For more than 60 years, James Bond has thrilled movie audiences with his globetrotting exploits – battling a collection of iconic villains, romancing a plethora of beautiful women, and tinkering with various gadgets.  What Bond observers sometimes forget, however, is that the super spy’s adventures actually began on the page in a series of novels by writer Ian Fleming, who based Bond on a variety of figures he met during World War II. Those same observers also might not realize that Bond has highlighted more than his fair share of comics, and they range from movie retreads to wholly original…

The news that James Gunn and Peter Safran were out as heads of DC Studios came as a shock to many fans. Apart from the stumble of Supergirl, a majority of the projects under Gunn and Safran’s tenure were well-received in terms of critical acclaim and box office hauls. Apparently that wasn’t enough for Skydance heads David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz, as a new report from The Hollywood Reporter claims that part of the reason Gunn and Safran were ousted is due to the fact that the Gunn-directed Superman apparently “did not net out, or have the kind of pop…

Midway through Clayface, our antihero protagonist Matt Hagen celebrates his renewed celebrity status by engaging in a rousing game of pick-up basketball. The scene sends a shiver down the spines of moviegoers, and not just because it ends with Hagen discovering his regeneration powers, which will eventually lead him down the path of evil. It scares us because we’ve already watched a Batman villain use their powers to play basketball in a movie. And that movie was terrible. The movie, of course, was 2004’s Catwoman. The scene, of course, found artist Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) encountering Detective Tom Lone (Benjamin…

This article is presented in partnership with Upper Deck. Don’t pawcrastinate and wait until the last minute to get your cat-loving friends and family meowmbers their gifts this year. No one wants to be running around at the eleventh hour like a cat being chased by the dreaded vacuum cleaner! Save yourself the stress and purrchase these meowrvelous, I Can Has Cheezburger-approved gifts with plenty of time to spare so you can enjoy a cat nap or two as the hectic holiday season approaches. Some people are really good at giving gifts, but I am not one of those people. That’s…

This article contains spoilers for VisionQuest episode 8. In a surprise to even those who had advanced screeners and wrote all of their reviews in good faith that they were being shown the entire show and are not at all grouchy about finding out that their articles are now wrong, VisionQuest ended with an unexpected post-credits scene. The scene picks up shortly after the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Scarlet Witch gets crushed on Mount Wundagore. In the new material, we look through Wanda’s point of view as the rubble lifts, courtesy of Doctor Doom’s…

This article contains spoilers for VisionQuest episode 8… and Avengers: Doomsday, believe it or not. The VisionQuest has completed. Let the Children’s Crusade begin. Although billed as the third entry in a trilogy that includes WandaVision and Agatha All Along, VisionQuest has mostly felt pretty distinct from those two shows, which put Wanda Maximoff in the center. However, with its finale, Vision and Wanda’s two sons finally reunite, albeit in different bodies, when Billy Kaplan a.k.a. Wiccan and Tommy Shepherd a.k.a. Speed connect via magic. Seeing the two together is obviously good news for fans of the Young Avengers, as…

This article contains spoilers for VisionQuest season 1 episode 8. Early in the VisionQuest finale “Forever,” our big bad Virgil Horton, points out that his grandfather Phineas’ error in creating a flaming robot called the Human Torch is so infamous, that “You Horton’d it” has become a colloquialism for making a mistake. It’s a broad, goofy line, one that recalls the bit in Community about “pulling a Britta,” and it’s just one of many instances of “Forever” embracing TV tropes. This is the climax of a Marvel TV show, so of course, we’ll have a showdown between Vision and Ultron,…

On October 21 of this year, Mass Effect fans were sent reeling by the news that EA decided to shutter studio BioWare, meaning that the beloved sci-fi gaming franchise – alongside DragonAge and who knows how many future projects – were brought to an end. In the weeks since the announcement, fans and actors associated with Mass Effect have launched an online campaign to try and make sure the series lives on. Those fans are in luck, as Prime Video is still slated to bring a Mass Effect TV project to life. A recent report from IGN confirmed that the…

Tonight marks the finale of VisionQuest, and the end of an era for Marvel Television. VisionQuest isn’t just wrapping up a trilogy that began with WandaVision and Agatha All Along; it also marks a shift in Marvel Television’s storytelling strategy. Next year will mark the end of Daredevil: Born Again, while 2028 will debut an entirely new series, Zodiac (which some fans believe will be the long-awaited resurrection of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). Now that Marvel Television is shifting gears, it should look to the WandaVision trilogy for inspiration with its future efforts. For starters, don’t forget that some of the…

It’s been an interesting 24 hours in the world of superhero movies, with not just the news that James Gunn and Peter Safran have been removed as co-heads of DC Studios, but also with information about their dismissal coming clear. Initially, Gunn’s post to social media made it sound like he and Safran willingly stepped down from their position, certainly (but not explicitly) in response to Warner Bros.‘ new ownership under Paramount boss David Ellison, who will combine the two studios into a new company called Skydance. However, a more in-depth article from The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Gunn and…

Like Icarus, Stranger Things flew too close to the sun. What was once a pop culture phenomenon limped to the finish line in its final season, weighed down by a bloated cast, a series of revelations that landed like lead weights, and a polarizing finale that had fans gaslighting themselves into thinking Netflix filmed a secret episode. (Matters weren’t helped when It: Welcome to Derry actually dropped a secret episode!) Now, Netflix is trying to launch a new chapter of the Stranger Things franchise with Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, which takes place 30 years before the main series.…

In a total shocker, James Gunn and Peter Safran are no longer serving as co-heads of DC Studios. According to a news report from Variety, the duo “are stepping down as co-presidents of DC Studios” and will be replaced by Jeremy Latcham, a producer on Marvel Cinematic Universe entries such as Iron Man and The Avengers. Of course, fans were worried about Gunn and Safran’s position at DC Studios when Warner Bros. was sold to Paramount owner David Ellison, who has close ties to Trump administration and previously oversaw an ideological staffing shakeup at CBS News program 60 Minutes. Moreover,…

Godzilla Minus Zero made its much-awaited debut this weekend, and once again, the King of the Monsters reigns supreme. Not only has Minus Zero received positive reviews, but it also took the top spot at the box office. Surely that means that a third movie is in the works, but writer and director Takashi Yamazaki recently revealed that the future of the Godzilla franchise is up in the air.  “I would say it’s about fifty-fifty at this point. I’m quite satisfied and happy with the current ending we have,” Yamazaki told The Hollywood Reporter. “That being said, if Godzilla Minus…

Early in his career as a young adult, Robert Pattinson made a name for himself by telling ridiculous stories to reporters on press tours, most famously one about seeing a clown die in an explosion. So it was amusing to see him get a taste of his own medicine when he and co-star Jennifer Lawrence interviewed one another while promoting the (underrated!) 2025 film Die My Love. Amidst the back and forth, the very much millennial Pattinson found himself shocked that Lawrence refused to accept the fact that he is a member of Generation Z, an exchange that is now…

Hollywood has spent more than a century turning performers into household names, but the stories behind its biggest stars are full of details that rarely make it into movie biographies. Some involve inventions, unexpected career milestones, or the strange beginnings of landmarks that now seem inseparable from the film industry. Others reveal how different the business was in its early decades, when awards were announced months before ceremonies and studios controlled almost every part of a star’s public image. The history is packed with moments that sound almost made up, yet every one of them actually happened in real life.…

When I attended L.A. Comic Con this Halloween weekend, I was floored by the sheer presence that Japanese superhero media franchise Kamen Rider had. There was an official Kamen Rider booth selling figures and Rider Belts, not to mention stunt performers dressed as Kamen Rider MY-TH and Kamen Rider ZEZTZ.  A Kamen Rider panel flew directors and writers all the way out from Japan to discuss the franchise’s 55th anniversary. I was in a packed theater room for an English screening of Agito: Psychic War, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of Kamen Rider Agito; the entire length of said screening…

When Doctor Stephen Strange arrives in Kamar-Taj at the start of the 2016 movie Doctor Strange he thinks he knows everything. As in the Marvel comics by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee that inspired the film, Strange has come to find a cure for his shattered hands. But as an arrogant surgeon and a devoted rationalist, he cannot bring himself to believe in the magic practiced by the Ancient One. Only once the Ancient One opens his third eye and shows him the many worlds of the multiverse does Strange begin to understand. As we saw in the sequel, Doctor…

Last year, Star Wars fans were shocked by the revelation that Lucasfilm turned down The Hunt for Ben Solo, a story that would have followed The Artist Formerly Known as Kylo Ren as he dealt with his redemption in the wake of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Not only would Adam Driver have reprised his role as Ben Solo, but none other than Steven Soderbergh was tapped to direct, with Scott Z. Burns (World War Z) penning the script.  Ultimately, the project never went through as then-Disney heads Bob Iger and Alan Bergman spent a lengthy…

There are a lot of fan conventions out there, but they don’t all embrace the wonderfully weird side of pop culture the way Phantom Fest does. Only at this Houston-based gathering can you discover an unexpected international gem while simultaneously revisiting a beloved cult classic and celebrating alongside the performers and filmmakers who make genre entertainment so memorable. Such is the spirit behind Phantom Fest, which returns in January 2027 with an expanded lineup of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, and everything in between. Running from January 14 to 17 at Houston’s historic River Oaks Theatre, the four-day showcase seeks to…

This article contains major Godzilla Minus Zero spoilers. Our spoiler-free review is here. Have a safe trip. Rarely has such a sweet, innocuous phrase carried such devastating power in a movie as when Akiko (Sae Nagatani) stands atop a lonely slide and cries it again and again. It’s a chant, a prayer for safe passage, but also an agonized outpouring of grief over the soon-to-be absence of her adopted parents Kôichi Shikishima (Ryûnosuke Kamiki) and Noriko Ôishi (Minami Hamabe). In the scene, the loving, doting parents feel compelled to leave, for the good of Akiko they tell themselves, and certainly…