The Power Rangers franchise might not be coming back any time soon, but it's sparking up conversations all over again as the first look at a potentially cancelled animated reboot has surfaced online. The Power Rangers franchise recently celebrated its 31st anniversary, and over the three decades the series has gone on to inspire multiple iterations of the TV series, video games, comic books, and even a few feature films over the years. But there's one avenue that the franchise has yet to explore in all this time, an animated one as the series has not gotten an animated project of any kind.

But it seems like an animated project could have happened as a surfaced animated film for the Power Rangers franchise has popped up online. The touted cancelled film, Power Rangers: Origins, would have been developed by Saban Brands and Zag Entertainment (the production studio behind Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir), and would have featured a new take on the original team from the first season of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers TV series. Posters and other promotional material for the cancelled project have appeared on eBay (as spotted by @RangerBoard on X) and you can check them out below.

[1/2] Listed on ebay (https://t.co/T3pQVQstTk) - Here's a great look at posters for the cancelled #PowerRangers Origins animated movie!

What do you think of these designs? (Especially that Megazord...) Would you like something like this?
? Discussion: https://t.co/yBR5arsUvM pic.twitter.com/4I2uZckxqc

-- ? RangerBoard.com ? (@RangerBoard) September 21, 2024

What Is Power Rangers: Origins?

Details for this reportedly cancelled project are scarce due to the secretive nature of its development, but Power Rangers: Origins was apparently in development for Saban Brands in the period where they owned the franchise and were looking ahead to what could be coming next. This was during the era following Saban Brands buying the franchise back from Disney, and developing new projects. Which means it was also during the period in the 2010s before the franchise rights were sold to Hasbro, but for one reason or another this animated take on the franchise never came to pass (much also like the recently cancelled Netflix reboot).

From the looks at the material, it looks to be a fully animated rebooted take on the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers line up of Jason, Kimberly, Billy, Zack and Trini. Though their respective characters might have gotten redesigns for the new era, it seems like the rest of the franchise would have been redesigned as well with new designs for the zords as seen through the promotional materials as well. But an animated version of the franchise is still something many fans are hoping to see in action someday.

Will There Ever Be an Animated Power Rangers?

Desire for a fully animated Power Rangers series is something fans of the franchise have been vocal about for quite some time. As the live-action TV shows and movies are currently inactive, fans had hoped to see some kind of animated take bring the franchise in a whole new kind of direction that can't be replicated with real suit actors as seen in the Tokusatsu adaptations. But there could be several different reasons why the franchise has yet to make an animated debut with the central being potential licensing issues.

Given that the Power Rangers franchise adapts Toei's Super Sentai series in Japan, there are a number of deals likely in place to use the characters in different ways. Whether changing these designs and squarely focusing on the Power Rangers versions of the characters makes it easier for some kind of project, it's all holding back an animated take. Unlike some of the other Hasbro brands enjoying their animated runs, Power Rangers just might be more complicated in getting an animated version out there. Especially now that the TV series seems to have gone dormant for the time being.

If you have been an anime since the '10s, then you know what Nichijou is. The series is hard to describe, and we can thank its surreal comedy for that. Creator Keiichi Arawi brought Nichijou to life in 2006 with their manga, and with help from Kyoto Animation, the comedy became a cult hit. Now, the studio is teaming up with the creator of Nichijou once more, so the anime fandom better brace itself.

Not long ago, Kyoto Animation shared its new slate of projects, and it was there Arawi came into focus. The creator of Nichijou is working with Kyoto Animation to bring their manga City to the small screen. According to the studio, City will premiere in 2025, and it will mark a big milestone for Kyoto Animation. After all, the studio has not pursued any new IPs in about six years, but City will break that streak.

Kyoto Animation Goes From Nichijou to City

For those unfamiliar with City, the series got started after Nichijou ended its run. The comedy is slice-of-life, and it often delves into surreal topics and tropes. City tells the story of the Mont Blanc Trio, a group of university students who find each other in the city as they navigate life as young adults. Midori Nagumo, Ayumu Nikura, and Wako Izumi are very different when it comes to personality. Given their close friendships, the Mont Blanc Trio often finds itself in wild situations, and Arawki makes sure to stress their surreal sense of humor.

If this story sounds similar to Nichijou, well - that is because the tales are not far out from one another. Arawi has a clear style, and if it isn't broke then don't fix it. With Nichijou, the series is a slice-of-life that follows the citizens of Tokisadame. From Yuko Aioi to Mai Minakami, we meet plenty of colorful characters in Nichijou. In the anime, a great majority of the takes place in a high school as Nano Shinonome finds her place amongst her peers. That is a tall order when you consider Nano is a rather anxious android, but hey. Everybody has their cross to bear.

What's Next for Kyoto Animation

With an adaptation of City in the works, Kyoto Animation is getting ready to embark on a new era. The project is set to release in 2025, and City comes after the release of Sound Euphonium 3 in 2024. Kyoto Animation is also working on an anime adaptation of Hiro Yuki's 20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku and the first film dedicated to Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. The movie will be set after season two of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, and it is expected to launch in 2025.

What do you make of this latest anime order? Are you ready for Kyoto Animation to team up with Nichijou's creator once more? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

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.

Rick and Morty: The Anime has been hinting at something happening to Space Morty in the episodes thus far, and the preview for Episode 7 of the series finally reveals his ultimate fate. Rick and Morty: The Anime kicked off its premiere earlier this Summer by messing with space and time. It had gone to such a level that the premiere told its story both out of order, but also revealed multiple stories across the multiverse happening at the same time. This trend continued with every other episode since that have been steadily building a much larger puzzle to solve by season's end.

Rick and Morty: The Anime has also been alluding to the fact that the mysterious Space Morty had fallen to some kind of fate that left both his version of Rick and Elle to then float around and mess with time (which ultimately started everything in the first place), and now it seems it's confirmed that Space Morty was actually killed in action. Through the preview for Episode 7 of the series, Rick and Morty: The Anime is helping to fill in the gaps by finally revealing how it all went down. Check it out below as released by Adult Swim:

Who Is Space Morty?

Rick and Morty: The Anime might have first introduced fans to a new anime take on the titular duo (who are the same versions of the duo seen in the main animated series) when the series premiered, but also introduced some brand new faces. One of these was a different multiverse iteration of Rick and Morty themselves that have seen some better days. Rick was revealed to have lost his Morty somewhere, and ever since starting messing with space and time with a new entropy device that caused all of the issues seen in the premiere.

It was then alluded to in the episodes that followed that this new Rick's Morty was actually known as "Space Morty." This version of Morty was then seen battling the members of the Galactic Federation with ease. Wearing a special suit, Space Morty was becoming a hero among the plants for all of the big victories he was a part of. But this also put a big target on his back, and something had apparently happened to him before the events of the series. Now it's confirmed to be a full death of the character.

How to Watch Rick and Morty: The Anime Episode 7

Seeing Space Morty's death play out on screen certainly helps to answer at least one of the questions we've seen in the series before, and will likely only spark even further questions as this version of Rick and Space Beth are still dealing with the Galactic Federation in the later episodes. As for Elle's role in it all, it also remains to be seen how her connection with Space Morty leads to the romantic connection with the anime Morty as seen in the episodes thus far. But we'll see it all work out soon.

As for when we'll be able to actually see the episode, Rick and Morty: The Anime Episode 7 is titled "When We Meet In Our Dreams" and will be premiering its English dub release with Adult Swim on Thursday, September 26th at midnight before airing its Japanese release on Saturday, September 28th as part of the Toonami programming block. (with the episode then being available to stream with Max the next day). The episode is teased as such, "When a Morty goes down, a Rick takes action. Nothing bad could happen to the universe, right?"

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+.

When it comes to romantic dramas, no one is carrying anime quite like My Happy Marriage. The series is has been around since 2019, and since its launch, we have seen Miyo Saimori endure her share of trauma. From arranged marriages to supernatural awakenings, My Happy Marriage has done it all. All eyes are on the series now that its second season is on the horizon, and we've just been given a first look at the comeback thanks to Netflix.

As you can see below, the first trailer for My Happy Marriage season two is live, and it brings our favorite couple center stage. Miyo Saimori can be found hand-in-hand with Kioyka Kudou. In the wake of season one, My Happy Marriage has put this couple on a level field, but all is not peaceful in the Taisho era. With forces still threatening the pair, Miyo and Kiyoka will be forced to work together against the coming threats. And of course, there is also the issue of Miyo and her budding feelings for her would-be husband.

The long-awaited second season of My Happy Marriage is here, along with new cast members!

Ryotaro Okiayu as Tadakiyo Kudo
Kikuko Inoue as Fuyu Kudo
Yuuya Uchida as Naoshi Usui

Coming to Netflix in January 2025 ? pic.twitter.com/Au8KZqnLg5

-- Netflix Anime (@NetflixAnime) September 23, 2024

When Does My Happy Marriage Come Out?

This latest peek at My Happy Marriage is nothing short of gorgeous, and it proves Kinema Citrus is in top form. The studio plans to release the anime's new season in just a few months, after all. My Happy Marriage season two is set to release in January 2025. The main cast and crew behind season one is expected to return for season two, so My Happy Marriage has high expectations to meet.

After all, the romantic drama became a massive hit upon its launch in July 2023. My Happy Marriage made its first run on the screen with a live-action film adaptation, but its anime had a much wider appeal. Thanks to its impressive writing and pacing, My Happy Marriage is the perfect blend of action and romance. It did not take long for Kinema Citrus to order a season two for the anime. Now, we are on the cusp of its return, and this new trailer for My Happy Marriage is just what fans wanted to see.

What's Next for Netflix and Anime?

With My Happy Marriage on the horizon, Netflix is stacking up some big anime releases. The streaming service has been investing in the industry for years at this point. From original series to exclusive licenses, Netflix has its eye on anime, so My Happy Marriage can count itself lucky for being in that group.

After all, Netflix is also eyeing two big releases with Dandadan and Sakamoto Days. The former is slated for an October 2024 launch, and so far, Dandadan looks like a strong contender for Anime of the Year. As for Sakamoto Days, the Netflix exclusive will make its debut in early 2025. So when the new year comes around, it will bring with it tons of anime goodies.

What do you think about this latest peek at My Happy Marriage? Are you excited for the anime's second season? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

It is almost time for Re:Zero to make its comeback. Back in 2020, the hit isekai series dropped season two to great fanfare, and now Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World has its comeback laid out. In October, White Fox will bring Subaru Natsuki back to the small screen with season three, and we have been given a first look at its big premiere.

As you can see below, a first look has been posted for Re:Zero season three, episode one. The update shows what "Theatrical Malice" will bring to the screen on October 2. From Subaru to Garfield, we have see a ton of characters in this sneak peek at season three. So if you are eager to check out Re:Zero's return, its 90-minute comeback will go live in just a few days.

What to Expect From Re:Zero Season 3

When it comes to content, Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World has a lot of story to cover in season three. Given what we have seen from the trailers, the show's comeback will put a focus on two specific arcs. If Re:Zero is given a two-cour order for season three, you can expect the light novel's fifth and sixth arcs to come into play.

If you have followed the isekai for awhile, you know the fifth arc is titled "The Stars That Engrave History". The story began in 2014, and it focuses on Anastasia as she brings a number of camps to a special gathering. The groups arrive in Watergate City only for teh Witch Cult to appear, leaving Subaru to unite the factions invited by Anastastia in hopes of defeating the villains.

And as for arc six, the story is known as "The Corridor of Memories", and its run lasted a whopping 90 chapters. It follows Subaru in the wake of the Watergate City battle as his group heads to Pleiades Watchtower. It is there the group is faced with the tower's three trials, and as the game gets underway, Subaru is confronted by several familiar (and unwanted) faces from the past.

The Fall 2024 Anime Season is Stacked

With Re:Zero season three on the horizon, all eyes are on the Fall 2024 anime season and for good reason. The fall cour is always stacked so far as anime is concerned, and that goes doubly this year. Not only is Re:Zero slated for a comeback on October 2, but other releases like Dragon Ball Daima, Dandadan, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, and more on the horizon.

As far as Re:Zero is concerned, you can catch up on the isekai easily enough. The show's first two seasons are streaming on Crunchyroll as well as Hulu. The Re:Zero manga is also available thanks to the team at Yen Press. And next month, Re:Zero season three will begin streaming on Crunchyroll with a simulcast.

What do you think about this new peek at Re:Zero? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

Kyle Chandler is going from Friday Night Lights to Green Lantern's light. The Friday Night Lights actor, who won an Emmy for his role as high school football coach Eric Taylor on the sports drama, has been chosen to wear the ring as the Green Lantern Hal Jordan in DC and HBO's Lanterns. According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, the live-action series is currently casting and in the middle of hiring directors ahead of a planned January 2025 shooting start in Atlanta.

News of Chandler's casting comes after Avengers and Dune star Josh Brolin reportedly passed on the role as the test pilot turned space cop in the True Detective-type mystery series produced by James Gunn (Superman) and Peter Safran (Aquaman) for DC Studios.

The live-action Green Lantern series received the green light in June and is from showrunner Chris Mundy (Netflix's Ozark), who serves as executive producer and co-writer with Damon Lindelof (HBO's Watchmen and The Leftovers) and Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow).

Lanterns is "a terrestrial-based mystery that leads into the overall story that we're telling throughout the different movies and television shows," DC Studios co-chairman and CEO Gunn said when announcing the series early last year. "We find this ancient horror on Earth, and these guys are basically supercops on 'Precinct Earth.'" As the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814, Jordan and his prot?g?, fellow power ring-wielding human John Stewart, are tasked by the Green Lantern Corps with investigating a mysterious threat that could cross over with the Gunn-directed Superman and the upcoming feature films Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing.

A revamped version of the since-scrapped Green Lanterns TV series from prolific Arrowverse producer Greg Berlanti that was in the works at Max, Lanterns is inspired in part by the "Sinestro's Law" arc started in the 2016 Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps: Rebirth one-shot and Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps issues #1-7, which saw the tyrannical Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns impose their rule over the universe.

"John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC's most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we're launching next summer with Superman," Gunn and Safran said at the time of the series announcement. The new DC Universe kicks off in December with the Max original animated series Creature Commandos, created and written by Gunn, before officially launching with Gunn's Superman movie in July 2025.

Along with his five-season role as Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights, Chandler's television credits include the ABC period drama Homefront, Early Edition, and Bloodline, and episodes of Grey's Anatomy, Catch-22, and the Showtime anthology Super Pumped. Chandler portrayed astronaut Deke Slayton in the 2018 film First Man, and has appeared in such films as Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, and the Oscar-winning dramas Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.

The anime adaptation of the Tokyo Ghoul manga series from Sui Ishida launched in 2014, introducing Ken Kaneki and his fellow ghouls to legions of fans that remain loyal to this day. A follow up series Tokyo Ghoul: re, wrapped up in 2018. Now you can get every episode of Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Ghoul ?A, and Tokyo Ghoul:re in a single Blu-ray collection for the first time ever. Pre-orders are available here at the Crunchyroll store and here on Amazon now with a release date set for December 31st.

"The art outside the box is newly commissioned artwork from the animation studio Pierrot that features the main character Kaneki and visual references to the fan-favorite opening song "Unravel" by TK from Ling Toshite Sigure. Special features will include select episode audio and video commentaries, the "Jack" and "Pinto" OVAs, the "Kaneki in Black and White" featurette with the English dub cast and crew that discusses questions and themes of the anime, and more." A full breakdown of the special features can be found below.

Tokyo Ghoul - 10th Anniversary Box Set Special Features

• Textless Opening & Ending Songs
• Episode Commentary
• Kaneki in Black and White
• Commercials
• Promo Videos
• Trailers
• Tokyo Ghoul:re - Cast and Crew Answer Your Tweets
• Tokyo Ghoul: Jack - OVA
• Tokyo Ghoul: Pinto - OVA

Tokyo Ghoul Episode Commentary:

• Episode 4 - with Austin Tindle, Brina Palencia, J. Michael Tatum, Mike McFarland
• Episode 12 - with Austin Tindle, Monica Rial, Christopher R. Sabat, Mike McFarland

Tokyo Ghoul ?A

• Episode 1 - with Brandon Potter, Mike McFarland, Todd Haberkorn
• Episode 7 - Video Commentary - with Mike McFarland, Maxy Whitehead, Lindsey Sydel, Brandon Potter
• Episode 21 - with Austin Tindle, Mike McFarland, Brina Palencia, Cliff Chapin

Tokyo Ghoul:re

• Episode 1 Commentary - with Mike McFarland, Austin Tindle, Adam Gibbs, Mikaela Krantz
• Episode 21 Commentary - with Mikaela Krantz, Caitlin Glass, Philip Weber
• Episode 24 Commentary - with Mike McFarland, Austin Tindle, Dave Trosko

Will Tokyo Ghoul Return To Anime?

Despite Tokyo Ghoul fans spending years attempting to will Ken Kaneki's animated return into existence, there has been nothing confirmed regarding Sui Ishida's series receiving a new anime adaptation. For those who might not be familiar, Ken's story has only been animated by Studio Pierrot, the production house responsible for anime such as Naruto, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Black Clover to name a few. Pierrot may have been able to take on additional anime in the past but their new approach might make returning to Kaneki's world a bit more difficult.

In the past, Pierrot has confirmed that rather than overloading its staff by working on a never-ending schedule for its anime works, the production house is instead taking a more "seasonal" approach. Following the success of Demon Slayer and Ufotable's approach to the Demon Slayer Corps, Pierrot decided to follow suit, taking its time with the likes of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War for example. This has made it so that franchises including Naruto and Black Clover have yet to receive return dates, let alone new projects such as a Tokyo Ghoul revival.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians continues to round out its Camp Half-Blood ensemble. The serialized adaptation of Rick Riordan's best-selling novels centers around Walker Scobell's titular demigod while simultaneously telling auxiliary stories of the sons and daughters of Mount Olympus's mightiest. At the time of The Lightning Thief, Percy, a son of Poseidon, is thought to be the only living child of the Big Three (Poseidon, Zeus, Hades). As the core pentalogy plays out, it is slowly revealed that demigod sons and daughters of the god of lightning and god of the dead are also roaming the mortal world.

Percy Jackson Season 2 Casts Thalia Grace

The daughter of Zeus has been found.

As reported by TheWrap, Tamara Smart (Resident Evil) has been cast as Thalia Grace. Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, is a centerpiece of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, the novel that Percy Jackson Season 2 is based on. Her backstory was detailed by Luke (Charlie Bushnell) in a conversation with Percy (Walker Scobell) in Percy Jackson Season 1 Episode 2.

Prior to the events of Season 1, Thalia is attacked by monsters on her way to Camp Half-Blood. Zeus spares her life by turning her into a tree that gives Camp Half-Blood a magical protective barrier. In The Sea of Monsters, someone poisons Thalia's Tree, leading a group of demigods to venture to that sub-titular ocean to find The Golden Fleece, a mystical object capable of restoring life to whoever or whatever wears it. In the book, The Golden Fleece works overtime and brings Thalia back to life from out of the tree itself. It's unclear as to if Percy Jackson Season 2 will utilize Smart in just the finale episode or if she will also film flashback scenes.

Speaking to ComicBook while promoting the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Wrath of the Triple Goddess book, author Rick Riordan described the role as "the most anticipated casting announcement" among Percy Jackson fans.

"We are announcing the casting for Thalia Grace, who is probably the most anticipated casting announcement among the fans. That wasn't my decision, Disney just said, 'Hey, okay, today we can do this,' and I was like, 'Wow, cool!'"

Riordan described Smart as "so perfect" for the role of Thalia, teasing that "the story" of how the casting came to be is "worthy of a movie."

"I am so thrilled with the person we got, and the story of how we got them and why is so perfect," Riordan added. "It is itself like worthy of a movie. It's really incredible."

Riordan added that he will speak more on Thalia's casting during his upcoming virtual Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Wrath of the Triple Goddess events, which go down on Tuesday, September 24th and Wednesday, September 25th. Tickets for each event can be found at those respective links.

"I'll be able to talk about it a little bit in more in detail during the virtual events over the next couple of nights for for The Wrath of the Triple Goddess," Riordan added. "If viewers are interested and they can tune into those, they can find out more."

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is currently in production. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Wrath of the Triple Goddess hits bookshelves on Tuesday, September 24th.

My Hero Academia is still working through season seven, and its latest episodes have been nothing short of intense. The final war with All For One has begun, after all. From Dabi to Toga and Shigaraki, all of the anime's villains are making their final stand against our heroes. It seems every week the anime finds a new way to set the deck with its fights. But this week, My Hero Academia piqued curiosity with a cameo rather than a knockout.

Yes, that is right. A cameo in My Hero Academia season seven has the fandom geeking out this week. The blink-and-miss-it moment came courtesy of Giulio and Anna. The two characters made their debut in My Hero Academia: You're Next, and now they are shaking up the canon with their entry into the mainline series.

Who Are Giulio and Anna?

Now if you are not familiar with Giulio and Anna, well - you have not seen the fourth My Hero Academia movie. The two characters are central in the film, after all. Giulio made his series debut as a mysterious butler who had Anna on his hit list. As for the girl, the blonde found herself ensnared with Dark Might as the villain coveted her quirk. As My Hero Academia: You're Next went on, audiences learned how Anna and Giulio were tied to one another. And by the end of the film, Deku helped reunite the estranged couple despite the odds.

Now, Giulio and Anna have hopped out off the big screen to tackle My Hero Academia season seven. The two are shown in the TV series watching frontline footage of the war with other evacuated citizens. For one, Giulio is dressed down in jeans and a loose top while Anna rocks a white dress. The pair are hard to miss in the shot, so My Hero Academia wasn't being very subtle with the cameo.

The easter egg was obviously appreciated by fans, and it only reinforces a truth about the My Hero Academia films. If you did not realize, anime films have a history of being outside the canon when it comes to shonen titles. From Naruto to Dragon Ball, we have seen this issue come up time and again; However, many shonen series are now tying their feature films to their canon. My Hero Academia has done this since its first film as characters like Melissa have been mentioned (or even appeared) in the main series. Now, Giulio and Anna are continuing that tradition.

What's Next for My Hero Academia

If you have not had the chance to check out My Hero Academia: You're Next, you will get a chance to soon. The movie made its premiere in Japan over a month ago, and Toho International will bring the feature stateside on October 11. The movie marks the fourth My Hero Academia has pushed to date, and currently, no word has been given on whether a fifth is in the works.

Beyond the anime, My Hero Academia is taking a breather for the most part. Kohei Horikoshi, the series creator, brought the manga to a close this year after a 10-year run. You can find the entire manga through Viz Media's Shonen Jump app. And of course, My Hero Academia seasons one through seven are now streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll.

What do you think about this latest My Hero Academia update? Are you keeping up with the anime's current season? 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 French word "d?paysant" means "a nice change of scenery," the Parisian nun Isabelle (Cl?mence Po?sy) tells the American Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon -- The Book of Carol. "It makes you look at things a different way." Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride) were the last two remaining characters from the first season still with The Walking Dead by the end of its 11-season run on AMC, and now the fan favorites are the last to get their own Walking Dead spinoff in a new setting following Maggie and Negan (in The Walking Dead: Dead City) and Rick and Michonne (in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live).

When the Walking Dead Daryl and Carol series returns with its sophomore season premiere (September 29th on AMC and AMC+), two weeks have passed since Daryl delivered Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) to the Union de l'Espoir at the Nest: the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey in Normandy, France. "I don't know if this is the place I'm supposed to be," Daryl tells Isabelle, but he's stranded there until Union leader Losang (Joel de la Fuente) can arrange another boat ride back home to the Commonwealth in Ohio.

As Daryl questions whether the people he left behind are still thinking about him, Isabelle begins to question Losang's motives and his religious dogma that Laurent -- who was born to a zombie-bitten mother at the onset of the zombie apocalypse 13 years earlier -- is immune to bites as the religious movement's prophesied messiah. This "false hope" makes the Union a target for Madame Genet (Anne Charrier) and her Pouvoir Du Vivant, an autocratic movement that aims to create a new France by unleashing an army of Ampers: a stronger and faster breed of amped-up Les affam?s (walkers) engineered in a lab.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, Carol has tracked down her missing friend to Freeport, Maine, where she meets a kind stranger: a pilot named Ash (The Resident's Manish Dayal). Carol convinces him to fly her to France under false pretenses, and by the end of the Greg Nicotero-directed first episode, Daryl and Carol are set on separate paths that will inevitably intersect as they are connect? et d?pays? (both connected and disoriented) in foreign surroundings. It's a spoiler to reveal when Daryl and Carol reunite over the course of the six-episode season, but rest assured that fans will be satisfied (and teary-eyed) when the long-awaited Caryl reunion finally happens in the most emotional scene of the season. (All six episodes were made available to critics.)

Showrunner David Zabel (who co-wrote a 2006 episode of ER that earned him a Humanitas Prize, awarded to writers "whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way") and the Daryl Dixon writers' room have a natural ability to tap into the intrinsic humanity at the core of the zombie drama, which was always about the living and not the living dead. If Daryl and Carol are the beating heart of The Walking Dead, Reedus and McBride are the soul.

While the two characters go all the way back to the first season in 2010, the "Caryl" relationship as we know it didn't start to form until Season 2. Daryl Dixon -- The Book of Carol includes some well-placed flashbacks to the Season 2 episodes "Cherokee Rose" and "Pretty Much Dead Already," two essential episodes that forged the unbreakable bond between Daryl and Carol -- both survivors of abuse -- after the disappearance and death of Carol's young daughter, Sophia (Madison Lintz). It's a loss that has haunted Carol ever since, and as she grapples with these ghosts from the past, Carol's emotional turmoil proves to be a riveting showcase for the incomparable McBride. And Reedus -- who has always brought sensitivity and vulnerability to a character who was conceived as "a mini-Merle," fleshing out his layers over 11 seasons -- delivers another understated and compelling performance that makes Reedus and McBride the perfect pairing.

In an interview with ComicBook, TWD Universe chief content officer Scott M. Gimple likened the new season to "an indie French horror movie." It's an apt comparison, because The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is like nothing else on television. A Walking Dead show with French-language subtitled dialogue? Beautifully shot cinematic landscapes, natural lighting, and on-location shoots across the French countryside? And between amped-up walker kills and a one-shot action sequence in Episode 3 -- a knife-hurling, neck-snapping, guts-stabbing, bone-breaking, breathless melee that is more like a fight scene out of 2003's Oldboy than any fight scene ever staged on The Walking Dead -- the season is as action-packed as it is artsy. Mon Dieu!

This is an adrenalized, action-heavy season that foregoes much of the religious undercurrent of the more measured and faith-based first season, but its balanced mix of heartfelt drama and heart-pounding zombie action means Daryl Dixon is more epic than ever. Even if the season is a layover on the way to the upcoming Spain-set and shot Season 3, the new chapter in the book of Daryl and Carol is d?paysant.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon -- The Book of Carol premieres Sunday, September 29th on AMC and AMC+.

Peacock has already announced Halloween programming that includes a ton of horror movies, but the spooky season on the streamer is about to get even wilder. The full trailer for Teacup was released today, pulling back the curtain at least....a little bit on the new horror-thriller series. What becomes clear in this trailer for Teacup is....frankly not a lot. Partially accompanied to the tune of Harry Nilsson's "Think About Your Troubles," the new series hails from James Wan's production company Atomic Monster. Watch it for yourself above and we'll break it down below.

What Is Peacock's Teacup About?

Here's the official logline for Teacup, that has been released by the streamer: "Teacup follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive. Inspired by the New York Times bestselling novel Stinger by Robert McCammon." Based on what we saw in the above trailer, yeah, that sounds about right, but what else is going on?

Considering the series is based on a novel, the aforementioned Stinger by Robert McCammon, we can go to the book to find out more details. Based on the listing for the title online, potential spoilers if you want to go into Teacup totally blind, the original book is revealed to be about an alien that crash lands in West Texas. But the arrival of that extraterrestrial isn't the end of the tale as a second alien arrives on the scene and cuts off the entire town under a dome to hunt for their prey. That said, the adaptation of Stinger into Teacup is not one to one, and in fact the new editions of Stinger note that it "inspired" the new TV series. Also of note is series showrunner Ian McCulloch calling the TV series "very much its own thing."

Knowing that and going back to watch the trailer for Teacup, it does seem like that storyline is being adapted for the series, though what changes will be present remains to be seen.

Who stars in the Teacup series?

Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid's Tale) stars in the series as Maggie Chenoweth with Scott Speedman (Grey's Anatomy) starring as her husband James Chenoweth. Kathy Baker (The Ranch) also stars as Ellen Chenoweth, with Caleb Dolden as Arlo Chenoweth, and ?milie Bierre as Meryl Chenoweth. Boris McGiver (The Wire) also stars.

Behind the camera, Teacup hails from first-time showrunner Ian McCulloch (Yellowstone), working alongside executive producers Michael Clear (Archive 81, Swamp Thing) and Rob Hackett (Archive 81, I Know What You Did Last Summer) for Atomic Monster, Francisca X. Hu, and Kevin Tancharoen. Original novel writer Robert McCammon also executive produces. The first two episodes of Teacup are directed by E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills, The Haunting of Bly Manor)

Teacup will premiere October 10th with two episodes, debuting a pair of new episodes every week through Halloween.

"After reading Robert McCammon's book Stinger, the entire team at Atomic Monster felt a spark," James Wan wrote in a statement. "The story had all the ingredients for a captivating series and Ian McCulloch had a vision to bring it to life in a fresh way that was both startling and darkly atmospheric, but filled with a rich sense of humanity - often lacking in edgy narratives. Add in our incredibly talented cast led by Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman, and Chaske Spencer and fans are in for a true edge-of-your-seat experience. Teacup defies easy labels. It's a genre-bending blend of horror, mystery, and drama, with layers that unfold like a captivating puzzle. It goes beyond chills and thrills and holds up a mirror to humanity, exploring the darkness that resides within us all. We hope you enjoy this wild ride as much as we've loved creating it!"

Peacock's Halloween programming

In addition to the arrival of Teacup, Peacock has confirmed that this October will make the streamer a major destination for genre fans. In just a few weeks a slew of movies will arrive on the platform including M. Night Shyamalan's Split, several Texas Chainsaw sequels, Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us, Amityville II: The Possession, plus a host of classic Universal Monsters movies like The Invisible Man Returns and Frankenstein. To keep things on track with the alien-horror nature of Teacup though, Peacock will also be streaming John Carpenter's The Thing and They Live, and Edgar Wright's The World's End. In addition, James Wan's cult horror film Dead Silence, plus the first Saw and Insidious, both of which he directed, will also be available.

The biggest freshman hit on TV is returning for its season season in just a couple of weeks. Tracker was given the coveted post-Super Bowl slot on CBS back in February and rode that high all the way through its first season. On Sunday, October 13th, the series comes back for Season 2, boasting a better time slot and a lot of fans that discovered it over the last few months.

If you're late to the Tracker train and hoping to get caught up, the series is easily accessible online, and will be even more widely available once Season 2 arrives. Like many CBS shows, Tracker is available to stream on Paramount+. You can find the entire first season there and Season 2 episodes will be uploaded to the service the morning after they air. With the live CBS channel on Paramount+ you can also catch the episodes as they're airing, you just can't watch them on-demand until the following day.

The day Tracker's second season premieres, the series will be offered up to a wider audience online, allowing new fans to find the show just as new episodes are arriving. Hulu recently released its newsletter for the month of October and revealed that Tracker Season 1 will be added to the service's lineup on October 13th, the same day as Tracker's Season 2 premiere. So you likely won't be able to binge through the entire first season on Hulu before Season 2 debuts that night, but you'll be able to get caught up pretty quickly.

What Is Tracker Season 2 About?

Tracker, based on the Colter Shaw novels from Jeffery Deaver, is largely a procedural, putting Justin Hartley's reward seeker in the middle of a new case each episode. There is one major story beneath it all, though, as Colter is consistently looking for evidence of who killed his father when he was younger.

"When you have a show like this, and you end it in such a good way, and you wrap up all these stories in a pretty little bow, it's cool, and it's great," Hartley told Deadline after the Tracker Season 1 finale. "But we have a whole other season to shoot that we have to make better than Season 1. So...while we wanted all those storylines wrapped up, we also wanted those bows to sort of lead to other questions- bigger, deeper questions -- about his past. So I think we did that in answering some of these questions that we had built up all year. I think we did a good job of making sure that the answers to those questions then lead to a bigger mystery, something that we can unpack in Season 2."

The team behind One Piece is getting bigger by the day. From crew to cast, Netflix is recruiting in a big way for One Piece season two now that the show has resumed production. With Luffy leading the Straw Hat crew, all eyes are on season two as One Piece will bring some big characters to life. Not long ago, Netflix even confirmed Joe Manganiello had joined the One Piece cast to bring Crocodile to life. And thanks to some epic fan art, we can see how Manganiello might look as the villain.

As you can see, the art comes from K164 over on X (Twitter) as they did some clever editing to bring Manganiello to life in One Piece. The shot gives us a clear vision for how the True Blood star may look when he goes up against the Straw Hat crew. Fitted with a hook prosthetic and smart suit, Crocodile looks nothing short of savage here. One Piece fans know just how heartless the villain can be, and Manganiello will be asked to bring that apathy to television soon.

??#Crocodile #MR0#JoeManganiello#ONEPIECE #ONEPIECELIVEACTION pic.twitter.com/ZKV9YXFNil

-- K164 (@K16416) September 20, 2024

Who Is Crocodile?

Clearly, the Hollywood star fits the look for Crocodile, and we will get to see the villain unfurl ever so slowly in One Piece season two. After all, the new season will start off in Loguetown, so the Straw Hat crew will meet Manganiello first as Mr. 0. The codename marks Crocodile as the leader of Baroque Works, a mysterious crime syndicate that has its fingers all over Arabasta. The group is set on overthrowing the desert kingdom with Mr. 0 at the helm. However, at the same time, Crocodile makes sure the public sees him as an ally so his deception is never even suspected.

Crocodile is a major antagonist in One Piece, and his legacy stretches far longer what we saw from Arlong. Whether as a Warlord of the Sea or the leader of Baroque Works, Crocodile is a gnarly guy. To this day, Crocodile remains a threat to the Straw Hat crew and the Grand Line. Over the years, the character has worn a lot of hats, and Crocodile's roots run deep. So Manganiello better hunker down; He could be with this role for a long, long time.

What to Expect From One Piece Season 2

With Crocodile cast, Netflix's One Piece is moving along with production, and Manganiello admits he will be heading to set soon to start filming. In the meantime, plenty of stars have already hit up Cape Town, South Africa to film. Not only is the main cast of One Piece returning from season one, but more newcomers are in the wings. Lera Above, for example, has been cast as Nico Robin (or rather Miss All Sunday). Other actors like Katey Sagal and David Dastmalchian have also signed on to One Piece season two, so the show is stacked.

As for when One Piece will return to Netflix, we have not been given a solid date. Reports suggest a 2025 launch is in the cards, however. When the show does return to the air, series creator Eiichiro Oda has shared what arcs it will cover. Netflix's One Piece is about to tackle Loguetown in season two and capstone its return at Drum Island. So yes, it won't be much longer before the world gets to see Tony Tony Chopper in live action!

What do you think about this One Piece casting? Are you excited for the show's second season? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

Aardman Animations, the production studio behind the classic stop-motion Wallace and Gromit franchise, is taking on Over the Garden Wall with a new special this Fall. As the Summer season fades away to the Fall and the end of the year, animation fans get in the proper mood to watch something spooky. Over the Garden Wall fits that bill perfectly as the last few years have seen more and more people check out the limited series as a way to usher in the Fall season. Originally premiering with Cartoon Network back in 2014 and airing in its entirety over a single week, Over the Garden Wall has amassed a major cult following in the decade since.

It's gotten to such a well of support for the Cartoon Network animated series that Over the Garden Wall is coming back in a new way as part of the celebration for the tenth anniversary of its original premiere. Cartoon Network has announced that they have recruited Aardman Animations on a new special anniversary celebration for Over the Garden Wall's 10th anniversary. Making its debut on November 3rd, 2024, ten years after its premiere, more information about the special will be revealed at a later date. Check out the announcement for the upcoming special below.

Dancing in a swirl of golden memories...?? A little gift from The Unknown to celebrate the 10th anniversary of #OvertheGardenWall. Stay tuned, wayward souls.#cartoonnetwork #halloween #firstdayoffall #spookyseason #fallvibes #october @aardman @Patrick_McHale pic.twitter.com/2bmp8OWEML

-- Cartoon Network (@cartoonnetwork) September 22, 2024

Where to Watch Over the Garden Wall

Patrick McHale, original creator behind Over the Garden Wall, teased this new special even further for fans on social media with "Just a fun little thing to show our appreciation to fans of the series. Aardman + Over the Garden Wall. Nov 3rd. More soon." With Aardman most being well known for their stop motion animation work on franchises like Wallace and Gromit, and films such as Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep, and more, there's a good chance that this special will also feature stop-motion animation as teased by the visuals of the announcement.

Thankfully, there's still a way to watch the original limited series before its tenth anniversary celebration. Over the Garden Wall has been in the crosshairs in an unfortunate way in the last few years, however. While it was originally available for streaming with Max, it was one of the many animated works removed from the streaming service in the purges seen last year (McHale even responded on social media when the initial removal news broke). This was almost the same case for its current streaming home with Hulu, which has thankfully walked it back just as it seemed like it was going to expire. So you can now find all ten episodes of Over the Garden Wall now streaming with Hulu.

What Is Over the Garden Wall?

First premiering on Cartoon Network on November 3rd as part of a special week long event, Over the Garden Wall is a special limited series that tells its story within its ten episode run. The series stars two brothers named Wirt (voiced by Elijah Wood) and Greg who end up lost in the mysterious forest called the Unknown. Needing to navigate the forest to find their way home through the episodes, the brothers also find themselves stalked by a monster known as the "Beast" that seeks to trap them in the forest forever.

It's got a very unique tone that hasn't really been matched by any other Cartoon Network series in the ten years since. Each year it's timeless quality seems to pull more interested eyes into it, and thus it now has a much bigger following than it ever did during its original premiere ten years ago. Although there don't seem to be any plans to ever bring it back in animated form, this new special with Aardman is likely going to be a fun way to celebrate such a massive milestone.

Spoilers for The Penguin episode 1 follow! Within minutes The Penguin makes two things clear: the TV series is starting just days after the events of The Batman, and it's also fully entrenched in the grimy, noir, crime-driven tone that was integral to the Matt Reeves movie. We see this in the opening scene as Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb digs up blackmail material from a hidden safe in Carmine Falcone's office, and immediately afterward when he shoots the heir apparent to the empire, Alberto Falcone, five times in the chest. Not long after that, though, The Penguin makes another thing clear: it's really funny.

It's easy to forget that Matt Reeves's The Batman, with its David Fincher and John Carpenter influences, was also quite humorous, but given the incredibly dour tone of the film, some levity was required (especially since it clocked in at 3 hours). The Penguin knows that it can't immediately eschew all of the humor from this world and embraces the fact that it has to at least be a little playful and, in fact, tell some jokes. Immediately after Oz kills Alberto he laughs, feeling the power of his actions and thinking that his moves are really going to take him places, but that's when it hits him. What he just did was incredibly short-sighted and brings us to the first real joke of the series. Oz has a sudden realization and laments, "Aww, fu--" as the opening titles begin.

The instances of The Penguin ranging from comical to outright hilarious ramp up as the title appears on screen. Oz dresses himself in a garbage bag to get rid of the body, but decides after a few steps that instead of carrying it, who cares? So he tosses the deceased down the stairs and the body tumbles into a heap. Even after firing his gun at would-be thieves trying to steal his car's rims, the humor continues when Oz recruits Victor to help him get rid of the body. He makes small talk about the air freshener he keeps in his car, or about mixing Slush Puppies together in a "suicide" so you get all the flavors. Oz even smashes Alberto Falcone's cell phone in comical fashion, like a toddler destroying a toy.

A major strength of The Penguin series is that the humor in the series isn't just a means of providing some relief for the larger dramatic tension; it's also character building. After Oz threatens Victor into working for him in the first episode, it becomes clear that he doesn't even have any idea what he's even doing. Though he has ambitions of being a major crime boss and having the seat at the head of the table, Oz is clueless. He knows that he needs to sell a violent promise to keep Victor on his side, dropping the half-hearted threat of "You're gonna do whatever I say or else I'm, uh... gonna murder you and anyone you care about..." ("Murder" said with that thick Atlantic accent so that it comes out "moi-duh".) The threat works, but his unenthusiastic delivery is like a slam dunk as both a joke and a building block of this version of the Penguin becoming a crime kingpin.

Even after they manage to secure an alibi for the evening and get things in place for the body to be disposed of, The Penguin hits us with the funniest line of dialogue of the series. While eating, Oz laments: "I asked for extra pickles, and they give me two? So what, a normal amount of pickles is one? It makes no go**amn sense." When Victor offers him some of the pickles from his sandwich to make up for it, Oz roasts him. "Do I want one of your pickles? That your dirty little mouth touched?" If a life of crime doesn't work out, this version of the Penguin could take to the comedy clubs.

The Penguin's humor isn't limited to just his scenes with Victor (though we do get the hilarious moment of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" blasting from the radio). For example, in the midst of one scene, Oz tries to escape Sofia's men during a rain-soaked chase. Though it may seem like there is no comedy present in the moment, the series finds a way. As it appears Oz has abandoned his car and gotten away, The Penguin reveals that he hid in the trunk of his own car to trick his pursuers, and it works briefly. Then while struggling against one of the goons, Oz pushes him away. As the man stumbles, he's run over by a bus full of schoolchildren, and Oz waves at the kids as the body crumples in the undercarriage.

Even though The Penguin radiates its crime-drama roots at every turn, the series is making the case for its existence by channeling the fact that these characters live on a spectrum. It's not just that they can thrive in a world where guns and grit are the status quo of powerful people, but also that sometimes there are laughs to be found. If the remaining seven episodes are just as funny at the first, The Penguin will set a surprising standard for what a comic book show is capable of doing, as it not only expands on the film it spun out of but displays an array of tones that work together seamlessly.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is gearing up for a new season, and all eyes are on the Earth Kingdom. When the Netflix show returns with season two, Aang and his friends will come face to face with the world's best earth bender. The time has come for Toph Beifong to make her debut, and we have learned actress Miya Cech will bring the bender to life. And now, Cech is breaking her silence on the big role now long after her introduction to the world.

The update, as you can see below, comes courtesy of the Netflix team. On the set of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cech recorded a video with co-star Gordon Cormier that shows the actress reacting to her casting reveal. The video is adorable as the 17-year-old star is blown away by the support of the show's cast and fanbase. So when it came to addressing her role as Toph, Cech was quick to share her love of the original series.

Let's give a very warm welcome to our Toph, Miya Cech!!!! #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/ODYYqgNEK5

-- Avatar: The Last Airbender (@AvatarNetflix) September 20, 2024

Toph Joins Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2

"I grew up watching the animated series. I've always been such a big fan and probably watched it ten times all the way through. Toph was always my favorite character, so as soon as the casting notice came out, l begged my team to please get me an audition," Cech shared.

In the casting reveal for Cech, the team behind Avatar: The Last Airbender addressed how the actress will get a feel for Toph. Fans of the series know the earth bender is blind, so to help Cech better represent Toph, the show has brought in a blind consultant to work with the actress. Cech is "working with a producer and consultant, who is blind and a professional from the blindness community, to make sure the blindness community is represented," the series explained.

So far, we have little info on when Avatar: The Last Airbender season two will go live, but it has found its biggest cast addition. Toph is a key figure in Aang's story, and her character has been a fave with fans for ages. Thanks to her dry wit and sharp bending, Toph has fans spanning the globe. When casting began for the bender months ago, netizens were as eager as they were wary of seeing who'd fill in for Toph. Now, Cech has been introduced to the fandom, and the actress has high expectations to meet.

Who Is Miya Cech?

If you are not familiar with Cech, don't fret. The actress began working professionally in 2015 with a role in Hawaii Five-0. Since then, Cech has gone on to take guest roles in series like American Horror Story and American Housewife. On the big screen, Cech has commanded roles in films such as The Darkest Minds and Rim of the World. Now, she is returning back to television with Avatar: The Last Airbender, so Cech will get to experience earth bending firsthand.

With Cech having joined the cast, Avatar: The Last Airbender season two is set for production. The show is filming on set in Canada once again, and according to co-star Ian Ousley, Cech was brought to set early to undergo a bending bootcamp. At this time, Netflix has not announced when Avatar: The Last Airbender will return with season two, but fans are crossing their fingers for a late 2025 launch. After all, season one went live in February 2024 to mostly positive reviews. The show's reception lead Netflix to order two more season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, so the streaming service has high hopes for its benders. So hopefully, Cech is able to nail her take on Toph and her prodigal bending.

What do you think about this latest casting for Avatar: The Last Airbender? Are you excited for season two to go live? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

Peppa Pig and Doctor Who voice actor David Graham has passed away at the age of 99. News of Graham's death was reported by the BBC, having confirmed it with Jamie Anderson, a producer who had a great working relationship with the actor. Audiences across the pond no doubt know Graham well for his roles in notable science fiction TV shoes including Thunderbirds where he provided the voice for Parker and Gordon in addition to several voices for classic Doctor Who episodes, including the villainous Daleks. For younger audiences, his part in Peppa Pig as Grandpa Pig served as the perfect voice to help their favorite character through an adventure of the day.

Anderson wrote to the BBC, "Just a few weeks ago, I was with 2,000 Anderson fans at a Gerry Anderson concert in Birmingham where we sang him happy birthday - such a joyous occasion. And now, just a few weeks later, he's left us... From the Daleks to Grandpa Pig and numerous voices for Anderson shows including Brains, Gordon Tracy and the iconic Parker. He will be sorely missed."

Thunderbirds is the other massive TV show that Graham will be known for. He worked very closely with creator Gerry Anderson on that series. The producer's account tweeted out a message of thanks for Graham's career after the news surfaced as well. "We're incredibly sad to confirm the passing of the legendary David Graham," they posted. "The voice [of] Parker, Gordon Tracy, Brains and so many more. David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment. We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David's friends and family."

A Long Career For David Graham In Television

Hearing Graham talk about the old days of acting was quite a treat. His distinctive tones can be picked out pretty easily once you're familiar with other work he's done. During a previous appearance on Good Morning Britain, the actor spoke about how he found the voice for Parker on Thunderbirds. It turns out, we all have a random waiter to thank for that!

"He took me to a pub, and there was an old guy waiting on table," "Graham began. "And, he came up and said, 'Would you like to see the wine list sir?' So, that was the birth of Parker." I sort of did all sorts of H's and stuff. I kind of enriched the voice, but that was the birth of him."

Our thoughts and prayers are with Graham's family at this time.

In the world of anime, there are few gigs more coveted than voice acting. From VA academies to seiyuu idols, the anime industry has turned Japanese voice actors into bonafide celebrities. The very public job has its ups and downs, but the industry's top actors have proven just how rewarding VA work can be. Of course, there is a flip side as every job comes with drama, and a new report from Japan just confirmed One-Punch Man star Itaru Yamamoto has been let go from their agency due to a contract breach.

The update comes from I'm Enterprise, the talent agency that represents the Japanese voice actor. The company has confirmed it has ended its deal with Yamamoto, and this move became effective on September 14. No specific were given about Yamamoto's exit, but the talent agency did say the decision was made because of an "acknowledged serious breach of contract." Furthermore, I'm Enterprise shared Yamamoto will not be part of the entertainment industry moving forward.

As for what this means in the short term, well - the team behind Transformers One is scrambling. Yamamoto voiced the character Soundwave in the new animated feature, but a re-dub is already being done. According to staff, Yoji Ueda will voice Soundwave in the updated Transformers One dub. No release date has been given for the new audio, so for now, Yamamoto's performance is still showing in theaters.

Who is Itaru Yamamoto?

Beyond Transformers One, Yamamoto is also part of Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest as he plays Madmole; No word has been given on how the role will be handled in the wake of this contract breach. Yamamoto has also appeared in a number of other big-name series such as One-Punch Man (Sourface) and Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Yamamoto began his work in voice acting over a decade ago with Gintama in 2011. And in that time, the actor added plenty of roles to their resume. Now, a dire contract breach has taken Yamamoto out of the industry entirely, and netizens are waiting on recasting news as such.

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

HT - Oricon

Day by day, we are getting closer to Halloween, and that means Jack Skellington is everywhere you look. The star of The Nightmare Before Christmas is no stranger to publicity, and his time in the spotlight doubles during October. More than a decade after his debut, Jack has become an icon of all thing spooky, and the Disney icon has a devoted fanbase. And today, those fans are doing a double take because Jack has been given a hot anime makeover courtesy of Twisted Wonderland.

Yes, you read that right. Jack Skellington, everyone's favorite festive skeleton, is coming to Twisted Wonderland. Today, the team at Disney released a new teaser for the mobile game, and it is there fans are given a peek at its next book. It seems Twisted Wonderland is ready to bring Jack Skellington into the fold as the game asks fans to "witness an enchanted nightmare" this Halloween.

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?URL:https://t.co/icIgfIOkvO #???? #????? #??????????2024 pic.twitter.com/f4ZfIpveQq

-- ????????? ????????????? (@twst_jp) September 22, 2024

Why Add Jack Skellington?

As you can see above, the Twisted Wonderland promo taps another Disney IP and gives its iconic characters an anime makeover. From Alice in Wonderland to Hercules and Lion King, Twisted Wonderland has explored a number of top-tier franchises. With help from Aniplex, Twisted Wonderland takes famous faces from Disney and turns the legends into anime characters. Of course, the team does its best to make these makeovers as hot as possible, and Jack is living proof. Aniplex wanted to turn the skeleton into a heartthrob, so can you imagine what the team could do with Oogie Boogie?

With Twisted Wonderland expanding by the day, it is no surprise that Jack has joined the party. The game is preparing for a major Halloween event, and when it comes to Disney, no title could be more appropriate than The Nightmare Before Christmas. The 1993 movie was once distanced from Disney given its dark tone, but these days, the media company is all about Halloween Town. From Jack to Sally, the world's obsession with The Nightmare Before Christmas is bigger than ever. So really, it was just a matter of time before Jack was brought into Twisted Wonderland.

What Is Twisted Wonderland?

Now for those curious about the game itself, Aniplex brought Twisted Wonderland to life in 2020, and it has since become a top title for the publisher. Developed by f4samurai, Twisted Wonderland features truly stunning artwork thanks to Yana Toboso, the creator of Black Butler. The game is a gacha title that follows a female character named Yuu as they enter a magical world through a mysterious mirror. It is there Yuu finds herself at Night Raven College, and after a small mix up, they start studying at the prestigious school.

As for the college, it is made up of seven different dormitories based on a different Disney villain. For instance, the Octavinelle Dorm is inspired by Ursula from The Little Mermaid while Scarabia is tied to Jafar from Aladdin. From Maleficent to Hades and Scar, Twisted Wonderland puts its focus on the darker side of Disney. Now, Jack Skellington is about to expand that focus with a Halloween event. So if you have not checked out the game just yet, Twisted Wonderland can be found on mobile right now. Plus, it has an anime series on hand which you can stream on Disney+ and/or Hulu depending on your region.

What do you think about this Twisted Wonderland update? Do you approve of Jack Skellington's anime makeover? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on X (Twitter) and Instagram.

Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride are back as Daryl and Carol on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol. Season 2 of the Walking Dead spinoff picks up where October's first season finale left off: with Daryl stranded overseas in France, and Carol embarking on a mission halfway around the world with a kind stranger to find her best friend. In the new season, Daryl and Carol "confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, causing tension at the Nest," per the logline.

Keep reading below for more on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 release date, the episode release schedule, and how to stream the Walking Dead Daryl and Carol series (including for free or at a discounted price).

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Release Date and Time

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol premieres Sunday, Sept. 29th, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on AMC and AMC+. The super-sized premiere includes The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon The Return, a new one-hour special previewing the season ahead, at 10:12 p.m. ET / 7:12 p.m. PT

How to Watch The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Online Without Cable

Cord cutters can stream Daryl Dixon on the AMC+ app, which is available for download on smart TVs and other devices. AMC+ is also available via Apple TV Channels, Amazon Prime Video Channels, and The Roku Channel.

AMC+ prices start at $4.99/month for the ad-supported plan and $8.99/mo. for ad-free. Subscribers can save on an annual ad-free AMC+ plan by purchasing a 12-month subscription for $83.88 (plus tax).

Watch The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Trailer

How to Watch The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon The Book of Carol Online With a Free AMC+ Trial

New subscribers will be offered a 7-day free AMC+ trial when subscribing at amcplus.com or on the AMC+ app, which can be downloaded to smart TVs and other devices. AMC+ is also available via Apple TV Channels, Amazon Prime Video Channels, and The Roku Channel.

Other titles available on AMC+ include the hour-long special The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Return, and the streaming-exclusive The Walking Dead: Best of Daryl and The Walking Dead: Best of Carol episode collections.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episodes Release Schedule

The new season spans six episodes, which will air through the season 2 finale on Nov. 3rd.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 1: "La gentillesse des ?trangers" (Sunday, Sept. 29th)

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 2: "Moulin Rouge" (Sunday, Oct. 6th)

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 3: "L'Invisible" (Sunday, Oct. 13th)

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 4: "La Paradis Pour Toi" (Sunday, Oct. 20th)

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 5: "Vouloir, C'est Pouvoir" (Sunday, Oct. 27th)

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 6 (Season Finale): "Au Revoir Les Enfants" (Sunday, Nov. 3rd)

Walking Dead Daryl Dixon Season 2 Cast

Returning cast members from the first season include Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Cl?mence Po?sy as Sister Isabelle, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as the prophesied messiah Laurent, La?ka Blanc-Francard as Sister Sylvie, Anne Charrier as Madame Genet, Romain Levi as Codron, Eriq Ebouaney as Fallou, Joel de la Fuente as Losang, and Melissa McBride as Carol, who appeared for the first time in this series at the end of the season 1 finale.

New cast members include Manish Dayal (The Resident) as Ash Patel, Nassima Benchicou (Emily in Paris) as Jacinta, and Tatiana Gousseff (Doc Martin) as Sabine.

Where to Stream The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1 Online

The six-episode first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is currently available to stream now on AMC+, The Roku Channel, and Spectrum On Demand. The complete first season is also available to own on Blu-ray and DVD, or digitally via online retailers like Apple TV+, Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, the Google Play Store, and the Microsoft Store.

Will There be The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3?
AMC announced The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 started production in Spain in August and will film in Madrid and the Galicia, Arag?n, Catalonia and Valencia regions. The currently-shooting third season will air in 2025.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD and ComicBook TWD on Facebook for more Walking Dead Universe coverage.

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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Agatha All Along takes Marvel fans back to Westview and it seems as though the citizens of that town still can't quite say Wanda's name. Yesterday, viewers were treated to the first episode of the new Disney+ series. Marvel clearly knows that the fans want to know what's going on with the Scarlet Witch and made multiple teases to her possible resurrection during Episode 1. Despite all the breadcrumbs though, A lot of the people living in Westview can't bring themselves to under the words Wanda Maximoff after the events of WandaVision 3 years ago. Agatha Harkness brings up the events of the previous MCU show multiple times and each time she edges close to the truth, someone warns her that they dare not speak her name out loud after everything that's happened.

For those who need a WandaVision refresher, the series began with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany's Avengers moving into a sleepy New Jersey town to start their lives as newlyweds. However, from the early frames of WandaVision, it's clear that something is amiss in their new home. Creepy and unsettling details make themselves more pronounced as the episodes go by. In fact, time starts moving unnaturally fast and the residents of Westview begin to cry out for help from Vision as the facade keeps cracking. Unfortunately for our friend the synthazoid, Agatha has become aware that he's a construct as well. So, she uses Wanda's attachment to him and the boys to trigger the final conflict of that series.

In the last episode of the Marvel TV series, the residents are finally free from "The Hex" that Wanda had placed them in for an unspecified amount of time. Agatha Harkness did battle with the Scarlet Witch and then our hero let everyone go while she flew off to Wundagore mountain. However, that wasn't easily smoothed over for the people of Westview. Rightfully, they were upset and traumatized at being controlled by Wanda for any amount of time. Essentially being held prisoner was not very fun and as a result, the people on the ground basically look at her like she's Voldemort now. So, that's really kind of prickly. (It also casually allows Marvel Studios to dangle the Scarlet Witch, while also making sure we remember she's been on a bit of streak over past few years in the MCU.)

So, Can We Expect To See Wanda Back Soon?

Elizabeth Olsen really can't go a single interview without being asked about Wanda Maximoff. Right now, she's on a media tour for His Three Daughters over at Netflix, and the question has come up multiple times. The fact that a direct WandaVision sequel is airing on Disney+ right now with Agatha All Along also doesn't help matters very much. Olsen previously talked to Entertainment Tonight during Variety's Power of Women event, and got asked about a cameo in the upcoming Marvel project.

"I mean, no, but I would love to pop up. I love Kathryn, I don't want to leave her side ever, I'm so grateful she's here tonight," Olsen shared months ago. The star added that she would love to reunite with Hahn as well as Paul Bettany (Vision). "We do think, 'Gosh, we just gotta do it again!' We just had a really great time making that show, and with Paul, it was really a special time, so we would love to get the gang back."

All these comments, plus all the hints about Scarlet Witch's in Episode 1 of Agatha All Along, have fans believing that a return is imminent. Marvel Studios has been adamant since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that Wanda Maximoff is completely off the board. However, all the fans know that The Multiverse Saga means that any and all characters can come back as variants. Not even 2 months ago, Robert Downey Jr was announced to be returning to the MCU as Victor Von Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. So, hope springs eternal, as it usually does when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Will Wanda be redeemed? Do you think that Agatha All Along's post-credits scene is a return for Scarlet Witch? Check out all the pop culture discussion at @ComicBook!

While James Gunn works on building out the new DCU, the version of Gotham City that Matt Reeves created in The Batman will continue to live separate from the bigger DC franchise as its own little Elseworlds entity. That gives the team behind HBO's The Penguin room to get creative with the popular characters that dwell in Gotham. Known rogues like Sofia and Alberto Falcone are a part of the series, but there are likely more beloved Batman baddies waiting in the wings, though none of them have yet to be revealed. The premiere of The Penguin, which dropped Thursday on Max, seems to be teeing up the arrival of one such villain: Victor Zsasz.

WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the first episode of The Penguin! Continue reading at your own risk...

In the first episode of The Penguin, which takes place in Gotham City about three weeks after the events of The Batman, Oz (Colin Farrell) finds himself in a part of town called Crown Heights. When he catches a group of young men trying to steal the rims from his car, he scares shoots at them and causes them to run away, though he's able to catch one.

Played by Rhenzy Feliz, the name of this young guy is Victor Aguilar. The last names might not match up, but the rest of the premiere episode plants some seeds that hint at Victor and Oz having a similar relationship to the Oz and Penguin in the comics (as well as on Gotham).

The entire origin story of Victor Zsasz involves him gambling away everything he owns and losing it all to Penguin. This creates a massive debt and eventually drives Zsasz a bit insane, as he realizes there is no meaning to life and chooses instead to become a serial killer.

Now, it only takes one episode of The Penguin to realize that the Victor on the show is nothing like the Zsasz that we know. However, the relationship to Oz is key to theorizing where he might go next. After being caught by Oz, Victor surrenders and agrees to help Penguin get rid of a body that he was hiding. Oz contemplates killing Victor, but he instead chooses to take the young man under his wing, utilizing him as a driver and showing him the ropes of his budding criminal empire.

Victor is much more pure of heart than Oz, and he seems like a genuinely good kid. But he's also desperate and alone, and it seems like Oz will use that to create a loyal soldier over time. By slowly stripping away the good elements of Victor, forcing him to think more like a career Gotham criminal, Penguin could be creating a brand new monster in his own image.

There is still a lot of The Penguin left over the next several weeks, and anything could happen, but we know some big Batman villains are bound to show up. Consider Victor Zsasz officially on the radar as the series unfolds.

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+, and the two-episode premiere left Marvel fans with plenty of new theories to discuss. (SPOILERS FOLLOW) In the first two episodes, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) frees herself from the spell Wanda Maximoff left her trapped in and addresses the problem at hand: her magic powers are gone. The first two episodes followed Agatha as she began to gather a coven of 'mad' witches that could help her embark on a journey down the Witches' Road - but to what end?

With Agatha All Along being a sequel to the events of WandaVision, it's only natural that this new show is inheriting one of the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe fan theories from the previous one: that Marvel's top devil, Mephisto, will (finally) be revealed in the show.

...However, we've been here before. WandaVision kept Mephisto's name trending every week it was on - and pretty much ever since, whenever a new MCU project with any kind of mysticism or supernatural elements (Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Moon Knight) is released. It's already looking like Agatha All Along will be no different - but how about we look at another possibility?

What If Mephisto has nothing to do with this?

It's clear that Agatha All Along is opening a wider door into the supernatural/occult side of the MCU - a lane that is populated with some very powerful dark lords and demons.

Child of Mephisto

One popular fan theory is that Aubrie Plaza's character, Rio Vidal, is actually more than the "warrior witch" that she initially seems to be. It's clear that there is a history between Agatha and Rio, and a lot of fans think it involves how Agatha eventually got the Darkhold - with a little help from an inside woman. And if you're stealing something hellish from a devil, who better to help than the devil's kid?

Marvel's Blackheart is a demonic entity (or "Hell-lord") that Mephisto created out of the evil energy built up around a town in New York where murder and bloodshed had occurred for centuries. However, when Blackheart tries to make his own bid for power, Mephisto banishes him to Earth, where Blackheart tried to corrupt souls and recruit them for his war against his father.

Having Aubrey Plaza play Blackheart would be a fun twist on the character - and also a great Easter egg for Marvel fans. Plaza starred in the X-Men spinoff show Legion, where she was eventually revealed to be playing another major evil entity from the Marvel Universe (SPOILERS), the Shadow King.

Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer has teased a potential name-drop of a long-awaited Marvel character coming in the show: whether it is played by Plaza or presented as another character entirely, Blackheart would be able to name "Mephisto" without the villain being directly involved, while still teeing up Mephisto for a later story arc or project. Mephisto's kid would also be more on the scale of a Marvel TV project.

Chthon

The practice of witchcraft in the MCU has had another entity attached to it: Chthon, the first demon. Like Blackheart, Chthon is an entity that has been in Marvel lore for quite a while. He was an Elder God who became the first master of black magic and, who with his brother Set became a demon. Chthon wrote the Darkhold as a link between Earth and his home realm, the source of his power. Chthon is also the progenitor of the demonic creatures (goblins, harpies) and monster races (vampires, werewolves, zombies) that exist within the Marvel Universe.

In the MCU, Chthon created Wundagore Mountain and first inscribed its walls with the prophecies and magic spells that would later be transcribed into the Darkhold book. That includes the prophecy of the Scarlet Witch, which guided Wanda's fate in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With Wundagore gone, and Agatha needing to rekindle her black magic abilities, maybe the Witches' Road is leading to the one who made witchcraft possible.

-

Wanda All Along

It would be a big twist (or not...) to find out that the only way Agatha can re-empower herself is by bringing back the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). Marvel Studios producers have played coy about where Wanda ended up when Wundagore Mountain fell - whose to say she didn't land at the end of The Witches' Road?

Agatha All Along streams new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney+.

Agatha All Along Episodes 1 and 2 took viewers down The Witches' Road for the first time this week. And, the song that Kathryn Hahn, Shasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp and Patti LuPone sang in the season premiere is the secret key to this series. Marvel Studios has now posted "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" on multiple platforms. With some increased time with this delightful song, fans are noticing how closely the lyrics mirror what's been going on in the series so far. From the fact that Agatha Harkness's makeshift coven has to sing this ballad together to open the portal to The Witches' Road to the danger that's obviously lurking behind them with each passing step, these lyrics provide a guide for the viewer to be prepared for whatever comes their way.

The first line shows the gamble that Agatha and these witches are taking trying to use the road in the first place. (Seekes thou the Road / To all that's foul and fair) Right after that, each of these witches get an element assigned to them. Jennifer Kale is Water, Alice Wu-Gulliver is Fire, Lilia Calderu is Air and poor Sharon is Earth. Agatha and Teen are left out of this sorting bit. It truly is the witches' darkest hour as desperation has led them to the road in the first place. But, they're going to have to work together to get what they want. Kale wants her powers unbound, Alice is looking for what happened to her mother, Calderu is searching for riches to keep herself afloat and Sharon just wants some friends. (Darkest hour, wake thy power / Earthly and divine / burn and brew with coven true / And glory shall be thine)

Sharon's core desire is reflected in all of these women and Teen in some way. Showrunner Jac Schaeffer gave a recent interview where she talked about forging bonds for these characters, and how it powers this story. Witches in pop culture always endure some sort of scrutiny. Agatha All Along's chaotic coven is no different in that regard.

"A lot of what the story is about is the power of community, the power of tribe. All of these characters are loners to various degrees, and they are people who are disconnected from their own internal sources of power," Schaeffer explained. "Through the circle of togetherness and through harmonizing--both literally and figuratively--they are able to reconnect with their naturally existing internal power."

Agatha All Along Sees The Fan Favorite At Her Lowest

Agatha Harkness might have the most desperation of any witch represented here. During her last MCU appearance, Kathryn Hahn's witch lost her power at the hands of Wanda Maximoff. So, when we meet her now, she doesn't have any of the potent magical abilities she displayed during WandaVision. But, Agatha has a way to get it back: The Witches' Road. That all sounds good, but she'll need a team of magic-users to travel the road. These women are all from different times and places, and united by these unique circumstances. Hahn talked about her character's return to glory and how her relationship with her fellow witches begins in Agatha All Along during the same interview.

"At the beginning she's kind of a twisted ringleader. If this was a circus, she would definitely be the Barnum or Bailey. She's got the smarts--maybe an almost Tin Man quality, if Tin Man had major character energy," Hahn explained. "And I think that she has to be the most confident one who gets all these little scared witches running behind her. She has to show a lot of bravado and kind of fake it 'til she feels it. Remember, she still has no powers, so she has to manifest power through her actions and her words. She's leaning a lot on appearing powerful to these other witches."

Do you think all of the witches will reach the end of the road? Check out all the pop culture discussion over at @ComicBook!

The Penguin debuted on Max and HBO this week, bringing the next chapter of the story begun in 2020's The Batman to life, but while the spinoff series is set to lead directly into The Batman Part II, it isn't the only spinoff series that was planned. At one point, there was talk of a Gotham Police Department series and a series centered around Arkham Asylum, though neither of them moved forward. However, according to The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, more stories aren't out of the question; things have just evolved. Speaking with EW, Reeves said that what they're talking about now are "evolved versions" of those original ideas.

"The things that we're talking about [now] are evolved versions of those things," Reeves said. "It's not like that just didn't work. It was like, we need to evolve this. I would describe it less as something that didn't work and more as something that is still along a path toward arriving at its destination."

As for The Penguin's destination, it will connect directly to The Batman Part II. Reeves has previously said that the eight-episode limited series sets up the next film as the entry point to The Batman sequel that is "absolutely connected to where we leave things in the series.

"There are details that actually connect right into the way the next movie begins, and the way that Oz enters the world as we hand the baton back to Batman, and Batman is on another case," Reeves said.

However, even with The Penguin leading to The Batman Part II, don't expect to see Robert Pattinson appear in the series. Reeves has previously confirmed that the actor will not appear in the series.

"Rob is not going to be in the show. I'd rather take the band aid off now. We did talk about all that, but we felt the best way to do this was to go on a grand exploration of a guy grabbing for power in this moment," Reeves said.

The Penguin stars Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni.

The Penguin debuted September 19th on HBO and Max. It will air Sundays on HBO starting September 29th. The Batman Part II is set to open in theaters in 2026.

The Triple H era of WWE has seen exponential growth and success, and now it enters a new phase as many of the company's flagship programs launch on new networks. SmackDown has already started its new era on USA Network, and NXT will soon set up shop on its new network as well. Monday Night Raw will then shift to its new home at the beginning of next year, and now NBC has joined the party with its Saturday Night's Main Event. Thanks to all of those various moves and deals there have also been some changes to some of WWE's other programs as well as the locations of some older content, which is why we thought it would be helpful to bring all of those details and changes into one place, and these have been confirmed by a Peacock spokesperson as well.

Monday Night Raw

WWE announced a landmark deal earlier this year that will send Monday Night Raw to streaming powerhouse Netflix, and that deal will begin on January 1st, 2025. There are still some details yet to be revealed in regards to the Netflix deal, like how the show will weave in commercials and how much past PG the show will go, but the date is locked in, and it will be a major change for the cable staple.

That deal doesn't start until January though, so in the meantime WWE and USA Network have agreed to partner up during the interim, keeping Raw on USA throughout the rest of the year. During that time, old episodes of Raw will continue to be available on Peacock as part of the past Peacock agreement, and new episodes of Raw will become available on Peacock 30 days after they air on USA Network. This will change though as of 1/1/2025 with the move to Netflix, as Peacock will no longer have the WWE Raw library or new episodes, and a countdown clock will be in place to convey this to viewers.

NXT

At the moment all of WWE's shows are currently located on USA Network, but while Raw won't move until January, NXT is moving in just a week and a half. NXT will kick off its new era on The CW as of October 1st, and it looks to pretty much keep everything intact with the move. That said, like with Raw, there will be some changes to older episodes and where new episodes go after they air.

Right now you can still find old episodes of NXT on Peacock, but as of 10/1/2024, Peacock will no longer have the NXT library of old episodes, and new episodes will no longer go there after 30 days. Like with Raw, NXT will have a countdown clock letting viewers know about the upcoming change. It's currently unknown where new episodes of NXT will be able to be viewed on The CW, but that could end up being possible on The CW's official app, though that's just a theory at the moment.

One other detail of note is that while NXT's special episodes like Great American Bash will air on The CW as they did on USA Network, NXT's Premium Live Events like the upcoming Halloween Havoc will still stream live on Peacock.

SmackDown

SmackDown recently had its big USA Network premiere, hitting the ground running on its new era with Cody Rhodes, the return of Roman Reigns, and plenty more. This is part of a five-year deal WWE signed with USA Network, moving SmackDown to its new home after several years at FOX.

WWE already has a deal with NBC Universal in place for its streaming content and Premium Live Events, which are exclusively on Peacock. This includes all of WWE's Premium Live Events, including upcoming ones like Bad Blood, Crown Jewel, and Survivor Series, and now SmackDown's old episodes will join that growing library, while new episodes of SmackDown will also be available on Peacock 30 days after they air on USA Network.

Saturday Night's Main Event

That brings us to the latest addition to the WWE lineup, and it brings a new network into the fold as well. Part of WWE's new deal with NBC Universal included a new venture for the two companies, and it's called Saturday Night's Main Event. WWE will produce four Saturday Night's Main Event specials per year moving forward, and these will air on NBC in primetime, with the first one launching on December 14th.

NXT Level Up and WWE Speed

Now that we've tackled the big shows, let's talk about two other shows in regular rotation at the moment. NXT Level Up streams every Friday on Peacock and features some of the newest talent in NXT. It's a great showcase for brand-new additions to NXT and allows them to get some spotlight before heading to NXT TV, but right now it's not known if this show will be affected by the NXT and CW deal. As of now, WWE hasn't confirmed any sort of status for it, so we'll have to wait and see.

A much more recent addition to WWE's lineup is WWE Speed, which airs exclusively on X. WWE Speed is directly inspired by the X format and features 3-minute matches, which stream on X every Wednesday. WWE has also introduced WWE Speed Championships, with a Speed Women's Championship currently being battled over through a tournament.

Premium Live Events (Through Rest of 2024)

• Bad Blood - October 5th
• NXT Halloween Havoc - October 27th
• Crown Jewel - November 2nd
• Survivor Series: WarGames - November 30th

Which event are you most excited for throughout the remainder of 2024? You can talk all thigns wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

Lyra Valkyria just made her WWE video game debut in the Global Superstars pack for WWE 2K24, a huge milestone for any WWE Superstar. She also recently returned to NXT to team up with her old partner Tatum Paxley, so it's been a busy few weeks for the Raw superstar. That said, when she's not taking on opponents in the ring, there's one particular franchise that she loves returning to, and that happens to be Lord of the Rings. ComicBook recently had the chance to speak to Valkyria all about her WWE 2K24 debut, but we also asked about Rings of Power and if there was a role she would love to bring to life in the franchise. The answer will delight many longtime fans, as she highlighted one of the mythology's most beloved couples in Beren and L?thien.

Nothing I Love More

With Rings of Power well into season 2, we had to ask what she thought of the season so far. Valkyria hasn't had a chance to dive into season 2 just yet, but she's excited to dive in, and she's also hyped for the upcoming animated prequel series Lord of the Rings: War of Rohirrim. When Lord of the Rings came up, Valkyria said, "There is nothing I love more in life. It's my be-all-end-all. Rings of Power looks incredible. I've yet to dive into season 2, and there's also the animation that's coming out. There's so much, there's so much to delve into there."

Then I had to ask if she could play a role in the series, who would she want to play. The answer jumps back in time all the way to the first human and elven couple, known in song and in the mythology as the beloved love story of Beren and L?thien. "Oh, my goodness, yes, like to have any part," Valkyria said. "The story of Beren and L?thien I've always thought was very beautiful. So maybe something along those lines, who knows?"

An All-Time Love Story

The story of Beren and L?thien is referred to several times in Lord of the Rings, but it often highlights very specific traits of Beren and L?thien as opposed to going into great detail about their thrilling love story. It's not until you read The Silmarillion that you really discover their story in full, and this was later expanded upon in The History of Middle-earth. Both dive much further into the whirlwind romance that stretches even beyond the mortal realm.

Following a betrayal that left everyone dead but him, Beren wanders into the Kingdom of Doriath and meets the immortal beauty L?thien. It's love at first sight, but L?thien's father Thingol lays a challenge at their feet before they can wed. They must retrieve a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown, and Thingol thinks this impossible, so their wedding is essentially forever halted.

Thingol however underestimates his own daughter considerably, as she goes on to save Beren along his journey to attain the Silmaril time and time again. Along with a giant dog named Huan, L?thien frees Beren from Sauron, sings everyone to sleep so Beren can take the Silmaril, heals Beren after he gets his hand bitten off by a werewolf, and then successfully confronts the Gods to bring Beren back to life after he is killed by that same werewolf. The cost of that last heroic act is her immortality, but despite that, the two go on to live a long and prosperous life together.

As you can clearly see, this is a story more than deserving of not just an appearance in a series, but frankly its own series, and hopefully we get to see that story brought to life in some way soon. The story was also given more spotlight in 2017's Beren And L?thien, which showed how the story has changed in subsequent tellings.

How would you like to see this story brought to life? You can talk all things wrestling, TV, and more with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

AEW seems to be close to a new TV deal, and now a new report reveals when AEW's pay-per-views could be moving to a new streaming home. According to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast, AEW pay-per-views will be available on Max starting in January 2025 (via WrestlePurists). While they will still be purchasable in other places like they are now, they will all be calling Max home for those who prefer to just have a one-stop shop. If this ends up being the case, there will be more than a few AEW fans signing up for the service ahead of their first pay-per-view of 2025.

Why This Matters

There's a wealth of AEW fans who have wanted the company to find a streaming home for their content, both in terms of being able to find old or recently aired episodes and in regards to their pay-per-views. WWE has a similar deal with Peacock, where you can find older WWE content as well as new documentaries and specials, and that's in addition to all of the WWE pay-per-views throughout the year.

AEW hasn't had that sort of option, so while you can purchase the pay-per-views through a variety of methods, it's more difficult to find older content that happens during the week on Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision. If the Max deal happens and it also includes parts of the library, this will be a thing of the past.

Plus, the value only increases further for those who already have Max. WWE's content gave Peacock a welcome boost of specialized content that keeps people invested year-round, especially with the pay-per-views included. If this deal happens, Max will now be that for AEW, and AEW's content will only benefit a streaming service looking to further increase its standing in the ongoing profitability battle for all streamers.

Max Gets a Boost

Warner Bros. Discovery hopes that Max continues to be a destination service for shows you can't get anywhere else. Their roster currently includes hits like House of the Dragon, Hacks, True Detective, Harley Quinn, White Lotus, Dune Prophecy, Hard Knocks, and most recently The Penguin. There will also be more shows on the way, including the DC Studios launching Creature Commandos, The Gilded Age, IT: Welcome To Derry, The Pitt, Duster, and new seasons of Just Like That and the heavily anticpated season 2 of The Last of Us.

Having an infusion of more original content is never going to hurt, and AEW will give it plenty to work with. Between the pay-per-views and all of the weekly shows (including a possible new addition to that list), AEW will provide original content weekly that should keep Max in rotation even when they are between other big projects. 2025 is shaping up to be a big and very important year for AEW, so having a stgreaming home for even just its pay-per-views will be a welcome step.

When AEW's content lands on a streming service, what is the first thing you're watching? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

When Tom Welling not only returned to The CW but to the role of Clark Kent, albeit briefly, for an appearance in the 2019 Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, Smallville fans were thrilled. After all, by that point it had been eight years since fans had seen him as the DC hero as he hadn't made any other appearances as the character since the Smallville finale. Now, in the most recent episode of the TalkVille Smallville rewatch podcast (via ScreenRant), welling explains why it took so long and why it was ultimately the Arrowverse event that saw he and Erica Durance return.

According to Welling, he had been asked to appear in the other shows as Clark, but Welling said that he didn't feel like the tone of those shows was quite right when compared to what Smallville and, by extension, his Clark had been. For him, it was the appearance in Crisis on Infinite Earths that ultimately fit, though he's not sure it was Smallville's Clark.

"I was asked to be in a lot of the other shows after Smallville ended, I was asked to sort of appear in them as Clark and it never felt like their tone was the same as Clark was or what Smallville was," he said. "I still believe that in the crossover what you see Clark doing and giving up his powers and being with Lois for their family, that might not be the Clark from Smallville because it's a multiverse."

For those who might not recall, Welling's Clark appears on Earth-167 where during a search for one of the Paragons -- which was supposed to be a Clark Kent from an alternate universe -- draws Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) who is going Earth to Earth killing every Superman. When confronted by a Kryptonite-wielding Lex, Clark reveals that he gave up his powers to have a normal life with his family and that Kryptonite no longer impacts him. He fights a bit with Lex, but Lex ultimately leaves. Durance shows up as Lois and when Clark explains to her what's happened, she notes that "Smallville" made a joke.

Interestingly, Welling has said that he doesn't know if the version of Clark he played in Crisis on Infinite Earths was the Smallville Clark. Earlier this year at Terrificon, he suggested that not only did he not know, but that no one ever explained to him how Clark lost his powers.

"I don't know if that's actually Clark from Smallville, because it's a multiverse, so you never know," he said. "And I don't know how he lost his powers. No one ever told me."

One thing that we do know, however, is that Welling wouldn't have returned at all had he been required to suit up as Superman.

"If they had started the conversation with 'So, Clark is in the suit,' I'd have been like [click]'" Welling said in 2020.

The series premiere of The Penguin makes its debut on HBO and Max this weekend, showcasing a whole new corner of The Batman's universe -- and drawing a unique tie to Catwoman. Spoilers for the first episode of The Penguin below! Only look if you want to know! The opening scene of The Penguin shows Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) in a tense meeting with Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), who has already assumed the leadership role of the Falcone crime family following his father Carmine Falcone's (John Turturro) passing. Oz tells Alberto a story that reframed his personal outlook on the reputation crime can have on a city, revealing the legend of a local mobster who was in his childhood neighborhood, Rex Calabrese. Although we do not see Rex in the episode, the reference to him is interesting in the context of the larger DC mythos, as some comic canon confirms him to be the father of Selina Kyle / Catwoman.

Who Is DC's Rex Calabrese?

Created by James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, Tim Seeley, and Jason Fabok in 2014's Batman Eternal #14, Rex Calabrese was a well-known mobster known as Leo Leone / "The Lion", who was exiled from the Falcone gang and ended up in prison. He eventually becomes a cellmate of Jim Gordon's, and is frequently shown as an adversary of Oz's in the criminal underworld.

More importantly, it is also established that Rex abandoned his daughter Selina when she was nine years old, leading her to grow up as an orphan through the foster care system. Amid Rex's power grab, he reconnects with Selina and tries to motivate her to become a criminal queenpin of her own. While we know that this exact lore will not fold into The Penguin, as The Batman already extensively confirmed that Zoe Kravitz's Selina is Carmine's illegitimate daughter, it is still an intriguing connection between the franchise's two characters.

What Is The Penguin About?

The Penguin is the next chapter in The Batman saga from Matt Reeves.The series stars Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Michael Kelly as Johnny Viti, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Deirdre O'Connell as Francis Cobb, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, James Madio as Milos Grapa, Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo, and Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush.

The Penguin premiered on Max on Thursday, September 19th, followed by an HBO premiere on Sunday, September 22nd, with new episodes debuting on both HBO and Max beginning on September 29th.

The Penguin introduces its key players throughout the first episode, and one of the early scene stealers is Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone. Sofia instantly shakes up both Oz and the family when she returns after some time away in Arkham, and soon fans learn about a key tether between this version of the character and the comics, particularly an all-time classic in Batman: The Long Halloween. To help catch you up, we're breaking down Sofia's comic origins, how she got her infamous "Hangman" nickname, and how it all ties back into the series.

Point of Origin

While the Falcone crime family has been around for quite some time, with Carmine Falcone making his first appearance back in Batman #405 in 1987, Sofia wasn't introduced until 1997 in Batman: The Long Halloween #6. Sofia is the daughter of Carmine and Louisa and is the sibling of Mario and Alberto. We first meet her after Carmine gets her freed from prison, as Carmine is looking to shore up the family after a string of killings.

Those killings have all targeted Gotham's crime families, and they are being made by a mysterious killer only known as Holiday. Holiday would kill a number of Carmine's organization, including Alberto, though we find out later that was a ruse, as Alberto is revealed to be the actual Holiday killer. After Holiday's capture, Two-Face leads a group of villains to Carmine's home and kills him, setting the stage for Sofia's next transformation.

The Hangman

Sofia witnessed Carmine's death and tried to attack Two-Face, but ended up getting in a fight with Catwoman instead. Sofia would fall from a window and suffer multiple injuries, and though she would still manage to survive, she was believed to have been paralyzed. That's what everyone thinks mind you, as secretly Sofia had learned to walk again, and it will throw everyone off her trail later.

Things take a turn when Carmine's body is stolen and she is sent his ring finger, which leads her to become The Hangman and kill anyone affiliated with Harvey Dent and frame him for their deaths. She hangs her victims and then leaves case files as messages, and since everything still thinks she is paralyzed from the injury, no one suspects her to be the killer.

She is immensely successful at taking out her targets and even manages to protect her brother Alberto, delivering a vicious beatdown to Calendar Man after he tries to shoot Alberto. After saving him though she ends up killing Alberto herself and then heads out to finally kill Two-Face. This leads to a final showdown with Batman, but in the fray, Two-Face shoots and kills her.

Comics to TV

In the show, Sofia has just left Arkham Asylum and is returning to her family's operations and things in the city. There is also mention of why she was in Arkham, as she was known as The Hangman and killed people, so there are several direct ties from the comics to the show right there. One thing that won't be carrying over though is Alberto's role in her story, as he was killed by Oz in the season's very first episode.

There's complicated history between Sofia and Oz, made more complicated due to how much she loved her brother Alberto. As for her father, she has already made peace with his death in the show, but as in the comics, she has made it her mission to get vengeance for her family, just for Alberto instead of Carmine. As for her killing again under her old persona, perhaps that is still on the table, especially now that the Maroni's are being involved by Oz. That said, she shows in episode one that she isn't afraid to get vicious with her methods, as Oz learns before the episode's end.

What have you thought of The Penguin so far, and what do you want to see next for Sofia? You can talk all things Penguin and DC with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

Halloween is just around the corner and one of the most popular horror-adjacent shows of all time is about to make a big streaming move. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the iconic series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, has been readily available to stream for some time. The entire series is currently available to watch on Hulu, which obviously requires a subscription in order to watch. However, in just a couple of weeks, Buffy is going to be made available to stream without paying a cent.

Tubi recently announced all of the new shows and movies that will be added to its lineup in the month of October, and that list included Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Starting on September 27th, the beloved series will make its way to Tubi where anyone can hop on to watch for free. Like Pluto TV or Freevee, Tubi is a completely free streaming service that simply puts ads into all of its movies and TV shows.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is being added to Tubi's lineup alongside other hit shows like Hell on Wheels and Sanford and Son. What makes this all so exciting for Buffy, though, is its addition being so close to Halloween. Just as spooky season is getting into full swing, fans can dive deep into the world of vampires and slayers.

Gellar has had a steady and fruitful career in Hollywood for years now, but for many, she will always be Buffy. The series, which ran for seven seasons, has cemented its place pop culture history and continues to attract new fans each year.

During a WhoWhatWear video last year, Gellar was asked about the pieces of Buffy's wardrobe and items from the show's set that she ended up holding onto when the series wrapped.

"We used to say: 'When the boots went on, you know the fighting was going to happen,'" Gellar explained. "I still have a pair of those boots in my house that I still fit into." She added, "What did I keep from my Buffy wardrobe? ... I wish I would have understood to keep more of it - not that necessarily that was an option because the studios like to take it back, but you don't realize the sentimental importance that you'd have on something like that later." She admitted, "A lot of times at the end of an episode you're so sick of looking at an outfit that you don't always take it - again, if the option was available." The actor went on to say that she's more likely to take things home now that she has more experience in the industry. "Now I don't make that mistake anymore," she shared.

Agatha All Along has reintroduced Kathryn Hahn's witch, but her powers aren't exactly like they were in WandaVision. Agatha Harkness was causing some serious chaos the last time we saw her in the MCU. However, Wanda Maximoff triumphed over her and sealed her inside of a sitcom prison back in Westview. For three years, Agatha lived inside of her own reality until she was able to claw her way out with some prodding from Rio Vidal and a mysterious "Teen." Now, she's free, but she also doesn't have access to her magic because the Scarlet Witch siphoned off her powers during their climactic battle at the end of WandaVision. There's an easy way for Agatha to get her powers back, but she hasn't had the opportunity to capitalize yet.

If you remember back to WandaVision, Marvel explains the core of Agatha's powers. Kathryn Hahn's witch was present for the Salem Witch Trials in 1963. Her mother, Evanora Harkness, discovered her daughter was practicing dark magic as a part of their coven. Upon learning this information, Evanora cornered Agatha and the women bound her and interrogated her. As things broke down, the viewer learns that the evil witch's true skill is siphoning off magic from other witches. But, only when they actively attack her. This becomes key in Agatha All Along as her coven has to be careful not to use their magic in a battle against her. If they do, she'll just leech it all away and Agatha will be more dangerous.

To add to her powers, Agatha previously held the Darkhold, which gave her power even more of a boost, at the cost of her own sanity and goodness. (Wanda took that evil book at the end of WandaVision and it didn't really end well for her either!) Once she has that magic back, the "evil" witch will have access to illusions, transmutations, and of course, the ability to steal more magic than she started out with before. It seems as though she and Rio Vidal have a bit of a history and the second those powers are back in place, there will be a massive throwdown. Green witch versus our lady of chaos. But, some fans think that Aubrey Plaza's antagonist could be a red herring. Agatha's powers are yet another way this series builds off of what happened in WandaVision.

Agatha All Along Builds Off Of WandaVision

WandaVision was nothing short of a sensation and Agatha All Along picks up where its sister series left off. Still, despite the runaway popularity of Wanda Maximoff and near-universal acclaim, there were some Marvel fans perplexed when Agatha's show got announced. But, when ComicBook spoke to Marvel TV head Brad Winderbaum, he likened the Agatha All Along viral moment to some other high-profile Marvel character debuts. You just really never know what's going to strike a chord with audiences. When they saw how much everyone loved Kathryn Hahn's witch, it was a no-brainer to continue her story. (Also, it might have given the MCU a path back toward Scarlet Witch being in-play, so that's exciting too.)

"I mean, I would say that if you know the MCU, it might justify a few things that happen in kind of a prologue way," Winderbaum told us. "But if you're coming to it straight from WandaVision or you're coming to it, frankly, never having watched another Marvel show before, you get the information you need about the characters you need for the journey."

"Well, it really comes down to Jac [Schaefer, showrunner]. And Jac brought that world to life in WandaVision. And Kathryn Hahn embodying that role, I mean, she became an icon on screen," Winderbaum added. "Agatha was always a side character. She's a villain in WandaVision. But like Wolverine showing up in an issue of Incredible Hulk, you never know what the audience is going to respond to. And Agatha was no different. So, as soon as Jac became inspired, we all just went down the road with her."

How do you think Agatha will get her powers back? Check out all the pop culture discussion over at @ComicBook!

If there's one thing that Marvel has done with its Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's trained fans to sit through the credits. After all, many of the entries in the MCU have mid or post credits scenes tucked into them offering little teases of things to come. It's because of the promise of that little bit of tantalizing extra content that fans stay seated as the credits roll and while Agatha All Along doesn't have any tricks or treats hidden at the end of its first two episodes, that doesn't mean there's not something fun for fans just the same. Agatha All Along's credits are packed with all sorts of witchy references and visuals -- including some iconic pop culture witches as well.

Consider them Easter Eggs of their own: the credits feature a blend of more historical references to and images of witches and witchcraft as well as plenty of spooky aesthetics, but there are also nods to things like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bewitched, and more. We've rounded up as many of the references to pop culture we caught in the credits to Agatha All Along. It's possible that we've missed a few -- Marvel is really good at those Easter Eggs, after all -- but there are some pretty great nods to the great witches of entertainment here to enjoy.

Bewitched

That animated purple clad dark-haired witch riding her broomstick across a moonlit sky? Sure, it's likely meant to represent Agatha, but it's a direct ode to the iconic television series Bewitched. Bewitched aired on ABC from September 17, 1964, through March 25, 1972, and followed a witch who married an ordinary man, choosing to live an ordinary, magic-free life in the suburbs, something her family doesn't agree with. As you can imagine, hijinks ensue. Interestingly, WandaVision also referenced Bewitched.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The second pop culture witch referenced in the credits is Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in her witch form, commonly referred to as the "old hag". Not only does this reference serve as a nice nod to Disney broadly -- Snow White is a beloved Disney animated classic and Agatha All Along is streaming on Disney+ -- but it is also a nod to how many stories present witches: old, sinister, creepy, and sometimes with warts and, as Patti LuPone's Lilia puts it, poisoning apples and eating babies. Oh, and in the clip in the credits, the witch is descending into a hidden space under what appears to be a heavy door in the floor. Feels like a nod to the Witches' Road to us.

The Wizard of Oz

The third reference isn't a reference to a witch per se, but to a story with an iconic witch. We mean, of course, The Wizard of Oz. The reference here is art from L. Frank Baum's book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and sees Dorothy Gale meeting the Cowardly Lion. The Wizard of Oz reference actually happens twice in the credits, however. Later in the credits there's a figurine dressed in black witch attire with green skin, a description befitting the Wicked Witch of the West.

The Simpsons

Here's one you probably didn't expect to see: The Simpsons. We get an appearance from Lisa Simpson dressed as a witch in the end credits, likely from the "Treehouse of Horror XIX" episode since that episode sees Lisa dress in a witch costume for Halloween, though The Simpsons has had a number of episodes that reference witchcraft and Wicca over the years.

The Craft

Perhaps the briefest but most unique reference in the credits is to 1996's The Craft. It's the only live-action clip in the credits that appears to be directly from another entertainment property and in this case, it comes from the iconic scene in which Nancy (Fairuza Balk) goes full witch to deal with Chris (Skeet Ulrich) -- we'd recognize those boot tips anywhere.

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes arrive on Wednesdays.

Agatha All Along has arrived on Disney+ and already the Marvel series is casting its spell on viewers with its follow up to the events of WandaVision. Just two episodes in, the series has not only brought the fan-favorite Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn) back, freeing her from Wanda's spell, but also given viewers new witches as Agatha assembled her coven and started off on the Witches' Road. But while Agatha All Along is a mere two episodes into the journey, the new series is not only answering some major MCU questions (and creating some new ones, too) but it's also weaving elements of real-world magic and witchcraft lore into the mix as well. That's right, the premiere of Agatha All Along had some interesting references to magic outside of the comic books that you might have missed -- and we're breaking them down as well as their general meanings.

Warning: spoilers for the first two episodes of Agatha All Along beyond this point. Read on only if you want to know.

In the first two episodes of Agatha All Along, quite a few things happen. First, the spell that Agatha has been under that kept her clueless to her true identity is broken thanks to Wanda Maximoff presumably being dead and then, encouraged by Teen, she decides to walk the Witches' Road to regain her powers and has to assemble a coven in order to do so -- though assembling that coven is easier said than done as Agatha doesn't have the best of reputations. Across these actions, however, there are some elements that are both important to the story being told but also references to real world witchcraft and lore. The first of these is the locket that Agatha picks up when reporting to the discovery of a dead woman in the first episode. Fans may have recognized the piece of jewelry as something that Agatha wore in WandaVision, but there is more to it than just that. The locket actually is a representation of the Triple Goddess, also known as the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Historically, the concept goes back to numerous ancient civilizations -- deities appearing in groups of three are not uncommon in ancient religion, think the Graces, the Horae, or the Fates in Greek mythology --but the specific idea of the Triple Goddess as presented here is more contemporary and part of larger Neopaganism with the Triple Goddess aligning to different phases of the moon and different phases of womanhood.

Another witchcraft reference in the Agatha All Along premiere is the thing keeping Joe Locke's character from revealing his real name. When Agatha asks Teen who he is he answers, but Agatha can't hear him because his mouth is closed by what appears to be some sort of script across his mouth. His lips are, literally (at least in magical terms) sealed. What that is a sigil which is explained as a spell meant to conceal, but that's a little bit of oversimplification, at least in terms of real-world magic. While the word sigil is derived from the Latin term meaning seal, in their most basic form sigils are merely magical symbols that represent a specific idea or intention of the person using them. Their creation and uses in magic can vary by practitioner's tradition, but some common ones are things like protection sigils on doors, prosperity sigils on candles lit for various purposes, etc. Ultimately, they are about intention -- which, of course, in the case of Agatha All Along really makes one question the intention of whoever used this one on Teen.

The third most obvious -- and perhaps most ominous -- reference to magic and lore in the Agatha All Along premiere involves the appearance of a crow or a raven that Agatha sees and is visibly unsettled by. This is another one of those "your mileage may vary" type of things as many who follow magic practices see birds from the Corvus family -- aka ravens and crows -- as good symbols, they can also be associated with darker elements -- including death, transformation, and the unknown. For some, it comes down to the number of crows or ravens sighted -- and a single bird can be considered bad luck. Clearly, Agatha thinks so.

As with any belief system or symbols of those beliefs, elements of magic and witchcraft can vary based on tradition. The three highlighted here may have deeper meanings based on practice, practitioner, and tradition. What is interesting, however, is how Agatha All Along is incorporating these aspects of real-world belief into the series and using it to enrich the story and deepen the mystery -- and it will be even more interesting to see how much deeper things will go the further we get down the Witches' Road.

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+. New episodes arrive on Wednesdays.

The Harley Quinn animated series has become a beloved aspect of DC's movies and television shows, thanks to its distinct and adult-oriented approach to superheroes and supervillains. The show's popularity has even led to a spinoff series, Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, which made its debut on Max earlier this summer. As fans wait to see if Kite Man gets renewed for a sophomore season, it sounds like the overall franchise isn't stopping anytime soon. While speaking to ComicBook about his work on both shows, executive producer Dean Lorey teased that there are more Harley spinoffs in the works, but he is unable to provide any details about what they might entail.

"We love where we're at right now with what we've been calling the 'Harleyverse,'" Lorey explained. "It's very exciting to have multiple projects coming out that we've been working on. I mean, Kite Man was a major step for us, to be able to bring that out. I know that a lot of people were kind of wondering why we would pick Kite Man as the first character to come out with, because there are a lot of characters. And we talked about many things, but we thought he was sort of a fun, easy person to start with. Plus, he has a giant potential redemption arc for himself. And so we thought we would do that. We have a lot of other ones that we're really hoping to bring out, things that are pretty deep in development. We really want to build the universe out, and we've gotten a lot of support from James Gunn and Peter Safran, and Warner Brothers Animation is really behind it. So we're really looking forward to building out this world."

"I wish I could [say more]," Lorey added. "In fact, I'm desperate to. But I can't. I'm hoping to have some news relatively soon on at least one of them. Believe me, nobody wants to talk about it more than me."

What Is Kite Man: Hell Yeah! About?

In Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, Kite Man and Golden Glider take their relationship to the next level by opening a bar in the shadow of Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom. Nobody said serving cold ones to the most dangerous rogues outside of Arkham Asylum would be easy, but sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and how to hide a body.

The cast of Kite Man: Hell Yeah! includes Matt Oberg as Kite Man, Stephanie Hsu as Golden Glider, James Adomian as Bane, Natasia Demetriou as Malice, Janelle James as Queen of Fables, Jonathan Banks as Noonan, Keith David as Darkseid, Michael Imperioli as Joe/Moe Dubelz, Rory Scovel as Gus the Goon, Lance Reddick as Lex Luthor, and Judith Light as Helen Villigan.

Harley Quinn and Kite Man: Hell Yeah! are both streaming exclusively on Max.

Agatha All Along isn't shy about the needle drops from the word go and the songs are probably going to keep flowing throughout the series. Marvel Studios began a trip down The Witches' Road with the fans this week and there's quite a road trip playlist brewing. Clearly, they knew that "The Ballad of the Witches Road" would be a hit. But, the viewers are really loving some of the throwback inclusions as well. "The Season of the Witch" seems to be in full swing after that first episode of Agatha All Along. People are digging in to figure out what artists were featured and what might be coming up in the following weeks.

In the promotional tour for the new Disney+ show, the focus might have been on WandaVision's viral earworm "Agatha All Along." But, this new show is leaning more heavily on real-world songs for its soundtrack. (Let's not mince words here, the theme songs for every "era" of WandaVision was one of the most memorable parts of the series.) Besides the previously mentioned Donovan hit, there were plenty of interesting choices like Kuljit Sing Bhamra, Blackhand, and Natalie Poole to tide you over until our trip down The Witches Road continues next week. Check out each of these songs as they got stuck in your head right here down below!

"The Ballad of the Witches' Road"

D23 brought a ton of Marvel surprises this year. But, for Agatha fans, it also brought our first real peek at this sweeping musical number. Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, and the entire cast came out to sing this one live. "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" forms the backbone of Agatha All Along. It's both the story condensed and the key for the character to enter their perilous journey. Patti LuPone singing in a Marvel show??? Sign us up.

"The Ballad of the Witches' Road (True Crime Version)"

Episode 1's main hook is that Agatha Harkness is still stuck in the spell from the end of WandaVision. As a condition of her punishment, she's been living in a fake reality themed like a gritty police procedural. Detective Agnes O'Connor is a tough customer, and this "credits treatment" of the series' central song is hysterical to think about upon rewatch.

"The Night Is Ours" - David Gerard Lawrence and Charles Morton

Judging by the teasers for Agatha All Along, we should expect 70s pop and lite-FM jams across the entire length of The Witches' Road. This little song sounds like it's playing out of an AM/FM radio that takes no less than 4 D batteries. It's a perfect fit for the witchy aesthetic that Marvel Studios and showrunner Jac Schaefferare crafting on this project.

"Season Of The Witch" - Donovan

As the credits roll on Agatha's first episode, "Season Of The Witch" plays more like a mission statement than a song choice. (Bonus points for staying with our genre as the album this track hails from is titled Sunshine Superman.) The 1967 jam has a big pop culture footprint to boot. Perhaps one of the essential psychedelic pop songs from any era, it's nice to see audiences that might not have been aware get a big introduction in Agatha All Along.

"On My Mind" - Blackhand

Now, this band isn't a newcomer to the Marvel universe! One of their songs appeared in Ms. Marvel too! This time we're getting spookier. Unfortunately, Blackhand got dealt a wild hand here as their song plays when Teen's "BF" calls and launches a million Hulking theories on social media.

"Visions" - Plastic People

Plastic People's first album leans all the way into 70s aesthetics. This song and others are recorded with the technology of the time. Andre Frutuoso, Joao Goncalo and JT come together to create a driving alternative ditty that incorporates plenty of synthesizers to tickle a retro fancy. The entire Visions album is worth a listen if that sounds like it would be up your alley at all.

"Karakoram" - Kuljit Singh Bhamra

Kuljit Singh Bhamra's instrument of choice is the tabla and "Karakoram" drips drama from that opening note. With all the other touches of psychedelia and the genre's inherent debt to Bhangra and Indian Classical music, it's nice to see this song make its way to the soundtrack for Agatha All Along.

"All Odds" and "The Gallery" - Wild Signals

No?l Brydebell, Nicole Ridgely, Josh Renkow, and Ben Keysaer bring us a mixture of dream pop and shoegaze. The creative team must be fans of their work as they end up in Episode 2 multiple times. It's a good listen overall and fits with the larger aesthetic goals of the show. So, this one goes down easy. Interestingly enough, both of these tracks are from 2020. Big year for developing all of these projects at Marvel Studios.

"The Road to Happiness" - Natalie Poole

Something tells me that The Witches' Road isn't exactly going to be the "road to happiness" for our clandestine coven. This one is a little bit harder to find at the moment. But, maybe we see more of the singer-songwriter on the soundtrack later?

"There's a Road" - Kinney

I'm beginning to sense a theme here. Singer-songwriter vibes again here as Kinney dials up some more of the countryside witch ethos that powers Agatha All Along. If you're looking around on social media and streaming platforms for the artist, 2020's So Glad You Exist might be worth a spin if electronically-tinged atmospheric folk interests you!

"The Ballad of the Witches' Road (Sacred Chant Version)" - Kathryn Hahn, Shasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp and Patti LuPone

"Down, down, down the road. Down the Witches Road." This is one of the versions that is stuck in everyone's heads after Episode 2. Here's to a fun journey.

Did you like the music during the first two episodes? Check out all the pop culture conversations at @ComicBook!

James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DC Universe is about to become a reality, beginning with the animated series Creature Commandos. Written by Gunn, the series' take on the DC team of the same name boasts an impressive ensemble cast and crew, including veteran DC executive producer Dean Lorey. While speaking to ComicBook about his work on Harley Quinn and Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, Lorey offered high praise for Creature Commandos, teasing that fans will be blown away by the eclectic cast of characters when the series makes its debut in December.

"It was great, and it was really different in the sense that James Gunn had written all of the scripts before we started shooting," Lorey explained. "Usually, I'm one of the writers on a show, even if I'm running it. But James had fully written the scripts. They were great scripts. Everybody was really, really excited about them. So the process went into production quicker than normal, because there were scripts that were ready to go. And we were really lucky to get voice cast that [we have]. I think the Harley voice cast is great, and Kite Man, and I think the Creature Commandos voice cast is easily the equal of those. It just was a pure pleasure to be working with James, who had such a very clear vision of what he wanted the show to be. He really knows that world. He knows it backwards and forwards. So just in terms of making the show, it's been a pleasure, and everybody has been great to work with. I think it's going to be a significant release. I don't know if people really know what they're in for yet, but it's fantastic. We're so proud of it."

"God, I love them all," Lorey said when asked about his favorite character. "I really do love them all. But in a way, my heart is with G.I. Robot. I just love him. He's played by Sean Gunn, and I was really curious when Sean came in to record, because I didn't really have a take on what that would sound like, how robot-y would it be, and all of that. He brought such a beautiful humanity to it. He also played Weasel, another great character. Every one of those characters is heavily featured in different episodes, so you really get to fully know all those characters... It's definitely an adult show. There's a real sweetness to it, though, to many of the characters, as you get into their stories."

What Is Creature Commandos About?

Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails... they're your last, worst option.

The cast of Creature Commandos includes Steve Agee as Economos, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana, Anya Chalotra as Circe, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Sean Gunn as GI Robot & Weasel, David Harbour as Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Indira Varma as The Bride, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. The series is written and executive produced by James Gunn. Based on DC characters and produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation; additional executive producers include Peter Safran, Dean Lorey, and Sam Register; Rick Morales serves as a supervising producer.

Creature Commandos will premiere exclusively on Max on Thursday, December 5th.

The Penguin wasted no time in shaking up the status quo, and that one event goes on to define a huge part of the season for both Oz and the rest of the criminal underworld. The first episode is titled After Hours, and though it begins with the immediate fallout and devastation from Riddler's grand plan in The Batman, the show then shifts to Oz, and pretty soon after a major DC villain is taken completely off the board. Spoilers are incoming for The Penguin's first episode, so if you haven't watched it yet you've been warned. Alright, with that said, let's dive in.

An Unexpected Twist

After the Riddler's actions are given some spotlight, Oz is back in the driver's seat and heads to Carmine Falcone's house to break into a vault behind the wall. He takes a folder of blackmail documents but then is confronted by Carmine's son Alberto Falcone, who just pretty much caught Oz red-handed trying to steal from his dead father.

Oz attempts to weasel his way out of it and successfully brings Alberto around enough to talk him off the ledge and get him to a point where they start drinking and talking. The conversation is going fine until Oz shares a story about a gangster in his neighborhood when he was young, a gangster that he and the rest of the people in the neighborhood looked up to. He even reveals that they threw him a parade in honor of him after his death.

Alberto is at first angry at the insinuation that he should aim to be like this person, but then he sees that this isn't what Oz is trying to get him to do, but more what Oz would want for himself. Alberto starts to laugh at Oz and insult him, but he pushes things too far, as Oz then pulls out his gun and shoots him multiple times right there. Alberto falls dead and at first Oz chuckles at shutting him up, though he then realizes exactly what he's done, charting the course for the rest of the series.

Why It Matters

There are two big reasons that this development matters, both in terms of the show itself and how it changes a few theories fans had thanks to the comics. Regarding the show, the impact is pretty obvious and incredibly substantial. With Carmine dead, Alberto was the new head of the Falcone crime family, and now Oz has just shot and killed the new head of organized crime in Gotham City. That's pretty big, and if the wrong people find out Oz killed him, Oz will soon follow him to his grave.

The Long Halloween and Dark Victory

As for the comics, Alberto is tied to an all-time Batman classic, which is Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween and its sequel Dark Victory. In that story, Carmine is very much alive, and it's actually Alberto who does most of the killing, as he continues to assassinate members of the Falcone and Maroni crime families as the mysterious killer known as Holiday.

Alberto's string of murders creates tension between the two families, which then leads Falcone to hire villains like Poison Ivy to help defend his organization. Eventually, Alberto kills Salvatore Maroni and is captured by Batman, ending his killing spree, but Alberto is back on the streets in Dark Victory after some time in Arkham.

Alberto is still dangerous in Dark Victory, but he's actually at the center of other people's grand plans, particularly Calendar Man and Scarecrow. Alberto is made to see and hear the ghost of his dead father, who was shot by Two-Face in the previous story. That continues to drive him further into insanity, but he is able to see through it eventually. That said, it doesn't actually help in the long run, as he is eventually smothered by his Sofia after suffering wounds in a previous fight with Calendar Man. So, any theories of Alberto having a part to play that would tie into his role in Long Halloween or Dark Victory have pretty much been dashed.

What have you thought of The Penguin so far? You can talk all things The Penguin and DC with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

For several years now, DC's Harley Quinn animated series has been providing viewers with a one-of-a-kind take on the franchise's mythos. Created by Patrick Schumacker, Justin Halpern, and Dean Lorey, the series has navigated multiple streaming services to become a bonafide fan-favorite. The franchise's first spinoff series, Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, even premiered its debut season earlier this summer.

Lorey recently sat down with ComicBook to discuss the wackiest parts of showrunning Kite Man's first season, the future of the "Harleyverse", his involvement with James Gunn's forthcoming Creature Commandos animated series, and more.

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ComicBook: As a DC fan, I've really loved seeing the continued success of the Harley universe. How does it feel, from a creative perspective, to now be at the point where the show has tie-in comics, a spinoff, and all of this love from fans?

Dean Lorey: We love where we're at right now with what we've been calling the "Harleyverse." It's very exciting to have multiple projects coming out that we've been working on. I mean, Kite Man was a major step for us, to be able to bring that out. I know that a lot of people were kind of wondering why we would pick Kite Man as the first character to come out with, because there are a lot of characters. And we talked about many things, but we thought he was sort of a fun, easy person to start with. Plus, he has a giant potential redemption arc for himself. And so we thought we would do that. We have a lot of other ones that we're really hoping to bring out, things that are pretty deep in development. We really want to build the universe out, and we've gotten a lot of support from James Gunn and Peter Safran, and Warner Brothers Animation is really behind it. So we're really looking forward to building out this world.

Can you tease anything at all about the things that are in development?

I wish I could. In fact, I'm desperate to. But I can't. I'm hoping to have some news relatively soon on at least one of them. Believe me, nobody wants to talk about it more than me.

I've spoken to Justin and Patrick about Harley versus Kite Man, and how they really gave you the creative reins this time around. What was it like to take that step in the creative partnership that you guys have had across all the shows you've worked on?

Well, we created Harley together many years ago, and the three of us ran it in seasons one and two. Then I went off and did a show called Big Shot, and they were off doing their thing, so we weren't really in charge for three and four. And so I came on on five to run that season. And it was fun to do, because it was kind of odd. I've been part of the creation of the thing, and then I came back and sort of inherited a world that other people had been working on and all that, which was kind of interesting to do, actually. I really did enjoy that. We wanted to get back to basics a little bit on Harley season five, so we have a new environment for it, and a new villain that was more than a little teased at the end of Kite Man. So that was enormous fun, to be able to come back on.

And there's a lot of people that I've been working with, and people that I've wanted to bring up as showrunners. On Harley, I worked quite a bit with Katie Rich. I expect that she'll be running a show hopefully soon. And then with Kite Man, there's a guy named Chris Mars that worked with me. He was like my number two on the show, and if there's further seasons of Kite Man -- and I wish there are -- he'll likely run those. So it's been really fun to do that. It was kind of a lot to juggle for a little bit because, ultimately, I was doing Kite Man, Harley season five, and Creature Commandos at the same time. So it was kind of a lot, and that's why I really had to rely on good people around.

Cheers has been a huge touchstone for Kite Man, ever since it was announced as Noonan's. What do you think it is about anchoring it around a bar that is so inherently has so much potential in terms of storytelling?

Well, first of all, I'm a giant fan of the Hitman comic by Garth Ennis. In fact, some years back, I wrote a pilot for the Sci-Fi Network, hoping to get a Hitman show. I always had a real soft spot in my heart for Noonan's, just as a concept. We were looking for ways to distinguish Kite Man from Harley, and we decided that maybe what we'd do is just a spin on the multi-cam -- even though we go way outside of what a multi-cam normally would do -- but do a more character-driven group of dregs and villains and people that normally wouldn't be taken seriously by anybody. Whereas Harley and gang, a lot of them were sort of known, they're bigger villains and all of that. But in Kite Man, they tend to be the smaller ones, so that was one of the ways we distinguished. And we just really liked the idea of, like in Cheers, that it's a place for people to gather that don't have anywhere else to go. That was, fundamentally, what we wanted to do there.

When we talked before the series premiere, you couldn't really talk the spoilers of the Beast Mode arc. Now that we can, how important was it to tackle toxic masculinity in such a ridiculous way?

It was very important to us because, when we were designing Beast Mode, we knew that we wanted Kite Man's goal [and] overall arc for the season was to get a power, because that was the one thing he didn't have, and it made him feel lesser than everybody else. We wanted to give him a power, at least for a period of time, and we didn't know what it should be. We batted around a lot of ideas and finally we decided, 'Well, he's the nicest guy around. Everybody likes to be with him. He really is thoughtful and caring about other people. He's barely a villain, in a way. We should just make him the opposite of that.' And the opposite of that seemed to be a very toxic, male energy kind of dude. It took us a little while because, initially, he turned into that in the earlier scripts of it, and he was just a douche. But then we hit on the idea of: Kite Man doesn't want to be that. He got into this thing that he doesn't know how to get out of, and he's desperate for somebody to help him.

We love the idea about his humanity poking through Beast Mode, and that all he really wants to do is go back to being the person that he used to be. Beast Mode seemed like a great expression of the opposite of Kite Man. And it was fun for us to see that side of Kite Man, and also to make fun of all the bullies and people who used to give us all kind of grief in high school. So we spent a lot of time just pitching out 'What are his powers?' His powers were just, basically, anything that makes him an asshole. And so, we had a lot of fun doing that.

Another spoilery arc I have to ask about, of course, is the time-traveling toilet. How did that pitch kind of come about? Was there any sort of pushback or back and forth in bringing that to life?

There wasn't really any pushback. We decided that it would be really fun to place Bane in the 80s. I don't know why. We just sort of thought like that might be a nice decade to see Bane in. I grew up in the 80s and it seemed like everything that was dangerous and sort of naughty that Bane would really get into, like candy cigarettes were one. That's when they put asbestos into homes, and stuff like that. And then we were trying to figure out, 'Okay, if we're going to do a time travel thing, how do we get them there?' And I don't remember who came up with it, but we sort of thought, 'Let's not like have it be another villain with a power or a cosmic device or anything like that. Like, let's just be in a normal object.'

And then, we spent a lot of time coming up with the rules of how the portal potty works. What do you have to do to go back in time? That turned out to be a number two and a flush. I'm not even sure we ever specified this, but then returning back to the present involved, I think, peeing and then a flush. There's a lot more to it that we haven't really explored yet, but we built out a lot of the rules of the portal potty.

Now that the entire season of Kite Man is out into the world, what would you say you're the most proudest of?

First of all, I think the romance between Golden Glider and Kite Man, I think we did a really good job of making it distinct from the Poison Ivy relationship that he had in Harley. We always sort of felt like that relationship was built on the idea that Ivy is just way out of Kite Man's league. There's no real reason in the world for her to date him. Originally, it was in episode two, the Bar Mitzvah episode of Harley season one, that we introduced him. We just needed like the worst D-list villain to be hitting on Ivy to show 'This is what she has to put up with, guys like this.' And then, we kind of fell in love with the character. So for Kite Man, we were looking for a relationship where you'd feel like 'We like these two together. We'd like to see them happy, and we'd like to see it move forward.' I think we did a pretty good job of building that relationship, giving them problems and all of that, but making you care about them in a way that was different from Kite Man and Ivy.

The other thing that I was really happy with it was the resolve of Kite Man's dilemma. We had started with a problem we didn't have an answer to. We always knew we wanted to have Kite Man, for some reason, face off with Darkseid over the Anti-Life Equation. But then the question was, how could Kite Man defeat Darkseid? We've already established he can't really do anything. What would that look like, and what would be satisfying? And then, somewhere in there, we started thinking about, 'Maybe it's just his basic decency.' What allows him to win is that he's the only one who can control the Anti-Life Equation, at least for a small amount of time, before letting it consume him, because he doesn't have much ego to have his will bent. The way that that resolved, I was very happy with. I like that it came from a good place for him, and I was particularly happy with Exorcist rules. So I love it.

I have seen a lot of love for Powerless on social media lately. People are really arguing that the show was before its time, and really highlighting parts of it. I know it didn't really get its due while it was on air, but how do you feel about the legacy of it, all of these years after the fact?

I mean, I really enjoyed making it with those guys. It was a little tough at the beginning, because we had this show that was, fundamentally, a superhero show. The one mandate that we had was that we had to go really, really light on the superhero stuff, and we were kind of like, 'Well then, why did you ask us to do this?' And then there got to be a point, a few episodes in, where it became clear the network was no longer really interested in it. They sort of backed off and let us do more what we wanted to do from the start, and I think that those episodes became more, more fun. And we were able to bring people onto that show that we later used heavily in Harley Quinn. Ron Funches was a lead on the show. Alan Tudyk, he played several roles for us. Natalie Morales was on it, we had her on the show. Matt Oberg was in it for an episode, and we always knew we wanted to use him. So it was fun in that way. I miss the show. I like working with all those people. It's fun to work in live action. Most of my career has been live action, the animated stuff is relatively new, but Justin, Pat, and I really have loved working there.

I have to ask about Creature Commandos. What has that creative process been like, versus your work on the Harleyverse?

It was great, and it was really different in the sense that James Gunn had written all of the scripts before we started shooting. Usually, I'm one of the writers on a show, even if I'm running it. But James had fully written [it]. They were great scripts. Everybody was really, really excited about them. So the process went into production quicker than normal, because there were scripts that were ready to go. And we were really lucky to get voice cast that [we have]. I think the Harley voice cast is great, and Kite Man, and I think the Creature Commandos voice cast is easily the equal of those. It just was a pure pleasure to be working with James, who had such a very clear vision of what he wanted the show to be. He really knows that world backwards and forwards. So just in terms of like making the show, it's been a pleasure, and everybody has been great to work with. I think it's going to be a significant release. I don't know if people really know what they're in for yet, but it's fantastic. We're so proud of it.

For you, personally, which character on Creature Commandos are you most excited for people to meet?

God, I love them all. I really do love them all. But in a way, my heart is with G.I. Robot. I just love him. He's played by Sean Gunn, and I was really curious when Sean came in to record, because I didn't really have a take on what that would sound like, how robot-y would it be, and all of that. He brought such a beautiful humanity to it. He also played Weasel, another great character. Every one of those characters is heavily featured in different episodes, so you really get to fully know all those characters.

It's definitely an adult show. There's a real sweetness to it, though, to many of the characters, as you get into their stories.

At this point, you've probably done years of interviews about the Harleyverse and about working in DC. What's one thing that you've always wanted people to ask you that you haven't been asked yet?

Oh, wow. If the question was 'What's the best thing that ever happened to you in making the show?' Probably the best thing that ever happened to us was that nobody was really paying close attention to it while we were making it. It was just this animated thing that I'm not sure anybody had any real expectations for. It was going to be going on DC Universe, which wasn't even a thing at the time, and wasn't a thing too long after it started. There were some people that were passionate about it at Warner Brothers Animation, but nobody was really paying attention, and because of that we really got to make the show that we wanted to make.

It wasn't until much later that, because it tested really highly, people started paying attention. And then they were like, 'What is this? What are you doing?' And I think there was a moment of panic because they had no idea that we were making a show as R rated as it is, but they left us [alone]. Had we gone through the usual development process, I don't know that we would have been able to end up with a show that was so purely what we wanted to do. And then, that's just informed the universe of it. You look at Kite Man, and you can feel it's very much in the same universe. And, hopefully there will be other ones to announce that people will be excited about.

Harley Quinn and Kite Man: Hell Yeah! are both streaming exclusively on Max.

The spooky season is upon us and for many animation fans, there has been a go-to series that has been revisited with each passing year. While said television show was a limited series and a fan favorite, the Cartoon Network program wasn't able to remain a part of MAX's line-up. In this streaming day and age, subscribers have been worried about losing content in recent years and this particular series fits that bill. Luckily, while there had been rumors that the Cartoon Network show would be leaving Hulu, the streaming service confirmed to fans that this was not the case.

Over The Garden Wall is the series in question, first premiering on Cartoon Network in 2014 and harboring ten episodes to its name. Despite each episode being only around eleven minutes long, the impact that the Elijah Wood-led series had on the animation world cannot be overstated. The moody atmosphere, mature story, and amazing animation helped make Over The Garden Wall a hit and when fans saw on social media that there was a possibility of Hulu removing it from its library, many sprung into action. While it hasn't been confirmed if this "revolution" helped turn the tide, Hulu assured fans that Over The Garden Wall was not leaving its service any time soon.

Over The Garden Wall: The Initial Fears

On Hulu's platform, it appeared to many that Over The Garden Wall was getting the axe, listing an "expiration date" or September 19th. The announcement not only saw some major influencers take offense but Gravity Falls creator, Alex Hirsch, was stunned at the revelation. In a now-deleted Tweet, Hirsh expressed his frustration with the fan-favorite series potentially getting the axe. Luckily, the series will remain and animation fans are taking the opportunity to celebrate.

Okay, so actually Over the Garden Wall is NOT leaving Hulu at all; its expiration badge was just an error (similar to that little stretch of time in 2022 when ChalkZone disappeared from Paramount+). pic.twitter.com/DZOnPE8N5d

-- Jason the Cartoon Fan ? (@JasonSt77097165) September 20, 2024

Over the Garden Wall is NOT leaving Hulu! Just got official confirmation! (Most episodes are already back up and the rest should be up before too long). Phew!

Happy Fall everyone! ???? pic.twitter.com/7cbnIzbMyL

-- Patrick McHale (@Patrick_McHale) September 20, 2024

Over The Garden MAX

While Over The Garden Wall might be safe on Hulu for now, the series was stricken from Warner Bros' streaming service, MAX, last year in 2023. The platform was no stranger to "purging" some fan-favorite animated series as many fans are still raw regarding the decisions for MAX to drop shows like Close Enough, Infinity Train, Aquaman: King of Atlanta, Ok KO, and quite a few others.

When Over The Garden Wall was dropped from MAX, series creator Patrick McHale expressed his disappointment regarding the decision, "It's funny, I just saw this now. Coincidentally, I've been fighting the urge to tweet this all day: "I hope somebody is out there ripping and saving all the stuff on all these streaming services because I'm pretty sure so much of it is going to disappear and become lost media."

What Makes Over The Garden Wall a Halloween Classic?

Over The Garden Wall feels like the perfect story for the fall season, seeing two brothers exploring a world of magic and mystery while wearing their Halloween costumes. Initially keeping their origins a secret, the limited series would unfurl Wirt and Greg's story while incorporating hilarious tunes, spooky settings, and colorful locales. In many ways, Over The Garden Wall feels like the closest North American project to a Studio Ghibli film, maintaining a level of heart and creativity that might rival some of Hayao Miyazaki's biggest works.

While Over The Garden Wall is streaming on Hulu, it is also available to purchase digitally. Hopefully, the limited series will remain on the streaming service for years to come and allow more fans to discover its rustic tale.

Want to stay up to date on this fall favorite? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for all the latest updates on the world of Over The Garden Wall.

The Penguin premiered on HBO and Max, and after Episode 1 was over, DC and HBO released a new trailer previewing what will happen in the weeks ahead of the show - which you can watch below! Like the previous trailer for The Penguin, this "Weeks Ahead" trailer begins with an actual clip of a scene between Oswald Cobb/Penguin (Colin Farrell) and his mother Francis Cobb (Deirdre O'Connell), in which Oz is being coerced into swearing some kind of vow to his mother. After that, we get another great mix of voiceover narration, sound bites, and a sizzle reel of footage all hinting at a twisted mix of mental/verbal chess games and an all-out, gun-busting war that will be fought for control of Gotham City's underworld.

Some of the highlights from the new sizzle reel of footage include shots of what looks to be a young Oswald (hinting at some kind of flashback portion of a future episode); street kid Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) walking the razor's edge both internally and externally as he tries to play "Robin" to Oz's "Batman" (source of traumas yet unknown); Oz and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) continuing their excellent mind/word games, while Oz seems to pull a blade and attack underboss Johnny Viit. Other scenes hint at Sofia getting her own larger arc looking back at Arkham; Francis Cobb slowly but surely revealing her dragon-lady true face - oh, and the bullets, bombs, and blood that will be exchanged as the different gangland factions inevitably come to some violent collisions.

So far, reactions to The Penguin premiere have been overwhelmingly positive, with most viewers putting the show on the tier of HBO's The Sopranos with its crime drama/family drama intrigue and examination of truly savage psychopathic characters. There's even Emmys talk already been thrown around for the likes of Farrell, Milioti, and O'Connell - and this new trailer is only making it seem like that early talk is going to be fully warranted by the time this show ends.

In ComicBook's review of The Penguin, critic Jenna Anderson writes: "The Penguin redefines what verisimilitude can mean in the world of comic book adaptations... 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: New Episode Release Schedule

Here's the release schedule for the rest of The Penguin season 1. New episodes will air on HBO and be released to stream on Max at the same time.

• Sunday, Sept. 29th: Episode 2 - "Inside Man"
• Sunday, Oct. 6th: Episode 3 - "Bliss"
• Sunday, Oct. 13th: Episode 4 - "Cent'Anni"
• Sunday, Oct. 20th: Episode 5 - "Homecoming"
• Sunday, Oct. 27th: Episode 6 - "Gold Summit"
• Sunday, Nov. 3rd: Episode 7 - "Top Hat"
• Sunday, Nov. 10th: Episode 8 (Finale) - "Great or Little Thing"

The Penguin Cast Explained

The Penguin stars Colin Farrell as Oswald "Oz" Cobb/Penguin, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Michael Kelly as Johnny Viti, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Deirdre O'Connell as Francis Cobb, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, James Madio as Milos Grapa, Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo and Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush.

The premiere episode was written by Craig Zobel (The Hunt, American Gods) and director by Lauren LeFranc, who also serves as creator and showrunner of the series.

The Bad Batch's Disney+ series may be over, but their adventures are continuing in comic book form. Star Wars: The Bad Batch ran for three seasons, with the final season concluding earlier this year on Disney+. The streaming series followed Clone Force 99, a group of clone troopers first introduced in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. What made the Bad Batch unique is they all had genetic mutations that kept them from falling under the control of the Emperor's Order 66 and turning on their Jedi allies. Now, fans can revisit the Clone Wars and a dangerous mission the Bad Batch were a part of.

StarWarsNewsNet.com announced Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories - The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents, a five-issue miniseries by writer Michael Moreci (Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories, Burning Fields) and artist Reese Hannigan (Black Spot, Terminus), with Elisabetta D'Amico (Black Widow, Cloak and Dagger), Michael Atiyeh (Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) and lettering by Comicraft (Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories--Qui-Gon, Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures).

Hyperspace Stories are a set of anthologies released by Dark Horse that cover different eras in the Star Wars timeline. Dark Horse acquired the license for Star Wars comics in 2022, taking over the all-ages line from IDW. Marvel still publishes Star Wars titles and is getting ready for a relaunch that moves its storytelling to the period after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

The art below is not the final cover art, but it does give a sense of what fans can expect when the series debuts early next year. Valeria "Lux" Favoccia (Stranger Things, By A Thread) is doing covers, with variant cover art by French Carlomagno (The Dead Lucky, Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories Volume 1).

What is Dark Horse's Star Wars: The Bad Batch comic about?

The Clones of the Bad Batch have been through some intense missions throughout the Clone Wars and it's said they have a 100% success rate. But this time, they may have met their match. In Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents, they are on a mission to hunt down the mysterious Separatist ghost agent who executed a daring heist on Coruscant! The thief's trail leads Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, and Tech to the seediest corners of the galaxy, a place where kingpins and thugs threaten the clones' mission--and their lives!

"I think everyone who knows my Star Wars work knows I love the Clone Wars... And the Bad Batch is probably my favorite part of that," Moreci said in a statement. "They're just so cool and unique; they're like 1980s action heroes dropped into the Star Wars universe, and I love that. I'm after that look and feel-it's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm just thrilled to bring more Bad Batch stories to life!"

Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents #1 goes on sale January 15, 2025. Let us know your thoughts on the series on social media @ComicBook!