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Nearly 10,000 years ago, the last dire wolf to roam the plains of North America echoed a final howl across the land. Afterward there was only silence from this once prolific apex predator. That is until October 2024. For that was the month Colossal Biosciences had its biggest breakthrough yet in their ambitious de-extinction efforts. […]

The post Move Over Game of Thrones, The Real Dire Wolf Is Back! appeared first on Den of Geek.

Plane crashes! Terrorists! Gun fights! That sort of stuff appears all the time in trailers for summer action movies. But it’s a little different when the movie in question is The Phoenician Scheme, written and directed by Wes Anderson. Anderson is best known for impeccably-designed comedies about incredibly privileged and incredibly talented people going on emotional journeys, movies such as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

To be sure, The Phoenician Scheme has all of the hallmarks of an Anderson movie. Yellow Futura font? Check. Wide-angle shots of characters standing in a straight line? Check. Actors from previous Anderson movies? Check.

The Phoenician Scheme stars Benicio del Toro as rich European Zsa Zsa Korda who creates a stir when he leaves his estate not to his nine sons, but to his sole daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who has become a nun and is estranged from her father. The announcement comes as Korda embarks on his greatest project, a massive complex on the island of Phoenicia. In response, several of Korda’s rivals (played by regulars such as Mathieu Amalric, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, and Scarlett Johansson). line up to attack or support him.

So far, so familiar, at least within the Anderson canon. Even newcomers such as Michael Cera and Richard Ayoade appear to fit so well within Anderson’s world that it’s kind of a shock that this is their first project together.

But then the guns come out. Within the two minute and forty-four second clip, terrorists fire machine guns, grenades explode, and someone pulls a knife – all stuff that seems far outside the scope of a guy who makes movies about sad prep school kids.

Except, it isn’t. Wes Anderson has made an action movie before. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is, certainly, standard Anderson fare, the story of a Jacques Cousteau-type oceanographer trying to get a look at the jaguar shark that devoured his friend and made him a laughing stock, while also reconnecting with his long-lost son (Owen Wilson). Yet, The Life Aquatic is also an action movie, by Anderson’s own admission.

In the director’s commentary for the Criterion release, Anderson talks about how he intentionally tried to borrow from action tropes, especially in a late plot turn in which pirates kidnap Zissou and his men. There’s more than a little of Indiana Jones and Belloc to the conflict between Steve and his nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), who find themselves drawn together (along with a “bond company stooge” played by Bud Cort) while escaping from the pirates.

Andreson allowed himself a more direct homage for the end of The Life Aquatic, which borrows from the ending of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Set to David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch,” we watch as Zissou walks stridently in front of the camera as the credits roll. Eventually, he’s joined as other members of his team join him. But where Buckaroo Banzai and his team simply stride with no particular direction (and also counted Goldblum’s newcomer New Jersey among the joiners), Zissou leads his group to his ship the Belafonte, an affirmation of life that continues even after completing his adventure.

Zissou’s next adventure never made it to screen, but with The Phoenician Scheme, it appears that Anderson’s has arrived. The trailer alone features just as much violence as The Life Aquatic, suggesting that Anderson intends to outdo his previous dabbling in the genre.

Given the expansion of Anderson’s recent works — the worlds within worlds of Asteroid City, the globetrotting of The French Dispatch, and the layered comedy of The Grand Budapest Hotel — the time is right for a big budget actioner from him. As long as it comes with at least one shot of Bill Murray, looking wistfully off into the distance.

The Phoenician Scheme blasts into theaters on May 30, 2025.

The post The Phoenician Scheme Trailer Brings Wes Anderson Back to the Action Genre appeared first on Den of Geek.

Plane crashes! Terrorists! Gun fights! That sort of stuff appears all the time in trailers for summer action movies. But it’s a little different when the movie in question is The Phoenician Scheme, written and directed by Wes Anderson. Anderson is best known for impeccably-designed comedies about incredibly privileged and incredibly talented people going on […]

The post The Phoenician Scheme Trailer Brings Wes Anderson Back to the Action Genre appeared first on Den of Geek.

Plane crashes! Terrorists! Gun fights! That sort of stuff appears all the time in trailers for summer action movies. But it’s a little different when the movie in question is The Phoenician Scheme, written and directed by Wes Anderson. Anderson is best known for impeccably-designed comedies about incredibly privileged and incredibly talented people going on emotional journeys, movies such as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

To be sure, The Phoenician Scheme has all of the hallmarks of an Anderson movie. Yellow Futura font? Check. Wide-angle shots of characters standing in a straight line? Check. Actors from previous Anderson movies? Check.

The Phoenician Scheme stars Benicio del Toro as rich European Zsa Zsa Korda who creates a stir when he leaves his estate not to his nine sons, but to his sole daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who has become a nun and is estranged from her father. The announcement comes as Korda embarks on his greatest project, a massive complex on the island of Phoenicia. In response, several of Korda’s rivals (played by regulars such as Mathieu Amalric, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, and Scarlett Johansson). line up to attack or support him.

So far, so familiar, at least within the Anderson canon. Even newcomers such as Michael Cera and Richard Ayoade appear to fit so well within Anderson’s world that it’s kind of a shock that this is their first project together.

But then the guns come out. Within the two minute and forty-four second clip, terrorists fire machine guns, grenades explode, and someone pulls a knife – all stuff that seems far outside the scope of a guy who makes movies about sad prep school kids.

Except, it isn’t. Wes Anderson has made an action movie before. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is, certainly, standard Anderson fare, the story of a Jacques Cousteau-type oceanographer trying to get a look at the jaguar shark that devoured his friend and made him a laughing stock, while also reconnecting with his long-lost son (Owen Wilson). Yet, The Life Aquatic is also an action movie, by Anderson’s own admission.

In the director’s commentary for the Criterion release, Anderson talks about how he intentionally tried to borrow from action tropes, especially in a late plot turn in which pirates kidnap Zissou and his men. There’s more than a little of Indiana Jones and Belloc to the conflict between Steve and his nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), who find themselves drawn together (along with a “bond company stooge” played by Bud Cort) while escaping from the pirates.

Andreson allowed himself a more direct homage for the end of The Life Aquatic, which borrows from the ending of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Set to David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch,” we watch as Zissou walks stridently in front of the camera as the credits roll. Eventually, he’s joined as other members of his team join him. But where Buckaroo Banzai and his team simply stride with no particular direction (and also counted Goldblum’s newcomer New Jersey among the joiners), Zissou leads his group to his ship the Belafonte, an affirmation of life that continues even after completing his adventure.

Zissou’s next adventure never made it to screen, but with The Phoenician Scheme, it appears that Anderson’s has arrived. The trailer alone features just as much violence as The Life Aquatic, suggesting that Anderson intends to outdo his previous dabbling in the genre.

Given the expansion of Anderson’s recent works — the worlds within worlds of Asteroid City, the globetrotting of The French Dispatch, and the layered comedy of The Grand Budapest Hotel — the time is right for a big budget actioner from him. As long as it comes with at least one shot of Bill Murray, looking wistfully off into the distance.

The Phoenician Scheme blasts into theaters on May 30, 2025.

The post The Phoenician Scheme Trailer Brings Wes Anderson Back to the Action Genre appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus. Aside from the characters who die, we rarely get closure for character arcs on The White Lotus after their time at the resort is done. The point of the series is to show us these people within the bubble of the resort and whatever town surrounds it. […]

The post The White Lotus Season 3 Ending Brings the Whole Story Full Circle appeared first on Den of Geek.

Plane crashes! Terrorists! Gun fights! That sort of stuff appears all the time in trailers for summer action movies. But it’s a little different when the movie in question is The Phoenician Scheme, written and directed by Wes Anderson. Anderson is best known for impeccably-designed comedies about incredibly privileged and incredibly talented people going on emotional journeys, movies such as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

To be sure, The Phoenician Scheme has all of the hallmarks of an Anderson movie. Yellow Futura font? Check. Wide-angle shots of characters standing in a straight line? Check. Actors from previous Anderson movies? Check.

The Phoenician Scheme stars Benicio del Toro as rich European Zsa Zsa Korda who creates a stir when he leaves his estate not to his nine sons, but to his sole daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who has become a nun and is estranged from her father. The announcement comes as Korda embarks on his greatest project, a massive complex on the island of Phoenicia. In response, several of Korda’s rivals (played by regulars such as Mathieu Amalric, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, and Scarlett Johansson). line up to attack or support him.

So far, so familiar, at least within the Anderson canon. Even newcomers such as Michael Cera and Richard Ayoade appear to fit so well within Anderson’s world that it’s kind of a shock that this is their first project together.

But then the guns come out. Within the two minute and forty-four second clip, terrorists fire machine guns, grenades explode, and someone pulls a knife – all stuff that seems far outside the scope of a guy who makes movies about sad prep school kids.

Except, it isn’t. Wes Anderson has made an action movie before. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is, certainly, standard Anderson fare, the story of a Jacques Cousteau-type oceanographer trying to get a look at the jaguar shark that devoured his friend and made him a laughing stock, while also reconnecting with his long-lost son (Owen Wilson). Yet, The Life Aquatic is also an action movie, by Anderson’s own admission.

In the director’s commentary for the Criterion release, Anderson talks about how he intentionally tried to borrow from action tropes, especially in a late plot turn in which pirates kidnap Zissou and his men. There’s more than a little of Indiana Jones and Belloc to the conflict between Steve and his nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), who find themselves drawn together (along with a “bond company stooge” played by Bud Cort) while escaping from the pirates.

Andreson allowed himself a more direct homage for the end of The Life Aquatic, which borrows from the ending of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Set to David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch,” we watch as Zissou walks stridently in front of the camera as the credits roll. Eventually, he’s joined as other members of his team join him. But where Buckaroo Banzai and his team simply stride with no particular direction (and also counted Goldblum’s newcomer New Jersey among the joiners), Zissou leads his group to his ship the Belafonte, an affirmation of life that continues even after completing his adventure.

Zissou’s next adventure never made it to screen, but with The Phoenician Scheme, it appears that Anderson’s has arrived. The trailer alone features just as much violence as The Life Aquatic, suggesting that Anderson intends to outdo his previous dabbling in the genre.

Given the expansion of Anderson’s recent works — the worlds within worlds of Asteroid City, the globetrotting of The French Dispatch, and the layered comedy of The Grand Budapest Hotel — the time is right for a big budget actioner from him. As long as it comes with at least one shot of Bill Murray, looking wistfully off into the distance.

The Phoenician Scheme blasts into theaters on May 30, 2025.

The post The Phoenician Scheme Trailer Brings Wes Anderson Back to the Action Genre appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains spoilers for 1923 including the season 2 finale.  As consumers of entertainment, it’s strange to think of how much power the public possesses over programming. No longer are conversations limited to the antiquated watercooler conversations in cubicle-riddled office spaces – online forums have taken hold where fans across the globe can share […]

The post 1923 Cast Discusses How the Season 2 Finale Links to Yellowstone’s Timeline  appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) embracing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), all while a variation of the John Williams theme plays.

Yet, there is new footage in this teaser. Well, only new in the sense that we haven’t seen this particular scene from Superman before. But the ideas in the footage is old in the very best way, proving that James Gunn is going deep into DC and even pulp lore to create something special.

The teaser features extended footage of Krypto (perhaps because it debuted in front of the kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie), frolicking and being a normal dog before rescuing Superman. Krypto takes Superman to his Arctic hideaway the Fortress of Solitude, presented here with the crystalline design that John Barry made for the 1978 film.

But the most notable addition comes with the figures who tend to Superman, four humanoid machines with capes and shields.

Superman and robots may be new to the this film’s marketing, and indeed, to Superman movies in general. But they have a long history in the comics. In throughout the Silver Age, Superman often employed robot clones of himself, sometimes to throw off people who suspect his secret identity, and sometimes just to mess with Lois Lane.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, the robots tended to be more insect-like assistants who tended to the Fortress of Solitude. The movie version appears to combine the two approaches, as they appear to be caretakers of the Fortress with more spindly features, but they still sport the shield and capes of their masters.

However, the whole idea of robotic assistants and a hidden fortress goes back even further than the Silver Age, even before Superman even started the superhero comic book genre with Action Comics #1 in 1938. They are concepts Superman inherited from pulp novels and magazines, high adventure stories about people with remarkable powers, who sometimes put on costumes and took on alter egos.

In particular, they come from the adventures of Doc Savage, created by Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and Lester Dent, and debuting in 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. Dubbed the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage was a genius mathematician, scientist, and adventurer, who fought evildoers with the help of his team of experts. Savage operated mostly out of his office on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, but also had a secret arctic hideout called the Fortress of Solitude.

To be clear, Doc Savage didn’t fill his Fortress with robots. But in the 1935 novel The Fantastic Island, Savage employs Robbie the Robot as a synthetic double to confound his enemies, just like Superman would do two decades later. But he did fill it with his assistants and aids, a common trope found in fellow pulp heroes such as Zorro, Tarzan, and the Shadow.

Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alter that trope for the first adventures of their hero, using Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent and his friendship with Lois Lane as an alternative to the band of experts on which the pulp heroes relied. But the trope soon resurfaced, with Superman not only getting help from his pal Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White (both additions from the radio show The Adventures of Superman), but also with fellow heroes Batman and the Justice Society of America.

More importantly for the James Gunn movie, writer Grant Morrison strengthened the connections between Superman and the pulp heroes. The robots seen in the film come directly from Morrison’s All-Star Superman, which features the Man of Steel completing heroic tasks before his death and creating new scientific wonders in his lab, plot points common to the pulp era. Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, which features a team-up that Gunn’s movie will replicate, reimagines Superman as an explicitly in the style of Doc Savage (or even Alan Moore‘s homage Tom Strong), complete with ever-present work gloves and a commitment to scientific exploration. And, of course, the robots are there again to help him.

As this brief history shows, the robots aren’t just a cool detail from the comics. They are part of a longer tradition of genre fiction, one that Gunn clearly loves. By situating Superman within this lineage, Gunn shows that he’s not just performing another cynical task of IP-mining. He’s celebrating a genre, remembering its past while moving forward.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

It may seem obvious to compare Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Ghost of Tsushima for the simple fact that they’re both triple-A, open-world games set in feudal Japan. But that’s not the real story here. The truth is if Assassin’s Creed Shadows wasn’t as good as it is, there would be no comparison. Ghost of Tsushima […]

The post Assassin’s Creed vs. Ghost of Tsushima: Which Is Better? appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) embracing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), all while a variation of the John Williams theme plays.

Yet, there is new footage in this teaser. Well, only new in the sense that we haven’t seen this particular scene from Superman before. But the ideas in the footage is old in the very best way, proving that James Gunn is going deep into DC and even pulp lore to create something special.

The teaser features extended footage of Krypto (perhaps because it debuted in front of the kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie), frolicking and being a normal dog before rescuing Superman. Krypto takes Superman to his Arctic hideaway the Fortress of Solitude, presented here with the crystalline design that John Barry made for the 1978 film.

But the most notable addition comes with the figures who tend to Superman, four humanoid machines with capes and shields.

Superman and robots may be new to the this film’s marketing, and indeed, to Superman movies in general. But they have a long history in the comics. In throughout the Silver Age, Superman often employed robot clones of himself, sometimes to throw off people who suspect his secret identity, and sometimes just to mess with Lois Lane.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, the robots tended to be more insect-like assistants who tended to the Fortress of Solitude. The movie version appears to combine the two approaches, as they appear to be caretakers of the Fortress with more spindly features, but they still sport the shield and capes of their masters.

However, the whole idea of robotic assistants and a hidden fortress goes back even further than the Silver Age, even before Superman even started the superhero comic book genre with Action Comics #1 in 1938. They are concepts Superman inherited from pulp novels and magazines, high adventure stories about people with remarkable powers, who sometimes put on costumes and took on alter egos.

In particular, they come from the adventures of Doc Savage, created by Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and Lester Dent, and debuting in 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. Dubbed the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage was a genius mathematician, scientist, and adventurer, who fought evildoers with the help of his team of experts. Savage operated mostly out of his office on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, but also had a secret arctic hideout called the Fortress of Solitude.

To be clear, Doc Savage didn’t fill his Fortress with robots. But in the 1935 novel The Fantastic Island, Savage employs Robbie the Robot as a synthetic double to confound his enemies, just like Superman would do two decades later. But he did fill it with his assistants and aids, a common trope found in fellow pulp heroes such as Zorro, Tarzan, and the Shadow.

Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alter that trope for the first adventures of their hero, using Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent and his friendship with Lois Lane as an alternative to the band of experts on which the pulp heroes relied. But the trope soon resurfaced, with Superman not only getting help from his pal Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White (both additions from the radio show The Adventures of Superman), but also with fellow heroes Batman and the Justice Society of America.

More importantly for the James Gunn movie, writer Grant Morrison strengthened the connections between Superman and the pulp heroes. The robots seen in the film come directly from Morrison’s All-Star Superman, which features the Man of Steel completing heroic tasks before his death and creating new scientific wonders in his lab, plot points common to the pulp era. Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, which features a team-up that Gunn’s movie will replicate, reimagines Superman as an explicitly in the style of Doc Savage (or even Alan Moore‘s homage Tom Strong), complete with ever-present work gloves and a commitment to scientific exploration. And, of course, the robots are there again to help him.

As this brief history shows, the robots aren’t just a cool detail from the comics. They are part of a longer tradition of genre fiction, one that Gunn clearly loves. By situating Superman within this lineage, Gunn shows that he’s not just performing another cynical task of IP-mining. He’s celebrating a genre, remembering its past while moving forward.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

Shinichirō Watanabe is a true anime auteur who is responsible for some of the most celebrated titles to come out of the late ‘90s and 2000s, such as Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, and Carole & Tuesday. Watanabe’s series cover incredibly diverse material, but all his anime successfully connect with audiences because of the […]

The post Lazarus’ Shinichirō Watanabe Wants You To Forget About Cowboy Bebop For a Bit appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) embracing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), all while a variation of the John Williams theme plays.

Yet, there is new footage in this teaser. Well, only new in the sense that we haven’t seen this particular scene from Superman before. But the ideas in the footage is old in the very best way, proving that James Gunn is going deep into DC and even pulp lore to create something special.

The teaser features extended footage of Krypto (perhaps because it debuted in front of the kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie), frolicking and being a normal dog before rescuing Superman. Krypto takes Superman to his Arctic hideaway the Fortress of Solitude, presented here with the crystalline design that John Barry made for the 1978 film.

But the most notable addition comes with the figures who tend to Superman, four humanoid machines with capes and shields.

Superman and robots may be new to the this film’s marketing, and indeed, to Superman movies in general. But they have a long history in the comics. In throughout the Silver Age, Superman often employed robot clones of himself, sometimes to throw off people who suspect his secret identity, and sometimes just to mess with Lois Lane.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, the robots tended to be more insect-like assistants who tended to the Fortress of Solitude. The movie version appears to combine the two approaches, as they appear to be caretakers of the Fortress with more spindly features, but they still sport the shield and capes of their masters.

However, the whole idea of robotic assistants and a hidden fortress goes back even further than the Silver Age, even before Superman even started the superhero comic book genre with Action Comics #1 in 1938. They are concepts Superman inherited from pulp novels and magazines, high adventure stories about people with remarkable powers, who sometimes put on costumes and took on alter egos.

In particular, they come from the adventures of Doc Savage, created by Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and Lester Dent, and debuting in 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. Dubbed the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage was a genius mathematician, scientist, and adventurer, who fought evildoers with the help of his team of experts. Savage operated mostly out of his office on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, but also had a secret arctic hideout called the Fortress of Solitude.

To be clear, Doc Savage didn’t fill his Fortress with robots. But in the 1935 novel The Fantastic Island, Savage employs Robbie the Robot as a synthetic double to confound his enemies, just like Superman would do two decades later. But he did fill it with his assistants and aids, a common trope found in fellow pulp heroes such as Zorro, Tarzan, and the Shadow.

Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alter that trope for the first adventures of their hero, using Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent and his friendship with Lois Lane as an alternative to the band of experts on which the pulp heroes relied. But the trope soon resurfaced, with Superman not only getting help from his pal Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White (both additions from the radio show The Adventures of Superman), but also with fellow heroes Batman and the Justice Society of America.

More importantly for the James Gunn movie, writer Grant Morrison strengthened the connections between Superman and the pulp heroes. The robots seen in the film come directly from Morrison’s All-Star Superman, which features the Man of Steel completing heroic tasks before his death and creating new scientific wonders in his lab, plot points common to the pulp era. Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, which features a team-up that Gunn’s movie will replicate, reimagines Superman as an explicitly in the style of Doc Savage (or even Alan Moore‘s homage Tom Strong), complete with ever-present work gloves and a commitment to scientific exploration. And, of course, the robots are there again to help him.

As this brief history shows, the robots aren’t just a cool detail from the comics. They are part of a longer tradition of genre fiction, one that Gunn clearly loves. By situating Superman within this lineage, Gunn shows that he’s not just performing another cynical task of IP-mining. He’s celebrating a genre, remembering its past while moving forward.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains spoilers for A Minecraft Movie. “There was no joy or creativity at all!” That’s how protagonist Steve (Jack Black) describes the Nether, a dark underworld introduced during the mandatory and expository voiceover that opens A Minecraft Movie. Of course, that description also describes A Minecraft Movie itself, a slog of IP-driven nonsense […]

The post Minecraft: 4 Reasons This Video Game Movie Is the Worst Kind of IP-Moviemaking appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) embracing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), all while a variation of the John Williams theme plays.

Yet, there is new footage in this teaser. Well, only new in the sense that we haven’t seen this particular scene from Superman before. But the ideas in the footage is old in the very best way, proving that James Gunn is going deep into DC and even pulp lore to create something special.

The teaser features extended footage of Krypto (perhaps because it debuted in front of the kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie), frolicking and being a normal dog before rescuing Superman. Krypto takes Superman to his Arctic hideaway the Fortress of Solitude, presented here with the crystalline design that John Barry made for the 1978 film.

But the most notable addition comes with the figures who tend to Superman, four humanoid machines with capes and shields.

Superman and robots may be new to the this film’s marketing, and indeed, to Superman movies in general. But they have a long history in the comics. In throughout the Silver Age, Superman often employed robot clones of himself, sometimes to throw off people who suspect his secret identity, and sometimes just to mess with Lois Lane.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, the robots tended to be more insect-like assistants who tended to the Fortress of Solitude. The movie version appears to combine the two approaches, as they appear to be caretakers of the Fortress with more spindly features, but they still sport the shield and capes of their masters.

However, the whole idea of robotic assistants and a hidden fortress goes back even further than the Silver Age, even before Superman even started the superhero comic book genre with Action Comics #1 in 1938. They are concepts Superman inherited from pulp novels and magazines, high adventure stories about people with remarkable powers, who sometimes put on costumes and took on alter egos.

In particular, they come from the adventures of Doc Savage, created by Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and Lester Dent, and debuting in 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. Dubbed the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage was a genius mathematician, scientist, and adventurer, who fought evildoers with the help of his team of experts. Savage operated mostly out of his office on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, but also had a secret arctic hideout called the Fortress of Solitude.

To be clear, Doc Savage didn’t fill his Fortress with robots. But in the 1935 novel The Fantastic Island, Savage employs Robbie the Robot as a synthetic double to confound his enemies, just like Superman would do two decades later. But he did fill it with his assistants and aids, a common trope found in fellow pulp heroes such as Zorro, Tarzan, and the Shadow.

Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alter that trope for the first adventures of their hero, using Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent and his friendship with Lois Lane as an alternative to the band of experts on which the pulp heroes relied. But the trope soon resurfaced, with Superman not only getting help from his pal Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White (both additions from the radio show The Adventures of Superman), but also with fellow heroes Batman and the Justice Society of America.

More importantly for the James Gunn movie, writer Grant Morrison strengthened the connections between Superman and the pulp heroes. The robots seen in the film come directly from Morrison’s All-Star Superman, which features the Man of Steel completing heroic tasks before his death and creating new scientific wonders in his lab, plot points common to the pulp era. Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, which features a team-up that Gunn’s movie will replicate, reimagines Superman as an explicitly in the style of Doc Savage (or even Alan Moore‘s homage Tom Strong), complete with ever-present work gloves and a commitment to scientific exploration. And, of course, the robots are there again to help him.

As this brief history shows, the robots aren’t just a cool detail from the comics. They are part of a longer tradition of genre fiction, one that Gunn clearly loves. By situating Superman within this lineage, Gunn shows that he’s not just performing another cynical task of IP-mining. He’s celebrating a genre, remembering its past while moving forward.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

CinemaCon, the largest and most important gathering for the worldwide movie theater and exhibition industry, just concluded its nearly week-long festivities in Las Vegas. In that Nevada oasis there were exclusive Hollywood presentations which debuted a slate of upcoming films, premieres and surprise feature screenings, stars, producers, and directors—all there to celebrate the moviegoing experience. […]

The post From Superman to Wicked and The Running Man: The Coolest Things We Saw at CinemaCon appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) embracing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), all while a variation of the John Williams theme plays.

Yet, there is new footage in this teaser. Well, only new in the sense that we haven’t seen this particular scene from Superman before. But the ideas in the footage is old in the very best way, proving that James Gunn is going deep into DC and even pulp lore to create something special.

The teaser features extended footage of Krypto (perhaps because it debuted in front of the kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie), frolicking and being a normal dog before rescuing Superman. Krypto takes Superman to his Arctic hideaway the Fortress of Solitude, presented here with the crystalline design that John Barry made for the 1978 film.

But the most notable addition comes with the figures who tend to Superman, four humanoid machines with capes and shields.

Superman and robots may be new to the this film’s marketing, and indeed, to Superman movies in general. But they have a long history in the comics. In throughout the Silver Age, Superman often employed robot clones of himself, sometimes to throw off people who suspect his secret identity, and sometimes just to mess with Lois Lane.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, the robots tended to be more insect-like assistants who tended to the Fortress of Solitude. The movie version appears to combine the two approaches, as they appear to be caretakers of the Fortress with more spindly features, but they still sport the shield and capes of their masters.

However, the whole idea of robotic assistants and a hidden fortress goes back even further than the Silver Age, even before Superman even started the superhero comic book genre with Action Comics #1 in 1938. They are concepts Superman inherited from pulp novels and magazines, high adventure stories about people with remarkable powers, who sometimes put on costumes and took on alter egos.

In particular, they come from the adventures of Doc Savage, created by Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and Lester Dent, and debuting in 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. Dubbed the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage was a genius mathematician, scientist, and adventurer, who fought evildoers with the help of his team of experts. Savage operated mostly out of his office on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, but also had a secret arctic hideout called the Fortress of Solitude.

To be clear, Doc Savage didn’t fill his Fortress with robots. But in the 1935 novel The Fantastic Island, Savage employs Robbie the Robot as a synthetic double to confound his enemies, just like Superman would do two decades later. But he did fill it with his assistants and aids, a common trope found in fellow pulp heroes such as Zorro, Tarzan, and the Shadow.

Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alter that trope for the first adventures of their hero, using Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent and his friendship with Lois Lane as an alternative to the band of experts on which the pulp heroes relied. But the trope soon resurfaced, with Superman not only getting help from his pal Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White (both additions from the radio show The Adventures of Superman), but also with fellow heroes Batman and the Justice Society of America.

More importantly for the James Gunn movie, writer Grant Morrison strengthened the connections between Superman and the pulp heroes. The robots seen in the film come directly from Morrison’s All-Star Superman, which features the Man of Steel completing heroic tasks before his death and creating new scientific wonders in his lab, plot points common to the pulp era. Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, which features a team-up that Gunn’s movie will replicate, reimagines Superman as an explicitly in the style of Doc Savage (or even Alan Moore‘s homage Tom Strong), complete with ever-present work gloves and a commitment to scientific exploration. And, of course, the robots are there again to help him.

As this brief history shows, the robots aren’t just a cool detail from the comics. They are part of a longer tradition of genre fiction, one that Gunn clearly loves. By situating Superman within this lineage, Gunn shows that he’s not just performing another cynical task of IP-mining. He’s celebrating a genre, remembering its past while moving forward.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and […]

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

Some might complain that the sneak peek for Superman doesn’t actually let us peek anything new. It begins with Superman crashing into the snow and calling for his dog Krypto, just like the trailer released a few months earlier. It continues with a montage of scenes, including shots of superheroes such as Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) embracing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), all while a variation of the John Williams theme plays.

Yet, there is new footage in this teaser. Well, only new in the sense that we haven’t seen this particular scene from Superman before. But the ideas in the footage is old in the very best way, proving that James Gunn is going deep into DC and even pulp lore to create something special.

The teaser features extended footage of Krypto (perhaps because it debuted in front of the kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie), frolicking and being a normal dog before rescuing Superman. Krypto takes Superman to his Arctic hideaway the Fortress of Solitude, presented here with the crystalline design that John Barry made for the 1978 film.

But the most notable addition comes with the figures who tend to Superman, four humanoid machines with capes and shields.

Superman and robots may be new to the this film’s marketing, and indeed, to Superman movies in general. But they have a long history in the comics. In throughout the Silver Age, Superman often employed robot clones of himself, sometimes to throw off people who suspect his secret identity, and sometimes just to mess with Lois Lane.

Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, the robots tended to be more insect-like assistants who tended to the Fortress of Solitude. The movie version appears to combine the two approaches, as they appear to be caretakers of the Fortress with more spindly features, but they still sport the shield and capes of their masters.

However, the whole idea of robotic assistants and a hidden fortress goes back even further than the Silver Age, even before Superman even started the superhero comic book genre with Action Comics #1 in 1938. They are concepts Superman inherited from pulp novels and magazines, high adventure stories about people with remarkable powers, who sometimes put on costumes and took on alter egos.

In particular, they come from the adventures of Doc Savage, created by Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic, and Lester Dent, and debuting in 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. Dubbed the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage was a genius mathematician, scientist, and adventurer, who fought evildoers with the help of his team of experts. Savage operated mostly out of his office on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, but also had a secret arctic hideout called the Fortress of Solitude.

To be clear, Doc Savage didn’t fill his Fortress with robots. But in the 1935 novel The Fantastic Island, Savage employs Robbie the Robot as a synthetic double to confound his enemies, just like Superman would do two decades later. But he did fill it with his assistants and aids, a common trope found in fellow pulp heroes such as Zorro, Tarzan, and the Shadow.

Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster alter that trope for the first adventures of their hero, using Superman’s secret identity as Clark Kent and his friendship with Lois Lane as an alternative to the band of experts on which the pulp heroes relied. But the trope soon resurfaced, with Superman not only getting help from his pal Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White (both additions from the radio show The Adventures of Superman), but also with fellow heroes Batman and the Justice Society of America.

More importantly for the James Gunn movie, writer Grant Morrison strengthened the connections between Superman and the pulp heroes. The robots seen in the film come directly from Morrison’s All-Star Superman, which features the Man of Steel completing heroic tasks before his death and creating new scientific wonders in his lab, plot points common to the pulp era. Morrison’s Superman and the Authority, which features a team-up that Gunn’s movie will replicate, reimagines Superman as an explicitly in the style of Doc Savage (or even Alan Moore‘s homage Tom Strong), complete with ever-present work gloves and a commitment to scientific exploration. And, of course, the robots are there again to help him.

As this brief history shows, the robots aren’t just a cool detail from the comics. They are part of a longer tradition of genre fiction, one that Gunn clearly loves. By situating Superman within this lineage, Gunn shows that he’s not just performing another cynical task of IP-mining. He’s celebrating a genre, remembering its past while moving forward.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.

The post New Superman Trailer Reveals How Deep into Pulp Origins James Gunn Is Diving appeared first on Den of Geek.

Looking for more hospital intrigue after Max’s The Pitt? Netflix medical drama Pulse follows the doctors and nurses of Miami’s Maguire Medical Center as they deal with an impending hurricane and the explosive relational drama that push the limits of what this staff can handle. But no matter what may hit the hospital from within […]

The post Pulse Cast: Meet the Doctors and Nurses from Netflix’s Miami Medical Drama appeared first on Den of Geek.

A Minecraft Movie has arrived bringing the Overworld to the moviegoing masses. The family friendly romp follows siblings Henry (Sebastian Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers) and their animal-loving realtor Dawn (Danielle Brooks). and the video-game-obsessive Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa) as they’re sucked into the magical mines of the Overworld and into an adventure that they’ll never forget. For here they will meet the legend they call… Steve (Jack Black).

We chatted to the cast and creators of the film at an awesome event in Los Angeles that threw us directly into the mines, the vegetable gardens, and the terrifying zombies that inhabit the cubed world of the game and movie. Adapting that universe to the screen was no mean feat, especially as what has made the game so successful is the never ending possibilities it presents, something that director Jared Hess is keenly aware of. 

“The cool thing about the game is that it is an open world, and there’s no story to it, so everybody that plays it brings their own imagination, their own story to what they’re doing, Hess shares. “So we wanted to have that same approach as we developed the film and really everybody involved, from the writers to the producers and the design team, we just wanted to bring what we love about the game to the film and really celebrate it.” 

Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the senior director of original Minecraft content, agreed: “It’s been there for people in moments of joy and grief and even bringing people together like families and connecting friends across continents.” he says. “It is definitely challenging, because to some people, it’s just a very serious zombie survival game, and it should be approached as such. And to others, it’s like a colorful free-for-all where you just throw a bunch of blocks.” 

He continues. “That’s why it’s called A Minecraft Movie. This is the Jared Hess vision-version of it. Even Steve is almost like faceless, a blank slate when you play Steve or Alex or any other characters, because they embody kind of what you do as a player. So people are saying, ‘Hey, that’s just Jack Black wearing a blue shirt.’ But this is Jack Black’s Steve taken to 11.”

While the film is just one of many stories that could take place inside of Minecraft, the crew was still aware that you had to bring the easter eggs, nods, and creatures that fans love so much to the big screen. This includes the terrifying Enderman who star Jack Black was particularly excited to tease. “He’s legit the scariest creature in Minecraft, and I think we did a really good job of capturing that thing. You can’t look him in the eye,” Jack Black says. “In our movie you do see what happens when you look an Enderman in the eye…”

Those terrifying moments make A Minecraft Movie stand out, playing with the fears we have as children, and the ways that films can help us learn our boundaries. For Jason Momoa, the film that scarred him as a kid is still shaping his capacity for horror today.

“I’m terrified,” Momoa laughs. “I still f*#*ing hate clowns. I should have listened to my mother. Mama was like, ‘Do not watch It.’ Went and watched it at her friend’s house. I looked at shower drains [afterward], and I still kind of look at shower drains a little bit weird. At the gutters, my skateboard went down that shit. I was like, ‘it’s gone.’” 

Luckily A Minecraft Movie isn’t that kind of scary, but Momoa is already contemplating how this film will change his life and the way that he interacts with fans just like It changed his life as a little kid. “It’s gonna be crazy too. Like obviously kids come up to you and your movies and things that you’ve done, like Kung Fu Panda,” Momoa says to Black. “But it’s the first time I’m experiencing it. I did Aquaman where people were like, ‘Oh my gosh  you’re a superhero!’ But this, I don’t even know what’s gonna happen, because there are going to be three year olds. Everyone’s gonna see this movie. It’s just fun for them to watch, obviously, I’m getting my butt kicked. He’s kicking butt. So it’s great to watch.” 
Black agrees, having a revelation of his own. “It’s already generational, because kids who started playing it when they were teenagers, like 14 or 15, they could very well have kids of their own now, because it’s 15 years later. They’re 29 or 30 years old. There will be Minecraft parents and their kids coming to this movie. It’s kind of cool.”

The post Jason Momoa and Jack Black Are Stoked for Your Kids to Watch Minecraft appeared first on Den of Geek.