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31 Jul

The Den of Geek Weekly Quiz! Movie & TV Sports

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What popular retro toy, now with its own Dreamworks animated movie franchise, topped the Geller Cup touch football trophy in Friends?Troll DollMy Little PonyTransformersGI JoeMadonna played 'All the Way' Mae Mordabito in which 1990s US sports movie?A League of Their OwnJerry MaguireHappy GilmoreCool RunningsFX American sports documentary series Welcome to Wrexham, following Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny’s soccer team, is set in which country of the United Kingdom?WalesScotlandNorthern IrelandEnglandReportedly the only breed of dog mentioned in the Bible, what is the team nickname of AFC Richmond in Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso?GreyhoundsHuskiesBeaglesBulldogsThe title of which US sports TV drama was followed…

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31 Jul

Bruce Campbell Is Writing the Parts He Always Wanted, and They’re Not Ash

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On the set of his next movie, actor, filmmaker, and pop culture legend Bruce Campbell is in the midst of an epiphany. It’s the first week of his latest directorial feature, and his first dealing with a subject matter as elegiac as that of a widower fulfilling the final wishes of his wife. It’s delicate stuff, and the earliest batch of dailies have just come in. So it of course has to be right now that the obvious potential problem hits him like a thunderbolt. “Ah shit, my leading guy is 66 years old,” Campbell grumbles to himself. As soon…

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31 Jul

Appreciating the Pre-MCU Superhero Movies of the 2000s

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Like anyone else who’s enjoyed a superhero movie in the last 25 years, Ryan Reynolds is having a moment this week. Only for him, it is obviously much more so. An actor who appeared in multiple iterations of the genre’s earliest days in the 21st century—being at one time pegged as Green Lantern, Wade Wilson, and of course vampire hunter extraordinaire Hannibal King in New Line Cinema’s Blade franchise—Reynolds has seen the highs and lows of superhero cinema, and was rewarded for that enduring affection via the biggest hit of his career. Deadpool & Wolverine is indeed a bemused, somewhat…

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30 Jul

Deadpool Is the One Superhero Movie Franchise That Evolves

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Rude, crude, violent, profane, and anarchic, the fourth wall-breaking Merc with a Mouth was always going to be a divisive figure. Largely driven in the creative space by its star Ryan Reynolds, Red has stayed faithful on the big screen to his irreverent comic book origins. Now the third installment Deadpool & Wolverine has arrived in cinemas to the rapturous applause and box office earnings of a delighted fanbase. The most meta entry yet, the film is absolutely rammed with cameos from across Marvel movies’ history, features an on-the-nose farewell to 20th Century Fox, and a plot line that establishes…

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30 Jul

The Ryan Reynolds and Wesley Snipes Feud Keeps Making Blade: Trinity Better and Better

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This post contains a major spoiler for Deadpool & Wolverine that you probably already know, but still. “I don’t like you,” an aged Blade snaps at Deadpool, who has joined the Daywalker and other forgotten heroes in Deadpool & Wolverine in a place time for got. “You never have,” Deadpool responds. Deadpool’s reply is, of course, one of his signature fourth-wall breaks. Because while Deadpool and Blade had never met before they both wound up in the Void, Ryan Reynolds and Wesley Snipes worked together on Blade: Trinity. Snipes recently referenced the tumultuous production of that ill-fated film, too, when…

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30 Jul

Doctor Doom Deserves Better Than Robert Downey Jr. Stunt Casting

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There is only one Doom. That statement remains true, despite the fact that Victor von Doom often employs Doombots as his decoys. And it remains true, despite the fact that several actors have portrayed him on screen. The number of Doom actors increased by one this weekend, when a masked figure dressed in green revealed himself as Robert Downey Jr., returning to the MCU after playing Iron Man for several years. RDJ’s casting might make for a rich story about the fundamental similarities between men who use their genius to protect the world, one a hero and the other a…

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29 Jul

Fantastic Four: First Steps Galactus Footage Blew Our Fragile Little Minds

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Fantastic Four villain Galactus loomed large over San Diego Comic-Con 2024… literally. Following Marvel’s surprise panel/screening for Deadpool & Wolverine on Thursday, the studio launched comic book-themed drone and fireworks into the San Diego night sky. Highlighting that show was the unmistakable silhouette of Marvel’s big bad purple planet-eater. When Marvel’s proper panel rolled around on Saturday evening, however, it was clear that they had much bigger plans for Galactus than merely a light show. The studio’s presentation covered upcoming films Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and Fantastic Four: First Steps. For the lattermost movie, studio head Kevin Feige…

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29 Jul

Harrison Ford’s Whole Career Has Built to Hulking Out in Captain America: Brave New World

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When Harrison Ford took the stage at Saturday night’s Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con, he greeted the fans and then let loose with his mightiest roar. The crowd went nuts, but also registered more than a little surprise. After all, Harrison Ford has disavowed any knowledge of the Red Hulk. Even after the first trailer for Captain America: Brave New World featured a glimpse of the Red Hulk, the full CGI nature of the character made it at least plausible that Ford would have shot his scenes as President Thunderbolt Ross without having any idea of what happens…

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29 Jul

Deadpool & Wolverine’s Stunning Box Office Promises X-Treme Future for MCU

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Superhero fatigue, meet Deadpool. Deadpool, please “Careless Whisper” superhero fatigue out the door. Yep, it’s easy to opine this morning that Marvel Studios is back in a big way following one of the best opening weekends in the studio’s 16-year history. As of press time, Deadpool & Wolverine is estimated to have earned an eye-watering $211 million in its first three days at the North American box office. That’s easily a franchise best for Deadpool, Wolverine, and the greater X-Men saga, as well as the highest opening weekend for any R-rated movie. Ever. In fact, only five movies have grossed…

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29 Jul

Doctor Doom Is a Way Better Villain for the Avengers Than Kang the Conqueror

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is at a crossroads right now. Their post-Endgame dealings have been an overinflated mixed bag that supersaturated the market. Even their biggest hits have been more about giving a fond farewell to the past, whether it is goodbye to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Sony’s earlier  Spider-Man movies, or Fox’s X-Men movies. Projects that try to build toward the future have had some success, but also some notable failures. It’s also been little help that the current Multiverse Saga lacks the same creative stability which underwrote the Infinity Saga’s build up of Thanos and the…

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29 Jul

Avengers: Doomsday – The Pros and Cons of the Russo Brothers Coming Back

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From roughly 2014 to 2019—starting with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and ending with Avengers: Endgame—Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe went on a run of massively successful films that dominated pop culture on a global scale. It arguably represented the absolute peak of the superhero genre’s reach and power, and certainly its popularity. Four of the biggest and best movies during that stretch, including the aforementioned The Winter Soldier and Endgame, were also directed by the same guys: Anthony and Joe Russo. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige saw something in the Russos’ pitch for The Winter Soldier, which…

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29 Jul

Thunderbolts SDCC Footage Teases Lewis Pullman Is the Sentry

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Marvel’s next superhero team couldn’t be more different from the Avengers. Instead of Captain America and Hawkeye, they have U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) and Red Guardian (David Harbour). Instead of Black Widow, they have Florence Pugh’s White Widow. Instead of Iron Man, they have Ant-Man and the Wasp antagonist, Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). In other words, Thunderbolts are a team full of B- and C-listers, baddies and supporting characters from other movies and shows who get assembled into a team by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the shady CIA director played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Even though they don’t command the same name…

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28 Jul

The MCU Wolverine Is About to Be Permanently Connected to Eternals

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“You were an X-Man. You were the X-Man.” This line from Deadpool & Wolverine will likely become a classic among geek circles since it describes the importance of Hugh Jackman’s Logan, both to the Fox era of X-Men and to the brand as a whole. With that said, Deadpool & Wolverine was about the legacy of one specific Wolverine—or two, at any rate. And neither seems likely to be the Wolverine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Which makes an eye-popping easter egg that was sneaked into Saturday night’s San Diego Comic-Con Hall H panel all the more shocking: Marvel is…

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28 Jul

Connection Between Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom and Iron Man Is Bigger Than You Realize

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Doom is no man’s second choice. And that’s why the MCU is going back to its first choice. For years now, fans have speculated about the coming of the greatest villain in fiction, Doctor Victor Von Doom. And at the end of Saturday night’s Marvel panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige finally revealed the actor who will play Doctor Doom… and it turns out to be a familiar face: Robert Downey Jr. will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom! He will furthermore be the big bad of the fifth Avengers movie, which has…

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28 Jul

 Captain America: Brave New World – Who Is Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder?

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Shocking news out of San Diego Comic-Con and Marvel’s big Hall H panel Saturday night: Captain America: Brave New World looks to be taking on the best Cap comic book run of all time! That’s right, baby, the supervillains have unionized. Giancarlo Esposito, the consummate badass that everyone assumed would be playing someone befitting his menace, like GW Bridge, William Stryker, or even Magneto, turns out to be playing none of those characters. Instead he’s playing a mild-mannered economics professor and notorious Marvel Universe labor leader from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Probably. Maybe? Let’s unpack the surprisingly complicated backstory of Sidewinder, aka…

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27 Jul

How Lupita Nyong’o Found the Humanity in The Wild Robot (Exclusive)

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This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here. How can somebody sound like they’re running if they don’t breathe? This is the sort of question Lupita Nyong’o had to ask as she was recording the voice of Rozzum unit 7134, the titular wild robot in The Wild Robot. “We did a scene where Roz was running through a field, and I realized, “Oh my God, Roz doesn’t have breath! So how do I perform her running with no breath, which would have been the default if I was performing a…

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27 Jul

Transformers One’s Bumblebee Will Change How You Watch the Other Films

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A case can be made that in the 21st century Bumblebee has become the most popular Transformer. He’s certainly the most loved Autobot after the big red fire truck we call Optimus Prime. This is in large part due to his starring role in the first live-action Transformers movie of 2007. Despite having almost no lines of dialogue—the poor robot lost his voice!—Bumblebee found novel ways of communicating with Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky: he used music and created the sensation of your first car as a teenager being your best mate. It’s a trick that was expanded on in the…

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27 Jul

Deadpool & Wolverine: All the Logan Variants Explained

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This article is the best at what it does, but what it does is spoil Deadpool & Wolverine. When it comes to the big screen, there’s only one Wolverine and his name is Hugh Jackman. After Dougray Scott stuck shooting Mission: Impossible II for longer than anticipated and had to drop out of playing Logan in 2000’s X-Men, Jackman has owned the part. Not even a noble and beloved death in Logan can put a stop to Jackman’s reign as cinema’s premiere Canucklehead, as he dons the goofy mask and yellow duds in full for Deadpool & Wolverine. But while…

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27 Jul

Deadpool & Wolverine Leaves Fox’s X-Men Franchise in Weird Place with MCU

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This article has Deadpool & Wolverine spoilers galore. Going into Deadpool & Wolverine, conventional wisdom held that the film would be a definitive end to the X-Men movies produced by 20th Century Fox. After all, even if Kevin Feige had a hand in crafting that universe, serving as a producer on X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand, he didn’t enjoy the full control that he has now as head of Marvel Studios. And given the multiple wrong turns, not to mention more than a few bad men who have been involved with the franchise, it might be nice…

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26 Jul

Joker 2 Director: Arthur Fleck Will ‘Never Become’ the Comic Book Mastermind

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From his very first appearance in 1940’s Batman #1, the Joker has been an evil genius, a man whose madness allowed him to concoct plans that no one could anticipate. But the most recent Oscar-winning version of the character (and it’s weird to realize there’s more than one!) couldn’t be more different from that idea. Todd Phillips, director and writer (with Scott Silver) of 2019’s Joker, and maestro of the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux, recently went so far as to explain the difference between Arthur Fleck, the character he and Joaquin Phoenix have developed for the screen, and the…

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