The Fantastic Four make their debut in the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The reaction to the movie has been great (including WTW’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps review), which means that it’s one that fans of the superhero genre aren’t going to want to miss. We’re here to help you get all the details you need to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

This is Marvel’s third official attempt to bring The Fantastic Four to the screen (an unofficial adaptation was produced by Roger Corman in the 90s), and features a brand new cast of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps right now.

How to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps in movie theaters

The only place to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps right now is at your local movie theater. The movie is now playing worldwide on the big screen, including the biggest screens, as IMAX showings of The Fantastic Four: First Steps are available, as are other premium format screenings.

To find out exactly when and where The Fantastic Four: First Steps is playing near you, check out Fandango. Available online and as an app, Fandango will show you all of the movie theaters playing The Fantastic Four: First Steps in your area and what times are available. You can also purchase your tickets for The Fantastic Four: First Steps directly through Fandango.

If you have a particular movie theater you like to visit, you can also visit its website to get what showtimes they are offering. And if you have an interest in potentially saving some money, check to see if there’s an available movie theater subscription or membership program. These offerings (provided by numerous US and UK movie theater chains) will give moviegoers free, discounted or monthly allotments of movie tickets, as well as deals on concessions.

Is The Fantastic Four: First Steps streaming?

No, you cannot stream The Fantastic Four: First Steps right now.

There are currently no details on when The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be made available for at-home viewing, either via digital on-demand (which we expect to happen first) or on streaming. What we can be confident is that whenever The Fantastic Four: First Steps does make its streaming debut, it will do so on Disney Plus.

That’s where all Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, as well as Marvel's previous Fantastic Four movies, are streaming right now if you’re interested (subscription required).

We’ll update this page as more info on The Fantastic Four: First Steps streaming and at-home plans is shared.

What else to know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Here is the official synopsis for The Fantastic Four: First Steps:

“Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family — Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet.”

In addition to the main four of Pascal, Kirby, Quinn and Moss-Bachrach, The Fantastic Four: First Steps also stars Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Niles. The movie is directed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman.

The critical response to The Fantastic Four: First Steps — beyond our own five-star review — has been very good, with the movie “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.

Get a peek for yourself at what’s in store with The Fantastic Four: First Steps by watching the trailer directly below:

2025 officially marks the return of the superhero movie. After Marvel was in a multi-year slump post Avengers: Endgame and DC Studios was reconfiguring its identity under James Gunn, the big screen output of both studios this year showed signs of life.

Though Captain America: Brave New World was a rough start to the year, Thunderbolts* was a fun and surprisingly deep story about some Marvel side characters getting the chance to shine for the first time. Superman, meanwhile, even if I wasn’t as big of a fan, offered something different and got people excited about the future of DC’s comic book adaptations. But the best of the bunch is The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The third attempt at bringing Marvel’s iconic family of superheroes to the big screen is the charm. The core four of stars have great chemistry; the director brings a fresh feel to the proceedings; and an epic score helps to elevate it all. That all results in not only one of the best Marvel movies of all time, but one of the best movies I’ve seen this year.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps feels different in large part because it is different from all of the movies we’ve seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The movie is set in a different dimension from the main story of the MCU we’ve been following for nearly 20 years, specifically Earth 828 (the main MCU storyline has been set on Earth 199999, for reference).

This world is a blend of 1960s and futuristic styles, where The Fantastic Four — Reed/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue/The Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny/The Hunan Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) — are beloved heroes and things are going great, with Sue and Reed set to welcome their first child. However, when a being with the capability to devour Earth demands the ultimate sacrifice to save the planet, the Fantastic Four put their brains and mettle to figuring out a plan.

That all leads to a practically perfect superhero movie. It relies on telling the story of a family as much as the galactic threat hanging over them.

While together, the quartet of Pascal, Kirby, Quinn and Moss-Bacrach are fantastic, they each shine individually as well. Pascal’s brainy Reed is a competent, confident leader for the public, while more of an awkward nerd with his family (no one is having a better summer than Pascal between this, Materialists and Eddington). Kirby’s Sue is the emotional heart of the group and movie; a bad-ass mother who won’t stop protecting all that she cares about. Quinn nails the comedic relief role but there’s a sincerity and earnestness to his Johnny that makes him more than a joke machine. And Moss-Bachrach brings a softness and calm to the rock (physically and emotionally) Ben.

Elsewhere, Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer/Shalla-Bal and Ralph Ineson’s Galactus are imposing antagonists that make the most of their screen time. Paul Walter Hauser also has a great bit as Mole Man. And of course, can’t forget to mention Herbie, the heroes robot assistant, who could easily have been a childish marketing ploy, but is handled with enough care and given enough to do that he never feels gimmicky.

The fact that The Fantastic Four: First Step could create such rich characters, tell an engaging and thrilling story and introduce a brand new world within the MCU all under two hours (movie has a runtime of one hour and 55 minutes with credits), is a testament to director Matt Shakman.

Though Shakman only had one feature directing credit to his name prior to The Fantastic Four: First Step, he had plenty of experience directing some of the biggest TV shows of the last decade, including the Marvel and Disney Plus original series WandaVision. With how well made WandaVision was, perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Shakman nailed The Fantastic Four, but he definitely deserves a good amount of credit for reviving what prior to 2025 had become a stale playbook. He, along with screenwriters Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, was even able to pull off making the trademark Marvel sky beam feel less played out.

Supporting all of this was the brilliant work by composer Michael Giacchino. While no stranger to the MCU and superheroes — he previously scored Doctor Strange, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies, Thor: Love and Thunder and The Batman — Giacchino outdid himself this time. His Fantastic Four theme is instantly iconic, while his epic score perfectly blends and accentuates both the movie’s action scenes and its quieter moments. I hope an Oscar nomination is in line for Giacchino’s score; one of many potentially award-worthy elements from the movie.

Kevin Feige recently talked about Marvel’s recent ups and downs, including the argument that the studio has been choosing quantity over quality in recent years. Time will tell whether The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a blip on the radar or a turning point, but it certainly feels like quality is the dominant theme in this movie. As a result, The Fantastic Four: First Steps may have just saved the MCU and helped to usher in a new era of superhero movies.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps premieres exclusively in movie theaters worldwide on July 25.

We’ve had numerous Supermen, Batmen and Spider-Men, but prior to 2025, we’ve only had one Toxic Avenger, the cult favorite superhero from the 80s. That changes as Peter Dinklage takes on the role in what is being promised as an “unrated” and bloody 2025 new movie.

The Toxic Avenger actually was made back in 2023 with screenings at Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest, but it has taken until now for the movie to get a release. But there has been plenty of buzz about the movie from those screenings (it has a 92% “Fresh” score from critics who have seen the movie) that have gotten fans excited.

So, when is The Toxic Avenger coming out, who else stars in it and is there a trailer? Find out all the info about those details and more directly below.

The Toxic Avenger release date

The Toxic Avenger is set to hit movie theaters on August 29 in the US, UK and Ireland.

The Toxic Avenger cast

Peter Dinklage is taking on the role of the Toxic Avenger, aka Winston Gooze. Dinklage is best known for his Emmy-winning role as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, but more recently he has appeared in Dexter: Resurrection, Wicked and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Other notable members of The Toxic Avenger cast include Elijah Wood (Yellowjackets), Kevin Bacon (Sirens), Taylour Paige (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F) and Jacob Tremblay (The Life of Chuck).

The Toxic Avenger plot

Based on the original The Toxic Avenger movie by Lloyd Kaufman and Joe Ritter, Macon Blair penned the adaptation for this new version. Here is the official synopsis:

“When a downtrodden janitor, Winston Gooze, is exposed to a catastrophic toxic accident, he’s transformed into a new kind of hero: The Toxic Avenger. Now, Toxie must rise from outcast to savior, taking on ruthless corporate overlords and corrupt forces who threaten his son, his friends, and his community. In a world where greed runs rampant… justice is best served radioactive.”

The Toxic Avenger trailer

Watch the “official uncensored” trailer for The Toxic Avenger right here (the violence/gore is the primary reason it’s being dubbed “uncensored,” as an FYI).

The Toxic Avenger director

In addition to writing the script, Macon Blair is the director of The Toxic Avenger.

Blair is better known as an actor, with roles in Blue Ruin, Logan Lucky, The Hunt, Oppenheimer and Reservation Dogs.

The Toxic Avenger is his second feature directing credit, with the other being Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore back in 2017. He’s also directed an episode of the TV anthology series Room 104.

The Toxic Avenger behind the scenes

Legendary Entertainment and Troma Entertainment are the production companies on The Toxic Avenger, while Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting (who recently teamed on the cult horror hit Terrifier 3) are US distributors. The movie is being distributed by Signature Entertainment in the UK.

Producers on the movie are Alex Garcia, Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman and Mary Parent.

They may not be Earth’s mightiest heroes, but the Thunderbolts* are the next Marvel team getting the big screen treatment. And with the movie getting some of the best reviews for any Marvel movie in a while, there’s plenty of excitement to check this one out, so we’ve got all you need to know about how to watch Thunderbolts* right here.

The second of three Marvel movies to be included in the 2025 new movie schedule (after Captain America: Brave New World and ahead of The Fantastic Four: First Steps), Thunderbolts* brings together many recognizable faces from past Marvel projects, including Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as it’s the antiheroes' turn to try and save the day.

Find everything about how, when and where to watch Thunderbolts* directly below.

How to watch Thunderbolts* in movie theaters

Thunderbolts* is no longer playing in movie theaters in the US or UK.

Is Thunderbolts* streaming?

Thunderbolts* is available to watch at home now, as the movie is available via digital on-demand platforms.

You can buy or rent Thunderbolts* on Fandango at Home, Google Play, Apple TV, YouTube and Prime Video.

We don’t have any timeframe on when Thunderbolts* will eventually makes its streaming debut on Disney Plus.

We’ll update this post as more information comes in about the Thunderbolts* at-home viewing plan.

What else to know about Thunderbolts*

Here is the official synopsis for Thunderbolts*:

“Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?”

As mentioned, the cast includes Florence Pugh as Yelena, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, David Harbour as Red Guardians and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina, while they are joined by Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost. Others making their MCU debut in the movie include Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer and Wendell Pierce.

The movie is directed by Jake Schreier, whose notable other directing credits include all six episodes of Netflix’s Beef and an episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

The critical reception for Thunderbolts* has been good, with the movie being “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 88%, making it the highest rated Marvel movie since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Check out the trailer for Thunderbolts* right here if you need any final convincing to go see the movie:

It's one of the best times of year for movie fans — the blockbuster movie season. From the start of May to the end of August, some of the biggest 2025 new movies on the docket are going to debut on the big screen; in some cases the biggest screens (IMAX). To help with you're summer viewing planning, I've arranged my personal picks for the must-see blockbuster movies of summer 2025.

The 13 movies featured below are blockbusters by the truest definition — the kind of movies that absolutely have to be seen on the big screen, and in all cases are only going to be available in movie theaters upon their initial release (no streaming exclusives, though admittedly I am excited about Happy Gilmore 2 this summer). Of course, there are alternative summer movies for those not as interested in these big-budget popcorn flicks, but I'll get to those in a separate list.

But enough with the preamble, let's get to the blockbuster movies that you're not going to want to miss out on this summer:

13. Jurassic World Rebirth

In my head I have this great affinity for the Jurassic Park franchise, but in reality the only one that I truly love is Steven Spielberg's 1993 original. And yet, even as every attempt since has mostly paled in comparison to one of Spielberg's masterpieces, we're going for it again with Jurassic World Rebirth — and darn it if I'm not intrigued. Gareth Edwards (The Creator) as director is a fun choice, and Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali are good stars to have attached. I know the history, but there's enough ingredients to have me curious if someone other than Spielberg can make a truly memorable Jurassic Park movie.

Jurassic World Rebirth releases in movie theaters worldwide on July 2.

12. Nobody 2

Despite good reviews ("Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes) Nobody was a movie that came out and then I honestly kind of forgot about as it arrived just before the world truly started to open back up in 2021. However, the Bob Odenkirk-led action movie is getting a second chance with a sequel, Nobody 2. For those that don't know, Odenkirk plays a family man whose past as a trained killer is brought back to the forefront; think an everyman John Wick with more comedy. I love Odenkirk, so I'm thrilled to watch him kick people's butts again and hopefully generate a bonafide box office hit.

Nobody 2 releases in movie theaters worldwide on August 15.

11. Hurry up Tomorrow

Hurry Up Tomorrow, a dark psychological thriller, isn't your typical summer blockbuster, but when the movie is also a mini concert featuring performances from The Weeknd, people are probably going to show up. However, the reasons that I am interested in checking out Hurry Up Tomorrow are everyone else involved in the movie. Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, two of the more interesting young stars in Hollywood in my opinion, play opposite The Weeknd (credited with his real name, Abel Tesfaye). Then behind the camera is Trey Edward Shults, whose Waves and It Comes at Night were strong opening efforts by the young filmmaker.

Hurry Up Tomorrow releases in movie theaters worldwide on May 16.

10. The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I opted to only include one of Marvel's two summer blockbuster movies on this list. While I like a lot of the individuals in Thunderbolts and it could be fun, I've seen all of those characters before so it's nothing overly new for me.

Whereas The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first time we're getting these iconic characters in the MCU, the movie is taking place in a different decade than any Marvel movie has and it appears to be taking place in one of the different universes across the MCU's multiverse. Long story short, it's offering something fresh, which feels like what's been missing from Marvel of late. Now the interesting question is if they can crack the code and make a Fantastic Four movie that everyone likes, a feat that's been elusive thus far.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in movie theaters worldwide on July 25.

9. 28 Years Later

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to the zombie franchise that they started for 28 Years Later. While the years don't line up perfectly (it's been 23 years since the original movie), the love for this franchise has persisted and fans are undoubtedly excited to see what has happened in the world of the film nearly three decades after the outbreak.

A new cast (headlined by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes) will also make for some intrigue as we find out what people have had to do to survive in apocalyptic Britain.

28 Years Later releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 20.

8. Karate Kid: Legends

The Karate Kid has truly become a generational franchise, combining those of us who grew up loving the original movies from the 1980s and early 1990s with those who discovered Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso from his time on Netflix's Cobra Kai. Add martial arts legend Jackie Chan, who also has ties to the franchise with 2010's The Karate Kid, and Karate Kid: Legends is going to have something for everyone who is fan of the martial arts franchise, bringing movie fans from Gen X to Gen Z together.

Karate Kid: Legends releases in movie theaters worldwide on May 30.

7. How to Train Your Dragon

Disney has been churning out live-action remakes of their animated classic for years now, but now DreamWorks is doing the same with How to Train Your Dragon. The story of young Viking Hiccup and the dragon he befriends, Toothless, is well known at this point, but early reactions from those that saw the full movie at CinemaCon have raised my expectations. And with DreamWorks already green lighting a sequel, they clearly have hope in it too. Let's see if DreamWorks can succeed where Disney has struggled in recent years.

How to Train Your Dragon releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 13.

6. M3GAN 2.0

I was honestly surprised by how much fun I had watching M3GAN back in January 2023. It was such a great blend of horror and comedy, with the pair of performers that play M3GAN nailing the role. With that success comes a move from the early days of the year to summer blockbuster territory, and a raised level of excitement from movie fans. The trailer for M3GAN 2.0 looks like it keeps the fun coming as M3GAN is brought back to protect Cady from a new android.

M3GAN 2.0 releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 27.

5. Superman

For so long there was only on Superman on the big screen, Christopher Reeve. But in the last 20 years, we've gotten three: Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Henry Cavill (Man of Steel and Justice League movies) and now David Corenswet in James Gunn's Superman. It's not an easy mantle to take on (as evidenced by the rotating actors), but as Gunn's DC film universe gets underway, Superman is undoubtedly going to be critical to its success. The potential impacts of all that are part of my interest in this movie. The other is that, after nearly two decades of Marvel domination, it would be fun to see if Superman can fly in and give us something new to root for in the superhero genre.

Superman releases in movie theaters worldwide on July 11.

4. Ballerina

Technically speaking, the movie's official title is From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, which is a mouthful. But despite trying to shoe horn the established franchise into the title, there's a lot to get excited about with Ballerina. Ana de Armas has proven she has plenty of action chops, and we get to see the return of favorites like Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston as we see another side of the John Wick universe; oh, and Keanu Reeves returns to play John Wick, as this story takes place somewhere in the timeline of the first four John Wick movies. But I'm ready for a new action hero to take over Wick's mantle, and de Armas could do just that.

Ballerina releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 6.

3. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

While no mission has proven to be impossible yet for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, they have been pretty consistently thrilling, thanks in large part to Cruise's willingness to do some outrageous stunts. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning certainly looks to deliver more in that category, but for the last time. By all indications, after nearly 30 years, this is going to be the last Mission: Impossible movie starring Cruise. You can bet they're going to pull out all the stops for this one.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning releases in US movie theaters on May 23; releases in the UK on May 21.

2. The Naked Gun

I'm usually not one for seemingly unnecessary reboots of iconic movies, so the idea of a new The Naked Gun movie at first glance would not have been a movie I'd put as my second most anticipated movie of the summer season.

However, the combination of Liam Neeson starring (who is funnier than some people may think), recent outrageous comedy gems Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping's Akiva Schaffer directing and Seth MacFarlane producing is enough to get me excited for this. It helps that the movie is honoring the original comedy franchise rather than trying to straight up remake it, as Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen's Frank Drebin, which leads to one of the best bits in the movie's trailer.

The Naked Gun releases in movie theaters worldwide on August 1.

1. F1

Three years ago, Joseph Kosinski helped reinvigorate people's love for going to the movies with Top Gun: Maverick, which in addition to building on a beloved classic, was perfect for the big screen with his masterfully crafted aerial sequences that made you feel like you were flying inside the cockpit with Tom Cruise.

So I am 100% going to be in movie theaters to watch what the director does when he puts audiences in the driver's seat of an F1 race car in the new movie, F1. Sure, I can definitely see more than a couple of similarities from the F1 trailer and Top Gun: Maverick in terms of plot/character, but if the Brad Pitt movie can produce a similar, exhilarating experience, then we should count ourselves lucky.

F1 releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 27.

The 2025 summer blockbuster season is going to kick off with Marvel’s Thunderbolts on May 2, but you can get an early start to the annual summer movie schedule with Captain America: Brave New World now available at home, available via digital on-demand platforms.

You can buy or rent Captain America: Brave New World on Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Google Play and YouTube. A streaming premiere has not been announced at this time, but we know that whenever that time comes, Captain America: Brave New World will be streaming on Disney Plus.

Of course, with production underway on the next big Marvel team-up, Avengers: Doomsday, if you want to know the characters and some potential storylines coming into that movie, you’re probably best served catching up with Captain America: Brave New World.

Anthony Mackie leads his first Marvel movie, reprising his role as Sam Wilson who has officially taken on the shield of Captain America. He soon finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must find the root of a nefarious global plan. The movie also stars Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson and Giancarlo Esposito.

The first of three Marvel movies in the 2025 new movie slate (the other two are the previously mentioned Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Steps), Captain America: Brave New World is currently the second highest-grossing movie at the US box office this year, only trailing A Minecraft Movie (the MCU movie is No. 3 at the worldwide box office). But if you missed it in movie theaters, you can now watch Captain America: Brave New World at home.

The film didn’t receive the warmest reception from critics, but fans were a bit more accepting of the movie, as evidenced by its 48% “Rotten” score from critics but a 79% positive rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Just as an FYI, Tuesday, April 15, also marks the debut of a couple other notable 2025 movies on digital on-demand platforms — the Jason Statham action movie A Working Man and the horror movie The Woman in the Yard.

Check out the Captain America: Brave New World trailer right here if you need any final convincing on whether or not to get the movie on-demand:

Minus a John Krasinski cameo as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the Fantastic Four is an iconic group of Marvel heroes that have been absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date (the reason had to do with the characters being licensed to 20th Century Fox). But now the iconic team is set to get a proper introduction to the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Of course, there have been some notable attempts to bring the Fantastic Four to the big screen. Chris Evans made his superhero debut alongside Jessica Alba and others in the pair of Fantastic Four movies that were released in 2005 and 2007. Then there was a 2015 reboot that was mired in production issues that made for a less-than-fantastic last outing for the famous quartet.

Now a whole new cast of actors is taking on the roles of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, and we’ve got everything you need to know about it right here.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps how to watch

The Fantastic Four: First Step is now playing exclusively in movie theaters. Here's the details you need to know on how to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast

The latest group of actors set to portray “Marvel’s First Family” of superheroes are Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Gladiator 2) as Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka The Thing.

We also know that Emmy-winner Julia Garner (Ozark) is set to play the Silver Surfer, while Ralph Ineson (Nosferatu) has been tapped to play Galactus.

Additional members of the cast include Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face), Paul Walter Hauser (The Instigators) and Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso).

John Malkovich was cast in the movie to play the character Red Ghost, but Malkovich's character was cut from the movie, a decision the director called "heartbreaking".

The Fantastic Four: First Steps plot

As Marvel usually does, they’ve been keeping the plot details for The Fantastic Four: First Steps pretty well hidden. But we do know a few things.

The movie is set in the 1960s, so taking place before most of the events of the MCU. (Could it also be taking place in a different universe than the main MCU storyline we’ve been following?) We also know that the main villain of the movie is Galactus, an iconic Marvel villain whose main thing is that he consumes planets. But we can expect the Fantastic Four to try and stop him.

Here is what Marvel has shared for The Fantastic Four: First Steps plot so far:

“Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family — Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet.”

The Fantastic Four: First Steps reviews

Read What to Watch's The Fantastic Four: First Steps review to find out our thoughts on the movie.

As for the overall consensus on the movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is both "Certified Fresh" from critics at 86% and "Verified Hot" at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer

The first official trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now here, giving us our first look at the Silver Surfer and teasing the gigantic antagonist, Galactus. Give it a watch right here:

Check out other trailers for the Marvel movie right here:

A new look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps was also shared to announce that tickets for the movie are now available. Check it out here:

The below trailer features some of the first reactions to Fantastic Four:

You can also check out these clips from the movie:

The Fantastic Four: First Steps director

Matt Shakman is the director of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While Shakman only has one feature movie directing credit on his resume (the 2014 movie Cut Bank), he does have Marvel experience, having directed all nine episodes of the Marvel Disney Plus series WandaVision. Now he’s getting to officially play in the MCU sandbox.

Shakman’s other directing credits have come in the world of TV, where he has directed episodes of shows like The Great, Succession, The Boys, Billions, Games of Thrones, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Welcome to Chippendales.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps behind the scenes

It has been a bit of a process getting the Fantastic Four their first official movie in the MCU. After Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, and as a result the Fantastic Four and the other Marvel characters the latter studio had rights to, they started working on a new Fantastic Four movie. Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts was originally the director tapped for the movie, but he exited the project in 2022, with reports saying it was an amicable split and that Watts needed a break from the superhero genre. Shakman was then brought on to take over as director.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is on board as the producer of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, while Mitch Bell is listed as a co-producer and Louis D’Esposito, Grant Curits and Tim Lewis are executive producers.

Also worth noting is that Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino crafted the music for the movie. Giacchino is no stranger to the MCU, having worked on Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Thor: Love & Thunder.

Check out this behind-the-scenes clip on Making The Fantastic Four: First Step:

For many of us, there is no beating the classic John Williams score for the 1978 Superman movie; that’s simply what we hear when we think of the Man of Steel flying through the air. That may be the case for James Gunn as well, as we got our first listen to what chould be the Superman theme for his new take on the classic superhero, and it sure sounds like it took a lot of inspiration from Williams’ theme.

We first heard the new Superman theme in an announcement video about the first official teaser for Gunn’s new Superman movie premiering on Thursday, December 19. There’s no footage, just the first poster for the movie, featuring an effect that makes it look like Superman is flying through the air, accompanied by the theme.

You can listen to the new Superman theme yourself right here:

Now that is obviously not the same theme that John Williams created for the 1978 Superman movie (a movie we list among the 100 best movies of all time). A bit of female vocalization carries what we hear, certainly creating an otherworldly, almost hauntingly beautiful melody. But many are likely to recognize that melodic hums of the new theme, composed by John Murphy, are very reminiscent of the classic Superman theme created by Williams. You can listen to the original here.

To be honest, I’m not mad about it. Gunn is no dummy, he likely knows that whatever theme they came up with it was going to be compared to that of Williams, so why not pay an homage to the master maestro. The new theme is different enough yet also familiar, a balance that many fans are usually striving for. And just a reminder, this is just a quick snippet of the score that they chose to tease fans with, there’s almost certainly going to be more on the way that could be plenty different.

Jame’s Gunn Superman is set to premiere in movie theaters on July 11, 2025, with David Corenswet putting on the cape in the dual role of Clark Kent/Superman. He’ll be joined in the cast by Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and a supporting group that includes Skyler Gisondo, Wendell Pierce, Anthony Carrigan, Edi Gatheig, Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced.

Superman is set to be the first live action movie in Gunn’s attempt to launch a connected DC Universe that spans both movies and TV; his first official project is the animated series Creature Commandos that is streaming on Max.

What do you guys think of the first tease of the new Superman theme and how excited are you to get the first look at Gunn’s Superman later this week?

We've seen Earth's mightiest heroes team up in the Avengers movies, now it's time for the "bad guys" to have a turn. Thunderbolts*, one of three Marvel Cinematic Universe movies among the slate of 2025 new movies, features a group of familiar Marvel characters that are getting to step into the spotlight this time around.

In the comics, the Thunderbolts were a team of reformed supervillains working together who made their first appearance in 1997. For the movie adaptation, the MCU is dipping into their bag of former villains or questionable allies, headlined by Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes.

Who else is on the team? When is Thunderbolts* premiering? We've got the answers to those questions and more directly below.

Thunderbolts* how to watch

Thunderbolts* is available to watch via digital on-demand platforms. Here's how to watch Thunderbolts*.

Thunderbolts* cast

Movie fans have seen most of the main characters set to appear in Thunderbolts*, with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova headlining things. Pugh made her Marvel debut in Black Widow, but has also popped up in Hawkeye. Pugh is one of the bigger movie stars around right now, having also starred in Dune: Part Two, Oppenheimer and We Live in Time.

Other Marvel vets getting a shot at being the hero in Thunderbolts* are David Harbour (Black Widow) as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian; Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Ava Starr/Ghost; Julia Louis Dreyfuss (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine; Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as John Walker/US Agent; Olga Kurylenko (Black Widow) as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster; and Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as Bucky Barnes.

There are a couple of new additions to the MCU in Thunderbolts*, including Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry) as Robert Reynolds/Sentry and Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) in an unspecified role.

Thunderbolts* plot

Here is the official synopsis for Thunderbolts*:

"Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?"

Thunderbolts* trailer

Watch the first trailer for Thunderbolts* right here, as the team is forced to assemble:

These team of misfits got a special preview on the Super Bowl stage with this special big game spot:

In the below trailer for Thunderbolts*, Marvel touts some of the other credits that its stars and crew (in all cases acclaimed movies) that have worked on to get some excitement going for those who maybe aren't Marvel ride or dies. Watch it right here:

Here's another trailer announcing that tickets for Thunderbolts* are now on sale:

Thunderbolts* reviews

Critics have weighed in on Thunderbolts, with the Marvel movie already "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 88% positive score, which as of now makes it the highest rated Marvel movie since Spider-Man: No Way Home. Fans have enjoyed Thunderbolts* as well, with the movie being "Verified Hot" on Rotten Tomatoes at 94%.

Thunderbolts* director

Jake Schreier is the director for Thunderbolts*. He has mostly worked in TV in recent years, including directing multiple episodes for the Emmy-winning Netflix series Beef, Lodge 49 and others. On the movie side, he has directed two features: Robot & Frank (2012) and Paper Towns (2015).

Deadpool & Wolverine earned the largest box office debut of an R-rated movie ever and the sixth best opening of any movie ever (not adjusted for inflation) with its release in movie theaters worldwide on July 26. Even so, many people may simply wait for the movie to be available to watch at home rather than make the trek to their local movie theater.

A post that was shared on X (formerly Twitter) Monday, July 29, from user Vids that go hard simply reads "F**k it, the full Deadpool & Wolverine movie," with a video embedded in the post. Could it actually be? Was this bound to be another infamous leak a la the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer or multiple episodes of Power Book II: Ghost online?

For a brief few moments people may have thought such a thing was possible, only to then be Rickrolled. Check out the post here.

Yep, instead of the post actually containing the Deadpool & Wolverine movie (which without a doubt would have been forced down and then become the subject of massive litigation by The Walt Disney Company) it ends up being a 79 minute loop of Rick Asterly performing his iconic and endlessly memed song "Never Gonna Give You Up."

Even before the singer comes on most people could likely figure out that this was a prank, as the studio logos shown aren't accurate (Universal instead of Disney/Marvel) and a 79 minute video certainly would not be the entire movie. Still, it's a funny bit for overly anxious fans that would rather watch something on their phone than go see it on the big screen and something we'd have to think Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds, would enjoy.

Not too long after his original post, copping to his prank, Vids that go hard shared another post, this time saying "Go watch Deadpool & Wolverine in theaters though, it's literally the best Marvel movie I’ve seen in a while."

Deadpool & Wolverine was one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, as it brought back Reynolds' now iconic, foul-mouthed superhero and paired with him another Marvel legend, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. This was the first time that both characters officially appeared in the MCU, but Deadpool kept his trademark meta jokes and R-rating to the delight of fans and critics (the movie is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes).

So no, you can't watch Deadpool & Wolverine online right now, and not for some time we'd be willing to wager (there's no info on its planned digital on-demand or streaming release on Disney Plus yet). If you're eager to see it, take Vids that go hard's advice and head to the movie theaters.

The official Marvel Cinematic Universe may be having a bit of an off year, but that doesn't mean superhero movies aren't coming to movie theaters, with one of the comic book titles joining the 2024 new movie lineup being Venom: The Last Dance. 

Sony Pictures is behind most of the Marvel movies this year, which in addition to the third Venom movie includes other characters best known from the Spider-Man universe. Already we've seen Madame Web and also have the upcoming movie Kraven the Hunter. Though the Marvel Cinematic Universe's did have one entry this year, Deadpool & Wolverine.

When is Venom: The Last Dance premiering, who's in it and what's it about? We've got everything we know about the movie for you directly below.

Venom: The Last Dance release date

Venom: The Last Dance is now playing in movie theaters in the US, UK and elsewhere around the world.

If you want to catch up with the Venom franchise before Venom: The Last Dance, 2018's Venom is now streaming on Disney Plus in the US and digital on-demand in the UK; Venom: Let There Be Carnage, meanwhile, is available via digital on-demand in both countries.

Venom: The Last Dance cast

Tom Hardy has been the star of the Venom franchise, playing the dual roles of Eddie Brock and Venom, the human and the symbiote that uses him as a host to become the powerful anti-hero. Hardy is a popular British actor best known for his roles in Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, Peaky Blinders and The Revenant, earning an Oscar nomination for the latter. Venom: The Last Dance is going to be the second 2024 movie that Hardy appears in, as he is also set to star in The Bikeriders.

The other confirmed cast members in Venom: The Last Dance are Juno Temple, the Emmy-nominated actress from Ted Lasso and Fargo season 5; Chiwetel Ejiofor, who starred in 12 Years a Slave and already has a Marvel connection having starred in the Doctor Strange movies; Rhys Ifans, a veteran of the Spider-Man universe from playing The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man (not clear if he is reprising his character); Peggy Lu, who has played Mrs. Chen in all the Venom movies; Alanna Ubach, most recently seen in the Ted TV series; and Stephen Graham, star of Boiling Point and the 2024 movie Young Woman and the Sea.

Someone who is notably absent from the cast list at this time is Michelle Williams, who played Anne Weying in the first two Venom movies.

Venom: The Last Dance plot

Kelly Marcel wrote the script for Venom: The Last Dance on a story idea she developed with Tom Hardy. Here is the official synopsis:

"In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel's greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtain's down on Eddie and Venom's last dance."

Venom: The Last Dance trailer

The official trailers for Venom: The Last Dance is now available, and you can watch it directly below for your convenience:

Venom: The Last Dance reviews

Per Rotten Tomatoes, Venom: The Last Dance has a "Rotten" rating from critics, though audiences tend to be rating then movie higher.

Kelly Marcel movies

Kelly Marcel is making her directorial debut with Venom: The Last Dance, but she is a well-established screenwriter in Hollywood. In addition to writing Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Marcel is credited with writing Saving Mr. Banks and Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as having a "story by" credit with Cruella.

She also has experience in TV, having created and written episodes for the series Terra Nova and The Changeling.

Superman flies again. The legendary superhero is getting a brand new movie adaptation set to be one first movies of the new DC Universe that is being shepherded by Marvel Cinematic Universe alum James Gunn.

With the DC Extended Universe that was largely oversee by Zack Snyder previously coming to an end with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Gunn has a lot of plans for the new DC Universe, which is expected to include new iterations of Batman and some more obscure minor characters in the DC pantheon. But you can't have a DC Universe without Superman, and this movie is going to introduce us to the latest person to don the cape.

Here is everything that we currently know about James Gunn's Superman.

Superman release date

Superman is now playing in movie theaters everywhere. Here are the details on how to watch Superman.

Superman cast

Who was going to be the next Superman was a big question once everyone knew James Gunn was bringing a new version of the character to life. The answer ended up being David Corenswet. While not widely known before his casting, Corenswet has appeared in Pearl, Twisters, Ryan Murphy's The Politician and then HBO miniseries We Own This City. He joins Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh and Christopher Reeve as big screen Superman actors (a lot more have played the character on TV, including Tyler Hoechlin in Superman & Lois).

Among the other iconic Superman roles, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan is playing intrepid reporter Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult (The Menu) as Lex Luthor and Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen. Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth) plays the role of Daily Planet editor Perry White.

The rest of the cast includes Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho, Edi Gatheig (For All Mankind) as Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner and Isabela Merced (Madame Web) as Hawkgirl, as well as Sara Sampaio (At Midnight), Maria Gabriela de Faria (The Moodys), Alan Tuduyk, Pruitt Taylor Vince (Bird Box) and Neva Howell (Greedy People)

Superman plot

Plot details were kept under wraps/vague, but while not a traditional Superman origin story, the movie will feature Superman going up against classic foes like Lex Luthor, as well as interacting with other DC characters as he tries to protect the world from dangers.

Superman trailer

The official trailer for James Gunn's Superman is here. Watch it and the previously released Superman teaser trailers below:

A teaser was also shown during the NFL playoffs to get fans excited for the new movie:

And now an extended sneak peek at the movie is available online, specifically focusing on Krypto and Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Watch it here:

In celebration of Superman Day on April 18, this behind-the-scenes video was also shared:

Superman reviews

Read What to Watch's Superman review for our take on the newest iteration of the Man of Steel.

As for the overall critical consensus, Superman very quickly earned a "Certified Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes, which as of July 8 sits at 88%.

James Gunn movies

James Gunn has been one of the most successful directors of superhero movies in the last decade; not just with movies either, as his TV series Peacemaker was also a hit. But you can check out Gunn's full filmography right here:

• Slither (2006)
• Super (2010)
• Movie 43 (2013)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
• The Suicide Squad (2021)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

The Spider-verse continues to expand on the big screen, with Madam Web being the latest movie for fans to enjoy. This new character joins the lineup of Spider-Man-related characters and projects (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kraven the Hunter, Venom 3) that Sony is producing as part of a deal with Marvel.

Described as one of Marvel's "most enigmatic heroines," Madame Web brings the clairvoyant character to the big screen for the first time, as well as some other classic comic book characters. While this is expanding the Spider-Man world Sony has been building, the studio stresses that Madame Web is a standalone story and bills it as much a psychological thriller as it is a superhero movie.

Find out more about Madame Web below, as we detail all the key details about the movie you need to know.

How to watch Madame Web

Madame Web is available to watch via digital on-demand platforms in the US and UK.

Madame Web reviews

The Madame Web reviews are in, but unfortunately they are not great. The movie has been given a "Rotten" score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Madame Web plot

Madame Web made her first appearance in a Marvel comic book in 1980, but the Madame Web movie marks her big screen debut. It won't just be the introduction of the clairvoyant heroine though, as a trio of characters who are key Marvel figures in their own right also appear in the movie.

With a script written by Claire Parker and S.J. Clarkson from a story by Kerem Sanga, here is the official synopsis for Madame Web from Sony Pictures:

"'Meanwhile in another universe…' In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures… if they can all survive a deadly present."

Madame Web cast

Dakota Johnson stars Cassandra Webb, aka Madame Web. Johnson first really popped on screens in The Social Network, but has since gone on to star in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, The Peanut Butter Falcon, The Lost Daughter, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Persuasion. This is Johnson's first foray into the superhero genre.

The three young women destined for bigger things in the movie include Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You, Euphoria) as Julia Carpenter, Celeste O'Connor (A Good Person, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) as Mattie Franklin and Isabela Merced (Rosaline, Father of the Bride) as Anya Corazon.

The rest of the cast features Tahar Ramin (Extrapolations, The Mauritanian), Mike Epps (The Upshaws, You People), Emma Roberts (American Horror Story, We're the Millers) and Adam Scott (Severance, Parks & Rec).

Madame Web trailer

Like Madame Web, you can take a peek at what lies ahead by watching the Madame Web trailer directly below. 

You can also hear Dakota Johnson talk about her character in this clips:

Who is S.J. Clarkson?

In addition to co-writing the script for Madame Web, S.J. Clarkson is the director of the movie. This actually marks Clarkson's feature directing debut, but she is by no means a newcomer to the industry.

Clarkson's resume includes directing episodes of some of the biggest TV shows in recent memory. Her list of credits includes Succession, Anatomy of a Scandal, Collateral, Vinyl and Orange is the New Black. She also has superhero experience, directing multiple episodes of the Marvel TV series Jessica Jones and The Defenders.

After being given the shield by Chris Evans' Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame and officially accepting the mantle in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie leads his very own Captain America movie for the MCU with Captain America: Brave New World.

The movie is the fourth Captain America movie in the MCU, taking place in Phase 5 of the ongoing cinematic universe. But how will Mackie's Sam Wilson fit into the new regime of Avengers? And what new foe will he face?

While we'll have to wait and see to get definitive answers on all of that, here's what we know about Captain America: Brave New World.

Captain America: Brave New World how to watch

Captain America: Brave New World is playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide. Here's what you need to know about how to watch Captain America: Brave New World.

It is the first of three new Marvel movies releasing in 2025, with the other two being Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Captain America: Brave New World cast

Anthony Mackie has been in the MCU since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but now his Sam Wilson is the official Captain America, leading the way for this new movie. Mackie is a Hollywood veteran, having starred in the likes of Million Dollar Baby, The Hurt Locker, The Adjustment Bureau and Twisted Metal.

While Mackie is taking over the Captain America mantle, Harrison Ford is taking on a legacy MCU role, but under different circumstances. Ford was cast as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross following the passing of William Hurt, who had played the character since The Incredible Hulk. Ford is a screen legend who does not appear to be slowing down despite his age. Just last year he reprised his classic character Indiana Jones for the final time with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and had a hit TV show with 1923.

Thunderbolt Ross isn't the only connection to The Incredible Hulk appearing in Brave New World. Tim Blake Nelson is reprising his role of Dr. Samuel Sterns from the early Marvel movie, as is Liv Tyler, who played Betty Ross, Thunderbolt Ross' daughter and love interest to Bruce Banner (does that mean a Mark Ruffalo cameo is possible?).

Other confirmed cast members for Captain America: Brave New World are The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Carl Lumbly and Danny Ramirez, reprising their roles of Isaiah Bradley and Joaquin Torress, respectively. Also making their return to the MCU. New to Marvel are Shira Haas (Unorthodox), who is playing a character named Sabra, Giancarlo Esposito as a mysterious new villain and Xosha Roquemore (The Sex Lives of College Girls).

Captain America: Brave New World plot

Here is the synopsis for Captain America: Brave New World from Marvel:

"Anthony Mackie returns as the high-flying hero Sam Wilson, who’s officially taken up the mantle of Captain America. After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red."

Captain America: Brave New World trailer

Watch the Captain America: Brave New World trailers directly below:

Watch the official trailer for Captain America: Brave New World right here, which definitely leans into political thriller genre vibes:

Captain America: Brave New World reviews

See what critics have been saying about Captain America: Brave New World via Rotten Tomatoes.

Captain America: Brave New World director

Leading things behind the camera for Captain America: Brave New World as the director is Julius Onah. Onah's most recent movie was the 2019 indie movie Luce, though he does have experience with some bigger, more effects driven movies, having also directed The Cloverfield Paradox.

Captain America: Brave New World behind the scenes

What to Watch colleagues got to take part in a panel on Captain America: Brave New World in London on January 31 featuring stars Mackie, Ford and Ramirez, as well as director Onah. Here are some of the notable quotes:

Anthony Mackie on how his younger self would react to him playing Captain America:

"My younger self would be very surprised. I would hope he would be proud. I would hope he would be as excited as I am. I know he would be very overwhelmed emotionally and appreciative. Coming from New Orleans and the neighborhood that I grew up in, which was a great neighborhood, the idea of going outside of that and reaching this far outside the boundaries of my confines wasn’t seen or even could be dreamed of. So to now be sitting here and to see this, that was never in my purview, I just wanted to do Shakespeare plays and Ibsen. It’s just amazing."

Harrison Ford on joining Marvel:

"I’m beginning to understand it’s a big family and I’m a small part of it. I’m glad to be here. I’ve always watched them and the attraction of Marvel films for me is watching wonderful actors have a good time playing. So when the opportunity came along for me to be a part of it I was grateful for the opportunity. It’s a whole new genre and a new audience for me. It was fun."

Danny Ramirez on how his character mirrors his own journey:

"...[T[here’s a beautiful life imitating art and art imitating life moment where I will show up to set and realise that Joaquin’s journey and my journey parallels quite perfectly. Many days all I had to do for character work was watch Anthony on set and see how he navigated and how I could help. That made the job incredibly easy."

Captain America: Brave New World is produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore.

TV fans won't be heading to Seattle to see what's going on with Station 19 or Grey's Anatomy, as both series wrapped up their seasons on May 18. Instead, ABC is giving viewers a chance to catch up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as it airs the broadcast TV debut of one of the studios recent movies.

Airing on Thursday, May 25, at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The Marvel movie starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh introduces the new hero of Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Shang-Chi was released in movie theaters on September 3, 2021, and was widely praised, earning a "Certified Fresh" score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, including What to Watch's own Shang-Chi review giving it three and a half stars, while audiences gave it a 98% positive rating. The movie made more than $430 million worldwide, which considering it came out when the pandemic had people a bit weary to head to the movie theater, is nothing to shrug off.

The movie has been available to stream on Disney Plus since November 2021, but its airing on ABC gives those not subscribed to the streaming service their first chance to watch the movie at no extra cost.

If you can't watch Shang-Chi on May 25 though, don't worry, it's not the only time the movie is going to be airing on TV in the near future. FX is going to broadcast the movie on Sunday, May 28, Saturday, June 17, and Wednesday, June 21, all at 7 pm ET/PT, and again on Thursday, June 22, at 5 pm ET/PT. Freeform is also going to show the movie on Saturday, June 10, at 8:10 pm ET/PT and Sunday, June 11, at 5 pm ET/PT.

To watch Shang-Chi on ABC, if you have a TV antenna, a traditional cable TV subscription or a live TV streaming service that carries the network (FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV) you can tune in. FX and Freeform, meanwhile, are also available through cable subscriptions or the four major live TV streaming services, FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV.

ABC is showing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as part of its Wonderful World of Disney specials. Watch the trailer for the movie right here.

Who's ready for another superhero adventure? Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the sequel to the hit DC superhero movie Shazam! from 2019, is here for your viewing pleasure. But just where and how can you watch the movie?

The latest movie based on a DC comic book character, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is one of the last movies of the old era of DC before the new James Gunn era begins in earnest. Does that mean this will be the last time we get to see Zachary Levi as the titular superhero? To be determined, but in the meantime, he's got some new enemies to face in the form of Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu's daughters of Atlas.

Here is everything that you need to know on how to watch Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

How to watch Shazam! Fury of the Gods in movie theaters

The only place to see Shazam! Fury of the Gods as soon as it releases everywhere on Friday, March 17, is at a movie theater, as the big-budget superhero flick plays exclusively on the big screen.

As far as finding Shazam! Fury of the Gods showtimes and tickets, you can check your local movie theater website or Fandango, which allows you to see all the times the movie is playing at any movie theater in your area.

If you enjoy going to the movies but can be scared off by the ticket prices, then a possible solution is movie theater subscriptions and membership deals. Offered by many movie theater chains in the US and UK, as well as some third-party platforms, these deals give movie lovers access to free/discounted tickets or a certain number of movies each month for a single monthly subscription fee. You can also get deals on concessions and more as part of these programs.

Is Shazam! Fury of the Gods streaming?

Sorry, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is not streaming or available online in any way right now.

That is likely not going to change for at least a month, as most movies have about a 30 day exclusive run in movie theaters before heading to digital or streaming (though that can vary). But we do have a pretty good assumption of where Shazam! Fury of the Gods is going to land when it does become available on streaming.

Considering the DC Studio movie falls under the Warner Bros. Pictures banner, HBO Max is where you are almost assured to stream Shazam! Fury of the Gods once it's available; that's where the original Shazam! and most other DC superhero movies are currently streaming.

Good chance Shazam! Fury of the Gods becomes available on digital on-demand first though. Either way, we'll update this post as info on Shazam! Fury of the God’s digital and streaming releases become available. 

What else you need to know about Shazam! Fury of the Gods

When we last saw Billy Batson, he had mastered his new powers and shared them with the other kids of his adopted family. Now, he has to contend with the reawakened daughters of Atlas, who believe that Billy stole the powers and want to get them back, destroying whatever they need to in their path.

In addition to Levi, Mirren and Liu, the cast of Shazam! Fury of the Gods includes Grace Caroline Currey, Rachel Zegler, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Meagan Good, Marta Milans, Djimon Honsou and more.

As of March 16, the movie has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 58%, which classifies it as "Rotten" (if just barely).

Watch the trailer for Shazam! Fury of the Gods right here:

Even as the future of the DC movie universe heads into a new unified direction, there is a holdover from the previous regime that is ready to cause a stir, Joker: Folie à Deux. Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips are teaming up once again, taking their  Joker sequel in an interesting direction.

2019's Joker was already unlike almost any other DC movie that we'd seen before, providing a unique take on the classic Batman villain. Though the movie didn't feature any superhero fisticuffs, it still made more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office and earned two Oscars for Best Score and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, as well as a Best Picture nom; the movie earned 11 Oscar nominations in total. With that pedigree, the sequel is a much anticipated 2024 new movie.

What can audiences expect from Joker: Folie à Deux? Here is everything we know about the Joker sequel.

Joker: Folie à Deux release date

Joker: Folie à Deux is now playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide.

Joker: Folie à Deux plot

Joker was a dark story about Arthur Fleck, a clown-for-hire who had aspirations of being a stand-up comedian. Arthur suffers from mental problems that eventually led him on a downward spiral and put him in the center of a riotous city.

Where will the sequel go? Here is the official synopsis:

"Joker: Folie à Deux finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him."

Joker: Folie à Deux cast

Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck for Joker: Folie à Deux. While the 2019 movie gave Phoenix his first Oscar, the actor has been nominated multiple times before for Gladiator, Walk the Line and The Master.

Starring opposite Phoenix's Arthur Fleck/Joker is Lady Gaga in the role of Harley Quinn, which was announced in August 2022. She is the third actress to be playing Harley Quinn in recent years, following Margot Robbie in the Suicide Squad/Birds of Prey movies and Kaley Cuoco, who voices the character in the animated Harley Quinn series on HBO Max. Lady Gaga is best known as a singer, though she is also a well-regarded actress known for A Star is Born and House of Gucci.

Check out a first look at Lady Gaga in costume as Harley Quinn:

Other members of the Joker: Folie à Deux cast include Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), Catherine Keener (The Adam Project), Jacob Lofland (The Maze Runner), and Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), reprising her character from Joker, Sophie Dumond. 

Joker: Folie à Deux trailer

Watch the first teaser trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux right here:

On July 23, an official trailer was released. Check it out below. 

You can also watch this feature about Lady Gaga getting into her character, Lee:

Joker: Folie à Deux reviews

Read our Joker: Folie à Deux review to find out why we think the sequel is a rarity among big blockbusters.

Pulling back and look at the overall reaction to the movie from critics, as of October 4 Joker: Folie à Deux is rated "Rotten" by critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Todd Phillips movies

Returning to direct Joker: Folie à Deux is Todd Phillips. He was nominated for Best Director at the Oscars for the first movie, as well as one of the producers listed for Best Picture and as a co-writer for its Oscar-nominated script.

Phillips has been around for a while though, and Joker was a bit of a departure from the type of movies that he has been known for throughout his career. Take a look at Todd Phillips’ other directing credits right here:

• Frat House (1998)
• Bittersweet Motel (2000)
• Road Trip (2000)
• Old School (2003)
• Starsky & Hutch (2004)
• School for Scoundrels (2006)
• The Hangover (2009)
• Due Date (2010)
• The Hangover Part II (2011)
• The Hangover Part III (2013)
• War Dogs (2016)
• Joker (2019)

What does Joker: Folie à Deux title mean?

Folie à Deux is an interesting subhead to give to the Joker sequel. So what does it actually mean? Folie à deux is actually a medical term, defined by the National Library of Medicine as "an identical or similar mental disorder affecting two or more individuals, usually members of a close family."

Considering Joker: Folie à Deux looks to be dealing with the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn, the term may be referring to how the two of them are connected.

How to watch Joker

If you want to watch 2019's Joker, you can do so right now on Max in the US and through digital on-demand in the UK.  

Kang. Is. Here!

Since Loki season 1, the threat of a multiversal war with the evil variants of He Who Remains has haunted the MCU, patiently waiting to be paid off. That time has arrived, as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the first movie of MCU Phase 5, unleashes the big bad himself: Kang the Conqueror. 

As revealed by Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Quantumania is the first step toward an overarching storyline that features Kang as the franchise's latest major villain, and will pay off in the next highly anticipated Avengers installments; Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

But who is Kang the Conqueror? What is his deal? Where and when did he first emerge? And how is Jonathan Majors this jacked?

Here's a breakdown of everything you need to know about Kang the Conqueror.

Who is Kang the Conqueror?

Kang the Conqueror, aka Nathaniel Richards, was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #19 in 1963, making his triumphant debut as a time displaced descendent of Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic) and a criminal from the year 3000. However for his first two appearances, he wasn't called Kang. He called himself Rama-Tut and used his future technology to make himself a Pharaoh and conquer ancient Egypt. Fortunately, he is defeated by the Fantastic Four.

Shortly thereafter, he tries to return to his time, but ends up getting lost further into the future to the 40th century, to find an apocalyptic world with powerful technology, that allows him to conquer what's left of the dying planet, rebranding himself as "Kang the Conqueror." Unsatisfied ruling over a dying world, he decides to use the technology to travel to modern times to try and conquer 20th century Earth, which forces him to come to blows with Earth's mightiest heroes, The Avengers (in Avengers #8 from 1964).

Kang would go on to become one of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four's biggest foes, doing battle with them throughout the decades, even almost succeeding in his conquest of Earth in the storyline, "The Kang Dynasty."

What are Kang the Conqueror's powers?

There is nothing extraordinary about Kang the Conqueror other than his mind. A master physicist with a proclivity for time travel and all of the knowledge of history readily available in his mind who is also pretty good at building stuff. Any super strength he possesses is solely powered by his enhanced armor (created himself), but he does benefit from increased resistance to radiation due to his time in the future.

It's worth noting that the aforementioned suit is also capable of hologram tech, forcefields and keeping him alive for a month if lost in uninhabitable lands. And, at one point, he possessed a will-sucking ray gun. 

Who plays Kang the Conqueror?

Actor Jonathan Majors is taking on the role of Kang. As mentioned above, audiences got their first glimpse of Majors as a variant of Kang in the Loki season 1 finale. Majors once again is stepping into the role of a different, more sinister variant of the character than the one we saw in the Disney Plus series, with a look that skews closer to the famous green and purple suit in the comics.

Majors exploded into the scene with acclaimed lead performances in The Last Black Man in San Francisco and the lead role in HBO's Lovecraft Country. He has proven himself to be a tremendously charismatic and versatile actor, starring in films like Devotion, Da 5 Bloods, The Harder They Fall and 2023's Creed III, alongside fellow MCU baddie Michael B. Jordan, and Magazine Dreams.

Is Kang worse than Thanos?

It depends on which version of Kang we're talking about. While Loki's He Who Remains may have seemed like an impish douchebag, we're getting our second iteration of The Conqueror on screen, and he does not look as friendly or accommodating. With He Who Remains teasing his variants are much worse, there's a sense that the other versions we meet may make the first guy look like a bunny rabbit. 

Furthermore, with Loki and Sylvie causing the Multiverse to essentially explode and expand, who knows how many versions of Kang are out there and how many are as nefarious about conquering planets as their comic book counterpart. Welcome to The Multiverse Saga.

In contrast, there was only one of Thanos (at least pre-Multiverse Saga). 

In the comics there were several versions of Kang: Immortus, Kang Prime, Iron Lad, Victor Timely, Mr. Gryphon, The Scarlet Centurion. The list goes on. While Kang is actually a human, with his terrifying future tech even a single one of him could be a massive threat to the Avengers, let alone several. 

Additionally, Thanos didn't have the same knowledge of the future Kang has, which would give Kang the bigger advantage over a villain like The Mad Titan. But combine that with the genius level intellect of his descendant Reed Richards and the presence of technology that no one else in the universe in the present would have, and you have one of the Avengers' greatest threats looming upon the MCU.

Does Kang have any weaknesses?

In a way, Kang has a soft spot for one individual in particular: Ravonna Renslayer. Played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Loki season 1, Renslayer has always been a major part of Kang's story, being his one true love.

While on the show, she's the head of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), in the comics she was a princess whom Kang fell in love with. In an attempt to impress her, he kidnaps the Avengers as a show of power (talk about compensating for something). However he eventually frees them when her life is threatened, so they can help him save her. However she's mortally injured before they can and he has to put her into stasis until he can find a way to heal her and save her from the brink of death. An interesting adaptation of this was animated into the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series back in 2011.

How will Quantumania's introduction of Kang lead into Avengers: The Kang Dynasty?

It's hard to say what versions of Kang the MCU has in store for the fans. But his introduction in Quantumania will absolutely not be the last we see of the character. The best assumption many have is that the genie will be officially out of the bottle, so to speak, and Kang will be looking to bring our heroes to their knees.

For more about Kang the Conqueror, check out this featurette here:

After coming in late in the Infinity Saga to help save the day, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel is going to be a bigger part of the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe right from the get go with her new movie, The Marvels. Though it won't just be her movie this time around.

MCU Phase 5 begins in earnest in 2023, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coming out ahead of The Marvels. However, key bits of information and new characters were introduced in the Disney Plus Marvel series WandaVision and Ms. Marvel. How will those factor in the new superhero movie?

Here is everything we know about The Marvels.

The Marvels release date

The Marvels hits movie theaters on Friday, November 10.

The Marvels trailer

Check out three of the official trailers for The Marvels right here:

You can also watch this clip to get a tease of one of the movie's action scenes:

The Marvels cast

Brie Larson returns to her superhero role as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel. The Oscar-winning actress has appeared in multiple Marvel projects, including her own Captain Marvel movie, Avengers: Endgame and post-credit scenes in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Ms. Marvel. Other well known roles for Larson include 21 Jump Street, Short Term 12, Room and Just Mercy. She also starred in Fast X in 2023.

Teaming up with Larson in The Marvels are Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan.

Monica Rambeau first appeared in Captain Marvel as a child, the daughter of Carol's best friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch). The grown-up Monica Rambeau was first portrayed by Parris in WandaVision. Outside of the MCU, Parris has starred in Candyman, The Photograph, If Beale Street Could Talk and Mad Men.

Kamala Khan, meanwhile, was the central character in Ms. Marvel, which served as her introduction to the MCU. The role is actually the first credit for Vellani.

The other main cast members for The Marvels include Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers), reprising his role as Nick Fury, Zawe Ashton (The Handmaid's Tale) as the villain Dar-Benn. Also appearing in the movie are Park Seo-Jun (Parasite), Gary Lewis (The Bay), Zenobia Shroff (Ms. Marvel), Mohan Kapur (Ms. Marvel) and Saagar Shaikh (Ms. Marvel).

The Marvels plot

Here is the official plot for The Marvels, courtesy of Marvel:

"Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol's estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau."

The Marvels director

Captain Marvel was the first MCU movie to have a female director (Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck co-directed the movie). The Marvels is going to keep it rolling with a female director, as Nia DaCosta is taking over behind the camera.

DaCosta is best known for directing the 2021 refresh of the horror movie Candyman, with her other movie directing credit coming with the 2018 indie movie Little Woods, which starred MCU-alum Tessa Thompson and Lily James.

MCU movies

The Marvels is joining a massive world as part of the MCU. After 15 years, here’s a quick refresher of everything that has come before and what is still to come (just on the big screen):

MCU Phase 1

• Iron Man (May 2, 2008)
• The Incredible Hulk (June 13, 2008)
• Iron Man 2 (May 7, 2010)
• Thor (May 6, 2011)
• Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011)
• Marvel's The Avengers (May 4, 2012)

MCU Phase 2

• Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)
• Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8, 2013)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug. 1, 2014)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1, 2015)
• Ant-Man (July 17, 2015)

MCU Phase 3

• Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016)
• Doctor Strange (Nov. 4, 2016)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7, 2017)
• Thor: Ragnarok (Nov. 3, 2017)
• Black Panther (Feb. 16, 2018)
• Avengers: Infinity War (April 27, 2018)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6, 2018)
• Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019)
• Avengers: Endgame (April 26, 2019)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019)

MCU Phase 4

• Black Widow (July 9, 2021)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (September 3, 2021)
• Eternals (November 5, 2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 17, 2021)
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
• Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8, 2022)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11, 2022)

MCU Phase 5

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February 17, 2023)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023)
• The Marvels (November 10, 2023)
• Captain America: Brave New World (July 26, 2024)
• Thunderbolts
• Blade

MCU Phase 6

• Fantastic Four
• Avengers: The Kang Dynasty 
• Avengers: Secret Wars

The superhero train keeps rolling along at the movies, with Shazam! Fury of the Gods joining the list of 2023 new movies set in the DC Universe (formerly known as the DC Extended Universe). But there's definitely a level of excitement for this one, as it's a sequel to the surprise hit Shazam! that was released back in 2019.

The original Shazam! earned a 90% "Certified Fresh" rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and nearly $366 million worldwide at the box office. That's good enough to make it one of the best overall received (critics and box office numbers) DC movies in a while. 

Can the Shazam! sequel repeat that success with just about all of its key players returning, plus some exciting new additions? Here's everything we know about Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods release date

Shazam! Fury of the Gods premieres on March 17. That is a bit of a delay from what the movie was originally aiming for, as it (and other DC movies) were delayed a few times. But better late than never. Get info on how to watch Shazam! Fury of the Gods right here.

It's part of a busy March for movie fans, as in addition to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, big-budget movies like Creed III, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, John Wick: Chapter 4 and Scream 6.

In addition, the Shazam! sequel is just one of many DC Universe movies coming in 2023. Others include The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods plot

Quick recap on Shazam! The story centers on teenage Billy Batson, who lives with his adopted family in present-day Philadelphia. In the first movie, he is chosen by the wizard to be granted the powers of the gods whenever he says the word "Shazam" in order to defend the world. He does so, with his adopted siblings also getting powers by the end of the first movie to help.

The official synopsis for Shazam! Fury of the Gods provided by Warner Bros. doesn’t offer a whole lot right now, as it simply reads: "The film continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word 'SHAZAM!' is transformed into his adult superhero alter ego, Shazam." We can infer some more from the trailer (check it out below).

It seems that Billy and his family have some kinks to work out as they continue to get use to their powers. They'll have to do so quickly, as two powerful gods, the daughters of Atlas, aren't too pleased that kids have been given these powers.

Henry Gayden wrote Shazam! Fury of the Gods after doing the same for Shazam! He was joined this time by Chris Morgan.

What's not clear about the plot is if this is going to be the last Shazam! adventure, at least in this version of the DC universe, as James Gunn has plans to reset the comic-book movie landscape.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods cast

Just about everyone from the first movie is coming back for the Shazam! sequel. Leading the way is Zachary Levi as the superhero alter ego of Billy Batson, Shazam. Levi has been a fan favorite for years with his performances in Chuck, Tangled and the Thor franchise, while recently he has appeared in American Underdog and Apollo 10 ½.

Playing the non-superhero version of Billy is Asher Angel. Angel is best known for his music career and role on the Disney Channel show Andi Mack.

Billy's family of superheroes includes Jack Dylan Grazer (IT) as Freddy, with Adam Brody (Promising Young Woman) as the superhero Freddy; Grace Caroline Currey (Annabelle: Creation) as both Mary and superhero Mary; Ian Chen as (A Dog's Journey) as Eugene, with Ross Butler (Raya and the Last Dragon) as superhero Eugene; Faithe Herman (This Is Us) as Darla and Meagan Good (Day Shift) as superhero Darla; Jovan Armand (Second Chances) as Pedro, with D.J. Cotrona (G.I. Joe Retaliation) as superhero Pedro. Marta Milans (White Lines) and Cooper Andrews (The Walking Dead) are also back as the kids' adoptive parents, Rosa and Victor Vasquez.

Also returning for the sequel is Djimon Hounsou (A Quiet Place Part II) as the wizard who gave Billy his powers.

There are some big names joining the cast of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, including Helen Mirren (1923) and Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels). The two are playing the villainous daughters of Atlas, Hespera (Mirren) and Kalypso (Liu). West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler also joins the cast in the role of Athena.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods trailer

Getting closer to the March 17 release date for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for the superhero movie. This one is definitely playing up the stakes a bit more, while the previously released trailer highlighted the comedy. Watch both trailers directly below:

Shazam! Fury of the Gods reviews

Reviews for Shazam! Fury of the Gods are in. As of March 16, the superhero movie has a "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 58%. You can read What to Watch's Shazam! Fury of the Gods review to find out what we thought of the movie.

How long is Shazam! Fury of the Gods?

The runtime for Shazam! Fury of the Gods is two hours and 10 minutes.

What is Shazam! Fury of the Gods rated?

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is rated PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK for "sequences of action and violence, and language."

Shazam! Fury of the Gods director

Just as most of the original cast has returned for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, so has Shazam! director David F. Sandberg. Before taking on the superhero genre with Shazam!, Sandberg was more known for working in horror, having previously directed Annabelle: Creation and Lights Out. He's in line to return to horror with his next movie, Below. 

How to watch Shazam!

If you want to catch up with the original Shazam!, it is currently streaming on HBO Max in the US and is available to rent/buy on digital on-demand in the UK. 

The MCU is evolving. The end of the Infinity Saga gave rise to the next saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: the Multiverse Saga. Kicking off with Phase 4, the Multiverse Saga continues with MCU Phase 5 and MCU Phase 6 across multiple movies and TV shows.

Phase 4 kicked off in 2021, featuring WandaVision, Black Widow, Loki, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ms. Marvel, Thor: Love and Thunder and more, wrapping up with the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in November 2022, 

MCU Phase 5 begins in 2023 with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, with its gamut of titles ending in in the summer of 2024.

From there, where will MCU Phase 6 head? The outline was shared at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, here's a breakdown of the films revealed so far for the final phase of The Multiverse Saga:

Fantastic Four

Release date: February 14, 2025
Cast:  TBD
Director: TBD
What you need to know: Marvel's "First Family" is getting their official MCU debut with Fantastic Four. Given the recent appearance of an 838-Universe Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we have an official confirmation that a variant of Richards exists in the main MCU. Whether or not that version is played by John Krasinski is another story entirely (though some hope not). Rumors and speculation are always running rampant.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty

Release date: May 2, 2025
Cast:  TBD
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
What you need to know: Kevin Feige announced that The Multiverse Saga will culminate with the release of two Avengers movies: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. We know Kang (Jonathan Majors) is being introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and we were warned of his arrival in Loki. Seems like he's going to be enough to gather the forces of Earth's Mightiest Heroes to stop him. Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is directing the next installment in the Avengers series.

Avengers: Secret Wars

Release date: May 1, 2026
Cast:  TBD
Director: TBD
What you need to know: Literally nothing is known about Avengers: Secret Wars apart from the fact that it will be released eight months after The Kang Dynasty, leading to speculation that something about The Kang Dynasty ends in a cliffhanger leading into Secret Wars. 

Given that the 2015 Hickman storyline (not to be confused with the 1984 storyline) had to do with incursions, Doctor Doom getting godlike powers from The Beyonder and a new universe called Battleworld, it's not far fetched to assume Secret Wars deals with Doom and incursions, especially given the release of Fantastic Four one year prior and the concepts of incursions being introduced in Multiverse of Madness after being made possible by Loki and Sylvie in Loki. We're through the looking glass now.

As of now, these are the only three releases teased for Phase 6 of the MCU. More are likely to be revealed in the future, including possible release dates for Shang-Chi 2, Amor Wars and others. That being said, anyone looking for the new direction of the MCU need look no further. The mic has been dropped and silenced naysayers by revealing the ambitious three0year gameplan.

Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, which saw an official close to The Infinity Saga, fans have been on pins and needles to know what's next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Things got started with the MCU's Phase 4, which not only features several films but introduced multi-episode, long form television series debuting on Disney Plus.

Over the last three years (postponed in part because of the pandemic) Phase 4 has said goodbye to beloved characters and hello to many more. With shows like WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If, Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk. On the film side, the world said an official goodbye to Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow, but  also said hello to Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). Audiences also met Shang-Chi and The Eternals in their respective films, while familiar faces like Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Thor also got new movies. 

While exits and entrances have been the big focus, at San Diego Comic Con 2022 it was revealed what Phase 4, which wraps up with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was building up to: the next great saga in the MCU — the Multiverse Saga. Phase 4 is the first leg of this new chapter, with Phase 5 set to really kick the overarching story into high gear with a bevy of new movies and TV shows.

Here is a breakdown of everything coming our way with MCU Phase 5:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Release date: February 17, 2023
Cast:  Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors
Director: Peyton Reed
What you need to know: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off Phase 5. After saving the world in the events of Avengers: Endgame, Scott Lang has immersed himself in the glory of being a hero and writing a book. However, at home, things are shakey as Cassie, now a full grown teen, has begun getting into trouble with the law. Scott's attempts to smooth things over with his daughter are soon interrupted, however, when an experiment goes wrong and Scott, Cassie and the Pym/Van Dyne clan are sucked into the Quantum Realm. There, Scott faces his most menacing foe yet: Kang the Conqueror.

Prepare for surprises with this one. It's going to be a big piece of The Multiverse Saga storyline. Jonathan Majors makes his Marvel Studios film debut as Kang (he debuted as a variant of Kang called "He Who Remains" in Loki season 1). At San Diego Comic Con, director Peyton Reed confirmed MODOK will appear in the film, as will Bill Murray in an undisclosed role. 

Secret Invasion

Release date: Spring 2023
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Colbie Smulders, Ben Mendelsohn, Don Cheadle, Olivia Coleman, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir
Showrunner: Kyle Bradstreet
What you need to know: Secret Invasion is being billed as a paranoid conspiracy thriller in the tradition of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The series takes off from the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, where it was revealed that Nick Fury (Jackson) was off planet and Skrull buddy Talos (Mendelsohn) was subbing for him. Not much else is known about the plot or who Coleman, Clarke and Ben-Adir are playing. But it's expected to be a grounded thriller.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Release date: May 5, 2023
Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Will Poulter, Chukwudi Iwuji, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Maria Bakalova
Director: James Gunn
What you need to know: There was a time where Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was going to be directed by another filmmaker, but luckily Marvel Studios brought back James Gunn back to helm the final chapter in his space opera series. We know the plot revolves around Quill (Pratt) searching for the time displaced Gamora (Saldana), as well as diving into the backstory of Rocket Raccoon (Cooper) and introducing the MCU to Adam Warlock (Poulter) and Cosmo the Space Dog (Bakalova). We also know this is the final film featuring this iteration of the Guardians. What will happen to them and why? We'll just have to wait until May 2023 to find out.

Echo

Release date: Summer 2023
Cast: Alaqua Cox
Showrunner: Marion Dayre
What you need to know: Fresh off her explosive debut in Hawkeye, Alaqua Cox reprises her role as deaf antihero Maya Lopez, aka Echo. The last we saw the character, she had just taken her revenge against Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio), aka the Kingpin, for the murder of her father. Though little is known about the new series, her show could lead into the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again series. More on that later.

Loki season 2

Release date: Summer 2023
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Sophia Di Martino
Showrunner: Eric Martin
What you need to know: The God of Mischief is returning for more chaos. C'mon. What did you expect? This time, Loki is being shepherded by Eric Martin as showrunner and Moon Knight directoring duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Production is currently underway in London and the show is expected to release around the same time as The Marvels.

The Marvels

Release date: July 28, 2023
Cast: Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, Teyonah Parris, Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Nia DaCosta
What you need to know: While little is known about the actual plot going into the sequel to Captain Marvel, we do know Ms. Marvel breakout star Iman Vellani and WandaVision co-star Teyonah Parris are joining Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. The end of Ms. Marvel teased a possible plot point for the upcoming release, with Vellani's Kamala Khan seemingly switching places with Carol Danvers randomly. We'll see where things go from there.

Ironheart

Release date: Fall 2023
Cast: Dominique Thorne
Showrunner: Chinaka Hodge
What you need to know: Not much is known just yet about what will be set up in the Ironheart series. The character of Riri Williams, played by Dominique Thorne, makes her debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; there's a small glimpse of her in the trailer. We know the character has genius level intellect and built her own suit of armor. In the comics she catches the attention of Tony Stark, but with him gone from the MCU for now, the origins of this character may deviate a bit from what's been established in the comics.

Agatha: Coven of Chaos

Release date: Winter 2023/2024
Cast: Katheryn Hahn
Showrunner: Jac Schaeffer
What you need to know: She killed Sparky. That's it. Just kidding. The devilishly delightful Kathryn Hahn will be getting her own spinoff of WandaVision. Presumably they'll have to answer the questions regarding what Agatha's been up to in Westview following her defeat at the hands of Wanda, as well as more about her origins as a centuries-old witch. Maybe even the return of another famous witch? Might not be out of the cards.

Daredevil: Born Again

Release date: Spring 2024
Cast: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio
Showrunner: Matt Corman & Chris Ord
What you need to know: Marvel has ordered a massive 18-episodes for Daredevil: Born Again. While not much else is known about the series, we know for sure, per Kevin Feige, that Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are reprising their respective roles as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Kingpin following appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye. Additionally, Daredevil makes a confirmed appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Captain America: New World Order

Release date: May 3, 2024
Cast: Anthony Mackie
Director: Julius Onah
What you need to know: Sam Wilson is Captain America. Period. He rightfully inherited the title from Captain America, though struggled to earn it in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Kevin Feige revealed the title and date for the upcoming release, but previously it was announced that it would be written by Falcon and the Winter Soldier writers Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson and directed by Luce director, Julius Onah.

Thunderbolts

Release date: July 26, 2024
Cast: TBD
Director: Jake Schreier
What you need to know: Feige announced Thunderbolts as the final film of Phase 5. Little is known about who will be starring in it, but we've seen Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Contessa Valentina Allegra De Fontain (aka Val) assembling a team. Possible candidates could include Daniel Bruhl's Zemo, Florence Pugh's Yelena Bolova and Wyatt Russell's John Walker (aka US Agent). 

Blade

Release date: September 6, 2024
Cast: Mahershala Ali, Delroy Lindo, Aaron Pierre
Director: TBD
What you need to know: In 2019, when Kevin Feige brought out two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali on the Hall H stage, fans have been wondering when they were going to see Ali's spin on The Daywalker. Three years later, they finally got their answer. Though many may not have seen him, everyone who saw Eternals heard him, as Ali lent his voice to a post-credit scene in that film involving Kit Harrington's Dane Whitman attempting to pick up the cursed Ebony Blade sword, before being stopped by Blade. It's unconfirmed if Harrington is reprising his role in Blade.

All in all that's two full years of movies to cover. But wait, there's more MCU goodness coming your way. Feige also announced three films for the MCU Phase 6.

In just two episodes, fans have fallen in love with Iman Vellani’s portrayal of Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel. 

The new Disney Plus series introduces a Muslim American teenager growing up in Jersey City. The superhero mega-fan gets superpowers like the heroes she’s always admired. 

The Ms. Marvel cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Nakli, Azhar Usman, Travina Springer, and Nimra Bucha.  

*WARNING: contains spoilers for episode 2 of Ms. Marvel*

Naturally, many are still in awe of Vellani’s performance as Kamala. 

“#MsMarvel is wonderful, and I really can’t praise Iman Vellani enough. Incredibly endearing performance; she IS Kamala to a higher degree than we’ve ever seen an actor embody a character,” one comment read.

Episode 2 of the show had some fun mentions that MCU fans absolutely loved, specifically of Kingo and Ant-Man. 

“I sometimes forget that Kingo is a movie star in the MCU (for over a century),” a fan said.

“LMAO even people in the MCU realize that Paul Rudd doesn't age,” another viewer commented.  

Then there was a parallel moment that hit every single MCU fan a little too hard. Even though the scene itself was funny in the show’s context, any fan who has seen Avengers: Endgame remembers Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, saying a similar sentiment to Clint Barton (Hawkeye) right before she sacrificed herself to save the world. Honestly, we’re still not over it. 

Said another tweet, “THIS IS NOT THE NATASHA ROMANOFF REFERENCE I ASKED FOR.”

Others continued to praise the show’s choices in terms of representation and all that they’re including. 

Someone wrote, “I am very glad that Marvel isn't shying away from Kamala's religion at all and they're showing us more and more of her as a Muslim that's going to be such impactful representation.”

Another shared, “Nakia’s “I’m too white for some people, too ethnic for others” and Kamran stopping Kamala from correcting herself in English hit HARD. Goodbye. Anyone who said this episode was just ok, idk how.” 

Of course, with every new episode comes an outpouring of new theories. Fans instantly took to social media to share their thoughts on what’s next and what certain things from the episode mean.

“The bangles glowing and Kamala immediately having a vision after hearing her father talk about her ancestor... yeah it's definitely linked to her heritage and abilities,” a fan theorized. 

New episodes of Ms. Marvel are released every Wednesday on Disney Plus.   

The Batman, the latest movie adaptation of the caped crusader starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz and more, has been one of the big movies of 2022, but how can you watch it (or rewatch it)? Here is everything you need to know about how to watch The Batman right now.

How to watch The Batman in movie theaters 

The Batman received exclusive run in movie theaters that began on March 4. The movie is still playing in select theaters.

Check the websites for your local movie theaters or sites like Fandago for where and when The Batman is playing, with the ability to purchase your tickets ahead of time through these sites.

Looking for a way to make seeing The Batman (and other movies) a bit cheaper? Many movie theater chains in the US and UK offer subscription and free membership deals that give perks to theatergoers, including free and discounted tickets, deals on concessions and more.

Is The Batman streaming? 

The Batman is now available for streaming on HBO Max in the US. A subscription to HBO Max is required to stream the superhero movie.

While HBO Max is not available in the UK, The Batman is also now available to rent digitally in the UK as a premium video on-demand title and get it as a digital download.

The Batman Blu-ray/DVD

Fans of The Batman can get a physical 4K/Blu-ray/DVD copy of the movie starting May 24 in the US and June 13 in the UK.

The 4K and Blu-ray versions of The Batman features plenty of special content. Here's the breakdown:

• Vengeance in the Making
• Vengeance Meets Justice
• The Batman: Genesis
• Becoming Catwoman
• Looking for Vengeance
• Anatomy of the Car Chase
• Anatomy of the Wingsuit
• A Transformation: The Penguin
• The Batmobile
• Unpacking the Icons
• Deleted Scenes with director’s commentary

The DVD version of The Batman includes the "Unpacking the Icons" special feature.

Everything you need to know about The Batman

The Batman has proven to be one of the most popular superheroes to appear on the big screen (though closely rivaled by Spider-Man), with a number of actors portraying Batman across numerous movies. In this brand new adaptation of the character, Robert Pattinson will play Bruce Wayne/Batman.

In addition to Pattinson, The Batman stars Zoë Kravitz as the newest Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Jeffrey Wright as Lt. James Gordon and Colin Farrell as Oz/The Penguin. The movie is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfiled, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).

Here is the synopsis for The Batman:

“When the Riddler, a sadistic serial killer, begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.”

Read What to Watch’s The Batman review right here and check out the trailer directly below.

The Umbrella Academy season 3 is close to its highly anticipated arrival and it's set to answer all of our long-awaited questions after The Umbrella Academy season 2 left us on a huge cliffhanger. 

Season 2 saw our favorite superpowered siblings stuck in 1960s Dallas as they battled against the evil Handler. After defeating her, they eventually found their way back to the present day — but what they returned to was completely unexpected. 

The clan soon discovered that they had ended up in an alternate present day where the head of the Umbrella Academy and their Dad, Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), had adopted seven different superpowered children, calling them the Sparrow Academy.

Not much is known yet about the Sparrows, but we know that Ben (Justin H. Min) is now their leader, who had died in another timeline.

We're sure that season 3 will see more dangerous action unfold for the adoptive siblings and, importantly, what problems the Sparrows could have in store for the Umbrellas.

As well as thrilling adventure from the paranormal gangs, we'll also see Elliot Page portray a new reiteration of his character since coming out as transgender in 2020 and new characters introduced as part of the Sparrows group.

Here's everything we know about The Umbrella Academy season 3...

The Umbrella Academy season 3 release date

The Umbrella Academy season 3 was released globally on Netflix on Wednesday, June 22.

Back in March, a short teaser trailer was dropped to announce its release date, which shows the Umbrellas preparing to face off against the Sparrows.

Which cast members are returning to The Umbrella Academy season 3?

The Umbrella Academy season 3 will see the return of the much-loved cast of the Hargreeves siblings, including:

• Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves (Number Seven)
• Tom Hopper as Luther Hargreeves (Number One)
• David Castañeda as Diego Hargreeves (Number Two)
• Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison Hargreeves (Number Three)
• Robert Sheehan as Klaus Hargreeves (Number Four)
• Aidan Gallagher as Number Five
• Justin H. Min as Ben Hargreeves (Number Six)

Joining them as returning cast will also be Ritu Arya as the Handler's adopted daughter, Lila Pitts and Colm Feore as Reginald Hargreeves. 

Elliot took to Instagram to announce his character's new name as Viktor Hargreeves for season 3, previously known as Vanya Hargreeves in seasons one and two.

Since Elliot Page announced his transition after season two, fans have been wondering how his transition would be included in the series. 

Now, he has since confirmed that the character will come out as transgender in the comic book adapted series, but further details are being kept under tight wraps.

• The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Review
• How The Umbrella Academy surpasses its comic counterpart

What is the Sparrow Academy and who's in it?

Welcome to the multiverse! Time travel always has consequences. And in this case, that consequence is the Sparrow Academy, which was introduced at the end of season 2.

We already knew — spoiler! — that Ben Hargreeves is in this rival gang of short-pants students. We now know (mostly) who else is in the Sparrow Academy, with the new superpowered gang consisting of:

• Justin H. Min plays an alternate-reality Ben Hargreeves, but he isn’t exactly the softie that we saw sacrifice himself in Season 2. This Ben is Sparrow No. 2, and is described as a "Machiavellian tactician" who is "vicious, pragmatic, and hyper-vigilant" and "determined to gain his status as the leader at all costs."
• Justin Cornwell plays the No. 1 Sparrow, Marcus. Marcus is described as "a charming, chiseled colossus" and "as smart as he is strong." The streamer for the show says Marcus "oozes confidence and leadership without ever having to raise his voice". A suitable rival for the returning Ben Hargreeves, then.
• Sparrow No. 3 is Fei, played by Britne Oldford. Fei "sees the world in a special way and comes across as a misanthrope who would rather be alone than spend even a second with you," apparently. 
• Jake Epstein is Alphonso, the No. 4 of the Sparrow family. Alphonso is a scarred, chiselled figure who’s been fighting crime for years, and compensates for this with ‘a caustic and biting sense of humor’.
• Genesis Rodriguez plays No. 5, Sloane. Sloane is apparently a "romantic" and "a dreamer," but one who feels a higher cosmic calling leaving her eager to see the world’. Expect this to conflict with a sense of obligation and duty to the rest of the Sparrow family in season three. 
• Cazzie David rounds out the announcements as Sparrow No. 6, aka Jayme. Jayme "is a loner hidden under a hoodie," but one who has access to a "fear-inducing snarl." This is probably why she can’t make friends, since seeing it makes you want to flee in the opposite direction.
• Existential Dread Inducing Psykronium Cube aka Christopher as Sparrow No.7. This floating cube will hand out advice as a sort of oracle figure for the other Sparrow Academy siblings, but can 'turn the room freezing cold and induce paralyzing fear' in those he doesn't like.

In addition to the new Sparrows cast, Euphoria star Javon Walton told Complex that he will also be joining the series, but no details about his role have been revealed. 

Since the series hit Netflix, we found out that Javon played Stan, who Lila pretended was her son with Diego to test his parenting abilities. 

However, it turned out that he was in fact the son of her friend and she was looking after him.

What is the plot of The Umbrella Academy season 3?

Season 3 will begin exactly from where we left off with the official Netflix synopsis reading: "After putting a stop to 1963’s doomsday, the Umbrella Academy return home to the present, convinced they prevented the initial apocalypse and fixed this godforsaken timeline once and for all. But after a brief moment of celebration, they realize things aren’t exactly (okay, not at all) how they left them. 

"Enter the Sparrow Academy. Smart, stylish, and about as warm as a sea of icebergs, the Sparrows immediately clash with the Umbrellas in a violent face-off that turns out to be the least of everyone’s concerns. 

"Navigating challenges, losses, and surprises of their own – and dealing with an unidentified destructive entity wreaking havoc in the Universe (something they may have caused) — now all they need to do is convince Dad’s new and possibly better family to help them put right what their arrival made wrong. 

"Will they find a way back to their pre-apocalyptic lives? Or is this new world about to reveal more than just a hiccup in the timeline?"

How long is season 3?

Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy will keep its narrative tight, just as the previous seasons have been. It will be made up of 10 one-hour episodes featuring the aforementioned returning cast and whichever surprises they decide to throw at us next year. 

It is currently unknown as to whether Netflix will release the episodes all at once or if they will drop them in the increasingly used - but not popular with viewers - weekly format. 

We did, however, learn the titles of each episode on June 8!

Is there a trailer?

We're transported to multiverse madness in the newly released trailer as we experience their classic sibling bickering, all while trying to save the world from being obliterated.

The big screen is getting a brand new superhero, as Morbius, which stars Jared Leto as a once Spider-Man villain turned anti-hero, is getting released on April 1.

Coming from Sony Pictures, Morbius is set to fall into the grey area on how closely associated the movie is to the MCU (like Venom). But as we learned in Spider-Man: No Way Home, you never know who may pop up in these loosely interconnected universes.

To find out, here is what you need to know about how to watch Morbius.

How to watch Morbius in movie theaters

Morbius will play exclusively in movie theaters when it is released on April 1 worldwide. Though if you’re eager to see Jared Leto’s vampire-inspired superhero, there will be special advance screenings of the movie in theaters on Thursday, March 31.

To find Morbius showtimes near you, check your local movie theaters’ websites or a resource like Fandango to see if, where and when Morbius is playing near you.

If movie theater ticket prices give you sticker shock, there are ways to make trips to the movies more affordable, namely through movie theater subscription and membership deals. With these type of deals, movies fans can get discounts, free tickets and other movie perks (varies by chain).

Is Morbius streaming?

Morbius will not be available for streaming as of its April 1 release date. The movie theater exclusive run will make a trip to the cinema the only way to watch the movie for likely 30-45 days.

Sony, not having a streaming service of its own, will likely follow what it has done with Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home as far as a digital strategy. Both movies were made available on digital through premium video-on-demand services at least 45 days after debuting in movie theaters. Neither movie has announced a streaming release date as of yet.

Everything else you need to know about watching Morbius

Here’s a quick crash course of everything else you need to know about Morbius.

The movie follows biochemist Dr. Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Mobius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil, or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?

Jared Leto leads the movie, with Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Matt Smith, Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal also starring.

There are also two post-credit scenes, though they appear in the middle of the credits, so you won't have to stick around to the very end.

Watch the Morbius trailer right here:

Welcome to the big screen Jared Leto’s Morbius, the latest Spider-Man villain (or more accurately in this context anti-hero) that will receive his very own standalone movie. 

Because of some complicated details surrounding character rights between Sony and Marvel, Morbius joins Venom and other planned Spider-Man spinoffs that are more adjacent to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU, but as No Way Home showed us, that doesn’t mean characters can’t cross over now and again.

So, with all that in mind, here is everything that we know about Morbius.

Morbius release date

Morbius will premiere exclusively in movie theaters on April 1.

The journey for for Morbius to get to the big screen has been a long one. Initially, Sony was planning to release Morbius in July 2020. Of course, the pandemic caused many movies to delay their planned releases. For Morbius, it was originally moved to March 19, 2021, before being pushed again to October 8, 2021. However, Sony eventually put Venom: Let There Be Carnage in that October date and pushed Morbius to January 2022, ultimately to January 28. One more push moved Morbius for the final time to its April 1 release.

Morbius reviews

Morbius is not getting a very warm welcome. What to Watch's Morbius review calls the movie a "bland, poorly directed, poorly written mess" that sucks the life out of Sony's Spider-Man universe.

Others aren't being any more forgiving. Morbius currently (as of March 31) has a 16% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 37 on Metacritic.

We've rounded up some of the scathing critic comments about Morbius for you to give a read.

Is there a Morbius post-credit scene?

Yes, there is a Morbius post-credit scene. Would it be a superhero movie if there weren't?

In fact, there are two post-credit scenes, but they both happen while the credits are rolling, so you won't need to stick around to the very end in fear of missing anything.

Who is Michael Morbius

Michael Morbius is a classic example of a Marvel character who started out as a tragic villain only to eventually become more of an anti-hero.

Michael Morbius begins as a brilliant scientist, but he suffers from a rare blood disease. In an attempt to find a cure, vampire bat DNA is mixed into his blood, transforming him into a pseudo-vampire with a lust for blood. Originally, Morbius was a villain for both Spider-Man and Blade, but he eventually became a vigilante who strives to satisfy his need to consume blood by stalking bad guys.

From all of the early footage of the upcoming Morbius movie, it certainly looks like the character is staying pretty close to that origin, though will likely more immediately be targeting bad guys as his primary prey.

A new video features Jared Leto talking about the origins of character and why he thinks it will be an exciting one for fans:

Morbius plot

Morbius is a good old-fashioned origin story for the character, though we do know that there will be some larger allusions to the superhero universe Sony is building with other Spider-Man villains/anti-heroes, most notably Venom.

Here is the official plot for Morbius:

"Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil – or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?"

Jared Leto as Michael Morbius

Oscar-winner Jared Leto stars as Dr. Michael Morbius in the movie, another dip into the superhero pool for the actor.

Leto portrayed The Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad and then got to reprise the role in an epilogue scene in Zack Snyder’s The Justice League that was released on HBO Max in 2021. Leto made his Joker an unhinged character and infamously continued his character’s antics even when the camera’s weren’t rolling.

The character of Morbius isn’t a straight villain or as wild as Joker, but he is still a character with a unique background that will allow Leto to make some interesting choices. His affinity for such characters extends beyond the superhero genre, as he gave a very large performance in House of Gucci.

Morbius cast

Leto is the lead of the movie, but he’s got a solid supporting cast behind him, including a major actor already familiar with the Spider-Man universe.

Among the Morbius cast are Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim: Uprising, True Detective), Jared Harris (Foundation, Chernobyl), Matt Smith (Last Night in Soho, Doctor Who), Tyrese Gibson (Fast & Furious) and Al Madrigal (The Way Back, The Daily Show).

As for the actor with the Spider-Man connection, Michael Keaton is appearing in the movie in an expected reprisal of his role as Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, who was the primary villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming. With the divisions between Sony and Marvel universes, we’ll have to see if this is the same or a different version of Toomes, but Keaton’s appearance in Morbius is part of Sony’s continued push to create a connection between all these movies.

Morbius director

Daniel Espinosa served as the director of Morbius. The Swedish filmmaker got his start in Hollywood by directing the 2012 Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds thriller Safe House, followed up by the Tom Hardy-led Child 44 and the sci-fi movie Life, which starred Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson. 

Morbius trailer

Sony has released the final trailer for Morbius, in which it makes a few exciting allusions to the Spider-Man universe. Check it out right here:

Watch the previous trailer for Morbius as well:

Oh wow. I haven’t seen a superhero movie as bad as Morbius since the early 2000s. In an era comprising of legitimately bad comic book movies like Elektra, Ghost Rider, The Punisher (2004) or Catwoman, Morbius would perfectly fit like a disposable glove. 

At least Venom, as a throwback movie, had the good sense to recognize it wasn’t a good movie, and treated itself with a sense of self-awareness that made the nonsense campy fun. The same cannot be said for Morbius. How this is possible in a post-MCU, post-Dark Knight world is astonishing.

The film centers on Dr. Michael Morbius; a brilliant jerk with a rare blood disease who thumbs his nose at the Nobel prize and tries to cure himself, but ends up "Jekyll and Hyde"-ing after his miracle cure turns him into a vampire. Unfortunately, it also turns his sickly buddy, Matt Smith (aka Milo/Lucian) into one too. But since he’s the bad one, Morbius has to stop him. That’s the full story.

Much of the film is unwatchable. I’m not necessarily talking about acting or writing (we’ll get there), I mean that in the literal sense. Every action scene we are "treated" to is filmed with a hyper-kinetic style that makes what you’re viewing virtually incomprehensible. I literally couldn’t tell what the characters were doing half the time, whether it was dodging bullets or clawing, scratching and hissing at each other as the camera spins upside-down and right-side up. Between that and the shoddy VFX work, in which literal blurs that are supposed to represent characters can’t stop moving around on screen, it’s a wonder how the hell the movie made it into the light of day. After over two years of delays that Sony could have used constructively to fix this, it feels like they didn’t do squat.

I can only assume the blame will go to director Daniel Espinosa (Life). His visual style makes the movie feel like it should be renamed "Morbius, the Living Seizure." But beyond that, this movie is also bizarrely edited. You have these terrible cuts in the final scene where random shots are meant to establish future sequels, the weirdest spliced post-credits scenes ever, subplots involving Tyreese and Al Madrigal that go nowhere (and were probably trimmed) and exposition scenes in the beginning that are oddly, non-linearly constructed. It’s a grand mess.

Speaking of messes, let’s talk about the screenplay by the Gods of Egypt team of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. The film’s script teeters between joylessly bland/dull and cringeworthy. When you have strong actors, like Jared Harris spouting out derivative lines like "I’m disgusted (dramatic pause) at what you’ve become," combined with really terrible comic relief one-liners from Madrigal or Leto (his "I am Venom" scene makes zero sense, among many other things), you come out flabbergasted that any actor agreed to repeat these lines on film. 

The movie is littered with bad science scenes and cliched moments that take their cues from better films. There’s literally a scene in this that’s such a rip off of Batman Begins, down to the copycat score, that I gave myself a migraine from how hard I rolled my eyes (though that may also just be an overall side-effect of watching Morbius).

Ironically, if the movie were as self-aware as Venom it would be able to get away with such flaws, and actually be enjoyable. Unfortunately, it’s so horribly self-serious, that it’s reduced Leto into a fate worse than camera mugging — boredom. 

Leto gives a very flat performance, which is uncharacteristic of him. Say what you will, but Leto’s reputation is such that he never does anything this straightforward. But his Michael Morbius is a boring character. In between the blurry, hissy scenes, he’s basically just vacantly starring at lab equipment and making sarcastic cracks that fall as flat as his performance.

As for the supporting players, I’ll just summarize the state of the roles for some of the film’s biggest stars: Jared Harris does nothing. Tyreese does nothing. Al Madrigal does nothing. Adria Arjona is reduced to being the girlfriend and damsel in distress. The only one who seems to be livening up the proceedings is Matt Smith, whose Lucian is arguably one of the more sympathetic characters in the film; certainly the one supporting character we get the most character development on. Smith hams up scenes of himself dancing and screaming to the top of his lungs. He clearly knows what movie he’s in.

On an actual positive note, the relationship between Smith’s character and Morbius’ is something of the heart of the movie. Though it could have used a bit more development, it is the most defined relationship and something of a tragic one. It may be the one redeeming quality the movie has going for it, even if the abrupt change to Smith’s character midway through the film sinks it and the film never again attempts to make the character or his situation sympathetic.

Morbius is a rarity in the modern age of comic book films, and not in a good way. It is a testament to how, while some studios might learn from their mistakes, others learn very little from the negative impact of bad comic book movie adaptations. This one stands out as a dated, boring film with bad visual effects, nonsensical writing, bland acting and dizzying direction. Add to that infuriating post-credits scenes that laughably make zero sense, other than once more exposing Sony’s impatience at setting up some Sinister Six crossover event, and you have another major setback in the long line of failed attempts to legitimize the Sony Spider-Man Universe.

Morbius will debut in movie theaters on April 1 worldwide.

The tagline for the long delayed Morbius starring Jared Leto states that "a new Marvel legend has arrived," but what exactly does this mean? Is Morbius actually connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka the MCU? Or is Sony Pictures, the studio behind Morbius, merely reminding audiences that, that the character has his origins in the pages of Marvel Comics via The Amazing Spider-Man? 

The short answer is it's definitively the latter. The long answer, however, is greyer than fans may imagine.

Morbius' origins

Yes, Morbius is a Marvel Comics character, who first debuted in 1971’s Amazing Spider-Man #101. At first he was written as a villain for Spider-Man, and eventually Blade, to battle, yet the character soon evolved into a darker antihero. He would go on to star in solo stories in anthology-based comics like Adventure into Fear and make guest spots in Spider-Man and other comics throughout the Marvel Comics’ 616-Universe. He wouldn’t actually appear in his own solo series until 1992’s Morbius the Living Vampire, which ran until 1995.

The character of Michael Morbius is a brilliant doctor afflicted with a rare blood disease that left him with facial deformities. Despite those, he won numerous awards and met his fiancé, Martine Bancroft. Having spent his life trying to find a cure, he embarks on an expedition at sea for a cure trial run requiring the fluids of a vampire bat, radioactive materials and electricity. Martine insists on joining him and his associate, Nikos, despite Morbius’s attempts to dissuade her. They run the experiment unbeknownst to Martine, but it doesn’t cure Morbius. 

Instead it increases his sensitivity to light, makes his bones hollow and gives him a hunger for blood. He ends up killing Nikos, but before he could kill Martine, he attempts to jump overboard and drown himself. It fails, but Martine gets away safely. 

After hitching a ride on a passing ship and draining each of the crew members of their blood, Morbius makes it to New York, where he tries to eat Spider-Man and gets into a fight with The Lizard. They battle but Morbius gets away to live to bite another day.

What to expect from the Morbius movie

While Morbius is by no means an obscure character, he doesn’t have the same level of popularity among mainstream audiences as characters like Venom or Carnage (you see fans wearing Venom t-shirts, less so for Morbius). So why make a movie centered on him? 

Long story short, given the only Marvel characters Sony Pictures managed to obtain the rights to prior to Disney’s acquisition of Marvel were those primarily featured or introduced in the Spider-Man comic books, Morbius was one of the few the studio could use to pad a cinematic universe consisting exclusively of Spider-Man affiliated characters.

Originally, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, formally known as the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC), was created as an attempt to compete with Kevin Feige’s strategy of bringing comic book universes to life on the big screen. After all, in an industry where Marvel Studios’ MCU reigns supreme, it was only natural for Sony to attempt to compete with the ever expanding franchise of god-like heroes using characters they could spin-off from Spider-Man.

Currently, Sony Pictures has no claim or input into most anything related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but has made their own superhero movies like Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, all of which exist outside Feige’s MCU in their own universes. So you won't have Loki popping up in a Venom movie anytime soon. This is the bucket Morbius falls under. 

However, you’ll notice I said "most anything" related to Marvel Studios’ MCU. That’s because there is one significant exception: the Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy, which is firmly set in the MCU.

Holland's Spider-Man trilogy is a co-production between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, meaning Marvel Studios helps develop the stories and creative direction while Sony Pictures fronts the bill. 

Now this is where things get even more complex, because anyone who saw Spider-Man: No Way Home or Venom: Let There Be Carnage will remember that Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock makes an extended cameo in an MCU bar. This proves that while Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is not part of the MCU, it can on occasion cross over with it, if the MCU narrative (and Kevin Feige) deems it possible via the Multiverse rules. 

Morbius is neither co-produced by Marvel Studios, nor creatively informed by Marvel Studios in any way shape or form. Thus it is not at all connected to the MCU, just as the Venom movies have been completely decoupled. But that doesn’t mean that crossovers can’t happen.

The exitance of a Multiverse to the MCU means the potential for crossovers, variant characters or any number of imaginative methods is possible to get two studios to play in a giant sandbox with fandom’s favorite characters. So moments in the Morbius trailer, such as Michael Keaton’s version of The Vulture (originally introduced in the MCU-cannon film Spider-Man: Homecoming) making an appearance or Morbius spoofing Venom are perfectly plausible if explained clearly. 

However, without actually seeing the film it’s hard to really tell. For now though, until April 1 (or potentially May 6, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) one can consider Morbius and all films within the Sony Spider-Man Universe to be the proverbial Schrodinger’s Cat of comic book shared universes: until we get official approval from Marvel Studios, it both isn’t and is part of the MCU. But mostly it’s not.

When Free Guy, the 2021 movie starring Ryan Reynolds, was released, it felt curiously unique. A big-budget blockbuster based on an entirely new story. It's not tied to any pre-existing IPs or dependent on a long-running franchise. It's got an exclusive run in movie theaters and without a simultaneous Disney Plus release, something that not even Marvel's Black Widow warranted in the summer of 2021 (much to the chagrin of Scarlett Johansson's legal team). 

All that and the movie received strong reviews and was a box office hit, landing in the top 10 for the entire year of 2021. For Ryan Reynolds, it was another sign of his increasingly indomitable status as one of Hollywood’s true modern-day A-Listers, a status the actor hopes will continue (though the stats to verify will be different) with his latest movie, The Adam Project, now available on Netflix.

In 2020, Reynolds was ranked as the second highest-grossing actor of the year by Forbes, with a mighty $71.5 million in the bank. Reynolds’s upcoming filmography is packed with original, non-franchise fare, the kind that only gets made with guaranteed bankable megastars in the lead (and even then, actors making such choices are few and far between). 

His most famous character, of course, is Deadpool, whose future seems bright and delightfully chaotic thanks to the Disney-Fox merger. All in all, it’s not too shabby for an actor who, less than a decade ago, was being written off by the mainstream as a potential star whose moment had passed.

In the earliest days of his career in Hollywood, Ryan Reynolds always seemed like a guy who was primed for the big leagues. He was the kind of charming handsome white guy that fit in well with the fratty humor of the American Pie and Farrelly Brothers era of gross-out R-rated comedies. Reynolds’s brand of on-screen charm always contained a strain of smarminess throughout, which paid off with the film that was arguably his breakout role, National Lampoon's Van Wilder. 

As that comedic trend began to wane, Reynolds climbed up the star ladder through a variety of genres, from horror (The Amityville Horror) to romantic comedy (Definitely, Maybe) to action (Blade: Trinity, Smokin' Aces.) He was easy enough to like and was never bad in any of his roles. It just seemed like he needed his next big step up. With the superhero genre blossoming into an unbeatable juggernaut in the early 2010s, Reynolds had two major opportunities.

First came X-Men Origins: Wolverine, wherein Reynolds played a pre-Deadpool Wade Wilson. Fans had endorsed the casting and Reynolds was excited to play the Merc with a Mouth. Sadly, that movie's slapdash origin for Wade left nobody enthused about this iteration of the character and he didn't appear in the future Wolverine sequels. Then there was 2011's Green Lantern, another leading man gig that Reynolds seemed perfect for, yet not even the goodwill for his version of Hal Jordan could mask the stink of that film's box office and critical failure.

Following Green Lantern, Reynolds had the vague air of the has-been around him. With other flops under his belt (R.I.P.D., Turbo, The Captive), many wrote off Reynolds's leading man prowess, even though he gave some of his best performances in underseen indie titles during this time, like The Voices and Mississippi Grind. 

Fortunately, he had an ace up his sleeve with Deadpool. Though it was fight for Fox to greenlight the hard-R, fourth wall breaking, furiously profane movie, especially after Green Lantern's failure. Deadpool really came to the big screen through Reynolds and company's sheer force of will. He worked on many of the jokes and acted as what screenwriter Rhett Reese described as "the keeper of the Deadpool flame [...] if we ever do something that is off the Deadpool path, or if it doesn't feel like Deadpool, he catches it." With a reduced budget — an estimated $58 million, which is pennies for a genre used to costs of $200 million-plus — and lowered expectations from the studio, Reynolds was free to shape Deadpool in a way that few stars are able to do with IPs as valuable as a Marvel creation. The end result paid off in a major war.

Deadpool grossed $782.6 million, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of 2016 and breaking numerous records for an R-rated film. Critics loved it and Reynolds in particular was singled out for his performance. Finally, he had a character perfectly designed to showcase his skills. Wade Wilson is essentially a screwball comedy hero with more swearing and head explosions — somehow petulant yet deeply charismatic. He spews one liners and self-referential gags at an exponential speed and never minds being the butt of his or anyone else’s joke. Crucially, he’s faithful to the comic books, which isn’t necessarily the default mode for this subgenre of adaptation in the almighty expanded universe age. At a time when superhero cinema became wholly serious, Deadpool punctured the balloon in a loving way. Soon, Reynolds was back on top.

Hollywood may be the denizen of white guys with abs named Chris, but Reynolds' most accurate A-Lister comparison would probably be Dwayne Johnson, another figure with action movie chops who made his way to superstardom through his comedic prowess and appropriate self-mockery. There's nothing po-faced about either man. They need that rimshot one-liner to deflate the solemnity of the moment. That's what makes them work with this caliber of blockbuster cinema.

It's also benefitted them off-screen with producer gigs and business ventures that have elevated them to untouchable status. It's not enough to just be a leading man anymore, and Reynolds knows that. His gin company and ownership of Mint Mobile have added lots of extra zeroes to the end of his paycheque. He recently took over the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney and will star in a docuseries covering this new venture (how very IRL Ted Lasso). 

Reynolds is the kind of 21st century power player that would have seemed laughable only a decade ago. Now, it’s the endgame for every wannabe actor in the business. Ryan Reynolds wasn’t the first to do it but his stratospheric rise from "That Guy" to the king of the castle is the new aspiration of this generation of Hollywood.

Charlie Cox will return as Daredevil at some point in the future, according to Marvel Studios' President, Kevin Feige.

Feige confirmed that Charlie Cox would continue to appear in Marvel projects as blind lawyer-turned-superhero Matt Murdock in a recent interview with CinemaBlend.

Feige stated: "If you were to see Daredevil in upcoming things, Charlie Cox, yes, would be the actor playing Daredevil. Where we see that, how we see that, when we see that, remains to be seen." 

Although this does mean we should expect to see the character return to the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, Feige wasn't willing to reveal when or in what form Charlie Cox's return might be.

Regardless, this is sure to be great news to many fans who have begged to see Charlie Cox back playing Matt Murdock once again ever since the Daredevil Netflix series was canceled in 2018.

Charlie Cox was first introduced to the MCU in Daredevil, the first of Netflix's Marvel series. The show launched way back in 2015 and ran for three seasons and saw Matt launching a crusade against the criminal underworld in and around Hell's Kitchen in New York with the help of his friends Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).

There's no word yet whether Karen or Foggy will be back alongside the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, nor any news on whether this means other characters from the Netflix Marvel shows like Jessica Jones or Luke Cage could be back, either.

However, there are already plenty of theories as to how Marvel might reintroduce Daredevil to the MCU. Daredevil is one of the many characters that Marvel fans believe might make a return in Spider-Man: No Way Home, so he could be back sooner than we think. Another popular theory is that he could appear in She-Hulk alongside She-Hulk herself, Jennifer Walters. 

Jennifer is a lawyer who specializes in superhuman-oriented legal cases, so it would be easy to see how Matt Murdock could resurface in that Marvel shows coming to Disney+ in 2022.

Even if neither of these theories comes true, it's still exciting to hear that Marvel still has plans for the fan-favorite character and that they're looking for a way for him to return to the MCU.

• How to watch the Marvel movies in order

The verdict is in on Superman & Lois! At least, the early opinion after just one episode of the new BBC One Saturday night family show is... And it's ‘on another level’ according to some viewers.

One viewer tweeted: “Clark being fully capable as superman but still finding his feet as a father, is a really interesting story and take on the character!! And makes this show stand out amongst the crowd!!”

Another posted: I’ve never been a Superman fan (apart from Man of Steel) but I’m loving #SupermanAndLois so far. It’s definitely something I’m going to be keeping for a Saturday afternoon treat rather than binge-watching though.”

Superman & Lois follows the classic story of Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) who are trying to live a "normal" life as working parents. This scenario is billed as one of their toughest challenges, as they're raising twin teenage boys — Jonathan (Jordan Elsass), the one who fits in and Jordan (Alexander Garfin), the loner who’s into heavy metal and gaming.

The spin in this series is that Clark becomes humanized by parenthood, death and dark secrets in the family — all the while he's battling to protect humanity, from the likes of The Stranger.

Many viewers were intrigued by the human perspective of the DC Comics superhero: “Clark Kent being fully capable as Superman, but still finding his feet as a father is an interesting story to explore.”

One superfan was thrilled by the return of his childhood idol, tweeting: “Superman has been with me all my life. Bought the comics from Odyssey 7 in Manchester as a kid. Watched the Reeve movies over and over. Enjoyed Lois & Clark. Obsessed over Smallville. So I'm very happy to see #SupermanAndLois being given to children in 2021 each Saturday teatime.”

When his sons found the spaceship in the barn and Clark was forced to reveal his true identity to them, a classic plot about bad parenting was introduced. Some were bemused, though, by the fact the boys were upset about his origins.

One commented: “#SupermanAndLois bit weird the kids are annoyed that their dad is a superhero!!”

Many were enthusiastic from the start of the pilot of the series made by US network, The CW: “I’m minutes in and this is already the best-filmed interpretation of Superman I have ever seen #SupermanAndLois”

Another commented: “Honestly stayed away from #SupermanAndLois after being burnt out on the Arrowverse and Crisis on Infinite Earths, but the quality of the production, and more intimate story, is definitely on another level.”

Superman & Lois continues on BBC One each Saturday evening but if you can’t wait, the entire 15-part series is available on BBC iPlayer now. Superman and Lois season 2 is also on its way.

This post contains spoilers for Supergirl.
Check out our last review here.

Supergirl's eternal hope in humanity is called to the plate in "Dream Weaver." The Girl of Steel has to reckon with past support of a questionable warden while Kelly tackles her new job as a social worker and Nia continues to reconcile with the loss of her mother. It's a wobbly episode overall, but there's some gems hidden throughout this week's forty minute offering. 

While it's always great to see Kara (Melissa Benoist) do her thing, and I couldn't possibly be more happy to have the Super Friends all on the same plane of existence again, "Dream Weaver" would have been better served had it chosen to focus on Nia (Nicole Maines) and Kelly's (Azie Tesfai) respective stories. The future Guardian's narrative is tied to Supergirl's — Kelly is on a mission to find out what's happening to one of her kids' incarcerated brother while Kara aims to find the aliens who are stealing the ingredients to create a nuke — and the focus on the Girl of Steel is meant to highlight the importance of white people standing up and using their voices to help the marginalized, but the intention struggles to hit its mark. Supergirl has reckoned with Kara's whiteness before, but "Dream Weaver" would have been a good time to reiterate that understanding as she was trying to talk the inmates off the ledge.

In contrast, Nia's side of the episode is more of a classic "deal with the devil" kind of situation. As we saw in the midseason finale, Nxylgsptinz (Peta Sergeant) stowed away as Kara and her father escaped the Phantom Zone. Now, she's in Nia's dreams adding insult to injury as Dreamer desperately tries to intemperate what's going on in her mind. Nxy promises that if Nia helps her, she can bring her mother back to life for 24 hours. It's pretty tempting, given that the Imp has provided the exact solution to Nia's problems. Then again, we spend most of the episode rooting for Dreamer to make the right choice.

But, as "Dream Weaver" points out, people will do a lot of things when they're desperate.

It's Kelly that shines the brightest this week. (I've been hoping for Nia to finally get some attention, her dream sequences felt too muddled to really let her shine.) Watching her grow and fully step into the idea that she should be the new Guardian is such an exciting move for her future. So exciting, in fact, that it's frustrating that we'll only see it for a few episodes before Supergirl is gone for good. Her strongest moments as a character are when she's stepping back and truly helping people, and the same can be said for "Dream Weaver" as a whole. Supergirl's message was important. White folks have to get involved in these conversations if things are ever going to change. This episode just didn't do a good enough job highlighting that against the much more poignant Kelly story arc. Moments we cut to Kara were just mostly frustrating, unfortunately.

Annoyances with the episode aside, it's great to see shows like Batwoman and Supergirl highlighting that for-profit prisons are dangerous, and that the system as a whole places zero value in rehabilitation. Alex (Chyler Leigh) giving Kelly the Guardian helmet gives us something to be excited for in the future, and Nia's choices are sure to add some spice into the Super Friends' lives. 

 This post contains spoilers for Titans episode 4 ‘Blackfire’.
Check out our last review here. 

With the fourth episode titled ‘Blackfire’, we finally get to meet Starfire’s (Anna Diop) infamous and jealous sister, Blackfire (Damaris Lewis). Unfortunately, she is found captured by the government and placed in a cage that strips her of her powers. It is quite sad to see one of the deadliest villains be trapped in a cage for the rest of her life. Despite all the terrible and unforgivable things Blackfire has done, I understand why Starfire decides to help her sister. Starfire is actually a decent person and probably feels guilty for abandoning Blackfire in solitude for the rest of her life. I don’t know how Starfire is going to deal with Blackfire now that she is out and will regain her powers soon. Blackfire has a lot of hate and vengeance in her heart. I don’t see how she is going to behave while with the Titans. 

I am a little disappointed that Blackfire was able to be so easily captured. She’s supposed to be the big bad of the season. How did she get captured by the government? I’m really hoping that it’s a red herring and Blackfire wanted to be found in order to draw her sister in and gain her trust. There is always an angle with this series. 

As for Conner (Joshua Orpin), he is going through the seven stages of grief and blames himself for Hank’s death. He blames it on the Lex Luthor side of him, even though it is his Lex Luthor IQ that enabled him to build the device that could have saved Hank. I don’t blame him for being so angry. He saw a man die right in front of him. He is also a young kid who never experienced true loss and pain.

But the person I really felt bad for during this episode was Gar aka Beast Boy (Ryan Potter), who had to deal with both Conner and Starfire’s problems. After being told off by Conner, Gar continues to be the moral support and glue for the rest of the team. Although they really don’t deserve him. He’s a kind kid who is just trying to keep the family together, but at the cost of him being tossed around and locked in the trunk of a car. I am glad that Gar and Starfire went off on their little adventure together, but it still doesn’t erase the fact that Gar has been a punching bag throughout the past three seasons. Give him some wins. 

Back in Gotham, we find out that Scarecrow (Vincent Kartheiser) is the reason Jason Todd (Curran Walters) is alive. I don’t know how Dick (Brenton Thwaites) figured it out and I have no idea how to connect the two--Jason and Scarecrow--together. I’ll just accept this to be true since Scarecrow eventually admitted it. 

I also have no idea what Dick was thinking, going to a cabin in the woods by himself. Dick is truly becoming like Batman--doing things on his own. He has an entire team of superhumans and he decides to take on Red Hood alone. Of course, Barbara Gordon (Savannah Welch) steps in to help Dick by sending in a sniper to shoot Jason, but fails to get him. I did enjoy Barbara in this episode. As a huge Batgirl fan, I am quite protective of the character, but I did like her more when she is by herself without Dick to bring her down.

Overall, the episode was great when the Titans spent time together. I didn’t like what happened to Gar, but at least he got screen time with Starfire. I’m looking forward to what Starfire is going to do with Blackfire--especially since she will regain her powers in full soon. Hopefully Blackfire will remain a baddie and not have a change of heart because of her sister’s decision to save her. I want to see the Blackfire we all know from the comics and cartoons--fierce, scary, and villainous.

The Suicide Squad opens this week in American theaters and Warner Bros. has high hoped for this new addition to their increasingly sprawling DC cinematic universe. While the film is technically a sequel to 2016's Suicide Squad (note the lack of "the" in the title), it's been widely accepted by audiences and critics alike that this is more a reboot than anything else. Many of the first movie's character have returned, alongside some new faces, and the basic set-up of DC's semi-heroic team remains, but the changes are also evident. This movie is more raucous, pulpy in energy, and drenched in style, violence, and pure unadulterated fun. With a surprising 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's certainly staked out its claim as one of DC's most critically beloved titles and a noted contrast from the absolute roasting that Suicide Squad received upon release. This shift signals a few things for Warner Bros., including a positive step forward for the studio's search for even ground with its oft-divisive franchise. It’s the successful revival of a property that, only five years prior, many thought was dead on arrival following rushed rewrites and reshoots and a notoriously messy editing cycle that ended with director David Ayer all but disowning the final product. Most notably, however, it’s another victory for one James Gunn.

After a number of directors were considered to take over Ayer with a Suicide Squad sequel, the job eventually fell into the hands of Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn. This was something of a surprise since Gunn had been unceremoniously fired by Disney following a bad faith outrage campaign led by conservative talking heads regarding some old controversial tweets he'd posted. This moment in Marvel Studios' history is a low point, a decision seemingly made in haste without any of the company's top dogs digging into the deeper context of the attacks Gunn was facing at the time. They also seemed to regret the choice pretty quickly, and one day after the announcement of his new DC movie was made, Disney reconnected with Gunn to rectify the situation. He was reinstated as the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director soon thereafter. An alt-right harassment campaign to lose a man his job ended with him having two jobs.

Even if this furor hadn’t occurred, it’s not difficult to see why Warner Bros. would want to get Gunn on their side. Apart from the hasty reshoots and sloppy neon overlay trying to remold Ayer’s Suicide Squad into a Guardians of the Galaxy rip-off, it was evident that Gunn’s particular approach to high-concept franchise filmmaking was exactly what they needed. After all, he had done wonders for Marvel.

When Gunn was hired by Marvel to direct one of the lower-tier comic creations for the big screen, he seemed to be a curious choice. He began his filmmaking career at Troma Entertainment, the notorious home of bad-taste and giddily inventive horror cinema that brought the world the likes of The Toxic Avenger and Cannibal! The Musical. His first credit was co-writing Tromeo and Juliet, a very loose Shakespeare adaptation featuring graphic sex, incest, Juliet transforming into a cow monster with a three-foot penis, and narration by Lemmy of Motörhead. He moved onto more family-friendly fare by writing the screenplay for the 2002 live-action Scooby Doo movie (and when you know that, rewatching that film becomes a way weirder experience), then Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead. He didn't make his directorial debut until 2006 with Slither, a very gross and extremely funny horror comedy that pays homage to his Troma roots. He even made a superhero film in the form of 2010's Super, although his one is far bleaker and nastier than anything Marvel would release.

Gunn's work is gonzo, typically uninterested in pleasing the masses. There's no such thing as too much bad taste in early James Gunn's work, even in the PG stuff like Scooby Doo, once you know where to look for it. The idea that he would be given the reins to a major IP by a notoriously well-oiled machine like Marvel seemed bonkers. It ended up being one of the company’s savviest decisions.

Guardians of the Galaxy is somewhat overstuffed - an understandable problem given the need to establish the lofty foundations of Marvel's more cosmic realms - but it's also a fully realized story that manages to be entertaining as well as earnest. Even in its moments of more sardonic humor, it retains its heart. Before Taika Waititi brought retro flair to the Thor series, Gunn filled Guardians of the Galaxy with '70s tunes and the kind of banter and whip smart action set-pieces that wouldn't seem out of place in a Spielberg blockbuster. As the MCU moved towards a weightier thematic perspective with films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there was something refreshingly irreverent about Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn also didn’t shy away from the comics’ weirder elements, like Rocket Raccoon, who so easily could have been written out as a character too difficult to pull off seriously. He ends up being one of the heftier emotional forces of the series.

Gunn seriously stepped up his game with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The stakes were appropriately higher and the joke count increased but what made the film was its deeply emotional familial drama between Peter "Star Lord" Quill, his father Ego, and his sort-of adopted father Yondu. This intensely human subplot that happened to center on a bunch of aliens revealed the surprising thematic depths that Gunn could plunder, all under the guise of fizzy cheek. The aesthetic may have been neon drenched and merchandise-friendly (baby Groot!) but what lingered the longest after the end credits was the sight of Peter Quill finally being able to reconcile himself to the difficult but loving relationship with the man he called “dad” for most of his life.

With two films, Gunn helped to establish a new direction for Marvel’s wider narrative but also realigned their stylistic aim. You could be fun and serious and weird. A blockbuster could retain the gonzo freedom of low-budget genre shlock. You could get people to cry over a talking raccoon and a tree-creature with one phrase. Comic book movies spent a lot of the past 20 years or so trying to avoid silliness and James Gunn pushed it back into the spotlight with the seriousness it deserved.

And now he’s helping to shift DC’s perspective, albeit in a more frantic manner. It helps that DC afforded him a level of creative control they didn’t seem to give David Ayer. They allowed him to make a hard R-rated war-like action movie (which, frankly, they should have let Ayer do as well), and they gave him free rein over a roster of some of the more ludicrous characters in their canon. The end result is a film that, like Guardians of the Galaxy, is hugely fun and undeniably humane, even at its most ultraviolent. Gunn has a soft spot for the losers and knows that even the most one-note creations can contain hidden depths, whether they're a talking raccoon or a polka-dot themed villain. Crucially, The Suicide Squad stands out as a unique entity not only for DC but the superhero movie genre as a whole in 2021. This isn’t DC trying to copy Marvel or offer the antithesis of that brand in ways that aren’t necessarily appealing to mainstream audiences. It’s just a good movie that stands on its own two feet, the obvious creation of its director with no meddling middlemen or editorial slicing.

The DC universe has changed rapidly over the course of a mere decade, and it will continue to do so, while the Marvel saga will stick to its iron-clad plan and builds its way further into the stars. James Gunn can rest easy knowing that he’s left his indelible mark on both superhero franchises and that two of the undisputed giants of 21st century cinema owes him a favor or two. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will certainly be a highly anticipated conclusion to the trilogy.

This post contains spoilers for The Suicide Squad. 

When you look at David Ayer's Suicide Squad, it's heavily apparent that Warner Brothers wanted James Gunn from the start. From the stylization to the needle-drop heavy soundtrack, the earlier iteration of this team had We Want To Be Guardians of the Galaxy written all over it. Nothing surprising about that — the two comics giants have been ripping each other off since inception. What is surprising is that now that Gunn was given The Suicide Squad to play with, the film seems strangely reserved? The film features an alien starfish kaiju, so you can imagine how odd it is to write that sentence. And yet, there are parts of contemporary Gunn that feel missing here. Meanwhile, his Troma roots are on full display.

That is not a compliment. 

There's a lot to love in The Suicide Squad. It gives Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) a wonderfully fun arc, and Idris Elba does an admirable job making you care about Bloodsport and his story. The whole cast truly understood the assignment here, and leaned into the weirdness with glee. Even better, their chemistry really jives. Daniela Melchior and Sylvester Stallone are particular standouts as Ratcatcher 2 and King Shark, with their friendship being one of the warmest aspects of the film. 

Circling back to Robbie's Harley Quinn for a moment — The Suicide Squad really does feel like she's hit her final form. Many of the film's shining moments belong to her, whether it be when she's shooting her new beaux in the face for sending red flags or blasting her way out of her would-be prison with flowers blooming through the mayhem. Robbie's performance of the character has always been spot-on, but we get a loud and clear "there's no future where this iteration backtracks to be with the Joker again," tone to her in this chapter.

The thing about writing misfits, though, is that you diminish your message of a brighter future when you spend much of your story punching down. Gunn has always excelled at showing us that villains can be something more. That the lowest of the low can serve a purpose and be greater than what people expect of them. But it's hard to be revved up about a fiend like Bloodsport gaining more of a conscience after you see the team raze through a village of freedom fighters. 

"But they're the bad guys." Yes, we know. This is something perfectly illustrated in the first seconds of the film when we see Savant (Michael Rooker) murder the bird — what exactly is Gunn's deal with birds, anyway? — It's highlighted again and again as Bloodsport and Peacemaker attempt to one-up one another, or as we learn the sordid pasts of our protagonists. Task Force X was simply following Amanda Waller's (Viola Davis) instructions, but those instructions didn't need to be written into the script. Great for your super villains that they can grow. Why were the freedom fighters of Corto Maltese a necessary sacrifice?

Gunn's Troma roots are on full display here as The Suicide Squad with the retconning of Polka-Dot Man's (David Dastmalchian) bland origins. Rather than the boring, run-of-the-mill criminal who simply made a costume with functional spots that could be used to fight Batman, the Abner Krill of Gunn's universe turned to villainy after his heavyset mother ran experiments on him and mutated him into the man he is today. (We see you, Silas Stone.)  The mother (played by the lovely Lynne Ashe) is then used as the butt of several jokes throughout the film, including as the replacement for Starro that leads to Polka-Dot Man's infamous death. It's a lazy, lowbrow bit that it felt that Gunn had grown past after recent films. Given the knowledge that he was given more freedom from Warner Bros. than ever before, perhaps some directors do benefit from a little bit of interference.

Script issues aside, The Suicide Squad somehow manages to miss the emotional beats that Gunn's recent filmography succeeds in. Needle drops are still present in this new chapter, but it feels as if the film is so focused on subverting expectations that it forgot that sometimes it's better to be good than go across the grain. Juxtaposing slower songs against breakneck action might be unexpected, but it's exhausting in trailers and it's a drag here.

That lack of emotional connection feels like the biggest disappointment here. The Suicide Squad had a lot of excitement leading up to its release — mine included — but somehow a film featuring a starfish kaiju and King Shark never really hit for me. What it did do is remove any kind of excitement I had going into Peacemaker (despite Cena playing the role perfectly). Giving a character who would do all kinds of deplorable things for peace in today's climate was questionable from the jump, but I had high hopes given Gunn's track record. After what we saw in The Suicide Squad, I'm just asking when the next property with Robbie's Harley Quinn hits. 

This post contains spoilers for Superman & Lois: "Man of Steel."
Check out our season 1 episode 6 review. 

Everyone who assumed "Man of Steel" was about Superman must donate to their favorite charity. Think of the money we'd raise! As that sentence implies, Superman & Lois had something clever up its sleeve, and it all revolves around the curious Captain Luthor (Wolé Parks). Turns out "Luthor" isn't his real name at all. Instead, it's John Henry Irons. A name that astute comic readers may recognize as Steel. It's an infinitely more interesting story than the character being some distant relative or alternate Earth version of Lex Luthor (currently portrayed by Jon Cryer on Supergirl), even if it is a curious departure from his standard origins. But there's more to "Man of Steel" than this new take on Irons and his motivations. 

Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner) continues to try to manipulate Smallville by putting Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) on a project to find townsfolk who have "untapped potential" (read: he wants test subjects for his little Kryptonian-creation project). Thanks to her friendship with Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) and her daughter being put in danger last week, Lana's already on team Edge Is Sus. Meanwhile, "Man of Steel" decides to fabricate some pointless drama between the brothers Kent. It's quickly resolved, but wholly unnecessary — especially given the fact that it still feels like their entire function is drama. 

If anything "Man of Steel" is a refreshing middle ground kind of episode for the series. Superman & Lois was so completely hit or miss in the first half of the season that its early chapters were either amazing or utterly tiresome. This week's episode has an exciting — albeit curious — reveal and a strong rescue sequence balanced out with some boring corporate stuff with Edge and the silly drama between the children. 

Because the show has so many moving parts "balance" is a little bit more complicated to achieve. With that acknowledgment, the CW is known for tackling huge ensembles and, particularly within the DCTV universe, doing so well. Superman & Lois is still finding its footing, but here's to more scenes like the Kent boys diving into Dad's car because they know he's in grave danger and recklessly throwing themselves in front of a speeding bullet (hammer) and infinitely fewer scenes where some prefabricated drama results in them squabbling.

With Steel — not Nate Haywood — in custody, the Superman/General Lane discourse is likely to get a whole lot worse. Steel had already paid the General a visit prior, and we all know how easy it is to get him to try and kill his son-in-law. Add his paranoia to Steel's real-world experience with murderous Kal-Els and you've got yourself a very dangerous duo that will only feed off of one another's hatred. The series is already heavily telegraphing that Lois will be the only one able to talk any sense into her other-world husband, but it remains to be seen if even she can get through to him.

Praise Beebo! The CW has ordered a Legends of Tomorrow Christmas special — Beebo Saves Christmas — featuring the network's favorite weirdos... kind of! What we're really getting is a situation where fan favorite furry god Beebo is put in a situation where he has to save Christmas.

Beebo Saves Christmas will follow Beebo and his friends as they fight an evil elf named Sprinkles who believes Christmas would be more efficient without the Santa Claus holding the holiday back. Honestly, who better to save Christmas than the very toy that Professor Stein so desperately tried to find for his daughter? The beloved toy-turned-god isn't going to let himself and his friends get pushed around by some efficiency obsessed elf! 

While the Legends themselves is unlikely to make an appearance, we will be getting a familiar voice returning to the universe. Victor Garber will narrate the special, with none other than Ernie Hudson visiting to voice Santa Claus.

Here's the official synopsis from The CW: 

In the all-new animated one-hour special BEEBO SAVES CHRISTMAS, everyone’s favorite fuzzy toy turned furry god will once again be a hero as he hopes to save Christmas. When Sprinkles, an efficiency-obsessed elf, decides that Christmas would run better without Santa Claus, Beebo and his friends travel to the North Pole to help discover what truly makes Christmas meaningful. Starring Ben Diskin as the voice of Beebo, Kimiko Glenn as the voice of Tweebo, Yvette Nicole Brown as the voice of Turbo, Keith Ferguson as the voice of Fleabo, Chris Kattan as the voice of Sprinkles, Ernie Hudson as the voice of Santa and Victor Garber as the narrator.

This post contains spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow "Bay of Squids"
Check out our last review here. 

Cuban missile crisis, anyone? In the continued attempt to get a starting point to find Sara, Mick throws the Legends smack dab in the middle of the conflict. To make matters worse, the misfits manage to steal a nuke instead of the intended alien pod, putting the United States on high alert — one that will turn to defcon 3 thanks to the help of Nate and Zari 2.0.

With World War III nipping at their heels, the Legends split off into two teams. Nate (Nick Zano) and Zari (Tala Ashe) head to Washington in an attempt to calm JFK (Aaron Craven) long enough to stop a 3 way nuclear exchange between Cuba, the SSR, and the United States. Their story caps off with the Harvard boys playing football with the literal nuclear football against the rogue General Kilgore (Nic Bishop). Legends of Tomorrow is known for its nonsense, but this scene left me cry-laughing so hard I couldn't take notes anymore. Absolutely perfect hot nonsense unfolds in "Bay of Squids."

Nate and Zari aren't the only two having fun. Trying to de-escalate his own situation, Behrad (Shayan Sobhian) does a bunch of edibles with Fidel Castro (Tim Perez). Pretty on brand for the totem-bearer, but the real moment is when he sings a song about peace to Fidel as the United States prepare what they think is their counter strike.

"Bay of Squids" is a perfect example of how to make a lackluster episode shine with a couple exceptional scenes. We needed Mick (Dominic Purcell) and Ava (Jes Macallan) butting heads and his subsequent crisis of conscience, but the process of getting there wasn't exactly enjoyable television. However, by playing that alongside the complete and utter nonsense of the episode, we get the narrative drive and the fun. 

There's really only one inexcusable situation in this week's episode, and that's John F. Kennedy. The dentures they made poor Aaron Craven wear were clearly impossible to speak around, and they distorted his whole face when his mouth was closed. Makeup team did that poor man dirty. 

Once the Legends manage to avoid nuclear war, they find themselves the closest they've been to rescuing Sara (Caity Lotz) yet. Mick teams up with the rescued alien Kayla to remove all the "nuke" from the nuclear warhead that smooshes Kilgore (whose grand plan was to shoot the bomb) and makes a deal: He'll take her to her ship if she takes him to Sara. There are two key points that Mick doesn't know just yet. The first is that Kayla was the alien that kidnapped Sara in the first place. The second is that the alien's human form (played by (Aliyah O'Brien) sure does look an awful lot like the protagonist of one of his novels! Watching him discover the latter is pretty damn fun. Here's hoping the Sara revelation goes similarly. 

Though a slower episode than some other Legends of Tomorrow entries, "Bay of Squids" still manages to have some real "all-timer" moments that make it completely worthwhile. 

This post contains spoilers for Superman & Lois "Broken Trust."
Check out our season 1 episode 5 review here. 

Superman & Lois makes its triumphant return with "Broken Trust." The series returns, kicking up right where we left off with Jordan Kent getting walloped by a confused and frightened Tag Harris. After his beating, Jordan finds himself dealing with weird, ringing headaches that trigger his powers. Despite being a proverbial ticking bomb, the teen refuses to sit things out when it comes to the next big game. Their new school's playing Metropolis and Jordan has a chance to meet all of his old bullies on the field. 

Jordan (Alex Garfin) playing football is the most irresponsible thing we've ever seen Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) allow, in any iteration of the Superman character. At the very least, he does seem to realize that — after the proverbial time bomb becomes a literal one, when Jordan detonates in the middle of the football game.

Frustrations on the decision aside, it does lead to one of the strongest stand-out moments of Superman & Lois so far. When the Metropolis kids all jump Jordan on the field, the ringing kicks off again and he can't get it under control. Realizing what's about to unfold, Clark runs on the field and puts his hands in front of his son's eyes. The action both protects Jordan from being found out and illustrates a really touching moment between father and son. Clark is impervious to most things on Earth, but Kryptonian heat vision isn't one of them. The pain is visible on his face as the heat vision runs itself out. The patience and sacrifice of the moment is a really stunning moment in an otherwise frustrating story.

If there's one thing "Broken Trust" excels at, it's the synchronicity. While Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan deal with the Metropolis boys after their loss, Superman faces off with the DoD while trying to protect Tag (Wern Lee). As Jordan loses his cool, so does Supes — but one has a much more understandable reason than the other. Turns out "Broken Trust" comes with dual meaning as well. For Clark, it's the realization that his father-in-law (General Sam Lane, played by Dylan Walsh) wasn't just prepared to shoot a child, but was also ready with kryptonite rounds should Superman try to stand in the way. For Jonathan Kent? It's when he reflexively gets in the way of Jordan losing his cool, stops him from braining some kid, and gets a shattered hand and forearm for his trouble. 

It sucks to see Jon hurt — especially during one of his stronger episodes — but feeling his brother's bones snap under his fist finally helps Jordan start to realize what he's capable of. Had his fist connected with the bully's skull, he would have killed him. He's lucky his big bro got in the way. But Jonathan's life could be forever changed by the decision, and that's with the consideration that everyone involved got off easy.

Surprisingly, "Broken Trust" manages to build what ends up being the best episode of Superman & Lois so far out of the rubble of a decision that Clark never should have allowed. The brothers remain Very Good Brothers™ and Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) and Clark's adventures together remain refreshing, but it's Jordan's realization that he could shatter someone's life at any given moment (finally) that gives the episode some real impetus. 

Lois finally makes some headway in her Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner) investigation, she's starting to get wise to Captain Luthor (Wolé Parks), and Bitsie delivers an incredible performance as per usual. But tonight's greatest hits all go to Clark. Hoechlin's soft, but still very scary, angry dad vibes were strong this week, and his furious "stand down" after getting shot was an all-timer.

Though I've been extremely lukewarm on Superman and Lois so far, I gotta say that "Broken Trust" has me pretty excited for the remainder of the first season. All of the emotions in the latter half of the episode were earned and diverted from the typical "boys that have no real problems" frustrations of earlier in the season. Plus, I'll never turn down an episode where Superman tells General Lane what's up. 

This post contains spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow "The Ex-Factor."
Check out our last review here. 

The Legends are back this week with a wildly popular reality TV show and the current Zari in her element. The hunt for Sara Lance is put on hold while the Legends head to Los Angeles 2045 to ensure Zari's ex — DJ D'Smore Money — doesn't get offed by a rogue alien named Lord Knoxicrylian (henceforth Lord Knox because that spelling is probably very wrong) on the set of his reality show, Da Throne. 

Worry not, Sara (Caity Lotz) fans! "The Ex-Factor" doesn't forget about our captain. In fact, it gives her a fun little plot twist as she discovers that the world she and Gary (Adam Tsekhman) are trapped on happens to be one occupied by Ava (Jes Macallan) clones. Predictably, Sara handles this information much better than the panicked Gary who realizes he's eaten several of his boss' clones. Poisoned or not, Sara knows a fake of her future wife when she sees them!

We don't quite understand why Lord Knox is on Earth, we just know that his pod crash landed on the planet and he thinks his problems are solved by killing Earth's leader. Lucky for Earth and D'Smore Money, Ava is able to convince the alien that the way combat works on our planet is by beating the best on the planet in a talent competition. Enter Zari (Tala Ashe) and her dragon lady empire! Her influencer status is exactly what the Legends need to take down their complicated new enemy, but conflict with Constantine (Matt Ryan) ends up putting the mission more at risk than necessary. (So, y'know, pretty standard Legends of Tomorrow fare!) 

"The Ex-Factor" is a complete return to form for the series. The premiere was good, last week was better, but this? This is the exact kind of hot nonsense that you use to show people what Legends of Tomorrow is all about. Whether it's Zari and Constantine teaming up for a song about their emotions that meshes her pop-vibe with his punk roots or Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) struggling to parse through big emotions, "The Ex-Factor" is exactly what this show is all about.

Speaking of Dominic Purcell, he got to deliver more than one on-the-nose line about both the series and his feelings about Hollywood this week. Impressively, both deliveries will leave viewers laughing regardless of how obvious they are. "This place is like a revolving door," and "watch me" in response to the fact that he can't just fire on Hollywood could have been pulled directly from the Instagram post about the star's departure. Capping it all off with his unintentional smooshing of the tiny, fluffy alien that piloted Lord Knox's metal suit was a true coup de grâce.

Less obvious (but still completely delightful) is "The Ex-Factor"s decision to avoid the will-they-or-wont-they of most CW Shows (including Legends more often than not) and having Zari and John simply agree that they're in a relationship now. The unlikely couple have no idea what to do with one another, and they're terrified of the decision they've made, but that's what makes the plot point so fun. It's so refreshing to see the episode stow the typical dramatic antics and just let a cute thing be cute. We've got enough drama with Sara off world, we don't need interrelationship team angst to add to the mix.

The delay of returning Sara to her team is the episode's only weak point. The Legends of Tomorrow team certainly has a point here — and hopefully it'll be more interesting than what they did over on Supergirl's midseason finale — but whatever they're doing just isn't engaging in any way. Even the reveal that Gary's been an alien this whole time is lost in the mix of "this could be fun but this just doesn't work with prolonged team separation."

This post contains spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow: "Meat: The Legends"
Check out our last review here. 

Leave it to Legends of Tomorrow to solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart with an alien planet, a dog, and a ticked off Sara Lance. While Gary and Sara deal with their little crash landing problem, the Legends do their best to use Spooner to find an alien connection to get them to their leader. Thing is, she's spent so long trying to "turn off" her power that things don't quite work the way she wants them to. Couple that with the fact that she's not really interested in helping Ava and her team and you've got a whole host of struggles for the timeline's favorite misfits.

"Meat: The Legends" pits the Legends of Tomorrow against one of the most nefarious villains in history: the suburban housewife. Thankfully, their problem's solved relatively quickly by the Mothra-like alien. It's a problem solved by a larger problem, but this is Legends of Tomorrow, after all. 

So far as the episode goes, its biggest success is adding some emotional depth to Spooner (Lisseth Chavez). In her first episode, and much of this one, she was very close to "Strong Female Character" territory. Adding the emotional resonance behind her past and her struggles and fears with aliens and the loss of her mother gave her some much needed dimension. 

Sara (Caity Lotz) and Gary's (Adam Tsekhman) unintentional mission to a planet that probably wasn't Mars goes about as well as anything goes for the Legends, but the Amelia Earhart addition was fun enough while it lasted. She turns out to be an alien who leaves Sara with a debilitating gash, but it was a fun little nod and we got to see a good dog during the process of the story. Like Supergirl, this off-world story is largely tedious, but at least it's having a bit more of a party while it deals with the separation. 

In addition to the off-world shenanigans, "Meat: The Legends" teaches Zari (Tala Ashe) and Behrad (Shayan Sobhian) to share! Or, at least it does before the real Zari gets bored and makes two totems so the two will stop "no, you're the best-ing" each other. Legends of Tomorrow benefits from a lot of silliness, but this move is far reach into nonsense. To add insult to injury, we get a few moments with the Zari we lost. When we met the vapid Mia Smoak (Kate McNamara) in her alternate timeline on Arrow, we didn't get stuck with her taking over the lead role in her show, but for some reason we're still focusing on the mogul version of this character. There's value to showing an emotionally empty character make the right choice, but we've done that already. 

Outside of the twinsies learning to play better with one another, the alien shift is starting to feel a little bit more "natural" and there are plenty of moments to remind us why we continue to tune into this spectacularly zany series. 

Jupiter's Legacy is available on Netflix now. 

“Good is not a thing you are. It’s a thing you do.”

If only The Utopian had heard this line from Kamala Khan. Then again, the majority of the first season of Jupiter’s Legacy is about how Sheldon Sampson is incapable of listening to anyone who isn’t himself, so who knows if that would have done any good. The story of Jupiter’s Legacy revolves around The Union of Justice — the team of the world’s first superheroes tasked with keeping Earth safe — and their children. The Utopian knows he won’t be around for forever, so he must teach his children how to live up to his legacy. Problem is, the hero might tear his family apart in the process.

The Union consists of The Utopian/Sheldon Sampson (Josh Duhamel), Lady Liberty/Grace Sampson (Leslie Bibb), Brainwave/Walter Sampson (Ben Daniels), The Flare/Fitz Small (Mike Wade, and Skyfox/George Hutchence (Matt Lanter). Jupiter’s Legacy spends its time hopping between the present where the heroes do their best to navigate a shifting culture while best preparing their children to uphold the Union’s values and back to the 20s to narrate the journey of the team becoming the first superheroes on Earth. When you split your series between two timelines like this, a series is tasked with ensuring it makes both plotlines interesting enough to keep viewers engaged. This isn’t a balance that Jupiter’s Legacy manages to achieve.

The younger heroes are made up of a mix of the children of the original Supers, and heroes who just have powers without any kind of explanation despite half of the show being focused on the grueling and impossible task of achieving said superpowers. The Paragon/Brandon Sampson (Andrew Horton), Chloe Sampson (Elena Kampouris), The Flare II/Petra Small (Tenika Davis), Raikou (Anna Akana), Ruby Red (Gracie Dzienny) Barry Bishop (Stephen Oyoung), Janna Croft/Ghostbeam (Kara Royster) and more all come into play as the younger generation, but they’re not used for much more than something for The Utopian to wave his finger at.

At the very least, Jupiter’s Legacy is admirably acted and exceptionally costumed. Every member of the main cast is doing their best with what they’re given, and they all look great while doing it (not you, Josh Duhamel’s old man wig, you can go back in your box). The prequel portion of the story is engaging enough to help you get through the eight episodes, but the present is made unbearable by a whole host of things, both minor (The only tolerable member of the Sampson family is Grace) and major (nearly every single character that dies in this series is a person of color, there is very little action despite some very nifty costumes, there are moments in the first three episodes that are borderline copagand, etc.).

The series knows the conversation it wants to have with The Utopian, it just doesn't seem capable of actually having it. The world has changed since The Union first gained their powers and their code of no killing and no political intervention was founded. But the thing is, that shouldn't matter. The Utopian — for as utterly insufferable as he is — is right about the code needing to be upheld, he's just correct for the wrong reasons. Sheldon Sampson believes they cannot navigate from their code because humanity will become reliant on them. The reality is that the Supers don't get to kill for the exact same reason cops shouldn't be allowed to. The show gets so close to acknowledging this. Twice, even! It just never manages to actually get there. Even outside of the cops comparison, there is no point where the "uphold the code or don't uphold the code" conversation is had in any meaningful way. It's all The Utopian striking a heroic pose and spewing the same quote over and over again or it's the younger Supers insisting they're dying out there. 

For a brief moment, it seems as if Jupiter’s Legacy will stick the landing despite having a very rocky season as a whole, but that payoff never comes. The series is so certain it will get the opportunity to continue to tell its story — which is totally possible given the fact that Netflix controls its own narrative here — that it doesn’t worry about having an ending. The final episode relies so heavily on the viewer being shocked by a “plot twist” telegraphed by the whole season that it at no point bothers to complete its first chapter.

This first season feels like the perfect example as to why sometimes you do need a longer season. Sure, we absolutely could have cut out a whole lot of the aforementioned Utopian posturing and that would have saved us all some time (and some eyerolls). But, even three more episodes could have given Season 1 of Jupiter's Legacy the opportunity to be a whole story. There could be a really engaging story in what they have here, but what we were offered in this first chapter leaves no real reason to return for a second.

This post contains spoilers for Supergirl season 6 episode 6 "Prom Again!"
Catch up on our review of Supergirl season 6 episode 5. 

As one would hope, "Prom Again!" is a notable improvement from part 1 of Supergirl's prom series. All of the characters that pulled from the story in the first chapter remain present here, but they're all a little bit more bearable. Though we're still pulling from the overall narrative with Supergirl stuck in the Phantom Zone, it is nice to see a story that focuses on Brainiac-5 and Dreamer.

It's a young Kara Zor-El (Izabela Vidovic) that causes the majority of the problems this week, at least when it comes to the grand scheme of things. C.J Grant (Eliza Helm) foils the heroes' plans when she accidentally lets the alien bounty hunters free. This sets off a chain reaction that results in a hoard of dangerous aliens being set free and a swarm of cops descending on Kara, Kenny (Peter Adrian Sudarso) and Alex (Olivia Nikkanen). In a last-ditch effort to save the timeline — and to ultimately get their friend out of her prison — Brainy (Jesse Rath) and Nia (Nicole Maines) return back in time again, to right before CJ ruined everything with her meddling. Unfortunately, a persistent Kara stows away on the time ship and returns with them four hours prior in her own past causing a whole new set of complicated problems for her future friends.

"Prom Again!" has stronger moments than the prior episode, but its big emotional climax is largely meaningless. Vidovic and Sudarso are admirable performers as young Kara and Kenny, but they're just not given anything to work with in their final "we're not going to end up together," moment. Good prequel moments can be accomplished with a solid script, we just didn't hit that mark here.

It's Rath and Maines' performances as Brainy and Nia that manage to sell "Prom Again!" as a successful episode. There hasn't been much time to deal with the fall-out from Brainy's betrayal after the end of the last season, let alone an effort to rebuild the bonds that had been strained. The episode gives the two the opportunity to connect in a way that felt more meaningful than the one-off moments they've gotten as the team scrambles to get Supergirl from the Phantom Zone. 

Now that the prom arc has wrapped, we can finally get back to the main story at hand. Though, if the teaser from the end of the episode is to be believed, things don't look so good for Supergirl. As expected, we see Zor-El alive and well. But, given the fact that he's suddenly the one comforting his daughter and telling her not to lose hope, I'm not entirely convinced he didn't die in the blast and the person comforting a hopeless Kara is Nyxy in disguise.

We'll see in the midseason finale of Supergirl! 

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This post contains spoilers for Invincible.
Check out our last review here. 

Who knew that the core story of Invader Zim would be so influential on the finale of Invincible. While we can't get too into spoilers here, if you're familiar with Jhonen Vasquez's cult cartoon then you probably won't be too shocked by the truth about Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). Someone who's shocked, though, is poor old Mark (Steven Yeun). Last week the teenager saw his dad murder the recently resurrected hero known as the Immortal, so he understandably has a lot of questions for the old man. Those all get answered surprisingly quickly here during a brutal action sequence that is easily the most impressively bloody we've seen yet. But, interestingly, this episode is more concerned with the fallout of Omni-Man's grim and long-running betrayal than the details of it. 

At the core of this week's gruesome episode, though, is really a story about abuse and the cycles it creates. Mark has been abused and groomed by Omni-Man for a specific and brutal fate that belies everything the teen has been raised to believe. It's not just Mark either; this is a man who has abused his song along with his wife, Debbie (Sandra Oh), by manipulating them to be a perfect facade for his own violence and scheming. In one way, Omni-Man feels like a reflection of a serial killer who builds a perfect family so he's less suspicious. But in others he's just another pathetic man who wields power over his loved ones to make himself feel bigger, better, smarter, and stronger than he really is. 

While we see Omni-Man physically abuse his son this week to the most extreme extent, the greater trauma for Mark is the gaslighting and emotional abuse that he's suffered. He suddenly finds himself in a world without rules, one where nothing makes sense and the man he always looked up to has now revealed himself to be someone completely different. Without all the superhero trappings it's a darkly relatable feeling for anyone who has grown up and realized that the adults around you are not what they seem. And that worse, sometimes these people who are supposed to protect you have been shirking that duty for years, actively harming you instead. Science fiction and comics specifically have long been used to tell analogous tales of human suffering and strife, and Invincible with this particular exploration of Mark's childhood and relationship with his father follows that classic tradition.  

Though Mark's real family might have been letting him down, we do get to see the found family that he's garnered from his superheroic and high school life. It's ironic that in his father's grim quest, Mark gained his powers and a new support network that could potentially help him combat the abuse he's been through. Here that is in both the new Guardians of the Globe--who even after Robot's terrifying reveal last week are still a team and one that is intent on protecting their own--and, of course, Amber (Zazie Beetz), Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), and William (Andrew Rannells). While Invincible has yet to fall for the old "you're from two worlds which makes you an ideal leader" trope ala Aquaman, Underworld, and a million other sci-fi tales, you could argue that Mark's strength comes from the family and love that he has from both sides of his unexpected double life. 

Overall, Invincible has been a little uneven. But this action-packed and emotional finale does set up a ton of the conflict for the newly announced seasons two and three. While the animation is beautiful and the characters are engrossing, the next season of the show needs to work on consistency. Hopefully, now that its central mystery is out in the open we can focus on story and character development for those around Mark. The final moments also tease a ton of other threads and faces that'll get comics fans excited. 

Before we truly sign off on this season of Invincible, it's worth looking at what the show means in the landscape of superhero shows. If studios were comics publishers, it's ironic that tonally Amazon is carving itself out to be something akin to Image. Edgy, youth focused, and not afraid to push boundaries. The big difference, of course, being that Image was started as a space for creators to own their own inventions and have an escape from the corporate-owned comics industry, which is the antithesis of Amazon's corporate overlord mindset. As the only non-big two animated superhero comic book adaptation right now, Invincible is blazing a trail. It'll be very interesting to see what appears out of its wake on Amazon or otherwise. 

You can watch all of Invincible on Amazon Prime Video now. 

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This post contains spoilers for Supergirl season 6 episode 4 "Lost Souls"
Check out our review of Supergirl season 6 episode 3. 

Supergirl sees a whole lot of action on both planes in "Lost Souls." Supergirl, Nxylgsptinz, and Zor-El all have their hands full trying to escape the Phantom Zone while Sentinel, Martian Manhunter, Brainiac 5, Dreamer and Lena Luthor all do their best to stop the Phantoms on Earth from taking over their planet for good. There are a good number of fights in the episode but, as is pretty custom for the series, it's the emotional punches in "Lost Souls" that hit the hardest.

In the Phantom Zone proper, Nyx (Peta Sergeant), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Zor-El (Jason Behr) rush to the anchor built into the Zone as a failsafe by Kara's mother. Though the three do make it to their destination and successfully activate the portal needed to get them back home to Earth, the obvious betrayal pulls from the impact of this storyline a little bit (no matter how fun it is to watch Nyx go full heel). What saves it is Kara's difficult choice to shatter the mirror which, as far as she knows at the time, is the only way to return to her planet with her father.

But Kara isn't the only one facing difficult choices this week. While Team Supergirl desperately works to get their leader back on their plane of existence, they find themselves met with a choice. They can save all of the souls taken by the now-zombie-like Phantoms, or they can get Kara back. Alex (Chyler Leigh) who arguably wants her sister back more than anyone else in the current story is forced to be the one to make that call, and it's made even more complicated by Lena's (Katie McGrath) opposition. 

The two have an emotional conversation filled with the smart, complicated dialogue we've come to expect from Supergirl. Lena knows that it's wrong to let all of those people die, but she can't stand to lose the best friend she spent a year ostracizing. Even worse, she still believes that it's her fault that Kara's trapped in the Phantom Zone to begin with. On the flip side, it absolutely devastates Alex to not be able to choose her sister, but she knows the choice that Supergirl would make and has to honor that while she's not here to fight for the people of Earth.

It's a damn good conversation. 

What will follow is an "into the zombie hoard" kind of action sequence where all but Sentinel is picked off one by one as they attempt to save the thousands lost to the Phantoms. The lack of stakes kind of pulls from the impact, but Brainy (Jesse Rath) gets a super cheesy "fly, you fools" moment, so, I'll allow it. Alex saves the day and everyone's souls return to their bodies. And she hated every second of it. 

When she and Lena have their "what it means to be a hero" conversation later, Alex reveals that every fiber of her being told her to leave the rest of the world and get Kara out of her prison. Lena's worried that she doesn't belong on the team, but every single one of the heroes she's surrounded with feels the exact same way she does: Damn humanity, where is our hero? But they don't act on that, and that's the difference. It's a deeper conversation in morality than a lot of shows are willing to have, and it's nice to see it play out in such a succinct way between two friends over some scotch. 

Brainy and Nia (Nicole Maines) have their own moments while the Brainiac and his level-5 intellect try and cope with all of the emotions he's feeling over constantly failing in his attempts to save Supergirl. Nia knows there's something up, she makes it clear that she's there, and then she leaves when her boyfriend refuses to open up. It's a nice call-out to being a support system but refusing to get caught up in the "please talk to me" of it all. Bonus: lots of donuts and complex emotions from both characters as they deal with their failures.

"Lost Souls" is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a bunch of lost people trying to hold each other up until they find their way. Supergirl, despite the explosive ending, will continue to do whatever she can to break through to Nyx and her father (both of which are most certainly still alive). Meanwhile, those left on Earth continue to carry on as best they can with what they were taught. Thankfully, we saw the despair of their loss early on and have now broken through to a kind of quiet, frustrated, and yes, sometimes sad determination as they all do their best with the hand they've been dealt. 

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This post contains spoilers for Supergirl season 6 episode 3: Phantom Menaces
Check out our review of Supergirl season 6 episode 2. 

The phantoms are out of the Phantom Zone and wreaking havoc on Earth! Their presence comes with a one-two punch. Not only does their existence outside of the Zone pose a clear and present threat to National City, but it also means that Supergirl’s family has no space to grieve their failure in getting her back. This doesn’t just mean double duty for the heroes — it also means a huge amount of friction between a bunch of folks just doing their best.

Understandably, it’s Alex (Chyler Leigh) and J’onn (David Harewood) who are hit the most by Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) absence, but everyone’s having a no good, very bad time in Phantom Menaces.” The emotions put on display by the entire cast is most certainly some of the best work of the series, but it’s Lena (Katie McGrath) and Brainy’s (Jesse Rath) rage that seems to connect the most. When Lex (Jon Cryer) burns down the children’s ward of a hospital in response to Lena besting him, our two sometimes unlikely heroes grapple with the fact that all they want to do is murder the man responsible for all of their pain.

Brainy doesn’t just think about the murder, he has a whole plan on how they’d scatter Lex’s body parts across the solar system. He and Lena are forced to acknowledge the fact that their emotions cannot live in tiny boxes. The result? A breakdown from Brainiac-5 that every viewer can relate to.

Somehow, Lex Luthor burning down a children’s ward in response to losing some money ends up being the secondary story this week. While Lena and Brainy are forced to reconcile with their emotions, M’gann (Sharon Leal) finds herself on the receiving end of a Phantom scratch. Silas’ (Claude Knowlton) run-in with the Phantoms makes it evident that her future involves becoming a Phantom herself if J’onn and team aren’t able to do something but, luckily for her, she has something Silas didn’t — a bond with J’onn that includes part of her soul that enables the team to save her.

Katie McGrath gets to take things a step further in her final moments in the episode. After her discussion with Brainy, she finds herself stuck on what her next move may be. The real answer? No move at all. Lena realizes how much her hatred of Lex has consumed her over the years, and she knows he’s willing to go to lengths that she never will. Sometimes, the answer to a petulant tantrum is to stop acknowledging it. Supergirl and her team will still take Lex Luthor down, but Lena’s done with their chess match and it clearly hurts her brother more than anything she’s ever done. It’s one of the youngest Luthor’s strongest moments and it’s hard not to be proud of her. Lena resigns from Luthor Corp, giving up her fortune and her life’s work with a smile on her face.

Kara’s story gets more interesting this week as well, largely thanks to the introduction of Myxlgsptinz (Peta Sergeant). Myxl, a princess imp with powers akin to Mr.Mxyzptlk, was spurned by her father and banished to the Phantom Zone. The woman we meet at the beginning of the episode is devoid of hope, but Kara’s reminder that she isn’t useless inspires her and results in the breaking of both her literal and metaphorical shackles. With her power, the El family just might make it out of the Phantom Zone after all. (They will absolutely make it out of the Phantom Zone, we know what show we’re watching.) 

“Phantom Menaces” is the kind of episode that helps remind you of the foundation of the series. Even at its worst, Supergirl is still a show about hope and all the messy emotions that come along with it. The pandemic may have resulted in a shaky season opener, but this week’s episode feels like a return to form for the series. It makes you feel that familiar pang of sadness that Kara and her friends’ story is soon coming to an end, which means it’s absolutely doing its job.

This is a spoiler-free review of Invincible episodes 1-3. 

Animated superheroes have long been the near exclusive territory of Warner Bros. and their prolific and lauded DC Animation dept. That's not to say that Marvel doesn't make cartoons, they do and some of them are very beloved in that "I used to watch them on Saturday mornings" kind of way. But for years DC has had a chokehold on the cape cartoons market, with their massive animated film franchise and shows like Teen Titans, Young Justice, and Harley Quinn. But with Invincible, Amazon is staking a claim for the non-Big Two superhero cartoon, adapting Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, and Cory Walker's Image Comics series with just as much style, voice talent, humor, and heart as DC Animation's best offerings. 

In case you never checked out the cult comic, the setup is simple: teenager Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) is the son of the world's most famous superhero, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). When his superhero powers begin to show, Mark starts training with his alien father to become America's next great caped crusader. We can't really say more without spoiling the secrets of the series,but the title hero's family is rounded out by the wonderful Sandra Oh as Mark's mother, Debbie Grayson. It's a stellar leading trio who bring much of the heart, humanity, and conflict to the first three episodes, delivering with their performances at every turn. 

Invincible begins slowly. Almost criminally so. Establishing the world of the series doesn't take too long, but it's not a particularly interesting world. Which is the point, of course. This is our world... almost. It's a place where everything is exactly as you expect it to be except for the existence of superheroes, who are an accepted and normalized part of society. Once we hit the final moments of the first episode, the slow start is revealed as a smart juxtaposition for what's to come, but it did almost make this reviewer want to switch it off at first. We've seen plenty of "what if our world but superheroes," so until the final act Invincible doesn't seem to be offering much new. But when it hits its stride, it creates an intrigue and pace that will keep you tuned in. 

There's also the fact that Yeun is an incredibly talented voice actor. Mark feels like a real teenager; his school friends sound and act authentically young. This isn't a Riverdale-style  universe where teens are all actually hot and 25. This is very much a Young Justice-influenced story about the complexities of growing up with powers and what that means. Mark is also likeable. He's a little goofy, awkward, and occasionally pretty cool. There's no edgy incel lead here. This is just a sweet boy who longs to live up to the legacy of his father. In that way, it works as a nice reflection of the Superman story it takes so much from. But here we see an Earth-born son trying to make good under the watchful eye of his alien father, an inversion of Clark Kent. 

At its heart, Invincible is very much a coming of age story about Mark and his peers finding their way. But it also reveals itself to be a smart meta-text on superheroes and if you're a fan of Marvel and DC comics then you'll definitely be able to see the obvious influences that shaped the cult comic and the series that's adapting it. But have no fear as Invincible isn't a WandaVision-esque Easter egg hunt. In fact, if you've never read a comic or watched a superhero show before you won't lose anything. Its influences are so woven into the series that you can enjoy the episodes without any extra knowledge. But if you do know your Teen Titans from your Young Avengers, you'll probably be able to see just which characters are aping whom. 

Over the first three episodes we get an excitingly drawn world filled with heroes you care about and villains that feel like a legitimate threat. There's also a central mystery which will keep you hooked and ended up with this writer watching all three near-hour long episodes in a row. The writing team does a great job utilizing our role as active viewers to make the conflict at the heart of the show both engaging and enjoyably frustrating as we always feel a couple of steps ahead of Mark and his friends. Basically, don't be surprised if you find yourself shouting at the screen more than once as you watch the opening episodes... the power of dramatic irony. 

For fans of the comic it will surely be wonderful to see the world and characters brought to life in such a dynamic fashion. This is top tier animation. Original Invincible creator Cory Walker was brought in to create character designs for the show and that level of care is demonstrable throughout the trio of episodes we were given for review. You can pause Invincible at any moment and be looking at a full on work of art. Gorgeous backgrounds, awesome renderings of fan favorite heroes, and slick animation gives Invincible the feel of something truly special. It's rare to get an adult animation series that has the same feel and production value as an animated film, but Invincible does just that. And its style, feeling so reminiscent of the best of DC offerings, only works to its advantage once the show properly reveals its hand. 

It'll be very interesting to see if Invincible can deliver on the promise of its opening episodes. From what we've seen so far, it's looking good. And if the series manages to keep up this level of quality, heart, and well-placed brutality, it has the potential to be spoken about in the same breath as the iconic '90s HBO Spawn cartoon and even the beloved Batman: The Animated Series. 

The first three episodes of Invincible hit Amazon Prime Video on March 26th. 

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This post contains spoilers for Superman & Lois.
Check out our review of Superman & Lois season 1 episode 1.

Superhero media has been successfully integrating moody teens into its stories for decades now. Regrettably, Superman & Lois doesn’t seem like it’s going to be able to list that as one of its accomplishments. It’s nice to see that the series remembered that “Lois” is a part of its title, though! She’ll go toe to toe with Morgan Edge before it’s all said and done, but she finds herself journalistically hobbled by the fact that he still owns her paper.

“Heritage” spends its first half exploring just what in the world is going on with one Jordan Kent (Alex Garfin). We get graced with a brief smile, even! That is until tests at the Fortress of Solitude prove that his cells will never be able to absorb enough of the yellow sun for him to consistently exhibit powers. The ability to call on the strengths of a Kryptonian whenever you find yourself in a tight spot seems like a pretty sweet deal. But, y’know… teenagers. 

Speaking of teenagers, Jonathan’s (Jordan Elsass) having a pretty rough time as well. He gave up a lot in Metropolis and agreed to move to Smallville because he knew it would help his brother. His frustrations don’t seem rooted in jealousy of Jordan’s powers — Jonathan’s used to being special. But that’s the issue. He’s not special in Smallville. Everyone hates him at school because his brother kissed the wrong girl, he’s not the star of the football team, and his brother gets to skip school while he gets pummeled. Despite his rough go, he’s still as supportive as he can be by the end of the episode.

The issue here is that there’s just nothing engaging about these kids or their struggle. The boys come through in the end and have done so in both episodes so far, but the bottom line remains: who cares? These two well-meaning, but ultimately whiny, teens have no real problems, and watching the show bend over backward in an attempt to create them is frustrating. Even worse, they have zero impact on the story. Zilch. Clark and Lois still could have decided to move back to Smallville when they realized the danger it was in under Edge's control without these kids' stories ever playing a part. If you're going to tout your show as being "different" because of the family aspect, it makes sense to be sure that the characters are as impactful as Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and Cecile Horton (Danielle Nicolette) are in The Flash, or the way the Pierce family all matter to the Black Lightning narrative. Even Arrow made sure to make William (Ben Lewis) and Mia's (Katherine McNamara) stories relevant to Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Felicity's (Emily Bett Rickards) lives and the overall arc of the story.

Meanwhile, there’s Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch). While Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) struggles with how to be a dad and Superman at the same time, Lois is there to keep her family together and take on Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner) in tandem. Edge wins their first skirmish when he attempts to make her look like the villain in front of the entirety of Smallville at the town hall, but she plans to have the last word with a scathing editorial outlining all the ways he’s killed small towns he said he’d come to rescue.

The problem there is that Morgan Edge also purchased The Daily Planet some time ago. After Lois turns in her story, it’s completely re-written and published as a fluff piece. Edge quickly learns what all of us going into the show already knew: we don’t re-write Lois-fricken-Lane. Realizing that she no longer has a future at the place that was once her home, Lois quits and joins the Smallville Gazette with the full intent of helping Smallville’s residents realize that Morgan Edge is not there to save their town. But not everyone is looking to be saved.

Residents like Kyle Cushing (Erik Valdez) believe that Edge is there to ensure the people of Smallville have jobs. He knows what’s happened in those other towns, but the people there tried to unionize, so it’s their fault, right? He doesn’t care about living wages. He cares about baby steps that will allow his town to survive. Because, like so many Americans, Cushing still believes that trickle-down economics work.

Superman & Lois’ teen issue aside, it doesn’t seem to be sure what it’s trying to say just yet. Let’s say Lois does manage to reach Cushing. What’s the message there? That small-town America has been manipulated and it needs big city gals to save it? That we can all meet in the middle if we just set aside our differences? Shows featuring Kryptonian leads have always and should always be about hope, but preaching the powers of centrism right now is the last thing we need. Especially a show whose only primary Black character is the series villain.

The shows of the Arrowverse have typically been pretty masterful at weaving real-world issues into their fantastical stories but, as of right now, Superman and Lois’ message is more confusing than impactful.

Netflix just dropped first-look images from Jupiter’s Legacy, their upcoming comic book adaptation.

The short teaser sees sketches from the original Jupiter’s Legacy comic book artist, Frank Quitely, transforming into images from the upcoming series.

Jupiter’s Legacy fans will recognise a whole host of characters from these first-look images including the very first picture which shows off the main antagonist for season 1, Blackstar (played by Tyler Mane).

Also introduced are the son of one of the world’s greatest supervillains, Hutch (Ian Quinlan) and Chloe Sampson (Elena Kampouris), daughter of one of the world’s mightiest heroes.

We then get a glimpse at a young Sheldon Sampson (Josh Duhamel) in 1929 who will go on to meet his son Brandon (Andrew Horton) in the future.

Finally, the teaser closes by showing Duhamel, Leslie Bibb and Ben Daniels suited up as ageing heroes The Utopian, Lady Liberty and Brainwave, respectively. They form the revered first generation of superheroes, with their children struggling to live up to their lasting legacies.

The official summary from Netflix is:

“After nearly a century of keeping mankind safe, the world's first generation of superheroes must look to their children to continue the legacy. But tensions rise as the young superheroes, hungry to prove their worth, struggle to live up to their parents' legendary public reputations — and exacting personal standards.”

Jupiter’s Legacy's release date was revealed just a few days ago. It’s a live-action adaptation of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s comic book series. Netflix acquired the rights to Mark Millar’s Millarworld comic book imprint back in August 2017 and are working on a slate of films and shows based on characters from across the imprint including Huck, Empress and the team of heroes from Jupiter’s Legacy.

Spartacus creator Steven S. DeKnight, who has previously worked with Netflix on the MCU show Daredevil, is onboard as showrunner for Jupiter’s Legacy season 1. You can watch the teaser below: 

Jupiter’s Legacy premieres on Netflix on May 7, 2021.

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