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Pluto's Atmosphere Is Dying, Showing Us How Earth May Eventually Die

4 years 11 months ago

 


Poor Pluto can't seem to catch a break! Scientists have realised that the dwarf planet in our solar system is undergoing changes that are causing Pluto's atmosphere to disappear.

Situated 4.8 billion kilometres away from Earth, the icy planet became observable to scientists when it crossed paths with a star in 2018. As it moved in front of the star, Pluto appeared backlit, offering scientists a glimpse into the planet's physical properties.

The research, undertaken by a pool of scientists including many from the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), claims that Pluto's icy atmosphere is slowly dying. They assessed Pluto using telescopes situated in the United States and Mexico.


What is happening to Pluto's atmosphere?

Pluto's atmosphere, much like Earth is made of nitrogen and is supported by icy vapours on the dwarf's surface. Now, the ice is thickening. The thickening of ice is caused by the distance between our Sun and Pluto, which has steadily increased in the last two and a half decades.

As Pluto becomes even more uninhabitable, the dwarf planet's atmosphere is refreezing and becoming part of its surface. With temperatures dipping constantly, Pluto will get ever cooler as its orbit around the Sun changes. Then, the dwarf will witness a sudden closeness to the Sun in some parts of its orbit.

When Pluto was closer to the Sun, it received more heat than it does now. But like all things in the universe, the heat is disappearing. Owing to this, the atmosphere will freeze and become one with Pluto's surface, effectively disappearing.

A 2 minute observation of Pluto gave it away

With readings from Pluto's 2018 brush with a bright star, the scientists were able to figure out the density of Pluto's atmosphere. They observed the dwarf for 2 minutes when Pluto came in front of the star.

In the absence of an atmosphere, Pluto will become even icier and desolate from conditions that may have birthed life. Essentially, the more cold it becomes, the lesser is the scope of potential life on Pluto.

If Earth lost its atmosphere, all creatures and plants on the planet would die. Only a few microbes would survive. Tell us what you'd do in case the Earth's atmosphere suddenly died off.

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Facebook’s New $10 Million Fund Will Pay Creators To Make VR Content

4 years 11 months ago

 Facebook plans to shell out some serious cash to get creators making content on its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds.

The social media giant this week announced it’s put together a $10 million Creator Fund that will disburse to content creators and developers over the next year.

Horizon Worlds (recently rebranded from its original name, just plain Horizon) is essentially an ultramodern version of computer game Second Life, where users interact with one another in shared virtual spaces using customized avatars. It’s been in development since at least 2019, and is currently in invite-only beta.


Horizon Worlds’ biggest selling point is that users can create their own shared spaces–everything from virtual bars and grocery stores to floating meditation gardens to islands filled with carnival games.

And Facebook, of course, wants more and more people to create their own virtual worlds and bring other people into them (especially considering Horizon Worlds can only be accessed using devices from Facebook subsidiary Oculus). That’s where the Creator Fund comes in.

The $10 million will pay out in three key areas.

First, later this year, Horizon Worlds is kicking up Community Competitions, which will “reward people building the very best worlds in Horizon and who are taking advantage of the tools we have to offer,” the Oculus team said in a company blog post.

Community Competition winners, second-placers, and third-placers will receive up to $10,000 each.

Second, an unspecified portion of the funding will go to the Facebook Horizon Creator Accelerator Program. That initiative quietly accepted its first creators in early 2020, and wrapped up the inaugural class last month. According to Oculus, the program is “designed to give people from diverse backgrounds an advanced crash course in Horizon Worlds” plus “a unique opportunity to attain the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in a professional environment.”

Facebook is opening applications for the second accelerator class in November.

Last up, some funds will go to some external developers, studios, and creators who create themed worlds and “experiences” in partnership with Facebook. What that looks like in practice: Earlier this year, Oculus worked with numerous creators to make “cooperative mini-games that are easy to learn and hard to master for two to four players,” it says.

Creators interested in getting a slice of the funding will have to apply to join Horizon Worlds’ closed beta.

Facebook has not said when Horizon Worlds will open to the public. At one point, it was tentatively expected to release this year, but back in January, Facebook’s Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth said it was definitively not ready for debut.

“I think we finally got all the technical work in place,” Bosworth told CNET. “Now we’ve gotta actually jumpstart the experience and make it something that’s vibrant. […] If you don’t have something driving a lot of people to the place, then you run the risk they’re not going to get it. Horizon needs to fit that vision where it’s really VR for everybody.”

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Google Play Store gets Material You dynamic colors on Android 12

4 years 11 months ago

 


Soon after showcasing its new Material You design language at I/O 2021, Google started rolling out design changes to its apps based on the new guidelines. With the Android 12 stable release for Google Pixels right around the corner, the company has significantly ramped up its Material You rollout. We’ve seen Material You updates recently for Google Assistant, Google Photos, Google Duo, and Google Drive. There have also been Material You updates for Google Keep, then Google Messages and Google Podcasts. Now it appears that the Google Play Store is the next to get Material You dynamic color theming on Android 12.

The update for the Google Play Store (via the Google News Telegram group) appears to be rolling out for some people now and supports dynamic colors. It’s apparently a server-side switch and may take a while to roll out to everyone, so the version of your Play Store app won’t make a difference. You can definitely make it more likely for you to get the update by making sure you’re on the latest version of the app, but that’s all you can do. I do not have the update on my Google Pixel 5 running the latest Android 12 beta.

For the uninitiated, Material You’s dynamic colors feature makes use of monet, a new theme engine introduced in Android 12 — and currently exclusive to Pixel phones — to extract colors from your wallpaper and generate a rich palette of pastel colors. Apps can then apply these colors to their UIs in various ways, which is what apps that incorporate Material You typically do. Dynamic color support is one of the most exciting things to come from Material You, as it makes each app’s design feel more personal. It also maintains consistency across apps and makes your smartphone experience feel more cohesive.

If you don’t have the update yet, don’t worry, you’ll likely get it soon.

Source: XDA Adam Conway

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Facebook apologizes for second outage in a week, services back up

4 years 11 months ago


 Facebook Inc apologized to users for a two-hour disruption to its services on Friday and blamed another faulty configuration change for its second global outage this week.

The company confirmed its social media platform, Instagram, Messenger and Workplace were impacted by the latest outage.

"Sincere apologies to anyone who wasn't able to access our products in the last couple of hours," the company said. "We fixed the issue, and everything should be back to normal now."

During the latest outage, some users were unable to load their Instagram feeds, while others were not able to send messages on Facebook Messenger.

People swiftly took to Twitter to share memes and jokes about the second service disruption this week. "Looks like Facebook went to a 3-day work week. Monday and Friday shutdowns?" a Twitter user said.

Instagram thanked users for their patience and "for all the memes this week".

On Monday, the social media giant blamed a "faulty configuration change" for a nearly six-hour outage that prevented the company's 3.5 billion users from accessing its social media and messaging services such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.

The outage on Monday was the largest that web monitoring group Downdetector had ever seen and blocked access to the apps for billions of users, leading to a surge in usage of rival social media and messaging apps.

Moscow officials said Monday's outage showed Russia was right to develop its own social media networks, while EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager highlighted the repercussions of relying on just a few big players, underscoring the need for more rivals.

Both the outages piled pressure on Facebook this week after a former employee turned whistleblower accused the company on Sunday of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation.

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Venom: Let There Be Carnage - Which Character Are You, Based On Your Zodiac Sign?

4 years 11 months ago

Picking up where Venom left off, Venom: Let There Be Carnage faces the wide-eyed symbiote with his greatest enemy: Carnage. First, though, Venom will have to come to terms with both his host body and his own place in the world.


Venom: Let There Be Carnage spends most of its time on the dynamic between Eddie Brock and Venom. However, there is still a wide array of both returning and new characters who can each be assigned one of the 12 signs on the astrological chart.

12 Aries - Cletus Kasady

The Aries is someone who gets angry so regularly that they forget why they became angry in the first place. Rams get bored without constant stimuli and will do just about anything if egged on. Cletus Kasady almost never stops getting angry.

Kasady says he's had a hard life (i.e. abuse from his grandmother and mother) but he doesn't know how to use his anger for positive means. The red-haired serial killer can come across as simple, like a constantly grinning child. His preferred stimulus is (fittingly) carnage, which he embraces frequently. Going to that prison cell was one of the worst decisions Eddie Brock has made. Had he stayed away from Kasady, the killer would never have been exposed to the symbiote which allows him to experience violence on a whole new level.

11 Taurus - Anne Weying

A Taurus is going to be happy with the status quo. They think logically and frequently find themselves rigidly adhering to a schedule. Because of this, the Bull is typically viewed as hard-headed. Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) is probably the only non-symbiote stubborn enough to be able to put up with Eddie Brock.

On top of being the most likable character in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Weying is a strictly logical thinker. Emotion hardly ever takes over with her and she can embrace potentially catastrophic situations with a clear head. This agency was seen in Venom and again in Venom: Let There Be Carnage (although with less screentime). 

10 Gemini - Venom

A twin can capture an entire room's attention with their voice. They have the mind of a Renaissance man, engaging in many topics. Lastly, a Gemini can flip any awkward conversation with a joke. All of these traits indicate someone who's great at a party. And, as seen in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Venom is great at a party.


A Renaissance man is someone who can tackle just about any task with a comparable level of efficiency. Venom has a child's curious mind and tends to give his best shot no matter the scenario. Venom also has the tendency to drop a joke in the middle of an argument, which deflates the tension between him and host: Eddie Brock. This occasionally results in some of Venom's most badass quotes.

9 Cancer - Dr. Dan Lewis

Crabs are extra sensitive to stimuli and frequently seek a safe environment. A Cancer will forgive a transgression, but never reach the point of forgetting it. They will put themselves in a vulnerable position for others often, but typically have one personal line that must not be crossed.

Dr. Dan Lewis (now the fiancé to Weying) doesn't have too much to do in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but when he does step into the spotlight it's for good reason. When his fiancée is kidnapped, this is when Dan puts his tension with Brock aside in favor of proactivity.

8 Leo - Carnage

When interacting with the Lion, a big personality should be expected. Leos are the creative type with both the desire and the ability to make an impression. Carnage makes an impression no matter which room he's in, even if the other occupants don't tend to leave it alive.

Carnage employs creative solutions in his terror (i.e. letting the other prisoners out during his/Kasady's jailbreak). Mostly, though, Carnage wants dominance. He wants to kill Venom (essentially his father) and bring harm to the world with impunity.

7 Virgo - Detective Mulligan

As long as there is an activity in progress, the Virgo will be fine. If they don't feel like their talents are being utilized, though, they'll shut down. Overall, the Virgo is a good-hearted fixer with a judgmental tone. Detective Mulligan is a fixer and is constantly on the move (while also using his talents on the job).


Mulligan gets a fair amount of Venom: Let There Be Carnage's narrative heft. He's responsible for Shriek losing her eye and at least partially responsible for Kasady's incarceration. Additionally, Mulligan seems like a man who only feels alive when he's wearing the badge.

6 Libra - Mrs. Chen

Scales are social butterflies that prefer a permanent sense of peace. A Libra likes to analyze every side of a conflict as opposed to just their own but has a hard time making decisions in times of stress. Mrs. Chen certainly engages in analysis, constantly criticizing Brock's latest decision or physical appearance every time he's in her store.

She is one of the very few people who know about Venom. Most would look at the situation with a frightened disposition; Mrs. Chen, however, looks at it from both Venom and Brock's viewpoints (realizing they need one another). Furthermore, Mrs. Chen seems perfectly content in her shop, providing her with a sense of peace.

5 Scorpio - Eddie Brock

The scorpion is content sitting silently in the back corner of the room. They'll kick back with their legs stretched out, seemingly uncaring about the opinions of others. However, if there's chemistry, the Scorpio's eyes will hold on and never let go. Eddie Brock doesn't have many close people in his life, but those who he loves he protects with everything in him.

Eddie Brock has changed since Venom, but he's yet to fully reach adulthood. He has difficulty expressing his feelings, especially to Weying (whom he still carries a torch for), but he can still captivate her with his gaze.

4 Sagittarius - Young Shriek

The Archer is emotional but has the drive to improve themselves. A Sagittarius uses their words like weapons but typically speaks in truth. They also have a tendency to question their worth.

The younger version of Shriek/Barrison is in only one scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but with that time it's clear that she speaks honestly. She's been beaten down by life and the cruel people within it. But with Kasady, she feels free to engage in open communication.

3 Capricorn - Dr. Pazzo

The Capricorn is the friend who seems older than their age would indicate. They are responsible and take their particular duty in life seriously. However, the Goat is initially cold to strangers and represses emotion in favor of career success. Dr. Pazzo, Shriek's main physician, isn't in the movie much but with the time provided it's obvious she's career-driven.


Pazzo is outright cold to everyone she meets. This is doubly applicable to Shriek, to whom Dr. Pazzo is especially cruel. She lacks emotion in all of her scenes, frequently with the steely reserve of someone focused on their career and productivity.

2 Aquarius - Frances Barrison / Shriek

The Water Bearer is uninterested in feelings. They are far more compelled to build a life composed of as much independence as possible. Natural, considering an Aquarius tends to feel like an outcast anyway.

Frances Barrison is utterly uninterested in spending her time with another human being, with the sole exception of Kassidy. Outside of Carnage, she's the movie's most anti-social character. Barrison (Shriek) is all about escaping from prison in favor of a life where she can do what she wants when she wants to do it.

1 Pisces - Young Cletus

A Fish has an odd way of seeming both wise and immature simultaneously. They frequently confuse reality for dreams and have the fast-beating heart of a romantic.

The younger version of Kasady is barely in Venom: Let There Be Carnage but it was obvious even at that age that he had the heart of a romantic. His love for Barrison is what sustained him (and vice versa for her). In his jell cell, all Kasady could do was talk to his love and dream.

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Skyrim’s Stones Of Barenziah: Is The Reward Worth It

4 years 11 months ago

Finding the Stones of Barenziah is perhaps one of the most notorious quests in all of Skyrim, as players are required to scour the whole of the game's expansive map looking for the pieces of Barenziah's Crown. Many players may not even bother putting forth the effort, as it's notably difficult to locate the easily missable, unmarked items required. As a result, few ever receive the reward the quest offers. However, is the Stones of Barenziah reward even worth it in the first place?

The quest "No Stone Unturned" begins when players discover their first Stone of Barenziah, a collection of 24 unusual gems scattered across the entire map. Upon bringing it to an appraiser - something that requires that the Dragonborn become a member of Skyrim's Thieves Guild and talk to Vex - it kicks off the objective of finding every last one of the unmarked gems. Once all of them have been recovered, players then have to retrieve the Crown of Barenziah, which can be recovered from Tolvald's Cave.


The reward for collecting all the Stones of Barenizah is a unique ability, Prowler's Profit, which significantly increases the chance of finding multiple gems in places like chests or looted enemies. The completed Crown of Barenziah is also displayed alongside other recovered items in the Thieves Guild headquarters. Other than that, though, there isn't much incentive to locating all of the Stones of Barenziah, especially given how difficult it is compared to most other and better side quests in Skyrim.

Prowler's Profit might seem like a worthwhile ability for players who are just starting out, but even then, its usefulness is questionable at best. Many Skyrim players aren't necessarily worried about profits, especially those who have joined the Thieves Guild, a necessary requirement for appraising the Stones of Barenziah in the first place. Stolen items are objectively easier to find and turn over for a profit than legitimately obtained loot. On top of that, given how much Skyrim's map needs to be explored to find the Stones of Barenziah, most players will be well beyond the point of lacking in gold. The reward is only really worthwhile for those who are looking to fully complete Skyrim's Thieves Guild collection. So, the answer to "Is the Stones of Barenziah reward worth it?" would be "no."

Perhaps that's why it's so common for Skyrim players to simply mod their way around the difficulty. The Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers mod on the game's Nexus page has over 1.5 million downloads for Skyrim Special Edition alone, and multiple guides and checklists can be found in Skyrim's online community to help find the unmarked Stones of Barenziah for players who don't want to mod their game. Overall, the Stones of Barenziah seems like a good idea in practice. A scavenger hunt across Skyrim is a great way to make players explore locations they otherwise might not consider venturing into, and it gives even high-leveled characters something to strive for. In practice, though, the effort it takes just isn't worth the paltry reward.


Source: Nexus




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Netflix's Maid: The 10 Best Characters

4 years 11 months ago

Debuting on September 28, 2021, the Netflix original drama series Maid has become one of the platform's most popular new titles. Based on the Stephanie Land memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, much of the appeal comes from protagonist Alex (Margaret Qualley), a woman who leaves her abusive husband with her young daughter in tow and begins life as a domestic worker.


While Alex is the primary player, it's her close friends, casual acquaintances, and complicated family members that help and sometimes hinder her path to happiness and success as she struggles to make ends meet and provide for her daughter Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet).

10 Alex

Maid is Alex's story through and through. As the central character whose primary conflict derives from domestic abuse and the need to flee a toxic environment to raise her young daughter in safe surroundings, the audience relates to her strife, roots for her scrappy ingenuity, and genuinely want to see her overcome such a hardscrabble existence to find happiness.

Qualley gives a terrific performance as Alex, conveying the internal pain while keeping a positive attitude in front of her daughter (for the most part). Viewers identify and empathize with Alex, be it in her nasty custody battle, feckless job interviews, and the like. As such, she's one of the best TV moms of the past decade as well as one of the most memorable maid characters on TV.

9 Maddy

Since almost every decision Alex makes is in service of keeping her young daughter safe, sound, clean, and fed, Maddy is an extremely vital character to the drama. What makes Maddy really interesting is how she resembles her abusive father, Sean, more than she does Alex, which serves as a reminder of Alex's traumatic past. Moreover, the custody battle for Maddy provides endless drama.


The intimate moments between Alex and the charming Maddy are the heartbeat of the show, reinforcing a mother-daughter bond that everyone wants to see turn out well for both characters. If Alex did not have Maddy to look after, her decisions would be far different and Maid would be a different show entirely.

8 Paula

Played by Qualley's real-life mother Andie MacDowell, Paula is one of the most complex and colorful characters in the show. The free-spirited artist with eccentric paintings and sculptures is a flaky, unreliable mother who isn't the best role model for Alex. In fact, she's quite a burden most of the time, creating an oddly positive and negative mother-daughter TV dynamic.

Beyond providing insight into how Alex grew up in a hurtful household, it's the genuine bond between Qualley and MacDowell that really shines through, lending a profound art-imitates-life vibe that makes the overall show more believable.

7 Regina

While Regina (Anika Noni Rose) isn't the kindest soul, she is instrumental in Alex's professional growth. As Alex's extremely wealthy, stuck-up first client, lawyer Regina tries to get Alex in trouble when her cleaning isn't up to a certain standard. When Alex passes out from exhaustion, Regina is quick to label her a drug addict.

Despite the cruelty, Regina indirectly steels Alex for a thankless job that never seems good enough. Far from one-dimensional, Regina shows a surprising side of her insecure self when she bares her soul to Alex during Thanksgiving, which goes a long way in shaping the employer-client kinship.

6 Sean

If poverty isn't the primary villain in Maid, then it's most certainly Sean (Nick Robinson), Alex's abusive boyfriend who she finally breaks free of as the series begins. Wracked by addiction and anger, Sean is the last person Alex wants to raise Maddy around.


It's Sean's unforgivable behavior that has sidetracked Alex's life and causes her to undergo a massive lifestyle change. Yet, Sean makes it difficult to escape as he controls her funds, access to her car and phone, and manipulates her outside contacts, proving that domestic abuse persists even after fleeing the domicile.

5 Yolanda

Yolanda (Tracy Vilar) proves to be a helpful character who hires Alex at the Value Maids cleaning company when she is at her most desperate. Despite Alex's harried appearance and lack of experience, Yolanda is stern but kind enough to allow her a trial position.

Whereas most of the women in Alex's life are contentious and mean-spirited, Yolanda offers a ray of hope by extending Alex an occupational lifeline. It's just the opportunity that Alex needs to lift her and Maddy from poverty, which she takes and makes the most out of.

4 Hank

As Alex's estranged father with anger and addiction issues that mirror Sean's, Hank (Billy Burke) is a very important character. The villainous TV dad hasn't been in Maddy's life since she was in diapers and is too cold-hearted to invite his daughter and granddaughter to stay with him, prompting their travels through various shelters. In the end, he even sides with Sean.

As one of the two biggest antagonists in Alex's life, Hank's character is crucial to Alex's overhauled lifestyle. He embodies everything that she hopes to avoid in the future and vows to keep Maddy away from.

3 Denise

Denise (BJ Harrison) is one of the few characters in the show who provides an olive branch to Alex in her greatest time of need. Denise runs the domestic violence shelter that Alex and Maddy find refuge in and shows more clemency to her than most.


Whether she is encouraging Alex to breathe easy and relax in the shelter or providing dolls to calm Maddy, Denise has a good heart and kind spirit that goes a long way in offering Alex hope, agency, and a way to pull herself out of her dire circumstances.

2 Nate

Through all of the hardships that Alex faces, her most reliable friend proves to be Nate (Raymond Ablack). Her old acquaintance shows tremendous support time and again, including offering help cleaning, giving her a phone charger, and providing moral support during the custody battle.

Nate's biggest act of kindness comes when all of Alex's friends side with Sean when he brings a date to Maddy's birthday party. Nate is the only one who keeps the isolated Alex company, and later allows her and Maddy to stay at his place. A true friend, Alex needs far more Nates in her life.

1 Danielle

One of the few female characters who assist Alex includes Danielle (Aimee Carrero), a fellow resident at the domestic violence shelter. In addition to providing some much-needed levity regarding Regina's stolen dog, Danielle uplifts Alex by expressing what a good mother she is and comforts her until the custody trial begins.

In addition to welcoming and helping Alex adjust to her new residence, Danielle is responsible for Yolanda paying Alex the money she rightfully earned. Alas, Danielle left the shelter to return to her ex, but not before touching Alex's life in a profound way.

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Marvel: Crisis Protocol — 10 Strongest Cabal Members, Ranked

4 years 11 months ago

Marvel: Crisis Protocol currently has 18 affiliations available to players, but the Cabal has stayed relevant and competitive since its introduction as one of the two affiliations in the original core set. The Cabal also has the second-largest roster of affiliated characters (behind only the Avengers) in the Marvel board game.

RELATED: 10 Best Avengers in Marvel: Crisis Protocol, Ranked

While this breadth of options is exciting, it can also make roster-building an intimidating endeavor. While the group once needed to focus on damage-dealers to take advantage of the Cabal's single leadership ability, the addition of an additional leader has given the Cabal multiple playstyles that can take advantage of both aggressive and defensive strategies.

10 Bob, Agent of Hydra

Bob, Agent of Hydra's humorous persona is represented in Marvel: Crisis Protocol with a few interesting gimmicks. First, Bob has a giant rocket launcher that rolls a massive nine dice, but it also deals enough damage to Bob to daze him and can usually be used only once. This downside may seem significant, but Bob also has the unique ability to survive any hit as long as he hasn't yet activated in the given round. His other selling point is that he's the only two-threat character in Cabal, making him an excellent roster option to round out squads in certain crises.

9 Crossbones

Just like this villain's role in the MCU, Crossbones used to be considered a disappointment in Crisis Protocol. While he can hit hard and has solid staying power, his small base and short move meant that he had difficulty getting to and staying in the action. Luckily the Cabal's second leader, Sin, breathed new life into Brock Rumlow. While his short move is still less than ideal, Crossbones loves the objective-focused playstyle that Sin brings to the affiliation. He's perfect for moving to an objective token and laying hits on anyone that gets too close. The only thing that players need to be careful of is Crossbones' fragile mystic and energy defenses. While he's great at soaking physical hits, having to deal with a big attack of the wrong type can result in a stun before he can get to his desired place on the map.

8 Mysterio

Marvel Comics fans know Mysterio is a special effects whiz, and his penchant for trickery is represented well in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. His oddly spread defenses of one physical, one energy, and five mystic may seem like a deal-breaker, but Mysterio has several ways of staying alive through a game. First, Mysterio's stealth means that nobody outside of range three can even attempt to attack him. Those who do close will trigger his Tricks and Traps, which damages enemies and moves them short. Also, Mysterio can use his mystic defense against any attack unless the opponent pays two energy. Beck synergizes well with Red Skull's leadership ability. With it, he always has the energy he needs to use Tricks and Traps.

7 Sabretooth

Sabertooth may be most famous as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, but his suite of attacks and abilities makes him a great fit in the Cabal as well. Victor Creed is an excellent single-target assassin capable of chasing characters down with his long move and dishing out damage with his strong basic and builder.

RELATED: 9 Best Marvel Strike Force Teams For Beginners

Aggressive lets Sabretooth move after he's attacked, which can get him into position to attack twice in one turn instead of having to advance. On top of his solid stats and damage, Sabertooth can make a free attack after an enemy attacks him. This extra Claw Slash lets him take double advantage of Red Skull's "energy for attack damage" leadership ability.

6 Omega Red

Arkady Rossovich, aka Omega Red, is the only mutant currently in Marvel: Crisis Protocol who isn't a member of the X-Men, X-Force, or Brotherhood of Mutants affiliations. Omega Red is one of the best area denial tools in the game, and his kit is packed with powers and attacks that keep him alive and punish enemies for getting close.

RELATED: 10 Best Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 Characters To Play As

Omega Red automatically ignores one wound any time it's dealt from an enemy effect, and his Carbonadium Coils heals him if it does damage. Furthermore, any character within range two at the end of its or Omega Red's turn becomes poisoned. This effect synergizes well with his Death Factor, which damages all poisoned enemies within the same range.

5 Red Skull

Red Skull is one of Marvel's best villains and his reputation is honored in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Despite being an original core box character, Johann Schmidt still sees a good amount of play. His most obvious selling point is his leadership ability, Master of Evil. If Red Skull is on the field in a Cabal-affiliated squad, every friendly character gains one power whenever they damage an enemy with an attack. Since this effect is not limited to once per turn, it allows characters with beams, area attacks, or rapid-fire to gain energy incredibly quickly. Red Skull's Master of the Cube power also helps slower Cabal members by moving them range two for three power.

4 Baron Zemo

Helmut Zemo was released with the Marvel: Crisis Protocol core set, and he's still a staple competitive character today. Zemo is a well-rounded villain who is effective both as an offensive threat and a supporting character for his teammates. Both his free Sword Strike and two-cost Steel Rush automatically cause bleed whether they do damage or not, and the latter increases Zemo's mobility by letting him advance medium after the attacks. Additionally, he's one of few characters with a long movement range, so he's great for quickly getting to objectives and assets on turn one. Even when he's not directly involved in combat, Helmut also grants himself and every other character within range two a free reroll on any attack or defense rolls.

3 Sin

Many affiliations in Marvel: Crisis Protocol have received a second leader, and, in the Cabal, leadership stayed in the Schmidt family. Sin, aka Sinthea Schmidt, is the daughter of the Red Skull, and she brings a new leadership ability to her faction. Instead of her father's energy generation, Sin's Red Mayhem power lets her team push enemies away from objectives and force opponents to drop Asset Tokens between rounds.

RELATED: 10 Best Marvel Legacy Villains Who Lived Up To Their Predecessor

This ability opens up an entirely new playstyle for her team that focuses on area control and denial instead of pure offense. Sin synergizes particularly well with characters like Omega Red and Crossbones that don't like to move around the board more than they have to.

2 Enchantress

Enchantress is expensive at four threat, but her attacks and powers offer unprecedented board control to her player. Her basic attack is a beam, which is rare, and it drains power tokens from each enemy it hits if a wild is rolled. Amora's Kiss is also incredibly powerful. It is currently the only power capable of stripping an Asset or Civilian token from an enemy, after which Enchantress gains it. It works only at range one, but Siren's Call lets Enchantress move any enemy within range three short.

1 M.O.D.O.K.

M.O.D.O.K. may not be as well-known as other Cabal members, but he's arguably the best five-threat character in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. M.O.D.O.K. has just about everything that players could want in a character: His basic attack drains power, he has a long throw, he can move enemies with Bow to the Will of M.O.D.O.K., he can buy dice rerolls, and he changes wilds to blanks on defense. In fact, he's so good that he'll be one of the very few characters to receive a slight nerf when Atomic Mass Games release their updated set of character cards in late 2021. Even with this nerf, he'll still be an extremely strong character that can single-handedly carry matches.

NEXT: 10 MCU Board Games That Every Marvel Fan Should Play



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My Hero Academia: America's Top Hero Collides With A Freed Shigaraki

4 years 11 months ago

Warning! Spoilers ahead for My Hero Academia chapter 329!

The top American hero in My Hero Academia, Star and Stripe, just confronted the long-awaited Tomura Shigaraki who apparently is no longer possessed by his master All For One. This is the first time that readers have seen Shigaraki since All For One took control of his body and went into hiding so his student could finish his awakening that Japan's heroes interrupted during the Paranormal Liberation War.

Before the epic confrontation, All For One reveals in chapter 329 of My Hero Academia that it would be troublesome if he had to change his plans to accommodate Star and Stripe, who's All Might's former student and the world's strongest female hero. It's obvious by All For One's confession that he views Star and Stripe as a very formidable opponent. But even though her arrival would complicate his goal of obtaining One For All, the villain foresees one silver lining to her involvement; it will be that much easier for him to obtain her quirk, which is currently unknown to readers. Although he doesn't confirm it, All For One could very well covet her powers more than One For All.

Related: My Hero Academia: All Might's Student Is America's New Number-One Hero

As for Shigaraki, it's puzzling that All For One is clearly not in possession of his body. Leading up to Shigaraki's meeting with Star and Stripe, there's a scene where All For One reveals his plans to League of Villains member Spinner. Readers may have assumed for a moment that it was a flashback before the Paranormal Liberation War and that All For One was able to divulge his plans to Spinner because he knew what was going to happen. It's not that far off to assume. All For One has proven himself quite capable of foreseeing the actions of others like when he implanted the self-destruct quirk in the assassin Lady Nagant before she began hunting for Deku, believing that she would most likely turn on him. And he was right. She did end up experiencing a change of heart. Yet, it's clear in chapter 329 that All For One and Spinner are in hiding, and since the villain possessed Shigaraki's body before fleeing, the two must have separated at some point during their self-exile.

That said, All Might reveals in the previous chapter that All For One's quirk, like One For All, serves as a conduit between the current wielder and past users, but it was only a one-way channel, where All For One could communicate with Shigaraki, but not the other way around. It's possible that All For One assumed control of his student's body momentarily to construct a two-way channel that would stay in effect once they separated. It's also likely that this added communicative mechanism somehow grants the villain more control over Shigaraki, possibly transforming his student into a marionette that he can manipulate from afar without having to be actually inside of him. Shigaraki's comment to Star and Stripe about who he actually partially confirms this theory.

Regardless, the upcoming battle in My Hero Academia between Star and Stripe and Tomura Shigaraki will undoubtedly be explosive, especially since the villain's student has now fully awakened and can unleash the true potential of his Decay quirk and, most likely, wield All For One as well. If for whatever reason Tomura Shigaraki easily overcomes Star and Stripe, she will most likely have backup, for Endeavor was already en route to meet her with Hawks and Best Jeanist following closely behind him.

Next: Dragon Ball Super's Vegeta Just Stole Goku’s Most Dishonorable Attack



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The 10 Best Modern Animated Superhero Shows, Ranked By IMDb

4 years 11 months ago

There's no question that there are more superhero movies and television shows available today than at any other point in history. While a lot of praise has gone to live-action projects like Loki and The Boys or movies like The Suicide Squad 2 and basically the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, animated films and TV shows are just as good.

RELATED: 5 Best Animated Superhero Movies (& 5 Worst), According To IMDb

Some viewers may not take them seriously because they're cartoons but all someone has to do is look at 2018's Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse to see how great these can be. The same goes for television, with some modern animated superhero shows getting tons of praise.

10 M.O.D.O.K. (2021) - 6.3 - Stream On Hulu

Although he was the main antagonist of the Marvel's Avengers video game, it's pretty clear that M.O.D.O.K. is something of a goofy-looking character. A giant floating head in a chair doesn't seem very intimidating, and that's the idea that the Hulu series M.O.D.O.K. played on.

The show followed the titular villain as he attempted to juggle his empire and his family life. Praise was dished out to how the world was built, some of the relationships M.O.D.O.K. had, and the stop-motion animation style. The voice cast was also a hilarious highlight, led by Patton Oswalt, Melissa Fuermo, Aimee Garcia, and Ben Schwartz.

9 ULTRAMAN (2019-Present) - 6.9 - Stream On Netflix

Ultraman is a hero that has kind of been around for decades at this point and has been adopted plenty of times over. His suit has become rather iconic and the character has remained popular since the 1970s. He has been part of video games, movies, miniseries, television shows, and more. Ultraman could even end up in the Monsterverse alongside Godzilla and King Kong since he's the first tokusatsu hero in history

One of the most recent iterations of a project starring the character is Netflix's ULTRAMAN, which premiered back in 2019. The 13-episode run received widespread acclaim from those who gave the series a chance and season 2 is scheduled to arrive in early 2022.

8 Avengers Assemble (2012-2019) - 7.0 - Stream On Disney+

If there was ever a perfect time for a show to release about Marvel's greatest team, it was in 2012. The MCU was really taking off and The Avengers surpassed the elusive $1 billion mark at the box office. So, it makes sense that Avengers Assemble was a hit series featuring Captain America, Black Widow, and more.

Part of what made the show so well-received was how it continuously expanded the universe and the lore. Later seasons went on to adapt comic arcs like Secret Wars and also brought in the likes of Black Panther and Thanos. You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger combination of Marvel characters on one screen.

7 Axe Cop (2012-2015) - 7.4 - Stream On VRV

Back in late 2009, Axe Cop debuted as a webcomic and the premise is basically right in the name. The series follows a police officer who opts to use an axe when he goes into a fight. The comic was adapted into a Fox TV series in 2013 before FXX took it over in 2015.

RELATED: 10 Most Powerful TV Superheroes Of All Time

Although it's not the most popular modern animated superhero series, it did get critical praise. One of the biggest reasons it was loved was the voice cast with Nick Offerman leading the way and guest appearances from Alison Brie, Stephanie Beatriz, Jemima Kirke, Giancarlo Esposito, and more.

6 Generator Rex (2010-2013) - 7.6 - Buy On Amazon

The 1999 comic M. Rex served as the inspiration for the 2010 TV series Generator Rex. Again, this is a series that stood out immediately for its voice cast, which featured J.K. Simmons, Daryl Sabara, and Fred Savage. One of the highlights was that this Cartoon Network series crossed over with other shows.

2011 saw an episode that also featured characters from Ben 10. Although the series wrapped up nearly a decade ago, it was brought back for a special titled Ben Gen 10 in 2021, proving that it still has some legs. The show was set in a future where humans were infected by bots and one young man had the special ability to control those bots.

5 What If...? (2021-Present) - 7.6 - Stream On Disney+

The MCU finally got in on the animated action with the What If...? series. The idea was that it took the characters audiences have fallen in love with over the past decade or so and put them into situations and stories from other universes. Fans got to see T'Challa as Star-Lord, a world where Hank Pym murdered the Avengers, and Ultron wielding the Infinity Stones.

The animation style was an instant hit, though a few of the episodes somewhat missed the mark. However, many fans agreed that things all came together near the end as the show created the Guardians of the Multiverse and saw an epic clash where the likes of Gamora, Thor, and Captain Carter teamed up to face a multiverse threat.

4 Kid Cosmic (2021-Present) - 7.9 - Stream On Netflix

Craig McCracken is one of the most notable names in animation as he created the likes of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, while also having a history on 2 Stupid Dogs and Dexter's Laboratory. In 2021, he tried his hand at superheroes with Kid Cosmic.

RELATED: The 10 Best Episodes Of The Powerpuff Girls, According To IMDb

The premise is simple enough, following a kid who is given superpowers he must use to fight off evil but the series shines thanks to its supporting characters and the animation style that feels like a retro comic book. Though it only just premiered in early 2021, two seasons are already out and a third and final one is on the way.

3 The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010-2012) - 8.3 - Stream On Disney+

A few years before Avengers Assemble became a series, the Marvel team was brought to the small screen in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Initially, the show was centered around the original group of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Giant-Man, and The Wasp but other heroes were brought in later on.

Like the follow-up series, this dealt with Marvel characters that hadn't yet come to movies like Skrulls, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Doom, and more. Fans were pretty disappointed with the news that it had not been renewed for season 3 and would be replaced by Avengers Assemble, though that show worked out well enough.

2 Harley Quinn (2019-Present) - 8.5 - Stream On HBO Max

Although superhero cartoons mostly seem aimed at children, it's actually the ones geared towards adults that have performed the best from a critical standpoint. DC's Harley Quinn is just that kind of series, centering on the titular villain as she leaves The Joker and looks to form her own band of baddies.

The series has been praised for everything from the voice acting (Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, and Alan Tudyk lead the way) to the animation style but the real highlight is how iconic characters are presented in a different manner. That includes a maniacal Jim Gordon and the hilarious Kite Man. Plus, audiences adore the core romance between Harley and Poison Ivy.

1 Invincible (2021-Present) - 8.7 - Stream On Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime first made gritty superhero waves with The Boys but they took it to the next level with Invincible. The animation format allowed for the show to do things that wouldn't be possible without an absurd budget in live-action, including one particular finale scene involving a train crash and hundreds of dead bodies.

The show follows Mark, a teen who gains superpowers and becomes the titular superhero. As he bands with other heroes to fight villains, he also learns that his father, a beloved hero himself, is actually the most ruthless villain of them all. Things culminated in shocking manner to wrap up a debut season that people were talking about for months.

NEXT: 10 Invincible Characters & Their MCU Counterparts



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Zack Snyder's Justice League Trilogy: 10 Most Wholesome Moments

4 years 11 months ago

Family and an attitude of volunteer heroism are major themes in Zack Snyder's three DCEU movies — Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League — lending themselves to moments in which the action moves to the wayside and wholesome feelings are allowed to breathe. This

gives the characters a chance to show their softer, more vulnerable sides.


Whether these moments show loved ones interacting with each other, heroes helping strangers in gentle ways, or personal moments of introspection, there is no shortage of warmth in this series. These scenes pull at the heartstrings of fans who cherish these characters and their journeys.

Few things are more wholesome than a character-building moment between a father and son. In Man of Steel, when Jonathan Kent takes a young Clark into their cellar to reveal the truth of the boy's otherworldly origins, Clark is overwhelmed and doesn't take it well. Jonathan acknowledges his adopted son's terrible burden, and though he gives words of encouragement, Clark asks, "Can't I just keep pretending I'm your son?"

What does the trick is a hug and the affectionate response, "You are my son." The line references a moment from Superman: Secret Origin (2009) by Geoff Johns. The scene can resonate with many parents and their adopted kids.

After exploring the world for presumably as much as a decade searching to find his place in life, Clark finally returns home to Smallville to reunite with his mother, a welcome moment for the two of them. Overjoyed, he reveals he had discovered the true nature of his birth parents and why he was sent to Earth, though Martha is fearful that this foreshadows her son being taken from her.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mom," Clark says with a comforting hug to quell her tears. "I promise." This sentiment would later prove tragically false in Batman v Superman when humanity manufactures a monster to kill Martha's beloved son. Still, this remains one of the sweetest moments between mother and son in the three films.

Following the intense battle in Smallville during which Clark saved Martha from General Zod, he returns to the damaged farmhouse to reunite with his mother, finding her recovering cherished items from the debris. "I’m sorry," Clark says, sad for the damage sustained by their old family home. "It's only stuff, Clark. It can always be replaced," Martha says, knowing where her priorities are.

Clark replies, "But you can't be," expressing his relief after Zod's recent attack that his mother, who raised and understands him like no one else, is still alive. It's a warm moment when the two can relax after recent events by reminding themselves what matters most.

In Batman v Superman, while Lois dwells on the recent tragedy in Nairomi from the apartment she shares with Clark, he arrives home to find her in the bath. He had bought flowers and offers to cook a meal to surprise her. The atmosphere turns somber when Lois brings up the consequences of the Nairomi incident that had been weighing on her mind, leaving Clark feeling bummed.

Almost like a child, he hands Lois one of the roses he brought. After a few moments, the troubled atmosphere transforms when a smile crosses Lois' face. A job well done, Clark then excitedly steps into the bath, shoes and all, to enjoy an intimate moment with the woman he loves. Flawlessly melding sexuality with romance, it is a cute peek at the life Lois and Clark share.

After watching the world discuss Superman's impact on humanity, Clark finds himself troubled by how his existence has been taken by the world. So he phones his beloved mother in the middle of the night. Martha asks him what's wrong, to which he replies only, "No, nothing, I just... Hi." Smiling warmly, Martha returns the greeting.


In this moment, Superman is looking for comfort and simply needs to hear his mother's voice. There is a deeply endearing quality to this scene which reminds viewers that even Superman needs his mother sometimes.

In one of the best fight scenes of Zack Snyder's trilogy, Batman unleashes hell to save Martha Kent from Lex Luthor's henchman Anatoli Knyazev and his thugs, plowing through a horde of bad guys before confronting the Russian mercenary holding a flamethrower to the gentle Kansas mother's head. A gunshot and an ignited gas tank later, Martha is safe beneath the Dark Knight's fireproof cape.

"Don't worry, I'm a friend of your son's," he reassures her, to which she gestures to Batman's back and replies, "I figured. The cape." To Batman, this was like saving his own mother of the same name who died all those years ago. It is a moment of levity filled with intense relief that emphasises Martha Kent's innocence.

Zack Snyder described Wonder Woman as "a warrior for love," destroying villains to protect the innocent. In Zack Snyder's Justice League, taking down a group of terrorists at London's Old Bailey to defend a bunch of children on a school trip exemplifies this depiction of the character. This reaches its high point when a little girl asked Wonder Woman in the aftermath, "Can I be like you someday?"


"You can be anything you want to me," replies the Amazonian demigoddess. It is an especially poignant and meaningful message considering Barry Allen, once a perfectly normal human being, became a literal god of speed and time. In this world especially, anything is possible.

During a dark period in his life, struggling with depression resulting from losing what he believed was his humanity, the cybernetic Victor Stone unearths his new power to manipulate the world's technology however he wishes. One of the first things he does is explore CCTV footage to observe a struggling single mother working as a waitress.

Victor uses his mastery of technology to transfer $100,000 to her bank account. The moment she reacts with awe and hugs her children at the ATM, knowing things will be so much better from then on, is tear-jerking. Victor smiles as he watches, a good Samaritan whose humanity re-emerges. In this moment, he becomes a hero to a woman who needed something other than laser beams.

When Clark finally restores his memories following his resurrection and a trip down memory lane through the Kent farm, he spends a beautiful moment with the two people most important to him: Lois Lane and Martha Kent. As he expresses his gratitude to be alive again by playing with a butterfly, the scene is almost surreal in its warmth.

This is the first time Clark and Martha were reunited since he came looking for her advice one quiet Smallville evening before the Capitol hearing in Batman v Superman. The scene takes its time, allowing the moment to settle. These kinds of scenes, especially Clark's connection with nature, are part of what makes Henry Cavill so accurate to Superman's source material.

Henry Allen fears that his son's drive to liberate him from prison is holding him back in life, working multiple jobs to pay for a law degree instead of finding his own way. He believes Barry has potential that deserves better than for Barry to waste it on a potentially fruitless effort to undo a conviction.

Following the climactic final battle, Barry returns to his father to reveal he got a job in a crime lab, a real job for his own sake, with the potential of building a successful career. While a small step, it is huge for Henry Allen, who despaired that his son was wasting his life. He is utterly ecstatic and filled with pride that his son is now moving ahead, coinciding with Flash's character development in the DCEU.

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X-Men: 10 Horrific Events That Devastated Earth's Mutant Heroes

4 years 11 months ago

While Marvel Comics teams like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four are heroes to the world, saving the planet many times over, the X-Men are very different. Though they also are heroes who have saved the world more than once, humans hate and fear the them because they are mutants born with special powers and are, therefore, different.


The bigotry inherent to X-Men storylines often leads to horrific events that devastate the mutant population. These events come at the hands of the U.S. government, other anti-mutant factions, and even from within the mutant community. In some cases, every mutant on the planet has almost been depowered or killed, only because so much of the world can't accept mutantkind.

One of the most devastating events in Marvel mutant history occured on the island of Genosha. For years, mutants lived in fear of humans who wanted them dead just for who they were. They soon found a place of their own in the nation of Genosha. After the United Nations ceded the country to Magneto, it became a home for mutants to live in peace, and only mutants were allowed there.

Sadly, this peace wouldn't last. For years, both the government and private industry used Sentinels to capture and kill mutants. In this case, the evil Cassandra Nova sent Wild Sentinels to attack the island with no warning, and more than 16 million mutants died.

While the X-Men were the face of mutants all over the world and many others lived in secrecy, fearing for their lives if their secrets were learned, there was another faction living in hiding. These were the Morlocks, mutants whose appearance didn't give them a chance to live in secret among humans.

Mister Sinister wanted these mutants, who lived in the tunnels under New York City, dead. He sent his Acolytes into the tunnels and had them attack the Morlocks with no warning. The X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Power Pack, and Thor all arrived to help, but hundreds of Morlocks died in the attack.

Not all events that devastated the X-Men were about killing mutants. This was true in the case of the Weapon X Program. Movie fans know all about this, as it was the group from X2 that attacked the X-Mansion and kidnapped the mutant children living there. In the comics, it was a similar institution that experimented on mutants.


The goal of the program was to take possible mutants and put them through tests that either brought out their mutations or developed mutations in humans to use as weapons. This was the program that ran unethical experiments on Wolverine, Deadpool, and other.

Long before the Superhero Registration Act started the "Civil War" between Iron Man and Captain America, there was another act that was just as controversial. This was the Mutant Registration Act. It started with a government official named Robert Kelly who felt that all mutants should have to register with the government.

Some mutants ran at the chance, including former members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which became a government task force. However, the law gave a reward to anyone who turned in unregistered mutants and put the lives of young teen mutants all over the country in danger.

"Onslaught" was an event in Marvel Comics that affected every hero in the world. This was the result of something Professor Charles Xavier did to Magneto that spiraled out of control. Charles wiped Magneto's mind after a battle, and in doing so, he unleashed a vessel of hate known as Onslaught.

Onslaught was a being who was part Charles Xavier, part Magneto, and more powerful than any hero in the Marvel Universe. Onslaught almost destroyed the world. His attack killed the Avengers and Fantastic Four, and it turned the entire world against the mutants.

"Operation: Zero Tolerance" took place after "Onslaught." With the Avengers and Fantastic Four gone, mutants became public enemy No. 1. After this war, Graydon Creed ran for President of the United States on an anti-mutant platform. When something killed him, people believed it was mutants.


This led a man known as Bastion to start a government program called Operation: Zero Tolerance. No one knew that Bastion was not human but was, in fact, a Sentinel. He constructed new Prime Sentinels that looked like humans and received government permission to capture or kill all mutants.

"Decimation" was one of the most traumatic events to ever happen to mutants. While this was not as bad as the attack on Genosha, it was in some ways even more devastating because of the lasting effects on mutants. After "House of M" ended, Scarlet Witch, in one of the worst things she ever did, stripped 91.4% of the world's mutants of their powers.

This caused many mutants to end up unable to continue living after their powers disappeared. It also made Scarlet Witch the most hated person in the world for almost all mutants. Almost a million mutants lost their powers during this devastating event.

After Scarlet Witch stripped almost a million mutants of their powers, it gave anti-mutant haters a chance to attack defenseless people, many of them teenagers and children. One of these groups of X-Men villains was called the Purifiers, which was led by the evil William Stryker, who wanted to rid the world of all mutants.

Even though "Decimation" depowered mutants, making them mostly human, that wasn't enough for Stryker who wanted them all dead. The depowered mutant children who went to school at the Xavier Institute were leaving by bus when the Purifiers bombed it, killing almost a quarter of the children from the school.

Some of the most devastating events in X-Men history occurred in alternate timelines. The first of these was "Days of Future Past," which was the first major X-Men alternate timeline story to appear in comics. In this world, Sentinels were sent to capture all mutants but ended up killing regular heroes and taking over the world.

Most of the X-Men were dead when the story started, and it wasn't until the they sent someone back in time to stop an assassination that the timeline was averted. Sadly, in this specific event, almost every major X-Men member died, including Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and more.

"Age of Apocalypse" was arguably the biggest alternate timeline event that devastated the X-Men. In this world, Professor X never existed because Legion went back in time to kill Magneto and accidentally caused his father's death instead. Without Xavier, Apocalypse showed up and took over the world.

This devastated the X-Men, who were unable to defeat Apocalypse and had to watch him conquer Earth. Even when the surviving X-Men beat him, Wolverine eventually turned evil and continued to rule over the world, killing any mutant who resisted him.

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Cosmic Show Of Interacting Spiral Galaxies Clicked By Hubble

4 years 11 months ago

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has clicked yet another cosmic wonder — an interaction event of two galaxies that are so closely intertwined that they are collectively labeled as a single entity. Galactic interactions are not a rare phenomenon. In fact, a large number of galaxies show some form of interaction either with their satellites or on a much larger scale with other galaxies. The latter category can include events such as collisions that end up in a merger of galaxies or lead to bursts of star formation.

In scenarios of a collision and eventual merger, the larger galaxy might retain its shape after gobbling up the much smaller galaxy. The gravitational interaction between galaxies often leads to the formation of a larger irregular galaxy, but elliptical galaxies are also known to form as a result. Some of the best examples of galactic interactions are the Messler 81 group (includes the dominant M81 galaxy interacting with two smaller NGC 3034 and NGC 3077 galaxies) and the Cartwheel group which consists of four spiral galaxies in a beautiful ring outline.


The image captures by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the entity called Arp 91 which is located over 100 million light-years away from the Earth. Arp 91 consists of two spiral galaxies named NGC 5953 and NGC 5954. In the image above, NGC 5953 is the lower one with higher brightness and a more intact spiral shape. The oval-shaped galaxy at the top is NGC 5954. Interestingly, NASA notes that both the galaxies are spiral, but their shape appears oddly distorted due to their orientation in space with respect to Earth.

A quick glance at the image suggests that the oval-shaped NGC 5954 is extending one of its arms towards NGC 5954 due to the strong gravitational interaction between them. Scientists believe that galaxies form arms because of their rotation around a central axis and another factor called density waves. These arms happen to be an active site of star formation and usually appear brighter because of the stars inhabiting those regions. Interestingly, a recent study revealed that one of the Milky Way’s arms is broken.

As per a research paper titled ‘Photometric and Kinematic Traces of an Interaction’ that appeared in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the two galaxies in Arp 91 system are separated by a distance of 5.8 kiloparsecs and have prominent star-forming regions. But based on Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data, NGC 5953 has a much higher rate of star formation per unit area compared to its interacting neighbor. Interestingly, NGC 5953 is said to fall under the Class II Seyfert galaxies, which are characterized by their bright core that is known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and happen to be one of the brightest sources of electromagnetic radiation in the cosmos. Interestingly, the Hubble telescope recently captured an image of one such Seyfert galaxy that looks like a giant cosmic eye with a bright center.


Source: NASA, Astronomical Society of the Pacific




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Fantastic Four: 10 Best Female Villains |

4 years 11 months ago

The Fantastic Four count some of the greatest supervillains in Marvel Comics as their enemies, like Doctor Doom or Galactus. The majority of them are men, but a number of their adversaries in the last sixty years have been women. Some are fairly well known to comics readers, while others are a bit more obscure.


Allegiances often shift in comics - even Doctor Doom has worked with the FF at times - so it should be no surprise that some of their female enemies have been allied with the team on occasion. But all of them are powerful and potential foes for the Fantastic Four when they finally make their debut in the MCU in the coming years.

10 Karisma

Karisma is a fairly obscure villain from the classic run by John Byrne, who was responsible for some of the best Fantastic Four story arcs in the 80s. Her primary power was the ability to control men via a strange and powerful invention.

Karisma ingrained a special radioactive isotope in makeup products that she designed, which then allowed her to make men do whatever she wanted. The product didn't work on women, though, making her plans for criminal enterprise extremely vulnerable to the Invisible Woman.

9 Psycho-Woman

Fantastic Four fans are likely familiar with Psycho-Man, but may not be aware of his daughter, Psycho-Woman. In Fantastic Four Annual #32, she sought revenge against the team for their battles against her father.

Though her powers of emotional manipulation were essentially the same as his, there were some key differences. Her emotional focus was envy, disgust, and indifference, whereas Psycho-Man preyed on fear, hate, and doubt. She could also change her size at will, but it didn't help her achieve her goal of revenge.

8 Thundra

Thundra came back in time from the 23rd century to fight The Thing in single combat since she thought he was the strongest man on Earth. She is incredibly strong herself, easily his equal, and though she doesn't have his rocky exterior, she is almost as invulnerable.

Thundra has superhuman speed, stamina, and reflexes, all of which make her one of the greatest martial artists in Marvel Comics. Even with her superior combat skills, she also uses a number of weapons, including her favorite instrument, a linked chain.

7 Titania

Titania has been a member of the Frightful Four and a fairly regular antagonist of the Fantastic Four since her debut in 1985's Secret Wars event. She is incredibly strong, strong enough to take on The Thing and She-Hulk, who has since become her primary nemesis.

Titania is also extremely durable and highly reflexive, making her a challenging opponent in any fight. Her many battles with She-Hulk comprise a number of awesome storylines that the upcoming She-Hulk MCU series could adapt, especially since the character is slated to appear.

6 Lucia von Bardas

Lucia von Bardas is the prime minister of the fictional Marvel Comics country of Latveria, who rose to power after Doctor Doom was pushed out of the country. Augmented with cybernetic implants created by Doom, she's a powerful antagonist who has been a thorn for both the Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D.


Her implants allow her to fly and generate energy shields, making her secure against most forms of attack. She is susceptible to hacking though, as both Ironheart and Doom himself have demonstrated in combat against her.

5 Medusa

Medusa is one of the most powerful Inhumans and has been an enemy of the Fantastic Four at times. While a member of the original Frightful Four, she used her copious red hair as he primary weapon.

Through psionic control, she can manipulate her long, flowing hair into whips, lashes, or rope. Her hair is incredibly strong, with the tensile strength to lift an enormous weight. It's also highly resistant to damage of any kind. Because she's an Inhuman, Medusa is also super strong, agile, and durable.

4 Malice

Malice is a psionic entity that took over the mind of the Invisible Woman, with the unwanted assistance of the Psycho-Man and his soldier, Hate-Monger. Since she was in control of Sue Storm, Malice had all of Sue's powers at her disposal.

Not only could Malice turn invisible, but she was also able to make others invisible, generate force fields, and in some cases create invisible projectiles. Because of this, she was very difficult to defeat, and Sue Storm repeatedly fought her for control for years.

3 Nebula / Ravonna Renslayer

Comic book fans know Ravonna Renslayer is the lover of Kang The Conqueror. They may not know she was also an enemy of the Fantastic Four. While impersonating Nebula, she manipulated the team into going into the timestream in a massive gamble to achieve the power to destroy Kang.


Though Ravonna's powers and abilities are limited in nature, she was a master of disguise. Her ambitions also might be the greatest of any of the Fantastic Four's enemies. She very nearly succeeded in destroying the team by bringing them face to face with Galactus and the first use of the Ultimate Nullifier in Marvel Comics.

2 Nova

Nova isn't entirely a villain of the Fantastic Four, but as a herald of Galactus, she's inherently at odds with them. Frankie Raye was the Human Torch's girlfriend for a time, but then she accepted an offer by Galactus to become his herald.

She gained the Power Cosmic and assisted him without any reservations in his quest to consume worlds. With the Power Cosmic, she was able to fly at the speed of light, project devastating blasts of cosmic energy equal to that of solar flares, and manipulate cosmic energy at will.

1 Lyja

Lyja is a tragic figure who betrayed the Fantastic Four. A Skrull in disguise, she impersonated Alicia Masters for years in the comics, using her natural ability to shapeshift to spy on the team for her masters. She also has superhuman strength, agility, and stamina. Her Skrull physiology also includes wings, allowing her to fly.

Though she resisted her mission and did genuinely care for the team, she nevertheless carried it out, evidence of her focus and determination, both powerful assets that nearly brought down the Fantastic Four.

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10 Oscar Winners You Didn't Realize Played Marvel Superheroes

4 years 11 months ago

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become quite adept at building up the stardom of those who play its most famous superheroes, elevating the likes of Chris Evans and Chris Pratt to action hero superstardom. However, many superheroes of the MCU are also portrayed by actors and actresses with lengthy and prestigious resumes.


This includes several who have actually managed to obtain the holy grail of film awards: an Oscar. This being the case, it’s no surprise that the characters they play end up being some of the most fascinating in this shared universe.

Tilda Swinton has earned a reputation as one of her generation’s finest living actresses, playing a wide variety of characters, from evil sorceresses to gender-bending time travelers. She earned an Oscar for her role of Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton, and in the MCU she is famous for playing the Ancient One in Doctor Strange.

The Ancient One is a being of immense power and mystery. Swinton brings her signature strangeness to this part, somehow making the Ancient One both compelling and more than a little frightening.

Like Swinton, Natalie Portman has earned herself quite a reputation as an actress, appearing in a wide range of cinematic genres, including science-fiction, space opera, drama, and biopic. Unsurprisingly, she has also been nominated for numerous awards for her acting ability.

She ultimately took home the statuette for best actress for her astonishing performance in Darren Aronovsky’s Black Swan. In the MCU, she has made the most out of the character Jane Foster, and she is slated to take on more importance as the Mighty Thor in next year's Thor: Love and Thunder.

There are few actresses who have achieved quite the level of superstardom as Angelia Jolie. She has repeatedly proven her versatility as a star, and she has been in numerous types of roles, earning an Academy Award for Girl, Interrupted.


Her role as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, however, may be the role that has most defined her stardom, and it helps to explain why she was chosen to play the character Thena in the upcoming Eternals. Fans will once again get to see Jolie step in front of the camera as an action star.

The various movies centered on Thor tend to have a bit of a lighter touch than the other parts of the MCU, but there is also a bit of a sinister strain underneath the humor. For instance, Matt Damon is slated to reprise his role as an actor portraying Loki in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

It's a bit of a stretch - he's only an actor playing Loki, who is more of an anti-hero than a hero -  but he is a well-respected actor and has many nominations and awards under his belt, including an Oscar for screenwriting for Good Will Hunting.

Gwyneth Paltrow is a bit of Hollywood royalty, being the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner. However, she is also a formidable acting talent in her own right, as evidenced by her lengthy resume and the critical praise that her performances often receive.

Among her many accolades, she won an Academy Award for best actress for Shakespeare in Love. Fans of the MCU, however, know her best as Pepper Potts, the longtime love interest of Iron Man.

Despite her relative youth, Lupita Nyong’o has still managed to build up quite a list of acting credits, and she often receives critical acclaim for the powerful intensity that she brings to almost every role that she creates.

She received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in 12 Years a Slave, and she has become similarly acclaimed for her role as Nakia in Black Panther, one of that film’s most popular characters.

Brie Larson has a well-deserved reputation for bringing out the humanity and empathy of her often-troubled characters, as can be seen in her role in Room, the film for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress.


She brought that considerable talent to her role as Captain Marvel, one of the later additions to the MCU and one that proved to be crucial to the Avengers as they sought to defeat Thanos and restore the lives of half of the universe.

There are few actors who have quite the reputation and resume of Michael Douglas who, like Gwyneth Paltrow, is a bit of Hollywood royalty (his father was the famous screen legend Kirk Douglas).

In the MCU, he is most famous for playing the character of Hank Pym, the man who invented the Ant-Man suit and would eventually become a mentor to the man who succeeded him as the wearer of the suit, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang.

Taika Waititi has established himself as a versatile person in Hollywood, earning him acclaim for his roles both behind and in front of the camera and in both film and television.

He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Jojo Rabbit, and he has received several other nominations for both his work. In the MCU, he’s best known for portraying the character Korg, who joins the Avengers as they attempt to defeat Thanos.

Daniel Kaluuya has earned quite a lot of respect as an actor, both for his haunting performance in the horror film Get Out, as well as his more recent role as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, becoming one of the youngest people to win the prestigious acting award.

Among fans of the MCU, he has earned a lot of popularity for playing the character of W’Kabi, one of the movie’s more interesting characters. Though he initially supports T’Challa, he betrays him before finally surrendering during the final battle.

Russell Crowe has a formidable reputation in Hollywood, having acted in several high-budget blockbuster epics. In one of those, Gladiator, he played the title character Maximus, the man who rebels against an emperor before perishing in the arena.

It was the role that earned him an Oscar, and he has gone on to perform in several more high-profile epic films, and he is slated to portray the character of Zeus in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.





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10 Times Late Night Talk Show Hosts Did Not Play Themselves In Movies

4 years 11 months ago

Every late-night talk show host has, at one point or another, made a cameo in a television show or movie as themselves. They are often seen interviewing guests as if their characters were real and not the actors who play them. In one recent small screen instance, for example, Jimmy Fallon appeared in the Peacock series Girls5eva, interviewing the women from the fictional former girl group.


But many of the most popular late-night talk show hosts have also dabbled in acting, appearing in projects as characters, not themselves. James Corden, for example, was a sitcom star in the U.K. before he began hosting his late show in America. And Stephen Colbert was also in Girls5eva, but playing a character, a record producer named Alf Musik. But there have been movie appearances, too.

10 Jimmy Fallon - Fever Pitch (2005)

Fallon has made mention of his failed movie career many times on both The Tonight Show and his previous talk show, often in reference to the fact that it was through the 2005 movie Fever Pitch that he met his now wife.

Fallon starred alongside Drew Barrymore in the romantic comedy, which was produced by the company Barrymore owns alongside Nancy Juvonen. She introduced the two and the rest is history. The movie itself was a remake of the 1997 British film of the same name, which itself was based on a 1992 book, with a focus on baseball instead of soccer.

9 James Corden - Cats (2019)

Some fans don't realize that while Corden is best known in North America as host of The Late Late Show with James Corden, he was actually known in the U.K. for his acting and writing. He is most notable for the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, but James Corden has also had plenty of other great roles.

He has continued to act alongside hosting, including voicing the title character in the Peter Rabbit movie in 2018 and its 2021 sequel. He also starred in the 2019 musical fantasy film Cats, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical. He played Bustopher Jones and was in good company with a star-studded cast that also included Dame Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Rebel Wilson, Taylor Swift, and others.

8 Jimmy Kimmel (PAW Patrol: The Movie)

Kimmel has joked many times on his long-running late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! how even his voice acting role in PAW Patrol: The Movie didn't impress his young children. Indeed, Kimmel, who rose to fame as co-host of The Man Show, fittingly voiced the character of Marty Muckraker, a news anchor at the fictional Adventure City News Network.


This isn't the extent of his voice acting: often known for voicing dog characters, Kimmel also lent his voice acting talents to Garfield: The Movie, and was the voice of Death's Dog in an episode of Family Guy.

7 Jimmy Fallon (Taxi)

While Fallon truly rose to fame once he was cast on Saturday Night Live, he also tried his hands at movies while he was working on the sketch comedy series. Once such film was the buddy cop movie alongside Queen Latifah called Taxi.

A remake of the French film, Taxi wasn't received well by critics, but Fallon still went forward with Fever Pitch, his second major role. The movie flops were a hit to his self-esteem, but Fallon finally found his stride as a late-night talk show host and eventually got the opportunity to take over the illustrious The Tonight Show.

6 John Oliver (The Lion King)

John Oliver has done some acting in his time before taking over the political late-night talk show circuit with Last Week Tonight, which is the top-ranked late night talk show, according to IMDb. Most recently, he voiced the character of Zazu in The Lion King in 2019. The computer animated musical drama by Jon Favreau had a star-studded voice cast that also included the likes of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Zazu was a hornbill, majordomo and King of the Pride Lands.

Oliver has had a few other voice acting roles in movies, including as Vanity Smurf in The Smurfs, The Smurfs 2, and The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow, and as Steve in Wonder Park. He also played a character named Dick Pants in 2008's The Love Guru.

5 Jon Stewart (Big Daddy)

Stewart, of course, is known for his long-time award-winning tenure on Comedy Central satirical news show The Daily Show. But he had been acting long before that.


One of his most memorable early roles was in the Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy, where he played Kevin Garrity, the roommate of Sandler's lead character Sonny and the biological father of the young boy who Sonny ends up caring for to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he can be responsible.

4 Chelsea Handler (This Means War)

Handler is a veteran within the stand-up comedy circuit, and hosted her own late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, for many years, from 2007-2015. She then went on to create her own documentaries for Netflix.

Within her busy schedule, however, Handler has also made time to appear in a handful of movies. One such role was a small one in the movie This Means War, which starred Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy. She had a small role as Trish, Witherspoon's character's best friend.

3 Arsenio Hall (Coming To America)

While Hall's successful career as a late-night talk show host back in the '90s, The Arsenio Hall Show, had people chattering that he could be the successor to Johnny Carson for The Tonight Show, Hall is almost as well-known for his supporting role in the 1988 movie Coming to America, in which he starred with comedic icon Eddie Murphy.

Hall and Murphy reunited to star in the sequel movie Coming to America 2, which was released in 2021. It remains one of the best movies in which actors play multiple characters.

2 Jay Leno (Cars)

It's no surprise given his distinctive voice that Leno has done many voice acting roles in animated films. But one of the most notable ones is from the massive hit movie Cars from 2006. He didn't play himself, but he did play a talking car named Jay Limo in a cameo role. He has also voiced many other characters, including Fast Tony in Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Jack O'Lantern in Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008), and King Malbert in Igor (2008).

Leno, of course, is one of the most successful and well-known late-night talk show hosts, having headed up The Jay Leno Show for many years, as well as original (and returning) successor to The Tonight Show before and after Conan O'Brien until Fallon officially took over.

1 Seth Meyers (Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist)

 

Meyers was cast member on Saturday Night Live, but most notably co-host of the Weekend Update segment. He was also one of the best SNL cast members who debuted in the 2000s, and was also a writer for the show. But fans might not realize that he had done acting beyond his sketch comedy roles on that series.

While Meyers mostly had minor roles beyond cameos as himself in movies like The Interview, he did play a small character in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. His character didn't even have a name, though: he was simply credited as "drunk guy in Yugo." He also had small roles in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Spring Breakdown. Meyers, of course, currently hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers.

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10 X-Men Heroes Who Were Villainous In The Comics

4 years 11 months ago

Charles Xavier created the X-Men for two reasons. One was to teach young mutants how to use their powers safely. The second was to create a team that could act as heroes to ease the relationship between mutants and the humans who fear them. However, there are several X-Men who have been anything but heroic in their lives.


The X-Men have always had to battle with anti-mutant bigotry, and this has caused some of them to act like the villains they usually fight. The mutants have cheated, stolen, killed, and broken all kinds of laws, things they could usually set out to bring down villainous mutants for doing. At the end of the day, they are still heroes, but many X-Men members have been one step away from turning to the dark side.

Beast was, at one time, a loveable and enthusiastic founding member of the X-Men. However, he grew darker as time went on. There was even an alternate world's version of Beast, known as Dark Beast, who conducted disturbing and unethical experiments, having turned completely evil.

The main timeline Beast is getting close to that in Krakoa. He has committed many crimes and simply told Professor X not to ask questions he doesn't want answers for. Beast has also become ruthless, sending mutants to their deaths and explaining his actions by saying they can be resurrected, ignoring the pain he is putting them through. There might not be a more immoral X-Men member in Krakoa right now.

Magneto started out as the X-Men's archenemy along with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, so it is no surprise that he has done a lot of terrible things over his career. However, he has also joined the X-Men and served as their leader on several occasions. In the 1980s, he took over as the leader when Charles Xavier left Earth, but then reverted to a villain after that.

Currently, Magneto is a hero once again, serving on the Quiet Council in Krakoa. He is one of the only people other than Charles Xavier to know the secret behind the new mutant society. However, Magneto is also not above turning back the clock. He has betrayed almost every other mutant on the X-Men team and, in his most villainous moment, ripped the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton.

Professor X is supposed to be the man who set the template for how all mutants should act. The problem is that Xavier has not always practiced what he preached. As the X-Men's main leader, Charles Xavier has done more villainous things over his life than most of the X-Men combined.

He manipulates the mind of anyone he wants, even completely rearranging the memories of Wolverine to force him to join the X-Men in the first place. He joined the Illuminati, which was responsible for pulling strings behind the backs of all Earth's heroes. He shut down Magneto's brain once, which unleashed the monster Onslaught into the world. Even now, as the main man in Krakoa, he has manipulated the world to bow to his country's whims.

Emma Frost was another villain who later became a member of the X-Men. When she joined, it was because she realized that Charles Xavier's ideals were the right ones, and she soon became a trusted ally. She even romanced Cyclops at one point, and the two led the X-Men to great heights.


However, while leading the X-Men, she did something unforgivable. She faked Cyclops' death to send the mutants into a war with the Inhumans. Her actions caused many mutants and Inhumans to almost lose their lives, and she went on the run when both sides learned the truth.

When Wolverine joined the X-Men, he was fresh from working for a secret government agency in Canada, and before that, he was part of the Weapon X program in the United States. After Wolverine joined the X-Men, he did everything he could to transition into a hero and curb his violent streak.

However, Wolverine has crossed the line more than once. He killed his own son Daken when he learned that Daken was fated to do terrible things in the future. In "Age of Apocalypse," one of the most destructive alternate X-Men timelines, Wolverine became the ultimate evil dictator. In the "Old Man Logan" storyline, he killed every member of the X-Men.

Cyclops committed the ultimate sin when he was a leader in the X-Men. He murdered his mentor and father figure, Professor Xavier. This happened in Avengers vs. X-Men and it happened because Cyclops and his teammates wanted to allow the Phoenix Force to return to Earth, with him and several teammates possessed by it.

When Professor X tried to end the war between the two teams, Cyclops murdered him in cold blood. Cyclops then lost the Phoenix Force and went to prison, where he ended up as a martyr to disenfranchised mutants all over the world.

Out of all the members of the X-Men, the one who committed the most heinous atrocity was Jean Grey, the former Marvel Girl. Jean was a founding member of the team and was its heart and soul for many years. However, after a mission in space went wrong, she returned to Earth with the Phoenix Force controlling her.


This is when Jean committed the ultimate sin. With the Dark Phoenix rising inside her and the Hellfire Club pushing her to the brink, Jean set out and destroyed an entire galaxy. Billions died in the attack, and Jean ended up giving her own life to atone for this villainous act.

Angel was the one X-Men member that seemed to seem the least likely to ever become a villain. Not only was he an "angel" with big, white wings allowing him flight, but he could hide the wings under a shirt and go on as if he was a non-mutant human. This changed after Angel was attacked and lost his wings.

In what readers thought was Angel taking his own life, his close friend Cameron Hodge betrayed him and blew up a helicopter he was on. Apocalypse brought him back as Archangel, and Angel had a change of heart. More than once, Archangel murdered anti-mutant terrorists in cold blood, stepping over a line that the X-Men swore never to approach.

Rogue started out her career as a villain. Rased by Mystique and Destiny, she was a villain who battled the Avengers. She actually used her mutant abilities to strip Carol Danvers of her Captain Marvel powers and much of her memory, destroying the superhero's life for many years.

After becoming a hero, Rogue changed and atoned for those sins. However, there was a point when she stepped over the line. On a new team of X-Men and Avengers members, Rogue found herself teaming with Scarlet Witch, who has previously stripped most mutants of their powers. At one point, Rogue mistakenly thought Scarlet Witch betrayed them, and with no evidence to back it up, she murdered Wanda in cold blood.

Gambit did one of the most villainous things in X-Men history, and he didn't even know he was doing it. Mister Sinister had built up a group called the Acolytes and forced Gambit to help him. Without knowing the reason for it, Gambit helped lead Sinister's team into the tunnels under New York City.

This is the event that led to the Morlock Massacre. Gambit realized what he did and hid it from his teammates, even his lover, Rogue. When the X-Men learned he was responsible, they banished him from the team.





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PS4s Stacked In a Tower To Prove Point About Console Repair

4 years 11 months ago

In a new video, broken PlayStation 4 consoles were stacked in a tower to raise awareness about an ongoing electronics issue: the right to repair. The fight for this right expands to everything from gaming consoles (like the PlayStation and Xbox) to smartphones. Even US President Joe Biden recently supported the right to repair, but it is important to note that this right already exists in one of the largest industries in the world: the automotive industry. There are laws in the United States that require automotive companies to make sure various parts are available to consumers, as well as instruction manuals on how everything works. This right gives consumers the freedom to make repairs to their vehicles themselves. But some major electronic companies still don’t work the same way, and even though the PlayStation 5's functions were revealed by a patent recently, users still struggle to repair their own machines.

The right to repair is important for many reasons, like the fact that it helps prevent tons of perfectly functional products from sitting in a landfill. A major problem with many consoles and smartphones is that it is often much more lucrative for a company to encourage consumers to simply buy a new product than it is to sell parts and instructions on how to make the device last longer. Any console gamer will remember the Xbox 360 and the dreaded red ring of death, something that is now being mimicked by Xbox One's black screen of death. This red ring was terrifying not only because it meant the Xbox wouldn’t work, but also because there was nothing the consumer could reasonably do about it, other than pack it in a box, send it away to Microsoft, and wait.


YouTube channel TronicsFix posted a video a few days ago seeing just how many broken PS4s could be stacked on top of each other. TronicsFix brought sixty-two broken PS4s to the film location, explaining that every one of these consoles could be fixed if the parts and the instructions were available to the average consumer. The tower manages to reach forty-two PS4s before an unfortunate gust of wind causes the consoles to come crashing down. Even without stacking all of the PS4s that were obtained, TronicsFix still claimed it might be a world record.

Watch the PS4 stacking video on YouTube here.

Between stacking more and more PS4s, the video also discusses the right to repair. TronicsFix points out that it was easy to replace and install a part of his tractor through the manufacturer, but impossible to do so with a PS4 without turning to independent online sources. The importance of the right to repair comes from the consumer’s ability to choose how to repair the products that they have purchased. Also, the right to repair could save time and money. Modifying consoles is a tricky situation; for instance, Valve discouraged opening the Steam Deck in a recent video, citing potential fires alongside the more traditional voiding of warranty, but many believe the benefits outweigh the potential costs.

Gaming consoles are hugely expensive products that are important to anyone who owns them, and it seems wrong to leave so much ownership still in the hands of huge companies like Microsoft and Sony. Hopefully, going forward, laws will be implemented that will allow consumers to be more informed about their consoles, and perhaps whatever the next red rings of death are won’t be quite as frightening as they once were, whether they appear on PlayStation or Xbox consoles.


Source: TronicsFix/YouTube




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The Voice 21: Biggest News Stories From The Cast This Week (Oct 8)

4 years 11 months ago

As the competition heats up on The Voice season 21, this has been another eventful week of news stories, from coach Ariana Grande getting mixed reactions to Ed Sheeran joining the show as a mentor. With the introduction of Ariana as a new coach, The Voice season 21 premiered on Monday, September 20 on NBC. Since then, dozens of aspiring singers have performed in their Blind Auditions for a chance to join one of the coaches' teams.

Alas, it's been harder than ever for coaches Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, and John Legend to convince singers to join their respective teams now that they're up against Ariana - one of the biggest pop stars in the world at the moment. This season, the coaches were once again tasked with filling up their initial teams with 12 contestants. With that said, it is important to note that this is only the first phase of The Voice season 21. There's still a lot of competition ahead of us.


This was an important week for The Voice given that the upcoming rounds were kicked off and new additions to the show were announced. The fans have also been very active on social media as they share their opinions about the contestants who are moving forward in the competition versus singers who didn't land a spot in any of the teams. So, it's time to break down all of the biggest events from the week.

After six episodes that aired over the course of three weeks on NBC, all of the Blind Auditions on The Voice season 21 are now officially over. Each coach currently has 12 contestants in their respective teams. Noteworthy singers include those that got all four coaches to turn around for them in the Blind Auditions, such as Girl Named Tom, Gymani, Wendy Moten, Holly Forbes, Carson Peters, Brittany Bree, and Aaron Hines. All of the singers will now be moving into the Battles round. Only eight singers are expected to survive the Battles. Then, the remaining contestants will face off in the subsequent Knockouts round.

A very big moment from this week was Ariana turning around her red chair for David Vogel's Blind Audition. David sang Ariana's song "breathin'", which made her feel particularly compelled to turn around for him. Alas, she was the only coach to turn around for him. As a result, The Voice fans had mixed reactions to Ariana turning her chair for David. These viewers argue that Ari probably felt guilty about not turning for a singer performing a song of hers, but that this Blind Audition was probably not worthy of a spot on Team Ariana. With that said, it should be noted that this is just a matter of personal preferences. Ariana probably heard something special in David's voice.

Now that the Blind Auditions are behind us, The Voice season 21 will move forward to the Battles round. In August 2021, four different advisors were announced for each team. Team Ariana will have Kristin Chenoweth, Team Legend will have Camila Cabello, Team Kelly will have Jason Aldean, and Team Blake will have Dierks Bentley. After the Battles, the contestants will move on to the Knockouts round. This week, pop superstar Ed Sheeran was cast as the Mega Mentor for the Knockouts. Ed will be singlehandedly mentoring all of the singers left on the show, so he'll collaborate with all four coaches.

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Ted Lasso Season 2 Ending Sets Up Nate As A New Villain

4 years 11 months ago

The tension has been building up over the course of Ted Lasso season 2, and the ending confirms Nate will be the core villain for season 3. Since Ted Lasso is largely about the redemption of one’s character and personal growth in pursuit of bettering oneself, the term “villain” is used lightly. Jamie Tartt and Rebecca were seen as the antagonist villains of Ted Lasso season 1, but as the show continued, they were posed more as flawed human beings who needed better outlets for their frustrations and insecurities while understanding the consequences of their actions.

By the season 2 finale, Nate's journey in Ted Lasso hints the character will take on an antagonist role next season; he’s moving in the opposite direction for personal growth than the other characters by regressing into further insecurity and truculence. The moment that sealed Nate’s turn was leaking the information about Ted Lasso’s mental health struggles, specifically that he had a panic attack during a match. To make it worse, Nate never apologized or owned up to being the source — Trent Crimm compromised his journalistic ethics because he felt he owed it to Ted to tell him. The Ted Lasso season 2 finale took Nate’s betrayal a step further, showing him as the new coach for Rupert’s football team.

Related: Ted Lasso: Why Roy Hugging Jamie Is Good News For Ted's Journey

With Ted going through his own emotional journey in season 2 through his therapy with Dr. Sharon, he was able to respond to Nate’s disloyalty in a more productive manner. It hurt Ted because he didn’t know what he did to deserve it, but he was still kind to Nate even though he was outwardly rude. Ted Lasso’s season 2 finale signaled a positive shift for the AFC Richmond Greyhounds reentering the Premier League, but now they’ll have to face the highly antagonistic tag-team of Nate and Rupert.

The premiere episode of Ted Lasso season 2 seemed to be a good start for Nate as he joined the AFC Richmond staff as an assistant coach. Going from bullied kit man to a promotion as coach by Ted signaled a fresh change in confidence for Nate, who began Ted Lasso season 1 as the team punching bag who was surprised by Ted remembering his name. Even after his career-changing promotion, Nate still struggled with his confidence in the first few episodes, particularly with his father’s skepticism. As Keeley does, she and Rebecca helped Nate understand how to assert himself in a more confident manner to achieve what he wants, which helped him get the perfect table for his family at a restaurant.

Nate’s lesson in confidence was meant to signal a positive change in his personal growth with self-assurance, but this uptick in confidence was used in a damaging manner throughout the rest of Ted Lasso season 2. As AFC Richmond gained more press coverage and fans labeled Nate the “wonder kid,” his newfound fame went to his head. He reveled in the positive comments on Twitter and spent what appeared to be hours scrolling through posts about him, only to explode into a rage at the kind kit man Will when he read a negative comment. Nate increasingly became an egomaniac whose insecurities consequently grew, only now he had an authority position where he wasn’t afraid to put down others or make insensitive remarks. AFC Richmond’s disappointing losing streak was Nate’s last straw, so he took it out on Ted, his friend and mentor, and treacherously divulged his most personal struggles to the press.

It would have been a horrible betrayal of trust and loyalty if any of Ted’s fellow coaches leaked the information about his panic attacks, but it hurt even worse that it was Nate. Ted was Nate’s friend, mentor, and supporter who believed in him when no one else would, which makes Nate’s betrayal worse than Rebecca’s from season 1: she didn’t even know Ted yet, and she deeply regretted it upon becoming his friend. Nate, on the other hand, betrayed Ted for a childish and ungrateful reason without even having the dignity to own up to it, and sabotaged him in an irredeemably personal manner. Ted’s struggles with mental health were extremely personal to him and it was something he had been trying all season to work through, only for one of his closest confidantes to betray his trust.

Related: Ted Lasso Season 2 Finally Rectifies Its Coach Beard Misuse

To make it worse, Nate’s reasoning for this betrayal was utterly childish, blaming his own insecurities on Ted and being ungrateful that Ted gave him so many opportunities to rise in his career. Leaking Ted Lasso’s panic attacks was horrible, but what was ultimately unforgivable was Nate taking a far more personal dig at Ted about leaving his son in Kansas. This was one of the primary reasons why Ted was suffering from his panic attacks in the first place, so using it as a reason to attack Ted on why he shouldn’t have his position is a tragic knife to the heart.

Increasing the childish nature of Nate’s betrayal, Ted wasn’t even the right person for Nate to be angry with. It was revealed in Ted Lasso season 2 that Nate’s biggest insecurities stemmed from the scrutinies made by his father, which is why he so desperately wanted to prove himself as a success. When Ted finally confronts Nate about the article, Nate’s criticisms of Ted are more indicative of his anger with his father. Nate says he was hurt when Ted made him think he was the most important person in the world and subsequently stopped paying attention to him even when he kept trying to “prove [himself] to [Ted].” This really isn’t how Ted Lasso showed Nate in season 2, and really Nate should have cut Ted some slack because he knew how much Ted was already working on his own mental health struggles.

It seems Nate was using Ted as a stand-in for his father, as someone who actually was proud of him, attending to him, and acknowledging his accomplishments. Nate’s dad was clearly painted as someone unimpressed with Nate’s successes who hardly gave him the time of day — but it’s not Ted’s responsibility to fill that role. Ted obviously gave Nate a level of attention and support that he had never experienced from an authority figure in his life, so Nate regressed into a disgruntled child when he began to feel his prioritization wane. It’s horrible that Nate didn’t have a supportive figure like Ted growing up, but it’s completely unfair for him to displace his anger onto Ted.

After ripping up Ted’s inspirational “believe” poster in the AFC Richmond locker room, Ted Lasso season 2 ends by revealing Nate is the new coach for Rupert’s West Ham United club. This was hinted at earlier during the Ted Lasso funeral episode when Rupert was seen suspiciously whispering something in Nate’s ear before departing. There was much speculation on what those words were, though the consensus was that it would deal with betraying Ted and the team, and the finale finally answered that question. Nate now has a fully gray, grown-out head of hair as he stands coaching West Ham United, which will clearly become one of AFC Richmond’s greatest rivals in Ted Lasso season 3. With Rebecca’s foe Rupert making Nate his coach, his intentions point to taking down AFC Richmond. Ted would never purposefully try to destroy Nate, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Nate went on to slander Ted more in the press and try in all his might to beat Richmond as revenge. Ted Lasso season 3 will focus on redeeming Nate’s character, which means he’ll likely come back to Richmond eventually after a fall-out with Rupert just as Jamie did at the beginning of season 2.

Next: Ted Lasso Just Got Rid Of The Show’s Most Interesting Relationship



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