To paraphrase Fight Club: "In Project Thunderbolts*, we have no names." But rather than Robert "Bob" Paulson, his name is Robert "Bob" Reynolds. "I'm Bob," stammers Lewis Pullman's Bob in the just-released trailer for Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*, where Black Widow (Florence Pugh), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) draw their weapons on the disheveled, patient gown-clad Bob deep within an underground vault.

The trailer is set to the Pixies song "Where is My Mind" which, not coincidentally, also features in Fight Club, David Fincher's 1999 cult classic about a seemingly unassuming man (Edward Norton) whose mental illness manifests as a split personality: his dark and violent alter-ego, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). If glimpses of an "S"-shaped belt buckle and an "S" symbol didn't tip you off, these are all references to The Sentry, Bob's solar-powered superhero persona in the comics.

Are you ready for the secret of... The Sentry? You asked for it, loyal readers! Introducing the greatest hero of them all -- The Golden Guardian of Good!

Introduced in the pages of 2000's Sentry #1 by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee, Bob Reynolds was the greatest Marvel hero you'd never heard of. A Jack Kirby-inspired Silver Age comic book-within-a-comic, titled Startling Stories featuring The Sentry, revealed the Sentry's origins as high school freshman "Robby" Reynolds. After drinking a vial of an enigmatic professor's secret formula -- an experimental chemical serum that granted him the "power of a million exploding suns" -- Bob took the name Sentry, as it was his duty to "watch over the world."

You want to remember, Sentry, but you can't. Something happened... it was something very bad.

Only Bob Reynolds remembered his heroic exploits saving the world alongside the likes of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Hulk. As the forgotten hero investigated what made everyone forget he ever existed, Bob warned of the return of his arch-nemesis: a dark entity known only as The Void.

Now is a time for vigilance.

After Bob triggered the memories of Reed Richards, the 2001 one-shot Sentry/The Void #1 revealed the truth about the Sentry: Bob Reynolds is the Void. By ingesting the Golden Sentry Serum, Bob's mentally ill psyche created two personas -- the golden boy superhero and his villainous alter-ego -- and as the Void, Bob subconsciously killed a million people in an attack that destroyed half a city.

The Sentry. If we ever remember him... in the name of humanity, promise me you'll do whatever you can to make us forget.

To prevent the end of existence, Bob conspired with Reed and the sorcerer Doctor Strange to make everyone forget the Sentry existed using a mesmeric induction device to transmit a virus that effectively erased him from existence. As the antithesis of the Sentry, the Void vanished alongside Bob's superhero alter-ego.

That's Robert Reynolds. He went by the name of The Sentry. He's, maybe, according to Reed Richards, the most powerful superhero on the planet Earth.

Bob resurfaced as a prisoner of The Raft, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s maximum security prison for supervillains, in New Avengers #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch. The Sentry's return unleashed the Void, who fought the combined forces of the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans, and S.H.I.E.L.D. until the mutant psychic Emma Frost was able to penetrate Bob's psyche and reveal how the mutant named Mastermind used his psionic powers to effectively retcon Sentry's existence in the public's mind.

The 2005-2006 miniseries Sentry Vol. 2 eventually revealed that Bob Reynolds' true personality is the malevolent Void, and that the Sentry is the manufactured persona. In Sentry #8, by Jenkins and artist John Romita Jr., Sentry's secret origin was altered again with the revelation that the serum that gave him his powers was the creation of "Project Sentry," an attempt to recreate the super-soldier serum that transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America.

"Robby" Reynolds was really a diagnosed schizophrenic with generalized anxiety disorder and agoraphobia who stole the Professor's vial of serum to get high. Becoming addicted to the power, Void told Sentry: "If it could turn a meek young freshman into both the greatest hero and the greatest threat the planet had ever known, it could do the same to everyone. That's the big secret, Sentry: we're nothing special. That serum would have worked on anybody."

And this is how it goes for you: always the Sentry, ever the Void. So it will be until the end of time... you must remain vigilant, for you are humanity's only hope.

After former Thunderbolts leader Norman Osborn assembled a H.A.M.M.E.R. squad of villains misappropriating the likenesses of Earth's mightiest heroes, including Spider-Man (Scorpion), Hawkeye (Bullseye), Wolverine (Daken), and Ms. Marvel (Moonstone), the Sentry joined Osborn's Avengers*: the Dark Avengers. When the Void returned during Osborn's siege on new Asgard in the four-issue series Siege, the New Avengers battled the Void, who briefly reverted back to Bob upon defeat. The Void pleaded with the Avengers to kill him, so Thor summoned a bolt of lightning that killed Bob, and the thunder god laid his remains in the heart of the Sun.

One of the people behind-the-scenes at Marvel Studios reveal which Ghost Rider they'd like to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ghost Rider may not be as much of a household name like Captain America or Spider-Man, but the Spirit of Vengeance has a loyal legion of fans. We've seen Nicholas Cage portray Johnny Cage's Ghost Rider on the big screen, with Gabriel Luna playing the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. There's been some debate amongst fans on which Ghost Rider should show up next in the MCU, but Marvel's head of television has chimed in with his opinion.

Collider spoke with Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios' Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation, for Agatha All Along, where the end of the interview turned to the topic of Ghost Rider. When asked if he could snap his fingers and greenlight any series, Winderbaum chose Ghost Rider. However, instead of selecting the most popular Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Winderbaum went with Blaze's brother-in-hellfire, Danny Ketch.

"I would wanna do the Danny Ketch era of Ghost Rider. I think there are a lot of people who would be here for some Ghost Rider," he said.

Of course, this doesn't mean that fans should expect Danny Ketch's Ghost Rider to appear whenever the Spirit of Vengeance makes his MCU debut. While Brad Winderbaum is over Marvel's streaming output on Disney+, someone at Marvel Studios could decide Ghost Rider would make the perfect addition to a feature film.

A major Marvel villain is the new Ghost Rider

Over in the comics, a villain took over the role of Ghost Rider. Earlier this year, Marvel released a new series titled Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance, after teasing that Johnny Blaze would be losing the Spirit of Vengeance. In a surprising turn of events. Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, is consumed by the Spirit of Vengeance named Zarathos and turned into Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance concluded with a showdown between Johnny Blaze and The Hood, setting the stage for the next evolution of Ghost Rider.

Next week sees the release of Ghost Rider: Robbie Reyes Special #1, part of the Marvel's Voices line celebrating Hispanic & Latin American Heritage Month. There will be three stories written and drawn by a host of acclaimed talent and rising stars including the return of Robbie Reyes' co-creator Felipe Smith. In addition, Ghost Rider: Robbie Reyes Special #1 brings back Fantasma, the Ghost Rider created by Luciano Vecchio for last year's New Champions variant cover program. This will mark Fantasma's official Marvel debut inside a comic.

I Know What You Did Last Summer star Freddie Prinze Jr. is officially confirmed to be coming back for Sony's upcoming sequel film. Prinze Jr. played the character of Ray Bronson in the original 1997 film (an adaptation of Lois Duncan's hit YA horror novel) and returned for its 1998 sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer; his character was the blue-collar boyfriend of Julie James (franchise star Jennifer Love Hewitt), who provided some red-herring misleads before ultimately being validated as a noble guy.

It was originally reported that both Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt were in talks to return for the I Know What You Did Last Summer "franchise continuation project"; Prinze is the first to make it official. Fans will now be looking at Hewitt with laser-like focus to see if she also commits to the project. Having both her and Freddie Prinze Jr. back would give this new film the stamp of authenticity it needs to rekindle the fanbase.

I Know What You Did Last Summer followed the story of four teens - timid girl Julie James (Hewitt), dockworker Ray Bronson (Prinze Jr.), Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe), and beauty queen Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) - who hit a man while partying ad driving down the road one night, and made the dark decision to get rid of the body and cover up the crime. A year later, all four teens are in mental/emotional distress - which becomes peril when a mysterious killer begins stalking them one by one, making the impossible claim to know what the kids have done.

This new installment has already snagged a young cast of actors, including Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Tyriq Withers (Atlanta), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), and Tony Award-nominated Sarah Pidgeon. Riverdale star Camila Mendes was originally cast in a major role but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Bodies Bodies Bodies star Chase Sui Wonders was reportedly in talks to replace her.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) is directing the film and has already revealed to fans that this new installment will indeed acknowledge the previous two films. That said, it's still unclear whether or not this new I Know What You Did Last Summer film is a traditional threequel or more like a "requel" that will use legacy characters and the same continuity to hand the franchise reigns to a new set of characters, while slightly updating the franchise framework. That approach has worked out for the Scream franchise, another breakout horror franchise of the '90s.

The new I Know What You Did Last Summer has a release date of July 18, 2025.

via Deadline

The first look at Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan's highly anticipated vampire movie is coming very soon. The project has been shrouded in mystery since it was first announced, with the only information about it being that it's a movie about a vampire hunter set in the South. On Monday, Warner Bros. gave movie fans a big surprise by revealing the film's official title, and confirming that the trailer would drop on Tuesday.

Coogler and Jordan's new collaboration is called Sinners. The teaser that Warner Bros. released on social media simply shared the title over the sound of eerie string instruments, using blood illustrations around the text to really drive home the whole vampire element. You can check out the announcement below!

Sinners are coming. #SinnersMovie pic.twitter.com/l4zUBpyK6V

-- Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures) September 23, 2024

There's no word as to what time the first trailer for Sinners is set to drop online, but it will be our first chance to see what Coogler and Jordan are up to in their latest collaboration. To-date, Jordan has appeared in every single film Coogler has directed. He starred in Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther; before returning for a surprise cameo role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

We do know that Jordan will be surrounded by an all-star cast for Sinners. The lineup also includes Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Li Jun Li, and Delroy Lindo. Nothing about the actual roles have been confirmed at this time, but it has been rumored that Jordan may be playing twins in the film.

There has been a lot of chatter about Sinners being influenced in some way by the character of Blade from Marvel Comics. It makes sense, given that the film is about a Black vampire hunter, but a lot of the comparisons are probably a timing issue. Sinners was initially announced when Marvel's Blade reboot was in the news for going through another creative overhaul. The project has been plagued with issues for years, from creative differences to industry-wide strikes. Blade hasn't been able to get off the ground, although Mahershala Ali remains on board to star.

As those issues were going on, one of the most successful directors at Marvel Studios teamed up with his former Marvel star to make a potentially similar film at a rival studio. For a lot of people, this felt like Coogler and Jordan doing their own spin on Blade, but it remains to be seen just how much DNA their film will share with Marvel's Daywalker.

Sinners is being released in theaters on March 7, 2025.

At one point in time, there was set to be a "Dark Universe" of Universal Monster reboots, though with Tom Cruise's The Mummy failing to ignite much interest in that shared cinematic universe, those plans were largely abandoned. In 2020, however, Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man managed to be a hit with both audiences and critics, returning to the world of beloved monsters with a new take on The Wolf Man for a project he calls a "companion piece" to his previous adventure. This isn't to say that these projects will connect in any substantial narrative way, though, and will merely serve as a thematic extension of what he started in 2020. Wolf Man is set to land in theaters on January 17, 2025.

"I was watching a lot of domestic thrillers when I wrote The Invisible Man, because I love that genre. [Wolf Man] is me saying, 'I just wanted to make something that is straight-up, pure horror,'" Whannell detailed to Empire Magazine. "I think of it as a companion piece to The Invisible Man ... I didn't want this film to be a nostalgic or a retro Wolf Man film in any way."

He continued, "[I was] actually writing down in my notepad everything that's been done, and then saying, 'Okay, that's the list of what not to do' ... I'm hoping that you go in and say, 'Oh wow, I haven't seen that werewolf movie before,' when the lights come up."

Cruise's The Mummy suffered largely due to not quite knowing what it wanted to be, as it attempted to honor the horror elements of the original take on the monster, though also injected hefty amounts of action and adventure as seen in the Brendan Fraser-starring The Mummy films, while also trying to establish a conceit that would allow for spinoffs and sequels. The result was a messy and overstuffed experience, which only sits at 15% positive critical reactions on Rotten Tomatoes.

Whannell's Invisible Man took the original concepts of a man with a fragile mental state descending into darkness due to rendering himself invisible and injected some contemporary themes into it, instead telling the story of an abusive man who fakes his own death and utilizes a suit that makes him invisible to terrorize his ex-girlfriend from seemingly beyond the grave. While the original mythology seen in 1941's The Wolf Man saw a man being transformed into a werewolf under select conditions throughout the year, first looks at Whannell's Wolf Man look to be much more contained to one major instance of terror.

Fans are especially excited to see how the monstrous creature will look in the upcoming film, as the only small glimpse we've been given of the creature came during the in-person Halloween Horror Nights event, which didn't build much confidence among fans for the monster's on-screen look.

Wolf Man is set to hit theaters on January 17, 2025.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Transformers One is the start of a whole new origin story for the Autobots and Decepticons and the director behind the film is teasing plans for a potential trilogy of movies to come. Transformers One has already been a marked success for the franchise as it's not only done well with critics, but it's also one of the best received releases by fans in quite some time. The new film goes all the way back to the beginning before the Autobots and Decepticons fought over Cybertron, and it ends with the tease that this war would be at hand soon.

Transformers One comes to an end with the versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron that fans have seen in other entries, and it seemed like it was setting up for more. Speaking with The Wrap about a potential continuation for the feature film, director Josh Cooley is hinting at what could be coming next, "There's definitely more story to tell." Teasing that we could see a new version of the traditional story between Autobots and Decepticons in future projects, Cooley is definitely open to the idea.

Will Transformers One Get a Trilogy?

"We're used to seeing the story begin once the planet's dying and they leave for Earth, so there's a whole war that happens once they break apart and once they leave the planet," Cooley stated. "So there's a lot more story to tell there and it could be really fun." Transformers One introduced a new take on Orion Pax and D-16 before they became the Optimus Prime and Megatron that fans might recognize in other entries, and saw the Autobots successfully take control of Cybertron at film's end.

It seemed like the story was really just getting started as there is quite literally the story that Cooley is referring to here. Optimus and Megatron still need to fight for Cybertron, and get it to the point where we eventually see in the first moments of the original version of the story as they all need to escape the war torn Cybertron and eventually make their way to Earth. It's the story fans have gotten to see in all kinds of ways through the decades thus far, and one that will likely see once more through these films as they continue with new entries.

Is Transformers One A Success?

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura teased how there would be plans in place to continue Transformers One that would have more of a character focus coming in the future entries. But first it comes to this first entry having enough success in the box office to make it viable, "Number one, if we're successful with this [Transformers] movie, we're going to do a sequel for this. And we already have, I think, the beginnings of a really interesting story for the second one, which is also character-based, the way the first [is]," the producer stated.

Transformers One has done well ratings wise with both critics and audiences on the likes of Rotten Tomatoes, and has even marked a first for the franchise as both critics and fans agreed as to the quality of the actual release. If the box office success is able to match how well it's been received overall, then it likely won't be too long before we find out whether or not there will be any plans to continue. At least for now, there's a potential story path to follow in the films to come in the future from the sounds of things.

HT - The Wrap

Iron Man star Jeff Bridges may have just teased his Marvel Cinematic Universe return in a new interview. Bridges played the very first MCU "big bad" Obadiah Stane, the man who helped Howard Stark turn Stark Industries into a corporate powerhouse. When Tony Stark developed the Iron Man armor, Stane (and his puppets, the Ten Rings) developed the dreaded Iron Monger armor out of Tony's original Iron Man prototype. In the final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger (known as the "Duel of Los Angeles") Stane (seemingly) is fatally electrocuted by his prototype arc reactor when it explodes under him. He fell into the reactor, which then exploded.

MCU fans have kept a spark of hope alive that Obadiah Stane could make a comic book-style return, with his death (and SHIELD's whole cover story about it) getting debunked by a surprise return. With the Iron Man side of the MCU about to get rebooted through projects like the Ironheart TV series and Armor Wars movies, now would be the suitable time for Obidiah Stane to re-enter the chat.

While talking to Josh Horowitz during the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Jeff Bridges not only acknowledged that there's room for Obadiah - or any multiverse variant of him - to return in the MCU ("Who knows? It's all science fiction and I could maybe pop up again..."), he explained that an original version of the Iron Man script set that up that very scenario:

"Well when I read the script, Obadiah Stane falls into that vat at the end," Bridges explained. "In the script that I read and agreed to do, they pulled it [the armor] out and they opened it and I'm not there."

It doesn't sound like Iron Man director Jon Favreau ever shot that sequence of Iron Man, but that doesn't mean a future MCU project can't reveal it as a major flashback twist. It would be interesting to see what Stane has been up to in the years since Iron Man, given the reveal that the Ten Rings wasn't at all what it seemed.

Then there's the more obvious and timely scenario of having an Obadiah Stane variant from another MCU reality appear in an upcoming MCU Multiverse Saga project. A lot of fans will instantly jump to the idea of seeing Bridges and his Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr. reunite onscreen. Avengers: Doomsday will see RDJ's Doctor Doom menace the MCU Multiverse - it would be interesting to see Bridges' Stane playing a different kind of role in and a different reality - maybe where he's a heroic industrialist (iron Man?), and RDJ as the archvillain.

Bridges seemed excited by Downey's MCU return ("But he's playing a bad guy! I love that!") so who knows?

Iron Man is now streaming on Disney+.

"There are good guys, and you're bad guys," Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine remarks in the new Thunderbolts* trailer. "But there are worse guys." Before Marvel Studios assembles the anti-Avengers -- a motley crew of anti-heroes and reformed villains that includes Black Widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bob Reynolds/Sentry (Lewis Pullman) -- Marvel Comics is assembling the comics that inspired the movie*.

* New trade paperbacks set to release in 2025 include Thunderbolts: The Saga of Yelena Belova, which compiles the earliest appearances of the Red Room's top assassin-spy in the Marvel Universe, and Thunderbolts: Winter Soldiers, collecting the complete 12-issue run of the Bucky Barnes-fronted Thunderbolts Vol. 3 by Jim Zub and Jon Malin.

Out March 4th, 2025, Thunderbolts: Winter Soldiers sees the non-lethal Thunderbolts squad led by Winter Soldier --Atlas, Moonstone, Mach-X, Fixer, Kobik, and Songbird -- battle S.H.I.E.L.D., the Squadron Supreme, and the original Thunderbolts: Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil, a group of supervillains who posed as superheroes in the absence of the Avengers.

Thunderbolts: The Saga of Yelena Belova, on sale March 11th, includes Natasha Romanoff/Natalia Romanova's first self-titled solo series, 1999's Marvel Knights: Black Widow limited series by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones, which pit Black Widow against Black Widow when Natasha met Yelena for the first time during a mission to Rhapastan. Also included in the 376-page trade paperback is 2001's Black Widow Vol. 2, co-starring both Black Widows, the 2020 one-shot comic Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova, the four-issue limited series Winter Guard (featuring White Widow, Red Guardian, and Russia's premiere super-team), and the four-issue "I Am the Black Widow" arc from Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande's 2020 Black Widow run.

Also slated for release in May is the Marvel Epic Collection Thunderbolts: Targeted for Death, which follows Hawkeye's Thunderbolts during writer Kurt Busiek and artist Mark Bagley's run on the '90s first volume.

Thunderbolts: Winter Soldiers

The Winter Soldier leads a new team of Thunderbolts!

Out of the ashes of AVENGERS: STANDOFF, Bucky Barnes recruits a squad of renegades -- but are they heroes or villains? Do even they know for sure?! They're on a rampage across the Marvel Universe, hunting down and destroying bizarre, mind-bending threats -- all the while harboring one of their own! And among their number is the serial manipulator Moonstone! What could go wrong? How about a gut-wrenching battle for leadership, an alien threat and super-team showdowns with the All-New Inhumans and the Squadron Supreme?! As CIVIL WAR II rages, the Winter Soldier takes on Spider-Man! But Steve Rogers wants to know where Bucky's loyalties lie. Plus: The Thunderbolts used to be the Masters of Evil -- and if Baron Zemo has his way, their villainous legacy will be reclaimed with the infinite power of a Cosmic Cube!

COLLECTING: Thunderbolts (2016) 1-12

Thunderbolts: The Saga of Yelena Belova

Yelena Belova's journey from adversary to ally of the Black Widow!

Natasha Romanoff's time as the Black Widow may be running out -- because Yelena Belova is gunning for the mantle! Yelena is the first student in Red Room history to exceed Natasha's skills -- and now she's determined to eliminate her predecessor and claim the title for her own! It's a war of the Widows that will rage from the Middle East's deserts to New York's Upper West Side! But Yelena's path will soon place her square in the crosshairs of her home country, alongside Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian! Together, they face a race across Russia...pursued by the Winter Guard! And Yelena finds her destiny as the White Widow, helping Natasha protect San Francisco from a terrible threat!

COLLECTING: Black Widow (1999) 1-3, Black Widow (2001) 1-3, Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova (2020) 1, Winter Guard (2021) 1-4, Black Widow (2020) 7-10

Thunderbolts Epic Collection: Targeted for Death

Marvel's villains turned heroes, the Thunderbolts, continue their quest for redemption!

For the good of his team, MACH-1 gave up his liberty to atone for his sins. Now he's in prison, surrounded by the super villains who used to be his peers -- and who now want him dead! Meanwhile, the Thunderbolts have a new leader in Hawkeye, a new headquarters, a new ship and a new mission: to prove themselves heroes by taking down the biggest villains at large! But with Graviton next on their list, will Archangel join the team? Citizen V returns, the T-Bolts have a rematch with the Hulk, Scourge targets Baron Zemo, and you won't believe the identity of the new Beetle! Clint Barton leads the T-Bolts into hell and back for a fallen Avenger -- but when he locks lips with Moonstone, there's only one word for it: uh-oh! Plus: Enter, Sandman!

COLLECTING: Thunderbolts (1997) 26-41, Thunderbolts Annual 2000, Avengers Annual 2000

Marvel's Thunderbolts* hits theaters on May 2nd, 2025.

Deadpool and Wolverine are taking their lovefest from the big screen to the comics page with a new series featuring the two X-Men characters. Audiences have wrapped their arms around Deadpool & Wolverine to the astounding sound of box office records being broken. Marvel Comics has provided stories for Deadpool & Wolverine audiences to seek out, such as the Deadpool/Wolverine: WWII miniseries and the Weapon X-Traction backup story, but an upcoming ongoing series will pair the Merc With a Mouth and Logan together as they battle a returning X-Men villain and uncover mysteries involving their shared history.

Marvel's ongoing Deadpool/Wolverine series comes from writer Benjamin Percy and artist Joshua Cassara. Deadpool/Wolverine is a reunion between Percy and Cassara, who were the creative team that launched X-Force during the X-Men's Krakoa era. X-Force featured Wolverine in a main role, with Deadpool also making appearances during its run. As Cassara's cover for Deadpool/Wolverine #1 illustrates, fans can expect the same bloody and violent action that moviegoers witnessed in their MCU film.

"Josh and I really hit it off when we were working together on X-Force and became great friends," Percy told IGN. "When he made the jump to X-Men, it was honestly a little traumatic for us both--but if you get the opportunity to draw a flagship title, you have to go for it. And he drew the living shit out of that series. We never stopped texting or hanging out at cons. We're always trading stupid jokes (and many hundreds of Arnold Schwarzenegger GIFs). I even helped his wife locate one of the elusive 12-foot Home Depot skeletons recently, so we'll both be celebrating Halloween like bosses. This is all to say: we were both so damn excited to get the band back together. Deadpool/Wolverine is us cartwheeling onto the stage and shredding our guitars once more while smoke machines churn and pyrotechnics explode all around us."

Along with writing X-Force, Percy also penned Wolverine's solo series and was a writer on the Wolverine: The Long Night podcast, so he has extensive knowledge and experience penning Logan's extreme adventures.

"Well, in some ways it simply feels like business as usual," Percy said. "Since 2017--with the Wolverine: The Long Night podcast--I've never stopped writing Logan for Marvel, and this is simply the next chapter in his journey. But of course things have changed for the mutants, and we're leaning in to this new normal in the series."

How Deadpool/Wolverine comic is different from MCU movie

Percy also revealed how Deadpool/Wolverine was in development long before Deadpool & Wolverine found its way into theaters, and while fans of the movie will find much to enjoy, the comic is its own separate beast.

"The film was both a hit and a hoot, but we started working on this series long before we ever saw Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds tear each other apart in a Honda Odyssey," Percy said. "So I can't say it was an influence, but I can say the dynamic between the characters will feel familiar to theatergoers: fun, thrilling, and both adversarial and bro-mancey (not to mention violent as hell)."

Finally, Percy ended with a tease of the X-Men villain that will be the antagonist in Deadpool/Wolverine. "That's a big crazy reveal at the end of Issue 1, so I'm not sure I should say just now," he teased. "But both the future and the past are coming together in the present in a cataclysmic way, and it's up to our favorite superhero odd couple to save the day (and maybe the world)."

Marvel's Thunderbolts* teaser trailer has dropped and it reveals that Scarlett Johansson is making a return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a very unexpected way. That's because the cast and crew listings for Thunderbolts* have revealed that Johansson is part of the film... as an executive producer! That makes sense, as Johansson was an executive producer on Marvel's Black Widow (2021) - one of several MCU projects being pulled together for this Thunderbolts* ensemble film and having Johansson back as EP on Thunderbolts* - which will continue the stories of Key Black Widow characters - tracks.

As Variety shared in its synopsis for Thunderbolts*:

Based on Kurt Busiek's comic series of the same name, "Thunderbolts*" is directed by Jake Schreier, with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D'Esposito, Brian Chapek, Jason Tamez and Scarlett Johansson serve as executive producers. The screenplay is written by Eric Pearson ("Black Widow," "Thor: Ragnarok," "Transformers One," "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"), "Beef" creator Lee Sung Jin and co-showrunner of "The Bear" Joanna Calo.

Back in 2021, news broke that Marvel President Kevin Feige and Scarlett Johansson were working together as producers on an MCU project:

"We are already working with Scarlett on another non-Black Widow-related top-secret Marvel Studios project with her as a producer," Feige said at the time. "Scarlett is one of the most talented, versatile and beloved actors of our time. It has truly been a pleasure to work with someone of her caliber. From those epic training sessions preparing for the hallway fight in Iron Man 2, to the around the world press tour in Avengers: Endgame to partnering with you as a producer on Black Widow, working with you Scarlett has truly been one of the most memorable and rewarding collaborations of my career."

Johansson fielded questions about the project whenever she was doing press - including in 2023 when she confirmed that her MCU project "It is still happening. Yes. It is still happening, [but] not currently because nothing is happening right now [due to the WGA Strike]. We're all sort of in this holding pattern... Right before the strike, we were in the middle of developing it, and now everything is at a simmer."

Looking back now, it's easy to fill in the gaps and surmise that Scarlett Johansson was making references to Thunderbolts*. The film started production in June 2023; the Writers' Strike delayed it, and then the Actors' Strike. Now, with the reveal that Johansson is getting an EP credit for Thunderbolts*, this may be one MCU mystery we can put to bed. There will be some fans who are upset that Johansson wasn't

The just-released trailer for Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* featured a funny final moment -- but some fans have noticed that in addition to being amusing on its face, that moment was a callback to one of the most popular movies in the whole of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the final seconds of the trailer, Bucky Barnes is tailing a vehicle in which the rest of the Thunderbolts are riding. He fires a shot at them, and it totally destabilizes the entire rear end of the car.

That's because he's using the same gun he used to take out Nick Fury's car in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's not exactly an Easter egg -- I mean, he's just using gear that is established to be part of his canonical arsenal -- but it's certainly a cool thing to see back in action after a decade away.

Thunderbolts* brings together a batch of former Marvel antagonists, including Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell). They're gathered, seemingly, by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the team up...doesn't seem to be a smooth one, as evidenced by the cannon shot in question.

The characters' competing interests and loyalties repeatedly boil over in the teaser trailer, but it does seem like Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is both the person who currently owns (or at least operates) Avengers Tower, and that she is putting together her own, darker version of The Avengers. Could that be what the Thunderbolts asterisk is about?

Depending on timing and cutting, it could be that the former villains are screwing each other over throughout, or just that all this fighting happens before the team actually comes together. It's hard to guess what is more likely at this point.

It's definitely smart to expect some kind of twist, though; the Thunderbolts brand is built largely on a single, spectacular twist from back in the first-ever Thunderbolts #1. After being introduced as a fairly generic superhero team made up of new and original characters, the Thunderbolts retired to their HQ in the last few pages and revealed themselves to be a group of existing villains who were running a long con.

"We are not the good guys," Harbour said in a recent interview. "We are not capable. [We're not] Captain America responsible. We don't show up on time. Punctuality is not our strong suit."

Thunderbolts* will arrive in theaters on May 2nd.

One thing Marvel fans may be asking themselves after watching the first trailer for Thunderbolts* is, "Why is there an asterik at the end of the name?" It's definitely an interesting question, especially because the asterik was added last year after Marvel Studios made some adjustments to its release calendar. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige even confirmed the asterik was an official part of the Thunderbolts* title, though he didn't elaborate on exactly what it means. Of course, that isn't going to stop us from speculating, and there are some clues that point us to some adaptations from the comics that are tied to the Avengers.

Thunderbolts* features a diverse cast of characters, headlined by Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), David Harbour (Alexei / The Red Guardian), and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine). As Yelena referenced in the trailer, every member of the Thunderbolts has a shady past. After the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, there doesn't appear to be an official team of Avengers operating in the MCU. This leaves a void that the Thunderbolts are perfectly suitable to fill. Valentina may also be the person who purchased Avengers Tower, which is another clue to the Thunderbolts* asterik. What if the Thunderbolts are meant to replace the Avengers, even taking on their name?

Are the Thunderbolts really the Dark Avengers?

Following the Secret Invasion event, which saw the alien Skrulls infiltrate and attack Earth, Marvel Comics transitioned to its "Dark Reign" publishing initiative, with Norman Osborn put in charge of the global peacekeeping entity known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Norman renamed S.H.I.E.L.D. into H.A.M.M.E.R. and dressed up some of Marvel's most infamous villains as fan-favorite heroes, dubbing them the Dark Avengers. Norman gained this rise in prominence by helping to defeat the Skrulls during Secret Invasion.

The Dark Avengers roster included Norman Osborn as Iron Patriot, Venom (Mac Gargan) as Spider-Man, Bullseye as Hawkeye, Noh-Varr as Captain Marvel, Moonstone as Ms. Marvel, and Logan's son Daken as Wolverine. The whole point of the Dark Avengers is so Norman can gain the public's trust and adulation, even though he's widely known as the villainous Spider-Man nemesis the Green Goblin.

Something similar could be at play in Thunderbolts*. Ever since Julia Louis-Dreyfus made a surprise appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, she seems to be making connections to individuals with the sole purpose of putting together a team. So far she's recruited US Agent, and was a handler for Yelena Belova when she was sent to murder Clint Barton in Hawkeye. Is this all leading to the end-credits of Thunderbolts* revealing the title is merely a stand-in for Dark Avengers?

Or are the Thunderbots the Secret Avengers?

Another Avengers team the Thunderbolts could be stand-ins for are the Secret Avengers. Once the Avengers reassembled to take down Norman Osborn, the "Dark Reign" publishing initiative gave way to the "Heroic Age." Steve Rogers took over Norman's role as the person responsible for the United States' security and law enforcement. Along with that came the reformation of the Avengers, but Steve also created a black ops team that worked in the shadows called the Secret Avengers.

Heroes like Black Widow, Beast, Moon Knight, Nova, and Sharon Carter make up the first Secret Avengers team, with several characters coming and going during its run. A version of the Secret Avengers have already operated in the MCU. When Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon went rogue against the Sokovia Accords following Captain America: Civil War, they continued to fight the good fight and take down terrorists by working under the radar of the government. Fans quickly dubbed them the Secret Avengers, and the group was also adapted for the Avengers Assemble animated series. If the Thunderbolts were the Secret Avengers, they would come off as slightly more heroic than being the Dark Avengers.

The Thunderbolts asterik is a huge MCU mystery

Dark Avengers and Secret Avengers are only two of the theories floating around regarding the asterik in Thunderbolts*. David Harbour, who returns as Red Guardian in Thunderbolts*, recently teased what the film is about, while adding fuel to the fire with the asterik speculation.

"I mean, they retroactively put the asterisk [in]," Harbour said while speaking to ComicBook about his role as BoxLunch's brand ambassador. "The asterisk was an idea that that someone had.....What can I say that's not going to get me in trouble? ...The asterisk is very cool. I understand why people might put an asterisk there. I'm excited for the viewers to see that as well. But I, again, I just can't say anymore."

The mystery behind the asterik should be revealed when Thunderbolts* arrives in theaters in May 2, 2025.

Note that the Batman '89 5 Points figures are only sold as a set, and you can pre-order it here at Entertainment Earth for $59.99. The Batmobile sold separately here at Entertainment Earth for $49.99. Both are set to launch in April and you won't be charged until that time. Note that U.S. shipping is free at Entertainment Earth on orders over $99 (flat $7.95 shipping fee on everything else), so you'll be good to go if you get the figures and the vehicle. A full breakdown of the accessories in the figure set can be found below.

Accessories for Batman, Joker, and Joker Good 5 Points figures:

• One (1) Batman head portrait
• Four (4) Batman arms: One (1) pair of regular arms (L&R), One (1) pair of arms with weapon holding hands (L&R)
• One (1) batarang
• One (1) speargun
• Two (2) Joker head portraits
• Four (4) Joker arms: One (1) pair of regular arms (L&R), One (1) arm with cane holding hand (L), One (1) arm with megaphone holding hand (R)
• One (1) cane
• One (1) megaphone
• Two (2) Goon head portraits
• Four (4) Goon arms: One (1) pair of regular arms (L&R), One (1) pair of arms with weapon holding hands (L&R)
• Two (2) swords
• One (1) knife
• One (1) camera

In other Batman Day news, McFarlane Toys launched another wave of DC Multiverse figures that includes a Batman Beyond from the 2023 limited series Batman Beyond: Neo Gothic, Batman from the 2011 Batman: No?l graphic novel that was inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a Silver Age Batman with Ace the Bat-Hound, and a Gold Label exclusive Batman with Bat-Glider that's based on on The Thirteenth Hour issue of The Court of Owls series from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Pre-orders for these releases are available in the list below.

• DC Multiverse Batman - Batman Beyond Neo Gothic Figure ($22.99) - See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• DC Multiverse Batman - Batman: Noel Figure ($22.99) - See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• DC Multiverse Batman - Batman and Ace the Bat-Hound Silver Age Figure Set ($22.99) - See at Entertainment Earth / Amazon
• DC Multiverse Batman - Batman with Bat-Glider Gold Label Figure - Amazon Exclusive
• Hot Toys also launched a Batman Returns 1/6th scale figure. You can order it here in standard and deluxe versions.
• You can check out more recent McFarlane Toys releases right here.

Transformers One star Keegan-Michael Key admits that he no longer sees his longtime comedy partner Jordan Peele very often, calling the change a "tragedy." Nevertheless, the actor and comedian says there's no bad blood, just two people who moved in different directions in their careers. While Key is becoming increasingly known as a serious actor, Peele has become a power player behind the camera, directing and/or producing a number of genre hits in the years since his acclaimed directorial debut Get Out in 2017. Neither of those shifts happened on accident, and working hard in different areas of the industry has left the two with less time together.

"We don't see each other that often anymore," Key recently told People "Which is, to me, a tragedy."

In the interview, Key said that the pair, who met on MAD TV and went on to star in their own sketch comedy show Key & Peele, "shared a creative language," adding, "when we were on camera, it was alchemy. It was just like, 'Why is this working?'"

In the years since Key & Peele ended and the pair started get famous, they have appeared together in Keanu, Fargo, Toy Story 4, and Wendell & Wild. They have also had a number of shared cameos, including a memorable one in "Weird Al" Yankovic's video for "White and Nerdy."

Directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) with a screenplay from Andrew Barrer (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Gabriel Ferrari (No Exit), and Steve Desmond (Knock at the Cabin) for Paramount Animation with animation by Industrial Light & Magic, Transformers One releases on September 20th. The film features the main cast of Chris Hemsworth as Orion Pax / Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as D-16 / Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1, Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 / Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, Laurence Fishburne as Autobot Alpha Trion, and Steve Buscemi as Starscream.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura is set as producer for Di Vonaventura Pictures, live-action Transformers film director Michael Bay is on board as producer as well with Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian, and Aaron Dem.

Per its official synopsis, "Transformers One is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm."

For years, fans have wondered what happened to Avengers Tower -- originally Stark Tower -- once Tony Stark was gone and the Avengers were no longer using the place. What seemed at the time like a fairly lightweight bit of trivia quickly took on a life of its own when producer Kevin Feige started dodging the question, implying that there was something more to know. Recently, he said that the owner would soon be revealed -- and that Marvel had always known the character's identity and plans for the storied building. It now appears the revelation will come in Thunderbolts*, Marvel's next team-up movie.

A number of shots in the Thunderbolts* teaser trailer appear to show the team at Avengers tower, particularly a shot toward the end of the trailer that appears to take place in a partially-dismantled version of Tony Stark's skyline bar. You can see the trailer above, and a screenshot of the moment in question below.

One user on social media used geography to confirm it appears to be the same building, noting that Avengers Tower in the MCU takes the place of the real-world MetLife skyscraper in New York. The view here, Bejt on Twitter argued, appeared to be the same given how it is located relative to the United Nations building and Gotham Point.

The film brings together a batch of former Marvel antagonists, including Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell). They're gathered, seemingly, by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the team up...doesn't seem to be a smooth one.

The characters' competing interests and loyalties repeatedly boil over in the teaser trailer, but it does seem like Val is both the person who currently owns (or at least operates) Avengers Tower, and that she is putting together her own, darker version of The Avengers.

"We are not the good guys," Harbour said in a recent interview. "We are not capable. [We're not] Captain America responsible. We don't show up on time. Punctuality is not our strong suit."

The obvious comparison to draw with Thunderbolts* is to DC's Suicide Squad -- a group of captured villains who are working for good becuase they don't have any choice. In Thunderbolts*, though, it appears that at least most of the characters enjoy some level of autonomy outside of the team, and that they feel drawn to heroism as a way of giving their lives meaning.

Thunderbolts* will arrive in theaters on May 2nd.

It looks like another live-action anime is in the works. Following successes like One Piece, Hollywood is eyeing the industry for new material, and filmmakers in Japan are doing much the same. For decades, Japanese studios have pursued live-action anime adaptations, and one is now turning its attention to Makoto Shinkai. After all, 5 Centimeters per Second is getting an adaptation with help from Toho.

According to the distributor, 5 Centimeters per Second is being adapted into a live-action movie with Studio Spoon producing. Yoshiyuki Okuyama is directing the project while Ayako Suzuki oversees the script. So far, a full cast for 5 Centimeters per Second has not been found, but we know one of its stars. Hokuto Matsumura will star in the movie, and fans will know the actor for voicing Sota in Shinkai's Suzume.

The Story of 5 Centimeters per Second

Now if you are not familiar with 5 Centimeters per Second, you should know the movie is one of Shinkai's earlier hits. The film made its debut in 2007, and the romantic drama earned several awards upon its release. From its script to its animation and director, Shinkai oversaw every aspect of the film with CoMix Wave Inc. The success of 5 Centimeters per Second put Shinkai on a top-notch trajectory that eventually gave the world Your Name, Weathering With You, and Suzume. So if you love those films, then 5 Centimeters per Second will be up your alley.

The movie is separated into three acts, and each of these episodes jumps forward in time. We start in 1991 as we meet Takaki Tono, the film's protagonist, as he friends Akari Shinohara in school. The elementary students become fast friends, and as the pair grow up, they develop feelings for one another. As 5 Centimeters per Second continues, we see the couple's slow evolution as each of them struggles to understand their love for another. However, life is very rarely straightforward and mixed signals begin to block the pair at every turn. From love to loss, 5 Centimeters per Second has it all, so the movie's live-action future has high expectations to meet.

The Rise of Live-Action Anime

With 5 Centimeters per Second in production, this live-action anime is just one of several to make headlines as of late. Netflix's One Piece has dominated the space with season two now that filming has begun on the comeback. From Naruto to My Hero Academia, there are a number of anime adaptations floating around Hollywood. In fact, another Shinkai film is on that list thanks to Your Name. In 2017, J.J. Abrams optioned Your Name for a live-action adaptation, and the project is still wading through development. In 2022, we learned the movie had nabbed Carlos Lopez Estrada to write and direct after Marc Webb and Lee Isaac Chung exited the project. So for now, there is no telling whether or not Your Name will actually make it in Hollywood.

What do you think about this latest live-action anime? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

The action is flowing in a new trailer for Gladiator II. Director Ridley Scott is back to explore the period of Ancient Rome where gladiators were the main source of entertainment for the masses. The movie is a sequel to 2000's Gladiator starring Russell Crowe as Maximus. This time, Maximus' son Lucius (Paul Mescal) is the star of Gladiator II, and he's pitted against General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) by the cunning Macrinus (Denzel Washington). The new Gladiator II trailer does a good job of setting up the conflict between its main players, with Lucius looking to get some vengeance against Marcus, all while Macrinus wants to acrue power.

It appears that Denzel Washington's Macrinus comes into possession of Paul Mescal's Lucius, who is a slave in Gladiator II. Lucius is a tool for Macrinus, with the former filled with rage that needs to be let loose on the world. We get a quick glimpse of how Rome has taken so much from Lucius, and his mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) also returns from the first Gladiator movie. There are some epic battles on display, with some of the bigger set pieces coming in the Emperor's chambers as Lucius takes on different challengers in front of those assembled.

Gladiator II star says sequel pays homage to Russell Crowe's Maximus

Last year, Paul Mescal confirmed Gladiator II will pay homage to the first film despite the fact that he has never spoken to Russell Crowe about the sequel.

"I don't know what we would talk about. Like, I'd love to hear his stories from filming, but the character is, like, totally separate," Mescal explained. When it's mentioned that Lucius is long-rumored to be Maximus's son, Mescal refused to answer with a "Nawp!"

"I can't get into that!" Mescal replied when asked if Lucius is a gladiator in the film. "I can't tell you how stressed I am talking about that film in particular because it's definitely the biggest one I've done. I feel really excited, but, like, it's difficult to get away from the legacy of the film a bit. I think it's really well written and it pays homage to the first one, but it's very much something that I think I can step into and make comfortably my own."

What is Gladiator II about?

From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.

Gladiator II opens in theaters on November 22nd.

According to a new rumor, Paramount is planning a Team Chaotix spin-off in the future. The group were supposedly set to debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but were cut at some point late in development for unknown reasons. Whatever the case, the plan remains to introduce them in an upcoming film, and after that, give the group of characters their own spin-off.

Unfortunately, this is about the extent of the rumor, which comes the way of well-known movie insider Daniel Richtman, a source who has proven reliable on countless occasions in the past, but who has also been off the mark in the past as well. In other words, take this information with a grain of salt.

Not only are a lot of specific details missing here, but even if everything is accurate everything that is here is also subject to change. The rumor itself suggests Team Chaotix was poised to debut in the second movie, but obviously that changed. There is nothing stopping these plans, assuming they are true, from changing as well.

At the moment of publishing, Paramount has not commented on this rumor nor the speculation it has created. We don't suspect this will change for a handful of reasons, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly.

For those unfamiliar with Team Chaotix -- sometimes simply referred to as Chaotix -- it is a group comprised of Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee, all who come together to make a detectives-for-hire force. This force is called the Chaotix Detective Agency.

They have appearances or cameos in the following games: Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Sonic Rivals 2, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (mentioned), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Sonic Colors (Nintendo DS), Sonic Generations (console/PC), Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Sonic Runners, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Sonic Runners Adventure, Sonic Forces, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (cameo), Team Sonic Racing, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Marvel Studios has released the first teaser trailer for Thunderbolts*. The upcoming movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a bunch of familiar faces, but the trailer makes it a point to let the viewer know that this is not the Avengers. Sure, they've got Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier on the team, and Black Widow's sister, Yelena Belova, but there's definitely a different vibe amongst the anti-heroes than what one would find with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This appears to be the same Thunderbolts trailer that was screened to fans at San Diego Comic-Con a few months ago, but now all fans can witness it for themselves.

The Thunderbolts trailer begins with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) paying a visit to her Dad, Red Guardian (David Harbour). After cleaning up his dirty house, Yelena asks Alexei if he feels fulfilled. Both characters appear to be trying to find some purpose in the world, which is tough when all you've been is a contract killer. We then see the main cast start to interact with each other, as Yelena faces off with John Walker / US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko). It's not until they meet Lewis Pullman's Bob (who is reportedly Sentry) that things take a turn for the worst.

You can check out the Thunderbolts* trailer in the video player above.

Bucky Barnes has a new look in Thunderbolts*

Out of all the Thunderbolts, Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier is the seasoned veteran as far as appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes. While we don't know how he gets involved with this cast of misfits, what the first Thunderbolts* trailer reveals is that Winter Soldier is back to sporting a familiar look from his past.

Winter Soldier is back to wearing his hair long in Thunderbolts*. Following Avengers: Endgame, Bucky Barnes cut his hair short for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but it appears his original look will be returning. This isn't the only change the MCU is making to the Winter Soldier. Speaking to ComicBook at San Diego Comic-Con, Thunderbolts* stars Sebastian Stan and Wyatt Russell responded to questions based on the film footage shown to the Hall H crowd. When asked about Bucky using his dishwasher to clean his vibranium arm, Stan joked that its "efficient."

"One has to at some point make sure that things do get clean, and so that's a very efficient way of doing it fast," Stan joked. "He uses a lot less water too, a lot less water in the dishwasher."

Russell chimed in briefly after that, sharing something notable.

"He's a congressman," Russell responded.

Chris Evans and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson are invading the holidays this year, as the duo team up for a new Christmas adventure film called Red One. From Jumanji director Jake Kasdan, Red One is an action comedy that brings the energy of most superhero blockbusters to the North Pole, following an unlikely duo that have to track down a kidnapped Santa Claus in order to save Christmas.

Red One doesn't hit theaters until November 15th, but Amazon MGM is getting a head start on the festivities this year by beginning the advertising push before the start of October. On Sunday evening, the studio unveiled the second trailer for Red One, offering up a few more jokes, some extra action, and giving fans a better idea of what the movie has in store. You can check it out in the video below!

Johnson stars in Red One as Callum Drift, the head of the E.L.F. Task Force that are tasked with finding Santa after he's taken. Evans plays Jake O'Malley, a legendary tracker and "Level Four Naughty Lister" who is force to help Drift and his team in their mission. The film also stars Lucy Liu as Zoe, who recruits Jack for the mission, and J.K. Simmons, who plays St. Nicholas himself.

Red One was directed by Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle helmer Jake Kasdan, with a script from Fast & Furious scribe Chris Morgan.

This will be Evans' first time starring in a Christmas movie, which is apparently something he's been hoping to do for most of his career.

"I've been in this industry for too long, but I've never seen a Christmas movie come across my lap," Evans previously told ComicBook.com. "It's never been on my radar. They happen. They're occasional. But it's never been something that's come my way. So the fact that this one popped up, I was like 'I can't say no to this. I just can't.' And Dwayne is just unbelievable. He's such a nice guy. He's incredible what he does actually, he's so funny. He's really charming and really knows. What [he] knows, he's great at it and does it really, really well. And Jake Kasdan, the director, is just fantastic and the script is really funny."

"I just was like, I gotta take this opportunity," Evans continued. "And it was fantastic. It was one of the best working experiences I ever had. I actually was worried 'Is this gonna ruin Christmas for me?' because it's so special. 'Do I really want to see my mug every Christmas?' But I'm telling you, every day was Christmas, and when it wrapped I was like 'Aww.' Believe me, I couldn't get enough of it. So yeah, it was a great decision."

Red One arrives in theaters on November 15th.

Transformers One has hit theaters with a new animated take on Optimus Prime and Megatron's origin stories, and it's made history for the Transformers franchise for getting both fresh rating from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The Transformers franchise has been releasing films in theaters for decades at this point, but this current era of its run can be traced back to the first Michael Bay directed film released back in 2007. Ever since, the Transformers franchise has been viewed in a certain way with each subsequent sequel and fans and critics have rarely agreed on the films' success as a result.

This has all changed with the release of Transformers One, however, as it's now made history for the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes. Transformers One is not only Certified Fresh with a current score of 89% with 116 reviews totaled as of the time of this publication, but has also scored a 98% among audiences with over 1,000 reviews catalogued. This is a first for the animated film side of the franchise (except maybe the first The Transformers: The Movie in the 1980s) as audiences and critics really haven't been on the same page to this extent for the live-action films.

Transformers One: Rotten Tomatoes Score Revealed

Transformers One has a score of 89% with Rotten Tomatoes, which is currently the second highest of the current era of the Transformers franchise after Bumblebee's 90%. But the way Transformers One takes the top spot is with both a highly positive critics score at 98%, and an audience score as Bumblebee has capped out at 75%. In fact, the second highest score among audiences in the franchise comes from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts at 91%. With these being the latest releases for the franchise as well, it's all trending in a positive direction. The current scores for the franchise breaks down as such:

• Transformers One - 89/98
• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - 51/91
• Bumblebee - 90/75
• Transformers: The Last Knight - 16/43
• Transformers: Age of Extinction - 18/50
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 35/55
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 20/57
• Transformers - 57/85

Transformers One dramatically changed the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons with the intention of starting things over from the very beginning in a new animated form, and it's clear that this has already been a hit with both fans and critics with just this first film alone. But there have yet to be any plans for a potential continuation announced as of the time of this publication.

Will Transformers One Get a Sequel?

It has yet to be announced whether or not Transformers One will get a sequel, but those behind the film are paying very close attention to whether or not its success will warrant another entry. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura teased how that success could continue the story with plans to have more of a character focus coming in the future entries, "Number one, if we're successful with this [Transformers] movie, we're going to do a sequel for this. And we already have, I think, the beginnings of a really interesting story for the second one, which is also character-based, the way the first [is]," the producer stated.

Given that both critics and audiences are enjoying the film, all that remains to be seen is whether or not the box office numbers will be backing up these positive scores. Because no matter how many enjoy their time with the film, if it's not enough people then it won't really seem fit for a potential continuation.

Jay Oliva, the storyboard artist who described Ben Affleck's unmade solo Batman movie that built on 80 years of Bat-mythos as "f--ing awesome," has shared a board visualizing a hand-to-hand fight sequence between the Dark Knight and Joe Manganiello's assassin Deathstroke. Oliva -- whose credits include the Zack Snyder-directed Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder's Justice League, and the adult animated series Twilight of the Gods -- revealed the frame (below) in celebration of Batman Day 2024.

"I've worked on a lot of Batman things and what was really cool about it was, it was tying together a lot of really cool Batman storylines that had never been really explored," Oliva said in an interview last year, adding that the standalone movie co-written by Affleck and then-DC CCO Geoff Johns "was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics, but was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective."

Happy BATMAN DAY Everyone! ???#BATMAN pic.twitter.com/eCE2G2s66c

-- Jay Oliva (@jayoliva1) September 22, 2024

Along with concept art of Affleck's new Batsuit design that would have seen Batman suit up in a grey-black suit made from ballistic materials and kevlar-like armor, concept artist Keith Christensen shared his design for a tactical costume to be worn by the masked mercenary who first appeared opposite Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor in the post-credits scene of 2017's Justice League.

While a followup to that scene never materialized, Manganiello told the Comic Book Nation podcast that Slade Wilson blamed Batman for the death of his son. After learning Batman's secret identity from Luthor, Deathstroke would then target Bruce Wayne and his allies, including Barbara Gordon's Batgirl.

"The Batman film was going to be kind of similar to... imagine if David Fincher's The Game was real," Manganiello said. "[Deathstroke] systematically dismantles Bruce's life and starts murdering all the people in it. Destroys his finances and just, basically, paints him into a corner. But it was a real psychological thriller, and Deathstroke was kind of like a horror movie villain, like a shark, kind of like [in] Jaws."

Affleck was attached to write and direct a solo Batman movie under Walter Hamada's DC Films regime -- tentatively titled The Batman -- as part of the DC Extended Universe. Once planned for an early 2017 shooting start, the Argo and The Town filmmaker dropped out and was replaced by War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves. Affleck eventually announced he hung up the cape and cowl, and Reeves rebooted Batman with Robert Pattinson as a younger caped crusader.

"I found that I had lost my enthusiasm or passion for it," Affleck explained to GQ in 2020 of his axed Batman movie. "This should really be made by somebody for whom it's their wildest dream come true and, for me, it had become something different and it was clear to me that it was time to move on. But I do have some really fond memories, particularly of Batman v Superman, and how exciting that was. And how energizing it was and how much fun we had."

The Lord of the Rings is ready to make its return to theaters. While Amazon Studios carries on with The Rings of Power season two, Peter Jackson's series is eyeing a winter comeback. IF you did not realize, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is slated to launch this December under Warner Bros. Pictures. Now, the prequel has dropped a brand-new look at Middle Earth with a special promo ahead of its debut.

As you can see below, the new teaser comes courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures as The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim puts a spotlight on Hera. The new poster gives a close-up look at the female protagonist which is fitting given her record. As the Hera will act as the protagonist of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, marking a first for female leads in the film franchise. So if you are ready to move on from Bilbo and the Shire, this movie should do the trick.

The Lord of the Rings Tackles Anime

With Hera at the forefront, this new peek at The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim sets up an epic clash for Middle Earth. We know this film will act as a prequel to Jackon's iconic trilogy given its focus on Helm Hammerhand. The legendary king of Rohan is a familiar figure in J.R.R. Tolkein lore, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will explore his fight against the Dunlendings army. This piece of history is a key to Middle Earth, and many fans of The Lord of the Rings have wanted it to hit screens. Soon, the war will do just that, and it will do so with help from director Kenji Kamiyama.

After all, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an anime. The movie marks the IP's first foray into anime, and so far, trailers for the project have left fans enamored. Kamiyama was tasked with directing the film after proving his mettle on franchises like Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, and Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Sola Entertainment produced the movie alongside Warner Bros. Animation and WingNut Films, proving the industry's investment in anime. After all, the medium has grown exponentially since 2020, and you only have to peep The War of the Rohirrim to see as much.

What's Next for The Lord of the Rings?

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is slated to go live on December 13, marking one of many projects coming for the IP. The Rings of Power is still going strong as its Second Age tale has roped in Tolkein fans across the globe. And when it comes to the big screen, Warner Bros. Discovery is keeping a steady pace. Last year, the company announced a new development plan centered on The Lord of the Rings. The strategy was crafted to bring several new Middle Earth movies to life with help from New Line Cinema and Freemode. So if you want more, then you've got it.

What do you think about this latest peek at The War of the Rohirrim? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

The Conjuring franchise is gearing for one last entry in its main series of films that follow Ed and Lorraine Warren. In addition to plenty of spinoffs, the franchise has been anchored by three Conjuring titles that have starred Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the first two of which from director James Wan. Warner Bros. is looking to wrap up the story of the real-life paranormal with one final Conjuring film next year, and a couple of actors have just joined Farmiga and Wilson on the call sheet.

According to Deadline, The Conjuring: Last Rites has added X-Men: Apocalypse and Love at First Sight star Ben Hardy and The Beast Must Die's Mia Tomlinson to the cast. No details about who they will play has been revealed just yet, as the entire plot of The Conjuring: Last Rites has been kept under wraps to this point. The film will likely be inspired by one of Ed and Lorraine Warren's real cases.

James Wan originated the franchise but hasn't directed a Conjuring movie since the second entry. He will be producing The Last Rites alongside Peter Safran, in addition to being credited as one of the minds behind the film's story. David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick worked with Wan on the story and the duo of Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing wrote the latest version of the screenplay. Johnson-McGoldrick wrote the initial screenplay for the film.

Michael Chaves returns to direct The Conjuring: The Last Rites, which will be his fourth time helming a Conjuring universe entry. In addition to taking over as the main Conjuring director with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Chaves has also directed The Curse of La Llorona and The Nun II.

Warner Bros. has already confirmed that The Conjuring: Last Rites will be the final entry in the main series of Conjuring films. That said, there has been no word as to whether the franchise will continue with its spinoffs. There have been two Nun films and three Annabelle movies to this point, with both individual series bringing in good money for the franchise. It would be surprising not to see additional entries in either series, even with The Conjuring itself coming to an end.

To this point, the Conjuring Universe has grossed more than $2.25 billion at the global box office, making it a bonafide horror juggernaut.

The Conjuring: Last Rites is set to hit theaters on September 5, 2025.

Transformers One has made some changes to the origin behind Megatron and the Decepticons in the new animated feature film, and with it has opened up a whole new kind of story for fans in the future. Transformers One has introduced fans to a whole new take on Optimus Prime and Megatron as the new film goes all the way back to the beginning of Cybertron to before the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Revealing how the two leaders eventually grew to command their respective factions, Transformers One offers some new character drama that will certainly spark bigger conflicts to come.

Transformers One showcased the origin story for Orion Pax and D-16, who were the robots that would eventually become the Optimus Prime and Megatron fans are familiar with later. While versions of the duo's origins had the two knowing each other before they gain their ability to transform and eventually go to war, the core differences here in the film are sparked by how they differently react to the foundation of their beliefs are shaken by some critical reveals. In Megatron's case, he response full of rage and pain is ultimately what leads to the fracturing of the Decepticons.

How Megatron Becomes Megatron in Transformers One

Transformers One introduces Orion Pax and D-16, two mining robots who continue to go into the depths of Cybertron to mine Energon. They believe they are helping out the rest of their planet by doing so, but soon the truth is revealed. Their hero and leader, Sentinel Prime, has been telling them all this time that he has been searching the surface of the planet for the mysterious Matrix of Leadership to restore Energon to their planet. But that's only half the story. It's actually revealed that he has formed a deal with Cybertron's enemies, the Quintessons.

When Orion and D-16 discover this news, they react to the betrayal in two key ways. Orion wants to work to unveil Sentinel Prime's treachery to the rest of the planet, and punish him as society sees fit. But D-16 instead wants to kill Sentinel Prime for not only lying to them, but essentially wasting their lives as they have been living faithfully to this lie ever since they were born. As the two gain the ability to transform, D-16 starts to act more aggressively as his newly acquired power only fuels his revenge even further.

How the Decepticons are Formed in Transformers One

When D-16 is successful in killing Sentinel Prime, he takes Sentinel's gear (which once belonged to D-16's hero, Megatronus Prime) and then fully becomes Megatron. Seeking to then destroy the entire place, he and the rest of the Transformers who agree with him (the Primes' former High Guard, that had also been betrayed by the Primes) start attacking everyone and everything. But Orion Pax is then awarded the Matrix of Leadership and officially becomes Optimus Prime. And the two fight.

With Megatron defeated, Optimus then exiles him along with the rest of the High Guard. This leaves Megatron angrier than ever. Deciding to then name their group the Decepticons to represent the fact that they won't believe anyone's lies anymore, Megatron declares war on the rest of the planet. While Optimus and Megatron have had relationships in different iterations of their origin, Transformers One makes them former best friends who break apart when their lives are changed. It's a much different take on their respective origins than seen in other Transformers media, and it's all the more heartbreaking as a result when seeing how far Megatron falls within his rage.

Michael Keaton's Beetlegeuse can only be brought back by saying his name three times, but what about Tim Burton? Beetlejuice Beetlejuice -- the filmmaker's long-awaited sequel which nearly went straight to streaming before topping the box office three weeks in a row -- ends with a final scene suggesting that Beetlegeuse's would-be ghoulfriend Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) haven't seen the last of the Ghost with the Most.

"I think with Tim's love for the title and the characters, the door is open, but we'll see what happens next," Beetlejuice 2 producer Tommy Harper, who also executive produced the Burton-directed Wednesday series, told Deadline about a third movie.

Burton's 36-years-later followup to his 1988 classic has conjured up $330 million at the global box office so far, more than doubling its $99 million budget. That's Burton's biggest hit since Disney's live-action Dumbo in 2019 ($353 million), surpassing his 2012 vampire comedy Dark Shadows ($245 million), the stop-motion animated Frankenweenie ($81 million), 2014's Big Eyes ($30 million), and 2016's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ($296 million).

While the door may be opened to summoning a sequel titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton seemed to squash a Beetlejuice 3 after the film made its world premiere out of competition during the 81st Venice Film Festival in August.

"Let's do the math. It took 35 years to do this one," the director, 66, said during a press conference. "For another, I'd be over 100 [years old]. It could be possible thanks to medical science. But I don't think so." Still, Burton added he was "energized" by the Addams Family spinoff Wednesday he directed and produced for Netflix, spurring his first film since 2019. The Beetlejuice sequel was "a very personal project" and not a cash grab made "for loads of money."

"Over the past few years, I got disillusioned with the movie business. So I knew if I was going to do something I wanted to do it from my heart," Burton said. "I lost myself a bit, so this movie was re-energizing. Getting back to the things I love and working with the people I love. With this one, it didn't matter how it turned out. I just enjoyed making it with these people."

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice -- starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, and Jenna Ortega -- is now playing only in theaters.

The ComicBook Nation crew review Transformers One, and it's Peak Geek TV time again with Agatha All Along, The Penguin and Zack Snyder's anime Twilight of the Gods all premiering this week!

PLUS: The Clue movie reboot may have a director; the Transformers & G.I. Joe movie gets an update; Zack Snyder's 300 TV series is happening - and Netflix's One Piece Season 2 drops some major casting surprises!

Transformers One Review

Here's what ComicBook Nation's Anime Initiative host Evan Valentine had to say about his 4-star review of Transformers One:

I would be remiss by not calling this the best Transformers film since the 1980s animated film. If this is the future of the Transformers franchise, then Autobot and Decepticons fans have a bright future to look forward to indeed.

The Penguin Review

ComicBook's Jenna Anderson had the following to say in her 4.5 out of 5 star review of The Penguin:

Across its eight episodes, The Penguin redefines what verisimilitude can mean in the world of comic book adaptations. The grittiness, violence, and double-crossing that fans would expect from the title are abundantly present, but balanced with a truly heartfelt take on loss, rebirth, and personal agency. The series is not only one of the better crime dramas in recent memory, it is one of the best examples of how to branch out decades of beloved lore.The Penguin is simply a show about people trying to thrive in a world much bigger and weirder than they can even comprehend - a subject that would be universal nonetheless, but transforms into something special with its engrossing performances.

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Transformers One has flipped the franchise on its head with a new origin, so it deserves to continue telling its new version of the story. Transformers has been around for a long time, and over the decades fans have seen a number of different iterations of the franchise. It's a series that's no stranger to remakes, reboots, sequels or otherwise as it's all been put through the lens of multiple creators over the years. While the core tenants have been the same, each Transformers entry takes its out route to get to those core tenants that fans recognize.

It's the same case for Transformers One as it introduces new takes on Optimus Prime and Megatron, and ends with the characters in the starting place that fans would recognize more as they both end up the leaders of the Autobots and Deceptions. While this is a fitting story in its own right as it showcases a new side of the Transformers lore that's rarely seen on such a blockbuster level, it's also still an origin story. A story that we need to see continue with an official sequel.

Why Transformers One Needs a Sequel

A sequel to Transformers One is built into name. The title featuring a "one" not only represents the fact that the story has gone all the way back to square one, but it's also the first part of a new era for the franchise. It's an intentional moniker that's basically all but confirming the story will continue with a new entry some time in the future. But that's really just in the business side of things, and thankfully the movie itself offers up a great path to continue in with some great hooks for future stories.

Transformers One tells the origin story for not only Optimus Prime and Megatron, but for the Autobots and Decepticons as a whole. This look back on Cybertron has widened the scope to a planet full of characters and stories. While these characters have been seen in other ways in the past, this new story allows Transformers to then release new takes on the war for Cybertron overall. While the Quintessons served as a good introductory enemy, it wasn't until Megatron came into play that the film really got going.

Once the third act reveals the real antagonist of the film, Transformers One begins to zoom by at such a speed that it's so exciting to see the versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron that we were hoping to see in action. This origin had done the work to make this pivot exciting, and thus it's opened up this rivalry to years worth of attention as Orion and D-16 are fully fleshed out characters who will only further get more complex as this particular film series goes on in further entries. It deserves to evolve further.

Transformers One: How to Make a Sequel

Thankfully, the Transformers franchise has been so varied over the years that it's entirely possible to release both live-action and animated takes on the universe that will still feel different from one another. As the live-action franchise finds a new way to reboot itself with its upcoming G.I. Joe crossover, the animated version of the franchise has thankfully already figured it out with Transformers One. This could be the launching point for a new trilogy, and potentially beyond as we can now see Optimus and Megatron fighting on Cybertron before even getting to Earth. Which will then further distinguish itself from the live-action films.

As for how to approach a sequel, Paramount has already set a precedent for how to continue the franchise. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was a hit for Paramount, and was subsequently followed up with the announcement that not only is there a new movie in the works, but there's a streaming series released in the meantime. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles even offered its own style to further distinct itself from the movie, and that's exactly the same path that the Transformers One franchise should take with its own sequel.

Transformers One should be followed not only with a new movie, but a new TV series as well. There are so many characters from the original Transformers franchise that didn't get too much screen time in Transformers One, but would be perfect to follow in a new TV series instead. The film sequel could still focus most of its attention on the core dynamic between Optimus and Megatron, while the following TV series could then feature more of the wide ancillary cast. All the while, continuing to flesh out this cinematic universe in different ways.

We're Getting More Transformers Either Way

The cold hard truth of the matter, however, is that we're going to get new Transformers either way. Whether it's a sequel to Transformers One, or another animated movie trying yet another new take on it all, we're going to see Transformers sticking around just as it had for all these years before. It's been four decades since Transformers first started out (even celebrating its 40th anniversary this Summer), and in all that time we've got many beginnings and endings for these characters. But Transformers One is the first truly great start that we have seen on the big screen in quite a long time.

With that age also comes the challenge of offering a fresh take on the Transformers that hasn't been seen before, and Transformers One somehow meets that. While it could be a much different situation in a sequel or third film to follow (as keeping that originality will get harder with each attempt), Transformers One deserves to take that chance and follow it up with a sequel. We have got to see how it all works out from here. It's time to see what a full film featuring what this version of Optimus Prime and Megatron brings to the table.

Fall of 2024 is here and there's one A24 movie you need to see now streaming on Max. That's right, film festival sensation I Saw the TV Glow made its way home so you can watch with your subscriptions. Director Jane Schoenbrun's second mind-bending feature is ready for a rewatch, or first watch, on Max. I Saw the TV Glow stars Justice Smith as Owen and Brigette Lundy-Paine as Maddy. These two teenagers are stuck in 1990s-flavored suburbia and looking for anything to take them out of their boring daily routines. Owen and Maddy discover The Pink Opaque, an era-appropriate TV show for teenagers that basically rewires their brain chemistry. As life continues, there's more to their daily existence than either of these teens could have bargained for.

When it comes to mood, lighting, and general vibes at the movies this year, I Saw the TV Glow is the reigning champion. Numerous critics loved the aesthetic touches that Schoenbrun layered throughout this movie. If you grew up in the 1990s, or are currently immersed in Y2K fever, there's a lot to love about the horror movie. Smith and Lundy-Paine both deliver engrossing performances as Owen and Maddy. If you're not a fan of body horror, there are still harrowing sequences in I Saw the TV Glow that will bounce off the walls of your brain for weeks on end. This is a stirring movie on multiple accounts and fans of the horror genre probably owe it to themselves to at least check it out before Halloween completely takes hold.

I Saw the TV Glow's amazing atmospheric soundtrack also deserves a shout out here. Indie gold star acts like Phoebe Bridgers, yeule, Caroline Polacheck and King Woman are all represented here. Schoenbrun characterized these inclusions as reaching for the kind of performances that used to populate TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In a previous interview with Bloody Disgusting, the filmmaker talked about wanting to craft a "90s mixtape that didn't exist yet." By most accounts, this was a success for the film. While not really using exact samples, the musical cues get everyone into the right frame of mind, just in time for the gut wrenching revelations across the runtime of this movie. To say any more would spoil some of the surprises hiding beneath the surface.

I Saw The TV Glow & Nostalgia

While I Saw the TV Glow garnered some awards buzz earlier this year, there's also the reality of being a smaller A24 movie in a sea of massive tentpoles and other big-budget releases in 2024. ComicBook sat down with Schoenbrun to talk about the idea of nostalgia. Parts of this narrative feel vaguely personal, but also appealing towards a shared upbringing that basically doesn't exist anymore. It's a movie in transition in a lot of ways.

"I think that the writing process is when I'm really digging. Because my creative process that I've found that works for me is one where the thing that I'm writing is exploring, not so much trying to explain, but almost investigating whatever it is that I'm investigating, or working through, or dealing with in my real life," Schoenbrun explained during our conversation. "So, for instance, this film was written in the immediate aftermath of beginning transition, as my entire world and everything that I thought of as my home was being called into question while I was also running towards a future that felt exciting to me in a way that I had never done before. The movie is really trying to just, not so much tell you how that feels, but to create an authentic expression from within that experience."

"I think it's usually that part of the process that feels most purely, I don't know that I would say therapeutic, but where I am most deeply engaging with the personal in a way that feels transformative," they continued. "When you make a movie, that's just fun. That's just getting to play, hopefully, in a sandbox with a lot of other cool weirdos. Then when you finish a movie, when you edit it, that's like you return to the first part of the process, but it's much more about imagining how to fine-tune this thing so that the people watching it can have the deepest possible experience with it."

What are you watching this weekend? Check out all the pop culture discussion at @ComicBook!

Thunderbolts* star Sebastian Stan compared his upcoming Marvel movie to a surprising classic film. Variety asked The Apprentice actor about what's waiting for him in the MCU and he said Thunderbolts* was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. That 1975 movie stars Jack Nicholson in a psychological drama set in a mental health facility. He transfers there from a prison and inspires his fellow inmates to assert themselves in the face of mistreatment. Marvel Studios has been billing Thunderbolts* like a meeting of the island of misfit toys, so maybe that kind of camaraderie out of a stressful situation is what Stan is shooting for in these comments. Still, a lot of movie fans raised their eyebrows when the comments started making the rounds on social media.

Stan argued that Thunderbolts* "was kind of like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -- a guy coming into this group that was chaotic and degenerate, and somehow finding a way to unite them." Clearly, this new MCU team isn't going to work together perfectly off of first blush. Honestly, most of them have never interacted in these movies before now anyway. With some of the larger rumors about the surprises in this film swirling, they'll probably have to get their act together pretty quickly.

Thunderbolts Brings Back Some Fun Characters

When it comes to Marvel Studios' 2025, Thunderbolts* is the title shrouded in the most mystery. San Diego Comic-Con brought some new looks at the team of MCU antiheroes. But, not everyone could make the pilgrimage to California to see that footage for themselves. Luckily, the cast did some interviews after the big Marvel Studios presentation. In fact, The Official Marvel Podcast caught up with a bunch of the main players from Thunderbolts* to ask what they've been up to since we all have seen them last. Let's just say, it's been a journey for all of these characters before they got thrown together.

When it comes to the sad state of affairs with various Thunderbolts*, David Harbour had jokes, "None of us are in a good place. I'm eating something disgusting out of a bowl. Gaining weight as you watch the film in real time." Wyatt Russell chimed-in with some zingers of his own. It seems the US Agent has spent the last couple of years getting shot at more than the recommended amount. Harbour smirked, "We do see you scrolling through your phone, looking for bad press! Like Googling himself and saying, 'If I don't find the nasty comments, then I'm not finished."

Florence Pugh would also add, "To be able to come back again. But, show another side of what it is to be a human, going through life in the way that she does, that may not necessarily be the way that we would assume that they live, is beautiful for me." "

What do you want to see from Thunderbolts*? Check out all the pop culture discussion at @ComicBook!

Captain America: Brave New World is coming up next year and Marvel Comics might have just hinted at a surprising MCU return with their new title. This week, fans got to see Sam Wilson: Captain America, a limited series featuring the talents of Greg Pak, Evan Narcisse and Eder Messias. Interestingly enough, our hero is tangling with Red Hulk, just like in the upcoming movie. But, there's another sneaky addition that MCU fans might want to keep an eye on. Taurin Clarke's dynamite cover for Sam Wilson: Captain America also features Eli Bradley's Patriot as part of the story. Isaiah Bradley has been confirmed to appear in the upcoming Marvel movie, but there's been no word of his grandson making a return appearance in the franchise. Could this be the first hint at Eli's role in the film?

Back in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, audiences were introduced to Isaiah Bradley, the first Captain America. Also included was his grandson Eli, played by Elijah Richardson. The American government experimented on Bradley and used his blood to try and replicate the Super Soldier serum that gave Steve Rogers his powers. It's clear that Isaiah still has the raw physical power afforded to him by those experiments, as he's jumping through windows in the Captain America: Brave New World trailer. But, it was never specified if his grandson inherited some of those powers. Could he be another burgeoning superhero in waiting for the MCU?

In Marvel Comics continuity, there's a long-running story featuring Eli as the hero Patriot fighting alongside the Young Avengers. As the team's Captain America surrogate, he helps them navigate the early days of their team-up after being trained by Steve Rogers. Of course, the MCU would probably like to streamline his origin as it gets pretty complicated with Patriots powers originating from a superhuman drug and then later replacing those sketchy abilities through a blood transfusion from Isaiah Bradley later on. With so many other young heroes rumbling about the MCU at the moment, it wouldn't be too strange to see Eli join-up with the rest of the Young Avengers that Kamala Khan is recruiting right now. We'll have to wait and see.

Young Avengers Slowly Assembling During All Of These Movies

From the early moments of Phase 4, Marvel fans have been expecting the Young Avengers to form. WandaVision featured Scarlet Witch's kids Billy and Tommy. From there, more young heroes just kept cropping up. Things came to a head in The Marvels when Kamala Khan got a hold of a SWORD information tablet. With access to their database, she could look up any young superhero on-file and find them. She approached Hawkeye Kate Bishop in the movie's post-credits scene. Iman Vellani joined ComicBook's Phase Zero podcast to talk about Ms. Marvel. She is looking forward to the Young Avengers assembling like the rest of us.

"I just want to see them interact. I think they've left so many of the younger character stories open-ended, and to see fans start shipping people together, it would be something like, I want to see Kamala interact with America," Vellani shared. "I want to see Kamala interact with Patriot, I don't know. Just all these random people. And so yeah, I think there's so many different avenues you could take with this."

At the time, it was a little bit curious to see the Ms. Marvel actress mention Patriot as he hasn't been discussed too much by Marvel Studios since The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. To be fair to Vellani, she was probably just listing the Young Avengers lineup that fans know from the comics. But, with Cassie Lang, America Chavez, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel and more already teased for whatever Marvel Studios has cooking, there is room for another couple members of the team. (A lot of MCU fans believe we're about to get another foundational member really soon in Agatha All Along...) At any case, with Marvel doing more cross-comics synergy than ever before, maybe this new Captain America book is a subtle hint.

Do you think Stan is right about Marvel? Check out all the pop culture discussion at @ComicBook!

Transformers One has restarted the Transformers franchise story from the very beginning with a brand new take, and with it has revealed the unliked origin of Optimus Prime. If there is one thing that fans might know about the Transformers universe throughout the years of its movies, TV shows, video games, toys, and more, it's that Optimus Prime stands at the center of it all as its main hero. This figure is the leader of the Autobots, and fights against Megatron to protect Cybertron and later, Earth. This is the character we've seen in action through decades of media at this point.

But it's all much different in Transformers One. The new animated film takes the lore in a whole new direction and reboots the story from the very beginning. With it, fans are introduced to who Optimus Prime was before he became the Prime fans all know today. With Chris Hemsworth voicing this new character, Orion Pax, the film follows him as he steadily learns more about the dark truth of his life on Cybertron and rises up to one day save all of the other robots from their terrible burden to become the Autobots in the future.

Transformers One: Who Is Orion Pax?

Orion Pax is a robot who was seemingly activated without a gear that would allow him to transform like some of the other Transformers seen across Cybertron. Without a gear, Orion and other robots like him instead mine the depths of Cybertron for Energon to help their leader, Sentinel Prime, in the search for the Matrix of Leadership. It's explained that this device was one held by the legendary warriors known as the Primes, who have since loss their lives in the war against a deadly invading force known as the Quintessons.

Wanting to help Sentinel find the Matrix of Leadership, and knowing there must be a bigger purpose for him, he and his best friend, D-16, head to the surface to find it. It's throughout all of this that they discover that Sentinel Prime had actually lied to them all, and they've been mining Energon for the Quintessons as part of some shady deal. After seeing the truth of their planet, Orion gets a core with the ability to transform and starts fighting back. But he doesn't become a Prime that we all know until much later.

How Optimus Prime Was Born

Orion Pax and D-16 fight over how to handle Sentinel Prime's betrayal, and D-16 decides to kill him. Taking a shot at him, he shoots Orion by mistake. Then sending Orion's lifeless body into the depths of the planet, it's here that Orion is recognized by the god of Cybertron, Primus. The past Primes and Primus all recognize Orion as someone worthy of holding the Matrix of Leadership, and thus Orion is granted this new power to officially become Optimus Prime. At the same time, D-16 kills Sentinel Prime and takes his gear (which once belonged to Megatronus Prime) to become Megatron.

It's here that Optimus Prime is now in full force with the full look and abilities (such as laser axes) that fans have seen him use across the franchise's movies, TV shows, and more over the years. It took a little longer to get there with this new origin story, but it's clear that he rose through adversity and a full death that Optimus Prime has worked all the way back from all of this to becoming the prominent leader fans know and love today.

Transformers One took the opportunity to not only reveal how Optimus Prime and Megatron became the respective leaders of the Autobots and the Decepticons, but the prequel film also revealed how Orion Pax and D-16 went from simple mining 'bots to full-fledges Transformers. The two future enemies are joined in their initial outing by future Autobots, Elita-1 and Bumblebee, giving them the backup they need to learn what is really going on in Cybertron. Orion and D-16 come to receive their abilities by learning a horrible truth about Cybertron, the Primes, and Sentinel Prime, creating a monkey's paw scenario that changes the future forever.

Warning. If you have yet to watch Transformers One, our article will dive into some serious spoiler territory for the recently released prequel film. After gaining notoriety for winning the Iacon 5000 race, D-16 and Orion are sent to the lower depths of Cybertron and meet the future Bumblebee (B-127). The trio discovers a message from one of the biggest Primes, Alpha Trion, who reveals where he currently lies. Once the three, who are joined by Elita-1, come to discover Trion's dormant body, they manage to bring him back to life and learn what really happened to the Primes. Needless to say, the truth is far more insidious than the film's stars were expecting.

The True Origin of Cybertron

As Alpha Trion explains, Sentinel Prime has betrayed the Primes, destroying nearly all of them while throwing his lot in with the Quintessons. Stealing the Transformer Cogs from numerous Cybertronians, Sentinel would cast 'bots like D-16 and Orion Pax into the mines to forge for Energon, looking to give it directly to the Quintessons. In revealing these secrets, Alpha Trion uses the cogs from the fallen Primes to grant Orion, B-127, D-16, and Elita-1 the power to transform for the first time, though their problems were far from over.

As we witness in the film's runtime, Sentinel Prime's lackeys strike at just the right time, sending the movie's stars on the run and capturing Alpha Trion. Unfortunately for the remaining Prime, Sentinel isn't keen on keeping the witness to his crimes alive, eliminating Trion from the board permanently. Luckily, Alpha's message is one that the quartet aim to spread and with their new transforming powers in place, bring the war to Sentinel.

How Everyone Becomes Transformers

Sentinel's betrayal cuts D-16 to his core, setting the stage for him to become the villainous Megatron as he looks to build an army and make sure that Cybertron never falls for this deception again. In gathering the likes of Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave, and more, Megatron tears apart Sentinel Prime with his bare hands. While the "High Guard" already had the ability to transform, many of the Autobots did not.

Once Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime, he is granted the Matrix of Leadership. Through this new power, Optimus gives all Cybertronians the ability to transform, setting the stage for the war that Transformers fans would come to know. During the brief sequence, we are able to see familiar faces like Ironhide, Jazz, and Wheeljack receiving their cogs for the first time, proving that the creators of Transformers One were more than willing to dive into the franchise's past to forge its future.

Want to stay up to date on all things Transformers? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the Autobots and Decepticons and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

Apartment 7A had a tough hill to climb even before it arrived, as the idea of "Rosemary's Baby prequel movie" immediately sounds like a cash grab built on a bad idea. That's what makes its strong start immediately disarming, as director Natalie Erika James's take on the material kicks off and you can not only see she has her own ideas about this world, but is using the iconography of the original Rosemary's Baby to try something new. In addition, there's clearly money being put behind this, with actual period-era sets and costumes. The immediate confidence on display in the first half of Apartment 7A makes so many of the choices in the latter part so baffling, as if the movie is at war with itself about what it really should be.

Primetime Emmy Award-winner Julia Garner stars as Terry Gionoffrio in Apartment 7A, playing a character that Rosemary's Baby viewers know well due to the handful of moments she has in the original movie. Her introduction in Apartment 7A is a lot like how she arrives in Roman Polanski's movie (where she was played by Angela Dorian); she's unassuming, casual, a working woman with a life and things to do. When her career as a professional dancer is totally derailed by an accident, it sends her down a desperate path, one where she falls prey to vices while also trying to crawl back up. One of the more powerful moments of the movie that encapsulates this is when Garner is faced with a condescending request from a major Broadway producer (Jim Sturgess), only to stand her ground and refuse his invitation to humiliate herself for his amusement. It becomes clear that this moment is the entire throughline of the movie.

Like all prequels, there is immediately something working against Apartment 7A: what viewers of the original movie already know. In this case, it's which characters die, which ones have ulterior motives, and which places and people have a specific function. To its credit, Apartment 7A does not shy away from the fact that many people watching the film already know these things. So when Terry is befriended by Roman and Minnie Castevet (Kevin McNally and Dianne Wiest, respectively), we know what's going on here, and very quickly are reminded that the facade of this nice elderly couple is just that. When they invite her to live in the titular apartment, we already know what is in store for her.

McNally and Wiest are a very charming addition to Apartment 7A and deliver two of the standout performances beyond Garner herself. Though Kevin McNally is perhaps best known for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, his ability to channel Sidney Blackmer's entire look and mannerisms from the original Rosemary's Baby are nothing short of remarkable. Wiest's take on Minnie Castevet is certainly more her own than McNally's portrayal, but given the larger-than-life personality of the character (which won Ruth Gordon an Oscar in the original movie), her work doesn't feel too far off center.

Considering the legendary status that Rosemary's Baby has on the whole, it might seem like climbing Everest to even attempt to match some of its ideas. One of the most unique sequences in Apartment 7A is a moment where it really embodies Garner's lead character in a similar way to the original. Where Roman Polanski took Rosemary out onto a boat and the open sea for one of her early hallucinations, Julia Garner's Terry takes on a major song and dance number. The scene is compelling not only from a character standpoint, but also visually, as her drug-induced haze gives way to a well-choreographed costume change and dance sequence, including big sets and surprise moments. It culminates into one of the best scares in the entire film, which keeps up the wicked production design but with, naturally, a bit of a satanic influence.

Another thing that really works in the favor of Apartment 7A's status as a prequel is that it doesn't actively fall into the worst kinds of habits one might expect. There's no on-the-nose moment that details why a specific something was done a certain way in Rosemary's Baby, nor is anything actively disrupted to the point where now something "doesn't make sense" in the original film. Naturally, there are some recurring motifs or imagery, and a familiar-looking pair of demonic hands appear in a crucial moment to deliver the best jump scare of the film, but so much of Apartment 7A really does feel like a daring and original take on the material.

That said, about an hour into the movie, there's a pivot and Apartment 7A's descent into this wicked world becomes clumsy. It's worth nothing that Apartment 7A is about 45 minutes shorter than Rosemary's Baby. The original film gradually constructs its paranoia so that it builds to a fever pitch. Apartment 7A has no such luxury available to it, so the patience and meticulous unfolding found in Polanski's film is forced to be repeated not only very quickly but without much of the nuance built into it. Rosemary unraveling the conspiracy around her feels earned and is well thought out, but Terry's similar journey here feels like a committee decided "well, she should figure it out like the old movie!" This leads to a sizeable chunk of the movie where the spark has gone out and instead a list of things are being checked off. Luckily, the final scenes make up for this in spades with a moment deeply rooted in its main character.

Like the original Rosemary's Baby, a pervasive theme throughout Apartment 7A is the larger political issue of a woman's reproductive rights, but it manages to get deeper than just a surface-level take on the idea. It's not just grappling with the larger play of someone trying to fight for themselves, but someone who is consistently being blocked at every turn by alleged wealthy and powerful people that "know better." The movie is about a woman whose body and decisions have been taken from her; even as she tries to pilot through life, she knows there are roadblocks around every corner that won't allow her to do what she wants. This is both literal and metaphorical for Julia Garner's Terry, but also nearly all the young women in the movie. One moment has Dianne Wiest seemingly reflecting fondly on the young woman that stayed with them before Terry, calling her "a gifted young woman" with a lilt in her voice, only to immediately throw her final belonging into the trash with a pounding thud and without a second thought. It's not subtle, but in today's world, why should it be?

The real tragedy of Apartment 7A is that the film is being dumped onto streaming and not being given a proper theatrical release. Natalie Erika James's film not only has unique ideas at play, but clearly had a lot of money put behind it. This isn't a cynical attempt at retaining film rights like 2023's Pet Sematary: Bloodlines and is instead an instance of a filmmaker having a confident idea that the studio seemed to support based on sheer production value alone. Even though some elements of Apartment 7A feel like they're present for the sake of expectation, it's a film that at least brings something different and new to the table, though at times the sacredness of the original movie is perhaps held onto a little too closely.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Apartment 7A lands on Paramount+ on September 27th.

DC's The Batman universe has expanded with HBO's much anticpated Penguin series, and the series wasted no time hitting the ground running with a major turning point happening in the show's first 15 minutes. In fact, many of the elements seen in the show's introductory episode set the tone for the rest of the series, highlighting several aspects of Oz Cobb that will be at the core of even more decisions to come. ComicBook had the chance to speak to Executive Producer and director of episodes 1 through 3 Craig Zobel all about Oz's big decision and how it's emblematic of Oz's best and worst traits throughout the series.

Working His Way To The Top

The Penguin stole the show throughout his limited time in The Batman, but in the series, Zobel and the rest of the team had the chance to make the iconic villain the main feature, expanding on several elements of the character only teased in the film. "What was so fun was that you get a sense of him in the movie, but you kind of don't know very much about his backstory or anything like that. And what was fun about this was exploring and seeing what Lauren LeFranc did with the writing in terms of telling the story of this guy who isn't the Penguin that we've seen before at all," Zobel said. "In the movie, he wears kind of flashy clothes and has a purple car, but that's because he's, like, peacocking almost.

"He's sort of strutting, trying to show that he's a person who has money and power and stuff because he's actually a person that came from a very working-class background and is trying to pull himself up," Zobel said. "And he's a mid-level guy in the crime family, not the top, and it was fun to kind of start him there and send him hopefully to the top by the end. It was sort of what the goal or the hope of the show is."

Back Against The Wall

The show's very first episode puts two of Oz's key traits on display. The first is his unpredictable nature and the violent edge that accompanies it. As we see in the show, that leads to some difficult and challenging situations for Oz, and quite a few of them are self-inflicted. That said, that leads to the other core element, which is the fact that Oz tends to be at his lethal best when his back is against a wall, and that just happens to be around 80% of the time.

"This new thing that isn't as much explored in the movie is like, Oz is a character who probably does his best work getting out of a problematic situation, right? And so there's actually some part of his personality that... he can't resist shoving himself into problematic situations, pushing himself into a corner so that he has to get himself out of that corner," Zobel said. "He has like an impulse that just happens, that doesn't come from a conscious place. Some element of his personality has him do brash things, and those brash things kind of put him into a place where then he has to problem-solve his way out of it. It was fun. It's a thing you see in the first episode, and then you recognize kind of repeatedly throughout the course of the series."

Expanding The World

While you will get even more out of the series if you've also watched The Batman, Zobel and the team wanted to create a show that could capture your interest whether you've seen the film or not. For those who have watched the film, they will see just how Riddler's actions in the film affected Gotham in the days immediately after and beyond.

"I think that the goal was to make something that you didn't have to know, really, the story of the film in order to still enjoy. Hopefully, this could be a mob show that you could just watch, but if you did know the Matt Reeves world that he had created, this would be a big primer and kind of constantly have little winks and nods toward where we're going in the bigger picture," Zobel said. "It was also fun because when you watch superhero movies, the climax of the movie has something big and destructive happen and it was fun to be like, well, what was two days after that, what was happening? It was a cool place to set a story."

The Penguin's first episode is now streaming on Max, and will air on HBO this Sunday.

What did you think of The Penguin's premiere episode? You can talk all things Penguin and DC with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

Released in 1984, The Terminator not only came out of seemingly nowhere to a major box office hit that ultimately spawned a franchise, but it also kickstarted James Cameron's career as a filmmaker. In the decades since, Cameron has gone on to make some major, iconic films like Aliens, Titanic, and even the absolutely massive films Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water. However, 40 years on, Cameron isn't especially precious about the film that helped make him a legend. While Cameron admits that The Terminator is "near and dear" to him because it's his first film, looking back he has some critiques and there's one aspect that, to him is "cringeworthy." Speaking with Empire, Cameron says that the production value on the film is something that he has some qualms about now.

"I was just a punk starting out when I directed The Terminator. I think I was 29 at the time and it was my first directing gig," Cameron said before clarifying that while Piranha II was technically his first director credit, "Terminator was my first film and it's near and dear for that reason."

"I don't think of it as some Holy Grail, that's for sure. I look at it now and there are parts of it that are pretty cringeworthy and parts of it that are like, 'Yeah, we did pretty well for the resources we had available," he said, adding, "Just the production value, you know? I don't cringe on any of the dialogue, but I have a lower cringe factor than apparently a lot of people do around the dialogue that I write."

Cameron also went on note that while others might find his dialogue to be the "cringe" in his movies, for him the box office receipts tell the real tale.

"You know what? Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films -- then we'll talk about dialogue effectiveness," he said.

But while The Terminator was 40 years ago and something he remains proud of; Cameron also has said that he's ready for the franchise to evolve -- and his ideas may not be something that longtime fans are ready for. Cameron explained that it could be time to "jettison everything" specific to the last 40 years of the franchise.

"This is the moment when you jettison everything that is specific to the last 40 years of Terminator, but you live by those principles," he said. "You get too inside it, and then you lose a new audience because the new audience cares much less about that stuff than you think they do... that's the danger, obviously, with Avatar as well, but I think we've proven that we have something for new audiences."

He continued, "You've got powerless main characters, essentially, fighting for their lives, who get no support from existing power structures, and have to circumvent them but somehow maintain a moral compass. And then you throw AI into the mix. Those principles are sound principles for storytelling today, right? So, I have no doubt that subsequent Terminator films will not only be possible, but they'll kick ass. But this is the moment where you jettison all the specific iconography."

"It's more than a plan. That's what we're doing. That's all I'll say for right now."

starLucasfilm and Smallville writer Bryan Q. Miller have released a new Star Wars story on Audible, which centers on Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and takes place in the time following Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Narrated by Kevin Kemp, the story -- titled Star Wars: Padawan's Pride -- runs around four hours long and was released without any advance notice or promotion. Besides being a prequel-era story, the adventures in Padawan's Pride are specifically crafted to appeal fans of The Phantom Menace, in that the story centers on a young Anakin having to infiltrate the podracing circuit where there's a criminal conspiracy going on.

According to the official synopsis, which you can see below, there's the A plot of trying to infiltrate the podracing circuit, and then a B plot where Anakin and Obi-Wan are struggling to get along together...until Obi-Wan is called away, leaving Anakin alone and wishing he had someone there to back him up.

This story comes not long after a recent interview, in which Ewan McGregor said he hopes he will get to come back to the Star Wars universe again following the events of the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries.

"I really do hope we get a chance to do another one," McGregor said. "Between where we ended off in the series and when Alec Guinness comes on screen with Luke Skywalker, I think there's another few stories to tell in there."

McGregor's Star Wars co-star Hayden Christensen is also all for the actor returning as Obi-Wan Kenobi, both if it means he'd get to work with him again and just to see him take on the role once more from a fan's perspective.

"If it means that I got to do more with Ewan, then that's a no-brainer, but I really hope that he continues with the character," Christensen said. "Just as a fan, it's so exciting to get to watch him play Obi-Wan -- he's just so good at it."

You can get the story here. Here's how Audible describes it:

Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker star in this thrilling galactic adventure set three years after the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

When a Republic spy goes missing on the Moons of Varl, the Jedi Council asks Obi-Wan and Anakin to infiltrate an underground podracing circuit run by a crime boss believed to be holding the spy prisoner. With Anakin posing as a hotshot racer and Obi-Wan as his attendant, tensions between the two threaten to run even higher than usual.

But when Obi-Wan is forced to leave Varl, Anakin is on his own as he faces a series of increasingly treacherous races that will determine his fate-and that of the spy.

Master and apprentice must use all their Jedi skills in this action-packed tale of cutthroat competition, deadly deception, and, ultimately, what it means to be a Padawan.

Star Wars: Padawan's Pride is available now.

Thunderbolts* star Sebastian Stan is sticking up for Marvel in the wake of some recent criticism of the brand. As he boards The Apprentice, he talked to Variety about being Bucky Barnes again and people taking shots at Marvel Studios. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star says that it's become sort of fashionable to blame the massive franchise for all of the movie industry's woes. In some corners of the Internet, Marvel is just a stand-in for "big corporate movies" in popular conversation. But, for a guy who's worked so closely with Kevin Feige and the rest of the studio, he doesn't like them being such an easy target. During the 2020 theater shutdowns and the continuing recovery, a lot of movie houses have been grateful for big tentpole films getting people out to see these projects in theaters. Stan sees some real value in that role.

"It's become really convenient to pick on [Marvel films]. And that's fine. Everyone's got an opinion," Stan argued. "But they're a big part of what contributes to this business and allows us to have smaller movies as well."

Stan continued, "This is an artery traveling through the system of this entire machinery that's Hollywood. It feeds in so many more ways than people acknowledge. Sometimes I get protective of it because the intention is really fucking good. It's just fucking hard to make a good movie over and over again."

For the Winter Soldier actor, some of the missteps last year can be attributed to bad luck industry-wide. It's 2024 now and you still get multiple handwringing articles a month lamenting the fact that movie-going hasn't caught up to pre-2020 numbers yet. (A lot of this analysis ignores the pack of elephants in the room. There are so many reasons that viewership habits have changed in the last four years.) Still, Marvel Studios has the second-biggest release of 2024 in their back pocket with Deadpool & Wolverine. They're hoping that some of that audience fervor from that project can carry over to 2025's releases like Thunderbolts*, Captain America: Brave New World and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Thunderbolts* Is Still Shrouded In Secrecy

2025 is looking like another massive year for Marvel. Thunderbolts* might be the MCU title that fans know the least about. ComicBook asked David Harbour about all the fan theories surrounding Thunderbolts*. It feels like he is being very careful not to give anything away. But, he hopes the comics fans are pleased with some of the nods they've managed to get in there.

"I've started to move away from all of that because I feel like I just run into AI articles. I'm like, who wrote this? This isn't even English. But, I think that it can get dangerous because I don't want to hear what everyone's opinion is about all kinds of stuff about me. But we are very comic book true, which I was pleased about," Harbour shared. "I think there might be some speculation of what people understand about the comics as opposed to people that have actually read the comics.

"I think there's a lot of experts out there that get very annoyed at things. And if you go back and you actually look at it, you might see something different. I think that we're very into that idea, and yet it is, of course, very surprising because, you know, I don't think Red Guardian is in any of the Thunderbolts stuff," he mused. "So they are adding things like they are adding and surprising you with things. But, you know, there's a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff that we've done to make it comic accurate as well."

"Making a movie, you can't really look outside for critiques because everybody, everybody sees the poster and they have an opinion. You're like, 'just watch the two hour movie and if you still hate it. Great. Love it? Great,'" Harbour would add. "But, like, you've got to give us a chance. I think all the speculation in the world is like my fantasies about dying or what. I mean, it's like you can fantasize about horrific things or whatever until you actually see the thing. I'm very proud of this movie, what we shot. I hear it's playing well internally and I'm excited for people to see it. I think it's going to really surprise people. I think people have seen from the trailer, from the shots. I think it's a pretty cool direction of the MCU's sort of making now. And I'm excited to be a part of that."

Do you think Stan is right about Marvel? Check out all the pop culture discussion at @ComicBook!

Transformers One is here and the prequel film is unleashing plenty of Cybertronian secrets in its runtime. Focusing on the previous friendship of Orion Pax and D-16, the future Optimus Prime and Megatron, the movie highlights not only how these friends become bitter enemies but the birth of the Autobots and Decepticons alike. A major element of the film is the birth of the villains robots that remain legendary in the world of pop culture to this day and how the army's logo came to be. Now, we here at ComicBook.com figured now was the perfect time to explain how the Decepticons' logo emerged and its shocking ties to the Primes.

Of all the Primes that protected Cybertron in the past, perhaps none were more powerful than Megatronus Prime, a Transformer whose power was something to revere. D-16 favored this Prime above all the others, hoping to follow in his giant footsteps. In the early moments of the film, Orion gives D-16 the logo of Megatronus, which just so happens to be the symbol of the future Decepticons. While Pax merely hands his friend a sticker of the symbol, the logo itself plays a heavy and significant role in the acts to follow.

The Decepticons' Logo Plays Big in Transformers One

While D-16 might become the Decepticon leader known as Megatron, he is not the "big bad" of the prequel film. Sentinel Prime, the current head of Cybertron and a robot that many see as the planet's "savior", is in fact the villain of the picture, working in the background to aid the nefarious race known as the Quintessons. Taking the ability to transform from the vast majority of the planet's robots, D-16 was beyond betrayed to learn of Sentinel's true intentions.

When D-16 comes face-to-face with Sentinel Prime, following the revelation that Sentinel had killed the Primes, the antagonist carved Megatronus Prime's logo into the grey robot. While the etching might have been seen originally as a punishment, the future Megatron would go on to see it as a badge of honor. In getting his revenge on Sentinel, Megatron would tear apart the villain with his bare hands, proving just how dark the prequel film could be.

The Deceptions' Future

Earlier in the film, D-16 and Orion Pax ran into a collection of Transformers known as the "High Guard". This army was made up of robots such as Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave, and other future Decepticons who were more than willing to join D-16's cause when he took up the moniker of Megatron. In the film's post-credit scene, Transformers fans witness the official birth of the Decepticons, setting the stage for the war for Cybertron.

Not only did Megatron take a cue from Megatronus Prime in choosing a name, but the one-time D-16 decided to take on his logo for the Decepticons. Branding the symbol onto his followers, Megatron has his army. Unfortunately, a sequel to Transformers One has yet to be confirmed though there are certainly plenty of avenues for the future of this animated outing to take. The Quintessons are still out there, posing a serious threat to both the Autobots and Decepticons alike, perhaps laying out the groundwork for a sequel's story.

Want to see if this iteration of the Decepticons will make a comeback to the silver screen? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on Transformers One and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

Transformers One is now playing in theaters.

Transformers One is the new prequel film that chronicles a pivotal point in the history of the Transformers: the fight for their home planet Cybertron, which ultimately created two opposing factions - the Autobots and Decepticons - led by two monumental leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron (respectively). However, Transformers One takes things back to the time when Optimus was just "Orion Pax" (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron was his best friend, "D-16" (Brian Tyree Henry). Both future leaders are working as miners while missing the key component that would let them access their full transformative abilities. However, when Orion pushes to go searching for the long-lost Matrix of Leadership, he and D-16 make a startling discovery about Cybertron's entire social order.

WARNING: MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!

It's been teased in Transformers One trailers that there is another alien race in the film - and that is definitely the case, as the race known as Quintessons are eventually revealed to be the real rulers of Cybertron. Miners like Orion Pax and D-16 are kept working (and kept from transforming) so that Cybertron's leaders can supply the Quintessons with Energon, in exchange for retaining their positions of authority.

The Quintessons are depicted as a frightening techno-organic race with squid-like tentacles - but how loyal is Transformer One being to the franchise canon?

Transformers: The Quintessons' Franchise History Explained

Like so many things in Transformers canon, there have been several revisions of the Quintessons' backstory and history. They were first introduced in the Transformers G1 era, appearing in Transformers: The Movie (1986), as a multi-faced mechanical race living on the nightmarish mechanical world of Quintessa. The Quintessons held mock trials and executed their prisoners by feeding them to the Sharkticons. They only appeared in a small sequence of the movie, but their story in Transformers lore would only grow from there.

In different retcons of the story the Quintessons have been revealed to be the creators of Cybertron and the Transformers (with the Decepticons having been their weapons of war) - or as a different mechanical race who saw the Cybertronians as a less-evolved race, and conquered them. Either way, the framework of the story is the same: The Quintessons use deception and trickery to keep the Cybertonians under their control, working or fighting for sport until the Transformers master the art of transformation and drive the Quintessons off of Cybertron. From there the mythos gets much more intricate, with the Quintessons launching schemes like hiding on their world, Quintessa, and influencing Optimus Prime through the Matrix of Leadership to serve their ends.

In short: Transformers One is putting its own spin on the franchise lore about the Quintessons and Cybertronians, as well as giving the Quintessons a re-design to make them look more like an alien race mixing the organic and technological. When Transformers One ends, there's still a war for Cybertron arc to play out, with the Cybertronians vs. the Quintessons - and then the more familiar Cybertronian Civil War between the Autobots and Decepticons for control of the planet. Sounds like a great trilogy arc to us.

Transformers One is now playing in theaters.

Forty years after the first movie's release, Terminator creator James Cameron is ready to evolve the franchise, leaving behind the increasingly insular mythology that has weighed down recent installments. Cameron hasn't directed a Terminator movie since 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but has retained some level of creative control over the franchise since its creation. The last couple of installments of the Terminator franchise have delved deeper and deeper into the mythology between John Connor and the T-800, but according to Cameron, that might have been why they didn't connect with audiences to the degree they hoped.

Speaking with Empire magazine, Cameron suggested that it's time for Terminator to evolve, and perhaps to alienate those who have been very committed to the mythology as it exists since the '90s.

"This is the moment when you jettison everything that is specific to the last 40 years of Terminator, but you live by those principles," Cameron said. "You get too inside it, and then you lose a new audience because the new audience care much less about that stuff than you think they do....That's the danger, obviously, with Avatar as well, but I think we've proven that we have something for new audiences."

That suggests that the next installment may abandon the characters we know -- but will almost certainly avoid the cast that has already appeared. He's more interested in exploring the themes and high concepts of the franchise, which -- like Terminator: Dark Fate -- allows the story to evolve past that one "savior" figure.

"You've got powerless main characters, essentially, fighting for their lives, who get no support from existing power structures, and have to circumvent them but somehow maintain a moral compass," Cameron explained. "And then you throw AI into the mix. Those principles are sound principles for storytelling today, right? So I have no doubt that subsequent Terminator films will not only be possible, but they'll kick ass. But this is the moment where you jettison all the specific iconography."

Apparently, the ideas for what to do next on Terminator are bigger than just a general plan. Cameron suggests there is something short-term and actionable happening.

"It's more than a plan," Cameron told the magazine. "That's what we're doing. That's all I'll say for right now."

There are no plans for a new Terminator yet, although per what Cameron has to say, it sounds like the next one will be a significant departure from the franchise.

cThe main characters in Captain America: Brave New World are going to headline a new Marvel series before the film hits theaters next year. Promotion and marketing for the fourth Captain America movie has centered on Sam Wilson, who is taking over the mantle of Cap from Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, aka Red Hulk. With Captain America: Brave New World on the horizon, you just knew that Marvel would release a comic that at least had Sam Wilson's Cap in it. This appears to be the case, and Red Hulk and other characters from the film will also make appearances.

Marvel announced Sam Wilson: Captain America, a new limited series by co-writers Greg Pak (Star Wars: Darth Vader) and Evan Narcisse (Wakanda), and drawn by artist Eder Messias (Phases of the Moon Knight). Similar to Captain America: Brave New World, the limited series will see Sam Wilson and Red Hulk on opposite sides of this super spy thriller. When Captain America uncovers a nefarious plot parading itself as a new tech venture, he'll be shocked to find that Red Hulk is running the company's security. The cover by Taurin Clarke reveals other heroes will also take part in the story, including Isaiah Bradley, Patriot (Eli Bradley), War Machine, and Storm.

Sam Wilson: Captain America creators share excitement for Marvel series

"Working with Evan on this book has been an absolute dream. We've spent hours sharing big ideas, finishing each other's thoughts, and cackling out loud over the story we're cooking up. Seeing the pages roll in from Eder has been absolutely mind-blowing," Pak shared.

"It's going to be a fun, fast, high-octane adventure that also explores what it means to feel locked out of the American Dream. I feel pretty confident in saying Sam's never flown through skies like these before," Narcisse said.

Narcisse also gave his thoughts on the character of Sam Wilson: "One of the great things about Sam Wilson is that he straddles the line between everyman and super hero in classic Marvel fashion. The core of "Better Angels" will explore how he navigates that tension and how he and others have expanded the symbolism of the Captain America legacy in a very different way."

"We're pulling out all the stops to tell a story that matters, that goes deep into what it means for a Black social worker from Harlem to pick up the shield - and put on those wings! - while delivering massive action and thrills in the grand tradition of Marvel super spy science fiction," Pak explained. "I particularly love how grounded the book is with characters like Sam's fast-talking cousin Billie, my new favorite character ever, while taking to the sky in ways you've never seen! And yes, that's a big tease! Don't you dare miss it!"

What is Sam Wilson: Captain America about?

When Captain America attends a birthday party for Isaiah Bradley, he catches wind of a new tech venture that sounds too good to be true: magnificent floating platforms in the sky, where the disenfranchised can apply for land grants and establish their own farms. But after Sam discovers the organization's dark underbelly, he'll have to tangle with its head of security: Red Hulk!

Sam Wilson: Captain America #1 goes on sale in January 2025.

Who is in Captain America: Brave New World?

Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America, Harrison Ford as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross / Red Hulk, Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres / Falcon, Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns / The Leader, Harrison Ford as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, and Shira Haas as Sabra. Xosha Roquemore, Rosa Salazar, and Giancarlo Esposito have been cast in unknown roles, with Esposito recently being added to the film in reshoots. Esposito announced at San Diego Comic-Con that he is playing the Serpent Society villain Sidewinder. Captain America: Brave New World is directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox, Luce), with a script from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman, as well as Dalan Musson and Matthew Orton.

Captain America: Brave New World arrives in theaters on February 14, 2025.

Netflix has released the official trailer for Don't Move, their upcoming horror movie from producer Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man) and directors Adam Schindler and Brian Netto. This marks the breakout feature for the pair, who previously collaborated on 2013's Delivery: The Beast Within and the 2022 short Sundown. They also collaborated on three episodes of 50 States of Fright, which is presumably what brought them to the attention of Raimi. In the film, which arrives on the streaming platform on October 25th, a woman is drugged with a paralytic drug and must find a way to save herself before her body shuts down.

The vibe of the trailer, which is narrated by the man who drugged her, feels of a piece with Speak No Evil, James McAvoy's new release, which centers on a couple being trapped with, and terrorized by, a seemingly-normal man who turns cruel in a moment. You can see the Don't Move trailer below.

The trailer's editing is on point, giving a sense for a variety of harrowing situations the woman will find herself in while doing little to provide context for when and how each circumstance arises. That means it teases the exciting parts of the plot without spoiling almost any of the actual story.

The film was made for a relatively small budget, having completed production just after the start of last year's SAG-AFTRA strike. Already in mid-production in Bulgaria, the movie sought and received an interim agreement to continue filming. In November of last year, Signature Entertainment (The Ice Road, Papillon) acquired the U.K./Ireland distribution rights, but it wasn't until earlier this year that Netflix stepped in to nab global distribution rights for the movie (presumably explaining why it took over a year to reach your screens).

Starring Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story), Kelsey Asbille (Yellowstone), Moray Treadwell (The Witcher: Blood Origin), and Daniel Francis (Bridgerton), Schindler and Netto directed the movie from a screenplay by T.J. Cimfel and David White. Don't Move was produced by Raimi and Zainab Azizi of Raimi Productions, Christian Mercuri's Capstone Studios, Alex Lebovici of Hammerstone Studios, and Sarah Sarandos.

Per the official logline, "A grieving woman in a secluded forest encounters a killer who injects her with a paralytic drug. As her body shuts down, her fight for survival begins."

Don't Move arrives on Netflix on October 25th.

Directed by James Watkins and in theaters now, Speak No Evil is a remake of a 2022 Danish film of the same name from filmmaker Christian Tafdrup and while audience and critical response to Watkins' film has been largely positive, Tafdrup isn't among those singing its praises. Speaking with the Danish radio show Kulturen (via World of Reel), the Danish filmmaker was critical of how the American version of the story gave Speak No Evil a "happy ending" and posited that the need for the good guys winning was something deeply rooted in American culture.

"When I saw the film yesterday, I could see that they would never succeed with a film where the characters are stoned to death, as they do in our film," Tafdrup said. "These people [in the U.S. version] must fight for their family and defeat the bad guys ... It is a kind of happy ending, and it is so deep in their culture that America must be able to hand it all."

For reference for those who may be unfamiliar with the Danish version of Speak No Evil, in that film a Danish couple are invited by a Dutch couple to their country home for a weekend holiday, but it turns out that the Dutch couple are serial killers whose pattern is to target families so that they can murder them and abduct their children, then start the process over again. The film ends with the Danish couple, Bj?rn and Louise stoned to death by the Dutch husband, Patrick and Bj?rn and Louise's daughter, Agnes now mute because her tongue has been cut out as she's used to help Patrick and Karin target another family.

The American version has a far less bleak ending Ben and Louise (the counterpart to the Danish couple) making a last stand against Paddy and Ciara (the counterpart to the Dutch couple) which sees Louise kill Ciara and Ant, the child that Paddy and Ciara had been using in their scheme, bashing in Paddy's face with a rock after Agnes disables Paddy by injecting him with a syringe of ketamine that he'd previously tried to use on her. In the end, the family along with Ant drive away, having survived and defeated the murderers. The two films have starkly different endings and for Tafdrup, it was something that he noticed when watching audience reactions. Tafdrup said that he saw audiences leaving the remake "who were completely over-enthusiastic and clapped, laughed, and whooped. It was like being at a rock concert" and compared it to reactions to his film in which "people... left my film traumatized."

When it comes to the changes to the film, however, Watkins has previously addressed them, noting that differences in cultural perspectives were behind the choices.

"There'll be people that see the original movie and go, 'Why hasn't he remade that movie? Why hasn't he made this incredibly punchy, unrelenting ending?'" Watkins explained to SFX magazine, per GamesRadar. "But I would argue, with my characters and their journey, I'm following through their journey in terms of agency and how they would react. What I've taken from Christian's film is the satire, the exploration of the social rules, and how we react."

Speak No Evil, starring Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, James McAvoy, and Aisling Franciosi, is in theaters now.