There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding who the main antagonist will be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The first teaser trailer, which dropped as a post-credit sequence for Spider-Man: No Way Home, hinted at Strange being his own worst enemy. Yet, we also got a glimpse at a familiar creature from Marvel Comics history. The great Shuma-Gorath appeared with his classic green tentacle design, but it turns out it’s a creature known as “Gargantos.” The latest merchandise dropped and offered a closer look at his design, and he looks exactly like Gorath. So, why the change?
At face value, we can assume that they simply updated Gargantos’ design. It actually had closer ties to Namor than Doctor Strange in the comics, which is why it was a bit confusing when the name first popped up in July. It was revealed that Yenifer Molina will voice the role and outside of some rumors, there never was an official confirmation of Gorath’s inclusion. Yet, the design is copied from Gorath’s design from the comics. As such, it seems more like it’s the same character with a new name. There is the distinct possibility that the character was renamed due to the rights issues surrounding the name “Shuma-Gorath.”
While the Marvel character first appeared in a 1973 issue of Marvel Premiere #10, the name was first used in a short story titled “The Curse of the Golden Skull” by Robert E. Howard. As such, Marvel doesn’t technically own the rights to the name and may have chosen to rename him to avoid legal disputes. It’s a shame given how Lovecraftian the original sounds in comparison, but it’s not the first time they’ve done this. Especially with the character being heavily used in marketing, they might want to avoid any legal issues of using his name.
There is one element that might still speak in favor of Shuma-Gorath appearing in the film as a separate character. When you look back at the casting, Molina is listed as “Gargantos 2,” which would imply there are multiple versions of the character. While the inclusion of a number seems meaningless at first, it may be our first clear indicator that there’s more to Gargantos than meets the eyes. If there is indeed more than one version of this monster, it may be a hint that this isn’t just a singular entity.
So, while they may still avoid the name of Shuma-Gorath, there are hints that there’s more to Gargantos. He does seem small for a multiversal enemy with the name inspired by “gargantuan.” Though the name is fitting for a being wanting to take over the entire multiverse. Strange’s villains tend to be larger than life and it wouldn’t be too surprising that the being is simply an off-spring of something much larger, maybe even ethereal. Dormammu only had a physical form to interact with the infiltrator of his Dark Dimension. So, perhaps at the end of the multiverse, Strange will come face-to-face with its true form. We’ll know more once the film releases in May.
If you somehow missed it, you can check out the film’s first trailer here:
Spider-Man: No Way Home Avengers: Endgame Captain America: The Winter Soldier Black Panther Avengers: Infinity War Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: Civil War Guardians of the Galaxy Spider-Man: Far From Home The Avengers Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Iron Man Captain Marvel Doctor Strange Loki Eternals Spider-Man: Homecoming Hawkeye WandaVision Ant-Man and The Wasp Avengers: Age of Ultron Black Widow The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Iron Man 2 Captain America: The First Avenger Thor Ant-Man Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 The Incredible Hulk Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 3 What If…?
Charles Murphy
Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: The Winter Soldier Avengers: Endgame Spider-Man: No Way Home Iron Man Loki Guardians of the Galaxy Avengers: Infinity War The Avengers Black Panther Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Hawkeye Captain America: Civil War Avengers: Age of Ultron Ant-Man and The Wasp WandaVision Spider-Man: Homecoming Black Widow Spider-Man: Far From Home Ant-Man Captain America: The First Avenger Doctor Strange The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Iron Man 3 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Eternals Captain Marvel Thor What If…? Iron Man 2 Thor: The Dark World The Incredible Hulk
Joseph Aberl
Spider-Man: No Way Home Avengers: Infinity War Captain America: The Winter Soldier Loki Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Iron Man Black Panther Avengers: Endgame Thor: Ragnarok Spider-Man: Homecoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Avengers: Age of Ultron WandaVision Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man: Far From Home Iron Man 3 Hawkeye Ant-Man Doctor Strange Guardians of the Galaxy The Falcon and the Winter Soldier The Avengers Ant-Man and the Wasp Captain America: The First Avenger Black Widow Thor Eternals Captain Marvel What If…? Iron Man 2 The Incredible Hulk Thor: The Dark World
Megan Murphy
Spider-Man: No Way Home Avengers: Infinity War Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Captain America: The Winter Soldier Iron Man Hawkeye Black Panther Avengers: Endgame Spider-Man: Homecoming Spider-Man: Far From Home Loki WandaVision Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: Civil War Iron Man 3 Doctor Strange Ant-Man The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy The Avengers Captain America: The First Avenger Black Widow Ant-Man and The Wasp Captain Marvel Thor Eternals Iron Man 2 Avengers: Age of Ultron The Incredible Hulk Thor: The Dark World
*Megan did not watch What If…?
Joao Pinto
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Avengers: Infinity War Avengers: Endgame The Avengers Guardians of the Galaxy Thor: Ragnarok Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Loki Captain America: Civil War Black Panther Spider-Man: No Way Home WandaVision Doctor Strange Captain America: The First Avenger Spider-Man: Homecoming Hawkeye Iron Man 3 Ant-Man Avengers: Age of Ultron Iron Man Ant-Man and the Wasp The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Spider-Man: Far from Home Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Black Widow Captain Marvel Thor Eternals What If…? Iron Man 2 Thor: The Dark World The Incredible Hulk
Mary Maerz
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Avengers: Endgame The Avengers Captain America: Civil War Thor: Ragnarok Avengers: Infinity War Spider-Man: No Way Home Avengers: Age of Ultron Iron Man 3 Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Black Panther Guardians of the Galaxy Ant-Man WandaVision Doctor Strange Iron Man Iron Man 2 Hawkeye Loki Spider-Man: Far From Home Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spider-Man: Homecoming Captain America: The First Avenger Eternals The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Black Widow What If…? Captain Marvel Ant-Man and The Wasp Thor The Incredible Hulk Thor: The Dark World
Filip Manka
Eternals Black Panther Captain America: The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Loki Avengers: Endgame Guardians of the Galaxy Avengers: Infinity War Spider-Man: Homecoming Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: Civil War Doctor Strange Spider-Man: No Way Home Captain America: The First Avenger Spider-Man: Far From Home The Avengers WandaVision Ant-Man Iron Man Hawkeye Thor What If…? Captain Marvel Black Widow Avengers: Age of Ultron Iron Man 3 Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 2 Ant-Man and The Wasp The Incredible Hulk
Anthony Canton III
Avengers: Infinity War Spider-Man: No Way Home Captain America: The Winter Soldier Thor: Ragnarok Avengers: Endgame Spider-Man: Far From Home Captain America: Civil War WandaVision Loki Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Black Panther The Avengers Spider-Man: Homecoming Guardians of the Galaxy Hawkeye Ant-Man and The Wasp Black Widow Avengers: Age of Ultron Ant-Man Iron Man Doctor Strange Eternals Captain Marvel The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Thor Captain America: The First Avenger Iron Man 3 Iron Man 2 What If…? Thor: The Dark World The Incredible Hulk
Arlyn Murphy
Spider-Man: No Way Home Hawkeye Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: The Winter Soldier Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Ant-Man and The Wasp Avengers: Infinity War Black Panther Black Widow The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Avengers: Endgame The Avengers WandaVision Captain America: The First Avenger Iron Man Guardians of the Galaxy Loki Ant-Man Doctor Strange Captain Marvel Captain America: Civil War Avengers: Age of Ultron Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spider-Man: Far From Home Thor Spider-Man: Homecoming The Incredible Hulk Eternals Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 3 What If…? Iron Man 2
John Sabato
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy Spider-Man: No Way Home Spider-Man: Homecoming Avengers: Infinity War Loki Wandavision Eternals Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Thor: Ragnorak Hawkeye Black Panther Avengers: Endgame Captain America: Civil War Avengers Iron Man 3 Captain Marvel Avengers: Age of Ultron Black Widow Ant-Man Doctor Strange The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Iron Man What if…? Spider-Man: Far From Home Captain America: The First Avenger Thor Iron Man 2 Ant-Man and The Wasp Thor: The Dark World The Incredible Hulk
Nathan Miller
Avengers: Endgame Avengers: Infinity War Eternals Black Panther Spider-Man: No Way Home Captain America: The Winter Soldier Captain America: Civil War Loki Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Hawkeye Thor: Ragnarok Captain Marvel Wandavision Spider-Man: Homecoming The Avengers Guardians of the Galaxy The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Doctor Strange Ant-Man Black Widow Captain America: The First Avenger Avengers: Age of Ultron Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spider-Man: Far From Home Ant-Man and the Wasp The Incredible Hulk Iron Man 3 What If…? Iron Man 2 Iron Man Thor Thor: The Dark World
Hunter Radesi
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Guardians of the Galaxy Captain America: The Winter Soldier Avengers: Endgame Loki Avengers: Infinity War Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings Avengers: Age of Ultron Spider-Man: No Way Home The Avengers Spider-Man: Homecoming Black Panther Hawkeye Thor: Ragnarok Captain America: Civil War Falcon and the Winter Soldier Spider-Man: Far From Home Eternals WandaVision Captain America: The First Avenger Iron Man Ant-Man Iron Man 3 Doctor Strange Ant-Man and The Wasp Black Widow What If…? Thor Iron Man 2 Thor: The Dark World Captain Marvel The Incredible Hulk
Murphy’s Multiverse Ultimate Ranking
***In order to create the Ultimate Ranking, we created a point system, totaled up the points for each movie and divided by the number of rankers to create an average. Each rankers top film received 32 points, their bottom film received 1 point.***
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (362 total points, average rank of 30.17) Avengers: Infinity War (341 total points, average rank of 28.42) Spider-Man: No Way Home (336 total points, average rank of 28) Avengers: Endgame (329 total points, average rank of 27.42) Thor: Ragnarok (300 total points, average rank of 25) Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings (299 total points, average rank of 24.92) Black Panther (297 total points, average rank of 24.75) Loki (283 total points, average rank of 23.58) Guardians of the Galaxy (267 total points, average rank of 22.25) Captain America: Civil War (256 total points, average rank of 21.33) The Avengers (244 total points, average rank of 20.33) Hawkeye (235 total points, average rank of 19.58) WandaVision (231 total points, average rank of 19.25) Spider-Man: Homecoming (229 total points, average rank of 19.08) Iron Man (201 total points, average rank of 16.75) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (188 total points, average rank of 15.67) Spider-Man: Far From Home (186 total points, average rank of 15.5) Doctor Strange (178 total points, average rank of 14.83) Avengers: Age of Ultron (177 total points, average rank of 14.75) Eternals (168 total points, average rank of 14.00) Ant-Man (163 total points, average rank of 13.58) The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (162 total points, average ran of 13.5) Black Widow (146 total points, average rank of 12.17) Captain America: The First Avenger (142 total points, average rank of 11.83) Ant-Man and The Wasp (131 total points, average ran of 10.92) Iron Man 3 (130 total points, average rank of 10.83) Captain Marvel (120 total points, average rank of 10.00) Thor (72 total points, average rank of 6.00) Iron Man 2 (59 total points, average rank of 4.91) What If…? (52 total points, average rank of 4.33) The Incredible Hulk (30 total points, average rank of 2.5) Thor: The Dark World (27 total points average ran of 2.25)
When it comes to long-form storytelling on the small-screen, it isn’t unusual for shows to lose their steam after multiple seasons. This is, of course, in part due to the typical 20+ episode order received by most primetime network, and the ability to stretch out a story over a long period of time. While miniseries are becoming more normal and networks (finally) welcoming 10 to 13 episode seasons, most shows are able to tighten the grasp on their stories. For Cobra Kai, the 10-episodes often worked in its favor. However, by the start of Season 4, most of the drama felt rehashed. Thankfully, Cobra Kai easily set itself up for a new story by season’s end while still offering a sense of closure to what came before.
For the past three seasons of Cobra Kai, the drama has focused on Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. They, of course, were the stars of the Karate Kid films from the 80s, and despite thirty-years having passed, the duo are unable to let go of their differences. After coming face-to-face with LaRusso, much to his chagrin, Johnny makes it a point to bring back Cobra Kai and teach kids to be “badass.” It’s a plot point that worked for the first few seasons, however, after four seasons, it does become a bit stale – especially with the continual sliminess of Kreese. The re-introduction of Terry Silver, however, makes it so Cobra Kai is able to start anew, in a sense.
After attacking a Cobra Kai “student” – and the term student is used lightly here as Stingray is an adult – Terry begins crafting a plan to overthrow Kreese and make Cobra Kai his own. Does it sound familiar? Yes, because Kreese managed to steal back Cobra Kai from Johnny after Season 2. The difference here, however, is that Kreese was finally on the verge of character development at the end of Season 4. There was a sense he was finally beginning to comprehend everything Johnny had been desperately trying to tell him, only to find himself behind bars due to Terry. As it turns out, Terry worked out a plan with Stingray, ensuring him he’ll become a Cobra Kai if he tells the police it was Kreese that put him in the hospital – not Silver. It’s a huge turning point for the series as it impacts numerous characters moving forward.
Sure, Johnny and LaRusso are bound to fight back against Silver, but this is no longer solely about these two characters any longer. Stingray has become so desperate to belong he’s willing to become someone else just to appear cool, while Kreese is on the verge of being more than a one-note villain as he’s thrown behind bars. More importantly, though, Silver is here to wreak havoc on Cobra Kai as a hole. He’s worse than Kreese ever was. Not only did he bribe a referee to ensure a win at the All Valley competition during Tory’s fight, but he also put a student in the hospital just to get rid of Kreese. He’s willing to go to extremes the series has not yet touched upon; Silver is the terrifying variant that the series needed moving forward.
As the series moves into its fourth season, with Season 5 having already filmed, it’s time Cobra Kai acknowledges people do grow from their mistakes. The amount of character development crafted over Season 4 is honestly impressive and makes for a promising Season 5. The best part, though, is for the first time since the series started? There’s no telling where things go from here, and the series can only be better for it.
When Cobra Kaiwas first announced as a YouTube Red series in 2017, many were curious to see how the series would go about redeeming Johnny. After all, he was a huge bully as a member of Cobra Kai in the Karate Kid films – films that hadn’t exactly done a great job of making him more than a one-sided villain. Thankfully, Cobra Kai offers more of a morally gray area to explore Johnny Lawrence as a character. The series has never shied away from his faults in the past. In fact, Cobra Kai seems to embrace his mistakes, allowing him to truly grow as a character.
He’s a screw-up. There’s no denying as much. Johnny will never be Daniel LaRusso. The temper is still there, although he’s more capable of holding it back these days, and he loves his Coors. Over the course of three seasons, though, Cobra Kai has turned Johnny from a one-note villain into a fully-realized character. He’s no longer merely a combative drunk looking to pick a fight. He’s a man determined to right his wrongs, even if he ultimately goes about doing things incorrectly.
The Johnny Lawrence we meet in Season 1 of Cobra Kai is a down on his luck man who is simply trying to make ends meet. When he finds himself before LaRusso again, though, things take a turn for the worse and he ultimately decides to reopen Cobra Kai – much to LaRusso’s chagrin. Enter Season 2: Johnny and LaRusso are still bitter enemies, who unknowingly impose their issues with each other onto their students, resulting in a massive fight that nearly kills one of the show’s main characters: Miguel.
Miguel, of course, is presented as a do-over for Johnny, who failed to be there for his son, Robby. While both characters are the same age, Miguel willingly accepts Johnny’s help and cherishes the time with his Sensei as he doesn’t have a father figure to look up to. Whereas, Robby is unwilling to look beyond the past and accept that his father wants to make things right. This is something we see further explained in Season 3 when Kreese steals Cobra Kai from Johnny and seeks to turn the students into trained fighters against Johnny’s will.
Johnny doesn’t want Cobra Kai to be what it was when he was younger. He wants it to be better; he wants the students to be better than him because he knows what Kreese taught them was wrong. He tries to be the good guy, but he can’t seem to get it right, no matter what he does. Thankfully, Season 4 of Cobra Kai looks ready to let Johnny grow beyond Cobra Kai as the trailer shows him working alongside LaRusso.
While Kreese, a war hero, is unable to let go of his past, Johnny wants nothing more than a chance at a future with those he hurt in his past. He wants what is best for Robby, even if he keeps screwing up trying to make things right with everyone else. He knows he wasn’t there for Robby in the past, but he wants to be there now, if only Robby would let him. It’s also clear he’s trying to move beyond his issues with LaRusso, knowing his own personal grudge against the man has done nothing but hurt those around him.
Johnny Lawrence has shown more growth throughout three seasons, while LaRusso often feels as though he has regressed. In a franchise that once feared allowing Johnny to be more than the bad guy, Cobra Kai has allowed him to be more than his past self: he’s a mess, sure, but he’s trying to clean up his mess. After all, as he showed by cutting off his step-father, we are more than what lay behind us.
At the start of 2021, I took it upon myself to try something I’ve never done: finish as many video games as I could in a span of the year. Finish in this context meant completing a game’s campaign/story. I completed 53 games in 52 weeks, ranging from clockwork puzzlers to post-apocalyptic immersive sims (you can see the full list here).
I would generally play one game at a time; sometimes two if they’re different enough (for example, playing a light puzzle game on the PC is a nice breather from grinding bosses in Final Fantasy 7 Remake). Mind you, no speedrunning was involved in any of these playthroughs. In some games, I tried to maximize how many achievements/trophies I could get in a single playthrough.
Overall, it’s an experience worth trying but it’s one I might not try again. At least not at the pace I did it. While I didn’t rush through any of them, a lot of my time was spent just curating which game to play for the month to avoid feeling burnt out. The process of doing that ironically burnt me out.
With all that out of the way, here are the ten best games that truly struck me out of the 53 I played. It should go without saying that none of these are games from the year.
Disco Elysium
Like any good hardboiled detective story, Disco Elysium opens with a detective walking up from a drunken stupor, spoken to and chastised by the black abyss of his mind. Disco Elysium seemingly plays like any other old-school CRPG yet breaks the mold with its distinct skill tree and Thought Cabinet system, representing the lead detective Harry DuBuois’ deepest thoughts and personality traits. These mechanics, partnered with the game’s elaborate vision of a dystopian continent, its lavish art style, and startlingly profound whodunnit story, makes it one of the best noir games ever made. It’s a game that sucks you in with its moral and political complexities.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
The concept of an open world with sandbox gameplay has never seen better days than when Hideo Kojima released his magnum opus Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In true Kojima fashion, none of the game’s minutiae – narrative and mechanics – have any business working but it all ends up coming together like a perfect storm. The game is rife with truly memorable moments such as the explosive prologue and its many infiltration missions, proudly wearing its many excesses on its sleeve. Even its lackluster second half is made worthwhile just by the scope of the gameplay mechanics. I spent more than 50 hours playing this, still don’t understand a damn thing about the story and that’s okay.
The Last of Us 2
The Last of Us 2 is an oxymoron: it’s fun as hell to shoot zombies and cult members yet it’s also so heavy to play through its narrative. Ellie’s spiraling story of vengeance and isolation held against Abby’s brutal search for her own humanity makes for a gaming experience that’s harrowing as it is engaging. The Last of Us 2 pulls no punches its moment-to-moment gameplay, making every second near-unforgettable, for better or worse. It was a blessing to be able to experience this game untethered from all the vitriol and hate surrounding it as I got to appreciate it for all that it was.
Spiritfarer
2021 was the year my adult self was ever faced with the prospect of death. Earlier this year, my mom had a near-death experience with COVID-19, to the point where she had said her last goodbyes to me. My mom thankfully survived the ordeal and but I wasn’t in the clear with death yet. Not too long ago, my adopted cat passed from a terminal condition.
It’s only fitting that the last game I played this year was Spiritfarer, a management simulation that is in many ways a study on death and the afterlife. Spiritfarer has all the bells and whistles of a management sim but its soulful premise is what makes it stand out. You play as Stella, a deceased girl tasked with bringing departed souls to the afterlife. The souls you meet throughout the game are people you’ve previously known in the physical world and it’s your job to make sure their trip to the afterlife is as comfortable as it can be.
Spiritfarer is almost a transformative experience for someone going through some form of grief. It’s a study in saying goodbye while also learning to tether one’s self to the things that matter. The game frequently moved me to tears that as soon as the credits rolled, I wept my eyes out. Spiritfarer is one powerful piece of art.
Risk of Rain 2
I’m never been big on roguelikes. I dislike randomness. I don’t like RNG-based mechanics. I like structure in my games. I don’t like to start fresh every playthrough. I like the hours I spend playing to be worthwhile that I can’t afford any of my progress to be temporary. Yet Risk of Rain 2 is my most played game of the year.
It’s hard to argue against a game that offers so much replayability, from the diverse characters with unique load-outs, the builds from the items you amass to the many secrets of the planet Petrichor V. The game also has a soundtrack straight out of the 70s progressive scene. Over a hundred hours in, I still find countless reasons to play the game.
Ori and The Will of the Wisps
Ori and The Will of the Wisps began my love affair with Metroidvanias. I coasted the past 10 years without playing a single one, not knowing what riches the genre offered. Having been aware of the first game, for the most part, it wasn’t until the trailer for Will of the Wisps came out that I got interested.
From the game’s main menu alone, I knew I was in for something special. Gareth Coker‘s score instantly cradles you into this lush yet dangerous world. Much like the creatures in the game, the music is just as much a character in it, evoking a sense of added wonder to this Laika-esque tale of family and friendship. In addition to that, the controls are so precise and kinetic. The level design, dynamic and always exciting.
Hollow Knight
If Ori and the Will of the Wisps was my gateway drug into the Metroidvania genre, Hollow Knight was my “git gud” rite of passage. I’ve never been more infuriated and enamored with a game simultaneously than Hollow Knight. It’s punishing yet so rewarding. The feeling of painstakingly getting through the White Palace, the hardest video game level I have ever encountered, dying every step of the way and eventually finishing it is a feeling of relief I’ll never get to feel again.
Persona 5
If you ever wondered what it was like to live life as a student by day and as an interdimensional creature collector by night, the Persona franchise is the franchise for you. The fifth installment of the series, puzzlingly titled Persona 5, singlehandedly scratched my annual JRPG itch in a way that Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake could not. Social simulators can’t get any better when you marry them with turn-based dungeon crawling and an anime narrative that’s one for the books. Persona 5’s scope is sprawling, as it offers players so many things to do. It also happens to feature one of the toughest last bosses I’ve ever fought in a JRPG.
Yakuza 0
If you told me that Yakuza 0, a franchise known for its silly excesses that have generated thousands of memes, would feature one of the most compelling crime stories put to a video game, I would have scoffed. But for all the insanity within Yakuza 0, writer Masayoshi Yokoyama pulls it off in a way that would make any other writer rife with envy. This is a game whose story I definitely enjoyed more than the gameplay.
Eastward
This game is memorable for being the first game I got to access early as a member of the press but that’s not the sole reason why this makes the list. Eastward is a charming pixel top-down adventure by way of the classic Zelda gems, set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The game is mechanically simplistic and is mostly driven by its sprawling, big-brained, sci-fi, JRPG narrative but it all comes together in a really satisfying way. The art style is so mesmerizing as well as the music.
Following the cancellation of Netflix’s streaming series, Daredevil, fans united under the #SaveDaredevil movement to make it clear that Charlie Cox’s iteration of the character shouldn’t be retired. In late 2020, the first reports of Cox’s return to the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home circulated and sparked a debate among disbelievers that wasn’t truly settled until nearly a year later when Kevin Feige finally declared that Cox would be returning in the role. Though his appearance was brief, it was met with thunderous applause in theaters and has fans wild with anticipation about when they might see him again. Several months ago, a source who confirmed Cox’s return to the MCU last December shared something that should add to that anticipation. When asked where Cox might appear again, the response was, “expect to see him everywhere.” With a recent run of rumors lining up with that statement, let’s take a look at what’s next for Cox’s character.
She-Hulk
Rumors have persisted that the next place we’ll see Charlie Cox is in Marvel Studios yet-to-be-dated for 2022 streaming series, She-Hulk. This rumor (is it even still a rumor at this point) makes too much sense for it not to happen and promises that Cox will have quite a bit more to do than catch a brick. Rumblings have Cox showing up in the court room as Murdock, where he’ll probably go up against Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters. The two, of course, faced off in Charles Soule’s 2014 She-Hulk, and had quite a fun relationship. It is worth noting that while the rumor has them facing off in a court case involving a superhero tailor, issue #9 of Soule’s run found the two on opposing sides of a case involving an old, depowered Steve Rogers. With Chris Evans rumored to return for two non-Captain America projects, his presence would make for one helluva surprise.
Of course that’s only half the rumor and the other half sounds a whole lot more fun. Probably also inspired from the same Soule run, the rumor suggests that Cox, sporting a shiny, new, yellow suit and kicking some ass as Daredevil. It looks as though Cox’s reintegration into the MCU is going to be step-by-step with She-Hulk giving fans their first chance to see Daredevil hit the skyline again. So we’ll see the character at least once in 2022, though there is a rumor he has some role to play in Moon Knight as well.
Echo
Daredevil is also rumored to be appearing in the Marvel Studios streaming series, Echo, which is currently slated to go into production in April. Echo will feature several new Native American roles and a couple of new, female villains but there’s definitely room for Daredevil. Whatever role Cox’s character plays in the series, it’ll be markedly different from the source material. Echo was first introduced in Daredevil Vol. 2 and was trained and sent out by Kingpin to take out Daredevil, who he blamed for the death of Echo’s father; along the way, she met and fell in love with Matt Murdock. While the two did battle, Murdock was able to convince her of the truth before she killed him. Echo went on to take her revenge on Kingpin by shooting him in the face, similar to the scene we saw at the end of Hawkeye.
Even though that story seems like it’s off the table (we could always see a flashback if Marvel really felt the need to tell it), there’s plenty of room for the two to run into one another. The end of Hawkeye is just the beginning of Echo’s journey. Everything she once thought to be true about her life was revealed as a facade that came crashing down. It’s likely that her journey will lead her back to New York and the Kingpin and that her path will intersect Murdock’s along the way. This should be the first of at least two 2023 appearances for Cox.
Armor Wars
Armor Wars is still a long way off and very, very little is known about it but the premise is that a group of villains mysteriously come into possession of Stark Tech and that James Rhodes will have to deal with the fallout. One of those villains is engineer Wilbur Day who uses the tech to upgrade his original suit. It would represent a major missed opportunity not to include Stilt-Man, originally a Daredevil villain who first appeared on the page in 1965, in Armor Wars and have Rhodey enlist the help of Daredevil in taking him down. Assuming we also see Cox in Echo, this will mark at least his second 2023 appearance (there’s also a rumor he’ll appear in Ironheart, which would come out before Armor Wars).
Spider-Man 4
Spider-Man: No Way Home gave fans the first onscreen meeting of two longtime comic book friends: Spider-Man and Daredevil. Although they only met as Peter Parker and Matt Murdock, hope remains that the two will team-up again down the road to take on a shared foe: Kingpin. While he’s best known as Daredevil’s archenemy, Kingpin first entered the world of Marvel Comics in 1967’s Amazing Spider-Man #50. The stage is set up perfectly for an adaptation of that arc where Fisk united crime bosses into the international crime syndicate known as the Maggia.
Both Tom Holland and Vincent D’Onofrio have expressed their interest in their respective characters coming into conflict, making Fisk a very likely possibility to appear in the next Spider-Man film. With Spider-Man now known to be sticking close to his new NYC neighborhood and Daredevil likely patrolling the city as well, it’s only a matter of time before these two bump into one another and unite to take down the head of NYC’s organized crime. With Kevin Feige revealing that they have already begun work on the next Spider-Man film and Sony’s eagerness to have the character appear every two years, it’s possible that this film could make it into theaters for late 2024.
Daredevil
The final rumor is that a solo Daredevil project is now in development at the studio. I’ll caution (though it’ll do absolutely no good) that being “in development” never, ever means a project will get made but, given the enormity of the popularity of Cox in the role, this odds that this ends up getting a green light have to be high. It it happens, it’s probably 2 to 3 years off but given the possibilities outlined above and Cox’s other contractual obligations, it may well be that long before he can lead his own project. At this point, all we really know is that it is not currently slated to enter into production in 2022.
The amount of praise the Boba Fett character has received ever since his theatrical film debut in The Empire Strikes Back is matched only by the number of doubters who often ask what he has ever actually done (besides looking cool) to deserve such recognition. It’s certainly fair to admit that there just wasn’t much to the character in the original trilogy, but that was something that, fueled by the fan response to the character, would later be addressed in several prequel projects.
It ended up being through the prequels, where we met a young Boba still with his father Jango by his side, that the character was given enough background to allow audiences to fully grasp his role in the grand scheme of the Star Wars universe. Being the popular character that he was – and still is – he then went on to either being mentioned or even appearing in many other Star Wars properties, from comics to video games, from animated shows to novels, thus expanding his own story. But even if relevant details were added to it throughout, elements that made him play a more active role in the franchise as well as make him a more complex and therefore more interesting character, the bookend that Return of the Jedi represented to his life story would always be looming in the background.
Having him seemingly die in the final chapter of the original trilogy playing a standard (albeit very good) bounty hunter-type isn’t exactly allowing for much character growth throughout the years after having initially introduced him, as a child, in a very similar role. This meant that the character could never really escape his destiny of how he found himself when swallowed whole by a Sarlacc. That is up until The Mandalorian came along.
For the first time (?) Boba Fett’s future wasn’t set in stone. But even then we still saw a man trying to get back to his old ways, collecting his armor, his ship, and rebuilding his persona after being forgotten and left for dead on the sands of Tattoine. But now, having him return to the same planet where he was forgotten to take Jabba’s throne seems like the perfect occasion to finally start to deconstruct the character into what it perhaps was always meant to evolve into.
Being the one in charge will probably not live up to Boba Fett’s expectations. As with many things in life, when the chase is sometimes more gratifying than actually achieving one’s goal, it feels like it’s only a matter of time until Fett becomes disillusioned by the expectations of what a Tattoine crime lord is supposed to do and eventually become. His sense of honor and duty, both of which got a few glimpses of in The Mandalorian, will likely kick in as he moves to distance himself from everybody’s expectations of how he should behave in his newfound role. He already stated that, unlike his predecessor, he doesn’t torture and he does not plan to rule with fear; perhaps it’s also in his future to drop either the ‘crime’ or the ‘lord’ from the title he now holds. Either way, Fett is now free from all narrative shackles and can now break the mold of how everyone expected him to present himself.
Following Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land we now wait for the next six episodes as The Book of Boba Fett hopefully answers its most pressing question: Who is Boba Fett meant to become?
After sitting out 2020, Marvel Studios returned in a big way in 2021 with 4 films and their first 5 streaming series. That all kicked off in January with WandaVision, a 9-episode series that paid homage to eras gone by and changed the way MCU fans consumed and processed media. It’s not overreaching to say that nothing has been the same since the series concluded its run, so as the year comes to an end, let’s reflect on what we all learned from WandaVision.
To Appreciate Character-Driven Projects
While fans initially disapproved of the slow pace of the first few episodes of WandaVision, they also noted the incredible work by stars Lizzie Olsen and Paul Bettany. Bettany got to show off his comedic chops while Olsen put on a master class, essentially playing a new character in every episode (which also served as interesting meta commentary on changes made to the ways women have been portrayed in sitcoms over the decades). It’s not as if these were talents we didn’t know they possessed, it was just that they hadn’t been allowed to exhibit them in the MCU as they were overshadowed by the actors whose characters were headlining the films in which they appeared.
Upon deeper reflection, however, it wasn’t only because they were finally getting their starring roles.Marvel Studios was making a different kind of product for their fans and they bravely and boldly proved that by releasing 3 episodes of WandaVision with almost no trace of the big action associated with the brand. In short, they let their actors act. The trend continued in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, where Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan gave a depth to their characters that they would never have gotten on the big screen and Daniel Bruhl actually got to perform; it continued into Loki where the bond between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson became the heart of the show and Jonathan Majors laid out the gauntlet for the future of the MCU in one of the best performances in its history; it concluded in Hawkeye, perhaps the strongest character work yet, with Jeremy Renner’s subdued performance while his character embarked on a redemptive arc, Hailee Steinfeld’s star-making work as a new hero and her incredible chemistry with Florence Pugh and great turns by Vera Farmiga and Tony Dalton. By simply letting the actors act, Marvel Studios found the key to making its streaming world go round: keep the focus on the characters.
That Expanding the Universe Is Good
With characters who had previously served as supporting characters taking the leads in their own series, new characters had to be inserted into their stories to help flesh out them and their worlds. Undoubtedly one of the best gifts given to fans in 2021 came in the form of these new, supporting characters. And it wasn’t just the new heroes that fans learned to appreciate, the expanded universe and the time to breathe gave life to incredible new anti-heroes and villains, too.
WandaVision gave us Teyonah Parris, who will co-star as Monica Rambeau in 2023’s The Marvels, and Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness, who will now lead her own series, Agatha: The House of Harkness. We also met Tommy and Billy Maximoff, who were the first of the MCU’s Young Avengers to enter the universe, and who will serve as the catalysts for the next steps taken by Wanda. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier gifted us with Julia Louis-Drefus’ Val, Wyatt Russell’s punchable John Walker and Erin Kellyman’s Karli and Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley, who made Sam question what being a hero really means. In Loki, we were introduced to the concept of Variants and with that met two whose impact extended far beyond the confines of the series. The confrontation between Sophia Di Martino’s vengeful Sylvie and Jonathan Majors‘ He Who Remains changed the MCU forever but also had a profound impact on Loki himself. And, in Hawkeye, Marvel Studios created a street-level corner of the universe that gave us Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk, who is likely to show up again in the Lopez-centric Echo series in 2023.
As 2021 comes to a close, the roster of heroes and villains, and those who toe the line, is fuller than it has ever been and it’s hard to argue that the MCU is worse for it.
The Weekly Format is Good
As was the case with The Mandalorian, Disney eschewed the binge watching preferences of streaming audiences in favor of the old fashioned weekly format for the Marvel Studios streaming series. In review, the weekly format allowed for an incredible amount of content and conversation around the projects which can only be a good thing. A careful schedule was created that began with screeners sent out to media outlets. Outlets had strict scheduled to follow, first sharing social media reactions, then later full reviews ahead of the premiers, building hype for the first week’s release. Following that, the studio arranged weekly interviews with the cast and crew, something that would have previously only happened in pre-screening junkets for films. Whether fans loved or hated the episodes, the conversation was constant and engaging. However, the weekly format also had some pitfalls, notably…
To Separate Rumors from Theories and Speculation…Well, Some of Us
More than any project before or after it, WandaVision fueled an insane amount of speculation on a weekly basis. Speculation led to theories and then, somehow, theories led to disappointment and, even more damaging, disbelief in the obvious. Mephisto was everywhere, but when he wasn’t, that meant that there was no way Sharon Carter could be the Power Broker? The trail of cookie crumbs leading to Kang’s presence in Loki couldn’t have been easier to follow, but because Evan Peters was Ralph Bohner, that meant there was no way Kang was showing up and that, instead, Loki would be meeting himself at the Citadel at the End of Time. It was easier for fans to believe that the big boss running organized crime in NYC, Maya’ “uncle”, was either Val or, worse yet, Jack Duquesne, even AFTER seeing and hearing Vincent D’Onofrio in Episode 3. The lack of critical thinking trickled over to the film side of things where, despite an incredible amount of evidence that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were in Spider-Man: No Way Home (and absolutely no evidence of any other potential plots that did not include them), fans persisted in their beliefs that they would not appear and that the film’s plot would not include the multiverse…DESPITE IT FEATURING CHARACTERS FROM THE SONY FILMS!
WandaVision changed the game in the way some fans perceive information now. Because Reed Richards didn’t make Monica’s suit and because it was Agatha all along, there has never been more refutation of reliable sources of information. It’s not all bad, however, as other fans have learned to be scrutinize more and think more critically about what to believe. For that second set of fans, the MCU might actually be more enjoyable in the future as there will certainly always be wild rumors, speculation and theory leading up to Marvel Studios’ projects. If there’s anything we should all have learned from WandaVision, it’s that knowing how to separate them into their appropriate categories makes a big difference.
That the “Big Reveal” in the Last Episode Doesn’t Always Work
In some cases, despite the fact that the were making streaming series, the projects were put together like longer films. What was sometimes lost in translation there was the fact that in most all films, the villains are revealed early on. Beginning in WandaVision, Marvel Studios seemed to really embrace the idea of last act/last episode reveals and it really was hit or miss. Agatha Harkness, He Who Remains and Kingpin all came onto the scene late in the game with only one really getting enough time to make a major impact on the series. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier took a different approach, developing Karli over the course of the series alongside the other characters, allowing her to be much more impactful to the overall story. As they move into 2022, their decisions on WHEN to do things with their villains will be something to watch closely.
Moving forward into 2022, it’s likely that Marvel Studios has learned a significant amount about how to move forward with their projects. We’re already seeing an increased level of secrecy with upcoming projects like Moon Knight, Werewolf By Night and, to a lesser extent She-Hulk. Let’s all meet back here next year to see how what they’ve learned from WandaVision changes things again.
Famous Star Wars Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett, is finally getting the spotlight in his own show. The series The Book of Boba Fett streams tomorrow on Disney+! After being briefly teased in Season 1 of The Mandalorian, Boba played a key role in Season 2. He reclaimed his armor and helped Din Djarin protect Grogu before heading back to Tatooine and forcefully taking the former throne of Jabba The Hutt, with Fennec Shand by his side. That is where we will find him at the beginning of Episode 1.
Boba Fett will be trying to transition from bounty hunter to crime lord and this road he’s going down is going to be a little bit rockier than he thought. So what’s in store for Boba as the series goes on? Lucasfilm has been especially secretive, refusing to send out media screeners to keep as many secrets protected as possible. However, we do have some idea of what is going to happen thanks to trailers, rumors, and information from the cast.
Star Temuera Morrison has revealed that the show is going to go back in time. In the trailer we can see Boba climbing out of the Sarlacc Pit fans believed he died in during Return of the Jedi. That will give us some idea of how he got back on his and catch us up to the point where we saw him in Season 1 of The Mandalorian. Rumored appearances of other Empire-era bounty hunters, Crimson Dawn and even Luke Skywalker have made their way through fandom, but with fewer than 12 hours to go, we truly don’t know what to expect.
Arlyn’s Assumptions
Based on what we can see in the trailers, Boba and Fennec are going to have to do a lot of fighting despite Boba’s wishes to the contrary. They are also going to meet a few of the galaxies most dangerous bounty hunters along the way, not all of whom are friends with Boba. Given Lucasfilm’s secrecy we should expect Grogu-sized suprises.
The Marvel Cinematic Multiverse is in full-swing and, as it turns out, in a point of transition as it moves from a semi-grounded MCU into the next phase of the content Marvel wants to put out. I’ve long theorized that Phase 4 would be made up of smaller phases building out over one big story, as opposed to the first 23 films where it was all building to Thanos. We have original Avengers transitioning their titles to the next generation of heroes, some of which are even younger than they were when they joined the fray. One transition in particular deserves special attention, both for what it means for the future and how it handled the present in the shadow of the juggernaut that is Marvel’s latest big-screen offering. It also deserves kudos for successfully landing the plane on the mentor-mentee relationship in a way that Peter Parker’s arc really didn’t. We now have a new Hawkeye and that is Kate Bishop.
After being put through the ringer while finding out her parents were willing members of organized crime, the world’s greatest archer ensures that her mother faces some consequences for her actions. The Elder Bishop is last seen asking her daughter if sending parents to jail is what heroes do after she is unable to gracefully exit the Kingpin’s criminal enterprise. It would not surprise me to see the Kingpin enlist a masked vigilante like Madame Masque to take the younger Bishop down if we get a Season 2 or a Hawkeye and Black Widow movie down the line. Whatever form she next shows up in, Kate Bishop won’t be alone.
At the end of Hawkeye, Clint Barton solidified his relationship with Kate Bishop, and completes the arc that began in 2012’s Avengers. His family is safe, his wife’s past life is secure, and he can now finally rest. Not only does he do this, but he brings Kate home with him. At this point, only Nick Fury and the Avengers even knew his family existed. This shows how much he actually cares about Kate, and how much the “your mess is my mess” line isn’t delivered just for kicks, but actually symbolizes a partnership that began reluctantly. It’s a much better partnership than that of Peter Parker and Tony Stark.
Whereas Iron Man recruited Spider-Man out of necessity, he then took the young man into space and watched him die in his arms. Before taking him to space, Stark wanted to have Peter join the Avengers: this was his grand gesture since letting him go against The Vulture alone as a way to clean up the public relations mess after Captain America broke the Avengers out of The Raft. He let a 16-year old kid keep a hyper-advanced suit and it was the way he treated past employees that led to one of them targeting Peter to the point of outing his identity. In a lot of ways, it was Tony Stark’s recruitment of a starstruck Peter Parker that has now led to the multiverse exploding.
Clint Barton is no Tony Stark.
Clint went out of his way to protect Kate from the beginning, and he risked his family just to make sure she was safe. He didn’t want her to get involved, then got to know her and doubled down on protecting her, and even tried to send her home when he realized things got too dangerous. When Kate wanted to confront her mother after receiving the video of the Kingpin, he told her he’d help. Clint taught Kate how to make arrows and how to assess targets. Compare that to Stark, who didn’t take Peter seriously when he told him about the Vulture and who left him (and the rest of the Avengers) absolutely no financial stability after his passing. Given her mentor, Kate Bishop has a chance to be a better Avenger than Spider-Man’s ever been.
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