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Movie Review: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 21:30:18 +0000

New beginnings bring new excitement, but also new challenges. Such is the takeaway vibe I got from our advance screening of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ the kickoff for Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Let’s be clear from the get-go: Marvel has been giving us entertaining, high-quality films for a long time now. Almost 25 years, across dozens of television series, along with short films and literature tie-ins… this juggernaut is no slouch. Unfortunately, every entry into the series can’t be a home run – and that’s where we need to have some “real talk” about ‘Quantumania.’ The story itself is right in line with what viewers have been given across the over-arching MCU narrative to date: things on Earth appear to be “settling in” a bit post-Blip (although, frustratingly, ‘Quantumania’ still does not reference anything to do with the giant stone Eternal that is now sticking out of the Earth, half-stuck, as shown in the climax of ‘The Eternals,’ with this new film believed to be the 11th property to take place in the MCU timeline set after those events with absolutely zero remarks or tie-ins to it). The story does reference The Blip, of course, as […]

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First Look at Black Adam Suit and Hawkman Helmet in Leaked Set Photos

Ally Miller — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:12:50 +0000

Black Adam fans are getting their first possible look at Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s costume in leaked behind-the-scenes images of the actor’s suit posted to Twitter last night. The leaked images not only include Black Adam’s suit but also show images of the classic Hawkman helmet fans are familiar with from the comics. The costume has similarities to the one worn by Zachary Levi in Shazam!, which would make sense as both superheroes, while rivals, draw their powers from the same source. Where this is our first peek into Black Adam’s suit, we surely can expect to see more to come at the upcoming DC FanDome event later this month. So what do you think of the first images of Black Adam’s suit and Hawkman’s helmet? Let us know in the comments below! Black Adam is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 29, 2022.

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Scarlet Witch Unleashes The Magic Of The Darkhold On The Marvel Universe

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 20:19:58 +0000

The Darkhold has a long and storied history in the Marvel Universe – both in the comics, where it was first introduced back in June 1972 in the pages of Marvel Spotlight #4, and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where it has appeared canonically in ‘WandaVision’ and as well as the tangential TV series ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and ‘Runaways.’ Before we see the book next on-screen – likely in next year’s ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ – this Fall, Marvel Comics will feature the dark tome in a series of one-shot special-issue stories, featuring characters from across the pages of the company’s various titles. Written by long-time comics writer Steve Orlando, the tale will start with the self-titled Darkhold Alpha #1 before moving from character to character via their own special issues. Details of the story are being kept mostly under wraps, but Marvel does tell us that both the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom will try (and apparently fail to some degree) to contain the Darkhold from wreaking it’s magical destruction across the Marvel Universe. The company was kind enough to share the covers to two of the upcoming special issues, Darkhold: Iron Man #1 and Darkhold: Blade #1, as well […]

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Sony Has Given Us A Second Trailer For ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 15:15:20 +0000

The sequel to 2018’s Tom Hardy-ed ‘Venom,’ titled ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage,’ is heading to theaters sometime later this year – Sony’s official press releases say “this Fall,’ but a precise date remains surprisingly unannounced. Nevertheless, the fine folks at the studio have graced us with a second trailer to view, following up on the first trailer released earlier this year. The first film grossed $856 million at the worldwide box office, making it’s profit estimated around $247 million and being one of the better financial successes of the 2018 theatrical releases. Of course, here in 2021 we find ourselves in a slightly different world in terms of theater-going and in-person entertainment, so it remains to be seen how this sequel will fare on the big screens – and this uncertainly could possibly be part of what is holding Sony back from announcing an official release date for the film. Regardless, the movie itself seems ready to rock, and if the new trailer is any indication, Woody Harrelson is ready to wreak some havoc in the sub-titular role of Carnage, aka Cletus Kasady Gone seems to be the curly-red wig Cletus donned in the credits scene of ‘Venom,’ […]

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New Horror Series ‘Basilisk’ Coming From Comic Book Stalwarts Cullen Bunn And Jonas Scharf

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 10 May 2021 18:05:12 +0000

New horror tales can sometimes be a mixed bag, but it’s undeniable that the genre routinely puts forth some of the most unique and original stories of any area of entertainment today. So when a new idea comes around, it’s wise for fans to give it, whatever “it” may be, a good look. News came over the weekend about ‘Basilisk,’ a new horror-themed comic-book series coming next month from BOOM! Studios and long-time industry creator Cullen Bunn. Those who follow comics will recognize Bunn’s name from his work on such previous properties as the X-Men, Deadpool, Aquaman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Green Lantern, Moon Knight, and more. Bunn is also the creator of several comic series, most notably Harrow County, Bone Parish, and Dark Ark. With acclaimed artist Jonas Scharf handling the interior visuals, the series is front-loaded with enough star power for readers to get their money’s worth. As for the details of the story itself, here is the “official” synopsis from BOOM! Studios: Who Can Stop The Chimera? Five individuals bound by a cult-like hivemind, they terrorize small towns with their horrifying, supernatural sense-based powers, leaving death and destruction in their wake. Regan, one of the Chimera, escaped […]

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Giant Robot Sci-Fi Graphic Novel ‘The Monuments’ Funded On Kickstarter In First 12 Hours

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 15:05:55 +0000

There’s just something captivating about giant robots, isn’t there? From Voltron to Power Rangers, from MechaGodzilla to the Jaegers of “Pacific Rim,” from The Iron Giant to MegaMaid of “Spaceballs” fame – audiences know and love (or love to hate) these super-sized weapons of destruction. The giant mechanical wonders seem to prove most exciting when operational and allowed to be out and about smashing things – which makes the premise of the forthcoming graphic novel “The Monuments” all the more intriguing. You see, in “The Monuments,” the giant robots are inert; they have been for several hundred years, after they tried to destroy the world and were all mysteriously shut down at the last moment. Society has moved forward around them, literally and figuratively… which makes things extra challenging when one of the gargantuan mechanoids starts to come back to life. Currently moving through the motions on Kickstarter, any and all backers of “The Monuments” will be in luck, as they have a guaranteed success story on their hands: the project was fully funded in its first 12 hours. It’s an impressive feat for any project, particularly a graphic novel on a smaller, more independent scale. The book itself will […]

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The God Of Mischief Is ’10 Steps Ahead Of You’ In The New ‘Loki’ Trailer & Photos

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 14:54:31 +0000

Even with the success of the now-complete ‘WandaVision’ series and the in-progress ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ series, Disney isn’t resting on their laurels or taking it easy when it comes to the future success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its forays into interconnected televised content. As a perfect example: coming hot on the heels of ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ after that series concludes is the series that may be the most eagerly anticipated of all the Marvel small-screen work, the Tom Hiddleston-led ‘Loki’ mini-series. Seeming to pick up Loki’s story pretty much immediately following when audiences last saw him – opportunistically stealing the Tesseract during the time-hopping chaos of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ – the God of Mischief looks to have gotten himself mixed up with the Time Variance Authority (TVA). The TVA appears to function as a sort of space-time regulatory force, and from the hints we’ve been given so far, it would seem that Loki’s action have caused some temporal ripples that need ironed out, with the god’s semi-unwilling assistance, of course. From Disney, the “official” description of the series is as follows: Watch Loki—the imperious God of Mischief—who, after absconding with the Tesseract, is a fish-out-of-water when he […]

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You’ll Never Believe Which Marvel Comics Villain Is Getting Married

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 15:29:20 +0000

Our apologies for the click-bait-ish headline, but this announcement from Marvel really did catch us off guard. Of all the characters in the long-running comic-book company’s mythos to tie the knot, perennial Fantastic Four foil Victor Von Doom would be fairly low on our list of guesses – yet here we are, with the ruler of the fictitious country of Latveria getting ready to say “I do.” As if that wasn’t enough, the FF will be present at the wedding, along with other big-name guest stars like Black Panther and Prince Namor! Here’s a few key advance details, directly from our friends at Marvel: This June, writer Dan Slott and artist R.B. Silva invite readers to attend the nuptials of Victor Von Doom and his most devoted and noble subject, Victorious in FANTASTIC FOUR #33. The second chapter in the upcoming “BRIDE OF DOOM” arc, FANTASTIC FOUR #33 will feature guest stars galore such as Prince Namor and Black Panther and pack a gut punch of an ending that no one will see coming. Just in time for the 60th anniversary of Marvel’s First Family, “THE BRIDE OF DOOM” arc is just the latest thrill ride in Slott and Silva’s […]

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Marvel Comics Announces Their New ‘Space Age’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 18:30:33 +0000

While 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic weren’t exactly kind to the film industry, with many films seeing their release dates bumped an entire year or more in order to accommodate audiences being able to safely return to theaters, the realm of the comic book was able to keep plugging on, largely with business as usual. Marvel Comics, the inspiration for the widely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe and its groupings of movies and TV shows, has kept fresh stories coming forth featuring readers’ favorite characters; now they have announced that, in just a few short months, some of the world’s greatest superheroes will be entering a “new Space Age” of their own. Directly from Marvel: For Earth, there are the Avengers. For everywhere else, there’s the Guardians of the Galaxy. This April, writer Al Ewing teams up with artist Juan Frigeri for a new arc of his epic run on GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. The double-sized milestone 175th issue, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #13, will introduce the book’s new lineup, reveal the Guardian’s bold new mission, and welcome readers to Marvel’s new space age! They were soldiers, misfits, mercenaries, thieves and a family. They were heroes… but times have changed. The […]

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Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984

Dave Taylor — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 03:04:57 +0000

I really wanted to love the new Wonder Woman movie. After all, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) is a fun and engaging character, particularly in her super-powered Wonder Woman guise. She’s a superhero with heart and compassion, quick to stop the bad guys but just as likely to help a child regain their lost soccer ball or favorite toy. The first film, 2017’s Wonder Woman, was mostly great fun with General Ludendorff (Danny Houston) a suitably epic antagonist that made for a dramatic showdown and goofy but lovable Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) as her love interest. It’s no longer World War I, however, it’s 1984 and the tail end of the Cold War. In Wonder Woman 1984 Diana is an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institute when she’s not donning her trademark outfit and zipping about DC rescuing women from being hit by speeding cars or tossed off bridges. Her new colleague Barbara Ann Minerva (Kristen Wiig) is envious of Diana’s presence, self-confidence and beauty; she’s a bit of a clumsy goof that people tend to ignore. A shipment of antiques arrives from the FBI with the request that the Smithsonian help identify the individual pieces. Chief among them is a crystal […]

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Exclusive Clip: ‘Dune Drifter’

Mike Phalin — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 14:00:01 +0000

Indie movies are going to be our saviors from boredom as the pandemic slowly approaches its one-year anniversary. While major studios are trying to churn out the blockbusters we miss, the independent filmmakers out there are filling in the vacant spaces with some unique and thankfully original features. One such film features Phoebe Sparrow of ‘Downton Abby’ and Simon Dwyer from ‘Jack Ryan’. This film by Marc Price is a sci-fi flick called ‘Dune Drifter’. We were gifted this exclusive clip of the film showing off some claustrophobia-inducing drama. Check it out below. ‘Dune Drifter’ is coming to digital, VOD, and DVD on December 1st, 2020. Pre-orders are currently being taken on Amazon. Synopsis: During an ongoing battle for humanity, a group of rookie space fighter pilots is sent to join the battle against an armada of unbeatable enemy ships. When the trainee pilot and her gunner are shot down, they manage to crash land on a nearby planet. With the gunner mortally wounded and her own life support only set to last two days, our pilot’s only option is to fix her ship. The sudden appearance of an enemy craft offers the answer, but as the pilot looks for […]

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Comic Archive: ‘Star Trek the Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation²

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:40:30 +0000

Welcome to the Comic Archive! There have been so many amazing stories, characters, and series produced from comic book publishers for almost 100 years now; this column will serve to celebrate some of the tales you may or may not know about. Each week, we’ll take a story arc or trade paperback/collected story from a non-new comic (three years old or further back), and discuss the details with you. Ah, the time-honored tradition of the crossover. In the pop-culture world, it’s a way – sometimes, fun and cheeky, sometimes dubious and world-threatening – of bringing together characters, properties, or worlds from two or more franchises to let them interact, collaborate, fight, etc. It’s usually an affair to remember – hopefully for the right reasons, because it was so darned cool, but sometimes it’s for infamous “OMG that didn’t work what the Hell were they thinking” reasons instead. In 2012, comic-book publisher IDW decided it was high time to combine two of their most high-profile sci-fi properties for a feature event: ‘Star Trek The Next Generation’ and ‘Doctor Who.’ IDW is no stranger to mashing-up two or more of their series, as they routinely do with many of their licensed […]

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James Gunn: Here’s How ‘The Suicide Squad’ Will Connect to 2016’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Film

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:13:34 +0000

In an exclusive new interview with Empire Magazine, James Gunn takes the opportunity to speak about his newest movie, next year’s DC tent-pole offering ‘The Suicide Squad,’ and the director also chats about his previous work including the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ films and the bumpy road he’s had facing some serious online backlash on his sometimes-insensitive public-posting past. It’s Empire’s December 2020 issue, and it’s available digitally and on newsstands starting on October 29th. While we here at ScienceFiction.com have long thought that Gunn could “direct the heck out of” several DC properties, he landed on ‘The Suicide Squad,’ first as the writer for the film and shortly afterwards becoming the director as well. As for the 2016 film version of ‘Suicide Squad,’ directed by David Ayer, Gunn had the following to say in his interview: “Listen, David Ayer’s gotten trouble for the movie. I know it didn’t come out how David wanted it to come out. But he did one really, really great thing, and that is he picked fantastic actors to work with, and he dealt with these actors in building their characters in a really deep and fearless way. It’s something David definitely deserves to be […]

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The First Teaser Trailer For Robert Kirkman’s ‘Invincible’ Has Arrived

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 19:39:25 +0000

Robert Kirkman is known to many pop-culture fans as the man who created ‘The Walking Dead’ (technically co-created with artist and longtime collaborator Tony Moore), the Image Comics comic-book series that spawned a hugely successful TV show that is still running into its eleventh season on AMC – and which, in turn, has spawned several other series spin-offs as well. Before ‘The Walking Dead,’ however, Kirkman and artist Cory Walker co-created another title for Image: the son-of-a-famous-superhero-gets-powers-of-his-own tale ‘Invincible,’ and it was a massive hit. Praised as a more realistic take on a superhero story, the series ran for 144 issues from 2003 to 2018. Once set to be adapted into a feature film, ‘Invincible’ finds life as an adult-oriented animated series on Amazon’s Prime Video, coming to audiences next year in what’s reported to be an hour-long each, 8-episode first season. The voice cast for the new series is impressively long, and reads as a “who’s who” of genre stalwarts mixed with several mainstays of ‘The Walking Dead’ TV series. Ranging from recurring roles to one-off appearances, the announced cast includes Steven Yeun as Mark Grayson/Invincible, J. K. Simmons as Nolan Grayson/Omni-Man, Sandra Oh as Debbie Grayson, Mark Hamill […]

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Benedict Cumberbatch Is Officially Bringing Doctor Strange To ‘Spider-Man 3’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 20:46:16 +0000

Things just keep getting more interesting for the next film installment of everyone’s friendly neighborhood web-slinger. Hot on the heels of the recent news that Jamie Foxx will be reprising his franchise-jumping role of Electro in ‘Spider-Man 3,’ news has broken today that Benedict Cumberbatch will appear as Doctor Strange in the film as well – and his appearance could potentially serve as an explanation of sorts for Electro’s presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Foxx’s Electro appeared once on-screen, in 2014’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2.’ This, of course, is not the direct sequel to the upcoming Spider-Man film, but rather the end of Sony’s failed attempt to bring Spidey back to the big screen with Andrew Garfield in the lead role. Sony does still own the rights to Spider-Man and related characters, but they have struck a deal with Marvel to incorporate the hero, now portrayed on-screen by Tom Holland, into the MCU. The deal was at risk of expiring late last year, but the two companies worked it out, and Marvel is now set to produce ‘Spider-Man 3,’ the first film in this trilogy which they will be so doing. So, that’s a long-winded way to say that Foxx’s […]

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