First Lines of Fantasy Books (Mini #37) @ Bureau 42

First lines are important to a book. For this week’s mini episode of the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast, I’m going to give you the first line (or lines) from a fantasy novel and you tell me the book’s title. 

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dorkygeekynerdy/message

Ernie Hudson on Filming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and the Fan Base @ io9

Enter the World of How To Train Your Dragon at Universal's Epic Universe @ io9

Image: Universal Orlando Resort

Soar with Toothless and Hiccup at Universal Epic Universe, which will soon boast an imaginative world of Vikings inspired by DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. Details for the Isle of Berk area, one of the five new cinematic portals of Universal Orlando’s newest theme park, have just been revealed—and if you’re a fan of the fantasy franchise and excited for the live-action adaptation, you’ll want to visit when the park opens in 2025, because here there be dragons!

How to Train Your Dragon’s Isle of Berk is gearing up to be an incredible recreation of the DreamWorks film’s Viking dragon village by the sea, with its rocky terrain and carved statues and shacks. Leave it up to Universal Creative to give us a fully true-to-the-film world to explore. We’re especially excited about the animatronic dragons that will be placed throughout the land and attractions—if you’ve encountered the dinos at Jurassic Park’s Islands of Adventure or in the queue for the Velocicoaster, these dragons are sure to feel just as lifelike (but not as scary, we’d assume).

Additionally, three thrilling rides will headline the Isle of Berk: Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, a coaster; Fyre Drill, an interactive water boat adventure; and Dragon Racer’s Rally, a high-flying but kid-friendly ride. There will also be a performance inspired by Universal Beijing Resorts’s technological stage wonder Untrainable, a re-telling of Hiccup’s tale of meeting Toothless.

Take a look at the gallery ahead to see what to expect in the world where dragons and people can hang out (without, you know, actual fire danger) and get conceptual glimpses at the attractions, character meet-and-greets, dining, shopping, and more.

Isle of Berk Entrance

Image: Universal Orlando Resort

The land’s entrance evokes the cinematic magic of the DreamWorks film.

Video Preview Isle of Berk

Introducing How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Hiccup’s Wing Gliders – “On this family thrill coaster, Hiccup invites brave new Vikings to take a ride in his latest glider contraption—a winged flying machine that launches aspiring Dragon Riders into the sky for a dragon’s eye view of Berk. Guests will fly alongside Hiccup and Toothless and reach speeds up to 45 mph as they soar around the perimeter of Berk— and even through the lagoon—while experiencing firsthand what it’s like to fly on a dragon.”

The Untrainable Dragon

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • The Untrainable Dragon – “Inspired by Universal Beijing Resort’s wildly successful Untrainable show, this dragon-filled live spectacular takes guests on an unforgettable journey with beloved characters Hiccup, Toothless, Gobber, and Astrid as they work together to solve the mystery of the Untrainable Dragon. This heartwarming story comes to life with captivating musical numbers, breathtaking sets, and life-sized dragons soaring overhead.”

Fyre Drill

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Fyre Drill – “Mischievous Viking twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut invite teams of Vikings to compete to outscore and out-soak each other on this wet-and-wild boat battle. Guests will board a colorful dragon-headed boat and blast water cannons at flame-like targets to practice putting out fires—a crucial skill to master when living with dragons.”

Dragon Racer’s Rally

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Dragon Racer’s Rally – “Berk’s new Viking racers can practice aerobatic maneuvers and high-speed barrel rolls on two Viking-made dragon-riding trainers that reach heights of up to 67 feet in the air. Guests can control how ‘wild’ or ‘mild’ their experience will be as they perform high-flying, gravity-defying, swooping, and soaring skills that are necessary to earn the accolades worthy of a true champion dragon racer.”

Isle of Berk

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Spit Fyre Grill – “Overlooking the action of the Fyre Drill water attraction, Spit Fyre Grill is a quick-service dining location featuring delicious, hearty meals flame-seared by a helpful (unseen) dragon fry cook.”

Isle of Berk Atmosphere

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel – “Guests can grab quick bites at this festive racing-themed food stand located in the Viking Camp.”
  • Themed shops - “An array of merchandise available at highly themed shops like Viking Traders, How to Treat Your Dragon, Hiccup’s Work Shop, and Toothless’ Treasures.”

Isle of Berk Interactive Zones

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Immersive environments - “Within the bustling village, guests will find endless activity—from active dragons in their natural habitats and sheep attempting to disguise themselves as Terrible Terrordragons to sporadic bouts of fire—making Isle of Berk an attraction unto itself.”

Meet Hiccup and Toothless

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Meet Hiccup and Toothless – “Guests can visit the Haddock Paddock for an incredible meet-and-greet experience with heroic Dragon Rider, Hiccup, and pose for a photo with his friendly Night Fury, Toothless. Plus, throughout the day, guests may also encounter other familiar Vikings and dragons while exploring Berk.”

Isle of Berk Mead Hall

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Mead Hall – “The beating heart of Berk and the village’s main gathering hall, Mead Hall is where guests can feast like a Viking and enjoy a savory menu featuring a variety of meats, fish, sandwiches, and more along with a collection of meads and ciders.”

Viking Training Camp

Image: Universal Orlando Resort
  • Viking Training Camp – “Junior Vikings will learn everything they need to know about dragons as they climb, slide, and explore their way through this sprawling interactive adventure play camp—featuring a Viking agility course, a Toothless-themed teeter-totter, baby Gronckle dragon climbers, and so much more.”

Isle of Berk Dragon’s Eye View

Image: Universal Orlando Resort

The Isle of Berk at Universal Epic Universe opens in 2025.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

A Quick Guide to Luna Snow, the Marvel Heroine You've Never Heard Of @ io9

Image: Netease/Marvel Comics

Yesterday, Marvel revealed yet another upcoming video game:Marvel Rivals, a team-based multiplayer shooter inspired by the likes of Overwatch and Valorant. But among its roster of stalwarts—X-Men Storm and Magneto, Guardians of the Galaxy members Star-Lord and Rocket, and of course, more than a few assembled Avengers—one figure stood out to many. But she’s not as unknown as you might think.

Who Is Luna Snow?

Real name Seol Hee, she’s a South Korean pop idol—operating in a group under the name Luna—who was transformed into a human mutate after a concert she performed at a Stark Industries-sponsored arena. Captured by AIM and held hostage inside a malfunctioning fusion reactor, Luna found herself given cryokinetic abilities by her broken cage, using them to defeat AIM and free herself and the other hostages. Now tacking on “Snow” to her idol name to become a part-time superhero as well as a K-Pop starlet, Luna stepped into the wider world of Marvel heroes, working with the revamped Agents of Atlas squad while managing her touring duties.

She’s Not a New Character

Most people intrigued by Luna’s standout appearance in Rivals—especially over more familiar characters from across the comics or amplified by their MCU presence—probably assumed that she’s a new creation for the game. But Luna’s actually been around for six years... and she was actually created for a game, just not this one.

Luna was developed as an original character for the mobile game Marvel Future Fight in 2018, out of a desire by Korean developer Netmarble to add a unique ice-based hero to its roster while also introducing a new homegrown hero. Luna was given a big push, not just for Future Fight, but with a series of music videos promoting her music as an idol. In the years since she’s grown beyond her appearance in Future Fight, mostly in other games; before she was confirmed for Rivals, she actually showed up a year later in another Netease Marvel game, the 2019 MOBA Marvel Super War.

Image: Marvel Comics

She’s Actually Been in the Comics, Too

It’s not just games either. After her appearance in Future Fight, Netmarble handed Luna over to Greg Pak and Gang Hyuk Lim to bring her into the next iteration of the comics team Agents of Atlas. Originally a team composed of characters from back when Marvel was still Atlas Comics in the 1950s (hence the name), in 2019 the publisher relaunched the team as a way to unite several Asian and Asian-heritage heroes into one group, Luna included.

Formed by Jimmy Woo—and placing Luna alongside the likes of Shang-Chi, Silk, Sword Master, and more—this group first appeared during the War of the Realms event series; Luna received her own spotlight solo comic and became a regular in the Agents of Atlas ongoing in 2019. After its conclusion Luna has largely been relegated to brief team-up appearances in Silk and other event titles, as well as anthologies like the Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month special Marvel Voices: Identity.

Luna’s Powers, Explained

Okay, that’s who she is, but what does she do? Luna’s abilities were a moveset created to build her around in Future Fight—Netmarble wanted to create a character with ice-themed powers, and also wanted them to operate a mechanical role of dealing damage and simultaneously supporting allies with healing powers. This lead to her cryokinesis being a little different from other ice-themed heroes like Bobby Drake: Luna creates and manipulates two different kinds of ice. Dark ice forms her offensive and defensive abilities, while light ice has restorative properties that heal and sustain Luna and her allies.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

35 Years Later, Heathers Has Been Often Imitated, Never Duplicated @ io9

Screenshot: New World Pictures

Heathers was released in theaters March 31, 1989, capping a decade of teen movies more defined by John Hughes comedies (The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) than wickedly acidic satire. Other high school-centric films in 1989 included Say Anything, Dead Poets’ Society, and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure—wildly different movies that all share a certain earnestness. Heathers, meanwhile, looked at its audience, rolled its eyes, and asked, “What is your damage?”

Though Heathers has lived on in a musical (which played Off-Broadway in 2014; and London’s West End in 2018) and a TV series (which ran one season in 2018 on the Paramount Network), it’s the original film—written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehman, both making their feature debuts—that still makes the most impact. It remains a scathing indictment of the cruel high-school caste system in an era before social media, and its incisive ideas are couched in an almost ridiculously quotable script (“Fuck me gently with a chainsaw!”) that’s just as entertaining as it was in 1989. That said, some elements haven’t aged as well as others; the cast is 95% white, and the homophobic jokes—which do serve a story purpose and come only from the mouths of blatant idiots and bullies—are a bit jarring to hear in 2024.

Screenshot: New World Pictures

Beyond that, though, there’s a timelessness to Heathers that owes a lot to its tone, a unique blend of wry, weary despair—“teen angst bullshit” (to quote Winona Ryder’s character)—and sly intelligence, wrapped up in production design that puts a heightened vibrance on high-school style and settings. Few teen movies have ever made such careful use of color, famously coding each croquet-playing Heather character with a hue that not-so-subtly reflects her personality. There’s Heather Chandler (Kim Walter), the original Mean Girl, clad in devilish red; Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk), whose yellow choices represent her cautious, “what’s everyone else doing?” approach to life; and Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), whose green-with-envy outfits morph into red when she takes Heather Chandler’s place at the top of the pack.

Somehow also in this group is Veronica (Ryder, who’s just 16 and anchors the film with world-weary excellence)—a fan of blue, usually matched with black—whose presence among the Heathers is never fully explained, beyond Heather Chandler snapping a reminder that “You wanted to be a member of the most powerful clique in school.” We know that Veronica has less snobby friends in her recent past, and early in Heathers she forms a relationship that will wreak havoc on the carefully constructed boundaries at Westerburg High School: falling for bad-boy new kid J.D. (Christian Slater), who’s all too happy to help Veronica make good on her furious declaration—written in her diary, and read to the audience as voice-over narration—that “I must stop Heather.”

Screenshot: New World Pictures

Heathers shifts from snarky high-school comedy to pitch-black commentary on society at large once J.D. and Veronica commit their first murder. They cover up their crime by staging Heather Chandler’s demise—which is entirely their fault, though whether Veronica actually intends to kill her frenemy is somewhat debatable—as a suicide, helped along by Veronica’s convenient ability to imitate anyone’s handwriting. As their body count rises, Veronica is horrified by the reaction in her suburban Ohio town. Her paté-loving parents, whose interest in her barely strays beyond who her prom date might be, are as out of touch as Westerburg’s teachers, who treat the “suicide cluster” in their midst as either an inconvenience or something to exploit for publicity. The local cops are similarly portrayed as out-of-touch fools, and J.D.’s wild-eyed father is too infatuated with his building-demolition business to offer any sort of sane guidance.

In this world, teens are left to their own devices—or to call in to a talk radio show, Hot Probs, which dispenses dubiously useful life advice—and it’s no surprise so many of them have sprouted into toxic human beings. “Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling!” J.D. says gleefully to Veronica, all while plotting to set off a bomb during a pep rally that will be justified by a “suicide note” signed by the entire school. (Another one of his bon mots is “The extreme always seems to make an impression.”) It’s startling to watch Heather’s last act knowing that just 10 years later, Columbine would forever change our perception of how terrifying real-life school violence can be—in fact, it’s impossible not to think about it, even as Veronica manages to save her classmates from mass destruction.

At the end of the movie, Veronica informs Heather Duke “there’s a new sheriff in town,” and there’s hope that maybe Westerburg will become a kinder, more inclusive place now that the most popular and/or most homicidal students have been eliminated. But Heathers also leaves viewers with a final warning. Though its in-universe theme is pop ditty “Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It),” Heathers begins and ends with different versions of the same song: “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”—which cautions us that “the future’s not ours to see.” Things could get better, or they could revert to awful again, and that feels like an ending that’s both truthful to life and to Heathers’ own worldview. To quote Veronica: “Lick it up, baby. Lick. It. Up.”

Heathers is streaming on Prime Video.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Russell T. Davies on Why Doctor Who's Disney Partnership Is So Important @ io9

Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson in Doctor WhoImage: BBC/Disney+

If you watched the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials, the most recent Christmas special, or even just the trailer for Ncuti Gatwa’s first season as the Fifteenth Doctor—you have absolutely noticed the famously low-budget show’s suddenly far more glorious production values. It’s a big result of the BBC staple’s new partnership with Disney, and past and current showrunner Russell T. Davies is grateful for it.

Speaking on the They Like to Watch podcast with hosts Sara Barron and Geoff Lloyd (via ComingSoon), Davies spoke a bit more about what the Disney presence has done for the show, both in terms of budget and helping increase its reach to audiences. “I think we now live in a science fiction age,” he said. “We live in a world of streaming, and we live in a world where every 11-year-old is watching Stranger Things because there’s 11-year-old kids in it, and that’s their language, that’s their culture, that’s their references, that’s their memes. I think it’s a real shame for Doctor Who not to be up there with the big hitters.”

He continued. “I’m sitting here watching The Mandalorian, the Marvel shows, Stranger Things. I’m thinking, ‘I’m watching that, that should also be Doctor Who!’ So even before [the show] approached me, I had already said in various interviews, ‘I think Doctor Who will have to become a co-production.’ There’s no way the BBC is going to fund that. You’ve also got to look at the long-term, at the end of the BBC, which somehow is surely undoubtedly on its way in some shape or form. What, is Doctor Who going to die then? You’ve got to prepare for that kind of stuff. But all of that is kind of like the flimflam on top of the fact that I love it. And it’s the only chance you have in television for me to really write in pictures, to do pictures. It’s all pictures. It’s skies, it’s explosions, it’s armies, it’s people on their own in a vast landscape ... it’s rope ladders in the sky on Christmas Day. I love that.”

He added that the Disney partnership is a key part of bringing those pictures to life, specifically “pictures that match other people’s pictures now. I think that’s the important thing. If something collapsed, if it just becomes, ‘Tomorrow, we have to go back to making Doctor Who on a normal BBC budget’—you know what? We’d all rally around to make it ... and suddenly stories would become claustrophobic ghost stories. A lot of people would like that very much. I’m not saying you have to have this happen, but while it’s happening in this way I think it’s unfair that it doesn’t happen to Doctor Who. And it does open up stories for now, sometimes on a vast scale.”

Doctor Who returns May 10 at 7 p.m. on Disney+ worldwide, unless you live in the UK—where you can catch it May 11 at 12 a.m. GMT on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Rooster Teeth's Red vs. Blue Will End With a (Feature-Length) Bang @ io9

Image: Courtesy of Rooster Teeth

News dropped earlier this month that Warner Bros. Discovery is shuttering Austin, Texas-based animation company Rooster Teeth—and now one of the studio’s most beloved titles is getting a big send-off. Red vs. Blue: Restoration, the web series’ 19th season, is arriving in May, and it’ll be released as a single feature film.

Here’s the synopsis for the film, which like all of Red vs. Blue is set within the world of Xbox game franchise Halo: “When the universe’s greatest villain returns in a terrifying new form, old adversaries, the Reds and Blues of Blood Gulch, will have to set aside their differences to save the galaxy one last time.”

Burnie Burns returned to the series he co-created to write the script for the film, which is directed by another Red vs. Blue veteran, Matt Hullum. “I’m thrilled to return for Red vs. Blue: Restoration, and to conclude this incredible 21-year journey with our longtime fans,” Burns said in a press release. Added Hullum, “Red vs. Blue has been a cornerstone of Rooster Teeth’s legacy, and we’re immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”

Burns and Hullum also introduce the Restoration trailer, released today:

RvB Restoration (2024) Official Trailer

Red vs. Blue: Restoration runs 87 minutes; starting May 7, you can buy it from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more for $14.99. If you’d prefer to rent it instead, it’ll be available May 21 for $4.99.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Hasbro's New Deadpool and Wolverine Figures Are Not Deadpool & Wolverine Figures @ io9

Image: Hasbro

Truly, it is the week of “here is merchandise featuring Deadpool and Wolverine, but it’s definitely not Deadpool & Wolverine merchandise, because licensing takes time.” Just after we got to see some rad Logan and Wade art, Hasbro has announced two updated movie figures of the irascible mutant duo... but it’s mostly so you have something to hold you over until actual Deadpool & Wolverine toys happen.

Today Hasbro announced updated re-releases of two Marvel Legends Deadpool “Legacy Collection” figures of Deadpool and Wolverine. They are, for the most part, re-releases of prior figures from past Deadpool movies and Hasbro’s brief run of X-Men anniversary figures, with a couple of tweaks. But it’s also a very convenient way for the toy maker to go “Look, Deadpool and Wolverine figures!” while fans still find themselves poring over the trailer for the third Deadpool movie.

No doubt Hasbro is working on toys for the film, but they’ll take a while—and between myriad licensing and likeness deals, and the simple act of making toys in the first place, announcing them will take some time, and even then, they probably won’t be out until after the movie drops this summer anyway. Take a look at Hasbro’s Star Wars team and the recent reveal of figures based on The Acolyte for example: sure, there was the surprise of getting to see the toys revealed the day after the trailer dropped, but even then, they’re not going to be out until well after the show’s first season has concluded. Making stuff takes time, and at least this way Hasbro will have a Movie Deadpool and a Movie Wolverine on shelves in the run up to the new movie. You just gotta squint a little.

The Legacy Collection Deadpool and Wolverine will release sometime this Spring, for $25 apiece, and will be available to preorder from Monday, April 1 (or “April Pools-day,” as Hasbro is dubbing it). Click through to see more pictures!

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Wolverine

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Deadpool

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Deadpool

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Deadpool

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Deadpool

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Deadpool

Image: Hasbro

Marvel Legends Deadpool Legacy Collection Deadpool

Image: Hasbro

Melissa Barrera Speaks Out on Her Scream Firing Fallout @ io9

Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter in Scream (2022).Image: Warner Bros.

The Scream revival, which kicked off in 2022 and found continued success with last year’s Scream VI, took a major detour in November 2023 when star Melissa Barrera was fired from the franchise by production company Spyglass, which took issue with social media posts Barrera had shared regarding her views on Gaza and Israel.

Spyglass called her stance antisemitic; Barrera responded that she’s against “hate and prejudice of any kind.” In the wake of her firing, co-star Jenna Ortega also departed the next Scream film, purportedly for scheduling reasons, as did the film’s director, Christopher Landon, who shared on X that he was heartbroken, but “it’s time to move on.” While Scream 7 now has new life thanks to the return of original series star Neve Campbell and writer-turned-director Kevin Williamson, Barrera’s departure still stings—not to mention creating something of a continuity problem for the franchise, since her character, Sam Carpenter, played such an important part in the narrative of the previous two films.

Half a year after being let go from the franchise that elevated her to mainstream success, Barrera is about to star in another horror film: Abigail, a vampire film that reunites her with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directors of Scream and Scream VI. It’s out April 19, and there’s no chance Barrera isn’t going to be asked about Scream in the lead-up to its release. In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, she addresses the situation in depth for the first time since it happened.

“It’s definitely hard, because I was just in such a cloudy state of mind, but I was very fortunate,” she told the trade, which noted the actress got teary-eyed while reflecting back. “I had a lot of support from the people around me: my team and specifically my publicists—they just carried me.” Of the effect her firing has had on the Scream series, she said, “None of this makes me happy. It was just all sad because I really, deeply care about the franchise. It’s just bad that it had to happen like that.”

Barrera “declined” to say if she and Campbell, who co-starred in Scream (Campbell didn’t return for Scream VI after a pay dispute), have talked regarding Campbell’s return in Scream 7. But interestingly, she also doesn’t categorically rule out her own return to the series, even after everything that’s happened. “I’ve learned to never say never, but also a lot of things would have to happen for Sam to come back. For now, next page, next chapter, and then we’ll see what the future holds.”


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Never Quite Clicks @ io9

The boys are back.Image: Warner Bros.

At the very least, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delivers on its biggest promise. You get to see lots of giant creatures fighting other giant creatures. Godzilla and Kong are just two of many and, when they fight in fantastical-looking settings with eye-popping color and lighting, there’s an undeniable pleasure in it.

However, everything that’s not a fight in Godzilla x Kong feels like overly complicated filler inserted to kill time before the next fight. The result is a movie filled with ebbs and flows that never feel particularly cohesive or interesting, even though the movie does an admirable job attempting to distinguish itself from other, similar films.

Once again directed by Adam Wingard, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire picks up where Godzilla vs. Kong left off. In that film, humanity discovered an entirely new world in the center of the planet called Hollow Earth where Kong was set to live and reign while his counterpart Godzilla would stay on the surface. These creatures and discoveries have understandably captivated the world and scientists, such as Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), have dedicated their careers to studying them both.

Kong ventures through Hollow Earth.Image: Warner Bros.

Not everything is as it seems in Hollow Earth though and whatever is happening there sets both Kong and Godzilla on a path toward... something. It seems to also involve Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the adopted daughter of Dr. Andrews, who is now slightly grown up and struggling to integrate into regular life after a childhood on Kong’s former home of Skull Island.

And so the bulk of Godzilla x Kong is about unraveling this mystery. What is spooking these two titans and what does it mean? The story then unfolds three ways, one with the humans (a group that also includes characters played by Dan Stevens and Bryan Tyree Henry) attempting to figure it out, one with Kong on his own journey, and another with Godzilla seemingly acting like a cell phone, traveling the globe and charging up.

Something else is happening too. Alongside the main mystery, Wingard and his team attempt to present these familiar creatures in unfamiliar ways. There are moments between fights where we see them in simpler, everyday situations. Kong takes a shower. Godzilla takes multiple naps. Kong meets a character named Suko, with whom he develops a paternal relationship. Seemingly, the idea is to humanize the characters while also giving Godzilla x Kong its own MonsterVerse perspective. It’s well-intentioned, but ultimately not all that additive. The occasionally funny or cute scenes mostly work to slow down the main plot which was already keeping us from bigger action beats.

Image: Warner Bros.

In the grand tradition of the MonsterVerse movies, human characters are more or less an afterthought here too. We spend the most time with them, but anytime they’re on screen, we just want more Godzilla or Kong. And so, talented actors like Rebecca Hall and Bryan Tyree Henry get mostly lost in the mix. One person who does get the assignment though is Dan Stevens. His character, Trapper, a thrill-seeking veterinarian who specializes in titans, is so ridiculous, he actually improves every scene he’s in. Beyond him, everyone else just feels like set dressing.

Plus, everything builds in a way that’s almost too methodical for this genre. There are mini-set pieces throughout providing moments of excitement, and one or two revelations of note, but more often than not, most of the film feels like homework for a final test. The final test where, per the title of the movie, Godzilla and Kong will team up to battle the threat they’ve been sensing.

Now, I shouldn’t admit this, but I will. All of Godzilla x Kong’s flaws probably would have been forgiven if that big finale, the moment the whole movie has been aiming towards in an overly deliberate way, was a jaw-dropping showstopper. But it isn’t. It’s certainly cool and brings all the story threads together in a logical way, including a very exciting addition for fans of the genre, but at no point does anything in it feel as entertaining or surprising as the finale of the previous film, which pitted the characters first against each other, then against Mechagodzilla. If Godzilla x Kong had just stuck the landing, I would’ve been happy. It does not.

This is Stevens in every scene.Image: Warner Bros.

Watching Godzilla x Kong, I also couldn’t help but wonder if this movie was hurt in any way by the release and success of Godzilla Minus One. On paper, multiple Godzilla movies released in such close proximity wouldn’t be a problem. Especially if they’re both tonally frivolous and fun. But Godzilla Minus One gave us excitement as well as emotion and poignancy. It set an immediate, timely bar in our minds for what a Godzilla movie could be, even if that level of quality is the exception, not the rule. Then here comes Godzilla x Kong, a well-made, big-budget spectacle much more in line with somewhat disposable Godzilla fare, and it just doesn’t click. Why did Minus One work so well and this one doesn’t?

Ideally, there would be no connection between the two. They’re different movies, different filmmakers, different everything save for one giant, green character. But psychologically, just because of the timing, there’s that extra level of expectation this movie doesn’t deliver on. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is not a bad movie. It’s not painful to watch. There are good ideas in it along with beautiful visuals. It is, however, largely forgettable once it ends, and that’s a letdown when you’ve got two of the biggest stars ever, literally, together again.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is now in theaters.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

The Many Lives of Asajj Ventress @ io9

Image: Lucasfilm

It’s been 16 years since Asajj Ventress stalked her way into Star Wars canon—five years after her actual debut, in 2003's Star Wars: Clone Wars—and the Clone Wars 3DCG series. Since then, she has walked many paths along the road to the one we found her in this week, when she returned in The Bad Batch for a new chapter of her life. As one of the most fascinating—and long lived—veterans of the Clone War, her new life presents a chance to look back at the chapters that shaped her.

Image: Lucasfilm

Slave

Image: Lucasfilm

Ventress was born on Dathomir to the Nightsisters that called the world home (or perhaps, as we now know more accurately after Ahsoka, a second home within Star Wars’ primary galaxy), but she was not raised among them. While still a child, Ventress was part of a deal between the Nightsister matriarch Mother Talzin and a crime lord named Hal’Sted—exchanging Asajj into a life of slavery for peace between the Nightsisters and Hal’Sted’s forces. Brought to Rattatak, Ventress was torn away from the home she never knew—and given a gilded cage in Hal’Sted’s protection from the world’s tumultuous warring factions.

Apprentice

Image: Lucasfilm

But Hal’Sted couldn’t protect Ventress for long. Killed during a raid on his holdings by rival pirates, Ventress was rescued by a similarly stranded soul on Rattatak: the Jedi Knight Ky Narec, who had traveled to the Outer Rim in the hopes of combatting the growing piracy and criminal elements on the Republic’s fringes.

Narec sensed Ventress’ connection to the Force, and began training the child in the ways of the Jedi. Although Ventress served as Narec’s student for two decades, her training was far from traditional by Jedi standards—less master and apprentice, more sheriffs and partners, protecting the innocents of Rattatak from piracy and warlordism.

Warlord

Image: Lucasfilm

Ventress’ apprenticeship wouldn’t last, either. Narec was killed by pirates in a skirmish, and with her training still so nascent, Ventress found herself giving in to the grief and rage that filled her in her master’s death: not just striking down his murderers, but transforming herself into a Rattataki warlord in her own right, ruling by strength and fear.

But even that unguided rage couldn’t stop forces moving against her. Captured after failing to assassinate her final rival, Ventress was forced to fight for her life in gladitorial combat—until a visiting Count Dooku saw her prowess in the arena and heard the tale of her power. Killing the final warlord himself and freeing Ventress, he offered her the chance that Narec had once given her: to learn how to control her power.

Assassin...

Image: Penguin Random House

Ventress’ early days with Dooku are cloaked in shadow, as an agent tasked with cleaning up the Count’s past as he laid the groundwork for his own master’s machinations from within the Republic. It was Ventress that was tasked with seeking out Dooku’s sister, the Lady Jenza, before she could expose his history and family secrets to Republic Intelligence, and it was she he prepared to serve as a leading commander in the nascent Separatist movement.

... and Acolyte

Image: Lucasfilm

But it wasn’t all cloak and dagger. Ventress aligned herself with Dooku not just to learn how to control the Dark Side she had embraced, but to strike back against the evil she blamed for the death of her first master: the Jedi Order itself, which she believed had abandoned Narec on Rattatak and left him to fight back against piracy on his own. Given the Sith’s own tradition of only keeping two of their kind in existence, Ventress’ apprenticeship to Dooku, although established early on in their relationship with each other, remained a secret, to keep Dooku’s plans to use her to strike out against Darth Sidious under wraps.

General

Image: Lucasfilm

By the time the Clone Wars began, however, Ventress was ready to step out from the shadows that had shaped her. She didn’t just become Dooku’s right hand, but a leading commander in the Confederacy of Independent Systems, commanding droid armies on a series of fronts. From Teth to Kamino, to smaller operations like the rescue of Nemoidian Viceroy Nute Gunray, Ventress was a key player in the early days of the conflict—even as she found her plans foiled regularly by the Jedi she had come to hate.

Abandoned

Image: Lucasfilm

Although Ventress regularly escaped her failures in one piece, eventually her public star waned, and Dooku could no longer protect Ventress’ status as his Dark Acolyte from Sidious. As she and her forces engaged the Republic over the planet Sullust, Dooku moved to betray his agent, leaving her to her seeming death in exchange for avoiding Sidious’ ire. Nearly beaten as the Republic turned the tide, Ventress escaped Sullust and found herself in a position she’d already held many times in her life: alone, and eager for revenge.

Nightsister

Image: Lucasfilm

It was only then that Ventress found herself returning to her roots. Secreting her way back to the planet Dathomir, Ventress began to explore her connections to the Nightsisters, all the while plotting her revenge against Dooku. Ventress became an assassin once more, re-embraced by the Nightsisters and taught in their ways and Force magicks—first as a warrior in her own right, and then as the shaper of the Nightbrother agent Savage Oppress, a would-be agent offered to Dooku but in reality intended to betray him to the Nightsisters and Ventress.

Exile

Image: Lucasfilm

Although Ventress and the Nightsisters’ multiple attempts to assassinate Dooku failed, she still found kinship on Dathomir, formally going through the baptismal rituals to join Talzin’s coven—a rebirth years in the making, after she was whisked away from her home as a child. But Ventress’ peace among her kind would be short-lived. Moving to eliminate Talzin after the multiple attempts on his life, Dooku sent General Grievous to Dathomir to exterminate the coven, forcing Ventress, Talzin, and other survivors of the battle into hiding. Again, Ventress found herself a wanderer without purpose—but instead of seeking it in others, this time she would make a name for herself.

Hunter

Image: Lucasfilm

Ventress found that selfish purpose in a path that took her away from the Jedi, Sith, Republic, Separatists, and their war—and in many ways, back to the kind of life she had lived in her unorthodox Jedi tutelage. As a bounty hunter, Ventress flitted around the galaxy as a solo operative and as a team player, crossing paths with old foes and allies alike as she distanced herself from the machinations of the Clone Wars, from the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi to Ahsoka Tano. Basing herself out of Coruscant, Ventress used her abilities, as brutal as they were, to not just make a living but protect people from harm in the city-planet’s underlevels.

Agent of Vengeance

Image: Penguin Random House

Ventress once again began making her reputation known further beyond the core as a Bounty Hunter—even claiming a new lightsaber with a yellow blade for herself after losing her Sith blades to the turncoat padawan Barriss Offee. But it wasn’t much longer until she found herself inadvertently worked into the plans of others once again: tasked by the Jedi Order on a controversial mission to assassinate Count Dooku in the name of the Republic, Jedi Master Quinlan Vos infiltrated the criminal underworld and worked his way into a partnership with Ventress, hoping to learn from her history with Dooku to get close to the Separatist mastermind.

Together the two formed a formidable alliance, working against the Black Sun crime syndicate—but burgeoning feelings between the two blossomed into the messy exposure of Vos’ true purpose, and pushed Ventress back closer to her former path as a Dark Acolyte—agreeing to help Vos get revenge on Dooku, and training him in the same dark arts she had learned from her former master.

Fallen Hero

Image: Lucasfilm

Although the duo’s dark partnership first resulted in a failed attempt to kill Dooku on the planet Raxus, Ventress came to Vos’ aide and rescued him from Dooku’s capture on Serenno, the Count’s homeworld, after working with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to infiltrate the Separatist stronghold. But with Vos’ return—and his seeming conflict over falling to the Dark Side wholly in the wake of his capture—Ventress found herself alone once more, albeit now with a pardon from the Jedi Order for her past as a Separatist agent.

Eventually, Ventress reunited with Vos in secret, unable to avoid the connection they had forged together, and she rejoined him in a final effort to assassinate Dooku—taking her back to one of the earliest fronts of the Clone War on the planet Christophsis. Engaging the count in a duel to the death, while Republic Forces assaulted the Separatist armies on the world, Ventress found herself taking a blast of Force lightning intended for Vos after he found himself unable to commit to killing Dooku—and falling to the Dark Side entirely. Dying in his arms, Ventress’ sacrifice redeemed Vos in the light, at the cost of her own life, and her body was returned to the waters of Dathomir for eternal rest.

Survivor

Image: Lucasfilm

Or, at least, rest enough.

“Harbinger,” the ninth episode of The Bad Batch’s third and final season, presents us with an Asajj filled with many questions, but little in the way of answers. She is alive once more—and even jokes to the Batch at one point that she has a few more lives left in her still—and once again operating in the world of hunters and bounties. But something has changed in Ventress as we see her cross paths with the Clones and Omega on Pabu. A survivor of the Rise of the Empire thus far, this is no longer a woman consumed by vengeance, pushed and pulled by the machinations of sides seeking to manipulate her: this is, at last, a Ventress who has made her own path, free from the clutches of galactic events, and content to live her life in shadows of her own making.

And yet, it’s also a Ventress that we see coalescing all those lessons of her past into a character of balance. She is still a furious warrior in her own right, but she’s also a woman who uses her connection to the Force to understand, rather than dominate. In testing Omega’s own Force sensitivity, we see both the legacy of the Jedi training that shaped her early life, and the sharp senses that honed her career as an assassin—and beyond that, a personal sense of justice that sees her willing to try and protect Omega from her own potential future, in the name of keeping her close to the people that care for her the most.

All it took was a lifetime of changed hands, of deaths and rebirths both literal and philosophical, but at long last Asajj Ventress has found a path of her own choosing—one that leaves her Star Wars future wide open and brimming with potential once more.

Updates From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and More @ io9

Image: Paramount

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Bride of Frankenstein movie gets a shorter name and a new cast member. Get a look at not one, but two young vampire movies. Milla Jovovich has signed up for Brad Anderson’s new sci-fi thriller. Plus, what’s coming on Invincible. Spoilers, away!

Mission: Impossible 8

Deadline reports Katy O’Brien (Loves Lives Bleeding, The Mandalorian) has joined the cast of Mission: Impossible 8 in a currently undisclosed role.


The Bride!

Deadline also reports Julianne Hough has joined the cast of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Bride of Frankenstein movie—now titled “The Bride!” with an exclamation point. Though details on her character are currently under wraps, a new synopsis states the film “sees a lonely Frankenstein travel to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.”


Primitive War

Deadline additionally reports Jeremy Piven, Tricia Helfer, Ryan Kwanten, Nick Wechsler, Anthony Ingruber, Aaron Glenane, Carlos Sanson Jr, Ana Thu Nguyen, Adolphus Waylee, Richard Brancatisano, Marcus Johnson and Jake Ryan will star in Primitive War, an adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ military sci-fi/horror novel from director Luke Sparke. The story concerns “an elite recon unit known as the Vulture Squad, who, in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War that is sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing Green Beret platoon. They soon discover they are not alone. Dinosaurs have been let loose in the jungles.”


World Breaker

Deadline also has word Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans and Billie Boullet are attached to star in World Breaker, a sci-fi survival thriller from director Brad Anderson set in which “a tear in the fabric of reality brought creatures to our world from an alternate dimension bent on our destruction. A father hides his daughter on an island to keep her safe while he prepares her for survival and the battles to come. But when the world is about to break, no place is safe.”


Wolf Night

According to Deadline, Screen Gems has acquired Wolf Night, a pitch package from Platinum Dunes concerning werewolves. Though details on the plot are currently under wraps, the script hails from Will Honley and April Maguire. Jonathan Liebesman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) is attached to direct.


Arcadian

Bloody-Disgusting reports the Nicolas Cage monster movie, Arcadian, has been rated “R” for “bloody images.”


Abigail

Elsewhere, Kathryn Newton shows off a swimming pool full of bodies in a new set video from Abigail.

🩸Take a BTS Tour of the ABIGAIL set with Kathryn Newton 🩸

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Meanwhile, a teenage vampire has qualms about sucking the blood of innocents in the trailer for Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person - Official Trailer

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

During a recent interview with Variety, Jonathan Frakes described an upcoming episode of Strange New Worlds “framed as a Hollywood murder mystery” as “the best episode of television [he’s] ever done.”


Invincible

Invincible battles a sea monster in the trailer for tomorrow’s new episode.


Fright Krewe

Finally, Belial sends the Kooshma to terrorize Soleil in a clip from the second season of Fright Krewe, available to stream on Peacock and Hulu this Friday.

Kooshma & Belial | Fright Krewe

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

1979 – Kramer vs. Kramer @ Bureau 42

These Custom Toys Are More Art Than Action Figure @ io9

Image: Readful Things

Human instinct dictates that when we see a toy, we want to open it. It’s why old toys that are still in their box are so valuable. Everyone who bought them as a child opened and played with them, making ones still in the package much rarer. But what if there were toys that went against that instinct? Toys not meant to be played with. Toys meant to be displayed where the packaging is as much of the experience as the figure itself, if not more so?

That’s exactly the type of toys artist Adam Perocchi makes. A New England resident and native, under the name “Readful Things” Perocchi makes art in the shape of a toy, package and all. It’s a way for him to explore a love of pop culture, as well as sculpting and painting. “I’ve been painting/drawing since I was a kid [and] I got into sculpting about eight years ago,” Perocchi told io9. “I wanted a way to combine my sculpts with my artwork, so I thought carded action figures would be a good way to marry the two things.” Which he now does almost daily, working on five or six pieces simultaneously, sculpting a figure as well as doing the artwork for the package.

Perocchi covers all types of subjects, from classic pop culture to new favorites, or even sometimes things that are much more specific. “Occasionally I’ll do some current pop culture internet zeitgeist thingy (Pop Tart being cooked alive, Star Wars Cerveza Cristal, etc), and those will supersede everything else,” he said. In this slideshow, you’ll see a bit of all of it. We’ve hand-selected just a taste of Perocchi’s incredible work, running the gamut of genres, eras, and more. And to see even more, you can visit his Instagram where he showcases most of his work, or his official site, where he occasionally does art without the toy.

Dr. Baxter from Poor Things

Image: Readful Things

Quint from Jaws

Image: Readful Things

Horace from The Shining

Image: Readful Things

Kurt from Satan’s Alley in Tropic Thunder

Image: Readful Things

Frank from The Frighteners

Image: Readful Things

The Carver from Thanksgiving

Image: Readful Things

Allegra from Existenz

Image: Readful Things

Roderick Usher from The Fall of the House of Usher

Image: Readful Things

Dr. Forrester from MST3K

Image: Readful Things

Louis from Ghostbusters

Image: Readful Things

A riff on Beetlejuice

Image: Readful Things

Cerveza Cristal

Image: Readful Things

Arnold from Junior

Image: Readful Things

Truman from The Truman Show

Image: Readful Things

Bill from The Last of Us

Image: Readful Things

Rick from The Mummy

Image: Readful Things

Yellowjackets ear

Image: Readful Things

Hot Dog couple from EEAAO

Image: Readful Things

The Thing in The Thing

Image: Readful Things

Bradley Cooper in Dungeon & Dragons

Image: Readful Things

Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Image: Readful Things

Twin Peaks 2-Pack

Image: Readful Things

Russell Crowe from Dark Universe

Image: Readful Things

Frank from Scrooged

Image: Readful Things

Joker from Batman

Image: Readful Things

Seth from The Fly

Image: Readful Things

Eddie from Stranger Things

Image: Readful Things

The Sixth Sense 2-Pack

Image: Readful Things

Zombie Strange from Dr. Strange 2 (via Evil Dead)

Image: Readful Things


Irv and Burt from Severance

Image: Readful Things

Florence Pugh Takes Us on a Tour of the Thunderbolts Set @ io9

Image: Marvel Studios

There’s a new crew of ne’er do wells joining up to save the world in Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts. The new film starring Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, this era’s Black Widow, has started shooting in Atlanta, Georgia and the actress has given fans a look behind the scenes of the shoot.

In a delightful Instagram reel, also shared on X, Pugh gives us a look at Yelena’s new costume and a first glimpse at the logo of the upcoming Marvel team-up film featuring Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Red Guardian (David Harbour), the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) alongside Black Widow. Alas there are no glimpses of the team yet—just some fun teases for one of Yelena’s scenes where she’s in a compound of some sort.

Here’s a look at the new costume for Yelena’s Black Widow; we’re digging the short hair.

Black Widow costume first look!Screenshot: Florence Pugh Instagram

And here’s a look at director Jake Schreier on deck with a quick look at the scene they’re shooting with the set chairs revealing the official Thunderbolts logo. They go back and forth teasing that they really shouldn’t be showing any of this.

Thunderbolts logoScreenshot: Florence Pugh Instagram

Check the reel out here:

Thunderbolts arrives in theaters May 2, 2025.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Lush's Slimy New Shrek Collection Brings the Swamp to the Spa @ io9

Image: Lush

Shrek’s swamp comes home—with a spa upgrade—thanks to a new Lush collection featuring an all-star ensemble of Shrek characters, including Donkey, Princess Fiona, Gingy, and the big green ogre himself. It’s the latest Lush collaboration with Universal Pictures after a successful Super Mario Bros. Movie team-up last year.

The collection of beauty products inspired by the DreamWorks Animation comedy includes bath bombs, face masks, shower-slime body wash, and more, all with a swampy and fairy-tale touch—the perfect remedy for when the years start coming and they won’t stop coming. Check out Shrek x Lush in this gallery with official descriptions before its release April 9 on the Lush app and April 11 online.

“There’s just ME and MY swamp!”

Image: Lush

Shrek Slime (not made of earwax)

Image: Lush

Get Outta My Swamp Shower Slime

“Make like Shrek and harness the power of the swamp for a slimy body wash that will leave users feeling soft and silky. Wheatgrass, an antioxidant packed with Vitamins A, E, and C, will leave skin bright and soothed, while cornstarch not only helps to create the texture of this sublime slime but is also fantastically softening on the skin. $12.50 (100g) / $25.00 (240g)”

And then I saw his face, now I’m a believer

Image: Lush

Smell like a freshly rescued princess

Image: Lush

Fiona Shower Gel

“Be ogre-joyed with this fairytale blend of fresh, fruity fragrance transformed into a beautifully cleansing shower gel. Packed with Vitamin C, fresh cucumber Juice cools and soothes the skin while giving it the healthy, radiant glow of an ogre in love. Sourced from South Africa, Buchu oil adds a fresh berry note to this fruity fragrance. $12.50 (100ml) / $25.00 (250ml) / $40.00 (500ml)”

This bath bomb has layers

Image: Lush

I like that boulder

Image: Lush

Shrek Swamp Bath Bomb

“Don’t be a Farquad! Users can unleash their very own swamp at bath time with this cheeky bath bomb. It might be swampy, but this blend of rhassoul mud, oakmoss, and seaweed, hand-harvested from the Japanese coastline, will leave skin feeling softened and cared for. $10.00”

Shrek yourself before you wreck yourself

Image: Lush

“Do the ROAR”

Image: Lush

Mask of Magnaminty face and body mask Shrek Pack

“Lush’s best-selling Mask of Magnaminty face and body mask, fondly referred to as ‘Shrek Pack’ by customers in South Korea for its ogre-like green hue, will also be donning a special Shrek label to celebrate the collaboration. With over 1,000 five-star reviews on the Lush website, the mask is a customer favorite worldwide for those with oily, acne-prone skin. $17.00 (125g) / $18.00 (125g)”

“Do you know the muffin man?”

Image: Lush

“The muffin man?”

Image: Lush

Gingy Bubble Bar

“Get acquainted with the scent of freshly baked goods in the form of everyone’s favorite gingerbread man! Crumble under running water to release sweetly scented bubbles and swish around for even more suds! $10.50”

Not his gumdrop buttons!

Image: Lush

The water’s getting warm so you might as well swim

Image: Lush

And in the morning you can smell like waffles!

Image: Lush

Donkey Bath Bomb

“Where would a brave knight be without his noble steed? Have Donkey join the party with this sweet ballistic, scented with waffle-y notes of cozy spiced caramel. Drop Donkey into a nice hot bath to release swirls of color and waffle-sweet fragrance. $9.00”

You’ll never shine if you don’t glow

Image: Lush

Really, really.

Image: Lush

By Night One Way, By Day Another Body Spray

“A fairytale blend of lime and mango leaf with notes of fresh juicy melon and crisp green apple, spritz directly onto skin to release a freshly scented fantasy. Distilled into an absolute, mango leaves give a tropical green note that transports you to holidays far, far away. Fruity? Floral? Fresh? The real joy of this complex fragrance is that it changes on the skin throughout the wear. $55.00 (200ml)”

All the way from the land of Far, Far Away to your home

Image: Lush

Buy in stores or online starting with the Lush app on April 9 and Lush.com April 11.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Disney's War With Ron DeSantis Might Finally Be Winding Down @ io9

Photo: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin (Getty Images)

Nearly two years after a highly public feud kicked off between the Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—involving the takeover and subsequent renaming of of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District—a settlement has been reached.

What began as DeSantis’ retaliation for Disney standing against the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans talk of sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools, led to a court battle about whether the state was imposing on the company’s First Amendment rights by stripping Disney Parks’ long-standing municipal development rights over its land. Essentially, DeSantis sanctioned state figures to act as roadblocks for future development in case Disney continued to step out of line.

After extensive back and forth there’s now a resolution. The AP reports that DeSantis’ allies and Disney “reached a settlement agreement Wednesday in a state court fight over how Walt Disney World is developed in the future following the takeover of the theme park resort’s government by the Florida governor.”

This means that DeSantis’ appointees are not beholden to the last-minute adjustments to the plan that Disney slid in place just before the takeover. It also means that the development agreement and restrictive covenants that were installed after the takeover are not valid either. Both parties have now agreed that a comprehensive plan dating back to 2020—i.e., before this whole conflict began—will be used as a template until the DeSantis-backed board and Disney come to a new development agreement.

Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort, released a statement to the AP saying “this agreement opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity in the state.”


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Rebecca Hall on Filming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire @ io9

X-Men '97 Just Sped Through One of the Greatest Stories in Comics History @ io9

Image: Marvel

Adaptation is always a challenge—but it’s a particularly daunting one in the case of comic books, where a new medium has to reckon with translating sagas told across years of issues and continuity fluxes. For the most part, X-Men ‘97's latest episode navigates this task the best it can, but the sacrifices it makes come at the cost of a character brimming with potential for further exploration.

The third episode of ‘97, “Fire Made Flesh,” picks up immediately after the cliffhanger from the opening premiere, when a second Jean Grey showed up in distress at the X-Mansion, much to the surprise of our heroes. It’s quickly established that the real surprise twist is not the existence of a second Jean Grey, but that the Jean who showed up at the door—and promptly collapsed, perhaps giving us immediately our biggest clue about her identity—is in fact the original Jean, and the woman we saw giving birth and planning a life beyond the X-Men with Scott in the premiere is a clone imposter.

Image: Marvel

What follows is 28 minutes attempting to condense one of the most famous X-Men storylines of all time—the legendary 1988 crossover arc “Inferno”—into a singular episode of animated TV. This would already be a daunting task for any show, even one as enjoyable as ‘97 already has been (and with the legacy of The Animated Series’ approach to adaptation before it), and one that necessitates cutting and changing things up. A half-hour piece of television simply cannot cover the story and events of a crossover spanning over 20 issues of comics, and X-Men ‘97 understands this from the get-go. What it manages to cover in its own coherent version of this story is laudable, but it’s also not just “Inferno” that the series has to adapt in doing so. It has to try and tell the entire comic book history of Madelyne Pryor, before and after her transformation into the Goblin Queen—events that spanned decades of on-and-off comic book exploration, from the 1980s all the way up until the last few years—underneath all that. And it’s here that, for the most part, X-Men ‘97 really stumbles.

While “Fire Made Flesh” gets the basic beats of “Inferno” and its set up delivered—the discovery of the clone and Sinister’s manipulation of Jean and Scott to get at their genes through their child Nathan Summers, the clone’s descent into villainy and a pact with hell, and eventually our heroes convincing her to turn away from the dark—it does so rarely by centering the character of Madelyne in the way the comics had years to set up and pay off before “Inferno” even began. In fact, it’s more truthful to say the idea of the character of Madelyne is more in play when it comes to ‘97, rather than an individual character herself. Throughout the episode, she is only referred to as Madelyne once, when after her redemption in its climax she takes the name for herself seemingly out of nowhere as decides to move on and live the life she wanted away from the X-Men when she thought she was Jean Grey. She is otherwise only ever framed as an imposter of Jean Grey: first as a clone to be doubted by her friends and even her husband, then as a tool by Sinister for his own machinations, then when she becomes the Goblin Queen (sans any kind of real explanation as to why she suddenly has demonically tinged powers), and even when the “real” Jean psionically enters her mind to try and help the two of them sift through whose memories are whose—and even then, the conclusion the episode makes is that it doesn’t really matter, because they both might as well be Jean Grey.

Image: Marvel

In treating Madelyne as a twist to be revealed rather than her own character—itself part and parcel of the fact X-Men: The Animated Series had already brought a post-Phoenix Jean back to life, not giving Scott the time to grieve and move on as he did in the comics when he met Madelyne—X-Men ‘97 can’t quite sell the arrival of the Goblin Queen in the first place. We never get to see the story Scott and Madelyne had in the comics, where the former has to wrestle with his own doubts that he really could’ve found the new love of his life after Jean’s death, and the latter has to constantly fight this doubt that she is somehow Jean reborn or refashioned in some manner (even if that is, ultimately, what she became after the decision to bring Jean back to life was made). The episode spends so much time not giving her an identity of her own in the first place, its take on the events of “Inferno” and their impact on these characters, especially Jean and Scott, treat the hellish environs and the Goblin Queen’s descent as little more than spectacle and set dressing.

This is already a shame enough, but in so fundamentally putting aside Madelyne’s own personhood for the majority of the episode, it ultimately repeats the mistake that pushed Madelyne to the horrifying deal with the devil she made in the comics: a woman so steadfast in her refusal to be denied that she was her own person, a person beyond the Jean Grey clone she was retconned into being, a person who had built her own life and loves and dreams, that she was willing to sunder the Earth in hellfire and brimstone than accept a world that allowed that to happen. “Fire Made Flesh” never has that kind of emotional core to its struggle between the X-Men and the Goblin Queen, and ultimately Scott and Madelyne’s struggle with Sinister—leading to Nathan being infected with the techno-organic virus and sent onto his future destiny to become Cable—because it is unwilling to explore Madelyne’s identity as an individual beyond her role as a clone, only ever as a catalyst of the plot and for other characters like Scott and Jean.

Image: Marvel

Like I said, adapting reams and reams of comic book storytelling into a singular episode of television was always going to be an impossible act. There’s a case to be made that even if X-Men ‘97 turned this into a multi-part storyline, the inherent premise of its predecessor’s adaptive choices with Jean Grey would’ve still made things to complex or messy to condense into that format anyway. The show does the best with what it has, and beyond its specific failings with Madelyne as a character, it does ultimately still pull off it’s own version of “Inferno” in such an impossibly short amount of time.

There is, of course, the potential for X-Men ‘97 to revisit Madelyne down the line and explore what was left off the table here. Unlike the original “Inferno,” her realization of the dark path she fell down does not culminate with her death (it’s comics, she got better). There is now at least the potential for her return, especially having her memories of her life intact—a gift that was only really given to her in the comics during the events of the recent miniseries Dark Web, when Jean shared with her the memories of raising baby Nathan—to truly become her own person, instead of just a shadow of the “real” Jean. At the very least, she has her own name now! But as it stands, “Fire Made Flesh” and its ambitious retelling of such an iconic X-Men storyline could’ve been so much more than it ultimately is, and in sacrificing time, it could never have done justice to one of the most fascinating and misunderstood characters in Marvel’s mutant comics history.

Watch X-Men ‘97 on Disney+.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Carrie-Anne Moss's 10 Most Memorable Genre Performances (So Far) @ io9

Carrie-Anne Moss as Jedi Master Indara in The Acolyte.Image: Lucasfilm

The first association most fans have with Carrie-Anne Moss is the black-clad badass Trinity in The Matrix—and that makes sense. The sci-fi thriller, which was released 25 years ago this weekend, brought Moss widespread acclaim, and the movie became an instant classic. With The Acolyte, which will see Moss use her action-hero skills to play a Star Wars Jedi, coming to Disney+ June 4, we’re looking back at the standout genre projects in her career so far—including The Matrix, of course, but also points beyond.

The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix - Official Theatrical Trailer

Obviously, you have to start here, with the Wachowskis’ stylish cyber-thriller that brought the idea of “bullet time” to the world, as well as mainstreaming the notion that maybe we’re all just trapped in a simulation. Though Keanu Reeves’ Neo is the main protagonist, Moss’ Trinity—both here and in less-satisfying sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003)—is the heart of the film; she’s the woman who gives Neo a reason to keep fighting, while also proving her own bravery over and over again. Also, two words: fashion icon. Streaming on Max.

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

The Matrix Resurrections – Official Trailer 1

Over 20 years after The Matrix, Lana Wachowski reunited with stars Reeves and Moss to explore more layers in its mysterious world. The fight scenes are still a highlight, but the depth of the relationship between Neo and Trinity—who don’t remember each other when the movie begins—is what really drives the action. Streaming on Max.

Fido (2006)

Fido (2006) Official Trailer #1 - Zombie Comedy Movie HD

Moss as a 1950s housewife? Sure. Moss as a 1950s housewife in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are put to work as household helpers? Yes, please! Even better when her character is just one delightful element in a very fun horror comedy, with Billy Connolly starring as the titular undead hero. Streaming free with ads on Tubi, Plex, and the Roku Channel.

Memento (2000)

Memento (2000) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Moss co-stars in Christopher Nolan’s breakout film as a bartender who’s just one of many enigmas in the life of Guy Pearce’s tattooed amnesiac—but easily the most alluring of the bunch. Streaming free with ads on Freevee; also streaming on Prime Video.

Disturbia (2007)

Disturbia (2007) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Moss played an entirely different sort of mother figure in this 2007 thriller starring Shia LeBeouf as a teen on house arrest who suspects one of the neighbors he’s been spying on is a killer. Her role is small but her character—who takes away her son’s internet access and video games as part of his punishment—helps set the whole Rear Window riff in motion. Streaming on MGM+; also streaming on Paramount+.

Pompeii (2014)

POMPEII - Official Trailer

Not only had I forgotten Moss was in this movie, I’d forgotten about this movie, full stop. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil), it stars Kit Harington—at peak Game of Thrones fame—as a gladiator whose budding romance with the daughter (Emily Browning) of a Roman Senate member (Kiefer Sutherland) gets interrupted by... well, you know. Moss plays the Senator’s wife, and manages to be rather regal even in the midst of this historical epic/showcase for Harington’s abs/disaster extravaganza mash-up. Streaming on Netflix.

Humans (2015-2018)

HUMANS Season 2 - ‘The Next Big Leap’ Official Trailer

In its second season, Moss came aboard this very cool but sadly short-lived sci-fi series about a world where life-like “synths” have been integrated into the population, and all the havoc and uncertainty subsequently erupts. She plays a researcher who works to reverse artificial sentience, all while secretly developing her own AI. Seasons two and three (but oddly, not season one) are available for purchase on Prime Video.

Jessica Jones (2015-2019)

Marvel’s Jessica Jones | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

You can actually catch Moss’ legal genius Jeri Hogarth—who happens to be one of few queer Marvel characters, as well as the only one living with ALS—on several of the Netflix Marvel shows, including Daredevil and Iron Fist, but Jessica Jones was her main stomping grounds. Streaming on Disney+.

Frankenstein (2015)

FRANKENSTEIN Trailer (2015) Carrie-Anne Moss Horror

If you think we have too many Frankenstein-adjacent movies these days, consider the era in which this particular Frankenstein was released, which also saw Victor Frankenstein (2015) and I, Frankenstein (2014) competing for the eyeballs of confused audiences. This version from original Candyman director Bernard Rose (does Tony Todd have a role in this? You bet he does!) updates the story to modern-day Los Angeles, with Moss’ Elizabeth Frankenstein doing just as much weird science as her husband, Victor (Danny Huston). Streaming free with ads on Freevee.

Red Planet (2000)

Red Planet (2000) - Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss Science Fiction Movie HD

If you’re going to cast Moss as “the girl” in any movie, make it this sci-fi flick about a disastrous mission to Mars featuring an oddball engineer (played with trademark zeal by Val Kilmer) and a military robot that accidentally has its kill switch engaged during a rough landing. Oops! Fortunately for Moss, her character is flying the ship, so she spends most of the movie alone, safely in orbit, while the rest of the all-dude crew contends with all manner of hostile situations on the surface. Available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

The Walking Dead Lawsuits Are Like Zombies, They Just Don't Die @ io9

The children who starred in the first season of The Walking Dead.Image: AMC

In The Walking Dead universe, three things never die: zombies, spinoffs, and lawsuits. Just as the show’s sixth spinoff enjoys newfound success, so too has a lawsuit brought against its network, AMC, which at one point almost ended, but has since returned.

It’s a bit of a ride to get to the most recent update but here are the basics. Back in 2016, one of the original creators of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Frank Darabont, sued the network for what he believed was a failure to pay him everything he was owed from his work on the show, a total amounting to $280 million. It took a while but finally, in 2021, Darabont won and was awarded $200 million. As that lawsuit was in process, five other producers—Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Glen Mazzara, and Charles Eglee— collectively sued the network for the same thing. Darabont won his case, but those five didn’t; a few years later,they filed a new version with an appeal based on the Darabont verdict. Basically, they were arguing if Darabont was officially owed $200 million, they were owed something similar. That was late 2022 and AMC quickly filed to throw that lawsuit out.

Now it’s 2024 and, on Monday, a federal judge officially denied AMC’s motion to throw out this new case. What does that mean? It means this second lawsuit Kirkman, Hurd, Alpert, Mazzara, and Eglee filed against AMC for back profits owed to them for producing The Walking Dead and its first spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead,will continue. A fight that began in 2017 continues to creep along like a walker in the post-apocalyptic streets seven years later.

Variety has more information, including statements from both lawyers. There’s no word on when the next proceeding in the case is but, as you can guess by the almost 10 years this has been going on, it probably won’t be anytime soon.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Star Trek's Future Includes More Movies, More TV, and More Michelle Yeoh @ io9

Image: Paramount

Star Trek’s streaming revival finds itself at a bit of a crossroads. Discovery, the series that brought the show back to its current heights, is preparing to begin its final season next week—and Picard, arguably one of its biggest successes, came to an end last year. But things ending has never stopped Star Trek from looking ahead to what’s next, and there’s plenty on the way.

As part of a wide ranging feature for Variety, Paramount has revealed a swath of hints about what to expect as Star Trek transitions from the stable of shows it has developed in the years since Discovery revived the franchise in 2017 (for what was then CBS All Access, now Paramount+), to a franchise looking to push itself on screens big and small once again.

Several of the shows that form Star Trek’s current streaming era will of course continue—like the smash-hit success Strange New Worlds, currently filming its third season; the animated series Lower Decks; and the kids-focused 3DCG series Prodigy, which has found a new streaming home at Netflix after being suddenly and controversially axed from Paramount+ last year. But now Star Trek’s future beyond them is anchored in not just at least one more new TV show—the upcoming Starfleet Academy, now explicitly confirmed to be set in the 32nd Century setting established by Discovery’s last three seasons—but experimentations in film in both theatrical and streaming formats.

The most major of these is Section 31, the Michelle Yeoh-helmed series-pitch-turned-streaming film that follows her Discovery character, Phillipa Georgiou (actually the Mirror Universe variant of Yeoh’s character, who perished in its opening episodes) as she finds herself involved in the titular shady Starfleet secret police division introduced in Deep Space Nine. It’s now seemingly been confirmed that Section 31 will be set in the time period between Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as a major character joining Yeoh in the film will be a young Rachel Garrett, played by Kacey Rohl—the captain of the Enterprise-C introduced in the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” Also floated as a potential continuation of this streaming movie format beyond Section 31 is more from the world ofStar Trek: Picard—apparently not the so-called Legacy spinoff cast and crew have been asking for since the series concluded last year, but a movie previously teased by Patrick Stewart that would, presumably, continue to focus on Picard after the events of the show.

Paramount+ is not the only home for future Star Trek film content however. Plans are still underway to make a fourth and final film with the remaining cast of the Star Trek 2009 reboot movie—known as the alternate “Kelvin Timeline” continuity—with The Flight Attendant’s Steve Yockey drafting the latest script for the latest iteration of the film, which has been trying to get off the ground in various forms since 2018, having most recently lost director Matt Shakman to Marvel’s The Fantastic Four. Further along the line than Star Trek 4, however, is another tentpole Trek movie: first reported on earlier this year as being written by Seth Grahame-Smith and directed by Andor’s Toby Haynes, this film is now explicitly described as “an origin story of sorts” for, not as previously assumed, the aforementioned Kelvin timeline, but the “Prime” Star Trek canon, suggesting a return to the time period first explored in Star Trek: Enterprise.

All this, of course, remains in flux—Star Trek has few rivals in the Hollywood world when it comes to announced projects not actually making it out to audiences in one form or another (the galaxy far, far away says hello to its fellow Star franchise). But suffice to say Paramount has big, big plans for Star Trek in a bunch of forms across TV and film, and they’re unlikely to slow down any time soon.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Miles Morales Tackles Great Power and Great Anxiety in This Spider-Verse Short Film @ io9

Screenshot: Sony Pictures Animation

Being a Spider-Man is not without its downsides—even beyond getting the superheroic snot beaten out of you by the occasional baddie. After a year’s waiting for it to get a public release, Sony’s new short film sees just how Miles Morales faces some of those more personal downsides as he settles into his role as a hero.

Originally debuting at last year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, The Spider Within, directed by Jarelle Dampier as part of Sony Imageworks’ LENS program highlighting young talent from marginalized backgrounds, the short sees Miles head home late one night after a rough day of school and spider-heroism—and grapple with a more literal manifestation of his anxieties than he’s willing to be equipped with.

THE SPIDER WITHIN: A SPIDER-VERSE STORY | Official Short Film (Full) | Sony Animation

It’s short, sweet, and surprisingly creepy—an odd thing to say for a short about Spider-Man, but if you’re a bit of an arachnophobe its representation of Miles’ anxiety might give you the creeps too! But it’s a smart and incredibly effective look at how Miles’ abilities as Spider-Man play into doubts and anxieties he has just being a teenager in the modern world: worries and struggles beyond fighting bad guys and maintaining a secret identity. It very pointedly makes clear that these are problems he cannot solve with a bio-electric blast or by swinging fists, but by reaching out to the people he loves and talking things out. A good lesson for any spider-hero to learn.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Steven Moffat Talks Returning to Doctor Who @ io9

Image: BBC

The Bad Guys will return next year. The First Omen goes retro in its new TV spot. Get a look at Roku’s take on The Spiderwick Chronicles. Plus, the X-Men go to hell in a look at today’s episode of X-Men ‘97, and what’s to come on Resident Alien. To me, my spoilers!

Fear Street: Prom Queen

Bloody-Disgusting reports India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Chris Klein, Lili Taylor and Katherine Waterston are attached to star in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Fear Street No. 15: The Prom Queen. Matt Palmer (Calibre) is attached to direct.


The Bad Guys 2

According to Comic Book, a sequel to 2022's The Bad Guys is now in development and is already scheduled for an August 1, 2025 theatrical release date.


The First Omen

Elsewhere, a new trailer for The First Omen attempts to recreate the feel of a 1970's TV spot.

The First Omen | 70s Trailer | In Theaters April 5

Doctor Who

Making a recent public appearance at the University of Glasgow’s Screenwriting Society (via The Radio Times), Steven Moffatt stated Doctor Who really “hasn’t changed much” under Disney+.

Basically, he runs out the TARDIS and says, ‘There’s something terribly wrong here,’ and sorts it out for a while, right? Then blows everything up at the last minute. We are talking about a show that started in 1963 and hasn’t changed that much. I think you’re slightly foolish to think it’s your job to reflect society. I don’t think it really is.


Resident Alien

Spoiler TV has photos from “Here Comes My Baby,” this week’s episode of Resident Alien. Click through to see the rest.

Photo: Syfy
Photo: Syfy
Photo: Syfy

X-Men ‘97

Mr. Sinister drags the team to Hell in a clip from “Fire Made Flesh,” today’s new episode of X-Men ‘97.

Marvel Animation’s X-Men ‘97 | Official Clip ‘Dante’s Inferno’ | Disney+

Smiling Friends

Adult Swim has released a new stop-motion short from Lee Hardcastle to promote the (alleged) return of Smiling Friends this April Fool’s Day.

Smiling Friends x Lee Hardcastle IDs | adult swim

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Finally, Roku has released another trailer for its new Spiderwick Chronicles series starring Christian Slater.

The Spiderwick Chronicles | Official Trailer | The Roku Channel

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Breaking Bad Trivia @ Bureau 42

Ready to get bad? Well, it’s episode 270 of the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast and this week, I’ve got Breaking Bad Trivia.

Every week for Season Six, it’s TV Trivia and it’s time we did a drama series. This one was very popular, so I figured it was a good choice.

If you’re new to the show, here’s how it works. There are three rounds of questions. I ask, you get a timer, and then we sort things out. If you need rules, scorecards, or anything else, visit the show’s website DorkyGeekyNerdy.com.

A thank you to our sponsor, yet again: Trivia with Budds.

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dorkygeekynerdy/message

We Love This Deadpool and Wolverine Art, But It’s Not Deadpool & Wolverine Art @ io9

A crop of new art by Doaly. Image: Marvel/Doaly

Are you excited for Deadpool & Wolverine? Us too. The highly anticipated third Deadpool movie starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman is coming this summer and could potentially blow the roof off the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its hard R-rating and multiversal connections.

So that’s Deadpool & Wolverine, the movie, in theaters July 26. There’s also Deadpool and Wolverine, the Marvel Comics characters, and they feature prominently on this gorgeous officially licensed art by Doaly that’s now on sale at MoorArtGallery.com.

Image: Marvel/Doaly

This piece is actually called Deadpool vs. Wolverine, which is a smart way to distinguish it from the movie. But also, it’s not a coincidence that it’s being released around the same time, and Deadpool himself would approve of the crossover. Plus, in the piece, we get the cheeky twist of it being Deadpool saying Wolverine’s trademark sound. So is it Deadpool who has the claws or Wolverine? It’s art, whatever you say goes.

So no, this isn’t a Deadpool & Wolverine poster. But it’s a Deadpool and Wolverine poster. Which is kind of the same. Same characters, different syntax. The piece is a 16 x 24 inch giclée with an embossed seal that comes with an artist-signed certificate of authenticity. It’s a limited edition of $250 and costs about $70. Get all the details over at MoorArtGallery.com.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Who the Hell Is Nelson Peltz, the Billionaire Investor Disney Is Freaking Out About? @ io9

Photo: Marco Bello (Getty Images), Image: Marvel Studios (Getty Images)

So-called activist investor Nelson Peltz, who’s aiming to win two Disney board seats, has stirred up some controversy by calling out Disney’s recent era of “woke” strategy through diversifying its slate of films at Marvel Studios.

The 81-year-old businessman, whose experience is with food companies including Wendy’s and H.J. Heinz as well as having once supported the DeSantis presidential campaign, had a lot to say about The Marvels and Black Panther in an interview with the Financial Times. “Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that’s all women?” Peltz asked the publication. “Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?” Side note: Peltz happens to be the father of Nicola Peltz, who played Katara in 2010's infamously very white Last Airbender adaptation.

He continued, “People go to watch a movie or a show to be entertained. They don’t go to get a message.” Since he also claimed that he doesn’t have experience in media, it’s interesting to note that Peltz’s Trian Partners is pushing for this vote as part of Ike Perlmutter’s hopes for retaliation against Disney CEO Bob Iger, who terminated him from Marvel Entertainment last year. Variety reported that, “Trian controls roughly $3.5 billion worth of Disney stock, 79% of which is owned by Perlmutter.” This goes back to Perlmutter’s feud with Kevin Feige, who pushed for Black Panther and Captain Marvel. Perlmutter fought against diversity in Marvel’s slate until Iger stepped in to force his hand and allow the films to be made.

Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, starring the late Chadwick Boseman, was a hit with $1.35 billion at the worldwide box office; it kicked off the Academy Award-winning franchise and brought more inclusivity to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Proving Perlmutter wrong publicly while revealing the lengths the forner Marvel exec went to in order to stop diverse superhero toys, merch, and movies being made really propelled Feige into the public’s good graces. Recent misses for the studio including The Marvels havecaused some Marvel watchers to wonder if Feige’s position should be called into question. When asked by the Financial Times if it should, Peltz responded, “I’m not ready to say that, but I question his record.”

Disney board member George Lucas recently stood up against Peltz by releasing a statement (reprinted in Variety and elsewhere) to support Bob Iger in rejecting his bid. “Creating magic is not for amateurs,” Lucas said in a shot right at Peltz, who also admitted to the Financial Times he’s been a bit of a bully. (“What sense is being a billionaire if you’re not a bully?” Peltz has been quoted as saying.) Which is such a strange stance to bring into Disney, standing directly against all it represents.

Lucas continued, “When I sold Lucasfilm just over a decade ago, I was delighted to become a Disney shareholder because of my longtime admiration for its iconic brand and Bob Iger’s leadership.” He added, “When Bob recently returned to the company during a difficult time, I was relieved. No one knows Disney better. I remain a significant shareholder because I have full faith and confidence in the power of Disney and Bob’s track record of driving long-term value. I have voted all of my shares for Disney’s 12 directors and urge other shareholders to do the same.”

Peltz aims to add more board seats for his hedge fund firm through his Disney bid and support the agenda that Ike Perlmutter, his silent third party partner, has advocated for during his Disney tenure. The Hollywood Reporter disclosed that Perlmutter had this up his sleeve as soon as he was terminated, as he immediately pledged his stakes in Disney to Peltz. Before Iger came back Peltz had attempted a proxy battle with the company as a result of its losses, but was held off by his return. With this seat bid he hopes for round two in having more direct influence on the company board.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Why Pedro Pascal's The Last of Us Schedule Became a Major Story @ io9

Where in the world is Pedro Pascal?Image: HBO

Ninety-nine percent of the time, this sentencewould seem free of any hidden meaning: “Pedro Pascal has finished filming The Last of Us season two.” Every day actors start filming projects and then they finish filming projects. When it happens it’s rarely, if ever, significant. In this case, though, people began to freak out about it—and even though that statement was later reported to be inaccurate, that it caused a ruckus at all is a fairly fascinating tale.

The rumor of Pascal completing his filming started earlier this week. On one level, it raised eyebrows because The Last of Us season two has reportedly only been filming a few weeks and is expected to continue through the summer. He’s one of the main characters on the hit HBO series, so his potentially being done seemed odd for that reason alone.

Except, it didn’t, if you had some additional context. The Last of Us season two is adapting the game The Last of Us Part II, and for anyone who has played the game, the rumor of Pascal’s schedule felt like the indirect answer to a question fans have had for a while. Before we get to that though, it’s important to note that after the rumor began to circle, HBO told IGN that the rumors of him being done with filming were “not accurate.” Does that mean he is still filming? Does that mean he finished a block of filming and is going back? And, finally, why is this meaningless piece of news being reported on with such interest?

The last question we can answer, but it requires discussing events in The Last of Us Part II game and, potentially, season two of the HBO series.

This has been covered over and over again but, to reiterate, Pedro Pascal’s character, Joel, is not a big part of The Last of Us Part II. In the game’s first act, he’s murdered by a woman named Abby as revenge for him killing her father, a doctor at the hospital Joel where went on a killing spreeto save Ellie. Ellie doesn’t know that part though and goes on a revenge mission to find and kill Abby.

So! A sentence as simple as “Pedro Pascal has finished filming The Last of Us season two” implies, to a fan of the game, that season two of the show will be following that story and structure explicitly. That Joel is only in a few scenes or episodes and then WHAM. Dead.

Which, in terms of a major TV series, always felt like something that wouldn’t happen. Even before The Last of Us aired, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann played coy about how they were going to handle this in-game decision. Basically, they didn’t want game players to spoil that Joel might die or to easily give up such a game-changing plot point willingly. Plus, there’s no guarantee they have to follow the game. Their show is headlined by one of the biggest stars in the world. To write him off for any reason is a major decision on every level.

News that the game’s story would be split over at least two seasonsthen changed the conversation. It then seems possible Joel would die, but maybe not until the end of season two. (To explain that even further, even though Joel dies at the beginning of the game, it’s the middle of the overall story, with the first half following Ellie’s revenge after his death and the second explaining Abby’s plight before his death.)

If Pascal was actually done filming, it would suggest he’s not in the show as much and that Mazin and Druckmann were taking the simplest path by just following the game to the letter. But, now, we know those rumors are “not accurate.” Which, if you want to get all conspiracy theory about it, is a very specific choice of words. It doesn’t say he has months left of filming. It doesn’t even say that he’s still filming. For all we know he could go back at a later date for a single day and they would be telling the truth. HBO is only saying it’s not accurate that Pedro Pascal has completed filming on season two. The question of if Joel dies in season two of The Last of Us, or when, remains a mystery.

And now, almost 700 words later, we’re still just talking about and explaining the most basic fact imaginable: a person finished work. It should be meaningless. But when it’s how long Pedro Pascal was on the set of The Last of Us season two, it’s a window into the entire scope of the season and series. Something we’ll be talking about and debating into next year when The Last of Us finally returns with its second season.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

This Insane Star Wars Action Figure Set Is Dedicated to the Letter 'U' @ io9

Image: Hasbro

Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy is, even now, still the definitive Star Wars text to many people beyond the films—one that we still see the reach and influence of to this very day, considering Disney and Lucasfilm are setting the stage to adapt its events once again. But it’s also a frequently unhinged text, an aspect that is now being celebrated in Hasbro’s latest action figures.

Today, as the last part of its offerings for the villain-themed “Imperial March” series of product reveals, Hasbro offered a first look at a new four-pack based around the comic book adaptation final novel in Zahn’s trilogy, The Last Command. Depicting the climax at Mount Tantiss where—deep breath—the clone of the insane former Jedi Master Jorus C’Boath, Joruus C’Boath, pits his dark apprentice, the clone Luuke Skywalker, against Luke and Mara Jade, the set marks the first time Hasbro has made figures of either Joruus or Luuke in its 6" Black Series line.

It’s a very clever set—reusing the recent Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker and a re-release of the recent Mara Jade figure (with an added head option), the set also naturally gets to reuse elements of other action figures combined with new elements to create Joruus and Luuke. But it’s also an insane one, not just for the context of it all, but for the simple fact we’ve now reached a point in Hasbro’s Star Wars line where it’s feasible.

Click through to see more pictures of Luke, Luuke, Mara, and Joruus—as well as a few more more action figures rounding out the “Imperial March” celebrations—the Last Command pack will go live for preorder on Hasbro Pulse tomorrow, March 27, for $100, ahead of a summer release, before becoming available at the Disney Store and in Disney’s parks at a later date.

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series The Last Command 4-Pack

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection HK-87 Assassin Droid (Arcana)

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Trooper and Battle Droid

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection Dark Trooper

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection Dark Trooper

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection Dark Trooper

Image: Hasbro

Star Wars The Vintage Collection Dark Trooper

Image: Hasbro

X-Men '97 Is Now One of Disney+'s Biggest Animated Series @ io9

Image: Marvel

The X-Men have landed on Disney+ with all the force of a particularly well-crafted optic blast. Disney has revealed that X-Men ‘97's premiere on the streamer last week has smashed records for the platform—and it’s not just helping out the new show, either.

This week Disney confirmed (via Deadline) that the opening two-episode premiere of the new series was viewed four million times across the first five days it was available on Disney+. That now makes X-Men ‘97 the platform’s most successful debut for what the studio calls a “full-length animated series” since Marvel’s first animated project for the streamer, What If?. It should be noted that that description weaves around a few caveats for animation on Disney+; “full-length” here does not count series like Star Wars: Visions or Zootopia+, or even Marvel’s own I Am Groot anthology, but does compare X-Men ‘97 to the likes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch or the recent launch of the afrofuturist series Iwájú. But either way, it’s a case in point that the series has made the exact kind of huge waves Marvel would like for what is its first real media project with the X-Men since the re-acquisition of their adaptation rights in the Disney/Fox merger.

But X-Men ‘97 hasn’t just done well for itself, but its predecessor too. Disney notes that since the first trailer for the new show released last month, streams of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series—which ‘97 is a direct continuation of—have shot up by over five hundred percent, as people raced to catch up in time for the new series’ arrival. Suffice to say, between this and the comics re-aligning a new age of X-Men storytelling to include elements evocative of the classic ‘90s show and team makeup—the decade is truly back in style for the X-Men, regardless of whether it’s on-screen or in the pages of the comics.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

10 Nun Horror Movies That Paved the Way for Scream Queen Sydney Sweeney @ io9

The NunImage: Warner Bros.

It’s not quite a full-on Nunsploitation revival, but between Immaculate and The First Omen, horror nuns are having a bit of a moment. Continue the religious experience with these 10 earlier films featuring nuns (supernaturally pregnant, demonic, and otherwise) and invariably creepy convents.

A note: we picked only titles that are (legally) available for streaming, so you’ll have to track down certain less-accessible titles in this genre—including Alucarda (1977) and School of the Holy Beast (1974)—through other avenues.

The Devil’s Doorway (2018)

The Devil’s Doorway - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Midnight

This Irishfound-footage tale follows a pair of 1960s priests sent to a Magdalene Asylum—scarier than a convent, since aside from all the nuns, most aren’t there by choice—to investigate a Virgin Mary statue said to be weeping blood. What they find is... well, let’s just say it’s far from miraculous. (Streaming free with ads on Tubi)

Consecration (2023)

Consecration - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

Jena Malone visits a remote convent populated by unfriendly nuns after her brother, a priest, dies there under mysterious circumstances. She’s skeptical from the start, but what she finds on her gothic-horror detective quest makes her question not just what she believes about religion—but about herself, too. (Streaming on Hulu)

The Nun (2018) and The Nun II (2023)

THE NUN - Official Teaser Trailer [HD]

After 2016's The Conjuring 2, there was no question its standout baddie, played by horror icon Bonnie Aarons, would be getting her own spin-off series. Who cares what else happens in these movies, as long as they contain multiple scenes of Valak menacingly emerging from the darkness? (Rent or buy The Nun on Prime Video; The Nun II streaming on Max)

St. Agatha (2018)

St Agatha - UK Trailer

Saw series veteran Darren Lynn Bousman directed this tale of a pregnant young woman who chooses “have my baby in a spooky convent” over trying to survive on the streets. She swiftly come to regret her decision when she realizes these nuns do not have her best interests in mind. (Streaming free with ads on Tubi)

Dark Waters (1993)

DARK WATERS - Official Horror Movie Trailer | Shudder

Nope, not the Mark Ruffalo-starring legal thriller Dark Waters, nor the Jennifer Connolly-starring J-horror remake Dark Water. Despite its generic title, this Ukraine-shot chiller is stuffed full of standout elements. After her father dies, a woman returns to the island where she was raised to visit the convent he’s been donating to for years... and yes, it’s a sinister convent, full of sinister nuns concealing a sinister secret. (Streaming free with ads on Tubi)

The Other Hell (1981)

The Other Hell (1981) - Trailer HD 1080p

Legendary schlock duo Bruno Mattei (Hell of the Living Dead) and Claudio Fragosso (Troll 2) co-directed this shining example of the Nunsploitation genre at its peak, which means it leans heavily into trashy violence while weaving a Carrie-esque story of a powerful young psychic who brings even more outrageous chaos into a convent that’s already teetering on the edge of madness. (Streaming on Night Flight+)

To the Devil a Daughter (1976)

To The Devil... A Daughter (1976) - Official Trailer

This Hammer Films production is about an excommunicated priest (Christopher Lee) who turns away from the Catholic Church, but not religion! Richard Widmark plays an occult expert charged with de-programming a young woman (Nastassja Kinski) who’s just left the priest’s strange convent—though as the title suggests, Satan soon gets all mixed up in everyone’s business. (Streaming on Peacock; also streaming free with ads on Pluto TV)

Killer Nun (1979)

Killer Nun Original English Trailer (Giulio Berruti, 1979) HD

Here’s more Nunspoitation for you insatiable maniacs, this time starring Anita Ekberg as a you-know-what whose post-op recovery from brain surgery spirals into drug addiction and much, much, much worse. Not for nothing did this Italian release—which purports to be inspired by “actual events”—make Britain’s infamous “video nasty” list of censored films. (Streaming free with ads on Tubi, Plex, and Pluto TV)

The Devils

The Devils (1971) - trailer

io9 once called The Devils “one of horror’s most controversial and elusive films,” though the latter is now less true since Ken Russell’s 1971 cult classic—starring Oliver Reed as a witchcraft-accused priest and Vanessa Redgrave as an unhinged, hunchbacked nun—is now more frequently available for streaming. It’s still shocking as ever, though fortunately films seem less likely than books to be banned these days. (Streaming on the Criterion Channel)

Ms. 45 (1981)

MS. 45 | Official Trailer | Drafthouse Films

Granted, no actual nuns star in Abel Ferrara’s proudly sleazy rape-revenge thriller, a key release early in the American indie film movement. But one of the movie’s most memorable sequences sees the heroine, played by Zoë Tamerlis, dress up as a nun to attend a Halloween party where she plans to dole out some serious payback. The costume’s cult-classic status was further affirmed when it got a nod in a 2020 Euphoria episode. (Streaming on Peacock; also streaming free with ads on Freevee)

Lisan al Gaib to Rule Both Arrakis and Warner Bros. @ io9

Timothee Chalamet (and Josh Brolin) in Dune: Part Two.Image: Warner Bros.

As it was written, the Lisan al Gaib has gone from ruling Arrakis, to the galaxy, to Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. That’s where a young, powerful ruler by the true name of Timothée Chalamet has inked a new deal with the studio that’ll allow him to star in and produce feature films.

Say it with us now, Stilgar: ”LISAN AL GAIB!”

Yes, it’s another big win for the Dune: Part Two and Wonka superstar who just signed a multi-year, first-look deal at Warner Bros. “Working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy, and their teams on Wonka and Dune over these last few years has been a deeply rewarding experience,” the actor said in a press release. “These are studio heads who believe in real movie making, and I’m so grateful for their support as an actor, producer and collaborator. This partnership feels like a natural next step. Let’s go!”

Can’t you just kind of hear Chalamet tacking on that “Let’s go?” What a move. “LISAN AL GAIB!”

“Over the last few years, we have admired not only Timothée’s commitment to his craft, which is evident in the range and depth of his varied roles, but also his unwavering dedication to give 100% of his time and attention to every project he has made here at Warner Bros. and elsewhere,” CEOs De Luca and Abdy said. “His collaboration on the campaigns for Dune and Wonka is something we all enjoyed immensely, and the results speak for themselves. We continue to build for the future of the theatrical film business at Warner Bros. Discovery and are thrilled Timothée has chosen our studio to be his creative home.” “LISAN AL GAIB!”

They didn’t say that last part, we added it in.

So yeah, for the next few years, whenever Chalamet and his team consider a new movie, Warner Bros. will have the first shot at making it. That obviously includes Dune Messiah, which is all but assured to be made with Chalamet and the studio in the next few years... whenever writer-director Denis Villeneuve is ready. For now though, Chalamet is filming Indiana Jones director James Mangold’s new movie, A Complete Unknown, in which he plays Bob Dylan... as it was written.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

How 3 Body Problem Pulled Off That Jaw-Dropping Panama Canal Scene @ io9

Image: Netflix

Netflix’s 3 Body Problem has been out since last week, and the streamer is starting to share spoiler-filled behind-the-scenes videos. Today’s drop goes into great detail about episode five, “Judgment Day,” a title that refers to both the giant ship at its center... and the memorable fate suffered by all aboard.

Suffice to say, if you haven’t watched 3 Body Problem yet, turn back now!

In episode five, intelligence operative Wade (Liam Cunningham) brings his team to the Panama Canal, where they’ll attack Judgment Day—the oil tanker that’s home base to reclusive billionaire Mike Evans (Jonathan Pryce). The vessel is also where he’s been clandestinely communicating with the San-Ti, the aliens who’ve set a course for invading Earth. Since Wade can’t just storm the ship and steal whatever intel Evans is hiding, he comes up with a plan that weaponizes the highly advanced nanofibers invented by brilliant scientist Auggie Salazar (Eiza González).

The slice-and-dice result (think the opening scene of 2002 horror flick Ghost Ship, made exponentially worse) is both visually wondrous and agonizingly brutal, and it posed quite a challenge for 3 Body Problem to pull off. “It began with months of prep,” episode director Minkie Spiro explains in the below video. “And it started with the science.” The clip includes insights from the show’s particle physics consultant, who helped bring authenticity to that element—as well as its production designer and VFX supervisor, who worked in tandem to make the scene feel as organic as possible. It also digs into how some characters are horrified by what they’re doing, considering all the people they’re killing as part of this... while others simply see it as part of being at war.

3 Body Problem | Inside the End of Judgment Day | Netflix

Speaking to io9 and other journalists as part of a recent Netflix press day, D.B. Weiss—the co-creator of 3 Body Problem, along with David Benioff and Alexander Woo—explained a bit more about what went into crafting the episode. “There [were] a lot of challenges. One of the [hardest things] was making sure you knew what was going on, going into it, so you didn’t need any of it explained to you in the moment. Because explaining about nanofibers slicing things, while nanofibers are slicing things, is going to kind of kill the buzz of the sequence, to say the least,” he said. “Story-wise, there was a challenge of sneaking things onto the board in these episodes that preceded episode five, in ways that were dramatic and interesting in their own right, and kind of gave you—without you knowing it—a tutorial in what was going to happen in episode five.”

He continued. “In terms of the production challenges, you’ve got micro nanofiber wire every three feet slicing something that’s hundreds of feet high into deli slices. Deborah Riley, our production designer, drew lines on the walls saying, ‘This is where the fibers would be. Everything that crosses those fibers paths is going to be cut in half.’ It makes for a really difficult conversation: which parts do you do practically, [and] which things are just too hard to do practically? The paper dolls with the legs get cut off in that one shot preceding the first human death that we see—that’s something [where] there was no good way to to do that practically, because we didn’t actually have nanofibers. So that had to be a computer-generated visual effects shot. Obviously, the people are real right up until the moment when they get turned into deli slices, and stuff needed to be handed off from practical—people looking afraid—to visual effects of people getting chopped to pieces and falling to the ground ... Everybody needed to be working together in unison on the same page to make everything happened exactly when it needed to happen.”

3 Body Problem is now streaming on Netflix.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

They Wanted Ernie Hudson to be Sexier for Star Trek? @ io9

Godzilla x Kong's First Reactions Offer Titanic Action and Little Else @ io9

Image: Legendary

We’re on enough of a regular cadence with Legendary’s Godzilla franchise—now expanded in the recent entries to give top-billing to an extra co-star in King Kong—that we should probably expect at this point when people say the new one is full of good dumb action and not much else. But, stop us if you’ve not heard this one before! Godzilla x Kong sounds like much the same.

The early reactions for Adam Wingard’s second crack at the kaiju whip in The New Empire are here, and... mixed isn’t the right word, perhaps, but more of a re-establishment of expectations. There’s plenty of praise for the action on display as Godzilla and Kong team up for more giant-sized spectacle, and... well everyone mostly otherwise skims over the bits of the movie that involving things that are smaller than your average skyscraper. Unless they’re Dan Stevens, apparently, who gets a ton of praise.

It’s kind of a shame—especially coming in the wake of the excellent Monarch TV show, which used its length to give us a bunch of interesting characters to care about in between them being chased by monsters—but perhaps unsurprising at this point. We’ve known from pretty much the moment we saw footage The New Empire would be following in the footsteps of its predecessors, and not a western companion piece to the likes of Godzilla Minus One. Now we can just be blessed to exist in a world where two Godzilla-focused movies are out in the ether at the same time offering very different takes on the King of All Monsters (or, well, would be if you could actually still watch the Oscar-winning Minus One anywhere right now. Womp womp!). Check out a few more reactions below, starting with io9's very own Germain Lussier:

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits theaters March 29—stay tuned to io9 later this week for our full review.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Pedro Pascal's The Last of Us Season 2 Filming May Have Already Come to An End @ io9

Image: HBO

Jerry Bruckheimer talks about taking Pirates of the Caribbean in a new direction for its next movie. First Omen director Arkasha Stevenson teases the violent scene that nearly bumped the film’s rating up. Plus, James Gunn debunks more DC rumors. Spoilers, away!

Jurassic World 4

THR confirms earlier reports that Scarlett Johansson is in talks to star in Gareth Edward’s new Jurassic World movie at Universal.


Spider-Man 4

Meanwhile, Jeff Sneider reports (viaComic Book) thatFast 9's Justin Lin is being courted to direct a fourth Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland for Sony and Marvel Studios.


Pirates of the Caribbean

Jerry Bruckheimer also re-confirmed the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be a reboot in a recent interview with Comic Book.

It’s hard to tell. You don’t know, you really don’t know. You don’t know how they come together. You just don’t know. Because with Top Gun you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does [another] Top Gun, I can’t tell you. But we’re gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.


Puzzle Box

Variety reports Welcome Villain Films has acquired the rights to Puzzle Box, a new found footage horror film from director Jack Dignan following “recovering drug addict Kait, who flees to a house in the woods to self-rehabilitate. Joined by her sister Olivia, who decides to document the process, strange things begin to happen as the house’s layout mysteriously begins to change, and the two find themselves trapped inside an inescapable, nightmarish puzzle box of a house.”


Festival of the Living Dead

Bloody-Disgusting also reports the latest film from the Soska Sisters, Festival of the Living Dead, will premiere this April 5 on Tubi. Starring Ashley Moore and Camren Bicondova, the story concerns fans of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead attending the festival of the title when “a blast of radioactive space dust” causes an actual zombie uprising to occur.


The First Omen

During a recent interview with Fangoria, director Arkasha Stevenson revealed a graphic scene in which a woman is forced to give birth nearly netted The First Omen an NC-17 rating.

The horror in that situation is how dehumanized that woman is. This has been my life for a year and a half, fighting for the shot. It’s the theme of our film. It’s the female body being violated from the inside outwards. If we were going to talk about female body horror, we were going to talk about forced reproduction, and we have to be able to show the female body in a non-sexualized light. I’m very proud of this shot.

There was a preview where I was sitting with the audience. The guy in front of me was eating M&Ms the whole time. Then that shot came on, and his mouth opened, and M&Ms just fell out.

I’m not going to lie, it is pretty nerve-racking pitching that scene, thinking these guys will never go for that. But the whole time, Keith [Levine] and [David] Goyer were so supportive. I really wanted to work with these guys who aren’t scared off by that word. I think it’s a huge litmus test if people can say the word ‘vagina.’


The Monster Is Coming

A biotech company’s giant, mutant pangolin escapes in the first eight minutes of The Monster Is Coming. An additional trailer promises it eventually battle with an equally large snake.

The Monster is Coming (怪物来袭, 2024) || Trailer || New Chinese Movie

The Last of Us

Reporter Daniel Richtman alleges that Pedro Pascal has already finished production on The Last of Us’ second season—which only began filming about a month ago, suggesting a short, video-game-accurate role for his character Joel.


Waller

James Gunn denied rumors Corey Hawkins has joined the cast of the Amanda Waller TV series in a recent post on Threads.

Scripts aren’t finished. Haven’t started the casting process. (So no).


The Penguin

Colin Farrell also described the upcoming Penguin TV series as “really dark” and “incredibly violent” in a new interview with MovieZine.

It was a long and really wonderful experience. It’s dark, that’s what I can tell you about it. It’s really dark. It’s really heavy, I think, it certainly was doing it. Which is not to say I didn’t have fun, I had an amazing time doing it, but it’s incredibly violent.


Ninja Kamui

Finally, Adult Swim has released a trailer for next week’s episode of Ninja Kamui.

Toonami - Ninja Kamui Episode 8 Promo

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

2024 Andre Norton Award Nominees @ Worlds Without End

Andre Norton Award To Shape a Dragon's Breath The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern Liberty's Daughter The Ghost Job

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2024 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy:

Our congrats to all the nominees.

John Bradley on Getting to Do Something He Never Did on Game of Thrones for 3 Body Problem @ io9

John Bradley as Jack Rooney in 3 Body Problem on Netflix.Image: Netflix

With Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss among the big names behind the new 3 Body Problem adaptation, fans of the HBO series probably weren’t surprised to see Game of Thrones alumni John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, and Jonathan Pryce among the core cast of the Netflix show—nor the cameos that pop up across its eight episodes.

But while the shows are obviously quite different in terms of plot (one has dragons, one has aliens), there was also a huge difference for Bradley when it came to playing his character. 3 Body Problem’s Jack Rooney actually has a lot in common with Game of Thrones’ Samwell Tarley—they’re both smart, funny, well-liked, mischievous, and tend to do their own thing no matter what the mainstream thinks. But Jack, a pop-culture fanatic and video-game fan who channeled his science genius into a hugely successful snack-food empire, does one thing that Samwell decidedly does not do, and it’s kind of surprising considering the general atmosphere of Game of Thrones.

Long story short: Jack dies. Horribly. Really early in the series! Speaking to Variety, Bradley discussed what it was like finally meeting his end in a Benioff-Weiss show (3 Body Problem’s third creator is Alexander Woo) after somehow surviving all of Game of Thrones.

“At first, I was a little bit disappointed ... I felt a little bit slighted, and I wrestled with that for a bit,” the actor admitted about finding out Jack would be killed off in episode three. “Then I realized that if there’s one thing that David and Dan have done very well over the years, it’s deaths. They certainly know how to execute, if you’ll pardon the expression, a really good screen death. Some of the deaths in Game of Thrones are the moments that the audience have emotionally invested in the most. I was invested in the Red Wedding as much as anybody else. So I felt honored to be killed off by David and Dan, in the end.”

Bradley also realized how important it would be for his abbreviated performance to still make a palpable impact. “I had to create enough of an impression that that character would be missed, and would be mourned by the audience in not much screen time,” he said. “I felt flattered that David and Dan thought that I was up to that job, and thought that Jack’s death would inspire a bit of a gear change in the series. After Jack dies, there’s a definite mood change.”

And as it happens, taking Game of Thrones fans by surprise ended up being part of the subtext once Bradley was cast. “[Benioff and Weiss were also] playing with the meta expectations of the audience’s prior knowledge of their work,” he said. “[Fans] know that David and Dan didn’t kill me off in Game of Thrones, so they don’t think they’re going to kill me off in this.”

3 Body Problem is now streaming on Netflix.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Did Fan Casts Influence Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire? @ io9

Cyclops Has Always Been This Good @ io9

Screenshot: Marvel

When X-Men ‘97 hit Disney+ last week, enrapt viewers all shouted one thing—other than “To me, my X-men!”—as they saw Marvel’s mutants back in action: “Where has this Cyclops been?”

The comics. He’s been in the comics.

X-Men ‘97 has already proven to be a smash hit for Marvel, throwing audiences back to the heady days of the X-Men’s ‘90s boom, when, between The Animated Series and a string of hugely successful books and storylines during the decade post-Chris Claremont’s legendary run on Uncanny X-Men, mutantkind reached a kind of mainstream popularity unlike any other era since. But its greatest success so far might be one that’s been almost two and a half decades in the making: the opportunity to override the other mainstream adaptation of the X-Men’s fundamentally flawed interpretation of one of the most important mutant characters around in Scott Summers.

Screenshot: Marvel

The Cyclops of X-Men ‘97's premiere episodes—balancing his desires for a future away from the endless fight as he prepares to start a family with Jean Grey with the stress of leading the X-Men at a moment of global awareness of mutantkind, and the tragedy of losing his mentor Charles Xavier—is a man of multitudes. We get to see the tactical acumen that is Scott’s mainstay trait in the comics as he guides the team through his litany of plans, back-up plans, and myriad contingencies. We get to see the deeply conflicted man behind his ruby-quartz sunglasses, the push and pull of the Boy Scout who was always Charles’ favored student and the angry man he’s become from years of being knocked around by a world that hates and fears him.

And yes, we do get to see him as a badass. He’s an action hero leading from the front, as years of honing his mutant gift lets him do things we’ve never seen the character do on-screen outside of fighting games—gliding around with his optic blasts (kinetic force, not heat, never heat, please don’t get into this again) as he wipes the floor with bigots, making aerial landings with a column of red energy slowing his fall. For many, many people, returning to the X-Men for the first time since The Animated Series came to an end nearly 30 years ago, this is a Cyclops they’ve never seen before like this—a little whiny, a little goody-two-shoes, sure, but a fully fledged person and hero who is so much more than just that. A character who is righteous, and funny, and emotional, and above all, actually interesting.

Screenshot: Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, and Clayton Cowles/Marvel Comics

This is who Scott has long been in the comics—a man pushing and pulling between how he views his own ideals as mutantkind faces struggle after struggle, one who constantly wrestles with the legacy of Xavier’s dream and his frequent inheritance of it. A man who, sacrificing a little of the restraint he has held his whole life, can level a Sentinel in a second. A man who regularly (regularly) makes a mess of his personal life and relationships because of his need to overthink every little detail, from his love life to to his leadership of many, many iterations of the X-Men over the years. He’s blessed with this depth and multilayered identity thanks, of course, to the longevity of comics as a medium. This has been true especially in the last few decades, where cavalcades of creative teams have given Scott some truly fantastic character work, from New X-Men to his resistance leader arc across Kieron Gillen’s brief time, and eventually Brian Michael Bendis’much more fraught run, on Uncanny X-Men, and beyond into the Krakoan age. You can do so much more in decades of monthly comic books, even between reboots and creative reshuffles, than you can in a two-hour movie or even a couple seasons of animated TV.

But in spite of all that, what has not helped Scott’s mainstream reputation—and whatled to the surprise that X-Men ‘97's take on the character isa pretty faithful continuation of his characterization from X-Men: The Animated Series—is that the decades since then have been dominated by one portrayal above all: the Cyclops of the Fox X-Men movies. Less of a knock on James Marsden and eventually Tye Sheridan (Tim Pocock was, well, Also There), the problem with Fox’s Scott is less the myriad films’ take on the character and more that he never actually really got to exist as much of one. For better or worse, Bryan Singer’s X-Men movies changed superhero films forever, and for the X-Men in particular, it meant its version of these characters became ingrained in the public consciousness in a way few others had the reach to (and still can’t escape, like Kelsey Grammar’s Beast showing back up at the end of The Marvels). And while that’s been a net positive for the characters those films ultimately focused on, namely Wolverine, Professor X, and Magneto, for characters in the ensemble left on the sidelines—i.e. anyone else except for Jean Grey, who was handled poorly for other reasons—it meant they never got the spotlight they deserved, and Scott suffered bitterly for that.

Screenshot: 20th Century Studios

The Cyclops of the Fox films was barely a character, mostly just because it’s rare we got to sit with him as one outside of his role as the rules-stickler on the team, or his role as Jean’s tortured love interest. His powers barely got to be on display, and when they were, it was from a position of far more limited and restrained capability than the confidence we see him display in X-Men ‘97 (there’s an argument to be made of the differences in medium here, but even then, those movies always had much splashier displays of superpowers than anything they did with Scott). Scott never got to have either his role in the X-Men or as a hero explored, and rarely did we get to see him as a person beyond it either, instead fading him into the background and hobbling him with the misunderstood reputation that he’s now had in the public consciousness for so long. Now, at least, X-Men ‘97 is taking some steps toward addressing that—and hopefully this time around, interest in the series might at least get more people wanting to see what the fuss is all about in the first place, and reading some really, really great comics.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Disney's Star Wars Season Brings a Whole Galaxy of New Snacks @ io9

Image: Disney Parks

Just in time for the Star Wars holiday known as May the Fourth, Season of the Force kicks off Star Wars season at the Disneyland Resort.

Beginning April 5, tons of tasty galactic goodies will arrive, all the better to fuel your travels to the new Star Tours destinations to meet Andor or Ahsoka. From eating popcorn out of a scavenged Stormtrooper helmet, to toasting in a Chandrilan chalice, to Grogu snack time—here is a roundup of what you can find to feast on throughout Disneyland until June 2!

Disneyland Resort - Star Wars Popcorn Buckets

Image: Disney Parks
  • Salvaged Stormtrooper Helmet Bucket - (Limit two per person) Available starting May 4 at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill, Kat Saka’s Kettle, beverage carts in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and popcorn carts near Star Trader.
  • Jabba the Hutt Bucket - (Limit two per person) Available starting April 5 at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill and popcorn carts near Star Trader.

Jabba the Hutt popcorn bucket in action

Disneyland - Docking Bay 7

Image: Disney Parks
  • Fried Chicken Baos: Two crispy chicken baos, spicy katsu sauce, and creamy slaw
  • Dewback Chili Noodles: Spiced fettuccine noodles and gingered ground pork with broccolini stems and shredded red cabbage

Disneyland - Galactic Grill

Image: Disney Parks
  • Bantha Burger: Angus beef and vegetable patty, marinated pork belly, American cheese, Asian-inspired slaw, and sambal sweet mayo on a toasted brioche bun
  • Chorizo Loaded Fries: Waffle fries, pork chorizo, chile de arbol cheese sauce, and black beans topped with avocado-tomatillo sauce, green onions, and Oaxaca cheese
  • Wookiee Parfait: Chocolate sponge cake, chocolate pudding, and caramel mousse on a chocolate-coffee crust with chocolate pearls
  • Watermelon Slush with Death Star Glow Cube
  • Granny Smith Apple Slush with Millennium Falcon Glow Cube

Disneyland - Galaxy’s Edge snack stands

Image: Disney Parks

Kat Saka’s Kettle

  • Celto Slush: Plant-based pandan-flavored horchata topped with cold brew

Milk Stand

  • Toydaria Swirl: Green Milk with chili seasoning and mango jellies

Ronto Roasters

  • Pasaana Punch: Orange juice, white grape juice, red passion fruit, and hibiscus

Disneyland - Oga’s Cantina

Image: Disney Parks
  • Oga’s Obsession: Minute Maid Lemonade, wild strawberry flavor, yogurt-filled boba, and strawberry and grape candy pebbles with a bursting dried fruit mixture
  • Fiery Mustafarian: El Mayor Añejo Tequila, Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur, peach purée, peach syrup, and lime juice served with a dropper of spicy lava syrup
  • Silver Sea Martini: Hendrick’s Gin, Minute Maid Lemonade, ginger syrup, honey, and mint syrup topped with a shimmery butterfly pea flower tea
  • Chandrilan Chalice: Hendrick’s Gin, Minute Maid Lemonade, ginger syrup, honey, and mint syrup topped with a shimmery butterfly pea flower tea served in a souvenir wine glass
  • Chandrilan Orb Glass: El Mayor Añejo Tequila, Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur, peach purée, peach syrup, and lime juice served with a dropper of spicy lava syrup in a souvenir wine glass

Hotels of the Disneyland Resort - Disney’s Grand Californian

Image: Disney Parks

Grand Californian Great Hall Cart

  • Macaron Box
  • Star Wars Sugar Cookie
  • Wookiee Cookie
  • Pretzel Lightsabers
  • Tropical Whoopie Pie
  • Milk Chocolate Lollipop

GCH Craftsman Bar and Hearthstone Lounge

  • Bitter Martini: Hendrick’s Gin, Campari Liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup, and green grapes

Disneyland Resort - Star Wars Novelties

Image: Disney Parks
  • Darth Vader Stainless Steel Tumbler - Includes fountain beverage. Available at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill, Tomorrowland Fruit Cart; Hotels of the Disneyland Resort: GCH Craftsman Grill
  • Grogu Sipper - Includes fountain beverage or Dasani bottled water. Available at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill, Tomorrowland Fruit Cart, Lemonade near Tomorrowland Expo Center
  • Millennium Falcon Bucket - Available at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill, Popcorn near Star Trader
  • Death Star Glow Cube - Can be added to your beverages at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill
  • Millennium Falcon Glow Cube - Can be added to your beverage at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill

Disneyland Resort - More Novelties

Image: Disney Parks
  • Rancor Beer Flight Souvenir Board with Four Teeth - Available at Disneyland at Galaxy’s Edge in Oga’s Cantina
  • Darth Vader Premium Mug - Includes fountain beverage or Dasani bottled water. Available at Disneyland’s Galactic Grill
  • Acid Spitter Orb Sipper- Includes choice of fountain beverage at time of purchase. Available at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge in Oga’s Cantina, Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, Ronto Roasters

Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite

Image: Disney Parks

For those attending the separately ticketed Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite events (select evenings April 16 through May 9), here’s a roundup of the specialty foods available exclusively at the experience.

  • Grogu Candy Apple at Candy Palace and Candy Kitchen
  • Pineapple and Ube Crescent Sundae at the Tropical Hideaway.
  • Elote Burger at Hungry Bear Restaurant
  • Crab Fritters at Royal Street Veranda
  • Cinnamon Roll Sundae from Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor

Season of the Force takes over Disneyland Resort on April 5, with Star Wars festivities ongoing until June 2.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Why Kong Is the True Star of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire @ io9

Godzilla and Kong in their new movie. Image: Warner Bros.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opens this week and while it prominently features both iconic characters, one has a much more satisfying, complete arc than the other. And there are several very good reasons for it.

“This story in general is a bit more of the origin story of Kong stepping into his own as King Kong,” director Adam Wingard told io9. “So naturally, it took us in that direction.” And indeed, similar tothe previous film Godzilla vs. Kong, in Godzilla x Kong the ape once again shines brighter than the lizard. Kong is the one with the humanity and emotional connection, unlike Godzilla who is much more menacing and one-dimensional.

“The thing is, with Godzilla, as a filmmaker you have to respect him in a different way,” Wingard said. “You can’t be as close to Godzilla as you can Kong. He’s a bit more unknowable. So you always have to treat Godzilla with a bit more reverence. I mean, he’s got ‘God’ in his title. That’s not by mistake, right? But with Kong, you can really get into his head and his personality and his journey is an emotional one. And that’s the one that we’re kind of empathizing with as the audience.”

In Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, while Kong has found a physical home in Hollow Earth, he struggles with the belief that he’s the last of his kind. The journey mirrors the human character Jia, who feels similarly. And those parallels are another major reason why Kong is at the forefront of the film.

“[Jia’s] looking for her place in the world and the people that she belongs with. And Kong’s doing the same,” Wingard said. “And I think that’s one of the important things when you’re doing one of these monster films is being able to find a human story that isn’t separate from the monster’s story. It’s intertwined, even if they’re not always together. There’s an echo. So you’re always following the same thread and in the same thematic way.”

Image: Warner Bros.

There isn’t a similar echo with Godzilla because, well, there just can’t be. Unlike Kong, Godzilla has a very strong parent company in Toho, which owns and controls the characters. And Wingard said there’s much collaboration with the company when using their character.

“Toho definitely has certain things that they’re willing to do and not do with Godzilla,” Wingard said. “And it’s all to protect him as a character and as an icon. I mean the last thing they want is us to suddenly have Godzilla coming in and juggling and slipping on a banana peel or something.”

That’s not to say Godzilla in this world isn’t pushing some boundaries. Wingard said he and Toho went back and forth on several things--some of which were allowed and others weren’t, though he wouldn’t get into specifics. But those limits do, inherently, change the dynamic of the characters. “We always try to push the limits because you want to see [Godzilla] do new things,” he said. “Whereas with Kong, this version of the character is entirely the MonsterVerse version. So there’s really no limits to Kong.”

And when one character can do anything, and the other can’t, it’s easy to see why one is favored over the other. But what happens when the two titans share the screen again? Find out when Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits theaters Friday.


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Tie-in Popcorn Buckets Are Only Getting Weirder After Dune: Part Two @ io9

Image: AMC Theaters

The cinema goods are here with the release of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire bringing in more fun foodie merch inspired by the magic of the movies.

Here’s a roundup of Ghostbusters-themed popcorn buckets, drinks, and more inspired by the new film available at theaters like AMC, Alamo Drafthouse, and Cinemark—including a ghost-trapping popcorn bucket and a Slimer that can feed you out of its mouth. Plus, there’s a small preview of upcoming merch for Godzilla x Kong and the upcoming Star Wars Skywalker Saga marathon, which is giving theaters another excuse to go all-out in the snacks and merch departments.

AMC Theaters - Ghostsbusters merch

Image: AMC Theaters

AMC Theaters - Ghostbusters drinks and popcorn vessels

Image: AMC Theaters

AMC Theaters - Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka collab

AMC Theaters - Ghostbusters Proton Pack Loungefly

AMC Theaters - Ghostbusters merch

Alamo Drafthouse - Ghostbusters-themed drinks

Alamo Drafthouse - Ghostbusters Slimer glass

TCL Chinese Theatres - Ghostbusters Slimer popcorn bucket

Cinemark - Ghostbusters Ecto-1 popcorn bucket

Cinemark - Ghostbusters drinks

Cinemark - Ghostbusters Slimer popcorn bucket

AMC Theaters - Godzilla x Kong action figure cups

Alamo Drafthouse Star Wars Skywalker Saga marathon


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

I've Read All Of These

0 (old) items have been hidden because you clicked "I've Read All Of These".

Show All?