Krypto may be a Superdog, but he is definitely a bad dog in the DC Universe. I say that lovingly. The dog trashed the Fortress of Solitude in James Gunn's Superman movie last summer! He's adorable and lovably loyal, but he is a ball of chaos with a prey drive through the roof. Thankfully, he proved himself to be capable of Good Boy Acts when he attacked Lex Luthor. 

As it turns out, the screenwriter of the Supergirl movie coming out later this month, Ana Nogueira, can relate a lot to the dynamic between Kara and Krypto. In an interview with Empire magazine, Nogueira looked back on her relationship with her own pup. "My dog, who passed a few years ago, was so bad and I loved him so much... James [Gunn] and I bonded over having a mess of a dog and how it's perfect for Kara. She's also kind of a mess and wouldn't know how to train a dog," Nogueira said. 

It seems like James Gunn has plenty of love for bad dogs, considering that Cosmo the Spacedog from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had a knee-jerk reaction whenever anyone said she was a bad dog. In case you need reminding, even the bad dogs of the world (and universe) still need love. 

Spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 follow. But also, it's been six months. 

As you know if you've been online at all in the past six months, the Stranger Things series finale ended with what appeared to be Millie Bobby Brown's psychically-powered hero Eleven sacrificing herself for the survival of her friends in Hawkins. However, a post-climactic moment later in the episode had those same friends telling each other stories about the character's survival, and ever since, fans have hotly debated whether or not that more hopeful take on the ending is the right onw.

For David Harbour, the answer is a big 'no.'

DC's Absolute line only encompasses a few titles, but the entire DC Universe is up for reinterpretation, with Scott Snyder, writer of the line's flagship title Absolute Batman, stating that there is a big wave of new characters and concepts to soon be introduced.

It all comes down to the upcoming first Absolute crossover that brings together Absolute heroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and more under the guidance of Martian Manhunter, who played an important role in forming the original Justice League way back in the early '60s.

"There's a lot of expansion in the event that Jason is doing, which will also expand the universe a lot. That, obviously, is about these characters meeting, coming up against a big threat, the proxy to the Justice League essentially, which is the villains in our universe," Snyder tells ComicPop Returns. "So how do they go up against them? They have to find a different way than you'd expect, and that brings in a lot of characters that are kind of hiding in the shadows, good and bad. There's a lot of expansion into 2026 and 2027 even if the line itself stays modest in the number of books."

DC president, publisher, and chief creative officer Jim Lee is a lifelong fan of both superhero comics and manga, all the way back to when manga was far more rare in the United States. With that pedigree, he's got his own perspective on the difference between western comics and manga.

"I think the notion of superheroes, a single person that gets power that decides to go out and change the world, whether he's a hero or a villain, it has some real American roots," Lee explains on the Masterplan podcast. "It reminds me of the cowboy, someone who goes out into danger, the wilderness, and forges his or her own path. Justice is dispensed through power, so vigilantism, the one, loner figure of justice, feels very American to me. Certainly, Japanese culture is not reflective of that. I think Europeans, when you look at their comics, it was more science fiction or western."

Japan does have its own history with superheroes, with the Golden Bat often considered one of the first superheroes ever, predating even Superman, the first true American superhero. Meanwhile, Ultraman is often considered one of the most popular superheroes in the world, up there with Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. That said, Japan's heroes, even modern manga and anime like One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, blend superhero visual styles with Japan's tradition of tokusatsu sci-fi heroes and youth-focused shonen adventure tales rather than following the usual structures of western superhero comics.

Great news if you're a fan of Alex Horne and Greg Davies; bad news if you're a comedian whose subjected themselves to their special brand of social torture. Massively popular British comedy series Taskmaster, which has become a sensation in the US thanks to its YouTube presence, has just secured a spot at one of the most prestige performance venues in America: the world-famous Hollywood Bowl.

We learned about the development via a Deadline article dated June 10. According to the outlet, the team behind the quirky and ever-shifting competition show has announced that the Hollywood Bowl has invited them fro a live performance at their Los Angeles location, and as mentioned above, has credited this massive success to the numbers they've accumulated on YouTube.

"In the early days," explained Taskmaster executive producer Jon Thoday, "We had the ambition to make a U.S. version of Taskmaster [...] Ultimately, we woke up one day and thought we’ll just put the show on YouTube. From that day till now it’s grown every week… to the point where a lot of the traditional channels would actually like to have Taskmaster, but we like the fact that we’re in so many homes."

Good news, murder mystery fans! Netflix has officially renewed A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, the Emma Myers-starring adaptation of Holly Jackson's novel series of the same name, for season 3. And it might not surprise you to learn that the third season of the Top 10-placing show is adapting the third book in said trilogy, As Good as Dead. But after today's announcement, we do have one lingering question:

Will Holly Jackson's prequel novella to the series also get the Netflix treatment? 

Let's back up a bit. The news of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder season 3 came to us via Deadline, and as you might expect, it came with a statement from the show's executive producer/star. "Thank you so much to everyone who has given this show love and support throughout!" said Myers, who plays series protagonist Pippa 'Pip' Fitz-Amobi, "Book 3 is my favorite of all the books, so I’m very excited to show everyone what we’ve done."

Avengers: Doomsday has a massive cast featuring dozens of characters from the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and more, and it's very likely we still don't know everyone who will appear. Though he hasn't been confirmed for the cast, Vision actor Paul Bettany says he's pretty sure he'll show up either in Doomsday or its follow up Avengers: Secret Wars. Still, he leaves the caveat that Marvel could change course at any moment.

"I think so. I think that, you know, as much as - touch wood, it keeps the kids in private school - as much as you know anything going on at Marvel," Bettany explained during an appearance on podcast Happy Sad Confused "Or they change their mind, or they - you know, you just really do never know."

Bettany is no stranger to surprises from Marvel Studios. In fact, when half the Avengers died in Avengers: Infinity War, most of the cast had no idea until their death scenes began filming. 

Despite the specter of Avengers: Doomsday looming over us all, Marvel Studios is intentionally going smaller for this summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Day. That's right, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is going to feel like, well, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man even in the wake of 2021's sprawling No Way Home. This is by design. 

In an interview with Empire magazine about the upcoming film that appears in its latest print issue, producer Amy Pascal explained why the Marvel movie is pulling back for the fourth Spider-Man film in the MCU. "After the last one, I think probably the tendency for filmmakers would be to try to go bigger. And we did the opposite," she explained, adding that Brand New Day is "a more internal movie, and the bigness of it is emotional, not worlds exploding."

Frankly, I don't really know how Brand New Day could get any bigger than No Way Home, considering that the latter featured almost every Spider-Man villain that had previously been brought to the screen in the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies from Sony Pictures. (Dane Dehaan, you were missed.) But I suppose we should always leave room for surprises. 

Every major movie these days seems to need its own collectible popcorn bucket. While we’ll never forget the weird eroticism of the Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket, we can’t help but be fascinated by the IMAX one. That’s right; it’s a popcorn bucket that isn’t just promoting a movie but the camera that Christopher Nolan uses to film his movies like The Odyssey.

We mention The Odyssey because that is the title plastered on the side of this popcorn bucket, but, really, it is all about the camera. Specifically, the IMAX 15/65mm Camera that has been a favorite of Christopher Nolan for years. With the word IMAX printed on it multiple times, it is difficult to confuse who is the real star of the show.

IMAX screens are becoming more popular, and filmmakers like Nolan are using the format more and more as a way to promote their movies. However, this is the opposite. It feels like they are using a movie that is already selling out viewings a month in advance to promote the IMAX format. And it is working! The IMAX popcorn bucket costs $50 and sold out within hours of advance orders opening up. Enough people jumped at the chance to eat popcorn out of an IMAX camera that they couldn’t keep up with demand.

It is bad news for Doctor Who fans around the world. After a tumultuous couple of years, it appears that the BBC is rethinking its approach to the iconic sci-fi series. With the partnership with Disney seemingly in the past, the British broadcaster is looking for new partners. In the meantime, they’re cancelling the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Episode that was scheduled to air later this year.

The BBC released the statement on their website. “As part of securing the next phase of the show for future generations, and in line with the BBC’s Charter and Agreement requirements, the BBC will put Doctor Who out to competitive tender this year.” This means that they will be inviting bids from production companies and distributors to help finance and produce new episodes of Doctor Who, although the statement made it clear, "The BBC retains all IP in Doctor Who."

That wasn’t the only news they dropped this morning. “After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode. This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.”

Stranger Things is over, but there's already a spin-off in the works. And though Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer aren't ready to divulge many details just yet, as development is being kept under wraps, but they've revealed a few choice bits of info, including some of what the spin-off won't include.

"Honestly, we can't say anything. The only thing I will say is, we're trying not to, gosh there are so many things I wish I could say," said Matt Duffer in an interview with Happy Sad Confused. "Last time I even mentioned it I got in trouble. We're being very careful. We don't want to rush it. We don't want it to be anything other than excellent. I don't know, maybe. It's moving. It's moving. I think it's gonna happen. We're trying not to rush it. No one wants to make it just to make it. No one wants to just do it to continue Stranger Things. It has to be awesome, or forget it. That's sort of everybody's mentality about it. But I think everyone's coming at it from the right space."

Matt also confirmed that the show will not be an anthology, and though it's "very early" in the process, the biggest thing they can reveal is that the spin-off will feature a new cast of characters telling a story that, while connected to Stranger Things, is not a direct continuation.

The Wonder Man show on Disney+ may have felt largely disconnected from the MCU, apart from the roles that Damage Control and Trevor Slattery played in the story - but there are subtle references within the show's production design that recall Simon Williams' history in Marvel Comics. After all, while there aren't a whole lot of big MCU characters who show up in Wonder Man, the set decoration peppers in larger ties to heavy hitters like Thor and the Avengers. 

In an interview with Variety, Wonder Man production designers Cindy Chao and Michele Yu broke down the ties to Marvel Comics hidden throughout the show. 

“His car license plate number is a reference to his comic book mutant ID number. We thought [it] would be a slam dunk of everybody catching them," said Yu. In fact, all of the numbers in the show were handpicked to reference Marvel Comics. Yu confirmed that, explaining, “Every number and address that shows up in the series was some reference to either a comic book issue number or an existing number in the MCU associated with Simon Williams or with the creators of Wonder Man." It's why Simon lives in apartment #9 on the show, referencing how he first appeared in The Avengers #9 back in 1964. 

Because manga has become a global phenomenon, you can find its influence in surprising places. When legendary mangaka Naoki Urasawa, who created iconic manga like Pluto and 20th Century Boys, heard that Grammy-winning duo Rodrigo y Gabriela had recorded a song inspired by one of his manga, he jumped at the chance to collaborate on the music video. The result is a haunting and beautiful track that shows how one of Japan’s most celebrated manga artists brings characters to life.

Inspired by Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, which follows a Japanese surgeon in Germany who inadvertently helps create a psychotic serial killer and sets off to stop him, the new single from Rodrigo y Gabriela seeks to capture the shifting emotions that come from the iconic manga series. Monster feels like a Spanish guitar instrumental track mixed with a touch of blues rock.

After recording the track, the duo approached Naoki Urasawa to collaborate on the music video. Urasawa, it turns out, was already aware of Rodrigo y Gabriela through videos of their live performances. “Originally, I watched videos of their live performances and thought they were amazing, so I started collecting their vinyl records and CDs,” Naoki Urasawa said in a press release accompanying the music video.

For anyone looking, it's fairly obvious that Marvel Comics often aligns its releases with Marvel Studios, and now Marvel editor Tom Brevoort is opening up about how linked the two branches of Marvel actually are. According to him, the synergy is "common sense," but it's not as cut-and-dried as many fans may think.

"I don't think it's quite as regimented as you make it there," Brevoort tells Word Balloon. "Certainly we know that if something's coming out - we've got a big Avengers movie coming at the end of the year, it makes sense to have material that is going to steer into the fact that there is going to be a massive amount of awareness and interest in Avengers and all things Avengers. Not just the day that movie comes out, but in the months or two months leading up to it, and presumably, assuming it's a big blockbuster, in the month or two months leading out of it. So that's just common sense."

One recent example of movie and comic synergy is the recent New Avengers title, which launched alongside Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts* starring some of the same characters. And like the movie, the comic was initially launched as Thunderbolts before changing its name to New Avengers as a surprise reveal. Brevoort says that's an example of the synergy between the movies and comics, but Marvel's overall approach is more strategic than simply echoing the films.

Prolific comic creator Rob Liefeld had big plans to pull back the curtain on his mercurial career and some of the sordid behind-the-scenes stories from his time at Marvel, DC, Image and more in a tell-all memoir, but two years into the project he has had second thoughts and is cancelling the book.

"I could do certain sections of my life, but there are some that I just couldn’t put together," Liefeld tells The Hollywood Reporter. "I gave the money back to [BenBella Publishing]. I said, 'Forgive me.' They were totally cool about it."

Borrowing the name of his hit podcast Robservations, Liefeld's memoir was to chart his rise from the son of a Baptist minister to comic store clerk, comic artist, and then multi-disciplined comic artist/writer/publisher. From co-creating Deadpool and Cable, going on to found Image Comics, developing his own then-creator-owned franchises in Youngblood and Prophet, then returning to Marvel and DC on several high-profile projects only to publicly quit them years later in equally as high-profile of exits, Liefeld's story is one-of-a-kind, and still unfinished, as he is currently in the midst of reviving his Youngblood, Prophet and other creations in comics and in adaptations.

When Dr. Gregory House gets snippy with someone, it's hardly a surprise. But when the snap comes from his real-life avatar, comedian and TV treasure Hugh Laurie, it feels a little bit more out of place. Recently, Laurie went on record to explain why he shot a pithy remark back at a TV critic who criticized the hospital drama, and the reason has nothing to do with either medical expertise or Dr. House's reliance on painkillers. Nope, the culprit was good old-fashioned booze. 

And like so many that have been in his shoes, Laurie feels bad about it. 

We got the story thanks to a June 9 article that appeared on Deadline, which began by explaining the moderate tiff Laurie had with cultural critic and journalist Janet Murray. On June 6, Murray made a post to Twitter (I don't care, that's what it's called) roasting the eight-season medical mystery series as having the "Same narrative every episode." Laure responded to the now widely-shared tweet, invoking some of his most-iconic character's snark.

The bloodiest battles of the Targaryen Civil War are just ahead, and all of Westeros trembles in their path. Not so nervous, though, are the cast of House of the Dragon, whose anticipation of season 3’s large-scale clashes has been resoundingly positive. Take Matt Smith, for example - or as you may know him, Daemon Targaryen - who doesn’t just think that the hellish conflicts described in George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood are good for the series, but thinks that the Game of Thrones spinoff is “at its best” when the battles are at their height.

Smith made his opinions clear during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published just a few scant days before House of the Dragon’s latest chapter airs on HBO and HBO Max.

"I think they’ve aimed for scale, blood," said the Doctor Who icon, "It’s a big bloodbath, really, this season [...] which is absolutely where it’s needed to go. I think that’s when the show is actually operating at its best in many ways — particularly for Daemon." 

The most highly anticipated manga to return in 2026 is easily Hunter x Hunter, which hasn’t had a new chapter in well over a year. We’ve had hints that it could return soon, with creator Yoshihiro Togashi saying that he’s been working on more chapters. In fact, he’s just confirmed that there are nearly a dozen Hunter x Hunter chapters ready to be published.

The update comes from Yoshihiro Togashi’s social media, where he posted a picture of Hunter x Hunter chapter 421 ready to be sent off to Shueisha. The most recent chapter to be published was Hunter x Hunter 410 back in December 2024. If Togashi does work on the chapters in the order they will be published, this means that there should be 11 chapters of Hunter x Hunter ready to be edited and published in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Despite having such a healthy buffer, there is still no release date for the next Hunter x Hunter chapter. This is probably because the publisher wants to make sure that they’ve got a steady flow of chapters before they start putting more Hunter x Hunter chapters out there. The series is known for its frequent delays and hiatuses due to Togashi’s health issues, which has meant that he’s come up with multiple plans in case he isn’t able to finish Hunter x Hunter before he dies, which had to be a morbid conversation to have with his editors.

The Absolute Universe's provocative version of the Joker comes from Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder's own upbringing in New York City. Thus far, we've learned that Absolute Joker comes from a moneyed pedigree in Gotham City (or does he?), and his enormous wealth has opened doors for him to become truly monstrous on all levels, especially physical. And as outlandish as Absolute Joker looks on the pages of Absolute Batman, the character is rooted in Scott Snyder's experiences growing up around privileged kids in New York. 

On Twitter, a fan asked Snyder if there was anything that Absolute Joker was afraid of, and the writer responded in a series of posts. "He’s not afraid of anyone. This is probably going to be too long of an answer, but I attended a high school in NYC where a lot of generationally wealthy kids went," Snyder began.

"What you learn being around kids that grow up that way is that they react to the money in all kinds of ways. And to be fair, i imagine it must be really strange being born into huge amounts of money you didn’t earn. At the two extremes of the spectrum were kids who wanted to put it all to good use, charity, philanthropy, etc. At the other end, though Were kids that acted as though being born into it was a sign of worthiness, like they were from better people who worked harder, so by proxy they deserved it. With these kids, the frightening thing was that they were often surrounded by people who just said yes to everything," the writer continued. 

The director of Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn, wants to make a splash in DC Studios' emergent DC Universe.  

While promoting his film Her Private Hell at Cannes, Refn revealed that he would love to direct a Batgirl film for DC Studios, in the event that James Gunn and Peter Safran are looking for anyone. "I would love to do Batgirl. Because Wonder Woman is done, that one I thought was super heavy," Refn said. 

So what draws Refn to Batgirl specifically? “The costumes, I love the aesthetics. A lot of Her Private Hell is my obsession with dolls, objects and how to move people around in space and time. I loved the objectification of objects, and superheroes and comic-books and that whole sub-culture. It’s where I come from. I collect Japanese toys, I play with Legos," the filmmaker told Deadline. Interesting. 

If you're a '90s comic fan, it's time to start rejoicing, as Dark Horse is developing a book collecting the art of Marvel's beloved trading card sets that were all the rage over 30 years ago. Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort, who worked on many of Marvel's original trading card sets, spilled the news, explaining that he's been involved in assembling the collection himself.

"I worked on the first set of trading cards with [then Marvel editor Bob Budiansky], and he and I pretty much did all the sets with some other people. He and I did most of the work on the first four main sets, and the Marvel Masterpieces, and the early X-Men sets, and the early Spider-Man set. Dark Horse is working on a book," Brevoort tells Word Balloon. "They're talking to Bob and putting together a big compilation of all that artwork and a bunch of the behind-the-scenes."

Those original trading card sets were a huge staple of fandom in their heyday of the early to mid-'90s, introducing a whole generation of growing comic fans to characters, stories, and concepts they may have missed, along with background information and even which issues to read to get more of their new favorites.

Months after the series finale debuted on Netflix, Stranger Things is coming to an end… again. Netflix has announced that both the London West End and Broadway productions of Stranger Things: The First Shadow will close this holiday season, meaning that audiences have just a handful of months left to see the backstory of the show’s big bad in person.

The UK run of The First Shadow will come on December 27, 2026, with the US run at New York’s Marquis Theater will close January 3, 2027. The closures come amid declining interest in the stage productions, with Deadline reporting that the US run hasn’t recouped its initial investment as of writing.

That’s not to say both runs haven’t been successful — the UK run opened in December 2023, with the US debut coming in April 2025, and both productions have won multiple awards for design and technical effects.

Just as there's room for more than one Robin in the Absolute DC universe, there's also room for more than one Batgirl. Iconic DCU Batgirl Cassandra Cain is debuting this fall in her own one-shot titled Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow’s Hand, by Absolute Catwoman writer Che Grayson and artist Matias Bergara. 

"Years ago, The Joker trained with the League of Assassins, and when he learned all he could, he slaughtered everyone. Out of the wreckage rose Lady Shiva and her daughter, Cassandra Cain," reads DC's description of the issue. "Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow’s Hand #1 reveals the origin of the Absolute Universe's most formidable assassin, and how her story is one that is intertwined with the world's greatest thief, Selina Kyle!"

Related: DC has big questions about Absolute Batman & the Absolute DC Line - and is doing a fan survey

People have been begging Hugh Jackman to star in a Muppet movie for years, based solely on the idea that it sounds like he’d have a great time and so would audiences. We’ve never gotten to see the blessed union of Hugh Jackman and the Muppets, but the Wolverine star is following in Tim Curry’s steps by starring in the upcoming Treasure Island remake directed by Ridley Scott.

That is the report that has been making the rounds over the past few days, with the expectation that an official announcement will be coming in the next few weeks. Hugh Jackman will star as the iconic pirate Long John Silver in the adaptation of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s original novel. Ridley Scott has been attached to direct while Adolescence writer Jack Thorne has written the script.

No studio is currently attached to produce the film. 20th Century Fox initially passed on the project because the company is currently a subsidiary of Disney, which has its own pirate-themed series in Pirates of the Caribbean. The result is expected to be a bidding war among studios to be involved in the film. With such a high-profile director and star, we expect this to be a hotly contested process, even if it doesn’t deliver on the joy of seeing Hugh Jackman starring opposite Kermit the Frog or Miss Piggy.

With the World Cup about to kick off, it is the perfect time to celebrate one of the best sports anime out there, Blue Lock. The third season is on its way, and we’ve just gotten some fresh information on Blue Lock season 3, including its title and a new teaser poster.

June 9 is the annual Blue Lock Day in Japan, and to celebrate, we’ve gotten a couple of new announcements about the upcoming anime season. First is the confirmation that Blue Lock season 3 will be titled Neo Egoist League, which makes sense since it was expected to adapt the Neo Egoist League story arc from the Blue Lock manga. In addition, we got a fresh visual that shows protagonist Yoichi Isagi and new antagonist Michael Kaiser in their updated designs for the new season.

The one thing that was missing from the announcements was a Blue Lock season 3 release date, which we’re still waiting for. It was announced back in September 2025, so it is looking likely that it won’t air until either late 2026 or early 2027 at this rate. While there was a similar gap between the first two seasons, at least we got the Blue Lock Episode Nagi film to bridge the gap and make the wait seem more bearable. Right now, there is nothing in the pipeline but more waiting.

On Wednesday, June 10, Marvel Comics' Avengers: Armageddon event will kick off with the release of the first issue by Chip Zdarsky, Frank Alpizar, and Delio Diaz. But, attendees of an Opening Night event in Los Angeles for Magic: The Gathering's upcoming crossover set with Marvel Comics last week were treated to a copy of Avengers: Armageddon #1 early, with the Magic: The Gathering variant cover by artist Ryan Stegman. 

For some eagle-eyed fans and comic store owners, this could illicit some consternation about Marvel releasing the comic in a public event before they are able to sell the issue. It also brings about the possibility of spoilers floating around online, if you know where to look. 

(We've read it, but we'll wait.)

In the late '80s and early '90s, there was a high school art teacher who moonlighted as the school's baseball coach, and then moonlighted again as an aspiring cartoonist. He'd done a strip for his college paper, but since graduating, he hadn't found a strip that hit with editors. From his freshman year in high school to well after he'd graduated, he had been pitching various comic strips, including one set in a zoo... even though he reportedly didn't know a thing about zoos. Then, the high school teacher had an idea... about a small pre-teen going to school; a little sprig of a boy, called Nate.

You might know him as Big Nate.

Lincoln Peirce has been illustrating the daily Big Nate series non-stop since January 1991, living to see the passing of his idol Charles Schulz, and the early retirement of Bill Watterson. For 35 years, the 11-year-old Big Nate has never grown up... but Peirce has, and on June 13 he'll be ending the daily version of Big Nate, in favor of a Sundays-only routine.

There have been a lot of changes at Dark Horse Comics in the past decade; even more so for those on the inside. The company has just moved to report to its fourth parent company in the past eight years, it lost the decades-long deal for creator-owned work by Frank Miller, its founder/former owner was ousted earlier this year, and its retail store division was announced to be closing (not selling off) just a few weeks back. You can see from all of this that they're concerned, and why a majority of them have started a union to more adequately talk to the large corporation they find themselves in. While they were preparing for a protracted period to get Dark Horse to formally recognize the union so it could enter negotiations, the new interim CEO has surprised more than a few people by recognizing the workers' union and opening the door to negotiations for better working conditions.

But in the formal letter recognizing the union, Dark Horse's interim CEO Jay Komas is also trying to distinguish the 'old' Dark Horse from the 'new' Dark Horse he's in charge of.

"I understand the employees’ disappointment with how issues have historically been addressed," Komas says, seemingly referring to the company's singular boss for the past 40 years, Mike Richardson. "You’ve taken this step because you believe Dark Horse can be better. So do I."

I'm not the only one who enjoyed drawing as a child. As a quiet, bespeckled kid, it was hard for me to communicate, but it didn't mean I didn't want to. One of the earliest ways I found to do that was through art and drawing for my classmates. In the recent OGN Pink Monsters by Claus Daniel Hermann, this method of drawing as an outlet for one child to connect with others makes him a target when an esoteric healer uses it as a reason for the child's father's mystery illness.

"The story of Pink Monsters is based on experiences I had as a teenager with cult-like structures. Monster drawings and colors played a big role in it, so turning it into a comic seemed a good idea," Hermann tells Fanbase Press' Barbra Dillon. "My alter ego is the teenager Frank. His father, Georg, is severely depressed, and there seems to be no cure through conventional medical means. So Frank’s mother, Sandra, invites Thea, a holistic healer, into their home; at first, she seems to bring “good energy” into the house. But Thea’s “energies” soon prove toxic to young Frank, making it harder for him to come to terms with his homosexuality, which his family is not yet aware of."

Pink Monsters' lead character Frank is the "alter ego" in author Claus Daniel Hermann's own words of himself, and as the reader on the other end of it, I felt a little bit more than sympathy as I read through the pages of this new hardcover. Here is a preview from Oni Press:

Even after decades in the comics industry and reaching the heights of success, DC president, publisher, and chief creative officer Jim Lee says he's still not immune to the negativity of some fans. Nonetheless, he tries to maintain boundaries around how he responds to feedback and even which responses he pays attention to, saying he leaves constructive criticism to his editors.

"The relationship between the creator and editor is a special one, because your editor is your mentor, your travel guide, your therapist, your cheerleader. I think really good editors kinda do all that. So their criticism is gonna be tempered by all those different responsibilities they have," Lee says on the Masterplan podcast. "The fans, especially on the internet, have none of that, and in fact can dissociate you as a person from the work, cause they don't know you. And they can say 'This sucks,' or 'This is amazing'."

Like all creators though, Lee still has a reaction when he sees his work and the work of others dismissed uncritically, saying "negativity always hurts." Few comic creators are as well known as Lee, and very few have the level of following and awareness for their work, and fans are certainly not shy about voicing their opinions no matter whether they like it, or sometimes especially if they don't.

Of everything that awaits viewers in Critical Role's The Legend of Vox Machina season 4, perhaps the buzziest element getting introduced in this next chapter is the character of Taryon Darrington. Originally portrayed by Sam Riegel in Critical Role Campaign 1, the foppish human artificer is being taken over by comedy legend Brady in such a way that Riegel considers him the definitive version of the character, and has even inspired talk of a Taryon Darrington spinoff in the Legend of Vox Machina writer's room.

Which makes it even funnier to consider that, when Wayne Brady plays Dungeons & Dragons for himself, his characters are nothing like Taryon Darrington. 

Brady revealed as much to Gamereactor UK ahead of Vox Machina's season 4 debut. Asked about how Taryon compares to characters of his own creation, Brady answered with the following.

Marvel editor Tom Brevoort is into his third year as editor of the X-Men comic line, and even he says there have been some growing pains as he's adjusted to the characters and fandom of the venerable mutant team and its spin-offs, saying it's still a "weird fit."

"Most days, yes," Brevoort says with a smile when asked on Word Balloon if he's having fun in his new position. "The god's honest truth is, it's still a bit of a weird fit for me. I spent so long being the Avengers guy and the Marvel heroes guy, that, on the one hand it's the same job. It's 20 pages every month and stories. But the ethos is different. Certainly, the fandom is very different. The things that they care about."

Prior to working on the X-Men line, Brevoort edited Avengers for over 20 years, a totally different corner of the Marvel Universe with different values and appeal among fans. And according to Brevoort himself, the change hasn't been without its challenges as he's come to understand what he sees as the biggest differences between Marvel's mutants and Earth's Mightiest Heroes - namely that the Avengers have a generally agreed upon core roster of nostalgic heroes, while the X-Men have evolved constantly over the years.

I don't know if you noticed, but The Thing, a longtime cigar smoker in Marvel Comics, does not light up in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In fact, you'd have to go all the way back to 2009's The Incredible Hulk and 2008's Iron Man to see anyone puffing a cigar in a PG-13 movie in the MCU. That's because Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, has a policy that "actively limits the depiction of smoking in movies marketed to youth," such as in a PG-13 movie (or equivalent show).  

The co-creator of the MCU's Wonder Man show, Andrew Guest, discovered the limits of this policy when he and co-creator Destin Daniel Cretton secured footage from the iconic film, Midnight Cowboy, that appeared in scenes of the show. To jog your memory, Midnight Cowboy, which was made in 1969, features a helluva lot of smoking. 

"You know the hardest part about that? The cigarette smoking. We used real clips from Midnight Cowboy, and initially there was cigarette smoke at the bar and we had to comb through that movie. Everyone is smoking all the time and we couldn’t show any character smoking. That’s not easy to do," Andrew Guest said in an interview with Indiewire. 

New MTG Arena codes are an easy way to give your deck a boost in the online game. With boosters and free upgrades available for your online Magic: The Gathering deck, it is the best way to get free stuff in the game. Whether it is XP boosts, new cards, or cosmetics, these MTG Arena codes can make your deck that much more formidable.

We searched everywhere to find new MTG Arena codes, which you can redeem in the app or online to get XP boosts, booster packs, promotional cards, and cosmetic upgrades like sleeves and avatars. More importantly, we’ve found the codes that are no longer working and removed them from our list below so you don’t waste time with MTG Arena codes that don’t work anymore.

As of June 2026, there are no working MTG Arena codes available.

Writer Scott Snyder is a master of horror comics, having cut his teeth on the long-running title American Vampire, and he's got a bit of advice for Marvel Comics as they set to launch Marvel Midnight, a new line of horror titles starring some of the publisher's biggest characters.

For Snyder, the essence of great horror and scares comes down to making sure that the concepts are speaking directly to the fears and anxieties of the audience by playing on the terrors of the modern world.

"I don't know what [Marvel Midnight] is except for what you guys know. The one piece of advice I'd give is, I really hope the horror in that, the scares, should come from things that feel of the moment," Snyder explains in an appearance on ComicPop Returns. "That's what we're trying to do, and what I'd say to everyone out there."

From the time he was a young man, Leonardo DiCaprio has had a talent for picking the right movies to star in, sometimes despite seemingly well-meaning people around him trying to influence his decisions. One of those people was John C. Reilly, who gave DiCaprio what could be the worst career advice of all time when he told the young star to pass on Titanic in favor of Boogie Nights.

On a recent episode of Ted Danson’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, John C. Reilly revealed that he tried his best to convince Leonardo DiCaprio to pass on Titanic and instead star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. Reilly had recently worked with Anderson on Hard Eight in 1996 and DiCaprio on What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in 1993, so he believed he could convince DiCaprio to sign on to Boogie Nights.

“I met him when he was 17,” John C. Reilly said. “And I was like, ‘Give me the assignment, Paul. I’ll get this guy to do your movie. I’ve known him since [he was] a kid.’”

In a break with tradition that is at once surprising and also surprising that it’s taken so long, the dog at the center of Netflix’s upcoming Scooby-Doo reboot is going to be… an actual dog. Ruh-roh.

Netflix made the announcement June 8, noting, “For more than 50 years, Scooby-Doo has been a pop-culture powerhouse. The franchise has spawned three theatrical films, more than a dozen animated series, and nearly 40 animated home entertainment movies. But Scooby-Doo: Origins marks the first time Scooby-Doo will appear as a real dog.” So much for anyone hoping that the new Doo is a CGI-creation a la Superman’s Krypto.

Or… perhaps he is. After all, although the Netflix announcement namechecks the human cast of the upcoming show Scooby Doo: Origins — that’d be Tanner Hagen, Maxwell Jenkins, Abby Ryder Fortson, and Mckenna Grace as the four human sidekicks, with Paul Walter Hauser in an undisclosed role — it doesn’t actually name the canine actor taking on the iconic role. That’s far from a deciding factor, to be fair, and Occam’s razor (and, perhaps more importantly, Occam’s pocket book) would suggest that, sure, it’s probably a real dog simply because that is a far cheaper option than a fully CGI pup. And yet…

Admit it: sometimes, you just want to get to the bottom of things when it comes to your favorite pop culture. What really happened in the courtroom showdown between Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock? What do the cast of Amazing Digital Circus miss most about the newly-completed saga? How much do we have to beg for a Josie and the Pussycats reunion tour movie? Wouldn’t it be great if you could ask the people who have the answers? Guess what… this July, you can. We’re opening up a chance for fans to submit questions for panels Popverse is hosting for Miami’s Florida Supercon.

This year, for Florida SuperCon 2026 — running July 10 through 12 at the Miami Beach Convention Center — fans are able to submit questions in advance for several of the big panels we will be moderating. (We’re listing the panels below, so you’ll know just who is available for your question.) All you have to do is comment on this article by Monday, June 22, at 5:00 pm Eastern with the listed panel you have a question for, and the question itself. We'd like to call out your name on-stage if we ask your question, so include that if you feel comfortable with it!

Want to see the line-up of Popverse panels at the show, each one hosted by our very own Ashley Victoria Robinson? Sure you do.

It has been a few months since we had any new Blue Exorcist chapters, but that looks like it is about to change finally.  The iconic shonen manga is set to return from a four-month hiatus starting on July 3, 2026 as it begins to approach its final arc. Blue Exorcist 167 is coming and we’re all excited to see what happens next.

The announcement came in the most recent issue of Jump Square magazine, which has been publishing the Blue Exorcist manga since it began serialization in 2009. The series went on hiatus following the publication of the most recent chapter in early February 2026. Thankfully, this wasn’t due to any health issues by mangaka Kazue Kato; instead, this break was to help prepare for the final story arc of Blue Exorcist. How long it will take to reach that final chapter is still uncertain, but the ride begins when Blue Exorcist chapter 167 is published on July 3, 2026.

Blue Exorcist was first published in April 2009, with monthly chapters coming out in Jump Square. Kazue Kato confirmed that the manga was returning soon with a social media post, though she initially mistook the upcoming chapter for 178 instead of 167, so fans shouldn’t worry that they’ve somehow missed ten whole chapters of Blue Exorcist in the past few months. 

Last month at Free Comic Book Day, Scott Snyder did a special appearance at Knoxville's Comic Exchange. Over 2,000 people came into the store that day, got some comics and made some memories — but there was one fan who made the biggest memory to date, and made one for Snyder as well.

One Iowa family made a 12-hour drive so their comics-loving son, Julius, could meet his favorite comic creator, Scott Snyder. Arriving into town around 11 P.M. the night before, you can imagine the son was tired from the day but wired with the idea of the day yet to come (especially considering some fans camped out overnight to be first in line). When Julius and his parents made it into Comics Exchange, they got in line with about 2,000 others to meet Scott, and they got their chance - and shared their story.

And while roughly 1,999 other fans came out of Comics Exchange with free comics (and hopefully some paid ones too), Julius got a bonus — a one-of-a-kind Scott Snyder banner.

It has been nearly a decade since Persona 5 came out, so it isn’t much of a surprise that Atlus is working on the next mainline game in the Persona series. After all, they can’t keep living off of remakes and remasters forever, right? Eventually, they will have to give fans (and critics) something new. However, it is clear that Atlus wants to replicate the incredible success of Persona 5 because they just released a teaser trailer that uses the same baffling marketing tactic they’ve used before.

At Summer Games Fest 2026, Atlus finally revealed the teaser trailer for Persona 6. The new game in the JRPG franchise appears to have a horror-vibe, as evidenced by the spooky graveyard and green-tinge to the short video. There were no character or plot details or even information about how far into the development process the game is. It is a teaser in every sense of the word.

However, fans who were around when Persona 5 marketing kicked off will find this a very familiar tune. The original reveal trailer for Persona 5 showed some chairs with shackles on them and the words “You are slave. Want emancipation?” on it. Like the Persona 6 trailer, it offered no details or insight into the game. Other than the red and black color scheme, it feels completely unconnected to the game we finally played in September 2016.

Bigger doesn't always mean better when it comes to comic book villains. At a certain point, when there are already multiple characters who can rewrite reality running around the Marvel Universe, it gets harder and harder to set up legitimately threatening stakes. But where does that leave us as readers when we're inundated with so many apocalyptic comic book events at once? 

Listen, I don't have any doubt that the creators behind Ultimate Endgame, Queen in Black, and Avengers: Armageddon can't pull off an engaging blockbuster storyline. I am enjoying the ever-living hell out of Al Ewing and Carlos Gomez's Venom series right now, and I think exploring superheroes as weapons of mass destruction is a fascinating idea worthy of exploration. But I think part of my problem lies in how these events are being marketed to us. Oh no, another apocalyptic force is coming to the Marvel Universe. Everything is at stake. Lives will be changed. 

I won't pretend to know when the ad copy for these events is written, whether that's before or after the scripts for the issues have even been written. But at a certain point, hammering home the same apocalyptic narrative does a disservice to the specific story that each specific creative team is trying to tell. Surely they can't all be painted with the same broad brush?

When The Acolyte began airing on Disney+, it was one of the first new Star Wars properties that had us truly excited in a long time. Its exploration of the end of the High Republic era, before the Empire or the prequel trilogy, gave it a unique angle for stories to tell. However, it failed to make a big splash for Disney, and it was subsequently cancelled after just one season. Still, the series’ creator says she would return to The Acolyte Season 2 in a heartbeat if they gave her the chance.

The question of future seasons of The Acolyte came after it found its way into the Disney+ charts following the release of Maul: Shadow Lord. Leslye Headland, the creator of The Acolyte, said that the experience of being cancelled hadn’t put her off a potential return to the world of Star Wars, and she hoped the show’s recent resurgence gives her the chance. “I would still want to do it! Absolutely,” she said in a recent interview. “As more people discover it, I think people may want to see some form of the story come back.”

There were clearly some seeds planted in The Acolyte Season 1 for future stories in that era, particularly around teases of characters like Yoda and Darth Plagueis. “We did have a lot of stuff that we wanted to explore – including tying in lore to the sequels,” Headland said. “Getting into exactly who Manny [Jacinto’s] character is, his connection with [Jedi Master] Vernestra, his connection with Plagueis, and his connection with other sequel-established things.”

Clearly, the prospect of seeing a Christopher Nolan movie is an irresistible siren song for moviegoers. With The Odyssey about to hit cinemas in just a few weeks, fans have already begun to buy tickets for early showings. In fact, they’re doing so in such huge numbers that they’re experiencing comic-con-esque wait times and crashing AMC’s booking system.

The issue seems to be concentrated on Imax and other premium screenings of The Odyssey, with fans booking tickets in such high numbers that the AMC ticketing app went down briefly. It came back up shortly, but moviegoers found themselves faced with wait times of up to an hour to reserve their tickets. Fandango also experienced a slowdown on Thursday, June 5, 2026, when tickets went on sale.

To be clear, we’re more than a month away from The Odyssey’s opening weekend. The film will be released on July 17, so fans are so eager to see the movie that they’re overwhelming online booking systems for Imax screenings. Which makes sense, in a way; Christopher Nolan is one of Hollywood’s biggest proponents of Imax and other large format screenings and makes no secret that he feels it is the best way to view his movies. 

The Legend of Vox Machina season 4, the latest animated adaptation of a Critical Role adventure, is just a few hours away from debuting as of this writing. And according to much of the cast, one of the biggest things Critters have to look forward to is this season's introduction to Taryon Darrington as played by comedy legend Wayne Brady. The Whose Line is it Anyway star is joining the Prime Video series as a self-proclaimed Critter and D&D player himself, although interestingly, his approach to high fantasy TTRPGing is a little different from the guy currently captaining Critical Role's tabletop storytelling: Campaign 4 GM Brennan Lee Mulligan.

We found about about the divergence from the good folks over at Gamereactor UK, who sat down with Brady head of Vox Machina season 4 (and Taryon Darrington's) Prime debut. At one point in the discussion, Brady's interviewer asked him about what it was like working with the OG Critical Role cast - all of whom have major role in Vox Machina - and Brady pointed to their shared experience as improvisers as making the process go smoothly.

"Being an improviser," Brady said, "Which improvisation is what D&D is based upon, there's a spirit of 'Yes, And,' that permeates the entire project. So even though I was doing my work solo, I knew that they would be open to anything that I bring to the table."

Ahead of this winter's new Avengers movie and new Avengers comic series, Marvel needs to give them something to avenge... so they're disassembling the Marvel Universe.

This summer's Avengers: Armageddon event series from Marvel Comics has now been revealed (or is it spoiled by a press release?) to culminate with, in the publisher's own words, "a broken world" and a "dramatically transformed Marvel Universe."

Related: Avengers Armageddon reading order: How to read Marvels upcoming event

There is a new Avengers team on the horizon - both in terms of the lineup of heroes as well as the creative team behind the Marvel Comics series.

Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto will reunite to take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes, a move that will undoubtedly drum up a lot of excitement for Marvel readers who are still riding the highs of their acclaimed run on Daredevil (hello!). But this Avengers lineup is worth taking a closer look at, too, because it appeals not just to longtime Marvel Comics fans, but to more casual fans who chiefly watch the MCU. Let's take a look at who's on the team. 

We've got Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Captain Marvel - all of whom have headlined (or co-headlined) their own Marvel Studios project. Spider-Man is set to light up the box office this summer with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Wolverine clawed his way to the top of the box office a couple of summers ago with Deadpool and Wolverine, fans are buzzing after the return of Mike Colter's Luke Cage in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, and while The Marvels was a box office misfire, the 2019 Captain Marvel film grossed over a billion dollars. 

Having worked on a couple of iconic superheroes, James Tynion IV's origin story is a little bit harder to nail down than, say, Batman's. Part of that is because Tynion acts in a lot of capacities these days - not just as the scribe behind books like Something is Killing the Children and The Department of Truth, but also as the creative manager of the Tiny Onion brand. However, when it comes to the business end of his job, Tynion is able to point to one moment in his career that could act as a suitable origin.

That is, his time working on an Image Comics book.

Popverse's own editor-in-chief, Chris Arrant, sat down with Tynion at C2E2 2026. During their wide-ranging discussion, Tynion brought up that he enjoyed "doing the business side of my work," which he points to as starting with 2020's The Department of Truth #1.

I'm just saying - the fans were putting Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy together long before the DC writers were. And though I don't have the specifics to back this up, it at least wouldn't surprise me if the people responsible for hooking them up in-canon were fans who shipped them before that. They were probably fans-turned-canon-makers like Ngozi Ukazu, who has been an ardent supporter of an eternally fan-shipped DC couple for a very long time:

That is, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.

Popverse got to sit down with the Barda and Orion author at BookCon 2026, where Ukazu shared her deep love for (and understanding of) some of DC's most interesting characters. At one point in the discussion, we turned to what a hypothetical Blue & Gold pitch from the Check, Please! author would look like, and if you've read Check, Please!, you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that Ukazu thought, "they would have to be gay."

Is it cheesy to suggest that the real adventure is the friends we made along the way? Not in most tabletop games. The key component of games like D&D has always been the group of players who come together regularly to fight monsters and save the world. Even if you aren’t best friends with the people you game with, Chris Perkins hopes Daggerheart players walk away with a sense of friendship and community.

We sat down with Chris Perkins, Creative Director of Darrington Press, at PAX East 2026 to discuss Daggerheart as the system was approaching its first anniversary. We asked him to describe how he hopes the game and its community will evolve over the next few years. “In the next five years, I see Daggerheart being a strong, robust game that, when a new person comes into it, they feel invited. It’s friendly,” he told us. “There’s enough options that they can create the character they want to play, but there’s not so many options that there’s analysis paralysis or difficulty in trying to figure out what’s right or what’s the best option for them.”

However, Critical Role’s Darrington Press isn’t just focused on making a welcoming game; they want to make a welcoming community as well. “And that we’ve just created a game that has a strong community of fans around it,” Perkins continues. “Who are just experiencing it at conventions or at home play and like the best other roleplaying games, it’s just a way for people to make new friends and have a great time together. Similar to my thinking on D&D, we’re in the business at Daggerheart of creating friendships and fun experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.”

When he was first introduced in Arrow's debut season, David Ramsey's John Diggle was very much supporting cast. However, over the decade-plus of the universe the show introduced, Diggle became so much more than an Oliver Queen sidekick. And now, the character's co-creator is ready for him to take the next logical step in his evolution: as the headliner of a DC Comic.

And at the same time, Marc Guggenheim kinda knows why that might not work.

I got the chance to sit down with Guggenheim at C2E2 2026, where the TV legend's love of the character that would later be called The Spartan was evident. So evident, in act, in inspired a message directly to the hallowed halls of DC Editorial.

We've been to a lot of comic cons, but there's a new one I've just heard about that's giving me pangs of regret for missing: Senior Living Comic-Con.

Less than an hour drive south from Seattle, an assisted living home is hosting its first-ever comic convention for its residents, dubbed Senior Living Comic-Con. The White River Assisted Living & Memory Care is setting up this Saturday, June 6, for a one-day comic convention with artists, vendors, and I can imagine a few costumes and a lot of comics talk. Two of the staff there have already dressed up as Super Madalyn and Pop Art Juanita and have been spotted downtown drumming up interest. I'd tell you their secret identities, but then it wouldn't be a secret, would it?

White River Assisted Living & Memory Care is located in Enumclaw, Washington, just a short drive from either Seattle or Tacoma. The name of the town is practically superheroic; it comes from the Sahaptin word /inɨmɬá/, meaning "he who makes noise" — referring to the myth of Emunclaw and Kapoonis, two brothers who were turned into thunder and lightning by their father.

For folks heading to see Masters of the Universe this weekend, it'll be hard to miss some of the franchise's obvious inspirations. There's some Conan the Barbarian in the titular character, of course, and maybe some Arthurian legend in things like Castle Grayskull. But according to the guy who wrote the first ever Masters of the Universe stories to ever hit the market, the inspiration for He-Man's Power Sword doesn't come from high fantasy at all...

But from a classic issue of DC Comics' Superman.

The writer in question is Donald F. Glut, a frequent Marvel Comics contributor and screenwriter behind episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series and DuckTales. In 1982, Glut was brought on by Mattel and Western Comics to write mini-comic stories that would be released along with the He-Man line of toys. 20 years later, Glut spoke with journalist Matt Jozwiak in an interview currently preserved on his website, wherein he divulged the inspiration for the weapon.

For a network called Dropout, the ex-CollegeHumor streaming service has some pretty successful alumni. Jacob Wysocki has entered the realm of the meme gods. Brennan Lee Mulligan is Critical Role's current GM. And there seems to be no shortage of cast members making queer podcast history over at Pretty Gay. So here's a question - what happens when these star students turn their tassels for the final time? in other words, what happens to Dropout when what we consider to be the Dropout cast moves along?

Sam Reich isn't worried about answering.

The Dropout CEO recently sat down for a chat with Polygon, during which the question of Dropout's every increasing star power was a topic of some importance. 

There's no such thing as anticipation if you've got a TARDIS. You and your Time Lord companion can just hop in, take your machine to any point in history, and know what you want to know. If you're one of us time-and-space-bound Doctor Who fans, however, there's no way knowing the answer to the question on every Whovian's mind: Who is the next Doctor?

Not yet, anyway. But the way Russell T. Davies tells it, that's going to change very soon.

In case you're not aware, the question of who will succeed Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor technically already might have an answer, since the last time we saw him, he was regenerating into the very familiar face of Billie Piper. However, no one involved in the making of that episode will unequivocally declare if the former Rose Tyler is the next face of the world's most famous Time Lord, leaving many fans (including Popverse's Graeme McMillan) to speculate that Piper is, somehow, a different character altogether.

The Scary Movie franchise has never been afraid to 'go there' in its comedy, even if, looking back some two decades later, it maybe should have been. The latest entry in the Wayans Brothers-led film saga, which will be its sixth, points to a similar disregard, with its trailer promising that "there are no safe spaces" in the film. And yet, as one of the creators explains, the key to the film's edgy comedy will be a little bit different than in previous installments.

That creator is none other than comedy staple Marlon Wayans, who spoke to Entertainment Weekly. After listing many of the topics that get the Scary Movie treatment in the upcoming franchise reboot (the Epstein Files, #MeToo movement, and ICE raids among them), the outlet had Wayans clarify how the crew was going about handling all of those.

"We're not punks," said Wayans, "We're not afraid — we Wayans are not afraid to go there. But is it worth the goodness of your project to just be offensive?"

After becoming on of the most successful indie comics of 2025, Tiny Onion's Exquisite Corpses brand is taking on the gaming scene. Already, the Kickstarter campaign for the card game based on the series is smashing expectations, inviting a legion of backers into the serial killer x Battle Royal saga. But according to co-creator Michael Walsh, part of the reason for creating the game wasn't just to get comics readers playing card games.

It was to make the kind of card games Walsh loved more accessible to everyone.

I got the change to speak with Walsh at C2E2 2026, and Exquisite Corpses (which he co-created with comics staple James Tynion IV) was obviously a hot topic of our discussion. But what you might not know if you only are familiar with Walsh via his comics works is that the Silver Coin creator is also a giant Magic: The Gathering fan, as he was very happy to share.

It's time to put your Wii Sports playlist on, because Magic: The Gathering is considering making a sports-themed set. 

Mark Rosewater, the head of design at Magic: The Gathering, received a question from a fan on his Tumblr where they expressed their enjoyment "of the touches into sports theming between Battlebond (although largely gladiatorial), Strixhaven, and the (adorable) otter ball in Bloomburrow" before asking if there is a "'sports world'" on the shortlist of possible sets that Magic will release in the future. Rosewater responded that a sports-themed set is "on the 'short' list." Intriguing!

In October 2022, Secret Lair did a Blood Bowl drop consisting of "six fantasy football-flavored reskins" of cards like Approach of the Second Sun, Rewind, Bone Splinters, Fling, Defense of the Heart, and Fellwar Stone, giving them American football-appropriate names like "Touchdown!" "Re-Roll," "Both Down," "Throw Team-Mate," "Perfect Defense," and "The Ball." Okay, maybe all of those weren't exactly American football-themed, but let's be real, throwing teammates would look pretty cool on the football field. 

While the MCU Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland have been a hit with fans around the world, there is a key difference between Holland's Spidey and the version of the character embodied by Tobey Maguire in the Raimi Spider-Man movies: the MCU's Spider-Man isn't exactly broke. Starting with Captain America: Civil War, the MCU's Peter Parker had access to advanced tech from Tony Stark. And while he was able to defeat the Vulture with nothing more than a simple sweatsuit costume, the majority of this Peter Parker's superhero career has been spent in some sweet threads manufactured by Stark Industries. 

But now, with Aunt May dead and his existing social network destroyed, Holland's Spider-Man is living in a harsh reality in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day film. And this is by design. While Peter Parker hasn't had all the hallmarks of your typical Spider-Man comic book story in the previous MCU movies, Brand New Day is meant to correct this course. 

“It is the first Spider-Man film that we’ve made in the MCU that is focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man. He’s doing the Spidey thing of living in a rather sad, small apartment, listening to the police scanner and going out and using his great power responsibly," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said in an interview with Empire. 

Everyone has their favorite Hulk-related character. Part of the Jade Giant's staying power has been the fact that gamma radiation affects folks differently in Marvel Comics, and even the Hulk himself has adopted different personas over the years. Whether he's in a horror story or in a gangster crime story as Joe Fixit, the Hulk has proven to be a remarkably adaptable character in Marvel Comics. 

With that in mind, Hulk's son, Skaar, has plenty of unrealized potential for Infernal Hulk writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson. At C2E2 2026, we sat down with Johnson to discuss his current run on Infernal Hulk with Nic Klein, and the upcoming Hulk War event that will take place next year. As it turns out, Johnson is eager to have Skaar back in the sandbox of Marvel Comics. 

"So I don't want to spoil the story [of Hulk War], but I will say that I think Skaar is just cool as shit. And I know that the history of Conan has been fraught with different licensing agreements. And he's been all over the place. Skaar is our Conan, Skaar is this super dope version of a high fantasy Robert E. Howard take on Hulk that I think is incredible," Johnson began.

In case you haven't already heard, Chip Zdarsky is radically changing the history of Marvel Comics' most historical character. His Captain America run has not only introduced a successor to the titular role by the name of David Colton, he's actually shifted Steve Roger's unthawing to a much more recent, post-9/11 America, pushing that character moment back anywhere from twenty to forty years, depending on when you considered the 'canon' unthawing to have taken place. No matter how you see it, that was a pretty big move, and the Daredevil writer recently opened up about how he went about pitching it to the House of Ideas.

Zdasrky was a recent guest on the comics-focused Dom of X YouTube channel, during which he was asked: how hard was it to get Marvel to agree to a post-9/11 de-icing of the Sentinel of Liberty?

"It was both it was both hard and easy at the same time," Zdarsky explained, "I knew the story hinged on it, obviously David Colton's character had to be capturing that time. Steve had to come out of the ice after 9/11. That's what I pitched and that's what I put in my script. My editor, Alana [Smith] was like, 'I don't know if we can do this.' She was like, 'For for a bunch of reasons, primarily the fact that Marvel is a New York publishing company.' They were personally affected by the events of 9/11 in a way that the rest of us maybe weren't. It means something to them in the history of the characters. [There was] that Amazing Spider-Man #36 issue about 9/11; Cap was there, all the heroes were there."

Critical Role has always been home to, in the words of Matt Mercer, some nerdy-ass voice actors. But the nerdom of its core cast doesn't stop at typical TTRPG fare. Case in point - OG Roler Liam O'Brien just revealed that, in creating his character for the actual play series's Campaign 4, he pulled not from high fantasy, but from the gritty world of 80s action TV.

Specifically, from The A-Team.

O'Brien recently revealed as much during an episode of Fireside Chat, the Beacon-streaming fan Q&A series where the Critical Role cast and crew speak directly to curious Critters. Alongside castmate Sam Riegel, O'Brien spent part of the episode in question talking about the visual and emotional inspirations for his Campaign 4 character, hot-orc-bard Halandil Fang. 

Matt Duffer has mixed feelings about the state of the entertainment industry. On the one hand, the Stranger Things co-creator is nervous in a way that a lot of us are - that is, that the corporatization of popular IPs is reducing truly original storytelling at mainstream levels. But on the other, there's a recent cinematic phenomenon that gives Duffer hope for the same kind of originality that gave us Hawkins, IN. 

That is, the joint phenomenon of Obsession and Backrooms.

Duffer recently revealed his feelings during an interview with Deadline published June 1. And to start off, the co-creator of Netflix's biggest show to date was very upfront about his nervousness regarding popular entertainment these days.

The Amazing Digital Circus's leaked finale has sent the offbeat animated series's fanbase into a bit of a tailspin. As with any major negative development in a fanbase these days, a very loud minority of viewers have already started pointing fingers as to who is to blame, or even who isn't reacting to the news properly. Which is why, amidst all the chaos, it's worth remembering that TADC's studios GLITCH actually fought to keep spoilers from the internet, even as they were making a historic deal to get the finale into theaters.

We came across the story thanks to the reporting at Cartoon Brew, who published a letter from GLITCH's CEO Kevin Lerdwichagul addressing fans' spoiler concerns. At the time of the publication, the episode hadn't leaked yet, and online Amazing Digital Circus fans were worried that spoilers would flood the internet in the interim between the time that episode 9 came to movie theaters and when it streamed on YouTube - a gap of roughly two weeks.

"The two-week gap came after a lot of back and forth," wrote Lerdwichagul. "Theaters were originally asking for a minimum of a month. I pushed hard to get it down to just one week or less, but they weren't willing to budge that far. Two weeks was where we finally landed, and even that was apparently 'unheard of' for them." 

Listen, I've been saying this for years, but Björk's music and the more cosmic parts of the DC Universe go together like peanut butter and jelly. And I'm not the only one who feels that way. As it turns out, the team behind the Supergirl movie was gunning for an iconic Björk track to be featured in the film. 

On the DC Studios Showcase Official Podcast, Alcock expressed her interest in playing Björk in a biopic and revealed how the film sought to get one of the singer's biggest hits in the Supergirl movie soundtrack. "We tried to get her song in our movie. And they were like [shakes head 'no']," the actress revealed. But what was the song in question? "'It's Oh So Quiet,'" Alcock said in a singsongy voice. 

It's possible that the request for the song - recorded for her 1995 album Post, and a cover of a 1951 song originally recorded by Betty Hutton - was rejected because Björk has admitted to being frustrated that the song has overshadowed the rest of her career, despite being recorded as "sort of a joke, really," as she told Record Collector magazine in 2002; indeed, Björk famously dropped the song from her live repertoire some years ago, in a seeming attempt to distance herself from it.

We don’t know how to break this to you all, but the mutants in Marvel Comics have always been a thinly veiled allegory for real-world racism. If you didn’t catch that from the entirety of Magneto’s backstory, we’re sorry your teachers have failed you. However, there is room for X-Men comics to be where Marvel explores more than just the holocaust and general racism, but some of the atrocities committed closer to home. Marvel writer Gail Simone sees X-Men as a place to address real-world evil like the Jim Crow era in the US.

During a recent interview, Uncanny X-Men writer Gail Simone talked about 'The Dark Artery' storyline that ran in 2025 in the series.

“The Dark Artery is a very special story for this book,” she explained. “I was thrilled that Marvel was so enthusiastic about it, and the readership genuinely demanded to know more. My thinking was, the X-Men books have done a fantastic job of making the Holocaust a real part of the lore. They didn’t shy away from it, they’ve made a fantastic world of comics characters actually discuss real-world evil in a meaningful way.”

Last week, a group called Black Comic Alliance announced a boycott against DC Comics in response to the publisher not having an ongoing series featuring a Black character in its mainline universe. But after significant backlash online, the group has ended the boycott and has released a statement regarding the matter. 

According to a press release from Black Comic Alliance and leader James Portis III, "This decision comes after a lot of reflection and conversations with members of the comic book community. While the boycott was launched to draw attention to an issue we believe remains important, it became clear that the conversation surrounding the boycott was often overshadowing the larger goal of the campaign." 

The statement responded to a line of criticism that emerged in the wake of the boycott's announcement, mainly that the lack of a Black character-led ongoing series in DC's mainline universe doesn't negate the other books featuring marginalized people both on the page and behind the page.

The Punisher has always been a good foil for Spider-Man. Both are driven by the pain of losing family to violence, but they channel that pain in very different ways. With Jon Bernthal appearing as Frank Castle in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, he’s had to tone down some of the more violent tendencies to match the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man tone of the movie. However, Tom Holland would be up for switching things up and seeing what an R-rated Spider-Man could look like.

“I would love to pop up in one of [Punisher’s] shows,” Tom Holland said in an interview to promote Spider-Man: Brand New Day. “Let’s see what an R-rated version of Spider-Man looks like. I’m so grateful for Jon for taking the leap and being part of the film, and I would love to repay the favour.”

There is absolutely a great show in the idea of a Spider-Man who stops pulling his punches and starts doing some serious damage to the villains he is fighting, though we also like the idea that an R-rated Spider-Man is just him having one scene where he starts screaming profanities at Punisher but then immediately apologizes when he calms down again. Kind of like when you stub your toe on the table in the middle of the night.

The people have spoken, and this year’s big thing is horror movies made by YouTube filmmakers. Both Obsession and Backrooms have become box office hits that nobody could see coming, grossing more than $120 million each on a pair of remarkably small budgets and with relatively unknown directors. However, one Backrooms producer warns that he thinks Hollywood is going to take the wrong lesson from the films’ success and start thinking everything YouTube or TikTok needs to be a two-hour film.

“We’ve all been looking at a lot of places for a while,” Backrooms producer Chris Ferguson said in a recent interview when talking about how Hollywood finds their potential film ideas. “And I’m sure there’s going to be a bit of an over-correction when everybody goes and options every random YouTube short. They’re not all feature films.”

Just because Obsession director Curry Baker and Backrooms director Kane Parsons both got their starts on YouTube doesn’t mean Hollywood should expect every young filmmaker on social media to be the next big thing. “I do think people are going to make the mistake of taking a bunch of TikTok videos and turning them into features,” Ferguson warned. “Online is a great platform for people to come out, but it is still about people who have trained themselves for a longform execution.”

We got our first look at Milly Alcock as Supergirl last year in James Gunn’s Superman, but she takes center stage this month in her own movie. Fans already know not to expect the wholesome tone of her cousin. In fact, it was a Marvel movie that helped inspire the director of Supergirl, as Robert Downey Jr.’s first outing as Iron Man served as the unlikely mold for DC Studios’ Supergirl.

“I have a very specific tone I’m attracted to,” Supergirl director Craig Gillespie explained in a recent interview. “I always loved the first Iron Man: flawed, complex, and conflicted. They sent me the Ana Nogueira script [for Supergirl], and in two scenes, I was like, ‘I’m in.’”

What drew Gillespie to Supergirl was how it treated its subject. Like the movie that kicked off the MCU, it was all about the character. “It was exactly what I hoped for; it’s all character. She went from an incredibly, incredibly dark scene to this irreverent character scene, all in the first 15 pages… [Supergirl] has got a lot of trauma, a lot of demons; she’s unapologetic. You get to have a character that can be punky and edgy and not take off those rough edges.”

Fans of the Overgeared webtoon got a pleasant surprise this week when J.C. Staff and REDICE STUDIO announced that the popular webtoon is getting an anime adaptation later this year. The series has elements of both isekai and LitRPG genres without fully committing to either and has amassed a large following in the years since it was first published.

The official social media accounts and website for the Overgeared anime launched on June 3, 2026, confirming that the popular Korean webtoon was finally making the jump to animation. Overgeared started as a serialized web novel by Saenal that was published between 2014 and 2024. This was then adapted into a webtoon starting in 2020. 

The announcement confirmed the new title of the Overgeared anime, which is Tempal ~ The Power of Items ~, and gave an October 2026 release window along with a teaser trailer that showed off some solid animation for the series.

Tom Holland is about to have a very big summer with both The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day coming out in July. Though production of the latest Spider-Man film got delayed so Holland could be in Christopher Nolan’s Greek epic, he says that it allowed Marvel Studios to get director Destin Daniel Cretton and gave them six extra months to make Spider-Man the best film it could be.

In a long-ranging interview, Tom Holland talked about how he asked Sony to delay work on Spider-Man: Brand New Day so he could appear in The Odyssey. Considering the third MCU Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, made almost $2 billion at the box office, that couldn’t have been an easy decision for Sony. However, Holland says that the delay gave them time to get the right director for his fourth Spider-Man movie, which ultimately made the movie better.

“The Odyssey almost saved Spider-Man because we wouldn’t have had Destin [Daniel Cretton, director of Brand New Day],” Tom Holland explained. “He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now. And I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any Spider-Man movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful it happened.”

The average manga reader approaches books the same way as the protagonist in The Twilight Zone episode Time Enough at Last does: lamenting that life’s distractions get in the way of what is truly important, which is reading manga uninterrupted for all time. We can’t help with the “all time” part, but it turns out there is a hotel in Japan where you can spend your days and nights surrounded by manga without falling asleep at the library.

A trio of Manga Art Hotels is available to book right now in various parts of Tokyo. There is a capsule hotel where readers can shut out anything not manga-related for the night, an open-plan room where you and several friends can lounge together while reading, and a room called the “Manga Brain” that includes a private sauna. All with more than 500 manga titles within, specially curated by professional book lovers.

This might seem like a rather intense experience for some people, but, honestly, we can’t imagine anything more relaxing than being able to reach out in any direction and grab a new manga title. It could be a beloved classic or something totally new; the joy is in the discovery. The fun is in reading something you might never consider in normal circumstances. The capsule hotel version has rooms starting at just 5225 Yen ($32) a night, which is a bargain even without the wealth of manga you can enjoy while you’re there.

It has been a few years since we’ve had a new James Bond film, and it is likely to be even longer before we get another one. Thankfully, we’ve got 007: First Light to tide us over. While playing it shortly after its release, one line caught us off guard simply because it was a sudden reminder that it is the first piece of James Bond media to use the phrase “His Majesty’s Secret Service.” 

It is a small distinction, but it was almost jarring to hear a character mention His Majesty’s Secret Service in 007: First Light simply because James Bond has almost always taken place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. We say almost because the first book, Casino Royale, was published in April 1953, a few months before Britain’s longest-reigning monarch was crowned. It is worth mentioning that the Queen’s father, King George VI, died in 1952, so none of the Ian Fleming novels were published during the reign of a British king.

The phrase “Her Majesty’s Secret Service” is uniquely tied to the James Bond franchise. It pops up periodically to describe the nebulous place that the 00 program exists within MI6 as well as features in the title of George Lazenby’s only James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The subtle change makes sense within the world of 007: First Light; it explicitly states that it takes place in the modern era, with Bond quipping, “It’s the 21st Century. Even my toaster has a tracker.” So, they had to acknowledge the change in the British monarchy in some way.

Big things are coming to House of the Dragon in season 3. The first spinoff of the groundbreaking Game of Thrones universe promises more dragons and more battle sequences than ever with its upcoming penultimate chapter, and as you might imagine, that means that the budget for this season is just as grand. In fact, a recent interview with one of HotD's most pivotal stars proves that, at some point in the third season's planning, the creators had to ease up on the spending just a bit.

The star in question is Steve Toussaint, AKA Lord Corlys Velaryon, AKA The Sea Snake, who spoke with Deadline at SXSW London. At one point in the discussion, Toussaint's interviewer asked the actor about the production value of one particularly exciting upcoming sequence - that is, the George R.R. Martin-written Battle of the Gullet. And just so you don't misunderstand us here, Toussaint promises that the sequence at hand will definitely be big.

"It's mad," said the actor, "For people who know the story, it's very exciting. They've been waiting for this particular sea battle which, luckily, for my character my son's character are central to that. Yes, it's huge. I don't know what the budget was; I mean, it was a lot. They built three ships. They built two tanks - a wet tank and a dry tank - and then they shot a bunch of water cannons at us.Tthey were cutting off people's heads; they poured blood on us. It was mayhem."

The Punisher may have first debuted in an issue of the Amazing Spider-Man, but I don't think it's unfair to say that he's not exactly a kid-friendly character. Still, it isn't impossible for him to be portrayed in a way that keeps his character's core intact without racking up a high body count onscreen (as The Super Hero Squad Show proved many years ago). It just takes a fair amount of creativity to get his vibe across without scaring the little'uns. 

Considering that Jon Bernthal is set to appear as the Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day this summer, fans have been wondering whether a PG-13 version of the character will still feel authentic to the Frank Castle they've seen in Daredevil: Born Again and the Netflix Punisher show. And now, Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, has cleared the air on the matter. 

Holland assured, an interview with Empire, that the Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day won't be radically different than the Frank Castle fans are used to seeing. "I know that there are concerns about taking a sort of R-rated character and putting him into one of these movies, but the way that we’ve designed the world around him feels very authentic to the Frank Castle we know... There are fun ways to get around the fact that he swears all the time and kills people," Holland said. 

Fans of Zack Snyder's DCEU will likely never get to see the strange, post-apocalyptic future that was hinted at in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, something decently similar might just be on the way - only without the DC Comics characters component. You see, Zack Snyder has just been tapped to remake one of the most famous 'not-too-distant-future' movies on the planet: John Carpenter's Escape from New York.

The story comes from an article published by The Hollywood Reporter June 1. Snyder is writing and directing the upcoming film, which he is co-producing alongside StudioCanal and the Picture Company. John Carpenter himself, who wrote, directed, and co-scored the original film that introduced the world to Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken, is reportedly serving as an executive producer as well. 

Snyder's take on the story is being billed as a 'reimagining,' and even folks casually familiar with the original movie can see why. First of all, Escape from New York was a 1981 movie set in the far-off future of... 1997, at least three decades before this film has any hope of seeing a movie theater. Then there's the fact that the movie takes place during a war between the US and the China-allied USSR, which dissolved a full six years before the fictional film was supposed to take place.

Among sports anime fans, Prince of Tennis remains an icon that few series can hope to match. So, when series creator Takeshi Konomi announced that the sequel series, The New Prince of Tennis, would be ending sometime in 2026, fans were eager to see how the series would end. 27 years after the first chapter of The Princes of Tennis was published, the final chapter of the franchise will finally be published this summer.

Back in July 2025, Konomi said that he would be ending The New Prince of Tennis within a year. This was followed by a post in February 2026 that stated there were only six chapters left until the series ended. However, because Konomi often publishes multiple chapters of The New Prince of Tennis each month in Shueisha’s Jump Square magazine, no one outside of the editorial team knows exactly when that final chapter will be released. We suspect it will be in either the July or August issue of Jump Square.

This final chapter of The New Prince of Tennis, when it does come, will represent the end of one of the most remarkable runs in manga. The Prince of Tennis was first published in Weekly Shonen Jump back in July 1999 and ran for 379 chapters until March 2008. A year later, in March 2009, The New Prince of Tennis began serialization in Jump Square magazine. It followed the same main character, Ryoma Echizen, just a few months after the end of the previous series. The sequel series has run longer and for more chapters than the original.

The announcement that we’re getting a new Mobile Suit Gundam manga this year is cause for celebration for fans. The most recent anime film managed an impressive box office showing despite its limited theatrical run, so it isn’t surprising that a new manga is in the works. However, the title of this new Mobile Suit Gundam manga is strange enough that it requires a Gundam history lesson to make sense of.

The Gundam manga in question was announced last week as Tobacco Smoke Is Not Affected by Minovsky by Kouzou Omori. Omori is a manga artist who has worked on multiple entries in the Gundam franchise, including the manga adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative. The first chapter of this new Gundam manga is due out on June 26, 2026 when a prologue chapter is published in Gundam Ace magazine.

Plot details for the manga are, understandably, still unknown, but we’re intrigued by the implications of the title alone. Minovsky is a well-known name in the Gundam universe, both as the physics-breaking particle and the man who found it. Without delving too deeply into what M Particles are within the Gundam franchise, they are a fictional atomic particle created by nuclear reactors in the series that cause havoc with communications equipment. This makes long-range weapons nearly impossible to use in space, which is why the series relies so heavily on close-combat robots. Without Minovsky, the iconic Gundams we all love wouldn’t exist.

At this point, we all are assuming that GTA 6 is going to be a hit of generational proportions. However, it has been over a decade since its predecessor was released, and everything about the video game industry has changed in that time. Marketing a game like Grand Theft Auto is a whole different beast than it was in 2013, but Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick still believes that review scores have a part to play.

Talking to The Game Business, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said that critical reception was still an important factor for marketing a game like GTA 6. “Rockstar’s scores are typically in the mid-90s, sometimes high 90s,” he explained. “Not many games can say that. And that’s a reflection on Rockstar’s commitment to quality.”

However, fresh data cited by The Game Business suggests that isn’t the case. Fans are more likely to buy a game based on the recommendation of someone they know than a professional review, which is bad news for those of us who write professional reviews for a living. It also poses a significant barrier to Rockstar marketing the game. 

Hunter x Hunter fans are used to waiting a long time for anything new to come out. While it seemed earlier this year that we might be getting new chapters soon, that hasn’t materialized just yet. However, it isn’t all bad news, as a new volume of Hunter x Hunter has a release date just over a month away, which should collect the remaining chapters into a single volume.

Publisher Shueisha has confirmed that Hunter x Hunter Volume 39 is hitting shelves in Japan on July 3, 2026. If it follows the pattern of previous volumes, it will collect chapters 401 to 410, bringing it up to date with every currently published chapter. It marks the first volume to be released in almost two years; Hunter x Hunter Volume 38 was published in September 2024 in Japan and only got an English translation in January 2026.

This comes just weeks after mangaka Yoshihiro Togashi teased that there were more chapters coming shortly. Since then, there hasn’t been a new release date announced for new Hunter x Hunter chapters. That makes the Hunter x Hunter Volume 39 release date the only thing that fans really have to look forward to in the foreseeable future. 

More than three decades since the first game was released, Streets of Rage is making a comeback in the form of a big-screen adaptation. Lionsgate and Sega aren’t leaving anything to chance and have tapped the writers of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies to help bring the blockbuster feel to one of Sega’s iconic series.

Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who are best known for writing all three of the Sonic the Hedgehog films as well as action-comedy holiday film Violent Night, have signed on to write the Streets of Rage movie for Lionsgate and Sega. While Streets of Rage isn’t as well known to the general public as Sonic, the games have a very special place in the hearts of many gamers. They were highly influential for their beat ‘em up gameplay and their techno-influenced soundtrack. The original soundtrack, which was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, was considered ahead of its time for its complex blending of genres despite the limitations of the Sega Genesis consoles.

In addition to Casey and Miller joining the team, Jeymes Samuel has signed on to direct the Streets of Rage movie. Samuel is best known for directing The Harder They Fall, the 2021 Western film. In addition to having a predominantly Black cast, that film featured a remarkably deep soundtrack, which may be part of what convinced Lionsgate and Sega to bring Samuel onto the project.

A litany of characters have wielded Mjolnir in Marvel Comics, including Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America. However, while Steve Rogers wasn't Captain America at the time that he lifted Mjolnir in Thor #390 by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz (he was operating under the name 'The Captain,' as one does), the Marvel Cinematic Universe bestowed Captain America with the iconic weapon in the fight against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. As one of the most enduring moments in the MCU, it isn't surprising that Magic: The Gathering would want to give fans the opportunity to recreate it with the Marvel Super Heroes set. 

One of the cards in the Magic: The Gathering x Marvel Super Heroes set is Mjolnir, Hammer of Thor, a legendary artifact. You'll notice that it is Equip worthy, meaning any creature is worthy so long as they are a legendary non-Villain that is red, white, or both.  

We already know that Captain America, Super Soldier is a white Legendary creature Hero, so he'll have the chance to throw some Uru around in the set. But who else is worthy? So far, that would be The Sentry (white), Invisible Woman (white), Agent Phil Coulson (white), Quicksilver (red), Human Torch (red), Photon (red/white), Scarlet Witch (red), and Captain Marvel (red/white). Agent Coulson being in this pool of heroes is hilarious. 

When Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird conceived of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the early 1980s, they envisioned the group as a parody of contemporary X-Men and Daredevil comics. Indeed, the shadowy ninja group in TMNT comics are called the Foot Clan, poking fun at the Hand ninjas from Frank Miller's Daredevil run. The Turtles' wise mentor is called Splinter, playing on Daredevil's mentor named Stick. We could draw parallels between Miller-era Daredevil and TMNT until the cows come home. 

It's fitting, then, that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Magic: The Gathering set bring the beloved franchise full circle with its roots in Daredevil comics. In the upcoming Marvel Super Heroes x Magic: The Gathering set, there is a card called Elektra, Daughter of the Hand featuring the ninja assassin from Daredevil comics. Because this is Elektra, after all, the card features a mechanic called Sneak, which was first introduced into the game with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set earlier this year. 

There would be no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without Elektra and The Hand (where do you think Raphael gets his sai weapons and red mask from?), and it's good to see TMNT repay the favor for Elektra and related characters in the Marvel Super Heroes Magic set. Now, both Elektra and the Turtles can sneak their way around the Magic multiverse. 

As any X-Men fan can tell you, there is enough lore built into Marvel's Merry Mutants to spawn several tabletop games. We've all got our favorite obscure mutant (Hijack, you legend), and we all want our favorites to get their chance in the spotlight. As exciting as the upcoming Magic: The Gathering x Marvel Super Heroes set is, don't expect it to be a set that goes heavy on X-Men lore. It's going to be more of an Avengers affair. 

In a press event for the set, Magic: The Gathering Head of Design, Mark Rosewater, characterized Marvel Super Heroes as "Avengers plus."

"The Avengers are a very popular set of characters from Marvel, and that was kind of the center piece of what we did [on this set]. There's extensions to that, you'll see the Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire, a lot of the street heroes, and a lot of associated villains. But this set is kind of centered on the Avengers," Rosewater said. 

Marketing for a movie like The Matrix is an industry all its own. Even the directors of the films didn’t get the final say on the posters used to promote The Matrix. In fact, the Wachowskis have said that they actually hate the most iconic poster for The Matrix, pointing out that the image of Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity that we all know has the look of early “AI slop” to them.

During a recent interview, Lilly Wachowski discussed her disdain for that iconic image. Keanu Reeves stood in the foreground in an action pose. Carrie-Anne Moss off to the side. Laurence Fishburne looming behind Reeves while Joe Pantoliano is just… kinda there. It is one of the most famous movie posters of all time, but the Wachowskis hated it because it doesn't actually tell anyone what The Matrix is about.

“We didn’t like them,” Lilly Wachowski explained. “Those kinds of composites are always frustrating because the composites never make any sense. They’re like early versions of AI slop, where I look at that poster, and all I see is Morpheus behind Neo; his shoulder is above Neo, but his hand is actually longer than Neo’s hand. So either Morpheus has really long arms or Neo has really short arms. [Laughs] That’s all I see. And the guns! They’re just not interesting. It’s not evocative of anything. That poster doesn’t mean anything. I think we’re always looking for the poster to, you know, be an ambassador for the film – to try and tick a box in terms of what it means, what the movie is about. So, eh. You know. Everybody likes the poster! What do I know?”

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies may be synonymous with the venerable sci-fi franchise thanks to his two stints on the show, but it's not the note he wants to go out on - literally - jokingly begging "please don't" play the Doctor Who theme song at his funeral.

Davies' altogether good-natured quip, which comes from a BFI Flare Screen Talk interview, certainly qualifies as a bit of gallows humor. The subject stems from a heartwarming place, however, as the producer recounted an anecdote from the funeral of a dear friend whose memorial service included a tribute that brought him a swirl of emotion.

"Recently I went to the funeral of a lovely man in [fondly-remembered British TV soap opera] Crossroads, Tony Adams who played Adam Chance in Crossroads. He died. He was a good old age, he was 80-odd. Lovely man," Davies explained. "I'd written a drama about Crossroads called Nolly, about how the lead actor was sacked, and so he was my main point of research. Delightful man - funny, gossipy, lovely, honest. I really became a friend of his during the making of that show. And he passed away so I went to his funeral, and to my horror and delight, as the coffin passed through the curtains, they played the Crossroads theme tune."

The thing about tabletop gaming is that it can be a very expensive hobby to get into. With D&D, past editions relied on players and DMs buying not just the core rulebook but DM Guides and Monster Manuals and expanded rules that introduced new, more powerful classes. Much of this has been part of a corporate strategy to increase sales, but Chris Perkins tells us that it has actually hurt sales in many cases.

We spoke to Chris Perkins, who was Story Lead and Creative Director for Dungeons & Dragons before he retired and then joined Critical Role’s Darrington Press in 2025 to work on their Daggerheart system, at PAX East 2026. He explained that he wants to make sure that Daggerheart adventures don’t require the player or the GM to own anything but the core rulebook to run. “We want our adventures to basically be runnable just with the Core Rulebook, so that means making sure that anything we introduce that is new is playing nicely with the core rules. We don’t want GMs to feel like they have to own six different products to run an adventure.”

It is a lesson that comes from years of working on D&D. “That’s a hard lesson Jeremy [Crawford] and I learned on D&D, particularly 5th Edition, is that adventures will get played more and used more if they require fewer things to run. And so that’s going to be true of Daggerheart adventures going forward.”

Well that was... not what we were expecting.

After Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo took to Instagram to tease a "surprise" happening June 2, we had to keep an eye out for what they could've been hinting at. Obviously, our minds went to the same place yours did - that is, the still-unreleased Avengers: Doomsday trailer - but what we ended up getting was, er, not that. Instead, the Russos spent their afternoon in London promoting a new bag of coffee beans, branded with Doctor Doom's motifs and roasted by his real-life avatar.

As reported over at GamesRadar, fans lined up at Flying Horse Coffee in central London to await the Russo's surprise which was supposed to be revealed at 2 PM BST (9 AM EST). About 15 minutes after the hour, Joe & Anthony themselves arrived on the scene and started handing out what I'm sure none of those fans were expecting: a bag of 'Dom Latveria' Small Batch coffee, marked as having been roasted in Doctor Doom's home nation itself. However, the real truth of the beans' origin could be found on the top left of the bag, where a sticker revealed an Avengers-themed logo for Happy, the coffee brand owned by Robert Downey Jr. 

Brandon Routh may have had only a brief stint as Superman, but he's got some thoughts on what his take on the Man of Steel would be doing if his adventures had continued - including joining "some kind of 'League'."

Routh's comments springboard off an audience question during GalaxyCon Richmond 2026's Superman Q&A, which also included Smallville star Tom Welling as part of the conversation. The fan asked what Routh and Welling's versions of Clark Kent would be doing had they both kept appearing following their fan-favorite cameos in CW's multiversal TV crossover 'Crisis on Infinite Earths.'

"I actually haven't thought about it in this context," Routh confesses. "I don't know, I think he'd be kind of stoked about the whole different worlds aspect. And I think he'd want to be part of some kind of 'League.' Be more connected. Mine would have wanted to be the Paragon of Justice."

Milly Alcock is no stranger to speaking in fictional languages. On House of the Dragon, she spoke High Valyrian in numerous scenes with Matt Smith while playing Rhaenyra Targaryen. And in the upcoming Supergirl movie, she speaks Kryptonian, the language of the people from Krypton, in scenes with David Krumholtz, who plays Zor-El.  Was speaking Kryptonian in Supergirl more difficult than speaking High Valyrian in House of the Dragon? On the DC Studios Showcase podcast, Milly Alcock revealed that yes, it was.

"I think the content within the scene was really difficult. It's a very emotional scene with me and David [Krumholtz]... And bless him, he had like so much dialogue. Like pages and pages, like half a page of just like a monologue in... Kryptonese? Kryptonian?" Alcock revealed. (It's Kryptonian, by the way.) "And he was really struggling on the day, and then the crew had to draw up these cue cards and run around behind him while we were shooting and just move them. And he also had to keep his eye line at me, and it was such a song and a dance, but it worked."

David Krumholtz isn't the first actor playing a character within the House of El to use cue cards while filming scenes in a Super-Family film. In the 1978 Superman movie, Marlon Brando used cue cards while filming scenes as Clark's biological father, Jor-El. So why should Zor-El, Jor-El's brother, be any different? Acting is hard, folks! (Of course, Brando was speaking his native tongue of English the whole time, but still.)

The shocking Season 8 finale of FBI aired on May 18th, 2026, and it's no surprise that the cliffhanger left fans wondering whether or not the show would be returning for a ninth season. Well, we can happily confirm that it will! CBS has renewed FBI for Season 9, and you can expect to see new episodes of the show beginning in fall 2026.

The next big question fans will have after the FBI Season 8 finale is whether or not OA (Zeeko Zaki) will be returning in Season 9 after being fired at the end of Season 8. The answer is yes, although perhaps in a different capacity than in previous seasons. However, you can expect the implications of the events of the eighth season finale to be important to the show in the season to come.

The series also stars Missy Peregrym as FBI Agent Margaret "Maggie" Bell, Jeremy Sisto as FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine, lana de la Garza as Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Isobel Castille, John Boyd as FBI Special Agent Stuart Scola and Juliana Aidén Martinez as FBI Special Agent Eva Ramos.

The Will Trent Season 4 finale aired on May 5th, 2026, leaving fans heartbroken over a shocking death - and wondering what's next after the show jumped ahead in time to set up the next season. They'll find out in early 2027, with ABC bringing Will Trent Season 5 to the screen midseason. 

Will Trent stars Ramón Rodríguez in the titular role, a dyslexic orphan who grows up to become a Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent. A friend from the child care system, Atlanta Police Department Homicide Detective Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen), works alongside Trent and also serves as his intermittent love interest - something complicated significantly by the Season 4 finale. Rounding out the cast is Iantha Richardson as GBI Special Agent Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as APD Homicide Detective Michael Ormewood and Bluebell as Betty Maria White Trent, Trent's pet Chihuahua. 

The Season 8 finale of The Rookie starring Nathan Fillion aired on May 4th, 2026 and left fans immediately wondering when the show would return to wrap up its dramatic cliffhanger. Thankfully, ABC has already confirmed The Rookie Season 9 is forthcoming, and will debut in early 2027 as part of the network's midseason lineup.

The Rookie stars Fillion as John Nolan, originally the oldest rookie in the LAPD. While he previously worked in construction, a series of life-changing events inspire Nolan to relocate to SoCal and pursue a career in law enforcement. Eventually, Nolan becomes a training officer. The show also stars Melissa O'Neil as Lucy Chen, Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez, Eric Winter as Timothy "Tim" Bradford, Richard T. Jones as Wade Grey, Mekia Cox as Nyla Harper, Shawn Ashmore as Wesley Evers, Jenna Dewan as Bailey Nune, Lisseth Chavez as Celina Juarez and Deric Augustine as Miles Penn. The full cast is expected to return for the next season.

The Odyssey — an epic poem written by Homer around the 8th Century BC which describes Odysseus’s 10-year journey home after the Trojan War — has laid the groundwork for much of contemporary culture since its debut. This summer, it will become Christopher Nolan’s next big movie. But what is the Odyssey, and how does the poem end? What’s the deal with Homer, and how did the poem change our language? Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a Greek historian to untangle these questions. Here’s everything you need to know about The Odyssey.

One of the oldest surviving works of literature, The Odyssey is a story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home from the Trojan War. A decade after the decade-long war, he has yet to return, leading many to believe he is dead — including the 108 suitors courting his wife Penelope, who claims that she will remarry when she has finished weaving a shawl that she secretly unpicks every night. Telemachus, Odysseus and Penelope’s son, sets out in search of his father, encountering gods and monsters on the journey, including one who reveals that Odysseus has been captured by the nymph Calypso.

The gods intercede to free Odysseus, whose attempts to return to Ithaca are again derailed by divine intervention. (Poseidon destroys his boat, but he is rescued by sea nymphs.) It’s revealed that Odysseus and his crew were constantly waylaid in their travels back home, running into everything from a cyclops to cannibals, ghosts, and goddesses who turn men into pigs. Eventually, Odysseus — the only remaining member of his crew — manages to return to Ithaca, disguised as a beggar, and reunites with Telemachus and his own elderly dog.

Expensive though it might be, it's a great time to buy a movie ticket these days, particularly if you're a horror fan. In case you somehow haven't heard, the double-feature frightfest of Curry Barker's Obsession and Kane Parson's Backrooms is taking the world by storm at the moment, thinning wallets of weirdos like me the world over. And if you're one of the weirdos behind the former film - that is, Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum - you might recognize this blockbuster pattern from an earlier period of entertainment.

When movie tickets were, admittedly, much cheaper.

Blum explained as much to The Hollywood Reporter on the heels of the last weekend in May, which, as you know if you're a horror buff, was a massive moment for the spookiest genre. In one corner, Backrooms had scored the #1 global box office opening (per Forbes), and in the other, Obsession continued its winning streak by becoming the highest-grossing Focus Features project ever (via Deadline). And while there certainly are milestones being hit with these two back-to-back frighteners, Blum feels there's a familiarity they have with another trailblazing era of big-screen history.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day marks the fourth Spidey movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and this time, actor Tom Holland got to contribute some ideas of his own to the film's story. Nearly ten years after the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Holland was ready to go beyond his role as the film's leading man with Brand New Day. 

If you've seen the trailer for Brand New Day, you may have noticed a plot point where Peter Parker appears to start generating his own organic web fluid (jeepers). As it turns out, this was Holland's own idea that he pitched to Marvel Studios. 

“My pitch when I came to the table with it was called ‘Spider-Puberty,'" Holland told Empire. "What happens if Peter Parker is losing control and things are changing? 'Spider-Puberty’ was my tagline pitch to the studio — which was immediately shot down. But they liked the kernel of the idea and it grew into what we have in the movie now.”

You're having a pretty good year, so long as you're Michael Johnston. 

The Teen Wolf actor is currently headlining the box-office-booming horror flick Obsession, which just crossed over the $100M domestic mark, per Variety. In case you somehow don't know, the film stars Johnston as Bear, a lonely teen who makes a romantic wish with homicidal results, but in the real world, Johnston's wishes are coming true in decidedly less murdery ways.

The actor has joined X-Men '97 season 2 as Nathan Summers, the mutant who will eventually become Cable.

Will there be a Backrooms sequel?

Studio A24 has not officially announced a sequel to Kane Parson's suprise-hit surrealist scarefest Backrooms as of June 2026. That said, we know for a fact that the 20-year-old director is absolutely thinking about it. After all, the whole point of the Backrooms is that they go on and on, and Parsons has a similar attitude toward the next steps for his indie horror sensation. 

That's the message Parsons imparted to Variety, in an interview published May 29. Hot off the heels of Backrooms' staggering opening weekend (the film is the 4th biggest R-Rated opening in history, per Forbes), the director touched on his origins making short films for YouTube and, eventually, got onto the subject of where his future in the genre lay. 

Would DC's Flash and Marvel's Spider-Man get along? The answer is a resounding 'yes,' according to the cast of CW's nine season smash hit superhero drama The Flash. What's more, Flash star Grant Gustin, who played Barry Allen across the show's entire run, says Spidey is the only other superhero he thinks he could nail as an actor.

The conversation took place at GalaxyCon Richmond 2026's Flash Q&A panel, which brought together Gustin and series co-stars Carlos Valdez (Cisco Ramon), Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells), John Wesley Shipp (Henry Allen/Jay Garrick), and Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost) to answer fans' burning questions about the still beloved show.

A pair of fans posed the question of whether Barry Allen and Peter Parker would get along, prompting Panabaker to immediately respond "They'd be besties!" Gustin himself agrees with her enthusiastic answer, saying "I do think they'd get along. I mean, one of the things about Barry that's cool is, he's such a normal, relatable person. I guess Peter Parker's kinda like that too…Yeah, I feel like they'd get along."