The Borderlands video game franchise is one of the bestselling of all time, racking up more than $1 billion globally in sales over all the titles in the series. So naturally, there would be a film adaptation: the forthcoming Borderlands, directed by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, The House with a Clock in its Walls). Lionsgate just dropped the official trailer, and Roth has certainly captured the trademark cel-shaded look of the film—especially Cate Blanchett’s fluorescent-haired outlaw.

The Borderlands games all take place on a planet called Pandora, home to many dangerous lifeforms as well as bandits and raiders—former prisoners of corporations that previously tried to colonize the planet, believing there were precious minerals to be mined. Pandora’s long-extinct race, called the Eridians, also left behind numerous alien artifacts, which eventually led to the discovery that there are various mythical vaults purportedly filled with treasure and guarded by ancient monsters. Along with corporate and military interests, there are renegade Vault Hunters who seek to claim the hidden treasures for themselves.

It might feel like Borderlands the film has been in development forever. Lionsgate announced the adaptation in 2015 and initially considered Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man) to direct. The script went through multiple revisions by several different writers, and Roth was hired as director in February 2020. Primary filming took place in Budapest, Hungary, in 2021, mid-pandemic, with reshoots occurring early in 2023. Tim Miller (Terminator: Dark Fate) directed the reshoots with Roth’s blessing, since by then the latter was already working on another film (2023’s Thanksgiving). Initial first-look images were released in June 2021, although those were just black-and-white silhouettes of the cast.

Per the official premise:

Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous bounty hunter with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home, Pandora, the most chaotic planet in the galaxy. Her mission is to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the universe’s most powerful S.O.B. Lilith forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits – Roland (Kevin Hart), a seasoned mercenary on a mission; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the oddball scientist who’s seen it all; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a wiseass robot. Together, these unlikely heroes must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of Pandora’s most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands—but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.

That’s quite an all-star cast. Also appearing are Bobby Lee as Larry; Janina Gavankar as Commander Knoxx; Gina Gerson as Mad Moxxi, a bartender; Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus, a gun merchant in the games; Olivier Richters as Krom, a former prison warden turned bandit leader in the games; Cheyanne Jackson as Jakobs; Charles Babalola as the gentleman hunter Hammerlock; Steven Boyer as the mechanic Scooter, Moxxi’s son; Ryann Redmond as Scooter’s younger sister Ellie (and Moxxi’s daughter), also a mechanic; and Penn Jillette makes a cameo as a preacher presiding over a wedding. (Jillette voiced the character of Pain in Borderlands 3.) Haley Bennett also appears in an as-yet-undisclosed role.

One doesn’t expect a film adaptation to hew too religiously to its source material, given the change in medium. But it looks like Roth has retained many of the most popular characters, although two of the player characters from the first Borderlands game—Mordecai the hunter/sniper and Brick the Berserker—are noticeably absent from the cast. Atlas and Jakobs are weapons-manufacturing corporations in the game, personified here as characters, perhaps as the CEOs of those corporations.

The trailer opens with our merry band of misfits opening the door to an underground vault ripe for exploration. (“Destiny awaits,” Roland observes.) A voiceover courtesy of Lilith informs us of the legend of a secret vault with hidden treasure, “and if you go hunting for it, you’d better take any help you can get, because it’s on the weirdest, most dangerous, dumpster fire of a world in the universe.” Cue our introduction to the main characters as they pass through the odoriferous Piss-Wash Gully, battle various bandits and raiders, and fly right into the mouth of a humongous monster—but not before firing some missiles, ensuring they can exit as the creature blows apart.

All in all, it looks like Borderlands will offer plenty of action punctuated with humor. Granted, it’s rather sophomoric “potty humor” that features most prominently in the trailer, often courtesy of Claptrap (who frankly comes off as a bit grating, as does Greenblatt’s Tiny Tina). But that’s in keeping with the humorous tone of the franchise series, so gaming fans probably won’t mind.

Borderlands hits theaters on August 9, 2024.

Listing image by Lionsgate

https://arstechnica.com/?p=2004687

A mysterious evil force has put New York City into a deadly deep freeze in the first official teaser for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Jason Reitman’s much-anticipated follow-up to his successful 2021 sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. (Jason is the son of the late Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two films in the franchise in the 1980s, so it’s very much a family affair).

(Spoilers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife below.)

Afterlife introduced us to a new generation of ghostbusters descended from Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis), namely, the science-loving Phoebe (McKenna Grace) and her mechanically inclined brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard). Mom Callie (Carrie Coon), aka Egon’s daughter, moved the family out to Oklahoma when she inherited Egon’s old house. The kids discovered their grandfather’s old ghost-busting gear just in time to battle the attempted return of none other than Gozer the Gozerian from the original 1984 film.

As I wrote in my review, there was much to like about Ghostbusters: Afterlife: great performances, nimble direction, and some humorous callbacks to the original beloved film, like a tiny army of mini Stay-Puft marshmallow men causing chaos in the local Walmart. Unfortunately, all of that sank under the weight of a clunky script, a tired, predictable plot (Gozer? Again?), and a finale that took the fan service to downright treacly levels when the three remaining original Ghostbusters joined the fight (with a brief CGI appearance by the ghost of Egon). This was not a broadly popular take at the time, but I stand by it.

It’s not like Afterlife needed my approval, grossing over $200 million at the box office against its $75 million production budget. Sony announced the sequel the following spring, with a script by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan. Kenan would eventually replace Reitman as director. Per the official premise

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started—the iconic New York City firehouse—to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Much of the Afterlife cast is returning: Grace, Wolfhard, Coon, Paul Rudd as local science teacher (and Callie’s love interest) Gary Grooberson, Logan Kim as Phoebe’s BFF Podcast, and Celeste O’Connor as Trevor’s crush Lucky Domingo. The remaining original Ghostbusters—Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Winston Zeddermore (Ernie Hudson)—have expanded roles, and we’ll also see the return of Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz and William Atherton as Walter Peck. New faces in the cast include Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, James Acaster, and Emily Alyn Lind.

As Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer” plays, the teaser opens at a New York beach on a scorching hot day, with everyone enjoying the sand and sun—until a dark cloud appears on the horizon and rushes toward shore, ultimately enveloping the Big Apple in ice. People are freezing to death in the middle of July. It’s the dreaded “death chill,” per Ray—”the power to kill by fear itself.” And it’s not a pleasant process: “Your veins turn to rivers of ice. Your bones crack. And the last thing you see is your own tear ducts freezing up.”  By the time a blurry spectral figure appears, the gang is geared up and ready for a fight.

I think the teaser looks pretty promising. At least we’re not back to Gozer again. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hits theaters on March 29, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/Sony Pictures

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1982352

Marvel Studios might not have a panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year, but it did release a shiny full trailer for The Marvels, part of Phase Five of the MCU, and directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman).

As previously reported, Brie Larson and Iman Vellani reprise their respective roles as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel and Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel for the film, along with Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, daughter of Carol/Captain Marvel’s BFF Maria. Monica grew up to become a SWORD agent, but thanks to the events of WandaVision, she can also absorb and manipulate energy as Spectrum. As for Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, she’s a teenage Pakistani American who lives in Jersey City. She’s a major comic books fan, worships Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, and fantasized about becoming a superhero someday. Her powers stem from the Terrigen Mists, released globally in a crossover storyline, the “Inhumanity.” The mists activated dormant Inhuman cells in several people, Kamala included.

Naturally, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) will be on hand to lend some assistance, along with fan-favorite Goose the cat-shaped Flerken (played by two cats, Nemo and Tango). Saagar Shaikh, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur will reprise their Ms. Marvel roles as Kamala’s older brother Aamir, mom Muneeba, and dad Yusuf, respectively. Lashana Lynch will be back as Maria Rambeau (one assumes in a flashback), and Randall Park returns as Jimmy Woo. There’s also a new villain called Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton—the aforementioned Kree revolutionary, who wields an Accuser’s hammer. Park Seo-joon (Parasite) has also been cast as a yet-unnamed ally of Carol, and Colin Stoneley plays a Kree scientist named Papp-Tonn.

Per the official premise:

Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now SABER astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as “The Marvels.”

The studio released a teaser in April, building off Ms. Marvel‘s end credits scene, where Captain Marvel suddenly appears in Kamala Khan’s bedroom while Kamala finds herself on a spaceship with Goose (we learned that this scene leads directly into the start of The Marvels).

The trailer opens with Fury exchanging wry greetings with Carol, who is somewhere in deep space. (He calls her the “prodigal child of the Milky Way,” while she terms him her “favorite one-eyed man of intrigue.”) Cut to Carol/Captain Marvel’s fateful encounter with Dar-Benn, who refers to Carol as the “annihilator” and accuses her of taking everything from Dar-Benn. Dar-Benn would like to return the favor in the form of a magical bracelet similar to the one that gave Kamala her Ms. Marvel powers. The Ms. Marvel storyline held that the bracelet was a Djinn artifact, though one popular fan theory is that they are actually Kree artifacts known as “Nega-Bands” that confer powers on their wearers.

Whatever that bracelet is, that’s what entangles the Marvel-ous trio’s various light-based powers (Carol can absorb light, Monica can see and manipulate light across the spectrum, and Kamala can turn light into physical matter). Now, whenever they try to use their powers, they switch places across the universe, and wacky hijinks ensue. Dar-Benn takes advantage of the chaos to target “every planet we call home,” per Carol. Fortunately, Captain Marvel has a couple of super-friends to help her beat back the threat—not to mention Goose and a group of adorable kittens that we would not be surprised to learn are actually Flerkens,

The Marvels is slated to hit theaters on November 10, 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Marvel Studios

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1955747

Warner Bros. has dropped a second eye-popping trailer for Dune: Part 2, the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s visually stunning, ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel. Part 1, released in 2021, grossed over $400 million globally against a $165 million budget, earned critical acclaim (you can read the largely positive Ars review here), and snagged six Oscars. If this new trailer is any indication, Part 2 promises to be just as powerful.

As reported previously (also here and here), Herbert’s novel Dune is set in the distant future and follows the fortunes of various noble houses in what amounts to a feudal interstellar society. Much of the action takes place on the planet Arrakis, where the economy is driven largely by a rare, life-extending drug called melange (“the spice”). Melange also conveys a kind of prescience and makes faster-than-light travel practical. There’s betrayal, a prophecy concerning a messianic figure, giant sandworms, and battle upon battle as protagonist Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) contends with rival House Harkonnen and strives to defeat the forces of Shaddam IV, Emperor of the Known Universe.

Part 1‘s finale left Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), presumed dead in the harsh desert of Arrakis, having fled their home when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) betrayed the family and killed Paul’s father, Leto (Oscar Isaac). They were taken in by the Fremen, the planet’s native inhabitants, who include Chani (Zendaya), a girl who had been appearing in Paul’s dreams/visions.

All the surviving principles from Part 1 reprise their roles in Part 2: Chalamet, Zendaya, Ferguson, Skarsgård, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen, Charlotte Rampling as the Reverend Mother Mohiam, and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat. New cast members include Christopher Walken as Shaddam IV, emperor of House Corrine; Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan; Austin Butler as Harkonnen’s younger nephew, Feyd-Rautha, the presumed heir on Arrakis; Lea Seydoux as Lady Margot, a Bene Gesserit who is close with the Emperor; and Souheila Yacoub as a Fremen warrior named Shishakli.

The first trailer dropped in May after being unveiled in an exclusive sneak peek during CinemaCon in Las Vegas. The highlight was a sequence showing Paul’s first ride on a sandworm—basically waterskiing across the sand, in defiance of Stilgar’s advice to keep things simple and avoid fancy moves. It’s a major rite of passage in Fremen culture, and the scene demonstrated that, in Part 2, Paul is well on his way to becoming Muad’Dib, prophet of the Fremen.

The new trailer opens with Paul offering to fight with the Fremen against their common enemy, though not everyone welcomes his inclusion. “This world is beyond cruelty,” he says in a voiceover. “You’ve been fighting the Harkonnens for decades. My family’s been fighting them for centuries. They were massacred alongside my father.” Chani, too, plans to fight, not for Paul, but for her people.

There’s also a reunion with Halleck, who urges Paul to exploit the growing belief that he is a prophet to his advantage. Paul is reluctant “because all my visions lead to horror”—not because he loses control but because he gains it. Meanwhile, Shaddam IV learns that Paul is still alive, and we witness the brutality of Feyd-Rautha as he demonstrates his lethal knife-fighting skills. And love blooms between Paul and Chani (“I will love you as long as I breathe”) even in the midst of war.

Dune: Part 2 hits theaters on November 3, 2023.

Listing image by Warner Bros.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1951121

We have one last trailer for The Flash in advance of the film’s release on June 16, 2023. Its release coincides with some spoiler-y casting news. Apparently director Andy Muschietti spilled the beans about a surprise cameo in the forthcoming film, according to Variety (huge spoiler at link)—much to the annoyance of some fans.

(Some spoilers below and one major reveal toward the end. We’ll give you another heads up when we get there.)

As previously reported, earlier scripts focused on adapting the Flashpoint crossover storyline from the comic books, in which the Scarlet Speedster goes back in time to keep his mother from being murdered, thereby altering the entire timeline. In that alternate world, a young Bruce Wayne is killed rather than his parents. Thomas Wayne becomes Batman, Martha Wayne becomes the Joker, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are bitter enemies, and Superman is a prisoner. Muschietti kept several of the Flashpoint story elements while acknowledging that this would be a different version. And he wanted to include not just Michael Keaton’s Batman but Ben Affleck’s, too, since he thought Barry’s relationship with the latter would make Keaton’s inclusion even more powerful.

In addition to Miller, Affleck, and Keaton, the cast of The Flash includes Kiersey Clemons as journalist (and Barry’s love interest) Iris West; Michael Shannon as General Zod, reprising his role from 2013’s Man of Steel; Antje Traue reprising the role of Zod’s second-in-command, Faora-Ul; Sasha Calle as Supergirl; and Maribel Verdu as Barry’s mother, Nora Allen. Scheduling conflicts meant Billy Crudup couldn’t return as Barry’s father, Henry Allen, who was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife, so Ron Livingston stepped into the role. While Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman was also expected to appear, Affleck revealed to IndieWire last month that the scene was cut from the final film.

Warner Bros. released the first official trailer for The Flash during Super Bowl LVII, and Keaton’s confirmed return as Batman (from the beloved Tim Burton era) pretty much set the Internet on fire. For many, Keaton was the definitive Batman for decades until The Dark Knight trilogy (with Christian Bale donning the cape) kicked off in 2005. So naturally, it was a thrill to see Keaton’s and Affleck’s Batman from the Zack Snyder era join forces to repair a timeline that was disastrously altered due to some pretty poor decision-making on the part of The Flash. The second trailer dropped last month at CinemaCon, giving fans another chance to geek out over Keaton’s Batcycle, bulletproof cape, Batman using said cape as a parachute, and especially callback dialogue to the original Burton-directed movie (“You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.”).

The final trailer has a lot of the same footage with a few additional details here and there. It opens with a moment of levity, as Barry/The Flash awkwardly deals with a group of adoring fans on the street before speeding off to meet with Affleck’s Bruce Wayne. We see Barry in the alternate timeline, having breakfast with his parents, cut short when his alternate self shows up on the front lawn. (One assumes they can’t both be seen together because of the time-travel paradox something, something, something. Prime Barry actually tackles his alter ego.)

General Zod’s forces attack (“This world must die”), Supergirl confronts the general in battle, Keaton’s Batman does his thing, and we see the two Flashes sprinting in opposite directions—perhaps an attempt to restore the original timeline. Best moment: Barry gets to ride in the Batmobile, and when a passerby sees it and remarks that he has “fancy friends,” he insists, “Yeah, it was an Uber… Exec.”

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER BELOW! 

What we don’t see in the final trailer is the surprise cameo that Muschietti just revealed during an interview with Esquire Middle East. Some 25 years ago, Tim Burton had planned to make a film called Superman Lives, loosely based on “The Death of Superman” storyline from the comics, and starring none other than Nicolas Cage as Superman. (Yes, there are photos.) It was canceled three weeks before filming was about to begin—apparently for budgetary reasons—and the project was dropped, although there was a 2015 documentary about it.

Cage is a huge Superman fan and even named his son Kal-El. He told Variety that the Burton version would have been “a really different sort of emo Superman,” sporting “samurai black long hair.” Now he’s finally getting the chance to play Superman in a brief cameo in The Flash, thanks to Muschietti and his fondness for all the past incarnations of the franchise. Hopefully it will be the long-haired kinda emo version we never got to see.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1941742

We’ve been waiting to catch a glimpse of Dune: Part 2, the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s visually stunning, ambitious adaption of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel. Warner Bros. dropped the first official trailer today, featuring Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides riding a sandworm to win the respect of the Fremen, as well as the introduction of the nefarious new villain from House Harkonnen.

(Some spoilers for Dune: Part 1 below.)

As we’ve reported previously (also here and here), Herbert’s novel Dune is set in the distant future and follows the fortunes of various noble houses in what amounts to a feudal interstellar society. Much of the action takes place on the planet Arrakis, where the economy is driven largely by a rare, life-extending drug called melange (“the spice”). Melange also conveys a kind of prescience and makes faster-than-light travel practical. There’s betrayal, a prophecy concerning a messianic figure, giant sandworms, and battle upon battle, as protagonist Paul Atreides (a duke’s son) contends with rival House Harkonnen and strives to defeat the forces of Shaddam IV, Emperor of the Known Universe.

Dune is notoriously difficult to adapt—as David Lynch discovered when he directed his critically panned 1984 film adaptation—but Villeneuve found the trick was to split the novel in half. The first film covered events in the first half of the novel, and Dune: Part 2 covers events in the second half. But Part 2 wasn’t automatically guaranteed; it depended on how well the first film performed, and Dune: Part 1 had the misfortune to run headlong into the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in several delays in its release date. Villeneuve wrote an op-ed for Variety, sharply criticizing the studio’s decision to release Part 1 simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max (for a 31-day period), predicting this could result in the film underperforming at the box office (“piracy will ultimately triumph”), leading to a cancellation of the planned sequel.

Despite the stacked odds, Part 1 grossed over $400 million globally against a $165 million budget, earned critical acclaim (you can read the largely positive Ars review here), and snagged 10 Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture. It won six Oscars: Best Sound, Original Score, Film Editing, Production Design, Visual Effects, and Cinematography. So naturally, Warner Bros. greenlit the sequel.

Part 1‘s finale left Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) presumed dead in the harsh desert of Arrakis, having fled their home when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) betrayed the family and killed Paul’s father, Leto (Oscar Isaac). They were taken in by the Fremen, the planet’s native inhabitants, who include Chani (Zendaya) a girl who had been appearing in Paul’s dreams/visions.

All the surviving principles from Part 1 reprise their roles in Part 2: Chalamet, Zendaya, Ferguson, Skarsgård, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen, Charlotte Rampling as the Reverend Mother Mohiam, and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat. New cast members include Christopher Walken as Shaddam IV, emperor of House Corrine; Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan; Austin Butler as Harkonnen’s younger nephew, Feyd-Rautha, presumed heir on Arrakis; Lea Seydoux as Lady Margot, a Bene Gesserit who is tight with the Emperor; and Souheila Yacoub as a Fremen warrior named Shishakli.

Per the official premise:

Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Variety recently unveiled an exclusive sneak peek at Part 2, coinciding with an exclusive showing of the full trailer during Cinemacon in Las Vegas. (It was not released to the public until today.) Villeneuve described Part 2 as “an action-packed, epic war movie,” more dense and less contemplative than Part 1, and the entire film was shot in IMAX (compared to 40 percent of the first film).

We barely saw Zendaya’s Chani in Part 1, so it’s nice to see her getting a lot more screen time in the trailer, as her romance with Paul blooms. It looks like there’s some tension brewing between Paul and Lady Jessica (now sporting facial tattoos), and we see Pugh’s Princess Irulan speculate that perhaps this is not the end of House Atreides since there’s a chance Paul might still be alive—which of course he is. There’s also a fiery scene that just might be Harkonnen’s forces burning Caladan, the homeworld of House Atreides.

While Paul was young and still very much a student in the first film, in Part 2, he is now well on his way to becoming Muad’Dib, prophet of the Fremen. The obvious highlight of the trailer is the sequence showing Paul’s first ride on a sandworm—basically waterskiing across the sand, in defiance of Stilgar’s advice to keep things simple and avoid fancy moves. It’s a major rite of passage in Fremen culture. In another scene, he prepares for a crysknife battle with Butler’s Feyd-Rautha (“May thy knife chip and shatter”), his eyes now the same icy blue hue of the Fremen due to regular spice consumption. The trailer ends with Paul acknowledging the cheers of thousands of Fremen.

Dune: Part 2 is slated to hit theaters on November 3, 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1936124

Remember Ms. Marvel‘s end credits scene, where Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel suddenly appears in Kamala Khan’s (Iman Vellani) bedroom, while Kamala finds herself on a spaceship with Goose (the cat that’s really a Flerken)? Judging by a newly released teaser, that scene will lead directly into The Marvels, the sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel. It’s part of Phase Five of the MCU, and the film is directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman).

Both Larson and Vellani reprise their respective roles for the film, along with Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, daughter of Carol/Captain Marvel’s BFF Maria. Monica grew up to become a SWORD agent, but thanks to the events of WandaVision, she can also absorb and manipulate energy as Spectrum. As for Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, she’s a teenage Pakistani American who lives in Jersey City. She’s a major comic books fan, worships Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, and fantasized about becoming a superhero someday. Her powers stem from the Terrigen Mists, released globally in a crossover storyline, the “Inhumanity.” The mists activated dormant Inhuman cells in several people, Kamala included.

Per the official premise:

Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as The Marvels.

Naturally, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) will be on hand to lend some assistance, along with fan-favorite Goose the cat. Saagar Shaikh, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur will reprise their Ms. Marvel roles as Kamala’s older brother Aamir, mom Muneeba, and dad Yusuf, respectively. There’s also a new villain, played by Zawe Ashton, most likely the aforementioned Kree revolutionary. (One rumor is that Ashton will play a gender-swapped version of Kree General Ael-Dan from the comics.) Park Seo-joon (Parasite) has also been cast in an as-yet-undisclosed role.

The TV series Secret Invasion—which had a full trailer released last week—also builds off the events of Captain Marvel, but with a very distinct spy thriller vibe and themes of political paranoia, drawing inspiration from the TV series Homeland and The Americans. Judging by this new teaser, The Marvels feels like more classic MCEU fare: lots of action sprinkled with bits of humor, interpersonal tensions, and some timely self-reflection. In other words, it will be much like 2012’s The Avengers.

The teaser opens with Fury and Rambeau exploring an anomaly in space—looks like a wormhole or “jump point,” as Rambeau calls it. She’s trying to get some scientific data on the anomaly, only to switch places with an understandably panicked Kamala Khan. Khan’s panic is short-lived once she recognizes Fury; she’s an uber-fan, remember. (“Is this an Avengers test?”) Meanwhile, Rambeau finds herself mid-battle on another planet, while Danvers finds herself in Khan’s bedroom, bewildered by all the posters of herself plastered on the walls.

Eventually, Fury and Rambeau figure out the issue and meet up at Khan’s house, where Rambeau explains that their powers have become entangled. Eager to show Rambeau what she can do, Khan ends up switching places with Danvers—whose powers are clearly also entangled—where she meets Goose, who does what a Flerken does to those attacking her. Also, are those Flerken kittens? How deadly cute is that? And however strenuously Rambeau and Danvers deny that the three of them are a team, they totally are—to Khan’s delight.

The Marvels is slated for theatrical release on November 10, 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Marvel Studios

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1930676

Is there anything better than a good superhero origin story? There’s something about watching an ordinary person, struggling with self-doubt, discover their unique hidden strengths and own their power that never fails to capture our imaginations. It’s the bread-and-butter of the superhero genre, and we’re getting yet another origin story this August, when Warner Bros. releases Blue Beetle, focused on the latest incarnation of the classic comic book character. The first trailer just dropped, and it looks like a fun, family-centric summer film.

The Blue Beetle character first appeared in DC Comics in 1939. Back then, he was a police officer who gained his superpowers by ingesting something called Vitamin 2X, giving him a distinct advantage when fighting crime. The character was rebooted in 1964 by Charlton Comics, in which an archaeologist named Dan Garrett acquired mystical abilities from an ancient Egyptian scarab. The mantle passed to Garrett’s student, Ted Kord (and to DC Comics), in 1966. The scarab element also featured in the 2006 retconned Blue Beetle, revealed to be an alien artifact. The scarab bonded with a teenager named Jamie Reyes, and the protective extraterrestrial armor Reyes acquired as a result led to him joining forces with the Teen Titans and Justice League, among others.

Reyes is the Blue Beetle in this new film from the DC Extended Universe, played by Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai). It was originally intended for release on HBO Max, but Warner Bros. and DC Films decided to add the film to their slate of upcoming theatrical releases instead. New DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has said Blue Beetle won’t be connected to prior films in the DCEU, so if it’s a box office success, it could be incorporated into the new franchise. Director Angel Manuel Soto decided not to follow one of the classic storylines, opting instead to cherrypick his favorite moments from the character’s entire run.

Per the official premise:

Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.

The cast also includes Bruna Marquezine as Penny, Jaime’s romantic interest; Belissa Escobedo as Jaime’s younger sister Milagros; George Lopez as his Uncle Rudy; Adriana Barraza as Nana; Elpidia Carrillo as Rocio; and Damián Alcázar as Alberto. Raoul Trujillo plays Carapax the Indestructible Man, a character drawn from the Ted Kord Blue Beetle series, while Susan Sarandon plays Victoria Kord, Ted’s widow, a new villainous character. Bonus: Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows, Werewolves Within) will appear in the film, although we don’t yet know in what role.

We meet Jaime Reyes working with his sister, apparently cleaning the homes of the fabulously wealthy. We next see him outside a swanky office building, hoping to get a better job for them both. That’s when a clearly anxious Penny gives him a cardboard burger container to guard with his life, warning him not to open it. But of course, at the urging of his family, he opens it and finds a pretty blue Egyptian scarab. The scarab activates and attaches itself to his face, to everyone’s horror—yep, just like the face huggers in Alien. And then his entire body sprouts that extraterrestrial armor. “Host acquired,” a disembodied AI voice declares.

Jaime might be the scarab’s chosen one, but that doesn’t mean he’s in control. Penny explains that it’s “some kind of world-destroying weapon.” While it’s “designed to protect its host, sometimes it does what you want and sometimes it doesn’t.” Then there’s the fact that Victoria Kord wants the artifact back: “The scarab chose you, but it belongs to me.” (Clearly the scarab begs to differ.) And he has to face off against Carapax, it seems, who warns, “The love you feel for your family makes you weak.” This being a feel-good superhero origin story, I think we’ll find out it actually makes him stronger, and he’ll figure out how to use this unexpected gift for good.

Blue Beetle hits theaters on August 18, 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1928647

When we last saw Keanu Reeves’ John Wick, he was battered, bloodied, betrayed, and vowing revenge on the High Table. That’s going to involve a lot of killing, as evidenced by the action-packed, very bloody final trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4.

(Some spoilers for the first three films below.)

As I’ve written previously, for the benefit of those who missed the first three movies, Wick (Reeves) is a legendary hitman who tried to retire when he fell in love and got married. Unfortunately, he was drawn back into the dark underground world after his wife’s untimely death. Some Russian gangsters stole his car, beat him up, and killed the adorable new puppy, Daisy, that his late wife had arranged to be sent to him after her funeral. Who could blame the man for seeking (and taking) bloody retribution?

The film was a huge hit, so naturally there was a sequel. In John Wick: Chapter 2, Wick took on a whole slew of Russian baddies and also found himself honor-bound (per the professional hitman’s code) to go on one last assignment. Of course he succeeded—he’s John Wick—but he ended up killing the double-crossing client—newly named to the High Table—inside the Continental Hotel in New York, which is supposed to be a safe space for assassins. Wick was declared “excommunicato,” cutting him off from all the resources the hitman underground usually provides.

That’s where John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum picked up, with Wick scrambling to find allies (and ammo) to fight off pretty much the entire underworld of assassins, all of them eager to claim the bounty on his head. John negotiated a deal for the forgiveness of his many transgressions against the High Table in exchange for killing Winston (Ian McShane), manager of the NYC Continental. But when the time came, John refused, so the High Table sent its army of assassins. John killed pretty much all of them, but then Winston betrayed John, shooting him. John survived and joined forces with the badly wounded Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) to exact their mutual revenge on the High Table.

The four principals are returning for this installment: Reeves, McShane, Fishburne, and Lance Reddick as Charon, the urbane concierge of the NYC Continental. Among the new characters is Akira, played by Japanese singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama in her feature-film debut. The cast also includes top Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen as a blind High Table assassin named Caine, apparently a friend of Wick’s; Hiroyuki Sanada as another old friend named Shimazu; Shamier Anderson as The Tracker; Bill Skarsgård as the Marquis de Gramont, a new member of the High Table; Clancy Brown as The Harbinger; George Georgiou as The Elder; and Scott Adkins as Killa, who shares a common enemy with Wick.

Per the official premise:

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) takes on his most lethal adversaries yet in the upcoming fourth installment of the series. With the price on his head ever increasing, Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Osaka to Berlin.

Reeves swung by San Diego Comic-Con last July to introduce a sneak peek teaser for the film, featuring a smörgåsbord of action shots: samurai swords, nunchucks, bows and arrows, “dog fu,” daggers, and of course, guns, guns, guns. The first official trailer, set to a cover of  “Seasons in the Sun,” dropped last November. We were introduced to the Marquis de Gramont. Winston advised John to challenge him to single combat since, win or lose, he will finally be able to escape his predicament—even if that escape involves his death. We also learned that while John doesn’t sit at the High Table, apparently his family does.

This final trailer doesn’t shed much more light on the plot and largely eschews dialogue, preferring to give fans all the action and bloodshed we’ve come to expect from this franchise in a tightly edited minute and a half. Based on this footage, the choreographed fight scenes will (once again) not disappoint. The run time is nearly three hours, and you can be sure that all that fighting will ratchet up Wick’s already impressive body count even more.

John Wick: Chapter 4 hits theaters on March 24. Yes, there will be a Chapter 5. A spinoff film, Ballerina, will feature Ana de Armas as a young woman raised to be an assassin vowing revenge on those who killed her family. There is also a limited TV series in development, The Continental, focused on a young Winston in the 1970s, played by Colin Woodell.

Listing image by YouTube/Lionsgate

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1918242

Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto finds his peaceful family man existence violently interrupted yet again in the trailer for Fast X, the 10th main installment (and 11th full-length film) in the wildly successful Fast and Furious franchise.

(Some spoilers for prior films in the franchise below.)

This has been in the works since 2014, later divided into two films that will wrap up the main installments. Justin Lin was originally tapped to direct Fast X, but he exited the project due to “creative differences” one week after filming began in April last year, though Lin co-wrote the film and stayed on as a producer. The Hollywood gossip mill soon kicked into high gear, with reports of on-set clashes between Lin and Diesel, alleging the star was out of shape, struggled with his lines, and was often late to set. Lin also objected to some of the rewrites to his screenplay, and there were reports that after one intense disagreement with Diesel, he exclaimed that the film “is not worth my mental health.”

Universal had to scramble to find a replacement director, and it found one in Louis Leterrier, who directed the first two Transporter films, as well as 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, 2010’s Clash of the Titans, and 2013’s Now You See Me. Leterrier said that he wanted to do more real stunts enhanced with visual effects, rather than tons of CGI, to bring the franchise “back to Earth”—perhaps a sly reference to F9, which featured a climactic scene in which Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) ride a “rocket car” into near-Earth orbit to destroy a satellite and are rescued by the crew of the International Space Station (no, really). We’ll even see a bit more of the street racing that featured so prominently in earlier films.

All the main cast members are returning for Fast X: Diesel, Bridges, Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, John Cena as Dom’s brother Jakob, Jordana Brewster as Dom’s sister, Nathalie Emmanuel as computer hacktivist Ramsey, and Sung Kang as Han Lue, who we learned in F9 had faked his death. Charlize Theron reprises her role as criminal mastermind Cipher, and Helen Mirren is back as Deckard’s mother, Queenie. There are some new faces, too, most notably Jason Momoa as the main antagonist, Dante, in league with Cipher. Brie Larson plays a character named Tess, and Rita Moreno plays Abuela Toretto, grandmother to Dom, Jakob, and Mia. This will also be the first film in the series to feature electric cars like the DeLorean Alpha 5.

Family has long been a central theme of F&F movies, and Fast X is no exception. Per the official premise:

In 2011’s Fast Five, Dom and his crew took out nefarious Brazilian drug kingpin Hernan Reyes and decapitated his empire on a bridge in Rio De Janeiro. What they didn’t know was that Reyes’ son, Dante (Jason Momoa), witnessed it all and has spent the last 12 years masterminding a plan to make Dom pay the ultimate price.  Dante’s plot will scatter Dom’s family from Los Angeles to the catacombs of Rome, from Brazil to London and from Portugal to Antarctica. New allies will be forged and old enemies will resurface. But everything changes when Dom discovers that his own eight-year-old son is the ultimate target of Dante’s vengeance.

The trailer opens with Abuela reminding our assembled crew that despite all the hardships they have faced, they are still here together, “building this magnificent family.” But Dom is worried about past adversaries, especially now that he has something precious to lose. “You’re about to learn all about fear,” we hear Momoa’s Dante warn in a voiceover. He envies Dom’s happy, stable family, believing Dom to be responsible for his lack of the same, and vows to break them apart “piece by piece.” It’s not enough to bring death; Dante is out to make Dom suffer. Given that this film (plus its planned sequel) will bring the saga to an end, Letty just might be right when she says, “One of us might not come back from this.”

Fast X hits theaters on May 19, 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Universal Pictures

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1916830