Summer Game Fest has finally arrived and with E3 no longer happening, it’s likely our biggest event for gaming news. While we didn’t get a new trailer for Spider-Man 2, we did get some great reveals and confirmations. The biggest is that the one major character confirmed for quite some time to appear in the game was finally focused on again. Besides some beautiful artwork, we now also find out that the character won’t be who we thought it is.
The first look of Venom seemingly hinted at the design we’re used to that Eddie Brock ends up with when the symbiote takes him over after Peter Parker. Yet, the game’s director Bryan Intihar has confirmed that this is, in fact, not Eddie Brock but someone else. Naturally, they did not reveal who exactly that’ll be, and this has kept us wondering.
There are many possible candidates. Most might think it’s Harry Osborne given we saw him fused with what looked like the symbiote in the first game. It’s a good chance that it’ll be him but they might also play around with the idea of it being Kraven the Hunter that ends up getting overtaken, which would match with him being one of the main big bads of the game.
They could also have Dr. Curt Connors whose Lizard DNA might create the monstrous version of the character. Until the October 20th release, we might not know but it’s fun to guess. We’ll have to see if future trailers might offer more teases of who it’ll be and what it means for the character in this story.
Superman Legacy is James Gunn’s biggest project yet. Not only is it him tackling a new superhero but it’s also his proof of concept that the DC Cinematic Universe with his leadership will prosper in this new era. So, there’s a lot riding on finding the right person to play the iconic superhero that was previously played by Henry Cavill in the Snyderverse. According to Deadline, it seems that the first in-person meetings are set to take place, interestingly enough, on Father’s Day.
DC Studios’ CEOs Peter Safran and James Gunn are spearheading the auditionings. So far, it seems Nicholas Hoult, Tom Brittney, and David Corenswet are going to audition for the role. They are also testing for Lois Lane; likely to ensure they can test out the tension between the acting duos as well given how integral their relationships are. Currently, Phoebe Dynevor, Emma Mackey, and Rachel Brosnahan are set to test for the role.
It’ll be interesting to see what they are looking for, as many still wonder what exactly a Superman film will be by Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad director James Gunn. He definitely has proven his love for the comics and understanding of these universes, but there’s always the question of if he’ll use his iconic style of humor or might try to be a bit more subdued to focus on the messaging he has teased.
It’s looking like the opening weekends are continuing to average at around $70M, as another film is joining that club in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. After The Flash was initially projected with that box office opening, the recent boost for Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse may be a hopeful sign that there’s a bit more momentum building up for bigger releases that have been surprisingly mellow throughout the year. Though, the amount of competition in a post-pandemic world might be doing more harm than good for individual releases.
Still, the return of Indiana Jones is set to be a big move forward as the final entry for Harrison Ford as the iconic character. So, perhaps a $60M to $70M opening isn’t quite what Disney was looking for given the nostalgia factor was a big driver throughout the last few major releases. It’s on par with the pandemic release of No Time to Die and Mission: Impossible – Fallout, but those had to compete in a very different market.
The big question mark is that without a bigger marketing push, this film will open below 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That was around $100M across three days but even with conservative predictions, it’s a bit of a headscratcher given how off some have been as of late. The big problem is that Indiana Jones‘ latest entry is expensive at a staggering $295M, which means the film needs to at least make $600M just to cover its production costs. Even with good legs, it might look like it’s a loss for Lucasfilm.
With Summer Game Fest just a few more hours away, the rumor mill is starting to go crazy once again. Surprisingly, after many years of holding back on their Persona franchise; especially with its 25th anniversary; it seems like we’re going to have many reveals building up across the rest of 2023. Just recently, we seemingly got a first hint that the rumored Persona 5 spinoff might be revealed soon with an Atlus-owned site titled P5T.jp getting updated.
Now, it seems like the same has happened with P3RE.jp, which we recently reported is very likely the site used by Atlus for the long-rumored Persona 3 remake. As mentioned, the site now links to a 404 which means that it is technically “live” but being worked on for publication. So, it seems the rumors of an announcement during the Xbox Showcase on Sunday might turn out to be true after all.
That isn’t all, Persona Central has retweeted an account that shared some supposed details on what we can expect from this remake of Persona 3. While we have to take it with a grain of salt, it seems the project might potentially be titled Persona 3 Reload, which still fits the P3RE.jp titling. They also hint that it’ll likely hit multiple consoles by November of this year.
They do highlight it’s a “full remake” but add it won’t be a “definitive” version. It might mean that we’re only getting the base game updated to the modern age rather than the Portable or FES versions. Reload is fitting instead of just going with the word remake, as it also matches with the Evokers which are a core element of the entry. With only a few more days to go, here’s hoping the confirmation is around the corner.
With under 3 months to go before it’s set to stream on Disney Plus, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars streaming series, Ahsoka, has gotten a new release date. Originally set to release on August 31st, the Rosario Dawson-led series will not debut on August 23rd.
The series is set to reunite former Jedi Ahsoka Tano with the crew of the the Ghost as they embark on a quest to find Ezra Bridger. Mandalorian Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla and Chopper (and maybe some surprises) will join Bridger in making their live-action debuts along with the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsokafollows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
In Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, the Skrulls are here and they could be anybody. After waiting decades to find a planet to call their own, a faction of the shapeshifters have decided that they’ll just settle for taking Earth and Samuel L. Jackson‘s Nick Fury is the last person standing between them and what they really want. In order to stop them, Fury will turn to a network of friends and spies that he’s built over the years but when going up against an army of radicalized shapeshifters, who do you trust?
Ahead of the streaming spy thriller, we take a look at Fury’s potential allies and determine which ones have the best chance of being potential enemies as Skrulls in disguise. Since we assume they’ll all be simmed at one point in time or another, our odds here are based on the revelation of them being a Skrull being a major surprise and a huge plot point that moves the series forward rather than just a cute surprise within one episode.
At least part of Nick Fury’s MCU persona has been built on his ability to keep a lot of secrets from pretty much everyone. He hid Clint Barton’s entire family and helped Mockingbird create an entire new identity; he hung out in space while Talos simmed him and took his place on Earth; he’s also kept the presence of the shapeshifting Skrulls–a race he’s known about for almost 30 years–a secret from most everyone. That last one is going to come back to play a major role in Secret Invasion and it’s likely that even Fury will have a hard time keeping straight who he can and cannot trust. However, the biggest twist would be to find out that Fury is a Skrull…and not Talos just pretending to be him which almost certainly will happen at some point.
In the comics, one of the great twists built into multiple Skrull stories is that many of the shapeshifters were not aware that they were not the humans they were simming. This gave them a sincere sense of purpose and allowed to them to fulfill their duties without question. It would a lost opportunity not to include this added layer of deception in the streaming series and given Fury’s long history with the Skrulls, it could have happened so many times over the years that the writers might have to fight about when it could have happened.
For all we know, outside of Talos and Soren, Maria Hill may be the only character with a large role in Secret Invasion who knows that the Skrull power couple simmed Fury and Hill. That’s because there’s not been a character introduced in the MCU to date who Fury trusts more than Hill and according to Cobie Smulders, it sounds like she’ll have quite a major role to play in the streaming series.
Given the relationship the two have forged over the years, what would be more impactful than Hill actually being a Skrull is leaning heavily into the paranoia of Fury believing she is. Not only would this echo her arc from the 2008 comic book event but also at least partially take away one of Fury’s strongest allies…but the comics the MCU ain’t. The promotional material for the series seems to indicate that the two haven’t seen each other for some time, providing ample opportunity for a Skrull to have captured and simmed Hill which is exactly what Fury will be thinking which is what the audience will be thinking which is what they want the audience to think they are thinking!
Despite being played by the wonderful Martin Freeman, Everett Ross might be one of the most boring characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but Secret Invasion might be just the right time to spice up the character. Though it seems like he initially had more to do in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever than what he did in the final cut, the revelation that he had once been married to Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ equally boring Valentia Allegre de Fontaine provides a great opportunity to add some seasoning to Ross’ well-done steak.
The last time we saw Ross, he was being freed from U.S. Government custody by Okoye. Is it possible she freed an important Skrull operative? Absolutely! And, Ross is a perfect example of the type of figure that could have been an embedded Skrull for quite some time. His time in the Air Force and the CIA would have allowed him access to some fairly important intel; moreover, his relationship with Val could be even more fruitful given the secrets locked away in her mind. Given Ross’s “aw shucks” demeanor and the way Val treated him in Wakanda Forever, it would be a really ballsy move by showrunner KyleBradstreet to reveal that the Ross we thought we knew was a Skrull all along.
A brand new character–presumably with some deep family ties–who is both old frenemies with Fury, Olivia Colman‘s Sonya Falsworth provides an absolutely fascinating blank slate for Secret Invasion. The idea behind the character was to create another mysterious, behind-the-scenes mover and shaker like Fury. Falsworth will be interesting in that regard because if any non-known entity were to behave the way Fury does, they would not be trusted. The audience trusts Nick because they know Nick even though they really shouldn’t trust Nick…so how can you trust Falsworth? Nick almost certainly won’t inherently trust Falsworth and the series will almost certainly create an uneasiness around her.
On one hand, as one of MI6’s spymasters, the character is the perfect mark for a Skrull; on the other hand, it’s possible that she’s sharp enough to know about the Skrulls even before Fury approaches her about it. With no real basis for the character in the comics, one interesting twist they could throw Falsworth’s way would be to adapt the odd story of John the Skrull, one of the shapeshifters who, though he had infiltrated the ranks of the British government, became loyal to humanity and outed his fellow Skrulls. Should they choose for the character to be an outright villain, however, they could go the Mortimer Grimsdale route. Whatever the case, Colman’s Falsworth is expected to return so if she is a Skrull, her human counterpart is safe and sound somewhere…or she’ll remain in DEEP cover even after the big twists are revealed.
Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, has stated that James Rhodes’ solo feature film, Armor Wars, will spin out of the events of Secret Invasion…but why? According to Don Cheadle, Rhodey is the “righthand to the President” in the streaming series and will be “not directly at odds but somewhat on the other side of where Fury is.” Cheadle also indicated that Secret Invasion is all about the double-crosses and the tension between his Rhodey and Fury in the promotional footage that’s been rolled out indicates that neither man really seems to trust the other.
So why would Rhodes’ MCU future be tied to Secret Invasion? Maybe because his past hasn’t been his past at all. Though this isn’t a big, superhero-laden event like the 2008 comic book crossover, Rhodey is the only member of the cast to have been an Avenger and you can bet that the Skrulls wanted an inside man among Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Off all the characters in the show outside of Fury himself, the revelation that Rhodes has been a Skrull for any period of time would cause the biggest shockwaves and generate the most questions. Tony Stark’s technology was a big concern for the Skrulls in the comics. Without him around, Rhodey is the next best character to take up that story which would lead nicely into Armor Wars. The real question here might not be “is Rhodey a Skrull?” but rather “how long has he been a Skrull?”…and how pissed off is he going to be when he wakes up.
Odds Rhodes will be revealed as a Skrull: 3-1
Who do you trust? Which of these characters do you think is most likely to be a Skrull? Head to our Twitter account and let us know!
In another universe, Marvel Studios’ The Marvels would be hitting theaters in less than 2 months. In this universe, Disney moved the release date from July 28th to November 11th, but not before the gears on the machine that is merchandising had already been set in motion. Today, Hasbro released the first look at one of the many branches of merchandise associated with Marvel Studios projects: Marvel Legends.
In has to be one of Hasbro’s most hodgepodge waves to date, The Marvels wave of Marvel Legends includes only 3 figures from the film (Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Photon) while the other 4 figures (Commander Rogers, Heroes Return Iron Man, Karnak and Marvel Boy) and the Build-A-Figure (Amadeus Cho’s Totally Awesome Hulk) are all comic based.
While an argument could be made that each of the comic-based figures are Captain Marvel and/or Ms. Marvel adjacent, it’s surprising nonetheless to see Marvel Boy and Karnak get their own figures. Karnak’s inclusion could bode well for fans of Marvel Comics Inhumans as it could indicate that Hasbro may start pushing out individual Inhumans over the next few years.
As for Amadeus Cho’s Totally Awesome Hulk, his connection to Kamala Khan as a fellow member of the first modern-day iteration of The Champions seems to explain his inclusion here. It’s worth noting, however, that Cho was long-rumored to be in The Marvels.
Pre-orders for the wave will go live on June 7th at 1:00 PM ET on Hasbro Pulse, Amazon and other online retailers.
Following the critical and financial success of Thor: Ragnarok, a film that saw Taika Waititi deconstruct Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor only to build him back up into something bombastic and new, the green light was quickly given to a fourth installment in the Thor series. That film, Thor: Love and Thunder, seemed to indicate that Waititi learned all the wrong lessons from his time on Ragnarok and while it did just fine at the box office, critics and fans alike found it far less pleasing than its predecessor.
Though the film leaves plenty of room for Hemsworth to return for another classic Thor adventure and the actor has said he’d be up for it if the script is right, savvy audience members who have read between the lines of Hemsworth’s interviews have oft noted something is rotten in the state of Asgard. Simply put, it doesn’t seem likely that Hemsworth and Waititi will be teaming up for Thor 5 unless the director comes up with a major course correction.
In a lengthy interview with GQ, Hemsworth shed some on his past as the God of Thunder and what it would take for him to have a future in the role. “I love the experience,” said Hemsworth of playing Thor. “I love the fact that I’ve been able to do something fairly different throughout the process. Thor 1 and 2 were their own thing, Thor 3 and 4 were a very different feel… and then even Avengers, the Lebowski Thor, the Infinity War Thor, due to different directors and I think mostly my own need to do something different.”
That “different” seems to be central to Hemsworth’s willingness to return to the character. “You know, I got sick of the character pretty quick every couple of years,” joked Hemsworth. “If I was going to do something again it would have to be tonally different. And we’d have to do something very drastic to keep people on their toes. Otherwise, it’s just the fatigue of those characters and those films, where people are like, ‘I’ve seen it.’“
Part of Hemsworth’s concern comes from a more mature perspective. After being constantly busy for over a decade, he’s begun to slow down to spend more time with his family and, in that time, become a bit more contemplative about how he’d like his career to be shaped in the future and what legacy he’ll leave behind. “I’ve had my next job booked two or three years ahead of me for the last 12 years,” he says, noting that he doesn’t quite know what he’ll do next. Whatever it is “has to be more than a career move,” explained Hemsworth, an a project “worthy of my time.” As he ponders whether or not there’s more Thor in his future, there’s noteworthy irony in that statement.
“Everything has more importance now,” he explains in continuing to discuss how he’ll choose future projects. “Because of the realisation that this isn’t going to last forever. I don’t want to leave a pile of rubbish behind,” Hemsworth says. “And I’m aware that there’s a few misses there.” Was one of those misses Thor: Love and Thunder?
“‘We thought this one had too much humour, the action was cool but the VFX weren’t as good,’” Hemsworth say, recalling “a bunch of eight-year-olds critiquing” Love and Thunder. As for his own thoughts on the film, it’s safe to say it doesn’t stand among his favorites. “I cringe and laugh equally at it. I think we just had too much fun. It just became too silly,” Hemsworth explained. “It’s always hard being in the centre of it and having any real perspective… I love the process, it’s always a ride. But you just don’t know how people are going to respond.”
Fortunately for Hemsworth, should he desire to return to the role of Thor, Marvel Comics offer plenty of inspiration for new routes to take with the character. Over more than six decades after first appearing in Journey to Mystery #83, Thor has remained one of the publisher’s most consistently popular characters and his status as a nigh-immortal Asgardian could allow for MCU stories to be told in any era. Perhaps an Old Man Thor story might do the trick as Hemsworth looks to the future of the character.
When the first live-action Transformers film came out in 2007, no one could have imagined that the film would launch a mega-franchise. The first film, directed by Michael Bay, went on to earn an impressive $709.71 million at the worldwide box office and launched a new film franchise for Paramount. There was a total of five Transformers films that, while they performed well at the box office, seemed to take a dive in quality with each new installment. Bumblebee, a standalone film starring Hailee Steinfeld, seemed to bring back a love of the franchise, but only managed to secure $467.99 million at the worldwide box office. With Rise of the Beasts, Paramount hopes to launch a brand-new Transformers franchise. Thankfully, the film is a much-needed new direction for the franchise, one full of promise.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes place in 1994. The film stars Anthony Ramos (Hamilton) as Noah Diaz, a former soldier who is doing his best to support his family. With a sick brother and a mother trying to make ends meet, Noah just wants to be able to provide some sort of financial stability for his family, but he can’t seem to catch a break. Until one day he stumbles upon a certain car that’ll change his life forever. Right off the bat, it’s hard not to enjoy Rise of the Beasts. Noah is a charming character who wants to do whatever he can to help his younger brother, Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez). It’s his desperation to help Kris that leads to him meeting the Autobots. What ensures after is a chaotic thrill ride that shows there’s plenty of steam left in the franchise.
Ramos and Dominique Fishback, who plays Elena Wallace, are a hell of a duo. Both young actors are absolutely captivating, and Rise of the Beasts easily proves Ramos and Fishback are worthy of leading more blockbusters like Transformers. (Of course, Ramos is already set for a villainous role in Marvel Studios’ Ironheart.)
As great as Ramos and Fishback are, though, the robots themselves are better than they’ve ever been. The charm that Bay’s Transformers films lacked is more than evident in Rise of the Beasts. Their character designs are great, the action scenes are absolutely thrilling, and fans will easily find themselves on the edge of their seats wondering what will come next. The CGI is never overdone, and neither are the fights. Rise of the Beasts is everything fans wanted from the first films; it’s thrilling, charming and exciting.
And the ending? Well, it seems Paramount has a lot in store for fans. Try to avoid spoilers as much as possible because the surprise ending is sure to delight.
Overall, Rise of the Beasts is everything Transformers fans have been wanting from the films. It’s action-packed, led by two of Hollywood’s most promising young actors and serves as a great new starting point for the Transformers franchise.
When it comes to rumors about talent signing on for superhero projects, fans are conditioned to read between the lines of the lies and denials that always follow when said talent is asked to address said rumors. The disingenuous disinformation and dissembling have, unfortunately, become part of an already aggravated culture around the genre that further complicates the navigation of an increasingly polluted pool of information. So conditioned are fans to this routine that when someone associated with a project, like Agatha: Coven of Chaos actress Patti Lupone willingly shares truthful information about a project, it becomes breaking news. And, on that note, The Flash director Andy Muschietti has created some breaking news.
Shortly after a new report backed up old rumors about Muschietti signing on to helm DC Studios’ undated The Brave and the Bold, Fandango’s Erik Davis asked the director if all the hubbub had any merit…and Muschietti did not lie. When asked by Davis if he would like to direct another project in James Gunn and Peter Safran‘s new DCU, Muschietti responded with uncommon honesty. “We would love to,” said Muschietti before adding, “We can’t speak about those things yet but it feels like a very exciting possibility.“
One has to wonder if Muschietti’s response might offer a glimpse into a way of doing business that has long been modeled online by Gunn. Though Gunn isn’t quick to dish out spoilers, he’s quite consistently been honest and forthcoming and, when neither of those is possible for whatever reason, he typically notes that he can’t talk about the topic at the moment. In the cast of The Brave and the Bold, it’s a very real possibility that while Muschietti is in line to helm the project, he hasn’t closed a deal just yet. Even if he has, nobody could argue that stating he can’t talk about the project just yet is a worse choice than denying it outright only to be revealed as the director down the road. Let’s hope this newfangled trend of telling the truth catches on in superhero circles.
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