X-Men‘s Quicksilver. Now that a Variant of Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier is formally a part of the MCU, more of his former X-Men cohorts could—and likely will—follow.

Thanks to the multiverse, it’s now possible to consider anyone who has ever played a Marvel character in film and TV—for any studio—to be part of the MCU. (Technically Black Bolt already was a part of the MCU, but Anson Mount’s appearance in Doctor Strange 2 was still a major moment.)

The Future of the MCU’s Multiverse

Doctor Strange‘s movies have shown us what the multiverse has to offer, both good and bad. The first two Ant-Man movies showed us how another dimension could upend the entire world as we know it. Avengers: Endgame made good on that promise by manipulating time and reality to save the universe before WandaVision, Loki, and Spider-Man: No Way Home expanded the multiverse in ways that have fundamentally changed the MCU forever. And Quantumania gave us even bigger questions whose answers could mean the destruction of the entire multiverse. For everything we know there’s even more we don’t.

Marvel’s multiverse will only bring more chaos and villains to every version of Earth’s mightiest heroes as the MCU goes forward. From Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to Loki season two and the Avengers Kang movies, the MCU is diving headfirst into infinite possibilities. And with each step the franchise takes down that road, the more complex all the journey will get. But knowing where they are all coming from will help keep the path clear for viewers moving forward.

…We think. It’s not always easy to keep track of infinite dimensions and worlds. Even He Who Remains needed the TVA to do that.

Originally published on August 30, 2021.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike, and also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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This year is a monumental one for two of the biggest movie franchises in Hollywood. And we do mean biggest in every sense of the word. Transformers is finally returning to theaters this weekend with its latest live-action feature film, Rise of the Beasts. And just a couple days later Jurassic Park will mark its 30th anniversary. So it’s only fitting the two merchandise monsters are also celebrating together with a big toy crossover. Hasbro’s new Jurassic Park and Transformers mash-up pack turns that prehistoric park into a mechanized battle between a dino and the car that helped it make movie history.

Hasbro’s back with its latest cinematic crossover collectible. Previous Transformers combos brought the Autobots to Back to the Future, Top Gun: Maverick, and the Ghostbusters. But with Rise of the Beasts coming to screens the company turned to some other famous beasts for inspiration.

The Jurassic Park x Transformers Dilophocon and Autobot JP12 mash-up pack is a Dennis Nedry nightmare. It turns both the Dilophosaurus and the iconic Jeep Wrangler Sahara in which it attacked him into giant battling robots. This encounter will be even more dangerous than their first. Here’s the toy’s official description:

Each figure converts from robot mode to movie-inspired alt mode (convert Dilophocon in 20 steps; Autobot JP12 in 23 steps) and features screen-accurate deco and details. This 2-pack comes with movie-inspired accessories including a shaving cream canister, embryo containment unit, rain hat, venom blast effect, and 2 blaster accessories.

Designed for ages eight and up, the pack comes with a big price tag. You can pre-order yours at Hasbro Pulse and Amazon for $74.99. It begins shipping later this Fall. And while the late Dennis Nedry would have hated this toy, we love it. It’s a big collectible millions of years (+ 30 more) in the making.

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Good Omens on Prime Video finally brought the beloved novel by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett to the screen. The show also gave us a little taste of the sequel they planned but never wrote. Gabriel and his fellow angels would have played a big part in that follow-up book. That’s why Gaiman greatly expanded their role in the adaptation. It was a chance to finally introduce them to fans. But the archangel’s story is just getting started. The first trailer for Good Omens season two finds Jon Hamm’s Gabriel lost, confused, and at the center of a budding war between Heaven and Hell. And only Michael Sheen’s Aziraphale and David Tennant’s Crowley can stop it. Maybe.

And we thought the Apocalypse was fun!

So what’s going on with Heaven’s most arrogant angel? Why is he wandering around in a makeshift toga as the forces of good and evil engage in a hunt to find him first? And why did he seek out a “traitor” whose best friend is a demon? The trailer gives us a taste of what’s going on, but here’s the Good Omens season two synopsis from Prime Video:

Having been on Earth since The Beginning, and with the Apocalypse thwarted, the duo are getting back to easy living amongst mortals in London’s Soho. That is, until the archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) turns up unexpectedly at the door of Aziraphale’s bookshop with no memory of who he is or how he got there. While Crowley is leery as to why the archangel has come to the bookshop, Aziraphale is keen to solve the mystery behind Gabriel’s condition. However, hiding the archangel from both Heaven and Hell quickly disrupts their lives in unforeseen ways. To solve this mystery and thwart Heaven and Hell in the process, the duo will need more than a miracle; they’ll need to once again rely on each other. 

Season two might be a new story, but it will still let us hop around time. Prime Video says the show’s mystery “takes us from before The Beginning, to biblical times, grave robbing in Victorian Edinburgh, the Blitz of 1940s England, all the way through to modern day.”

Good Omens season two will also see the return of two other archangels. Doon Mackichan is back as Michael and Gloria Obianyo returns as Uriel. Fellow season one star Miranda Richardson is also getting in on the fun again. Only this time she’s playing the demon Shax. Other season one alums in new roles include Maggie Service as Maggie and Nina Sosanya as Nina. Newcomers include Liz Carr as the angel Saraqael, Quelin Sepulveda as another angel named Muriel, and Shelley Conn as the demon Beelzebub.

Will they all try to kill one another by the end of the six-episode season? Or can war be averted same as the Apocalypse? And will someone get Gabriel pants? We’ll find out when Good Omens (in any medium) gets a long-awaited sequel at Prime Video on July 28.

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Like lots of other Ted Lasso fans I thought season three was a mess at best and terrible at worst. Being an improvement over a dreadful second year wasn’t enough. I couldn’t wait for many of the the season’s long, tedious episodes to end. Rushed, uninteresting, and abandoned subplots, along with incoherent character arcs, were too much for the show’s stronger elements to overcome. But while all the criticism following its apparent finale is more than fair and reasonable, it fails to capture what remained special about the show from the beginning until the end.

No matter how frustrated I got with Ted Lasso‘s writing I still cared about its characters and the world they inhabited. Even when I desperately wanted an overly maudlin installment to finish I still wanted to spend more time with AFC Richmond later. And even now, when the memory of a sublime first season feels so distant, I wish we were getting another year. Because ultimately, thanks to its sincerity and refusal to ever give in to cynicism, Ted Lasso always made me feel good even when it wasn’t very good.

The show’s season three issues are already well-documented. But none better captures its many problems than the story of Nate Shelley. Did he earn his redemption by the end of Ted Lasso? Not even a little bit. The only thing less developed than his heel turn in season two was his about-face in season three. (Either that or the “character” of his girlfriend Jade.) Nate never fully grappled with or acknowledged exactly what he did to his former friend and team, let alone why he did it. The series made him its biggest villain, then expected us to care about him personally before giving us a single reason to. And when it did try those reasons felt wholly inadequate.

Even Nate’s single attempt at atonement was laughably deficient. The only thing more ridiculous than Nate actually coming back to AFC Richmond after that meager act of penance towards Will was that the team—which recently despised him—unanimously asked him to return without providing a single explanation why they wanted him back.

Despite all of that maddening inanity, I always wanted Nate to make his way back to Richmond. And despite how completely unearned his redemption was, I was happy when he got it. Just like I was happy when Coach Beard forgave Nate without Nate deserving that grace.

I have never before been as emotionally invested in a character’s story without actually liking their story as I was with Nate—let alone when I actively hated a character’s story. And that wasn’t just true of him. It was true of every non-Rupert character. I didn’t like much of what the show did with Rebecca or Keeley in season three. I’m also still trying to figure out exactly why the show kept telling us Roy was such a mess when he seemed mostly fine. And yet I desperately wanted all of them to end up happy.

I think Rebecca’s final scene, when she ran into that pilot from Amsterdam, was monumentally stupid and epitomized the strained believability that came to dominate the show. But I’m genuinely thrilled to know she might finally find real love. I care about Rebecca.

That’s only true because ultimately what Ted Lasso was about was always more important than how it told its stories. And what it was about was imagining the world can be as good as we wish it were. Jason Sudeikis’ coach, despite his own problems, was a force of good in the lives of everyone he met simply because he always wanted to see the good in others. He wouldn’t give up on them and what they could be. Nor would he define them by their worst traits or moments.

He knew inside of us all is not only the best version of ourselves, but a desire to be that person. And sometimes all we need to become our best selves is someone else believing in us.

Ted’s humanity, expressed through attitude towards life and others, was infectious. His heart inevitably brought out the good in those around him, even those most reluctant to embrace him. In doing so they all created a better, more loving, more welcoming place. It’s a world that couldn’t have arrived at a better and more needed time for us the viewers. The show gave us so many of the things we desperately need and want in real life.

Compassion, humanity, grace, forgiveness, togetherness? Unfortunately these are not words that describe the world we inhabit. We’re divided by hate and fear rather than united by love and empathy. But not on Ted Lasso. The show provided a respite from all of that. More importantly it provided us a reminder of what we could do if only we all tried to follow Coach Lasso’s lead ourselves.

Did the show sometimes go from hopeful and heartwarming to annoyingly saccharine? Constantly. But that’s better than going from hopeful to overly cynical. Too much love is always better than too much hate. It’s why we know Ted was right to forgive Nate even if Nate didn’t deserve it. In fact, that was more reason to forgive him. Life is better when we let go of our animosity. In refusing to not let anger consume him, Ted not only helped his friend, he helped himself and the team he left behind. AFC Richmond is a better place with Nate on its sideline, just as he’s a better person by being there.

In the end Ted Lasso didn’t live up to its incredible first season. But to define or remember this show only by its failures is to miss how much it succeeded at what it most wanted to accomplish every episode and every season. Ted Lasso gave us something to believe in. It was something far more important than any plot or character arc’s shortcomings. Ted Lasso reminded us who we can be when we are kind to one another, and that always felt good.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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What is Steven Spielberg‘s greatest movie? What’s his most important one? Okay, but what’s your personal favorite? It wouldn’t be surprising if you gave a totally different answer for each of those question. His directorial career is so impressive and so unassailable that it’s almost impossible to name one film as his definitive best anything. No one else in Hollywood history can match either the breadth of his resume—which covers almost every genre—or his sheer number of amazing films. Yet one single scene from his illustrious career stands above all the rest. Not simply because it is Spielberg at his absolute best, but it distills everything we love about going to the movies. He brought dinosaurs to life.

In 1993, the original Jurassic Park wasn’t the best Steven Spielberg film released that year. Schindler’s List takes that title. But for all his accomplishments, no other director has ever done a better job of bringing childlike wonder to the screen. And there’s nothing more wondrous than seeing an actual dinosaur. The iconic, unforgettable first time we see one in Jurassic Park shows him using all of his best, signature techniques to create one of the absolute greatest moments in cinematic history.

This scene utilizes all of the best Spielberg-esque tools of the trade to maximum effect: it has a big, sweeping, epic score (from John Williams), perfect use of “Spielberg face“—those tight close reaction shots that not only let us see what the characters are feeling in a moment of complete awe, they help shape our own reactions—followed by the big reveal which gives the entire moment the right scope and emotional weight. It also moves the plot along in subtle and logical ways. Like how the lawyer says they’re “going to make a fortune.” And it introduces the terrifying T-Rex who will prove so important later. It seamlessly moves the action onto the next scene, without diminishing the magnitude.

But there is wonder in even the small moments, like how the anonymous Jeep driver who has already seen dinosaurs before can’t help but turn and look at Ian Malcolm as he is overcome by the moment. These characters are in an unreal situation but they react like authentic people. All of the elements come together to make a scene where dinosaurs roam the earth feel down to Earth and accessible for the audience. It’s so good a character says the title of the film and it gives you chills.

And it’s everything we love about the movies. There is no other medium that could replicate this exact moment in such a powerful and memorable way. The feeling, the grand visuals, the music, the possibility of the impossible, all of it. Great movies transport us. And they make us believe there’s no limit to where we can go or what we can do. Including walking among dinosaurs.

We can debate where Jurassic Park ranks among Steven Spielberg’s best movies. But there’s no arguing he was ever better than when he made dinosaurs real again.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

Originally published on June 11, 2018.

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When Ahsoka debuts on Disney+ the series won’t just be bringing one of Star Wars‘ best and most important characters back to the screen. The show is teasing a return to one of the franchise’s most important locales, a mystical realm known as the World Between Worlds. If you’ve never seen Star Wars Rebels you might not know anything about the plane that sits outside of space and time. And if you have seen the animated series you’re probably even more confused by that dimension.

How does it work? What’s its connection to the Force? And what makes it so important to both the galaxy far, far away and Ahsoka Tano personally? Here’s everything you need to know about the World Between Worlds along with everything we don’t know just yet.

What Is the World Between Worlds?

The World Between Worlds is an ethereal dimension intimately connected to the Force. It’s a collection of “pathways and doors” that exists outside of time and space. Physically it looks like it’s floating in outer space, and thanks to the countless stars that dot its exterior, it resembles a reverse moon-sized glass snow globe.

Ezra Bridger also heard voices of other Jedi speaking to him as he walked through it. But others would hear different people speaking to them.

Also known as the Vergence Scatter (per the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary), the World Between Worlds’ seemingly translucent pathways react like water when someone walks on them. At the end of those pathways are portals that can transport travelers across both short and vast physical distances. It can also move people through time.

What Are Loth-Wolves’ Connection to the World Between Worlds?

Like purrgils, Loth-wolves have an intimate connection to the Force. But where those magical space whales can travel at hyper speeds, Loth-wolves can travel through the World Between Worlds. They saved rebels on Lothal by moving them halfway across the planet in a moment. (Initially no human rider remembered or understand exactly what had happened.)

Loth-wolves can easily enter the World Between Worlds because they themselves are keys to the realm’s doors. Ezra Bridger’s own journey fully into that dimension—which he had made in different ways prior without knowing it, like when he got his lightsaber’s kyber crystal and when he spoke to Yoda on Dagobah—showed how Loth-wolves make travel into the plane possible..

How Do You Access the World Between Worlds?

Jedi Ezra Bridger used the Force and a painting at the Jedi Temple on Lothal to open a portal into the World Between Worlds. That massive work of art depicted the Force-related Mortis gods—the Father (Balance), the Daughter (Light), and the Son (Dark). The painting also included a pack of Loth-wolves and a bird on the Daughter’s shoulder.

Ezra placed his hand atop the Daughter’s to open the gateway. When he touched her hand the painting began to move. The Loth-wolves then walked away from the painting. Ezra followed them and discovered they had formed a walking circle on a rock that created an unseen door for Ezra to walk through. The stormtroopers that tried to follow him could not use it. Even though the portal remained open, the troopers crashed into the stone.

Inside, Ezra saw other portals, including one that showed him an event that had happened two year prior.

How Did Ezra Save Ahsoka Tano From Darth Vader?

Inside the World Between Worlds Ezra saw Morai, a convor bird that was frequently with Ahsoka Tano, above a portal. A convor bird was also in the painting of the Mortis gods on Lothal. It sat atop the Daughter’s shoulder.

That portal then went from black to showing Ezra an event that had happened two years earlier inside a Sith temple. He saw Ahsoka dueling Darth Vader on Malachor, a fight Ezra did not witness in person despite also being on the planet when it happened.

Moments before Vader struck a fatal blow to Ahsoka, Ezra instinctively reached through the portal and pulled Ahsoka inside with him, saving her life. Fans of Star Wars Rebels knew Ahsoka had ultimately survived that encounter, but her friends thought she had died.

What Happened With Ezra and Ahsoka Inside the World Between Worlds?

Neither Ahsoka or Ezra understood exactly where they were. (The sacred ancient Jedi texts contained information about the World Between Worlds, but many of those remained lost or hidden until Luke Skywalker found them following the collapse of the Empire.) Fortunately for both of them Ahsoka quickly understood the ramifications of their situation.

After saving Ahsoka, Ezra was eager to use other gateways save more of his dead loves ones from their fate. Another portal soon opened to seemingly give Ezra that chance. It revealed one of the worst moments in his life, when his Jedi Master, Kanan Jarrus, sacrificed himself to save Ezra, Hera Syndulla, and Sabine Wren.

Ezra wanted to pull Kanan into the World Between Worlds same as he did Ahsoka, but she told Ezra that he would doom them all if he did. Without Kanan’s sacrifice the rest of them would have died. Would interfering with that moment have created a paradox? If Ezra died in the past, would he have been around now to save Kanan in the first place?

We never got any answers to the obvious questions raised by messing with events of the past because Ezra let his Master go. But it’s also not clear if Ezra even had the option to save Kanan. First, because it’s not clear anyone can change the past. But also because the portal that beckoned Ezra to possibly save Kanan turned out to be a ruse by Palpatine.

How Did Palpatine Attack Ezra and Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds?

Palpatine had been trying to access the World Between Worlds via the Mortis painting on Lothal. His advisor, Minister Veris Hydan, was futilely trying to discover how to open a gateway when Ezra Bridger snuck onto the site with Sabine Wren and did it himself.

Without his own door, Palpatine tried to trick Ezra into opening one for him. He created the image of Kanan’s death to make a connection with Ezra. The Emperor then used that partial pathway to attack Ezra and Ahsoka. Palpatine sent a massive energy force into the World Between Worlds and used the blue flame-like tendrils to start dragging Ezra Bridger to him. But Ahsoka severed the connection with her lightsaber, preventing Palpatine from using Ezra to enter the World Between Worlds.

The two then fled the World Between Worlds, with each returning to the same location and same place in the timeline they had come from. Ahsoka followed Morai through the gateway Ezra had pulled her in from back to the now desolate Malachor.

There she descended further into the Sith Temple, just as viewers had seen her do two years earlier. This was the last shot of Ahsoka in season two of Star Wars Rebels.

This is what viewers saw after she left the World Between Worlds in season four. It connects her journey in this episode to her disappearance two years prior.

Ahsoka did not travel forward through time after entering the World Between Worlds, she just went outside of time briefly. (At least she didn’t move through time during this trip.)

Ezra then returned to his timeline (two years past where Ahsoka went) back on Lothal. That prevented Palpatine from accessing the mystical realm. Ezra then closed the gateway in the real world before either destroying or burying the entire Jedi Temple.

The amount of time (relative to themselves) both Ezra and Ahsoka experienced inside the World Between Worlds seemed to be how much time passed during the real world. Vader was long gone by the time Ahsoka got back to Malachor, and Ezra’s friends had made their way towards the painting by the time he returned.

What Happened to Ahsoka After She Left the World Between Worlds?

Ahsoka Tano is one of the greatest and most important characters in Star Wars history. And yet we know very little about her life during one of the galaxy far, far away’s most important eras. We don’t know what happened to her after she left the World Between Worlds and before her reappearance during Rebels final sequence, which takes place after Palpatine’s (original) death. That’s a gap of about seven years, a time when the Rebels defeated the Empire.

The only clue we have about what she did after going deeper into that Sith Temple comes via canonical Dave Filoni-illustrated digital Topps trading cards. Yes, seriously.

The first four of Filoni’s 10 Ahsoka cards show her duel with Vader and her arrival at the triangle door on Malachor, all of which we know definitely happened. The others, many of which feature her following Morai, therefore seem to indicate what happened after she walked down them. She waded through water, then went up another flight of stairs. There she discovered yet another portal that took her back into the World Between Worlds.

Why did she go right back to that dimension? Why did Morai lead her there? What did she find when she went in? Where and when in the timeline did she exit from? She seemingly wasn’t around still fighting with the Rebel Alliance in the Galactic Civil War. She only officially reemerged when she joined Sabine Wren’s quest to find Ezra Bridger.

When we finally saw Ahsoka during Star Wars Rebels‘ final scene, she was clad in all white and holding a staff. If that outfit and her entire story of coming “back” from the dead sounds a lot like what happened with Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, that’s because it is. Dave Filoni has explicitly described Ahsoka’s journey and role in the franchise as being similar to the legendary wizard of Middle-earth.

An unaired scene Filoni shared between Ahsoka and Bendu, a magical Force-sensitive creature, indicates the Ahsoka we knew metaphorically died on Malachor, much like Gandalf the Grey was different when he returned to the world as Gandalf the White.

Like Gandalf, Ahsoka also knows why true evil must never gain access to power no one should have.

Why Is the World Between Worlds So Dangerous?

Veris Hydan was unable to open a portal to the World Between Worlds for his Emperor, but not from a lack of trying. Under threat of torture he forced Sabine Wren, an artist of great renown, to try and help him decipher the Mortis painting’s meaning.

During their time together Hydan explained to Sabine why Palpatine wanted access to the dimension that serves as a nexus of all time and space. His words were one of the many ominous insights we have about the dimension’s terrifying possibilities.

“He who controls it controls the universe,” Hydan said. Palpatine, who resurrected himself decades later, also described the World Between Worlds as “a conduit between the living and the dead.” And Ezra heard the image of the Son, who represents the dark side of the Force, ominously say, “The future, by its nature, can be changed.”

The World Between Worlds, in ways we don’t yet (and might never) fully know, is just like the Force itself. It can be used for either knowledge or destruction. It’s neither inherently good or bad; the people who use its power determine its nature. No wonder Filoni has said “One of the things [Palpatine] knows about it” is that it provides an opportunity for him to control “through time and space, different events through the Force.”

All of which raises an obvious question without a clear answer.

Is the World Between Worlds Star Wars Time Travel?

That obvious question has two obvious answers: yes and no. If Ahsoka had followed Ezra back through his own portal on Lothal she would have traveled two years into her own future. That sounds like the type of thing Palpatine believes he could have done if he found his own key into the realm. He wanted to stop old enemies and future ones from ever fighting him. He wanted both ancient lost knowledge and insights that lay well beyond his own years. The Emperor’s plans almost certainly included nightmares we can’t fully imagine.

Trailers for Ahsoka have certainly hinted at the World Between Worlds being used in just that way. She’s going to meet some mysterious, sinister Force users there.

Taylor Gray, the voice of Ezra, also said Filoni explained the World Between Worlds as “essentially a place where you can go and access anything.” Filoni also told him, “Time is not a concrete thing. Time is flexible, you can go forwards, backwards, any which way.”

Just because it seems like someone can/should be able to use that realm to hop around time and change events in the past, present, and future doesn’t mean they actually can. That includes Force users as powerful as Palpatine or Yoda. But even if they can, it’s not necessarily “time travel” the way we think of it. The Force is never that simple.

Inside the World Between Worlds Ahsoka told Ezra, “In my experience, when you think you understand the Force, you realize just how little you know.” And the more you try to understand the World Between Worlds the more you realize how little you know and how much you might never learn. After Ahsoka we very likely will still have many unanswered questions about it, how it works, and how it can be used because some answers will never exist.

Some surely do, and we’re likely to get at least a few of them on Ahsoka. She wasn’t done with the World Between Worlds after Ezra Bridger saved her in Star Wars Rebels. And it’s still not done with her.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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When the Captain America franchise returns to the MCU, it’s going to do so with a new hero. Steve Rogers is an old man who’s either dead, living on the Moon, or playing shuffleboard in Fort Myers. Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson is now the United States’ signature superhero, the one and only Captain America. But that isn’t the only change the film will deliver. Harrison Ford is stepping into the role of Thaddeus Ross after the passing of William Hurt. We don’t expect any version of ole Thunderbolt to get along with a man of morals like Sam. But the actors who play the characters certainly seem to like one another. They’re having a whole lot of fun together in the first official behind-the-scenes image from the film, which Mackie and Marvel Studios shared to announce that Captain America 4 now has a new title.

New World Order is out. Captain America: Brave New World is in.

Sorry fans of late ’90s WCW. Once again, the New World Order has fallen. Apparently, that Captain America title was not “too sweet” for Marvel. But today is a big day for readers of Aldous Huxley’s classic dystopian novel, as it now serves as the inspiration for the name of the next Captain America installment.

It’s unclear if the Captain America 4 title change is simply a legal matter or if it better reflects the story we’re going to see. The phrase “New World Order” also has some murkier roots, so it’s probably best to see it go. There is a Marvel Comics issue titled Secret Empire: Brave New World, but it seems to largely feature Namor. So it doesn’t really add much insight to the equation.

What is clear, though, is how much Mackie and Ford are enjoying working together in the movie’s first official image.

What are they talking about? On Instagram, Mackie wrote, “When Harrison Ford tells you how kicking ass should look, you listen! LoL… Thanks for the on-set wisdom and laughs my friend! Can’t wait to do it again.” (The film’s production is currently on hiatus.)

Anthony Mackie is basically us if we got to hang out with Harrison Ford.

There are some other takeaways from this seemingly innocuous picture, though. And we don’t just mean that the set chairs already have the new title on them. We mean, like how Ford isn’t sporting Ross’ mustache here. Is that how he’ll appear in the film, or is this just a moment when he didn’t have it glued on/shaved it off? And what exactly are we seeing on the monitor? It’s hard to tell at a squint, but you never know when a really good Easter egg is right in front of you. Could it be the re-emergence of Sam’s original Captain America suit?

Whatever’s going on, we’re thrilled to see Mackie’s Captain America current suit looks so good. (Especially compared to the aforementioned one we saw him wearing on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.)

Clearly, a Brave New World for Captain America means more than a title change; it means better gear when the movie comes to theaters on May 3, 2024. 

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Ahsoka on Disney+ is going to reintroduce some legendary characters from Star Wars‘ past. Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, and Grand Admiral Thrawn will all make their live-action debuts on the spinoff. We expect other familiar faces will join them in surprise cameos. But we now know there will be an appearance by someone we never expected to see. The series will feature one of Darth Vader’s elite Jedi hunters, an Inquisitor. Who is this mysterious Force user? What do they want with Ahsoka now? And most importantly, at what point in the Star Wars timeline will this Ahsoka Inquisitor show up?

Empire‘s latest issue provides new insights into what to expect from the Rosario Dawson-led series when it arrives later this summer. That includes how Sabine Wren will be dealing with the guilt of not finding her friend Ezra just yet. It also examines how Ahsoka Tano will be following a lonely path. But the most intriguing revelation from the magazine is the photo of a masked Inquisitor.

Inquisitors worked for Palpatine and Vader during the reign of the Empire. Typically seen using spinning double-bladed red lightsabers, the deadly Force-sensitive unit hunted down Jedi across the galaxy. They’ve previously appeared on Star Wars Rebels, in Cal Kestis’ Jedi games, and in live-action on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Known by numbers (such as Fifth Brother or Third Sister), many have died on-screen.

While the group’s numbering system indicates we have yet to meet all of them, it certainly seemed as though most (if not all) died by the time the Empire collapsed. None have ever appeared in a post-Return of the Jedi timeline. And that’s when Ahsoka will take place, same as The Mandalorian, so it is surprising to see the presence of an Inquisitor.

So how and why will an unknown Inquisitor appear on the Ahsoka series? (Their mask is unlike any we’ve seen before.) There are three logical explanations. The first is simply that not all of them died and stopped hunting Jedi after the Rebel Alliance won. It’s very possible at least one Inquisitor was still around years later, loyally serving her dead Emperor. (We know lots of officers did just that.)

They also might have sought vengeance against Ahsoka, who had many run-ins with Inquisitors. And with Grand Admiral Thrawn still alive, we might learn those leftover Inquisitors ended up working for him directly. They might even know about the plan to resurrect Palpatine.

It’s also possible this Inquisitor will appear in a flashback in Ahsoka, or that the show will begin at an earlier point than we expect. Ahsoka could open with a sequence set during the era of the Empire, which would more than explain why she would encounter an Inquisitor.

But the third possible explanation is the most intriguing. The show has teased a return to the World Between Worlds, a dimension outside of time and space. The appearance of an Inquisitor on the series might mean Ahsoka will go back in time to the past when the elite unit was operational. Or even that one of the Inquisitors will hop forward in time. That could mean this actually is an Inquisitor we met before and seen die.

Whatever the explanation, we’re excited that an Inquisitor is returning to the galaxy far, far away in Ahsoka. Inquisitors are always bad news for Jedi. But they do make for exciting television.

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If I could have any fictional item from the MCU I’d take the Infinity Gauntlet. I’m not saying I’d actually snap away half the universe, but I’d certainly like people to think I might. That’s exactly why I’m almost certainly not worthy of owning one of Marvel’s symbols of heroism. But for $200 I can have one anyway. LEGO’s newest collectible is a recreation of Captain America’s iconic shield.

LEGO’s 3,128-piece build-and-display Cap shield set won’t protect you during battle, but it will look good on your desk or bookshelf. Designed for ages 18 and above, this “detailed and authentic model” measures more than 18.5-inches in diameter. LEGO’s build also comes with a stand adorned with a nameplate for Captain America’s shield (now your shield) to rest on.

And the collectible also features a Captain America minifigure who holds both his own miniature shield along with Mjölnir. (That added Avengers: Endgame bonus touch also means this set pairs perfectly with LEGO’s replica of Thor’s famous hammer.)

This advanced item also comes with a digital version of its building instructions. You can find the how-tos for the Captain America shield on the official LEGO Builder app.

Unlike Steve Rogers, a rich scientist probably won’t just give you this. But at least you won’t have to prove to a bunch of terrible people you’re worthy of having it like Sam Wilson had to. What you will have to do is wait to get your hands on it. You can pre-order your LEGO Captain America shield today, but it won’t ship until later this summer, on August 1. That is unless you possess either the Time or Reality Stone. Then you can have this whenever you like.

Any chance LEGO’s replica Infinity Gauntlet actually works? Specifically, if we’re only trying to use it to magically get our hands on another LEGO set?

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“Bad things are gonna happen. It makes us who we are.”

Peter B. Parker’s words of comfort to Miles Morales in Across the Spider-Verse turned out to be true in ways no one expected. The movie ended with a shocking revelation that showed how bad things led another Miles down a dark path. In the dimension where a radioactive spider never bit him, Miles became the Prowler. Now that alternate version wants to destroy the hero he never became.

What does that cliffhanger mean for both the film and its sequel, Beyond the Spider-Verse? The existence of Prowler Miles gets to the core of the franchise’s most important and meaningful idea about what really defines us.

Why Is Spider-Man Miles “The Anomaly?”

A radioactive spider bit (the film’s primary) Miles’ in his home dimension of Earth-1610. But that DNA-altering arachnid came from Earth-42 via Kingpin’s Super Collider. That spider—seen glitching prior to biting Miles in Into the Spider-Verse—wasn’t from his world.

That’s why Miguel O’Hara calls Miles “the” anomaly. Miles was never supposed to become Spider-Man. His world already had one, and suddenly getting a second instantly led to tragedy. His dimension’s original Spider-Man (Peter A. Parker) died saving Miles, who only needed rescuing because he’d been turned into a Spider-Man.

That bite had huge ramifications for another universe, too.

Why Did Earth-42’s Miles Morales Become the Prowler Instead of His Uncle?

Because Earth-42’s radioactive spider never bit anyone from its own dimension, that world didn’t get its very own web-slinging superhero. But it still got all of Spider-Man’s villains. A news report revealed the Sinister Six operate with near impunity in a burning city overrun with crime. There is simply no one to stand against them.

While that universe’s Miles didn’t became Spider-Man, he still suffered the way all Spider-Mans do. His dad, a police captain, died rather than his uncle Aaron. (Which indicates Miles-42 was supposed to become Spider-Man.) And without the great responsibility of becoming a superhero, Miles instead followed his uncle into a life of crime. Without his father as a guiding light Miles became the Prowler rather than Aaron.

The two Miles unknown connection ultimately led them to meet face-to-face.

How Did Spider-Man Miles End Up in the Wrong Dimension?

Spider-Man Miles desperately wanted to go back to his home world. Miguel told Miles his father needs to die to ensure the safety of hthat entire universe. Without that “cannon event” reality itself could fall apart, killing everyone. And since Miles is “the anomaly,” Miguel also fears interfering with fate could impact every world.

Miles refused to accept that his father must die. He believes he can “save everyone,” his dad included. (Gwen’s own final encounter with her father indicated he might be right.) To get home Miles jumped inside Miguel’s arachnid transport machine. It sends people back to their own dimension by reading their DNA. Except, Miles’ DNA no longer identifies him as being from Earth-1610. The spider that bit him rewrote his genetic code with its own. That caused the machine to think Miles comes from Earth-42, the spider’s dimension.

That’s how he ended up encountering his still-alive uncle and his evil alternate Prowler self who was never pushed towards greatness. And that difference gets to the most important theme of the film and the franchise, just not in the way it might seem.

What Does Prowler Miles Mean for Across the Spider-Verse?

Like Into the Spider-Verse before it Across the Spider-Verse is about what it means to be Spider-Man. As Peter B. Parker said, “Being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. That’s the job.” Part of that sacrifice, in every universe, involves dealing with the death of someone very close to them. No one becomes Spider-Man without Uncle Ben. Sometimes that role is filled by a different uncle, a best friend, a significant other, or a police captain. In Miles’ world that sacrifice appeared to be his Uncle Aaron, a cautionary tale about how easy it is for a good person to end up being bad. Aaron’s death was clearly important in Miles becoming Spider-Man. It helped unlock something inside of him. Without that loss he might never have taken his “leap of faith.”

A different bad thing that happened to Prowler Miles. Instead of his uncle he lost his dad, and without the great responsibility of being Spider-Man to anchor him, his grief consumed him. Because as much as Spider-Mans are defined by bad things, Peter B. Parker also pointed out they are also shaped by the good things that happen to them. That includes the best thing that happens to them: being burdened with responsibility. Without the good, Miles turned bad.

That’s the main idea of Across the Spider-Verse. The things that happen to us, no matter how painful they might be or how much we wish they didn’t happen, shape who we are. But whether good or bad, the events of our lives don’t define us, it’s how we respond to them. Our choices define who we are. We’re not passive actors in our own lives. We pick the path we’ll walk down. Miles recognized that before he met his evil self. He told Miguel, “Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go. Nah. I’m gonna do my own thing.”

He’s right. And that’s exactly why Prowler Miles isn’t a hopeless cause, either.

What Will Happen With the Two Mileses in Beyond the Spider-Verse?

Gwen Stacy is putting together a team of Spider-Mans to save Miles. She gathered together their old friends from Into the Spider-Verse along with their new friends. They don’t know they’ll be potentially rescuing Miles from his alternate self. But we don’t know if they’ll even need to.

Prowler Miles can do his own thing, same as Spider-Man Miles. Neither of them have to follow a story others or even fate itself have seemingly written for them. They can tell their own tales with their actions. And maybe getting a chance to see who he could have been will be good enough for Prowler Miles to realize he can be a better version of himself. Just because you’re not a superhero doesn’t mean you have to be a super villain. Like every Spider-Man who has something bad happen to them, he can still choose to be a better person.

Across the Spider-Verse‘s two very different Miles make clear how easy it is for us to go astray. But it also makes clear we decide who we are. Miguel, Jessica Drew, Gwen Stacy, and both Miles each decided who they wanted to be. Same as we all do in our lives, whether we’re a Spider-Man or not.

And that will be true no matter how Beyond the Spider-Verse resolves that cliffhanger.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Dwayne Johnson once declared he would never again return to the Fast & Furious franchise under any circumstances. His issues with former co-star Vin Diesel were not the not-so-secret reason why. But something dramatic happened because The Rock made a surprise return during Fast X‘s mid-credits scene. Now we might know what helped convinced him to drive home: Universal Pictures gave him another spinoff to star in. Dwayne Johnson will return as Luke Hobbs in a Fast & Furious spinoff film that will serve as a bridge in the main series’ final entries.

Johnson announced on Twitter “Hobbs is back,” and he doesn’t just mean for a single scene. According to him in the “next Fast & Furious film you’ll see the legendary lawman in will be the HOBBS movie that will serve as a fresh, new chapter & set up for Fast X: Part II.”

Chris Morgan wrote the script. He penned seven previous entries for the franchise, including its only previous spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw.

How did Johnson go from swearing off the entire franchise to headlining another installment? On Twitter he wrote (in classic Fast & Furious style), “Last summer Vin and I put all the past behind us. We’ll lead with brotherhood and resolve – and always take care of the franchise, characters & FANS that we love.”

Sure that explains it! (No, wait, it’s the money. Actors get paid money.)

This off screen reconciliation doesn’t mean the two will be sharing one on screen just yet, though. Reports say as of now there are no plans for Diesel to appear in the new Hobbs spinoff, which is not a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw. However, other franchise members are expected to join Johnson in the film. And Diesel will serve as a producer on the movie.

It’s also not clear if Dwayne Johnson himself will appear in Fast 11 (or a possible Fast 12) movie after this spinoff adventure. But that doesn’t mean they won’t appear on screen together at some point. Obviously no one should ever say “never” when it comes to this franchise.

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There was never any question of whether or not HBO would return to Westeros. The only question was often the network would. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire features thousands of years of backstories and lore spread across multiple continents. But one thing seemed certain about any potential Game of Thrones spinoff – it would be a prequel. Well, we can forget that. A new report says HBO is developing a Jon Snow sequel series with Kit Harington returning for the Game of Thrones spinoff.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s James Hibberd, author of the behind-the-scenes Game of Thrones book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, has proven just how true that is. According to him, HBO is currently developing a show about Jon Snow set after the hit HBO series. That’s if the series moves forward. The working title for this Jon Snow spinoff is Snow. We also learned from Emilia Clarke that this idea comes from Kit Harington (George R.R. Martin confirmed it; he’ll be a producer on the series). She told the BBC:

It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up. So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington.

Recently, HBO’s head of drama Francesca Orsi have a brief update on the status of this spinoff, noting: “We’re just working deeply… to get it in shape for a potential greenlight, but at this point, no, no determination on whether it can go all the way.”

In Jon Snow’s final moments, he went to live beyond the Wall with the wildlings. But considering his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, rightful heir to Westeros, it’s easy to imagine why he’d return. Events in the Seven Kingdoms could result in him returning south. That would also make it possible for any and all surviving characters from Game of Thrones to return.

When asked, Harington dodged around giving too much information out about the Jon Snow spinoff, but in many ways, he set the scene for how Jon Snow could return in a new Game of Thrones show. According to Entertainment Weekly, the actor shared:

I think if you asked him, he would’ve felt he got off lightly… At the end of the show, when we find him in that cell, he’s preparing to be beheaded and he wants to be. He’s done. The fact he goes to the Wall is the greatest gift and also the greatest curse. He’s gotta go back up to the place with all this history and live out his life thinking about how he killed Dany, and live out his life thinking about Ygritte dying in his arms, and live out his life thinking about how he hung Olly and live out his life thinking about all of this trauma.

And all of that, the actor concluded, is “interesting.” We won’t read too much into it, but we’ve hard that shows often need an interesting base of ideas. Harington concluded by saying, “So I think where we leave him at the end of the show, there’s always this feeling of like… I think we wanted some kind of little smile that things are okay. He’s not okay.” But hopefully, if Snow does make it onto HBO, Jon Snow will find some kind of peace in the spinoff. Or not; this is Game of Thrones.

House of the Dragon, a prequel set 150 years before Thrones, premiered on HBO in August. This latest project is merely the latest of the many—and we do mean many—other Game of Thrones spinoffs HBO is currently considering. However, Snow is the first spinoff that would take place after the main Game of Thrones series. It would completely upend what was always promised to be the end of that story.

Would HBO have ever considered a sequel if the original show’s final two seasons had proven more successful with fans? It’s easy to say no, but wildly popular IPs have a tendency to rise from the dead again and again, like Beric Dondarrion. And since Jon Snow himself came back from the grave once, we really shouldn’t be that surprised that his spinoff show may surface as well.

Originally published on June 17, 2022.

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The House of the Dragon is about to get a lot bigger on HBO. Warner Bros. Discovery has ordered another Game of Thrones prequel set during the Targaryen dynasty to series. Based on George R.R. Martin’s collection of novellas, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it will bring the beloved duo of Dunk and Egg to life. But unlike its two predecessors, they won’t be moving around like their famous family members. This will be the first Game of Thrones show not to feature dragons. Instead it will feature a famous One-Eyed Raven.

HBO has finally settled on a second Westeros spinoff. Currently known as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, the show will follow two legendary figures in the Realm’s history: Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire/secret Targaryen prince, Aegon. (Yup, another Aegon.) The show has been in development for more than two years. Martin and Ira Parker will write and executive produce the show. Ryan Condal and Vince Gerardis will also serve as executive producers.

HBO also shared an official logline for the prequel:

A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.

Martin has released three novellas about Dunk and Egg’s adventures together, which came in the immediate aftermath of the Blackfyre Rebellion. That was the second famous Targaryen civil war in Westeros, the one fought after dragons went extinct. The three stories were later collected in the book that lends its name to the show’s title.

While we know the fate of Dunk and Egg many years later (which you can read about here if you don’t mind spoilers), there’s so much of their earlier time together we do not. Beyond the three stories Martin has published, he has long said he had/has plans for many more entries. Even if he never writes them, he can now use those ideas as a basis for storylines on the show.

Recently, HBO’s head of drama Francesca Orsi noted more about how the series would structure itself. She offered that it would run “ideally year-to-year and arcing out a three-season series, which maps out the three novellas that George wrote… Of course, we’d like more beyond that, and George is continuing to think about the remaining novellas that he still wants to write, but at this point, we have our eye on three seasons that would map out each book, each novella.”

Even if we simply get adaptations of the three we have read, though, they will provide a fascinating look at the Seven Kingdoms during an important era in its history. The first Blackfyre Rebellion split the Realm in two. But the end of a war does not guarantee peace. And while House Targaryen did not have dragons during this time period, they did have magic. Also, the actions of family members also had major implications on their ancestors 100 years later during the events of Game of Thrones. A couple of them were still around then, too.

Maester Aemon of the Night’s Watch was Egg’s brother. (He called out to Egg while dying.) And the Three-Eyed Raven (known as the Three-Eyed Crow in the novels) was one of the most important figures before, during, and long after the Blackfyre Rebellion. Long before he became part of a tree far beyond the Wall he was an infamous sorcerer and political figure. Just getting to see him in his heyday will make this spinoff worth watching.

Not that it needs any more reasons than Dunk and Egg. Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t need a Three-Eyed Raven to tell the people love this duo for a reason. Or that another Game of Thrones spinoff is a good idea.

Originally published on April 12, 2023.

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The Office is getting yet another remake, but the thirteenth iteration of the show will be unlike all the others. When the Australian versions gets to work down under, the phrase “that’s what she said” will mean something very different. The latest adaptation of the hit series will be the first with a woman as the boss.

Prime Video Australia has ordered the first woman-led take on The Office to series. The show (which we first learned about at Deadline) will star comedian Felicity Ward in the role originally filled by series co-creator Ricky Gervais. He played David Brent, who was the basis for Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott on the U.S. version of the show. Until now every country’s version of The Office has also had a man in charge.

That will all change with Ward. She will play Hannah Howard, who will lead the fictional packing company Flinley Craddick. The Australian version will also have a modern day twist for her to deal with. It’s one that would have melted Michael Scott’s brain. Here’s what Australia Prime Video revealed about Howard and her post-COVID predicament:

When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Gervais himself made clear Ward’s character and approach to work will remain true to the Brent/Scott dynamic. “I’m very excited about Australia remaking my little show from the turn of the century,” said Gervais in a statement. “Office politics have changed a bit in 20 years, so can’t wait to see how they navigate a modern-day David Brent.”

The rest of the cast includes Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess), Shari Sebbens (Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson (Young Rock), Jonny Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows), Pallavi Sharda (The Twelve), Susan Ling Young (Reckoning), Raj Labade, Lucy Schmit, and Firass Dirani (Underbelly, House Husbands). 

The eight-part series will begin filming this June in Sydney. With the exception of the US it will arrive on Prime Video around the world in 2024. It probably won’t appear in the United States until Hannah Howard forces the issue. That’s just what all bosses, man or woman, on The Office do.

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Are you starting to get the feeling people really love visiting the Continent? Yeah, us too! There aren’t many mediums left for Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy world of magic and monsters to conqueror. First it was a successful book series, then a wildly popular video game franchise, and now it’s a hit Netflix show. But just in case you needed anymore proof fans can’t get enough of Geralt of Rivia, CD Projekt RED has provided some irrefutable hard numbers. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt just crossed the 50 million copies sold threshold, making it one of the most successful games ever.

The third—and best—Witcher video game is now in some rarified air. First released in May of 2015 and rereleased in December of 2022, the studio behind the Wild Hunt announced during an earnings report call that the game has sold more than 50 million copies. That would place it in the top ten games of all-time. That’s more than Super Mario Bros. and roughly around the same number as Red Dead Redemption 2.

What makes the highly-rated The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s sales number especially impressive is its staying power. Part of that longterm success is partly due to the ’22 rerelease and the Netflix series, but that’s just a small part of the reason. The biggest belongs to to the game itself, which provides a robust open world experience. (And sure, the playable hanky panky doesn’t hurt, either.) That’s why Wild Hunt‘s popularity transcends the rest of the franchise. According to CD Projekt RED’s own announcement, the first two installments have sold “only” 25 million copies combined. Clearly the third game stands on its own merits.

With success like that we’re tempted to wish good luck to the the fourth installment when it finally hits stores some day. But we doubt it will need any. People really can’t get enough of the Continent. And that’s before you factor in all those Wild Hunt replays they get to do for free.

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The MCU certainly knows how to build to a big showdown. Ever since the Avengers first got together to take on Loki the franchise has delivered some epic team-ups. Now LEGO will let fans physically build their own big showdown via two new action-packed sets. Both Endgame and Spider-Man are getting their own final battle LEGO collections.

LEGO’s Endgame Final Battle 794-piece set ($99.99) will bring the iconic war with Thanos at the Avengers compound to your own home. The 360-degree set comes with seven minifigs. That includes: Captain Marvel, Okoye, Wanda Maximoff, Shuri, Valkyrie, Thanos, and The Wasp. The collection also features plenty of spots to place the heroes, as well as other fun extras. Among the wreckage you’ll find Captain America’s shield, Thor’s hammer, the Time Stone, and the portal-opening rat that helped save the universe.

While you can put this set on display, it’s designed for play. It stands 11.5-inches high by 8.5-inches wide and 8-inches deep when closed, but it comes with two handles so you can pull it open. That “causes the battleground to expand for even more adventures.”

But LEGO knows no MCU fan would settle for just one epic showdown, which is why the company has also announced another new 360-degree playset. The Spider-Man Final Battle collection ($109.99) celebrates the last clash in No Way Home in cool LEGO style. And yes, that means it has separate minifigs for each the film’s three Spider-Mans: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland. Joining them are figures for Electro, Doctor Strange, Green Goblin, Ned, MJ, and Doc Ock.

The characters are just the start of the fun with this set measuring 7-inches high, 8-inches wide and 8.5-inches deep. It also has “three minifigure supports for midair action. It also has a removable roof that opens up to show Sandman’s hand. And there’s “a flip-open rear access to a portal and a soft web element to envelop minifigures.”

Both sets are designed for ages 10 and up. Each will be available later this summer on August 1. But while you have to wait to get your hands on them, you don’t have to build a bunch of other sets before they come out. Only the MCU has to do that before it reaches its final battles.

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The MCU is full of superheroes and supervillains. It also features monsters, living planets, robots, Celestials, and gods of every sort. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe would still be pretty empty without its many, many critters, both Earth and alien alike. With so many to choose from, though, which ones are the best? Whether they’re lovable pets or highly advanced beings, these are the top 10 animals in the MCU.

Honorable Mention

These lovable—and in some cases not-so-lovable—creatures just missed the cut:

Howard the Duck (Guardians franchise), Blurp (Guardians Vol 3.), Alexei the Pig (Black Widow), Abilisks (Guardians franchise), Irina the Cockatoo (Iron-Man 2), Fenris the Wolf (Thor: Ragnarok), every Gus the Goldfish (Moon Knight), Murph the Cat (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Orloni Rodents (Guardians franchise), Sparky the Dog (WandaVision), Rocky the Owl (Hawkeye), Señor Scratchy (WandaVision), and Valkyrie Flying Steeds (Ragnarok).

They all tied for 11th. Any MCU animal we didn’t rank that you think should have been included tied for 12th.

(Note: This list only applies to the MCU proper. Sorry, animals from the Netflix and ABC shows. We still love you.)

10. Goose (Captain Marvel)

When it comes to the MCU’s alien animals, appearances can be deceiving. No one better exemplifies that than Goose the (not really a) cat. This adorable and dangerous Flerken helped save Carol Danvers, Nick Fury, and the Skrulls in Captain Marvel, but Goose would have earned a spot on this list for just being so damn cute. Unfortunately we can’t rank this intergalactic kitty any higher after what she did to a trusting Nick Fury.

9. Alligator Loki (Loki)

Alligator Loki answered one of mankind’s oldest and most important questions: can you turn any animal, no matter how fearsome and terrifying, into a beloved one if you put a tiny little crown of horns on their head and feed them wine? Yes. You can. That is also reason enough to earn a spot on this competitive list.

8. Ant-thony (Ant-Man)

We were tempted to simply include all of the ants from the Ant-Man franchise because they’re all great. But one loyal insect’s heroics clearly elevated him above the rest. Scott Lang’s flying carpenter ant/spy/steed/friend Ant-thony holds a special place in the MCU. We will always remember you and your sacrifice, #247.

7. Tawaret the Hippo Goddess (Moon Knight)

A gigantic, delightful, helpful, friendly, compassionate Egyptian hippo goddess with style and pizzaz? And she’s only number seven!? That’s not an indictment on Moon Knight‘s most wonderful denizen of the Duat. It’s the biggest compliment we can give to everyone ranked above her.

6. Lylla, Teefs, and Floor (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

For this entry we wanted to hire Sarah McLachlan to record a Lylla, Teefs, and Floor specific rendition of her classic “I Will Remember You.” Unfortunately we were told to “stop emailing her about this.”

But that won’t stop us from honoring Rocket’s original friends, the greatest cybernetically-enhanced otter, walrus, and rabbit to ever live on any world.

5. Cosmo the Dog (Guardians of the Galaxy Franchise)

Cosmo is a very, very, very good dog and anyone who says otherwise is a monster. Looking at you, Kraglin! Even if you didn’t mean it that wasn’t very nice.

4. Indigarrian Goats (Thor: Love and Thunder)

If we had to personally fly around space with Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder we would definitely not include them on our top 10 animals list. That’s just too much screaming for any mortal to deal with. But the amount of time we spent with those hilarious goats in Thor: Love and Thunder was perfect, so they rightfully take a spot near the top of our rankings.

3. Morris the Dijiang (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)

What this rotund, friendly magical animal from Ta Lao dimension lacks in eyes it more than makes up for in wings and lovability. And also extra sensory perception. Trevor Slattery’s unlikely (not hallucinated) pet also helped save the day in Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, which elevates him into the top five easily. It has nothing to do with Morris being sensitive and us not wanting to upset him, we swear.

2. Lucky the Pizza Dog (Hawkeye)

A golden retriever with one eye who loves pizza and is a remarkable judge of moral character is in the running for greatest dog ever, not just in the MCU. Obviously only a truly remarkable animal could have kept Hawkeye’s Lucky from garnering the number one spot.

1. Rocket Raccoon (Guardians of the Galaxy Franchise)

Rocket Raccoon might be the best freaking character in the entire MCU. Ain’t nobody like him ‘cept him. And that includes being number one in our hearts.

The post The 10 Best Animals in the MCU, Ranked appeared first on Nerdist.

Horror video game remakes in 2023 have an incredibly high standard to live up. Capcom delivered a masterpiece with its update of Resident Evil 4 earlier this year. But Pieces Interactive and publisher THQ Nordic have found a way to make their “reimagined” take on the original Alone in the Dark game really shine: they got two big Hollywood stars to get in on the spooky fun. Stranger Things‘ David Harbour and Killing Eve‘s Jodie Comer will take gamers back to 1920s Louisiana and Derceto Mansion.

But while we’ll recognize some of the other people we meet there, we’ll still be getting a whole new story.

The official PlayStation Blog has announced the 1992 horror game Alone in the Dark is getting a big modern update. Described as “a faithful love letter for long-term fans” that will also be “an accessible entry point for new players,” the remake will bring to life an original story to a game that helped launch the genre. But it will do so in a way that still incorporates “characters, places and themes from the 90’s original trilogy.”

Writer Mikael Hedberg (Amnesia: The Dark Descent, SOMA) headed up the “reimagined” game’s creative team. Guy Davis, best known for his work with Guillermo Del Toro, provided creature designs. And Doom legend Jason Köhnen provided the game its “eerie and haunting melodies.”

Harbour (Detective Edward Carnby) and Comer (Emily Hartwood) also spoke about joining the franchise in a behind-the-scenes Spotlight video, which also reveals some of the new gameplay, cutscenes, and music fans will encounter.

As for the plot, the game’s official synopsis provides a tease at the tale of terror that awaits:

Discovering that her uncle has gone missing, Emily Hartwood goes looking for him with the help of private investigator Edward Carnby. Arriving at Derceto Manor, a home for the mentally fatigued, they encounter strange residents, portals to nightmarish worlds, dangerous monsters – and ultimately a plot of rising evil and its followers.

The Alone in the Dark remake will arrive on PlayStation 5 in time for Halloween, October 25, 2023. It will also be available on PC and the Xbox Series X/S. If you pre-order the Digital Deluxe Edition, you’ll get access to bonus content. That will include the Derceto 1992 Costume Pack for both Edward and Emily, the Vintage Horror Filter Pack, and a director’s commentary.

But you don’t have to wait that long—or spend any money—to experience this new/old game. The Prologue to Alone in the Dark is already available for free. Between that and its two stars, that’s a pretty good way to begin clearing a very high bar.

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Chicken McNuggets are not a reason to travel to other countries. At least that’s what my wife says. She told me I was being “ridiculous” when I wanted to fly Japan. Apparently it wasn’t okay to fly around the world because McDonald’s there started selling my favorite fast food by the literal bucket. But I’m optimistic I can persuade her on the merits of a China trip. Not to eat, though. It would be to get a custom handheld game honoring a food that always provides a happy meal. Because hungry Chinese customers can now dine while also playing an officially licensed McNugget-shaped Tetris device.

McDonald’s in China found a fun way to honor Chicken McNuggets 40th anniversary. The restaurant chain combined its iconic foodstuff with another pop culture legend.

The McDonald’s Chicken Nugget Handheld device (which we first learned about at Retro Dodo) lets you play a tasty-looking version of Tetris. This unique system comes in the shape of a giant McNugget. And while totally new (it has a McDonald’s logo onscreen) the whole thing looks and plays like classic GameBoy Tetris. That gives the whole thing a retro ’80s feel.

Even the packaging it comes in is part of the fun. The device arrives in custom McNugget-style packaging. And it also includes a fun colorful bag for protection along with stickers.

At a price of just 30 Yuan (roughly $4.25 U.S.) it’s not a surprise to learn they sold out instantly when they became available this week. Considering both Tetris and McNuggets have four decades of fandom, the cost of grabbing one on the secondary market is only going to climb as more people learn about them.

That will probably still be cheaper than a round-trip ticket to China. That won’t help me convince my wife I should still fly there just in case. But if she lets me I’ll definitely make sure to bring her one back, too.

What if mine breaks?

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Fast X was definitely not the best entry in the franchise. But was it the worst? Fans of the franchise know that’s not the right question to ask. It’s not even an important one. Fast & Furious films aren’t defined by whether they’re objectively good or not. They’re defined by how awesome they are. So we ranked all the Fast & Furious installments, from the least awesome to the most awesome. Which movie reigns supreme? Let’s hit the NOS and find out.

11. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

The franchise’s only spinoff (thus far) has some great set pieces and its two titular stars have real chemistry together. But despite the script’s best efforts Hobbs & Shaw doesn’t have the heart of the primary movies. It all feels a little hollow, and in turn less awesome. The fact this Fast & Furious film is ranked at the bottom spot is a pretty good indication of how high the floor is on these movies, though.

What’s really awesome about this movie: Vanessa Kirby, who like her onscreen mom proves the Shaw woman are way cooler than the Shaw men.

10. Fast X

Fast X has a whole lot of problems, even if it does have some truly amazing action sequences and a tremendous supporting cast that prevent it from being bad. Despite also having both the most absurd resurrection and most shocking return in series history, it’s not enough to overcome the story’s malaise and the repetitive beats of its recurring characters, all of which are decidedly not awesome.

What’s really awesome about this movie: Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes, a charming, flamboyant sociopath and the franchise’s best villain.

9. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Drifting? Really freaking awesome. The locale? Also awesome. The worst lead performance in franchise history? Not awesome. I still love this movie (honestly), because it features arguably the best street races in the franchise alongside a truly absurd story, but the other movies are just a lot better.

What’s really awesome about this movie: It gave us Sung Kang’s Han, one of the coolest characters in history.

8. The Fate of the Furious

The fact this is one of the franchise’s most interesting stories (this is the God’s Eye one) is partly why it comes in lower on the awesome scale. The eighth entry forces Dom to temporarily turn his back on his family after Charlize Theron’s Cipher kidnaps the son he didn’t know he had. It also brutally kills off Elena. (Until they decide it didn’t.) There’s still a lot of great, entertaining stuff to love in this intense film. But this Fast & Furious list is highly competitive, therefore it gets a low ranking.

What’s really awesome about this movie: They blow up a submarine and make friends with their old enemies. I love this franchise.

7. 2 Fast 2 Furious

It sometimes feels like the second Fast installment gets overlooked, even though the franchise wouldn’t exist without it. Without this fun, bright, light Miami-based entry Vin Diesel would never have come back and pretended he’s the reason they keep making these movies. It also introduced Roman and Tej to the Fast world, which is a really big deal! And it also features a fantastic Eva Mendes performance. This movie is awesome and its relatively low ranking is a huge compliment to the films above it.

What’s really awesome about this movie: The title. “They should have sent a poet…” Or rather two of them. 2 Sent 2 Poets.

6. The Fast and the Furious

The movie that started it all—a wildly entertaining starter with great characters and incredible street racing action—has only grown in awesomeness thanks to its many sequels. How did that happen? Watching this film now is one of the funniest things a fan can do. The people who started out robbing DVD players on the highway are now all global superhero genius spies. The Fast family makes Steve Rogers’ transformation look lame.

What’s really awesome about this movie: “I live my life a quarter mile at a time.” Thank you, Dominic Toretto, for giving us this all-time quote. Truly.

5. F9

F9 is just as much a comedy as it is an action-movie. Some of its funniest elements include Roman figuring out they’re basically all made of plot armor and nothing can ever hurt them, “Mr. Family” Dom Toretto having a secret brother he disowned after their dad died, and John Cena’s Jakob taking the world’s longest and funniest zipline ride. There’s just a lot to enjoy here on top of all the ludicrous action.

What’s really awesome about this movie: They brought back Han for one. And they finally did “it.” This movie actually went to space.

4. Fast & Furious 6

Some people will say this film is too high. Those people are wrong. The sixth installment is awesome. It’s only problem was having the unenviable task of following the fifth, which few action movies ever can compare to. But that doesn’t mean Fast & Furious 6 is not incredible. It has Brian getting himself imprisoned, Letty’s amnesia story (LOL), and the big cargo plane sequence. History will prove this ranking correct.

What’s really awesome about this movie: This is the one with the tank chase on the highway. Yeah, like we said, awesome.

3. Furious 7

The saddest installment gave Paul Walker—the true heart and soul of the franchise—one of the best, most moving farewells in history. Before Brian drove off to the life of a dad, though, he was part of one of the most entertaining films in Fast & Furious history. This globe-hopping adventure includes him and Dom jump a car between the Etihad Towers in Dubai and yet somehow isn’t the most incredible stunt in the film. That goes to them parachuting real cars out of a real plane in real life! Gah! The awesomeness is glaring!

What’s really awesome about this movie: Jason Statham and Kurt Russell. As always.

2. Fast & Furious

The last film before the series went from somewhat realistic to the land of superheroes is also one of its best, most enjoyable installments. Fast & Furious 4—which reunited Dom and Brian—really hit the NOS on what the franchise could be: an over-the-top series defined by heart, humor, and action. Future films might be bigger with more incredible stunts, but to this day the fourth entry still features some of the best driving sequences.

What’s really awesome about this movie: The chase through the tunnels, which is unlike any other car scene in the franchise.

1. Fast Five

The best film is also the most awesome entry in the franchise. Fast Five, which elevated the Fast & Furious to a whole different stratosphere of quality, belongs in a very small group of best action-movies ever.

What’s really awesome about this movie: Literally everything and everyone. Fast Five is so good it should be a synonym for “awesome.”

As in, “This list is really Fast Five.”

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post Every FAST & FURIOUS Film Ranked by Awesomeness appeared first on Nerdist.

I don’t remember life before I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson arrived on Netflix. Without the show’s constantly quoted sketches and the myriad of memes they have inspired how did we communicate? What did we even want to discuss before learning about the perils of steering wheels that whiff off while you drive? Did food even exist before sloppy steaks? And did we understand the human condition before meeting Karl Havoc? I don’t remember. Frankly, I don’t want to. Especially not today. Because today we finally have the long-awaited trailer for I Think You Should Leave season three. It more than lives u to the hype. It promises to deliver the kind of rage-filled, surreal absurdity we know will soon be an everyday part of our lives.

Tim Robinson, who created and writes the show with his co-star Zach Kanin, is back as only he can be. That means with a lot of yelling.

As are the rest of the popular sketch comedy’s cadre of comedians. This season they will also be joined by plenty of other famous faces, in a collection of episodes that look just as angry, just as strange, and just as loud as the first two. Plus, the hat budget for season three looks like it’s through the roof. Normally that’s not a huge deal, but that is really saying something when it comes to this series.

From game shows and violence, to road rage and confused people, this is everything we want from this season. For this brief moment in time all is right in the world. And also really weird and really funny. I can’t remember if that was always true, and I don’t need to.

The six-episode third season of I Think You Should Leave season arrives at Netflix on May 30, 2023.

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Netflix’s latest preview of the The Witcher‘s upcoming third season says the show’s next installment will focus on its newfound family. When viewers return to the Continent they’ll find Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, and “Uncle” Jaskier are a unit—one that will face dangers they’ve never encountered before. But off-screen The Witcher family is splitting up. Season three will also be Henry Cavill’s last. It won’t be Geralt of Rivia’s, though. Liam Hemsworth will pick up the White Wolf’s mantle when the show comes back for future years.

With its wildly popular star leaving, why not simply end the show entirely rather than try and replace him? Or at least kill off Geralt and replace him with another witcher entirely? Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has provided a very good reason for fans wondering why they opted to recast the role: Geralt’s story is far from over.

GamesRadar shared Total Film‘s exclusive interview with The Witcher‘s Hissrich. In it she addressed the obvious questions raised by replacing Cavill with The Hunger Games’ Hemsworth. After saying everyone on the show has “been mourning” Cavill’s departure in their “own way,” she explained why they opted to not only keep going without him but why they’re keeping Geralt around. “There’s just too many stories left to tell,” she said.

But why not tell those stories with a different witcher entirely so your new star doesn’t have to live up to the old one? “If we replaced Geralt with another witcher, we would be going fully away from the books,” she said. “And I don’t think that’s what anyone wanted either.”

While she acknowledges Hemsworth has some pretty big monster-killing shoes to fill, she says he’s up for the challenge. As are the rest of the people who make the show. Hissrich says because they love The Witcher they’re “gonna keep going.”

We bet that’s what Geralt would want, too. Every Geralt.

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Barry Allen (both of him) will endanger the past, present, and future in his standalone film The Flash. Fortunately, he’ll have plenty of help from other legendary DC characters to help him restore the timeline. The Flash‘s final trailer is a mini-reunion of stars spanning generations. For the first time, Michael Keaton’s Batman isn’t the most prominent Caped Crusader on the job. That title belongs to Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight. And he has his own help, too. Jeremy Irons is also back as his loyal butler Alfred.

The Batfleck isn’t just back; he’s still leading the team of heroes that protect the world. But it will ultimately be another, older Bruce Wayne (and the best Batmobile ever) who will need to protect multiple worlds when Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen races his way back in time. That attempt to prevent his mom’s death will lead to catastrophe. The Flash‘s final trailer definitely walks us through all of that. But for even more insight, here’s the film’s official synopsis from DC Studios:

Worlds collide in “The Flash” when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

Directed by Andy Muschietti (IT Chapters 1 and 2), the film will introduce Sasha Calle as Supergirl. It also marks the return of Michael Shannon’s General Zod. He’s joined by two additional DC alums, Kiersey Clemons and Antje Traue. And Ron Livingston and Maribel Verdú round out the cast.

The Flash—and its many Batmans—speeds into North American theaters on June 16, 2023. That’s when we’ll find out just how big this DC reunion really is.

The post THE FLASH’s Final Trailer Delivers a DC Reunion That Spans Generations appeared first on Nerdist.

Fast X might have been the first of a two (possibly three) part finale for the main franchise, but that didn’t stop it from raising a whole lot of questions. From the fate of main characters and the potential return of others, to missing figures and questionable allegiances, there’s still so much we need to learn before Dominic Toretto turns the NOS off forever. But which ones are the most pressing? These are the “X” biggest issues the Fast & Furious needs to address before it drives off into the sunset.

I: Did Tej, Roman, Han, and Ramsey really die in that plane crash?

C’moooon. We all know the answer: absolutely not. Those four are 100% alive. But there’s still intrigue around that plane crash. Exactly how did they survive? Did they have a tiny little glider like Jakob? Also, what awaits them on the ground? Will they now come to Dom and little Brian’s rescue? And how will all of this impact Han’s dating life? Those are actual Fast X questions that this furious franchise needs to give answers to.

II: Did Jakob do permanent emotional damage to little Brian in Fast X by having his nephew murder people?

We’re comfortable also giving this one an unequivocal “no,” because there are rarely any real stakes or long-lasting consequences in this franchise. But this moment was so absurd it would be professional pop culture malpractice not to address it. Jakob really, really shouldn’t have let his young nephew murder people when he could have simply fired his car cannon himself. So why did he do it? That should cause serious, lasting emotional damage to a child. It won’t, but it should!

Oh, yeah, he also saw his Uncle Jakob blow up. And a madman kidnapped him before trying to crush him with two semi-trucks. We’re very worried about young Brian and hope to find out he’s miraculously un-phased by all of this.

III: Will Dom and Little B survive Dante’s dam flood?

Okay, obviously some of these Fast X questions are not really up for debate. That burst dam is more likely to drown Jason Momoa’s Aquaman than it is the invincible Fast & Furious Superman known as Dominic Toretto. The intrigue around Fast X‘s big cliffhanger is exactly how he and his son will avoid certain death from a literal dam-sized flood. We’re expecting their escape will be absurd, physically impossible, and a whole lot of fun. So, you know, exactly what we love about these movies.

IV: Did John Cena’s Jakob really die in Fast X?

Wow, a question that doesn’t already have a definitive and obvious answer! Now we’re driving with NOS! In any other franchise entry we’d say there’s no way Jakob actually died. Letty and Han both survived exploding cars. But the end of the main franchise will likely need some permanent deaths for it to have a real emotional impact. And those previous fake-outs weren’t shown in slow-motion like Jakob’s apparent sacrifice, so there’s reason to think this one was really different.

Obviously John Cena can come back (we won’t argue with those who believe he definitely will), but this might be the rare Fast & Furious death that sticks.

V: Is Isabela Neves’ sister Elena really dead?

Speaking of dead characters, Fast X revealed the late Elena Neves had a younger sister named Isabela. She’s a talented street racer and a literal member of the Fast family. (She’s little Brian’s aunt.) With the Neves clan taking on a bigger role in the franchise, is it possible Elena will be the next character to come back from the dead? It wouldn’t even be that hard to explain. Cipher is twisted enough to have faked Elena’s death specifically sho she could use her as leverage over Dom a second time.

VI: Where is Tess’s Dad Mr. Nobody?

The world is on the brink and yet Mr. Nobody remains MIA. Is he hiding, dead, captured, or trapped in a Cyclops’ cave? (Wait, strike that last one. Wrong Nobody.) We don’t know where the Agency’s former leader is or what happened to him. All we know is his fast-driving associates and their new ally Tess, his own daughter, could really use his help stopping the maniacal Dante. So where is Mr. Nobody and why hasn’t he been around for multiple movies? The answer to this question might be the most important one in the whole franchise.

VII: What other targets of Dante Reyes’ vengeance will return to the franchise?

Dante Reyes wants to make any and all associates of Dominic Toretto suffer. His vision board showed countless faces from Dom’s past, including Eva Mendes’ Monica Fuentes. Will she return to the franchise like Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs has? What other figures from Fast‘s past will also return for this final ride? Luke Evans? Anyone who ever bought a crappy tuna sandwich from Mia? Everyone who has ever known Dom and his friends is now in danger and therefore a candidate to come back. Except for the guy in the tightey whities Deckard Shaw beat up.

VIII: Why did Gal Gadot’s Gisele return now?

We covered this absurd resurrection in-depth. It’s possible (likely?) Mr. Nobody helped Gal Gadot’s Gisele go into hiding just as he did with Han previously. But who aided her isn’t as important as why she faked her death in the first place. And why did she choose to come out of hiding now? We have a million questions about Gisele’s missing ten years, and somehow her showing up on giant submarine isn’t even in the top 900,000 things we’re confused about.

IX: Is Charlize Theron’s Cipher a part of the Fast family now?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, but does that make them family? That’s the question Fast X raised about the franchise’s longtime villain Cipher. After a brutal fight her and Letty worked together to escape an Agency black site in Antarctica where a waiting Gisele found them. Are they formally working together against Dante? If so, does that mean Charlize Theron’s Cipher now part of the Toretto extended family the way so many other franchise foes have joined up with them? We hope not, but we can’t rule it out, especially if it turns out she didn’t actually kill Elena.

X: Will we ever see Brian return (in any way) on screen?

Ever since Paul Walker’s death the franchise has explained his character’s absence by saying Brian is keeping his kids safe when things get dangerous. But with the Fast & Furious coming to an end will we actually “see” Brian in some capacity? Could Walker return to help save the day via CGI or old footage like Carrie Fisher in The Rise of Skywalker? Or will they show Brian (maybe played by one of his brother’s again like in Furious 7) from behind, possible walking with his wife Mia or hugging Dom?

The Fast franchise has never forgotten its friend Paul. Will it also keep a role open for Brian in their farewell? It’s been a long time since he rode with them and it feels like we’ll see him again before this family’s story comes to an end.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post X Big Questions We Need Answered After FAST X appeared first on Nerdist.

No one knows for sure if the main Fast & Furious franchise will end with 11 or 12 films. Except for me. I know the truth: it will never end. Some day, probably much sooner than later, Vin Diesel will go on Instagram and post something like, “My brothers and sisters, the time has come for us ride once more. I’m calling on all Fast & Furious fans around the universe to call on Universal to organize the greatest BBQ in history and bring our family back. Coronas up now and forever!” Then we’ll get a nine-part story that ends with Dominic Toretto going back in time so he can storm the beaches at Normandy in his Dodge Charger. (Fast & Furious: D(ominic)-Day will make $40 billion. Domestic.)

I can’t wait. But in the meantime Diesel says we’re getting spinoffs, including a female-led film. So which Fast & Furious characters can carry their own movies after the main series “ends.” These are the people we want to see get behind the wheel of their own standalone stories.

(Warning: This post contains some spoilers for Fast X.)

The Shaw Family Fast & Furious Spinoff: Helen Mirren (Queenie), Vanessa Kirby (Hattie), Luke Evans (Owen), and Jason Statham (Deckard)

The only Fast & Furious spinoff thus far was partly a Shaw family reunion. Vanessa Kirby joined the franchise as Deckard’s sister in Hobbs & Shaw. But we deserve to see the whole clan together. No other group in the franchise is skilled as the original cast, and the Shaws already have that ever important F&F family element. These four characters alone can carry multiple movies.

Plus, having Helen Mirren’s delightful Queenie around for whole movies instead of one scene or two is reason enough to greenlight this spinoff yesterday.

Sung Kang (Han) and Gal Gadot (Gisele)

The franchise’s best (and best-looking) couple seemed destined to be Fast & Furious‘ most tragic tale. You know, on account of them both dying. But this franchise doesn’t believe in death, so they’re now both back. And that means they can star in their own spinoffs. Han can make snacking seem like the coolest thing in the world, so hitting the NOS on him and Gisele (whom he was always at his best with) getting their own adventures sounds like an easy win.

Brie Larson (Tess Nobody) and Kurt Russell (Mr. Nobody)

Mr. Nobody’s daughter Tess proved more than capable of filling her missing father’s shoes in Fast X. No surprise, since the younger Nobody was played by Oscar-winner Brie Larson. She knows a little something about playing a hero in a larger-than-life fantasy series of superheroes. Now we need to see her star opposite the legendary Kurt Russell so we can really see what a couple of famous Nobodys can do together.

(Note: Their first film should take place in Greece, which is where we believe the family is from. “Nobody” is a pretty famous Greek name, after all.)

Eva Mendes (Monica Fuentes)

Yeah, remember!? Eva Mendes was a big part of 2 Fast 2 Furious as undercover U.S. Customs Agent Monica Fuentes. She then returned for a post-credits scene with Dwayne Johnson in Fast Five. Well, even if you forgot all that, Dante Reyes didn’t. Dante included Fuentes as an associate of Dom Toretto on his vision board in Fast X. Sounds like Mendes could be returning for the next film (at least), but why stop there when you have a big star playing a great character who can work undercover? Give Mendes her own Fast & Furious spinoff which can literally go anywhere.

Especially if it also means bringing Ryan Gosling to the franchise. Specifically as his character from Drive, yes, obviously.

Daniela Melchior (Isabel Neves) and Elsa Pataky (Elena Neves)

World-class driving skills? Check. Family? Check. A hyper sense of right and wrong? Check. A character who is definitely dead suddenly turning out to be alive? That will be a major check if Elsa Pataky returns as Elena. And why wouldn’t she? With Daniela Melchior joining the series in Fast X as her younger sister Isabel, the Neveses have literally everything we’d want from a Fast & Furious film. Or five of them.

Ryan Reynolds (Victor Locke) and Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs)

I mean, it’s Ryan Reynolds. The guy can carry a franchise. He was also really funny as CIA Agent/best friend Victor Locke in Hobbs & Shaw, where he had incredible chemistry with Dwayne Johnson. Now that The Rock is officially back in the franchise, these two seem like an ideal pairing for another spinoff.

And when their films crossover with the Shaw Family series they’re going to make Avengers: Endgame look quaint.

John Cena (Jakob Toretto)

Did Jakob definitely die in Fast X? Yes. Does that mean he’s definitely dead? Hahaha, sorry, we just wanted to see what that looked like in print. Jakob can and probably will be back, and considering how much fun John Cena had playing the part the second time hopefully when Jakob Toretto returns he also gets a spinoff of his own.

The Fast & Furious Kids in Their Own Spinoff Adventure

Dom is teaching his son Brian to be better than him. Those lessons obviously include understanding the value of friends and family above all else. So someday, as Fast X teased, it seems certain little Brian will hit the road with big Brian’s children for a whole new generation of Fast & Furious stories.

Vin Diesel will definitely be in those. Spinoffs or main series, it doesn’t matter. He’s going to keep making these movies forever.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Secret Invasion is promising a “Cold War espionage” style thriller on an intergalactic scale. The Disney+ series will deliver a clandestine battle for the very fate of Earth, where not even the world’s greatest spy can know the identity or allegiance of those around him. The show won’t be able to truly deliver a story worthy of its premise, however, if the only secret Skrulls we meet are entirely new characters. It won’t surprise anyone if Olivia Coleman’s MI-6 agent is actually an alien plotting to destroy mankind. It won’t mean all that much, either.

For Secret Invasion to truly have an impact it will need to reveal people we already know and trust have always been hiding their real identity. But which long-time characters would make sense without retcons if the MCU suddenly unmasks them? The show will feature two stalwarts that fit all the criteria needed.

Each has reached the highest levels of the U.S. government. That’s something Skrulls did in Marvel Comics, just as they’ve already done in the MCU. They’re also two characters whose personal lives we know shockingly little about: Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Everett K. Ross and.

Secret Invasion will almost certainly feature characters replaced by Skrulls. That happened in the comics all the time. That will also be part of the reason why Nick Fury needs to fight this war “alone,” but maybe not the most important one. Even the world’s greatest spy won’t know who his true friends really are.

Anyone and everyone he meets on the show might be an alien double. But in terms of characters who have secretly been Skrulls their entire time in the franchise, the choices are limited. Technically his closest confidant, Maria Hill, qualifies. Only we’ve already seen her willingly replaced by a Skrull in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Marvel now saying the “real” Maria is also a shapeshifter would fall flat. And since nothing in Captain Marvel makes sense if Nick Fury himself is a Skrull, that leaves only two main candidates who a) could have been aliens since their introduction and b) would qualify as genuinely shocking. Their stories thus far also happen to make perfect sense for such a revelation.

What do we really know about either Colonel Rhodes or Everett Ross beyond the jobs they have? We’ve never seen much (if any) of their personal lives. We also know almost nothing about their pasts. The most significant fact we’ve learned about either is Ross was once married to the shadiest person in the US government.

His ex-wife is current Deputy Director of the CIA Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. In the context of Secret Invasion, that lone personal fact is actually incredibly damning. The only person Ross has had a private relationship with is someone who tries getting Avengers killed. Doesn’t sound like they had the most honest marriage in history. What might he have been hiding from her? (And yes, a Skrull temporarily replaced Val in Marvel Comics.)

Both Rhodey and Ross are essentially complete mysteries beyond what they do. But what they do—and, just as importantly, who they do it with—is fascinating in the hunt for secret Skrull candidates. They each attained important positions in the U.S. government without garnering the kind of spotlight someone in hiding would want. They’ve wielded enormous power in the military and CIA without ever being anyone’s focal point. They work alongside and advise some of the most powerful people in the world. And while Ross is on the run after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Secret Invasion will find Rhodes now serving as the “right-hand man” to the President.

These are smart people who don’t just know the world’s two biggest superpowers’ most important and biggest secrets, they have/had the ability to act on them, either directly or indirectly. They are exactly the type of characters—highly capable figures we know little about who can avoid intense media or professional scrutiny—who make perfect sense to be Skrulls even though it will be completely shocking to discover their real identity.

If either or both ultimately is revealed as a Skrull, that won’t change the fact they served humanity and Earth loyally before. Neither will it mean they won’t do so now. Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos is a Skrull we know about who’s done just that. As have other Skrulls who’ve been secretly working for Nick Fury. Instead, their past actions will make the truth about their real identity even more meaningful now.

Every member of that alien race, even those who have protected and fought on Earth’s behalf for decades, will face a choice. They will have to choose a side in a war that will pit their own kind directly against mankind.

We know from the show’s trailers Nick Fury doesn’t want the Avengers to help him in this battle. His refusal to call Earth’s mightiest heroes shows Fury can no longer trust anyone when an army of shapeshifters are out to get him. But it also suggests he doesn’t want anyone getting involved because he can’t be sure who any Skrull will fight for when the time comes.

Whether he already knows someone like Everett K. Ross is really a Skrull, or has no idea someone like Colonel Rhodes is, the best way for Nick Fury to make sure he never has to worry about anyone’s allegiance is to make sure they don’t have to pick.

When you’re fighting to save Earth from an enemy that can take on any identity they want, you can’t trust anyone you meet. Not even heroes fans of the MCU thought we truly knew this whole time.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Ray Stevenson, whose career spanned 30 years and included roles in well-known television shows and movie franchises, sadly has passed away at the age of 58. He is survived by his son Sebastiano Derek.

Italian news channel Sky TG24 first reported Stevenson passed away unexpectedly on Monday May 22. Additional outlets have since confirmed his death on the Italian island Ischia. Sky TG24 said Stevenson was first rushed to a nearby hospital on Saturday afternoon after getting seriously ill while filming. He was there shooting director Frank Ciota’s Cassino a Ischia. While his cause of death is still unknown, the actor’s condition apparently grew much worse shortly before passing.

Born May 25, 1964 on a British army base in Lisburn, Northern Ireland to a British pilot father and Irish mother, Stevenson recently starred as the villain in the global hit RRR. He will also appear on the live-action Disney+ spinoff Ahsoka later this year. The show will mark his second time through the galaxy far, far way. He previously voiced Gar Saxon on Star Wars Rebels. He’s also known for playing Volstagg, one of the MCU’s most famous Asgaradian warriors, in the Thor franchise. Other notable starring roles include Titus Pullo in the HBO drama Rome and Frank Castle in Punisher: War Zone.

Over his lengthy-but-far-too-brief career Stevenson also appeared in famous films and series such as The Book of Eli, The Other Guys, The Three Musketeers, Dexter, Black Sails, Vikings, and Das Boot. In addition to Ahsoka, fans will also see him in a leading role in the upcoming historical drama about Genghis Khan, Gateway to the West.

The actor’s official IMDb bio notes he first dreamed of performing as a child. However, he didn’t pursue a career on screen until age 25 when he left his job as an interior director. That worked well for him and his many fans who now bid him farewell far too soon.

The post Actor Ray Stevenson Has Passed Away Unexpectedly at 58 appeared first on Nerdist.

Few toys in history are as iconic as LEGO. But the company’s latest partnership celebrates one of the few playthings worthy of that lofty status. LEGO’s newest collectible will let you build your own replica of a truly iconic game. The LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade Set will have you hungry to build a shrine to a legendary toy.

LEGO’s latest item recreates a vintage 1980s-style Pac-Man arcade cabinet. The 2,650-piece set, designed for ages 18+, measures 12.5-inches high, 10-inches wide, and 7-inches deep. It also comes with interactive pieces that give it the kind of vibrancy and energy you’d have if you were standing in an arcade with your middle-school friends on a Friday night.

The collection comes with “colorful brick versions” of Pac-Man, Blinky, and Clyde that rotate on a base that you can display either on top of the cabinet or on its own. Once you’re finished putting the whole thing together there’s also a coin-slot that lights up. The collectible also includes a “small vignette of a female minifigure playing Pac-Man” on a tiny Pac-Man machine herself. And finally, the back of the plastic brick replica also opens up so you can see the inner-workings. (Thats also where you can safely store the mini vignette.)

LEGO announced the set on the same day Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (nee Namco) originally release Pac-Man in 1980. You won’t have to wait 43 years to get this version of the game, though.

The LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade Set will be available on June 1 to LEGO VIP members. Everyone else can grab theirs ($269.99) from LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores starting on June 4. Well, you can so long as a ghost doesn’t get you first. That goes for a video ghost or a plastic one. Because after four decades those hungry specters are finding new ways to torment us.

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Do you love racing games but have grown tired of Mario Kart‘s blue shells and finite courses? Now you have another option to fill your digital need for speed. LEGO 2k Drive is an open-world game that lets you both race and explore while zipping around in your custom built vehicles. And its trailers show why it’s still different from the franchise that inspired it.

LEGO 2K Drive looks to build off the enduring fun of Mario Kart, and we mean that as a compliment. This new release from Take-Two Interactive and Visual Concepts gives gamers a chance to drive anywhere they want. It takes place in the “massive open-world” of Bricklandia. Here’s the game’s official synopsis from Nintendo’s listing:

Race anywhere, play with anyone, build your dream rides, and defeat a cast of wild racing rivals for the coveted Sky Trophy! In LEGO 2K Drive, your awesome transforming vehicle gives you the freedom to speed seamlessly across riveting racetracks, off-road terrain, and open waters. Explore the vast world of Bricklandia, show off your driving skills, and build vehicles brick-by-brick!”

LEGO 2K Drive features a Story mode where you compete for the Sky Trophy. That lets you go from rookie to champion as you face-off in a series of contests with “charismatic” mini-figure rivals. And every time you win you’ll get closer to facing off with “the infamous Shadow Z.”

If you’re looking for something less structured you can also enjoy the game’s Open-World Exploration format. That allows you to zoom around Bricklandia meeting “colorful characters” and going on “kooky quests.” Or instead you can just enjoy the many sights and sounds of the “vast and vibrant” land.

Otherwise head to your garage to make your own custom vehicles. From cars to boats, you’ll construct your own creations from scratch in the grand LEGO tradition. You’ll then be able to also race them against your friends, both at home and online.

LEGO 2K Drive is currently available in three editions. Prices range from $59.99 for the basic game up to $99.99 for the “Awesome” version and $119.99 for the “Awesome Rivals” edition. You can get your copy, digital or physical, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Just do us one favor, though, okay? Don’t build any blue shells. We don’t mind losing any race in any digital worlds so long as its not because of a blue shell.

Originally published on March 23, 2023.

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The latest Fast & Furious film delivered the franchise’s most absurd resurrection yet. A Fast X mid-credits scene not only brought back Gal Gadot’s Gisele ten years after she seemingly fell to her death, it had her show up in Antarctica on a submarine. But in true Fast & Furious fashion, that somehow that wasn’t even the film’s most shocking, most mind-blowing moment. That honor belongs to another character’s surprise return. Because even though we knew was definitely still alive, Dwayne Johnson swore he would never again play Luke Hobbs for the series main films, yet he is clearly in Fast X.

What does the return of Luke Hobbs during Fast X‘s mid-credits scene mean for the future of the films onscreen? And why did offscreen issues make his Fast return seem impossible? Here’s everything you need to know about the unlikely road back to the Fast & Furious for Dwayne Johnson.

Dwayne Johnson’s Previous Offscreen Issues with His Fast & Furious Male Co-Stars

In 2016, ahead of his last week filming The Fate of the Furious (8) Dwayne Johnson criticized unnamed male co-stars in a since deleted Instagram post. In it he wrote, “Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t.”

Johnson never specified which male colleagues he specifically considered “chicken sh*t” and “candy a**es.” (This is a wresting joke, obvs.) However, reports at the time said “tension” had been building for months between him and Vin Diesel. (Stories about Diesel’s alleged offscreen behavior and demands are notorious. Sources also say he was the reason longtime director Justin Lin abruptly left Fast X.)

Over the years subsequent public comments from the franchise’s stars, as well as a controversial spinoff, narrowed the field of who Johnson did and did not consider a professional.

Hobbs & Shaw Leads to More Offscreen Drama

After the franchise’s eighth film finished Johnson starred in the series’ only spinoff with Jason Statham in 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw. That film, which pushed back the making and release of Fast 9, led an angry Tyrese Gibson to publicly state he would not return as Roman Pearce if Johnson also appeared in the main franchise’s ninth installment. Gibson then reignited the spat two years later with his own now deleted Instagram post. In it he ripped both the spinoff and Johnson after the film’s subpar opening weekend.

But as bad as all of that was, Johnson seemed to finally slam the car door shut on a potential return to the Fast & Furious return in 2021.

The Rock Accuses Vin Diesel of “Manipulation”

In October of 2020 Universal Pictures announced Fast X would be the first part of a two-movie franchise finale. (It may or may not end up being a trilogy, instead.) The Rock, who had been such an important part of the series since Luke Hobbs’ debut in Fast 5, said he would not be appearing in either film.

Despite their obvious issues, Vin Diesel tried to lure Johnson back with an Instagram post of his own. That one—in all its bizarre Vin Diesel-esque glory/shamelessness—is still up. It’s also still shocking in its tone and message.

To the surprise of no one, Dwayne Johnson did not appreciate Diesel’s approach to coaxing/embarrassing him into a return.

The Rock responded in blunt terms about Diesel’s post during an interview with CNN shortly after. He said it “surprised” him because the two had spoken privately and “directly” over social media months earlier. Johnson said he had already told Diesel in “firm yet cordial” terms he “would always be supportive of the cast and always root for the franchise to be successful, but that there was no chance I would return.”

While Johnson wished the franchise, his former co-stars and crew, and fans success, Diesel’s ploy seemed to backfire spectacularly. In December of 2021 it seemed impossible Dwayne Johnson would ever again appear in a Fast & Furious film. How could he after all of that?

Dwayne Johnson Makes a Truly Shocking Return Along with Gal Gadot in Fast X Mid-Credits Scene

Oh, right, we forgot: money exists.

As does forgiveness, mediation, friendship, professional fulfillment, closure, studio side deals/promises, scripts that can keep two actors apart (you know, like Furious 7 and Fast & Furious 8), and a million other valid reasons that can make someone change their mind.

Dwayne Johnson will likely share his with fans eventually, but regardless of whatever offscreen drama still exists between him and his co-stars, what matters for the actual movies is that Luke Hobbs is back for the franchise’s final ride.

What Did Fast X‘s Mid-Credits Scene Reveal About Luke Hobbs?

After finding himself imprisoned for an off-the-book’s mission that went wrong, Luke Hobbs had a chance to get his old job back as Diplomatic Security Service agent at the end of The Fate of the Furious. Instead he told Mr. Nobody he was electing to spend more time with his daughter.

That quality time together didn’t last long. He got called back to action in Hobbs & Shaw, where he worked with his former enemy Deckard Shaw to save the world. Hobbs’ reunion with his family in the film seemed to be where his story would end. But Fast X found him still leading missions for a government agency again. He was part of the team searching through an empty mansion.

Why Does Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes Hate Luke Hobbs?

Inside he found another one of Dante Reyes’ multi-monitor setups, along with a cellphone. When Hobbs answered the phone Dante let him know that while Dominic Toretto might have brought his father to that bridge it was Hobbs who put the bullets in his dad’s head. Dante is coming after Hobbs, who says he’s not hard to find.

That brief exchange indicates Dwayne Johnson will make a big and meaningful return in Fast 11 (and possibly 12 if it exists). Dante is the series-ending big bad, and he has his eyes set on making Hobbs—a father himself—suffer.

Does this mean Johnson’s beef with Vin Diesel and Tyrese Gibson is over for good? Have they all truly buried the hatchet for good? Or is this simply a professional decision based on what’s best for both their careers and the end of a franchise they all care about?

For fans who wanted to see Luke Hobbs back for Fast X, it doesn’t really matter. Well, so long as Dante doesn’t hurt his daughter.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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The only thing the Fast & Furious franchise loves more than cars and family is bringing main characters back from the dead. Both Letty and Han survived seemingly fatal explosions thanks to the combined power of editing and shameless retcons. But Fast X made both of those resurrections seem reasonable with a return that was absolutely absurd even if it felt inevitable. Gal Gadot’s Gisele, thought to have died ten years ago in Fast & Furious 6, is alive! And also driving a nuclear submarine in Antarctica! And maybe working for Cipher? Or Mr. Nobody? Or Mr. Nobody’s daughter?

How is she alive at all? Why did she go into hiding in the first place? And did she finally reemerge because she saw Han’s new dating profile? Clearly there’s a lot to unpack about Gisele’s perplexing return, so here’s our best attempt at explaining it.

What Do We Know About Gal Gadot’s Fast & Furious Character?

Gisele Yashar made her debut in the franchise’s fourth film, Fast & Furious. The skilled intelligence operative began her career as a Mossad agent before going to work for Mr. Nobody in the CIA. He called her the “best” agent he had back in “the good old days.”

At some point she then joined Arturo Braga’s underworld enterprise in Mexico. The series has never explicitly confirmed whether she had become a criminal or if she was simply working undercover in Braga’s outfit. However, all circumstantial evidence points to the latter. That includes how her last name Yashar translates to “upright” in Hebrew.

No matter her past allegiances, Gisele became an important member of the Fast family. She saved an amnesiac Letty’s life and helped her reunite with Dom. Gisele then answered the call to join Dom’s crew and rob Hernan Reyes’s fortune in Rio de Janeiro. She then shocked Mr. Nobody by leaving The Agency so she could travel the world with her new love, Han.

Their plans to settle down in Tokyo ended in what had been the character’s last film before Fast X.

How Did Gal Gadot’s Gisele “Die” in Furious 6?

The love of Han’s life sacrificed herself to save him at the end of Furious 6. The two were fighting together atop a car attached to a giant cargo ship that was already airborne. (Only this franchise, right?) Han was holding onto to a dangling Gisele when she saw their foe about to murder Han. Rather than let Han die, she let go, pulled out her gun, and shot their enemy in midair while falling backwards at a ludicrous speed. That all happened in the split second before she must have smashed into the ground. (Again, only a Fast & Furious movie could pull this off.)

There was little reason to think Gisele could have possibly survived. The plane (and therefore her car it was dragging) was likely traveling at least 184 mph. At that speed even the invincible Dom Toretto might have hurt himself. But, just as co-stars Sung Kang and Vin Diesel wanted—it turns out she did survive!

How Did Gal Gadot’s Gisele Return in Fast X?

The specifics of how Gisele survived an otherwise fatal fall are unknown and probably don’t ultimately matter. The franchise found easy ways for Letty and Han to come back from certain death. And the laws of physics (especially gravity) don’t matter in the franchise, so why would a fall off a car at 200 mph?

We can guess who helped her pull off her disappearing act. Mr. Nobody, her former boss, successfully helped Han fake his own death so he could go into hiding. Han was trying to protect a loved one at the time. With enemies all around the world, Gisele might have taken Mr. Nobody’s offer to do the same after she magically survived. Her “death” might have left Han heartbroken, but it might have kept both of them alive.

Okay Fine, But How Did Gisele Show Up on a Submarine in Antarctica?

:deep breath:

:second, longer deep breath:

Mr. Nobody’s likely involvement with Gisele’s secret life is the most logical explanation for why she returned. On a nuclear submarine. In Antarctica.

Letty and Cipher had been imprisoned at a black site run by the Agency, which the missing Mr. Nobody once led. Few people in the world would even know it was there. Even fewer would have access to a submarine to drive there. And only a couple of people would know Letty was there and needed rescuing.

Mr. Nobody and his most trusted associates, especially his daughter, are the only ones who fit that very specific criteria.

We don’t know Mr. Nobody’s fate, but his daughter Tess (played by Brie Larson) did put Letty’s escape in motion. She injured Letty, getting her into the same room as Cipher who helped break them out. The two would have been stuck wandering through that frozen wasteland had Gisele not shown up to save them. It seems as though Tess’s plan involved sending Gisele out with the world’s most expensive Uber.

I Guess That Makes Sense, But Was That the Submarine We Saw Before?

That can’t be the submarine from the franchise’s eighth film, The Fate of the Furious. Dom’s crew destroyed Cipher’s carjacked nuclear sub in that film with a rocket. This was a totally different billion dollar vessel being driven around like a stolen dirt bike.

This shouldn’t surprise us even if it’s totally ludicrous.

Why Would Gisele Come Out of Hiding Now?

The easy/correct answer is that the franchise is ending and every dead hero comes back eventually. That’s what always happens. (We put John Cena’s odds of returning at 99.9%.) But we’ll try and answer this with an in-universe explanation.

Is it possible Gisele has been working for Cipher this whole time? Literally anything is possible in these films. But it seems as though Gisele was called upon by the Nobodies when there was nowhere else to turn. Letty needed someone from her “family” to not only save her but all the rest. And whatever reason Gisele had for hiding in the first place isn’t as important as stopping Dante.

Either that or Gisele saw Han is finally ready to start dating and is not okay with that. Honestly, that makes us much sense as anything having to do with the latest Fast & Furious resurrection.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post FAST X’s Shocking Surprise Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

Clone High‘s last original episode debuted on March 2, 2003. For those of you born after that date, no, that’s not a typo. It’s been more than 20 years since the sex-crazed teenage clones of Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Mahatma Gandhi, JFK, and Cleopatra found themselves frozen in ice. Now the show’s creators (and members of the main cast) Phil Lord and Chris Miller are finally thawing them out at Max.

What are the challenges of reviving a comedy after two decades? How did they decide what historical figures would get in on the fun this time? And just how much of what we’ll see in this long-awaited second season was planned 20 years ago? We asked them about all that and more when we got a chance to speak to Lord and Miller about Clone High season two.

Nerdist: Obviously the world has changed a lot since you created Clone High. So while it holds up, I’m sure there are elements of the first season you loved then that you wouldn’t include now.

Phil Lord: Sure.

How does this revival maintain the original spirit and tone of the show fans have always loved while also appealing to an audience with different comedic sensibilities?

Lord: I feel like the show has always been strangely tenderhearted, even when it is comedically “going for it.” It’s got affection through all the characters, and I think that holds true now. There are things that I would want back (from the original). I would say, Chris, for me, number one, Mena Suvari’s forehead didn’t deserve a clap back. And there’s a long list, but-

Chris Miller: Yeah, there’s a long list of things. I don’t need to itemize them all. There are things I would take back today if given the opportunity, but we move forward often. But I also think there’s a lot of new stuff going on in the world. Just being able to have a show that can be silly and heartfelt at the same time, and try to skewer tropes and do twists on things, it’s still relevant as long as you’re just talking about the things that we’re thinking about today.

And I’m sure we’re crossing other lines that 20 years from now when we do the third one we’ll be like, “Oh, man, I wish we didn’t do that.”

Lord: Yeah, exactly.

We’re getting new historical figures like Harriet Tubman, Christopher Columbus, Frida Kahlo, and Confucius as main characters this time around. How did you determine which famous people to add to the mix?

Lord: We mostly focused on people that teenagers have heard of. But then, also, what would be good dilemmas for the characters to have?

[Showrunner] Erica [Rivinoja] focused on what would it be like to be Confucius and have to live up to this incredibly intelligent, insightful, clone father. How would that person try to parse himself into today? What if the pithy things he said were actually lame, but with a big heart? Likewise with Frida Kahlo. What if she was just unbelievably chill and knew how cool she was? I think we found really, really fun characters.

Miller: And it starts with a thought that’s funny, like, “Oh, it’s probably a bad time to be the clone of Christopher Columbus right now.” Then it evolves into a more three-dimensional character from that. “Oh, that would be tough. How would that person try and deal with it at this time?” And then trying to figure out how that person exists beyond that, it was part of the fun.

What other historical figures, at any point over the last 20 years, have you seriously considered for season two and why didn’t they make the cut?

Miller: (laughs) I mean, I remember we made some lists of people at one point, but this character set came from Erica. She developed these takes on these new characters and the writer’s room all worked together to figure out how they interacted with each other, what their relationships would be, what they really were beyond the quick pitch.

And, as needed, we would add to characters to stories. We’d be like, “Well, which historical figure could this be?” And then we’re like, “Oh, this could be Lady Godiva.” So you try to think about what the character needs are and then figure out, “Who would most interestingly or best represent that?”

How confident are you the revered historical figures—so not Columbus—who are now part of the cast won’t cause the same types of problems that Clone Gandhi did for you previously?

Miller: (they both laugh) Not confident at all.

Lord: You got to swing the bat.

Miller: Right.

Well, do you want to reveal anything? Is there any chance we ever see Clone Gandhi again?

Lord: Well, we’ve made a few nods to him during the season. And we did leave him frozen just in case there’s a season four. But yeah, for now we’re leaving him on ice.

How hard was that? Because he’s such a great character, obviously. And he’s such an important part of first season.

Miller: He did leave a-larger-than-his-size hole. Thankfully a bunch of the new characters could each pick up a different part of his personality. And it’s shaking up the dynamic as part of what these teen shows do. We’re going to throw some new things in there, and we’re always changing who’s dating who and who’s mad at who and trying to stir the pot a little bit. But obviously he was a lot of fun, but so are a lot of the characters.

The show is going to pick up where season one ended as everyone gets unfrozen. How much of what we’re going to see in season two is based on what you originally had planned for it 20 years ago?

Lord: Well, we did originally think they would wake up and not remember what had happened to them and slowly put it together. So in that sense the idea was that it would start the way the first season started. I think we held true to that.

Miller: That’s right. But mostly, we didn’t have a lot of specific plans for season two. We had a lot of kooky ideas, but it’s not like we had it all mapped out. “Here are the 10 episodes.” Or the 13 episodes. I don’t even know what would we do or how many episodes people make these days.

My last question, I think, is my most important. And not that you haven’t been honest, but I would like you both to be very honest. How much of this revival is simply an excuse for you guys to do the voices of Principal Scudworth, Mr. Butlertron, and JFK again?

Lord: (both laugh) The SAG Awards demand that we reprise these roles. I’ll say that it’s really fun to scream into a microphone.

Miller: It’s been really fun to revive those parts, to shake off the rust and just goof around. That’s really been one of the most fun parts of the whole thing.

I’m surprised you said shake off the rust. I had assumed you guys just do those voices all the time on your own anyway.

Lord: Only when we get in a fight.

Clone High returns with its second season May 23 at Max.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post Phil Lord and Chris Miller On Bringing CLONE HIGH Back After 20 Years appeared first on Nerdist.

The teenage clone of Joan of Arc spent Clone High‘s first season pining after the teenage clone of Abraham Lincoln. It was a tale as told as time. Kinda. But it’s one stars Nicole Sullivan and Will Forte have had to wait 20 years to resume. The cult classic animated MTV series is finding new life at Max.

Did the two ever expect to return to school? What was it like having their characters thawed out after such a long time? And what’s it like playing Joan and Abe now? Those are just some of the questions we asked Sullivan and Forte when we got a chance to speak to them ahead of Clone High‘s long-awaited second season.

Nerdist: Did you give up faith this revival was going to happen someday? Or did you always have hope it would?

Will Forte: I didn’t give up faith just because after it was canceled the first time I assumed it would never happen again. Then somewhere along the line, maybe a decade after it was canceled, I think I heard some kind of rumor they were going to try to bring it back. Or maybe even Chris [Miller] and Phil [Lord] said, “Oh, we should try to bring Clone High back.” So there was something in the air at some point that that was on their wish list.

I do remember having a very positive feeling. This was my first acting job. So it was a very special experience that I had back in the day. I was way more nervous than I probably should have been just because it was such a low-key job with friends. So it was very, very nice. When I heard it finally was actually going to happen, it was just exhilarating. I never knew it was even possible. That’s not something I thought. And this time around I was just so much more relaxed because I had 20 years of experience under my belt and it was just like this fun homecoming. A little reunion party with our buddies.

Nicole, you get the phone call this is really going to happen. What’s your reaction?

Nicole Sullivan: My reaction, honestly, was I always thought it would. When I was recording it, I didn’t quite get, I just didn’t get it exactly. I was like, “This is a young person show.”

And then I watched it when it came out and I was like, “Oh, this is genius.” Then I thought, “There’s no way. There’s no way they can’t revisit this.” And on my social media and stuff, people are always talking about Clone High. Always, always, always. I mean, you can’t assume anything, but then when [co-creator] Bill (Lawrence) gave me the call and was like, “I think we’re trying to do this. Don’t tell anyone.” I was like, “I’m there buddy.”

What people now think is funny is really different from when Clone High debuted. Did either of you have any concerns you could still make the show that fans love?

Forte: Well Chris and Phil, I mean, that whole team is so smart and so funny and they’re just good people, too. They have such a way of creating these shows that they can appeal to a mainstream audience, but still be delightfully weird. Most stuff that’s trying to appeal to a mainstream audience is pretty vanilla. They have a way of bringing people in with these weird concepts and they’re just so smart.

Sullivan: Right. I know them well, but I don’t pretend to know their inner workings. But exactly what Will said, they’ve got this ability to run on two different bandwidths, which is, “I’m a professional, let’s set up the shots.” And then the second bandwidth is, “What can we do to make this interesting?” They just live there. So when you’re working with them there’s no doubt that a) they’re going to get the thing they want done, and b) they’re going to make it crazier and more interesting than you ever thought.

Twenty years between seasons is a really long time to stay in character. What did you have to do to rediscover Abe and Joan?

Sullivan: Well, we mostly just would meet each other for lunch and not make out. That was what we did for 20 years.

Forte: [Laughs] Yeah, I mean, my Abraham Lincoln voice was just this. [Laughs] It’s basically been just saying whatever words are on the page with my natural speaking voice pretty much.

Sullivan: That’s my favorite thing is when people go like, “Oh my God, I love your show. My cousin, can we call him and you do the voice for my cousin on the phone?” I’m like, “Umm…I can do the voice, but it sounds a little something like thiiiiis.”

It’s sounds exactly like me, so it’s not like you’re calling The Simpsons characters. And that’s a different thing. We’re just using our voices.

But human voices do change, especially over 20 years. So did you have to do anything to try to recapture exactly how you sounded then or did you just go with the flow?

Sullivan: [Laughs] Should I have?

Forte: I feel like maybe in 15 more years it might have been an issue or start to get [changes voice to sound like an old man] that Grandpa Walton sound. But really, if anything, it was way easier this time around. At least for me. I was so in my head the first time I did this because I just felt like my voice was so boring. I wasn’t used to doing this kind of work.

Then you come back and you have a little more confidence, a little more experience, and I was able to have so much more fun this time around. Not to say that it wasn’t a blast back in the day. But I was just so filled with neuroses just because I had never really done it before. So getting to do this again at this stage of my life has just been a very pleasant experience.

Nicole, you’ve played some normal characters over the course of your career, but Will is the teenage clone of Abraham Lincoln the most normal character you’ve ever played in yours?

Forte: The most normal character? Certainly up there, yes. probably the guy I got to be in Nebraska. Yeah, him and Abe Lincoln in Clone High.

Sullivan: Character from Nebraska. I totally agree. [Note: This was also the only answer the Nerdist staff could come up with ahead of this interview.]

Forte: Or Alan Bishopman, E-Z Swords salesman in Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie. That’s my other very normal character.

Last question. I have a theory I would like to run by the both of you. My theory is that this revival has nothing to do with finishing the story or bringing back a cult classic. I think Phil Lord and Chris Miller simply wanted an excuse to do the voices of Scudworth, JFK, and Mr. Butlertron again. Am I 100% right or only 99% right?

Sullivan: Can I tell you, when I watch them and they’re both on camera and they’re doing the voices, they both make each other laugh so hard, still. They have to go off, they find it hilarious. And I think that’s the most endearing thing about them is that 20 years later they love what they’re doing.

Clone High season two finally debuts on May 23 at Max.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at  @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post Will Forte and Nicole Sullivan Talk About Finally Returning to CLONE HIGH appeared first on Nerdist.

Martin Scorsese secured his place in Hollywood’s elite directors Pantheon long ago. In fact, we could erase some of his best works from our memories and he’d still deserve a spot. But his next movie will give fans something they’ve dreamed of for a long time. The two iconic actors most associated with the seminal filmmaker will finally come together in one of his movies. Killers of the Flower Moon stars both of his longtime Oscar-winning collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. And the film’s intense first trailer promises the wait for this super team-up will be worth it, with a story about power, murder, oil, and love.

Scorsese, DiCaprio, and De Niro is overkill in terms of selling a movie, but we’ll never complain about getting a trailer this good. Plus, the film also features a script from Scorsese and the great Eric Roth (The Insider, Ali, Munich, A Star is Born, Dune). Few movies ever have a fraction of this creative power behind it.

The people making it aren’t the only reason this film has been on movie lovers radars’ since it was first announced in the “before times.” It’s based on the critically-acclaimed, best-selling non-fiction book of the same name from David Grann. Killers of the Flower Moon explores a “string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror” inflicted on the Native American Osage Nation.

Here’s Apple TV+’s official synopsis for the adaptation:

At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an epic western crime saga, where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal.

The movie also stars Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Brendan Fraser, and Jillian Dion.

Made in partnership with Paramount Pictures, Killers of the Flower Moon will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20. The movie will come to theaters with a limited engagement later this year. It debuts on October 6 with a wider release on October 20. The film will eventually land on Apple TV+.

That’s a lot longer than we want to wait to see it. But after years of anticipation to have Scorsese, DiCaprio, and De Niro to get together on a movie together? Well, it’s not that long.

The post KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Trailer Brings Scorsese, DiCaprio, and De Niro Together appeared first on Nerdist.

Like many ’90s kids, one of the great joys of my childhood was mixing all of the sodas at Taco Bell. That rudimentary mishmash is still one of the best drinks I ever had, but it now seems quaint. Coca-Cola Freestyle machines let us customize our selections with a seemingly infinite number of combinations. However, that hyper flavor specificity is coming to the world of condiments with Kraft Heinz’s new Heinz Remix machine. It’s a first-of-its-kind customizable dispenser that will allow customers craft the exact dipping sauce they desire.

The Kraft Heinz Company has announced (in news we first saw at CNN) the next big innovation in condiments. (Please don’t ask us what the last one was.) The free-standing, touchscreen machine took only six months to develop from concept to product.

Here’s how it works. The Heinz Remix comes with a handful of base sauce options. They include ketchup, Ranch, 57 Sauce, and BBQ Sauce. The fun and personalization comes from what the company refers to as “enhancers.” As of now they are: Jalapeño, Smoky Chipotle, Buffalo, and Mango. But even those come with some variety. Users can select their “preferred intensity level” of either low, medium, or high.

This machine is a big leap from the company’s relatively new line of Heinz Remix combo condiments.

“As a company, we’re transforming through innovation by making bigger, more intentional bets to fuel our growth and create new experiences for consumers,” said Alan Kleinerman, Vice President of Disruption, Kraft Heinz, in a statement. “Heinz Remix is a great example of this consumer-first approach to innovation. We’re changing the game for foodservice operators and sauce lovers – dipping will never be the same. With Heinz Remix, it’s more than a sauce dispenser; it’s an insights engine and business model enabler that will help Kraft Heinz understand and respond to consumer trends and flavor preferences in real-time. Who knows – maybe our next new sauce combination will come from a superfan using Heinz Remix!”

The machine will make its public debut this weekend at the 2023 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago (May 20-23, 2023). Kraft Heinz says its current plan is to start getting them to restaurant operators in late 2023 to early 2024.

I volunteer as tribute. I am a ’90s kids, after all. We were customizable dispenser innovators.

The post Kraft’s Heinz Remix Machine Will Let You Create Custom Condiments appeared first on Nerdist.

The Guardians of the Galaxy had plenty of familiar faces join them for their last ride. The group’s third and final film featured a bevy of returning co-stars from the franchise. It also included some new characters played by some pretty famous stars. Did you catch them all? Or did some fly over your head like a rocket flying into the forever? Don’t worry if you missed any. Here’s every major supporting role and all the cameos—including those we knew were coming, ones we expected, and those we didn’t see coming—we spotted in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Cameos We Knew About in Advance

Linda Cardellini, Mikaela Hoover, and Asim Chaudhry as Lylla, Floor, and Teefs

Linda Cardellini, Mikaela Hoover, and Asim Chaudhry’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameos as Lylla the otter, Floor the rabbit, and Teefs the walrus were among the best.

Batch 89 will forever remain in our hearts.

Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord

Sylvester Stallone once again played Yondu’s former Ravager mentor Stakar Ogord. Only this time he had a new member in his clan. The 2014 Gamora had joined the Ravagers following her departure from Earth in Avengers: Endgame. Stakar helped facilitate Gamora’s (not ultimately) paid mission with the Guardians to break into the Orgoscope. He then warmly welcomed her back to the Ravagers at the end of Vol. 3. It was fun to see this Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameo in action, even though we already knew it was coming.

Nathan Fillion as Orgoscope Guard Master Karja

When he wasn’t busy dealing with his idiot employee, Nathan Fillion’s easily annoyed Master Karja and his organic orgosentry uniform were trying to capture the Guardians on the Orgoscope. Karja was a good shot, but even he couldn’t fire in zero gravity.

Tara Strong as Mainframe

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Tara Strong, Loki‘s Miss Minutes herself, replaced Miley Cyrus as the voice of the Ravager Mainframe for one of the more sneaky cameos. The floating mechanical artificial intelligence head first appeared in Vol. 2.

Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex T’Naga

Stakar’s first officer Martinex T’Naga, played by Michael Rosenbaum, also returned in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The crystal-headed Ravager was glad to have Gamora in the clan.

Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha

Elizabeth Debicki’s Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign was not the powerful figure we first met in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Her peoples’ creator, the High Evolutionary, had her under his thumb (thanks to a box that let him lord over her). She was determined to have her own creation, Adam, capture Rocket for the High Evolutionary to earn the Sovereign his favor. But Ayesha died when the High Evolutionary destroyed Counter-Earth.

Jennifer Holland as Orgoscope Administrator Kwol

James Gunn truly made the film a family affair by bringing his wife and Peacemaker standout Jennifer Holland to the MCU. In Holland’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameo, she played Orgoscope administrator Kwol who Gamora shot in the leg. Kwol was also shocked by Adam Warlock’s fatal misunderstanding of how to intimidate a witness.

Daniela Melchior as Orgoscope Employee Ura

Holland wasn’t the only DC alum Gunn brought into the Guardians franchise. The Suicide Squad director also found a role for Ratcatcher 2, Daniela Melchior, in the MCU movie. She played the kidnapped Orgoscope employee Ura, who may or may not have found Star-Lord charming.

Krugarr

Another former member of Stakar’s clan, first seen in Vol. 2, was back working with his old leader in Vol. 3. The silent-but-funny sorcerer Krugarr opened the portals his fellow Ravagers used to board the Guardians ship near the Orgoscope.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Surprise Cameos That Weren’t Surprising

Seth Green as Howard the Duck

Just as he had in the previous two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Howard the Duck made a cameo in Vol. 3. He was seen playing poker on Knowhere.

Christopher Fairbank as the Broker

Also spotted at that poker game was Christopher Fairbank’s Broker. This cameo was more than just an Easter egg from the first film. It revealed not every citizen of Xander died during Thanos’ attack when the Mad Titan stole the Power Stone.

Rhett Miller as Bzermikitokolok

The Old 97’s Rhett Miller was still rocking out on Knowhere as Bzermikitokolok, the leader singer and guitarist of the band that performed original Christmas songs during The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. He was also in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s cameo-filled poker game.

Gregg Henry as Grandpa Quill

Gregg Henry made it three-for-three in the Guardians trilogy as he once again played Quill’s grandfather. The two had an emotional reunion and appeared together during the film’s second and final post-credits scene.

Stephen Blackehart as Steemie

Knowhere’s dispatcher Steemie, played by Stephen Blackehart, was still on the job inside the dead Celestial’s skull in Vol. 3, just as he had been in the original movie and in the group’s Holiday Special. The Guardians relied on him to help them during the evacuation of the High Evolutionary’s ship. That was a far cry from when Drax put a knife to his throat years ago.

Actual Surprise Cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Michael Rooker as Yondu

James Gunn kept to his word and didn’t undo Yondu’s death. But that didn’t stop him from finding a way to bring back Michael Rooker and his blue “angel” for one last cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He appeared as a vision to Kraglin, as Yondu told his old friend to use his heart to guide his whistle arrow.

James Gunn as Lambshank, The Definitely Not Scary, Really Cool Looking Amorphous Blob

Blink and you would have missed one of the film’s strangest creatures. But that was impossible thanks to Mantis’s totally real compliment. It brought attention to Lambshank, the weird little blob voiced by James Gunn himself.

Pete Davidson as Phlektik

Another alum from The Suidice Squad made their way into the MCU with a secret cameo. Pete Davidson played Phlektik. And he was really on set to film the role even though it was impossible to know he was really there.

Judy Greer as War Pig

Judy Greer, for reasons we’ll never understand, was not in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But she did become a two-time MCU member in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. She voiced the High Evolutionary’s War Pig, the bioengineered muscle who lost its head to Adam Warlock while trying to kidnap Rocket.

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