Mars' landscape may be barren and dangerous to human life, but thanks to photos like this from NASA's advanced rovers, that doesn't stop it from looking any less stunning. Although humans have yet to set foot on Mars, robotics and other technologies have allowed astronomers to closely analyze the mysterious planet. Whether it be bleeding-edge telescopes, rovers, helicopters, orbiters, or something else, humans have found inventive ways to closely study a planet we've never actually visited.
One such rover contributing to Mars exploration is Perseverance. Perseverance landed on Mars this past February with a simple yet ambitious goal — to traverse the planet searching for ancient life. People have long theorized that Mars was once home to alien lifeforms. If this is true, Perseverance will be the rover to answer that question once and for all. In just a few short months, Perseverance has already collected Martian rock samples, explored new areas on the planet, and more.
Another way Perseverance has kept itself busy is by capturing thousands of photos and sharing them with everyone to see. Wherever Perseverance goes, it takes tons of photos with multiple cameras, shares them with NASA, and NASA then uploads all of those RAW files for the world to browse through. One such photo is the one see above and below, depicting the vast landscape on Mars. This black-and-white image was acquired by Perseverance on September 28 at the local mean solar time of 12:58 using its Left Navigation Camera.
Perseverance has shared countless photos of the Martian surface, but this one stands out as one of the most impressive yet. Unlike most pictures which are usually tight squares, this one is a wide panorama shot of Mars. Looking at the photo, there's a lot on display. It highlights Mars' rolling sand dunes, the sea of rocks scattered throughout those dunes, and detailed patterns in the sand left by wind and dust storms. All of this is set against the Martian sky, which appears eerie and haunting even without the iconic yellow glow.
While this picture doesn't necessarily reveal anything new about Mars, it's yet another reminder of how beautiful and mysterious the planet is. It's devoid of any life, has freezing temperatures, and is nothing but endless dust, rocks, and sand. Even so, it still manages to be extremely alluring. It remains unclear if Perseverance will be successful in its hunt for ancient life, but so long as it keeps taking photos like this, we'll consider the mission a win.
The Google Pixel 6 (top) and Pixel 6 Pro (bottom) | Google
New leaks from a marketing site appear to confirm that the camera for the Pixel 6 will have a new Magic Eraser feature, and the devices will apparently get five years of Android security updates (h/t 9to5 Google)
According to reliable leaker Evan Blass, the Carphone Warehouse website was showing images of Google marketing materials for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro (the images have since been taken down, but you can view the earlier versions of the Carphone Warehouse pages on the Wayback Machine here and here). Screenshots show the description for the previously leaked Magic Eraser, which will apparently be linked to Google Photos:
Magic Eraser makes distractions disappear with a few taps. Remove strangers and unwanted objects in Google...
As Halloween fast approaches, several highly anticipated new horror movies are set to hit both the theatrical and VOD circuits between now and October 31st. Acclaimed genre filmmakers such as James Wan, Edgar Wright, David Gordon Green, Patrick Brice, Scott Cooper, and more have intriguing new horror tales to go with a solid mixture of international arthouse fare, broad Netflix originals, and everything in between.
From eerie haunted houses, creepy creature features, and anthological period pieces to unnerving psychological thrillers and time travel chillers, this Halloween has plenty of cinematic streaming treats in store.
Updated on October 9th, 2021 by Tanner Fox: As summer descends into autumn and windswept auburn leaves dance between carved jack-o-lanterns and tacky lawn decorations, horror becomes the hot topic among moviegoers. However, thanks to the various streaming services available, satisfactory scares abound and are no longer relegated to the theater.
With cerebral artistic pieces and reboots to dormant franchises alike set to hit Netflix, Paramount+, and Amazon Prime Video before October is out, there's never been a better time to get immersed in all things horror.
Debuting on Netflix on October 6, 2021 is There's Someone Inside Your House, a sadistic high-school slasher film from well-established horror director Patrick Brice (Creep, Room 104). Based on the novel of the same name by Stephanie Perkins, the film tracks a masked killer stalking the senior class of Osborne High only to be met with resistance by a marginalized group of outcasts.
What makes this story interesting is how the killer intends to expose the students' deep-dark secrets before ending their lives, making for a subversive, unpredictable, and genre-defying story that Brice often enjoys telling.
One of the more underrated horror anthology series of the past decade includes V/H/S, created by David Bruckner and Simon Barrett. Both men return for the upcoming 4th franchise entry, V/H/S/94, set to bow exclusively on Shudder on October 6. Set in 1994, the film concerns a police S.W.A.T. unit uncovering a cult conspiracy recorded on a grainy old videotape.
The main draw of the film, aside from the promising premise and well-established brand name, is the collection of daring directing talent at the helm. Chapters will be guided by Barrett (Seance), Chloe Okuno (Slut), Ryan Prows (Lowlife), Jennifer Reeder (Knives and Skin), and Timo Tjahanto, the latter of which directed the scariest franchise chapter to date in V/H/S/2's "Safe Haven."
Strange occurrences plague a Mexican-American family after they move to a quaint home in the California countryside, and an expectant mother must endure malignant horrors as her due date approaches. While it's sure to introduce a few ideas of its own, director Ryan Zargoza's Madres certainly seems to be taking a page or two from the Rosemary's Baby playbook.
Set to debut on Amazon Prime Video on October 8, Madres looks be a sinister thrill ride comparable to other classic haunted house horrors.
One of a set of Blumhouse productions set to terrorize horror fans this October, The Manor is an upcoming offering from director Axelle Carolyn, who is perhaps best known for directing episodes of American Horror Story and The Haunting of Bly Manor.
After an elderly woman moves into a nursing home, she is accosted by supernatural entities. Unable to prove that what she experiences is real, she must figure out a way to validate her sanity and escape before she meets a grizzly fate. The Manor is set to debut on Amazon Prime Video on October 8.
An Argentinian psychological thriller set to boggle the minds of horror fans, Fever Dream is an adaptation of the short story Rescue Distance. Seemingly something out of the mind of horror auteur Ari Aster, the movie tells the tale of a fragmented family when a mother and son duo become the epicenter of unnatural happenings.
This may be a dense and intentionally difficult work, but viewers who love to dissect and interpret films will absolutely adore Fever Dream. Set to debut on Netflix on October 13, it may not be destined for widespread appeal, but it will almost certainly find a fascinated film niche.
Germany's ominous Black Forest is the setting of Demigod, the new folk horror outing from writer/director Miles Doleac (The Dinner Party) due on October 15. The story concerns Robin (Rachel Nichols), a woman who returns to her birthplace at the sinister site following her grandfather's death in search of answers.
Aside from the foreboding forest setting, the film boasts an unsettling mixture of ancient head-hunting rituals and scary sacrificial customs with a personal story of a modern-day woman uncovering her cryptic past. With cult-favorite scream queen Rachel Nichols (P2, Inside) taking center stage, Demigod is worth bowing to when it opens this October.
In addition to penning V/H/S/94, David Bruckner's third directorial effort The Night House will open to the public on October 19. After proving his filmmaking skills in The Signal and The Ritual, Bruckner's latest looks to be a deeply disquieting tale of a widow (Rebecca Hall) uncovering her deceased husband's darkest secrets.
The deliberately-paced, slow-burn horror film is already drawing rave reviews for Hall's central turn, the brooding atmosphere of rural upstate New York, the tonal tension Bruckner is able to sustain, and the chillingly ambiguous finale.
A Netflix exclusive set to debut on October 20, Night Teeth follows a hapless chauffer as he's wrapped up in a blood-soaked supernatural thrill ride when the women he's driving are revealed to be vampires.
Though it doesn't appear to be an out-and-out horror movie, Night Teeth will certainly be able to satisfy those looking for the perfect Halloween thriller. Starring Sydney Sweeny and Megan Fox, it's sure to catch the attention of Netflix subscribers.
Another Netflix exclusive, Hypnotic sees a woman suffering from general anxiety receive treatment from an enigmatic therapist. Unfortunately, he uses the suggestive powers of his practice to coax her into unconsciously performing strange and terrible acts. Now, she must get to the bottom of this strange plot before it's too late.
Stylish and cerebral, Hypnotic promises to have viewers scratching their heads until the credits roll—and likely for some time after that. The film also looks to be a breath of fresh air when compared to many of the more traditional horror movies debuting this October.
Billed as a reboot of the popular found-footage series, Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin removes the series from its Southern California roots, placing the preternatural panic in the heart of Amish country.
A woman begins filming a documentary about her newly-discovered biological relatives only to uncover sinister tidings in the otherwise tranquil rural setting. Helmed by William Eubank, who is best known for 2020's Lovecraftian undertaking Underwater, Next of Kin is set to be a return to form for the relatively wayward franchise.
Penned by Joss Whedon and set on Earth after Alien Resurrection, Alien 5 is one of the biggest sequels never to see the light of day. The Alien franchise is a success by any barometer or metric, spawning 4 mainline installments and 2 prequel films, with the original Alien's induction into the National Film Registry for historical preservation highlighting its cultural significance. All Alien installments center around the origins or activity of the iconic early Xenomorph, designed by legendary Swiss surrealist H.R. Geiger.
The final film in the original series, Alien Resurrection, ended with Call (Winona Ryder) and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) floating towards a futuristic Earth after escaping the human/Alien hybrid. The poignancy of this moment should not be understated given Ripley's continued desire to return home across the entire franchise, with Ripley 8's statement to Call, "I'm a stranger here myself," confirming the arduous 257-year journey she has undergone to reach that moment. Like Ripley before it, the Alien franchise has since been in stasis, with Alien Resurrection's release almost 2 decades ago, the last of the original movie quartet.
Yet, it could have been so different if the purportedly finished script of Alien 5 had come to fruition. The Avengers' Joss Whedon offered up a script designed to take the franchise back full circle, set 30 years after the Nostromo's doomed journey back to mother Earth before a raft of complications put paid to his vision. Here's why Whedon's Alien 5 never happened and what the film would have looked like if it did.
What immediately juts forward from Whedon's Alien 5 concept is his understanding of the Alien franchise and his love of it. Whedon himself penned the script for Alien: Resurrection, providing several drafts before director Jean-Pierre Jeunet settled on an entirely different climax for the 4th Alien installment, seeing the Alien-hybrid sucked through a hole into space. Whedon has personally voiced his deep regrets at the final product presented by the flawed Alien: Resurrection movie, with his designs for Alien 5 looking to right many of the prior film's wrongs.
While plot details have only been released in a piecemeal fashion for Alien 5's script, it is understood to take place on Earth in the immediate aftermath of Alien: Resurrection. Ripley and Call continue their descent to the planetoid, unaware that they are not alone following the explosion of the Auriga in typical Alien fashion. Alien 5 was designed to end the Alien narrative surrounding Sigourney Weaver's iconic Ripley, with her homecoming after 257 years away from the planet designed to offer a sense of finality to the original movie series. Whedon's decision to close Ripley's loop shows he understands the importance of returning the Alien films to the human, tension-driven settings so oft provided by Ridley Scott. Watching John Hurt's Kane choke at night in the mess hall after awakening from his ordeal delivers a visceral moment steeped in atmosphere and un-touched by complex creature-based scenes. In this way, the Alien 5 script's premise promised to bring Ripley back to the fore and shy away from the frenetic and often incomprehensible action that marred Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection.
Several factors conspired to herald the downfall of Alien 5's incubating production, with the script unable to muster a concerted effort at truly being considered for release. Whedon's Earth-based script may have looked to usher in a return to the dazzling Ridley Scott Alien era, but its intent to close the story came at a heavy price. Sigourney Weaver's approval of the script became a key component of the pre-production ritual for all direct Alien sequels - a grace ultimately denied to Whedon by Weaver. Weaver has cited many issues with Whedon's handling of Ripley, stating that his vision of her return to Earth diluted the first Alien's impact significantly. She also stated that, based on Whedon's script, Ripley would lose her last shred of humanity and become a one-dimensional character, which ironically was something both Weaver and Whedon had wanted to avoid in Alien 5.
However, Sigourney Weaver's lack of approval was not the only factor in holding Alien 5 back from the races. Even as far back as 1998, 20th Century Fox had begun work on a "Frankenstein Meets Werewolf" concept that would look to pit Ridley Scott's Alien against John McTiernan's Predator in their original forms. James Cameron, who Fox had initially asked to help pen a 5th Alien installment (akin to his Aliens success), immediately distanced himself from the project, bashing it as something that would "kill the validity of the franchise." Despite losing their man at the helm, the studio pressed on, eventually releasing Paul W.S. Anderson's AVP: Alien vs. Predator in 2004. The release of AVP was the final nail in the coffin for Whedon's shelved Alien 5 script, taking the Alien franchise on a less serious tangent and quashing Alien 5's decidedly human concept in the process.
While Joss Whedon's vision for the canceled Alien 5 is unlikely to reappear, other incarnations are well underway for a fifth Alien movie. The Alien prequel, Prometheus, initially looked to be taking the franchise in a bold new direction, receiving the best reviews for an Alien installment since Aliens. However, its follow-up, Alien: Covenant, was released in 2017 to decidedly mixed reviews, causing 20th Century Fox to reassess their position on the overarching prequel narrative. Disney's acquisition of Fox in 2019 altered the players in the Alien landscape, but perhaps not the linear franchise plan, after officially confirming at the 2019 CinemaCon that Alien sequels were in production.
Gallingly for Joss Whedon's alternate Alien 5, Sigourney Weaver's stance also seems to have softened on Ripley's potential narratives. At the 2014 Hero Complex film festival, Weaver stated, "Had we done a fifth one, I don't doubt that her humanity would have prevailed. I do feel like there is more story to tell. I feel a longing from fans for the story to be finished. I could imagine a situation where we finish telling the story." While there is no confirmed word on Weaver returning for Disney's Alien projects, it is hard to imagine a Xenomorph story untethered to the iconic Ripley. Although Joss Whedon's Alien 5 concept seems destined to gather dust somewhere, his notion of Alien 5 embracing its human element is one any future Alien franchise installments should embody.
In a world inspired by the beloved DC Animated Universe, Batman once got Batgirl pregnant. Not only is their past relationship scandalous to fans— it’s also infuriating to Dick Grayson AKA Nightwing, who was Barbara Gordon’s boyfriend at the time.
Although some fans might forget that both Bruce and Dick had romantic relationships with Barbara during Batman: The New Adventures, audiences were enraged when Batman and Batgirl got together in the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke. At the time, many felt it was inappropriate for the two bat vigilantes to get together, especially when she had been long portrayed as a teenage sidekick. However, it turns out there has been an even bigger offense regarding their affair in Batman Beyond 2.0 #28, written by Kyle Higgins with art by Phil Hester and Craig Rousseau.
When Barbara confronts Bruce in the Batcave, she reveals that she’s been pregnant for seven weeks. Assuming that it’s Dick Grayson’s child, Bruce is congratulatory, but she goes onto explain that he hadn’t been back in Gotham at that time. While Dick was away, Bruce and Barbara’s relationship became romantic and went in a direction they hadn’t planned. The moment adds new context for why Robin and Batman initially fell apart in the DCAU, as Dick went onto become Nightwing and distance himself from his Boy Wonder image. Based on their interaction, it seems like they’ve both acknowledged the mistake and will leave it in the past.
The flashback to the New Adventures era of the timeline comes across like a deleted scene that the animation rating system wouldn’t approve to air. It almost fits in perfectly with the episode Old Wounds in which Dick Grayson disavows his Robin persona, punching Batman and abandoning the bat family for a time. However, Dick is more furious with him than fans had seen him before. After becoming aware of what had happened between Barbara and his surrogate father, he goes into a rage and overpowers Bruce. While it had been known that the bat family’s adventures ended in tragedy, as referenced throughout Batman Beyond, Barbara’s pregnancy was never an emphasized breaking point. Instead, Return of the Joker made it seem that Tim Drake’s demise brought the team to a definitive end.
If Barbara and Bruce had a child together, it would have changed the course of the DCAU, and potentially rob Batman Beyond of its premise. The son or daughter of Batman and Batgirl would be a likely candidate to take over the mantle in the future as Gotham’s guardian. Terry McGinnis would’ve been out of a job if the city already had a Dark Knight by the time he was a teenager. Similar to Damian Wayne, the son that Batman had with Talia, Barbara and Bruce would be certain to raise a strong fighter.
Critics are divided on the movieThe Many Saints of Newark, and many of the problems could have been avoided by using a miniseries format for the prequel.David Chase's feature filmprovides viewers a glimpse into the backstory of The Sopranos, showing how a young Tony Soprano was mentored by Dickie Moltisanti. Unfortunately, the format of a two-hour movie leads to many plot points feeling rushed or unsatisfying, resulting in The Many Saints of Newark's mixed reviews.
Set decades before The Sopranos in the Newark of the 1960s and 70s, The Many Saints of Newark depicts Dickie's rise through the DiMeo crime family, his turbulent relationship with his father's young wife Giuseppina, and his abrupt death. The movie also introduces the character of Harold, a Black gangster who struggles to find a place amidst the racism of the mafia and the broader society. The Many Saints of Newark also includes glimpses of younger versions of several Sopranos characters including Livia, Junior, and Carmela.
All of this is a lot to pack into two hours, and the film rushes through much of its exposition and leaves some core plot points unresolved. Many scenes, especially in the first half of The Many Saints of Newark, are very quick and establish a world without making it really feel lived-in. A limited series on HBO would provide greater time to introduce characters at a more measured pace without relying on awkward devices such as Christopher Moltisanti's (Michael Imperioli) narration from beyond the grave. A larger story told across 6-10 episodes would have been a better format for the project, allowing it to fully flesh out its story and characters.
The Sopranos has always had a sprawling mode of storytelling prone to digressions, perfectly suited for a serialized TV series. The Many Saints of Newark takes a similar approach, but without the time to explore storylines at its leisure. A miniseries could have provided a proper resolution for Harold's storyline, and better develop important relationships and plot points like Junior's feud with Dickie. It could also venture into the backstories of Sopranos characters like Carmela and Tony Blundetto, who appear only briefly in The Many Saints of Newark. A TV format would also better suit the strengths of The Many Saints of Newark's writer David Chase and director Alan Taylor, both of whom are best known for their work on The Sopranos. Both men have been less successful in the film world, with Chase's Not Fade Away and Taylor-directed blockbusters like Thor: The Dark World meeting muted response. The Many Saints of Newark's box office returns suggest it will follow a similar path.
The kind of long-form storytelling and unobtrusive direction that made The Sopranos such a classic TV show are harder to translate to the limited runtime of a feature film. Movie audiences also expect a greater amount of visual appeal and narrative resolution, whereas The Many Saints of Newark often feels like two TV episodes stuck together. A televised or streaming miniseries would have let Chase tell stories in the way he's best at. A limited series, as opposed to an ongoing show like The Sopranos, would still allow The Many Saints of Newark to tell a deliberate and self-contained story from start to finish. While The Many Saints of Newark creates sequel possibilities, resolving its plotlines in a contained series would have provided more closure and avoided the bloat of modern cinematic universes. Ultimately, while The Many Saints of Newarkhas many strengths, it would have been a more satisfying narrative as a mini-series.
The new trailer for Outlanderseason 6shows young love overshadowed by the impending American Revolutionary War. Outlander, which is based on the series of Diana Gabaldon novels of the same name, premiered on Starz in 2014. It stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Randall, a World War II nurse who is sent back in time to 1743 Scotland, where she falls in love with Sam Heughan's Jamie Fraser, a warrior involved in the Jacobite rising. The show also stars Duncan Lacroix, Sophie Skelton, Richard Rankin, and Tobias Menzies. After being delayed by the pandemic for several months, Outlander season 6 recently wrapped production, with a season 7 already greenlit.
Previous seasons have followed Claire and Jamie's subsequent separation in time and eventual reunion. After rescuing Jamie's nephew from pirates in season 4, they wind up shipwrecked on the coast of Georgia. They end up staying in the New World and claiming land in North Carolina that they name Fraser's Ridge. Season 5 of Outlander ended with Jamie (Heughan), Claire (Balfe), and their whole clan currently at peace in Fraser's Ridge, with the threat of war looming overhead.
Starzhas just debuted the new trailer for Outlander season 6, which is due to premiere in early 2022. After showing a montage of happy young lovers, the trailer shrouds them in the shadow of impending doom. The Revolutionary War that was only brewing in season 5 is now on their doorstep, and the impending battle is clearly going to weigh heavily on Jamie and Claire in Outlander season 6. Check out the trailer below:
Season 6 will be based on the sixth Outlander novel, titled A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Continuing the plotline implied by the previous season, Jamie will be pulled in two directions by his desire to continue his peaceful life in the New World and his oath to the British crown. It also seems like their new neighbors, Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) and his children Allan (Alexander Vlahos) and Malva (Jessica Reynolds), will be stirring up trouble along the way. Caitríona Balfe has recently teased that this season will be "heartbreaking" and "really twisted."
Outlander has made a name for itself with twisty, complicated stories that combine history, time travel mechanics, heaving romance, and complicated heroes and villains alike. It has been some time since the American Revolutionary War has been brought to life in such a big-budget manner. Applying the show's unique, complicated perspective to the events unfolding in the colonies will hopefully breathe new life into a well-worn historical tale.
Marvel Champions lets players step into the shoes of several famous Marvel heroes, but the game's deck-building rules mean that it can be hard to assess the effectiveness of any given character. While each comes with fifteen cards that they must include in their deck for all games, players select the other 25 to 35 from an ever-growing pool of basic and aspect cards.
This deck-building method helps prevent power creep, and it also means that some initially underwhelming characters have since become much more playable. Also important to remember is that Marvel Champions plays very differently in solo mode compared to multiplayer. While more focused characters struggle to do everything themselves, they're still powerhouses when teammates can help cover their weaknesses.
10 Thor
Thor may be one of the strongest Avengers in most Marvel media, but fans didn't respond very positively to the God of Thunder's initial release in Marvel Champions. While most heroes have some level of versatility built into their hero decks that allows them to explore various playstyles, the only thing that Thor did well was kill minions.
However, since Thor's release, several minion-heavy villains and Aggression cards that synergize with minion killing have been released. Thor's relatively limited playstyle still makes him a poor choice for solo games, but he now has enough tools available to make him a force to be reckoned with in multiplayer.
9 Iron Man
When he's up and running, Iron Man is an incredibly powerful character. The challenge for many players is that it takes several turns to get Tony Stark combat-ready. As one would expect, Iron Man is all about upgrades. While his base stats are low, various tech upgrades boost Iron Man's stats well above any other character in the game.
Because he can get upgrades out more quickly in alter-ego form, many players prefer to put him in the Justice aspect. This lets Tony deal with building threat levels that come from staying in alter-ego.
8 Spider-Man
Like his comic counterpart, Peter Parker is a hero that villains have a hard time laying a hit on. Spider-Man may have come pre-paired with a Justice deck in the Marvel Champions core set, but he shines in multiplayer games in the Protection affiliation. Spider-Man's base defense of three means that he can tank several hits with his normal defense, so he pairs well with cards like Indomitable or Expert Defense that let him ready after defending against an attack. His backflip hero card is also fantastic as it lets him take zero damage from an attack regardless of its strength.
7 Quicksilver
Pietro Maximoff is one of the fastest men alive, and his incredible speed is reflected in Marvel Champions by his ability to ready himself after performing a basic action. While this is good for attacking or thwarting twice, it also means that he can defend without sacrificing actions on his next turn.
Quicksilver also has a helpful alter-ego ability, Superpowered Siblings, that lets him discard two cards to draw two. This is a great way to cycling through dead cards for something more useful, and he gets to draw a third card if Scarlet Witch is also in play.
6 Gamora
Gamora is one of the bravest members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and she's also one of the most popular characters in Marvel Champions. Gamora is one of few heroes that can include cards from multiple aspects in her deck. This twist makes her a versatile character that's able to adapt to different villains and schemes.
Gamora's big bonus is that she does one free damage when she plays a thwart event and thwarts one threat when she plays an attack event (once per turn for each). This ability is fantastic in solo games where scheme threat limits and enemy health are low, but it's slightly less impactful in multiplayer games since the power/thwart doesn't scale per player like enemies do.
5 Captain America
Captain America was one of the earliest character packs released for Marvel Champions, and he immediately established himself as a powerhouse for both solo and group play. This is true for the Marvel Comics version of Captain America, who ranks as the best Avenger due to his masterful fighting ability.
Steve Rogers isn't the single best character at anything in the game, but he's good at absolutely everything. With the unpredictability in Marvel Champions, the lack of a glaring weakness means that Captain America players rarely find themselves in a bad matchup. Steve also gets to start each game with his famous vibranium shield, so he's very consistent and can get into action right away on turn one.
4 Spider-Woman
There have been more since her release, but Spider-Woman, in any of her plentiful alternate versions, was the first character to use cards from multiple aspects simultaneously. Using multiple aspects gives her incredible versatility and lets her thrive in either solo or multiplayer games.
Her low basic stats may seem like a downside, but she gets +1 to her Attack, Thwart, and defense for each different aspect she plays a card from each turn. While this does mean that the occasional lousy draw can leave her temporarily hobbled, it's not very challenging to boost her stats up to average or higher.
3 Ant-Man
Ant-Man and the Wasp were the first two heroes to have more than two forms. While both have hero and standard alter-ego sides, their character cards unfold to reveal a second hero form. Ant-Man has proven to be the more versatile of the two Pym-powered heroes, and he excels with several great character cards that take advantage of his tiny and giant forms.
Army of Ants (which Scott has three of in his hero deck) let players do one damage to anything per turn per card. While this doesn't seem like much, it enables ant-man ping to Tough off enemies or take out low-health minions without using his basic actions. Ant-Man's helmet is also fantastic and lets him draw a card or heal every time he changes hero forms.
2 Venom
Fans were excited and confused when data leaks showed the Venom was going to be releasing in the middle of several Guardians of the Galaxy packs, but it made a little more sense when it was revealed that this character is the Flash Thompson host of the Venom symbiote, who spent a bit of time with the Guardians.
Venom focuses on using weapons, and his unique Multi-Gun gives players several damaging and thwarting options. Venom's ability to generate a wild resource in exchange for taking one damage means Flash can play more cards per turn than most heroes, and Project Rebirth 2.0 lets him draw or heal whenever he flips to his alter-ego.
1 Dr. Strange
When he was released, Dr. Strange was the strongest character in the game, and nothing has changed in the 15 months since. The Sorceror Supreme's unique gimmick is his invocation deck, a set of five spells that exist apart from his standard hero deck. He can only play the top card and must exhaust after using a spell, but his deck contains multiple ways to cycle cards, ready himself, or reuse spells more than once in a row.
The result is that Strange wants to use most of his resources for playing spell cards, so his aspect choice is relatively inconsequential. One powerful option is to play Protection and fill his deck with healing cards to keep him from having to flip to his alter-ego too often.
The Apokoliptian warlord Darkseid has killed numerous heroes in the DCEU, as shown in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, especially in its hypothetical Knightmare future, but who are all the heroes who he defeated? The DCEU has set up Darkseid to be the ultimate villain. As a New God, Darkseid is extremely powerful and megalomaniacal and has conquered thousands of worlds in his lifetime, subjugating planets in his quest for power and the Anti-Life Equation. In a potential future, Darkside succeeds, adding Earth to his list of conquered worlds and finally obtaining the Anti-Life Equations, destroying the Justice League in more ways than one.
As shown in a flashback sequence, Darkseid visited Earth once before, upon discovering that the world held the Anti-Life Equation. In a massive battle against humanity and Earth’s greatest defenders, Darkseid was defeated, leaving Earth without the Anti-Life Equation. For millennia, Darkseid continued to conquer worlds, nearly returning to Earth via boom tube in Justice League when Superman’s death activated the Mother Boxes. The Knightmare, a possible future glimpsed by Batman and Cyborg shows a victorious Darkseid who, with the Anti-Life Equation, destroys the Justice League and takes over Earth, leaving a sinister Superman-led Regime in charge.
Darkseid desires the Anti-Life Equation because it’d become his most useful tool in future conquests. The Anti-Life Equation is an all-powerful cosmic formula that can remove the free will of any being, allowing Darkseid to turn his greatest opponents into minions. Darkseid’s acquisition of the equation and the subsequent Knightmare future was originally going to be depicted in Zack Snyder’s planned Justice League sequels. The films are unlikely to be released, but Snyder stated that the final film would have seen Batman's DCEU ending include him sacrificing himself to prevent Darkseid from obtaining the equation, thus preventing the Knightmare and the subsequent deaths of the Justice League’s heroes.
In DC Comics, Yalan Gur was an ancient Green Lantern and one of the first to defend Sector 2814, which includes Earth. Gur was so renowned that the Oan Guardians of the Universe made his ring immune to the Green Lantern rings’ weakness to the color yellow (due to the Parallax being trapped within the central green power battery). Yalan Gur makes his cinematic debut in Justice League, defending Earth during Darkseid’s first attempt at conquering it. Though he fought bravely, Gur was overpowered by Darkseid, getting dismembered and impaled by the Apokoliptian’s polearm weapon. With its wearer dead, the DCEU Green Lantern ring flies off into space to find a successor, just as Abin Sur’s would millennia later, famously finding Hal Jordan. Since Gur’s death didn’t occur in the Knightmare, his is the only death that can’t be undone in Snyder’s planned sequels.
During Cyborg’s vision of the Knightmare in Justice League, a deceased Wonder Woman is shown early on in the vision. At her funeral pyre, Queen Hippolyta is shown tearfully mourning the loss of her daughter. Also visible is Darkseid, arriving at Wonder Woman’s funeral in an Apokoliptian vessel. Considering how powerful Wonder Woman is and Darkseid’s appearance, the Apokoliptian warlord is likely the one who killed her. Wonder Woman's DCEU ending is also notable as it is the first to be shown dead in Cyborg’s vision, further proving that she was one of the greatest threats to Darkseid and one of the first to die because of this.
The next death shown in Cyborg’s Knightmare vision was Aquaman. Darkseid is shown overpowering the King of Atlantis in his throne room, impaling Arthur with his second trident and simultaneously disintegrating Vulko, Aquaman’s Atlantean mentor. Aquaman is notably killed with the Trident of Atlan, instead of Atlanna's trident, which Arthur used throughout the rest of the film. The three-pronged weapon’s original owner, Atlan, fought Darkseid with his famous weapon during the original Apokoliptian invasion of Earth. Mera later wields Aquaman's trident, when she joins Batman’s insurgency.
While Superman was not directly killed by Darkseid, everything he stood for and believed in was. In the Knightmare scenario, Lois Lane is killed, breaking Superman’s heart and weakening his resolve. Taking advantage of this, Darkseid uses the Anti-Life Equation on him, annihilating Clark’s free will and reducing him to a brainwashed pawn. With his former self gone, Superman became little more than a puppet of Darkseid, enforcing his will on the conquered and terraformed Earth, fighting against everything he’d once stood for. Unlike the Injustice video games that inspired the Knightmare sequence, The DCEU’s Superman is fundamentally incapable of becoming a villain, despite Batman's right thoughts on Superman in BvS. Zack Snyder’s Superman, like the comic version he’s based on, is an intrinsically good person who would have remained a hero, even if he lost those he loved most.
A formidable veteran Green Lantern, Kilowog’s body is shown towards the end of Cyborg’s Knightmare vision. Kilowog has a large hole burned through his chest, strongly implying that a brainwashed Superman killed him with his heat vision. Since Superman is essentially killed in the Knightmare, becoming an extension of Darkseid’s will, Kilowog is indirectly killed by Darkseid through Superman. In DC Comics, Kilowog is a close friend and frequent partner of the famous human Green Lantern Hal Jordan. It’s unknown if Hal became the Green Lantern in Zack Snyder's plans for the Knightmare future, but he likely will at some point in the main DCEU.
The first time that viewers see the Knightmare scenario is in a vision that Bruce Wayne sees in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Batman helps create the Insurgency, bringing together various superheroes and supervillains who survived Darkseid’s attack and mind control. In the Dawn of Justice vision, Batman is captured and brutally executed by a brainwashed Superman, finalizing Darkseid’s conquest of Earth. In the planned (but unreleased) sequels to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Batman is directly killed by Darkseid. Bruce saves Lois Lane’s life and prevents the Knightmare from becoming a reality, and kills Darkseid as he dies from the warlord’s Omega Beams. Although he saves Earth and countless other worlds from Darkseid’s conquests, Batman is one of the few heroes who Darkseid defeats in both the main DCEU and the Knightmare.
Over the past several decades, Marvel Comics has introduced fans to thousands of new heroes and villains, and it seems like Spider-Man is having trouble remembering them all, and more specifically, Scarlet Witch. This isn’t entirely surprising considering the number of people he’s interacted with throughout his extensive history. Still, Peter Parker would certainly remember meeting a famous hero like the Scarlet Witch, right? According to a new series, this isn’t the case, as the wall-crawler acts like he doesn’t know Wanda Maximoff at all.
Though Spidey and the Scarlet Witch don’t cross paths too often, they’ve interacted more than enough times for the Web-Slinger to know who she is. For example, 1983’s Marvel Fanfare #6, by Mike W. Barr, Sandy Plunkett, Philip Craig Russell, and Jim Novak, sees the two heroes team up to take on the villainous sorcerer Xandu, with Spidey recognizing Wanda from past encounters and saying, “How’s your hubby, the Vision…” in the issue’s opening pages. More recently, though, Marvel’s House of M event should cause Wanda to stick out in Peter’s memory. After all, the new reality that resulted from Wanda’s mental breakdown caused Spidey to suffer some serious trauma, as she managed to bring Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy back from the dead, only for them to disappear once again after everything went back to normal. After an excruciating experience like that, Spider-Man should easily recall who the Scarlet Witch is, but Darkhold Alpha #1 suggests that the two are practically strangers.
After Doctor Doom awakens the Elder God, Chthon, in Steve Orlando, Cian Tormey, Jesus Aburtov, and Clayton Cowles’ Darkhold Alpha #1, Scarlet Witch is forced to work with the Latverian ruler in hopes of stopping the ancient deity. While Doom decides to challenge the demonic foe head-on, however, Wanda decides to form a team of “Darkhold Defenders,” hoping that they will be able to repeat one of Chthon’s historic defeats. Her squad consists of Iron Man, Blade, Wasp, Black Bolt, and Spider-Man, who are all whisked away from their ongoing adventures and teleported directly to her. Immediately upon seeing the Scarlet Witch, Spidey asks, “Didn’t… you date a robot?”
Although it’s glossed over, fans are left to wonder why Spidey has seemingly forgotten Wanda. As mentioned, Spider-Man has had more than a few run-ins with the Scarlet Witch, so his question here is totally bizarre. In fact, other details suggest the story is firmly ensconced in Marvel canon. Victorious, a trusted subject of Doctor Doom who was introduced in 2018, is present; Tony is partnered with Hellcat, a new development in his current line of comics; and Doom and Wanda outright acknowledge the Children’s Crusade storyline wherein Doom stole Wanda’s powers. Considering all this information, Spider-Man should not only be fully aware of who Wanda is, but he should also know who Vision is, that calling Vision a robot (as opposed to a synthezoid) is offensive, that Wanda and Vision have faced prejudice because of Vision’s nature while together, that Wanda was married to Vision, and that their relationship ended because Wanda’s breakdown led to Vision’s brutal destruction and eventually the events of House of M.
Ultimately, the reason for Spidey’s sudden memory loss comes down to writing. Occasionally, comics writers will simply pretend that heroes don’t have decades worth of continuity and connectivity between them. This can absolutely be a useful writing device, but in a comic where continuity is clearly in play, it feels especially egregious and serves as a discordant note in an otherwise fine story. Hopefully, Marvel will steer away from this sort of inconsistency in the future, because if readers are to assume Spider-Man remembers his own life, then his question to Scarlet Witch just comes across as mean.
