Movies and heists are the perfect pairing. Both require a perfect crew, a ton of charisma, and clockwork precision in an environment where everything is ready to go wrong. Though we’ve been trained to understand that the perfect crime is as rare as the treasures that movie thieves endeavor to steal, few things top the satisfaction of watching it all come together and fall apart. The best heist movies draw us in time and time again to the illusion of it all.  And while we’re here to celebrate the best heist movies, please note that identifying a heist movie can be as tall of a task as pulling off the perfect plan. I generally tried to draw a line between crime films, con artist movies, simple robberies, and the heist genre itself. It’s a thin line, but the best heist movies typically focus on the job, the crew, the plan, and, more often than not, the fallout.  “It’s not your fault you’ve been brainwashed by America.” With these words, revolutionist Delilah Benson offers cold comfort to returning Vietnam War vet Anthony Curtis and neatly summarizes the spirit that elevates this heist film from directors Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes. Much like they did with Menace II Society, the Hughes brothers use this story of people forced to turn to a life of crime to shine a light on the struggles that plague many Black people who’ve been forced to the outskirts of society. With Dead Presidents, though, they zoom out a bit further to look at how so many soldiers returning home from war (especially the Vietnam War) were forced into lives back home they never imagined they would have to suffer through. It’s heavy material but the Hughes Brothers keep it infinitely watchable thanks to their incredible visual style, some killer performances, and one of the best soundtracks of the ‘90s.  14. Three Kings (1999) Director David O. Russell was reportedly drawn to the concept for Three Kings as soon as he saw the words “heist set in the Gulf War.” From there Russell proceeded to piss off pretty much everyone (including story creator John Ridley and star George Clooney) as he shepherded that brilliant elevator pitch through a nightmarish filming process. And while the director ultimately delivered a heist movie set in the Gulf War, somewhere along the way, Three Kings became something much greater.  As it turns out, much of the drama in Three Kings doesn’t come from three soldiers trying to find a fortune in gold bullion during the final days of the Gulf War. That part proves to be surprisingly simple. Things become far more complicated when those same soldiers try to overcome the moral dilemma of what they are about to get away with. Three Kings features the kind of nuanced observations about America’s involvement in the Middle East that we wouldn’t see again for a long time after 9/11. It also wraps them around an incredible heist adventure that tackles the ethics of thievery.  13. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) At the risk of needlessly glorifying crime, it must be said that there is something especially slick about being an art thief. Anyone can recognize at least the monetary value of stealing cash or jewels, but art thieves inherently exhibit a taste for the finer things in life. That suave criminality is a big part of the reason why 1999’s The Thomas Crown Affair stands out from the pack.  While this 1999 remake of the 1968 original movie benefits from improved pacing (what else would you expect from legendary action director John McTiernan?), the heart of the film is still its two leads. Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo enjoy a genuinely sexy (and refreshingly age-appropriate) love affair based on their desires, interests, and growing respect for each other’s abilities. It all builds toward a genius final heist that nourishes the soul and mind.  12. Hell or High Water (2016) Hell or High Water dances around that thin line which separates the heist genre from other crime films, but it’s ultimately too difficult to ignore the ways this movie views the economic and class factors that contribute to the decision to “steal.” Written by Taylor Sheridan of Yellowstone fame, Hell or High Water focuses on two brothers who begin to rob banks to fulfill that timeless storytelling goal: saving the family farm. Essentially a Western heist film, Hell or High Water is packed with people trying to carve something for themselves out of a corner of the world that time seems to have forgotten. The desperation of criminality is brilliantly explored in this movie that suggests “getting even” is another way to say you are merely trying to free yourself of impossible debts.   11. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Given that many movie heists ultimately go wrong in spectacular ways, it’s a little surprising that there aren’t more (or better) comedy heist flicks. Even if there were, it would be hard for them to beat the offbeat brilliance of A Fish Called Wanda.  Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! What would otherwise be a relatively straightforward heist story about a jewelry robbery soon becomes complicated by both criminal circumstances and the truly unhinged personalities of the job’s willing (and unwilling) main players. Yes, Kevin Kline steals the show in a performance that is more Oscar worthy than it is typically remembered as, but the real joy is found in witnessing the ensemble constantly try to get one over each other, even when they are theoretically working together.  10. Inception (2010) It feels odd to call Inception a heist movie. It most certainly is, but Christopher Nolan’s story of a group of operatives who perform corporate espionage by diving into people’s dreams goes to such… places that it’s sometimes easy to forget that there’s a heist at the heart of it all.  Yet it’s that heist that allows Nolan to explore the wild conceptual and visual places he so often explores in Inception. The best heist stories are fundamentally twisty tales that find ways to keep us engaged through every turn. Nolan just takes that concept to entirely new levels by bending reality itself around the story of this crew trying to get the goods and get out before it all comes crashing down around them. By regularly returning to that simple genre conceit, Nolan delivers some of the most mind-bending concepts we’ve ever seen in a major release without losing too much of the enraptured audience.  9. The League of Gentlemen (1960) There is a quaintness to The League of Gentlemen that speaks to both its pure, essential “Britishness” and the fact that it was made well before the typical heist movie formula was finalized. Some may even find this story of specialists slowly coming together to rob a bank a bit slow and familiar.  But The League of Gentlemen deserves a lot of love for being one of the earliest examples of this kind of “getting the gang together” style of heist film. It’s also one of the most lovable, clever, and strangely wholesome versions of that concept. Nothing is taken for granted in this foundational heist movie, and the cast and crew’s enthusiasm about the cleverness of the whole thing makes navigating those always enjoyable genre tropes (before they were tropes) that much more enjoyable. This also remains one of the best examples of a movie that wants us to love its thieves while still delivering the “crime doesn’t pay” finale that this era of film demanded.  8. Inside Man (2006) I will eternally envy those who get to watch Inside Man for the first time. What begins as a seemingly standard tale of a cop trying to thwart a bank robbery that frankly feels below director Spike Lee’s standards morphs into one of the cleverest logistical heist films ever made.  Though many heist movies revolve around “the plan,” few movies celebrate the art of slowly watching that plan unfold as well as Inside Man does. Every piece reveals another layer about the growing cast of characters who are swept up in this incredible unfolding event. By the time you get to the final reveal, you’ll be reaching for a cigarette regardless of whether you ever smoked.  7. Sexy Beast (2000) Though strangely conventional by director Jonathan Glazer’s standards, Sexy Beast is rather unconventional by those of the heist movie. The heist itself occurs at the very end of the film and is a remarkably low-tech affair that accentuates the brutality of its perpetrators rather than trying to wow you with their criminal cleverness. The bulk of the movie instead focuses on Gal: a former safecracker who receives an unwelcome visit from an old accomplice named Don Logan, who is determined to get him to pull off one last job.  As Don Logan, Sir Ben Kingsley delivers one of the greatest and most terrifying performances in the history of crime cinema. If anything, “in the history of crime cinema” is a superfluous qualifier that limits the scale of what he achieves in a taut 89-minute thriller. If you can look past Kingsley’s magnetic madness, you’ll find a quieter, slightly surreal film that gives the pull of the underworld a physical form and grapples with the horror of the idea that you’ve already made the decision that will define your life.  6. Jackie Brown (1997) Jackie Brown is an airline stewardess who has just been caught smuggling cash for her gun-running employer. Her employer wants her dead, and the DEA wants her to cooperate. However, Jackie forms a bold plan to escape prosecution, steal her employer’s money, and cash out on the bad hand that life has dealt her.  Time is almost always a factor in heist movies. Crews are forced to race against the clock before the cops show up and the game is over. And while there is a time-sensitive plan to steal $500,000 in Jackie Brown, most of our characters are racing against time itself. In this brilliant thriller anchored by career-best performances from Pam Grier and Robert Forster, the only thing scarier than getting caught is realizing that you missed your shot. Due respect to Inglourious Basterds, but this character-driven heist thriller adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel may be Quentin Tarantino’s real masterpiece.  5. Le Cercle Rouge (1970) In this Jean-Pierre Melville classic, three men at the end of their ropes find their way into each other’s lives just in time to pull off a spectacular jewelry heist. The setup may seem familiar to fans of the genre, but Melville is less interested in subverting the genre than he is in gathering and sharing every ounce of cinematic majesty that can be mined from that concept.  And unlike the film’s protagonists, we’re all left richer at the end of the experience. Le Cercle Rouge is perhaps the most visually striking heist movie ever made and one of Melville’s great stylistic achievements. The minimalist dialog allows us to lose ourselves in this tour of wonderfully imagined noir locales guided by some of the most cinematically cool, but morally empty, criminals you’ll spend time with on either side of the screen.  4. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) After directing some of the greatest noir and adventure films ever made, John Huston decided to combine both styles in a crime movie that proved to be one of the foundational pieces of the entire heist genre. And while you could argue that any movie that combines John Huston in his prime, a young Marilyn Monroe, and the incomparable Sterling Hayden is bound to be at least entertaining, The Asphalt Jungle offers so much more than the pure wattage of its star power.  This story of criminals all trying to claim their piece of the perfect plan is wonderfully sweaty in the ways that only the best noirs from this era are. Desperate crooks gather in smoky backrooms to discuss the upcoming job with a kind of blue-collar professionalism that exhibits their casualness without underselling the scope of what they are about to do. While it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that things don’t go according to plan (it was 1950, after all), the way Houston empathizes and celebrates these criminals set us on the path for the next 75 years of filmmaking in the heist genre and far beyond. 3. Heat (1995) Does any line summarize the heist genre as well as “don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner”? While Michael Mann showcased his crime story credentials in his brilliant debut feature film, Thief, there are very good reasons why Heat is often thought of as the director’s definitive crime film.  Like the best heist crews, Heat features an all-star cast doing what they do best in almost perfect unison. While this movie is rightfully remembered for its breathtaking bank robbery shootout (perhaps the best shootout ever put on film), the many, many rewatches of this movie we’ve all enjoyed often reveal something equally incredible during those quieter moments. Heat may benefit from the gruff hyper-masculine coolness seen in the best David Mamet works, but it’s ultimately a story of professionals struggling to deal with how much of themselves they can leave behind.  2. Rififi (1955) Made by blacklisted director Jules Dassin during his exile to France, Rififi exhibits that seemingly impossible blend of rage and craft that Dassin himself seemingly possessed at that unique time in his life. It may not be the first heist movie, but nearly every heist film that follows owes a debt to the way it balanced “the job” with what happens next.  Rififi’s stunning heist sequence (which is shot in real time and presented without dialogue) is conceptually brilliant and actually seems to go off without much of a hitch. The problems come later when the heist crew tries to work together in the world as they did on the job. Rififi explores the curse of sudden fortune by showing how money can not alter the paths that led to these men doing something so desperate in the first place.  1. Ocean’s Eleven (2001) Many of the best heist movies ultimately deal with the futility and tragedy of crime. That’s understandable and morally responsible. However, we are also often attracted to heist movies because they are so damn cool. And while there are many cool criminals and crews in the wide world of heist films, no heist film is cooler than Ocean’s Eleven.  Steven Soderbergh’s story of a man named Danny Ocean, who is assembling the perfect heist crew after being paroled, is one of the most relentlessly entertaining movies ever made. Perfectly paced, gorgeously shot, and loaded with incredible performances, it’s even somehow cooler than the 1960 original that starred the Rat Pack. It rightfully remains the go-to option for millions who simply want to enjoy the art of the heist. 

Stabbings. Bludgeonings. Splitting men from groin to throat. Slipping on entrails. Killing a warhorse with a single punch. And corpses so mangled after battle that they’re only identifiable by their shoe size. Such are the rumoured feats of the Westerosi war knights recently announced by Variety as having been cast in House of the Dragon season three. In short: expect violence. It’s about time. It’s overdue in fact. House of the Dragon spent season two taking a great big run up at some of the Seven Kingdoms’ most famed battles and then… ended. The Game of Thrones prequel left fans with an action IOU in place of the climactic clashes we’d hoped to see. Now, the HBO show is set to correct that, as its most recent casting news suggests. Tom Cullen, Joplin Sibtain and Barry Sloane have joined season three as knights Ser Luthor Largent, Ser “Bold” Jon Roxton and Ser Adrian Redfort. Where there are knights, there are swords, and where there are swords, there are squelchy deaths and streets running with blood. Ser Luthor Largent is preceded by his reputation as a horse-punching giant and captain of the King’s Landing City Watch under Prince Aegon Targaryen. He’ll be played by Welsh actor Tom Cullen, who’s no stranger to Medieval swords and armour after playing the lead role of Landry du Lauzon in the History Channel’s Knightfall. Cullen is also known for roles in BBC true crime series The Gold, as Thomas Seymour in historical drama Becoming Elizabeth, and will soon be seen opposite Gillian Anderson in Northern Ireland political drama Trespasses. Ser “Bold” Jon Roxton is a Greens-allied knight famed for carrying Valyrian steel longsword Orphan-Maker. He’ll be played by Joplin Sibtain, who can currently be seen as Cassian’s mate Brasso in Disney+ Star Wars series Andor. Sibtain’s a British stage and screen actor with past roles in Doctor Who, Avenue 5, and a host of video game and audio drama voice roles. They’re joined by Queensguard member Ser Adrian Redfort, played by Barry Sloane, an English actor known for roles in ITV crime drama The Bay, The History Channel’s Six, and voicing Captain John Price in the Call of Duty video game series. Previously announced as having joined season three are Happy Valley and former Grantchester lead James Norton as Ormund Hightower, the nephew of Rhys Ifans’ Ser Otto Hightower, and a campaign leader for the Greens. Fantastic Beasts and Broadway actor Dan Fogler will play Ser Torrhen Manderly, and Sons of Anarchy’s Chibs aka Tommy Flanagan, will play Lord Roderick Dustin. Read more about them all here.   Filming on the third season began at the end of March 2025, and the new episodes are expected to air in 2026, with the return of core cast Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney and more. We’ll keep you posted as further production news arrives.

This article contains full spoilers for Havoc. For all the blood and guts and general nastiness it contains, Havoc is toughest to watch in its first three minutes. That’s when we watch as Detective Walker sits pensively and thinks about what he’s done. Under a monologue about tough choices made for one’s family intercuts shots of Walker gearing up for duty, pulling out his badge and service revolver, and shots of Walker stealing cash from a drug bust and standing over a bloody victim. Right away, Havoc establishes itself as yet another movie about a morally conflicted cop, a tough guy haunted by his compromises and redeemed by the love of his family and/or some last minute moment of heroism. We’ve seen these types of stories a million times before, in the silent hagiography The Adventures of Lieutenant Petrosino (1912) and noir classics The Big Heat (1953) and Touch of Evil (1958). We saw it when The French Connection and Dirty Harry brought cops to New Hollywood in 1971 and when Lethal Weapon and 48 Hrs. gave the genre a slick ’80s sheen. We’ve seen it continue in more recent greats Heat, Training Day, and The Departed. But by the time Havoc reaches its excessive conclusion, writer and director Gareth Evans has redefined the gritty cop genre, burying any pretenses to nobility under mountains of bullet casings and oceans of blood. Havoc condenses a whole crime epic into a propulsive 105 minutes. Late in the holiday season in some undefined American city, a quartet of small-time hoods are chased down the highway by police. In desperation, two of the hoods throw their stolen merchandise at the cop car closest to them, hurling a dryer into the persuing vehicle. The appliance smashes through the cop car windshield, exploding not with just glass and plastic, but also mountains of cocaine. Upon seeing the attack upon his fellow officer, lead cop Vincent (Timothy Olyphant) and his men trace the cocaine to its source, Chinatown gangster Tsui (Jeremy Ang Jones), and open fire. The hoods escape the melee, but when when Walker (Tom Hardy) arrives, he recognizes one of them as Charlie (Justin Cornwell), son of crooked and powerful politician Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). Beaumont offers Walker a deal. He can get Charlie out of the mess without it getting to the press, Walker will be out of Beaumont’s debt. Walker has to find Charlie before the others looking for him, including Tsui’s vengeful mother (Yeo Yann Yann), her duplicitous right hand man Ping (Sunny Pang), and Vincent and his gang of cops. Making things even harder is Walker’s idealistic younger partner Ellie (Jessie Mei Li), who doesn’t realize the depths of his darkness. That plot gives Evans plenty of space to do what he does best, craft visceral fight scenes. Evans broke out with 2011’s genre-defining martial arts movie The Raid: Redemption, which brought Indonesian action to the West and paved the way for the John Wick franchise. Certainly, that type of hand-to-hand combat occurs in Havoc, especially in a glorious extended fight sequence that occurs halfway through the film. When Walker, Vincent, a silent Chinese assassin (Michelle Waterson) and their respective gangs descend on Charlie and his friends in a club, an eight-minute fight breaks out, starting with Chinatown gang members battering cops with batons and ending with a gunfight that spills out into the streets. Evans adds to his repertoire new ways of depicting carnage, including the aforementioned movie car chase, shot with just the same immediacy as the combat scenes. But the most notable addition is the use of gun violence. Gun shots have rarely been louder in a movie, rivaling those in Alex Garland‘s Civil War and Warfare. People don’t get shot just once; they’re peppered with bullets, convulsing as they’re filled with lead. The blood appears to be digital, instead of the practical squibs of previous eras, but that allows Evans more space to show how bodies can be destroyed in various ways. As that description might suggest, Havoc makes for a bleak film, both in form and content. It’s not just that everyone in the film is a killer, it’s not just that the violence is spectacular and constant. That unpleasantness that transforms the ending from something rote to something transcendent, unique among the grittiest cop movie. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! A Violent End At Havoc‘s climax, Charlie has been caught. A battered Walker cannot stop them, so Tsui’s mother and Ping arrive to execute their vengeance. They’re halted only Beaumont, who throws himself in front of Charlie and takes the bullet for his son. The gesture pauses the action, but only enough for the truth to come out, that it was Ping who betrayed Tsui and Vincent who killed them, leading to another shoot out that even sees Charlie grabbing a machine gun and slaughtering his enemies. After the shooting stops, Walker’s left with Vincent. Although Vincent tries to get Walker to leave, pointing out that anyone who knows what he did has been killed, Walker disagrees. He shoots Vincent, the true last person who knows his guilt, and stumbles away. Havoc ends at it begins, with Walker sitting alone and contemplating what he’s done. When Ellie arrives to reassure him, Walker refuses, telling her to arrest him instead. “You’re a good cop, Ellie,” he says. “I probably should have been nicer to you.” As she takes in his words, we see flashing lights in the distance, police cars arriving to bring order to the scene. Their lights illuminate Ellie and Walker in their final moments, in which the latter promises to bring Walker’s daughter his Christmas present, a couple of trinkets he bought from a convenience store at the start of the movie, but he refuses. “I don’t want to disappoint her.” With that rejection, Havoc avoids the trite hope that even gritty cop movies embrace, the idea that redemption waits for the bad cop through some later generation, in this case Ellie or the daughter. But Havoc gives Walker no such hope, nor do we trust that Ellie will be better — after all, she’s introduced in the movie brutalizing a suspect who falls outside of her investigation. The movie ends with a push in on Walker’s face, highlighted by red and blue lights. These highlights, combined with the nastiness of the movie that preceded it, underscore Havoc‘s contribution to the canon of gritty cop movies. Walker isn’t a corruption of a noble institution. He’s the embodiment of a violent, corrupt institution, one that won’t be changed by “good cop” Ellie. All of the chaos of the movie is a standard part of Havoc’s world, a world few cop movies would dare to enter. Havoc streams on Netflix on April 25.

My mother was never fond of me playing violent games, so I had to sneak sessions of Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein 3D away from her discerning eye. One game that was so notorious that I had to take extra precautions in playing it, either on our family computer (thanks, shareware!) or even at friends’ houses, was 1993’s Doom. Even now, over 30 years later, Doom still feels like a daring gaming franchise to jump into, even as the industry is crowded with first-person shooters on the eve of the launch of the series’ latest title Doom: The Dark Ages. Even aside from its reputation as one of the goriest and all-around gnarliest shooting games around, Doom changed gaming forever, even more so than publisher id Software’s earlier effort, Wolfenstein 3D, had. From completely revolutionizing the shooter genre and catapulting first-person shooters into the gaming mainstream to inspiring everything from modding to speedrunning, the influence of Doom over gaming can’t be overstated. Here’s how Doom changed gaming forever, with its legacy still acutely felt over 30 years since the franchise’s launch. The Doom Effect Though first-person shooters, in their most basic and rawest form, have existed since at least 1973’s Maze War, they were popularized by 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D. Doom was a top-to-bottom level-up effort from id and its development team, including adding atmospheric lighting, programming a wide variety of unique enemies, adding texture mapping to create more detailed environments, and improving the overall sound design. The significant upgrade in technical presentation and refined gameplay did not go unnoticed by the industry or fans and, by the end of 1995, it was estimated that more gamers had Doom installed on their home computers than Windows 95. Doom was ported to virtually every gaming platform after its 1993 PC debut, a distinction that continues to hold every time a new console is released. Beyond Doom and its ports, id Software led the charge in software licensing, readily licensing out the technology, including and especially the game engine, it used to make Doom to outside developers for a licensing fee. This led to a wave of Doom clones, games that at least partially used Doom’s graphics and/or gameplay technology, with the game’s reach so wide that even the breakfast cereal Chex licensed the engine to create their cult classic 1996 game Chex Quest. Doom’s influence was readily felt in games that didn’t explicitly use id Software’s technology in their development, like Duke Nukem 3D and Half-Life. Less than a year after Doom, id released the similarly successful and influential Doom II which, while not radically different in terms of gameplay or presentation, further refined what the development team had crafted before. Using Doom as a foundation, id then launched the Quake franchise in 1996, which continued to change the course of first-person shooter games and games using 3D environments moving forward. The Birth of a Gaming Movement Something that Doom probably doesn’t get as much credit for is what it did to foster a gaming community beyond what the arcade quarter-munchers and Nintendo Club had done years earlier. A fan community quickly sprung around the game, something that id Software actively helped support as they immediately recognized its importance to the game and their brand. Developers John Carmack and John Romero insisted on making Doom’s game files relatively easy for users to access, encouraging fan-made mods and user-generated levels to their game, despite internal concerns about this move’s proprietary implications. The developers also built-in a feature that allowed players to record their own replays and share them, along with providing timestamps of how long it took each of the development team to beat the game’s levels, encouraging them to do better. This essentially laid the groundwork for speedrunning, a cornerstone of the gaming community that has only grown more prominent in the ensuing decades. But one major feature that cemented Doom’s legacy was its local area network (LAN) multiplayer modes, letting players battle each other in what id Software dubbed deathmatches. All those LAN parties and PC cafe deathmatches, fueled by my body weight in energy drinks and cheap snacks, really owe a massive debt to Doom for laying this gaming foundation. Doom has returned a handful of times in the years since Doom II, though the franchise seems to work best when it remembers its own legacy, leaning into deliriously violent gunplay that wears its heavy metal and dark fantasy influences proudly on its sleeve. Doom: The Dark Ages looks to take those fantasy sensibilities even more prominently, quietly rethinking what Doom can be as it reinvents the massively influential franchise for a new generation. My mom never warmed up to Doom, still seeing it as the paradigm for violent video games, but she accepted that the doors the game opened would remain that way. Doom had revolutionized gaming, not just in terms of popularizing first-person shooters but in helping usher in the medium to more detailed and immersively realized 3D environments. And now with an entire community rallying around it, Doom helped bring gamers together into the growing sub-culture it is today. Doom: The Dark Ages will be released May 15 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The sun is shining, temperatures are rising, and that can only mean one thing: the Summer of Superman is here! And it’s not just a publishing initiative. It’s a celebration of all things Superman, and tonight, Den of Geek and eBay Live have got something special for you.  Starting at 7:00 pm Eastern, we’re hosting an auction with portions of the proceeds for each item benefitting the Binc Foundation and First Responders Children’s Foundation, with a ton of cool Superman stuff and a couple of great guest hosts. You can click here to save us as a seller to receive a push notification reminder! We’ll be joined by Big Apple Comic Con’s Mike Carbonaro and Spineworks Comics’ Michael Raphael to auction off a whole mess of cool Superman comics and memorabilia. Carbo, as he’s more commonly known, set up his first comic con at the age of 13 and has been a geek world staple since then. He’s been hosting the Big Apple Con in some way, shape or form since its launch in the early ‘90s, all the while amassing a geek memorabilia collection that could fill a couple of museums. Raphael left the corporate world during COVID and gave into his geeky passion, starting Spineworks, a company designed to helping collectors protect their cherished collections, connecting them with grading services and providing preservation and restoration services to comic and card owners. The auction has a ton of cool stuff: a batch of ‘60s Superman books, including an old appearance of the adult Legionnaires (Adventure Comics #354) and a lot of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen books that has a pair of early Kirby works (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #137-138). It’s got a toothbrush set from the 80s; a Superman Viewmaster reel from 1989; a box of Superman shampoo from when the first movie came out; a costume set from the 80s; a lunchbox from 1966; and, if you didn’t get your hands on them in shops, copies of Absolute Superman #1 and DC’s All-In Special. 

“Lux” saw the Doctor make like Bob Hoskins, and fight a cartoon (and as it happens, Mr Ring-a-Ding was animated by one of the artists who worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.Seeing the Doctor fight a 1930s-style animated monstrosity was the kind of thing that madeyou wonder why the Doctor hadn’t done it before (it’s because of money, that’s why, it wouldhave cost way too much money).The end result was a fourth-wall breaking uber-meta adventure that saw the Doctor and Belinda meet their own fans (which many real-world fans objected to because they wereportrayed as “liking the show” and “having friends”). However, the real highpoint of theepisode was the moment when Belinda and the Doctor themselves become cartoons.But this wasn’t the Doctor’s first time thinking with a “two-dimensional brain”… Nelvana Doctor Who The Doctor’s first run-in with animation was in the 1990s, or as fans call it “the dark times”. Doctor Who was, with the Seventh Doctor and Ace stuck in limbo after they’d walked off at the end of the last televised story, “Survival”. So Doctor Who fans did what they always do when there is no Doctor Who, they made more Doctor Who. This was a period that saw an explosion of books, comics, audios, some official, some fan-made, and of course, there were numerous attempts to bring the show back before Russell T Davies succeeded in 2005. One of the first of these attempts was from a Canadian animation studio called Nelvana. Nelvana had already had success bringing sci-fi properties to animation with the Star Wars spin-offs Droids and Ewoks, so they seemed like a natural fit for the Doctor. Their Doctor (incarnation unknown) was a white hard (or dark, spiky haired) figure in a big question-marked cyberpunk-looking trench coat, and a face that looked more or less like Tom Baker depending on the art. Development on the show got quite a long way – there’s a lot of concept art out there, and four scripts were written. Then the story goes that another animation studio told the BBC that they could it cheaper, and the project was taken from Nelvana and never heard from again. Nelvana, meanwhile, went on the win over a generation of school children with The Magic School Bus, a series about a mysterious, whimsical and outlandishly dressed figure who takes children on educational journeys through time and space in a travel machine that looks like an ordinary everyday object… The Webcast Era While a full animated Doctor Who reboot disappeared into Development Hell, the idea of animated Doctor Who just wouldn’t die. In 2001, the BBC brought Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred back, ignoring the still-recent Paul McGann TV movie to give the Seventh Doctor and Ace, and Doctor Who as a whole, a “proper” ending. The story was essentially a radio play, with the visual elements created by crude Flash animations for the BBC “webcast” (which is what we called it because we hadn’t invented streaming yet). When this proved to be a success, the BBC tried it again, this time with Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor while adding animations to his Big Finish audio “Real Time” in 2002. But when the animated webcast really grabbed everyone’s attention was in 2003, Doctor Who’s 40th anniversary, with the BBC’s web team bringing back Paul McGann for his second on-screen outing since the TV Movie. They were going remake “Shada”. Into every generation must come a remake of “Shada”. This legendary story was written by Douglas Adams for Tom Baker’s Doctor, only to grind to a halt halfway through filming because of a technicians’ strike at the BBC. Eventually the serial was abandoned, its footage eventually recycled to fill in for an absent Tom Baker during “The Five Doctors” anniversary special. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Since then it has been released on home video with bridging narration, adapted into a novel by James Goss, and parts of the story even found their way into Douglas Adams’ own novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (which itself has been adapted for television twice). It has even had the missing parts animated a few times – most of which we’ll get to in a bit. But one of the earliest attempts to bring “Shada” back to the screen was for the BBC’s Doctor Who website in 2003. You can still watch it here. It went so well, that suddenly the idea of an animated Doctor Who reboot was being talked about again… Scream of the Shalka “Scream of the Shalka” was another BBC webcast, but it was a real step up on what had been attempted before. Introducing a new Doctor in the form of Richard E Grant, with a script by Paul Cornell, and a robotic Master duplicate as a companion, this was not just Doctor Who, but new Doctor Who, bringing back the elements fans missed but also showing that it could tell stories for modern audiences. Produced by Cosgrove Hall, the animation studio behind Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and Wind in the Willows, it was a real step up in animation. It promised an exciting new age for Doctor Who… before the project was cut short because of plans a live action reboot. But the story still got a DVD release, and can still be watched on the BBC website here. Elements of “Scream of the Shalka” still live on in Who today. Paul Cornell went on to become a fan favourite writer for the new series, with “Father’s Day” and “Human Nature/Family of Blood” still ranking high in “Best of” lists. Derek Jacobi, the voice of the Doctor’s Android Master companion, would go on to (briefly) play the live action Master in “Utopia”, as well as a series of Big Finish audios. Even Richard E Grant, the uncanonized Ninth Doctor, would return to Who again, as the villain the Great Intelligence in “The Snowmen”, “The Bells of St John” and “The Name of the Doctor”. And in last season’s “Rogue” Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor shows someone holograms of all his previous incarnations, and Richard E Grant’s head can be seen floating around in there… Animated Reconstructions “Shada” was the first attempt to recreate a lost episode in animated form, but it would not be the last, especially now that Cosgrove Hall had a taste for it. The first of these reconstructions was the missing first and fourth episodes of the Patrick Troughton story “The Invasion”, in 2006. It was well received, but didn’t sell quite enough to justify further collaborations with Cosgrove Hall. However soon other studios were getting in on the act. Studios including Planet 55, Shapeshifter Studios, Big Finish and BBC’s own BBC Studios and Qurios Entertainment collaborated to bring back Doctor Who stories from the First and Second Doctor eras, as well as a new “Shada” recreation (this time with Tom Baker back in the lead role). These animations didn’t just fill in the gaps left by missing episodes, but sometimes completely restored entire lost stories such as The Fury of the Deep. Thanks to these reconstructions we can once more watch Patrick Troughton’s first Doctor Who story, “The Power of the Daleks”, see UNIT and the Brigadier’s first appearance in “The Web of Fear”, and see the first appearance of the Celestial Toymaker (minus the use of the N-word) after watching his return for “The Giggle”. The animated reconstructions can all be found among the classic episodes on BBC iPlayer. The Infinite Quest But Cosgrove Hall was not out of the running yet either. When Russell T Davies announced his triumphant return to Doctor Who, we were promised a wave of spin-offs to create a media property that could contend with the likes of the MCU. While we have yet to see that take place, the truth is Davies already achieved that last time around. We all remember Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the behind-the-scenes fun of Doctor Who Confidential, but a lesser-known footnote of the RTD1 era was Totally Doctor Who, a kids-targeted show that included competitions, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and an animated adventure starring the Tenth Doctor and Martha made by Cosgrove Hall. This is the serial that Peter Capaldi tentatively agreed to on the condition that it wouldn’t rule him out of appearing on the live action show (but then he wasn’t available to do it so they cast Anthony Head). No longer constrained by the need to retell a traditional story, or even ape the original show, this is a great big explosive space adventure that you would never see on the live action show, full of robotic space pirates and alien treasure. It is still available on iPlayer. Dreamland After a strong start, with four whole series of Doctor Who in a row before a break, in 2009 the show took a short breather. Which isn’t to say there wasn’t any Doctor Who – but as Davies handed over to Steven Moffat, and David Tennant handed over to some floppy-haired unknown who was definitely far too young to play the Doctor, the release schedule slowed down a bit. Instead of a full series, we got The Specials. Five one-offs, scattered across the year as a somewhat mopey Tenth Doctor contended with his own mortality. But as well as that, we also got a crossover with The Sarah Jane Adventures, and finally, a six part adventure (that was about the length of one full episode) that represented Doctor Who’s first, and so far only, venture in 3D animation (bar the brief Daleks miniseries it launched as part of the Time Lord Victorious event). “Dreamland” saw the Tenth Doctor turn up at Area 51 in 1958, with an animation style not a million miles aware from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series. All in all, it feels like a pretty good throwaway historical episode, and it finally has the Doctor solve the Roswell Incident, which honestly, it’s surprising it took this long. And that is where Doctor Who’s adventures in animation end, at least until Mr Ring-A-Ding arrived on the scene. Of course, with various doomsayers predicting another hiatus for Doctor Who in the near future, we may find ourselves looking at the possibilities of an animated reboot once again…

This article contains spoilers for You season 5. For five seasons, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) in You has literally gotten away with murder, and his list of victims has only continued to grow. In the show’s final season, however, the past finally catches up to Joe as Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) ends up being the key to putting him behind bars. So, how does that work, considering she was heartbreakingly killed by Joe at the end of season one? Well, it’s thanks to his new love interest, Bronte, whose real name is Louise (Madeline Brewer), and help from some familiar faces. It’s revealed in season 5 episode 6 that Louise actually knew Beck and has been catfishing Joe under the name Bronte with her friends in hopes of catching him, seeking justice for her and Dr. Nicky, who was framed for her murder. The only problem is that while getting to know Joe, she has fallen under his spell and is now questioning her previous suspicions. With it being the last season, it’s only fitting that one of Joe’s survivors helps Bronte see who Joe really is. What makes it feel more final is who they chose to give this task to: Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle). Considering all that the mother has to lose if she gets involved with Joe again, her coming back alongside Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman), who freed and helped her trick Joe in season four, shows the audience just how close to the end we truly are. In what is one of the most powerful and important scenes of the entire series, Marienne speaks at her most vulnerable about how men like Joe catch you off guard, expressing how when the “bad stuff happens” you force yourself to believe “they’re not actually bad” because “if you got fooled by this guy, you are not as smart as you thought you were. You’re one of those women,” who you “deep down, think you’re smarter than.” Her speech hits Bronte and the audience hard, especially as she begins to list off the names of Joe’s past love interests, herself and Louise included. But she then insists that Bronte is not stupid and that “as long as you are alive, it’s not too late.” It’s a message many women need to hear.  It’s also the push Bronte needs to finish what she started. She goes on the run with Joe, ready for answers about what he really did to Beck, and while holding him at gunpoint, she demands the truth. In a narration, Joe sums up perfectly why it all had to come back to Beck: She’s “the one I can’t outrun.” Bronte forces him to redact himself from Beck’s book, pointing out that him finishing and rewriting her words meant that he not only took her life but her voice as well.  As expected, when he realizes that Bronte has turned on him, he attempts to kill her too. While he is chasing her, she manages to dial the police, who hear the entire struggle, including him saying, “You want to know how I killed Beck? I’ll show you,” before strangling her, demonstrating to the audience just how full circle this entire story has been. While Beck’s murder happened off-screen, Joe did have a vision in the second season of her with bruises all over her neck that seemingly confirmed he strangled her to death.  When Bronte fights back and gets away, he then tries to drown her, but she manages to survive that as well. She later finds him in the woods, Joe begging her to kill him as the police grow closer and closer. She refuses, and while she does shoot him, it’s not fatal, and he is arrested. Bronte reclaims the name Louise, concluding that her life “doesn’t boil down to before and after” Joe and that she cannot wait to find out who she wants to be now. She is no longer simply Joe’s “You” of the season.  According to Louise, Joe Goldberg was “made to see all of himself.” She shares that “the trial was messy, the evidence horrific, and the truth undeniable.” He was convicted for the murders of both Love and Beck, but that’s not all. Allegations then turned into more convictions, including Benji and Peach. He will never be free again. Louise pulled all of Joe’s “contributions” out of Beck’s book and published the redacted version, honoring her, even though Beck will never “get the chance to make what she wanted to make of her life.” This final season goes beyond getting justice for Joe’s victims, it makes them the source of his downfall. Bringing back Marienne and Nadia to say their piece directly to Joe is necessary because not all of his victims could do so, Beck being a prime example. Thankfully, they found different ways to include the majority of them, ensuring justice was served, and while every single one was important, it all needed to come back to Beck to be a satisfying ending for those who have watched since the beginning. As for Joe’s ending, he will now live the rest of his life alone in a cage. What’s more full circle than that? All 10 episodes of You season 5 are available to stream on Netflix now.

In half of his scenes in The Accountant 2, Jon Bernthal‘s character Braxton eats something sweet. Sometimes he’s finishing a quart of ice cream. Sometimes he’s sucking on a lolly. But he’s always eating. And yet, during an extended comic scene in which Braxton wears nothing but black undies and black socks, there’s not a single inch of body fat to be seen. Anyone who wants to enjoy The Accountant 2 must be willing to overlook these glaring departures from reality, because the movie outdoes its 2016 predecessor with its absurd portrayal of autism, handling the condition with as much insight and sensitivity as Rain Man. But anyone who can approach The Accountant 2 as pure fiction will have a blast and enjoy it as a fun and dumb crowdpleaser. After an opening sequence that introduces Daniella Pineda as a walking, killing MacGuffin called Anaïs, this Gavin O’Connor sequel catches up with Christian Wolff (still played by Ben Affleck) as a man whose severe autism makes him an incredibly effective bookkeeper for underground organizations. His autism, combined with the training he received from his special forces father, also makes him an effective killer, a skill he uses when one of those organizations crosses a line. Outside of a line or two of exposition, The Accountant 2 doesn’t go much further into Wolff’s backstory, assuming that viewers already know or don’t care about it. Instead Wolff enters the film in a funny sequence at a speed dating event. Using his analytical skills, Wolff has determined the most efficient and effective profile, drawing droves of women to his table. Yet each of the women walks away in disappointment when Wolff’s inability to read social cues results in him leveling an unflattering remark. Funny as it is, an uncomfortable mean streak runs beneath the bit too. The scene asks viewers to laugh not just at Wolff’s blunt responses, but also at the desperate 40-something singles who rush up to Wolff’s table only to get frustrated and hurt by the real guy. Yet the scene also works because of the aplomb of the performances, the big comic takes by the actresses playing the singles, and by Affleck as Wolff. As demonstrated in The Way Back, his previous collaboration with director O’Connor, Affleck excels at playing insincerity, able to portray someone who doesn’t mean the charming things he says, but deceives out of a deep sadness and loneliness, not out of a desire to manipulate. He plays Wolff as someone who wishes that he could connect with others but doesn’t know how, keeping the audience on the character’s side throughout the movie. It also helps that The Accountant 2 pairs Affleck with Bernthal right from the beginning, letting the movie operate as a buddy action comedy in the vein of 48 Hrs. or Lethal Weapon. An incredibly charismatic actor who can find notes of pathos in tough guys, Bernthal’s always a joy to watch, but he sometimes over relies on his tics—darting his head back and forth to portray frustration or pointing aggressively when his tough guys get sad. Bernthal’s makes no effort to complicate those tics with this guy, but they all work because he’s playing next to Affleck’s buttoned-down Wolff, a man almost devoid of affect, resulting in a pleasing combination. Bernthal’s also a great action performer, which comes in handy with The Accountant 2‘s many visceral action scenes. In the nine years between the two Accountant films, the John Wick franchise has raised expectations for Western action, making the frenetic gun battles of previous American genre entries insufficient. The Accountant 2 still has lots of scenes of people shooting projectiles at one another from a covered distance, but O’Conor, fight coordinator David Conk, and their team of stunt performers keep things feeling real and visceral, especially when the guns go away and the action plays out in clearly staged and practical hand-to-hand combat. So great are these comic and action beats that viewers hardly notice the many problems in Bill Dubuque’s script. In addition to a story that makes autism into an X-Men style mutant ability, The Accountant 2 even features a stately special school where gifted youngsters use their talents in a secret underground computer lab. However, the film also uses too many other ugly American genre tropes. Once again, the bad guys are Mexicans with lots of tattoos, who menace women forced into sex work and children who stare longingly into the distance, waiting for our white American male heroes to save them. In fairness, Dubuque’s script tries to complicate those tropes. The true big bads are two white guys (Robert Morgan and Grant Harvey), and the primary plot driver is Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who returns from the first film with an upgrade to Treasury Department chief. She is the one who contracts Wolff to look for Anaïs. Anaïs herself acts as an agency: a Mexican woman on a mission of vengeance against those who stole her family. Yet no part of the film seems particularly interested in that. Anaïs and the white bad guys disappear from the screen for long stretches, and their returns feel like unnecessary stuffing. Medina sets the plot in motion when she contacts Wolff, but then she constantly tries to stop it from continuing, nagging Wolff and Braxton about their methods and reassuring the viewers that the U.S. government doesn’t condone invasive surveillance, illegal extradition, and other things that the movie portrays as really, really cool. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Which is the case for most things in The Accountant 2. They look really cool or feel really fun in the moment, but become uncomfortable when taken seriously for more than two seconds. The movie is best enjoyed, then, in the exact opposite manner of Christian Wolff. Don’t analyze what you see, don’t look for patterns. Thrill to the explosions, laugh at the buddy interactions, and God help anyone who tries to apply The Accountant franchise to real life. The Accountant 2 opens in theaters on April 25, 2025.

After a long, WGA strike-mandated wait, the second season of 2022 Netflix hit Wednesday starring Jenna Ortega in the lead role is finally nigh, and this time the Addams Family are taking a step forward. Not only is Wednesday’s younger brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) joining Nevermore Academy this semester, but parents Morticia and Gomez (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán) will also have “an increased presence on campus” according to the show’s creators. Tango instructors for this year’s annual Rave’N Dance, perhaps? The new trailer shows Pugsley in Nevermore uniform, using some new-found magical powers he appears to have inherited from his electricity-zapping Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen). We also see Morticia and Gomez trot out a few of their famous dance steps, and are given a glimpse of new characters Hester Frump (aka Grandmama) played by Joanna Lumley, and Principal Dort, played by Steve Buscemi. Take a look at the teaser trailer: It’s another two-batch delivery from Netflix, which is straddling the season’s release over two consecutive months. The first set of episodes will arrive on the streamer on Wednesday August 6, followed by the rest on Wednesday September 3. Pugsley’s debut at Nevermore won’t be a smooth one, according to creator Tim Burton, who says he feels for “Poor Pugsley” and describes him as “an outcast among outcasts.” Add to that the “rare new form of torture” that comes in the form of his and Wednesday’s parents’ presence at the school. Addams kids usually like torture, don’t they? Not a great deal is yet known about Joanna Lumley’s new character Grandmama, aka Hester Frump, seen here looking just as glamorously tailored and put together as her daughter (in the long and varied history of the Addams family cartoons and TV series, Grandmama has variously been Gomez and Morticia’s blood relative, which seems fitting for this messed-up Gothic family). Described as “Wednesday’s closest ally”, she’ll likely be providing the third kind of heat in the Wednesday/Morticia mother-daughter relationship central to the series. Even less is known about Steve Buscemi’s new school head, who was brought in to replace Gwendoline Christie’s sadly departed season one Principal Weems. Buscemi told Netflix “Barry Dort is a bit of a mysterious figure. Something about him is not right, but he loves the school and he has real outcast pride.” There’s no sign as yet of Lady Gaga’s previously announced guest turn in the series, nor any indication as to which character she’ll be playing. A new teacher, or parent, or – as many fans are crossing their fingers and hoping for – another addition to the Addams family in the form of Morticia’s upbeat blonde sister Ophelia, perhaps? Elsewhere, we see the returns of fan-favourite character Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) with a new ‘do and a creepy doll lookalike complete with human hair, plus love interest Tyler (Hunter Doohan), frenemy Bianca (Joy Sunday), plus of course, Thing (Victor Dorobantu) – the disembodied hand/BFF no girl should be without. Wednesday season two part one streams on Netflix from August 6. Season two part two follows on September 3. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

After 113 years, Titanic is still a source of innovation. Dives to the wreck have provided glimpses into its tragic story, but now technology unveils the full picture with Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, a groundbreaking special from award-winning Atlantic Productions and National Geographic, which shows how we can preserve the past and protect the future. Using exclusive access to cutting-edge underwater scanning, the special, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, reveals the most accurate digital twin of the Titanic ever created– built from over two years of research, 715,000 images and 16 terabytes of data painstakingly pieced together.  But this 90-minute special is about so much more than the Titanic.  Parks Stephenson, a featured Titanic analyst, hopes audiences will go in not only hoping to learn more about that fateful night in 1912, but also observe how we can engage with history going forward, using it as an avenue for education.   “[The 3D model] is a baseline from which all future work is going to be done,” Stephenson says. “We’ve got to understand the depths before we go charting in and exploit it,”  The special follows a team of leading historians, engineers and forensic experts, including Stephenson, metallurgist Jennifer Hooper and master mariner Captain Chris Hearn, as they explore the twin, constructed by the deep-sea mapping company Magellan.  Experts Jennifer Hooper, Chris Hearn, and Parks Stephenson look at the Titanic digital twin in the virtual studio. (Credit: Atlantic Productions) Stephenson, Hooper and Hearn stand in awe of the digital twin, projected on a massive, curved LED volume stage that renders the ship at full scale in breathtaking detail. With the wreckage preserved exactly as it lay in 2022, the team is able to walk through the model and use the reconstruction to challenge long-held myths. They examine the jagged break of the hull, which is evidence that the ship didn’t split cleanly in two, but was violently torn apart, shredding through first-class cabins where passengers like J.J. Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim may have taken shelter. A single open valve in the boiler room confirms that crew members stayed at their post after impact, keeping electricity running and sending out distress calls. Even the position of a lifeboat davit, frozen mid-motion, provides evidence to exonerate First Officer William Murdoch, accused of desertion.  Those details, preserved on the ocean floor, are now accessible without going near the wreck. The seafloor is not a renewable surface, and digging or drilling through it can cause irreversible harm. Stephenson believes technology like the digital twin can revolutionize the way we study the ocean, without disturbing it. A naval analyst, historian and expert in maritime forensics, Stephenson has long been at the forefront of history and technology. After retiring from the Navy, where he served as both a submariner and a flight officer, he went on to advise filmmakers, historians and deep-sea expeditions. He stresses that as tools for underwater expeditions grow more advanced, so does the need for ethical boundaries.  “If we’re going to understand the sea, we need to know how to study it properly,” Stephenson says. “And this technology is going to be the way of the future of ocean exploration. Not just of shipwrecks, but geological formations– basically the way things look down there –we’re gonna be able to bring it up and be able to study it in full detail.” Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Stephenson is also the executive director of the nonprofit USS KIDD Veterans Museum, where he helps preserve the WWII-era destroyer USS KIDD (DD-661). At the museum, he inspires younger generations with the excitement of learning about a historic warship, while also imparting important teachings about character.  There are many lessons to take away from the Titanic. One of the most abiding is the selflessness shown by many of the men on board, who gave up their chances of survival so women and children could escape first. Through the nonprofit, Stephenson hopes to educate future generations on the virtues of service, sacrifice and citizenship, rather than just on the ship itself.  “There are elements from our history we can use if we educate the coming generations properly,” Stephenson says. “We won’t lose some of our best customs, and maybe we’ll get rid of some of our worst customs.”   Stephenson’s work with the nonprofit will be his final job as he prepares for retirement. By preserving the KIDD, he wants to keep the vital lessons of history alive and use them to help guide future generations. Working with young people and caring for a historic warship has brought a new meaning to his career.  “Now, I am responsible for a very tangible piece of our history, and it’s my job to preserve it,” Stephenson says. “All of this led me to something that I finally feel has given me real purpose in life; being a steward of history.”

Early in Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson takes his pal Joaquin Torres to get some training. At first Joaquin scoffs at the trainer chosen by Sam, a physically imposing, but decidedly older man. But when Sam tells Joaquin the trainer’s name, Joaquin is overcome with awe. After all, the man is Isaiah Bradley, the lost Captain America, who gained powers when the Super-Soldier serum was forced upon him. As we learned in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Isaiah went on several missions for the U.S. government in the 1950s, only to be captured by Hydra and disavowed by the military, left to rot in prison. When Sam took on the mantle of Captain America from Steve Rogers, he made it his mission to get Isaiah the respect he deserves, as the great, lost Captain America. Does that respect mean that we’ll see Isaiah finally suited up, joining the Avengers in a Captain America costume? Isaiah’s actor Carl Lumbly isn’t too sure. “I’m not sure if you remember M.A.N.T.I.S.,” Lumbly responds when Den of Geek asks about his hopes to play in-costume Captain America in an upcoming Avengers film. “That was my first experience with spandex. And I can say I’ve been happy to live without spandex.” Lumbly starred as Dr. Miles Hawkins in M.A.N.T.I.S., a superhero series created by none other than Sam Raimi and Batman (1989) screenwriter Sam Hamm, which ran for one season on the Fox Network in 1994-1995. In his masked persona, Hawkins wore armor as much he did spandex, but that was enough for Lumbly. “The materials now are probably more forgiving, but no,” he laughs. To be sure, Lumbly has earned the right to pass on putting on a costume. He is a bonafide legend in the world of genre fiction. His credits include playing John Parker in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, voicing the Martian Manhunter in Justice League Unlimited, and appearing as C. Auguste Dupin in Mike Flanagan‘s The Fall of the House of Usher. Although his superhero bonafides cannot be disputed now, Lumbly admits he was slow to the genre. “I was not allowed to read comic books when I was young,” he says. “I was told that they were not acceptable forms of literature and I love reading and I love books. So when I came to comic books to do J’onn J’onzz the Martial Manhunter in the DC world, I became aware of the depth of these stories that I that dismissed as romps.” “These characters are saying things to one another inside these stories that you probably couldn’t get away with in some of the other literature that I was more familiar with, because people would say it’s so didactic or on the nose. But the fact that comic book stories all start with an image without words gives them a power that allows the words to reach even further. “It hits people in the spot before they realize the shot’s been fired.” It’s that power to slip hard truths past resisting audiences that drew Lumbly to the MCU in the first place. Lumbly describes Isaiah Bradley as “a witness” and wanted to play the character because of the “story that he told about himself as a young man, going through what he went through during the war and his perspectives on where things are now.” “I just felt that it was a beautifully written, shared life experience, and I wanted to take a shot at it. And I took that shot. It was very affecting for me,” he says. “I felt very close to what he was saying, not my circumstances, not my experience, but certainly similar to many stories that I’ve heard about. Stories about people who have sacrificed, people who have been betrayed, and people who keep going.” Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The truth of that story helps Lumbly stay true to the character, even through the spectacle that is the MCU. “It’s not my responsibility,” he says of the larger task of keeping up with Isaiah’s place in the ever-expanding shared universe. “I literally just lived with the character and the characters relationship to the other characters laid out in a Marvel universe, which is different from the universe that I thought was the universe.” “I think my responsibility is to put myself fully in the world that has been laid out in the text and be as truthful inside it as possible. I felt that was my one edict, that Isaiah’s story was truth.” That’s a great word to use to describe Isaiah, who made his debut in the 2002 comic miniseries Truth: Red, White & Black, written by Robert Morales and illustrated by Kyle Baker. Drawing inspiration from the real-world Tuskegee Experiments, Truth connected the Captain America story to the country’s history of violence against Black people. Troubling as it is, Lumbly sees hope in Isaiah’s story. “He’s simply talking about what happened, what he saw. And I think that is something that a lot of people can relate to.” “It takes a lot to go through terrible things, talk about how terrible they were, and still be present to move forward beyond what was terrible into the dream that we all have the New Jerusalem, a place where everyone has recognition for the simple fact of being alive and human” However, Lumbly admits that he didn’t initially see genre movies as the way to imagine that better world. “When Buckaroo Banzai came out in 1984, it seemed like a universe, but people weren’t sure it was a universe they wanted to be part of. It talks about things like eighth dimensions, electrodes, and accelerator machines. It just seemed so incredibly wild that there wasn’t initially an audience.” “But time has moved on and now it’s got quite a following. It was out there on the fringes and we live in the fringes now. What happens in the Marvel and DC world is mainstream to what was going on in the ’80s.” Lumbly certainly sees value in that change. “I think it allows for a greater play of imagination. And I think as people become more used to truth inside fantasy and spectacle,” he observes. “We can represent things that people might not otherwise be able to hear. In a time where literacy is under assault, I say whatever you can do to communicate, grab that tool and use it.” That tool metaphor speaks not just to the power of genre stories to tell the truth, but to Lumbly’s approach as an actor, which helps him keep from getting overwhelmed by the vast worlds in which he plays. “It’s all text,” he explains. “That’s the instruction manual.” “I don’t know if you’ve ever put together an IKEA project, but sometimes you find that that spacer is missing or something from the instructions is missing. But you still have to make that piece of furniture functional.” “To me, that’s my work. I think of myself as a workman. I believe that the work is never over, so if we’re in the middle of shooting, I’m still going over the text, trying to unearth as much as possible and then feed it into myself in a way that I can forget it when it’s time to shoot.” It’s work that Carl Lumbly has been doing for decades, and we genre fans are fortunate to have him do it, even if he doesn’t want to do it in Captain America spandex. Captain America: Brave New World is now available on digital streaming services.

This article contains spoilers for Andor season 2 episodes 1-3. The first three episodes of Andor season 2 introduce another rebel cell operating out in the galaxy known as the Maya Pei Brigade. Cassian (Diego Luna) stumbles across a group of survivors marooned on Yavin 4 when he arrives to drop off the TIE Avenger he stole at the behest of Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård). The brigade take him hostage, believing that he’s an Imperial test pilot and not really listening to any arguments otherwise. But despite the fact that they try to keep their identity a secret, Cassian soon learns who they are and tries to use that to his advantage. After his guard tells them that they are in fact a part of the Maya Pei Brigade, Cassian tries to argue that they’re all on the same team. He tells them that his friend (Luthen) has been supplying their efforts, that they’re all part of the same rebellion, but they can’t see past their own infighting to realize that Cassian is telling the truth. While we don’t actually see Maya Pei herself – some of the Brigade believe that she died in the battle they fled, others believe she’s still alive – this isn’t the first time we’ve heard her name mentioned. In season 1 of Andor, we hear her name come up both from Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) during her investigation into Ferrix and from Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) while talking with Luthen about other rebel cells. Saw doesn’t really care for Maya, calling her a “Neo-Republican” and admonishing her methods. In Legends canon, Maya Pei served on Senator Bail Organa’s security team during the Clone Wars, and later joined the Alderaanian Resistance. She was part of a team sent by Organa to steal cargo that would strategically weaken the Empire. While we don’t know much about Maya in standard canon, aside from the fact that this version of her is also leading a rebel cell, it seems like she’s pretty badass. However, when we meet the Maya Pei Brigade, it seems like they are on their last legs. They have clearly fled from an intense battle of some sort. Gerdis’ (Ben Norris) brother left them all on Yavin 4 claiming to go back for more survivors from the Brigade. However, not all of the survivors believe that he’ll come back for them. Some of them believe that Gerdis’ brother abandoned them, and they’re on their own now. Between infighting amongst the group and the deadly beasts that roam the jungle, the odds that the Brigade survived after Cassian left aren’t very high, but they also aren’t zero. We know that the Rebel Alliance eventually decides to call Yavin 4 home a bit more permanently. Maybe what’s left of the Brigade will help the moon become more habitable. Or maybe Maya Pei does survive and finally finds herself reunited with her crew.  Whatever happens, this group is a great look at how separate the rebel cells were before the Alliance as we know it was formed. The Maya Pei Brigade is a reminder that there were so many in the galaxy during this time fighting the Empire in their own ways. Even though we don’t meet Maya Pei herself, her Brigade is still an important piece at play during this time in Star Wars history. The first three episodes of Andor season 2 premiere are available to stream on Disney+ now. Three new episodes debut per week on Tuesday nights, culminating with the finale on May 13.

“Number One, you have the helm.” The fact that Captain Picard speaks those words on a regular basis in Star Trek: The Next Generation shouldn’t undermine the importance of the chain of command. Within the world of Star Trek, the first officer isn’t just the person who supports the captain and takes over when needed. The first officer must connect the captain and the crew, making sure that the former’s orders get carried out and that the latter’s concerns are heard. As such, the first officer must act like something of an audience surrogate, allowing the captain to be an ideal. In short, the first officer (or executive officer or XO, depending on which term you prefer) is one of the most complicated parts on Star Trek. But that complexity also means that the first officer is usually one of the best characters in any Trek series, making these eight the best of the best. 8. Commander Chakotay (Voyager) No character suffered from Voyager‘s slow evolution more than Chakotay. Not only does the series largely disregard the plot development that would have given him good stories, the conflict between the Starfleet personnel and Maquis rebels aboard the ship, but he’s also pushed to the background when Seven of Nine joins the cast. Worse yet are the behind the scenes problems that hobbled the character, including a non-Native scam artist that Voyager producers hired to serve as Native American consultant. Too many Chakotay stories involved pan flute and the bones of his ancestors, making him more of a cartoon than a representation of any real people. It’s easy to understand why Chakotay actor Robert Beltran would completely check out from his job from season three onward. Just look at the wonderful job Beltran does when Chakotay returns for a great arc in Prodigy. 7. Commander Jack Ransom (Lower Decks) Lower Decks may have started out as a parody of classic Star Trek, but by the time it finished its five seasons, its leads had moved from types to fully-developed characters in their own rights. All except Jack Ransom, voiced by Jerry O’Connell. Ransom began the show as an exaggeration of Riker’s sexy, masculine XO and that’s how he ended the series, as demonstrated by the phrase he adopts as Captain: “Engage the Core.” Okay, that’s not entirely true. Over the series’ lifetime, Ransom revealed himself to be a good leader and teacher, because of, and not in spite of, his gym bro attitude. And yet, Ransom’s best moments rarely go beyond punchline. He never gets the full development of his forerunner Riker, and thus has to land near the bottom of this list. 6. Commander Saru (Discovery) Discovery was a messy series, and that lack of clear direction reflected in its command structure. Several people were Commanding Officers at one time or another in Discovery, including Michael Burnham herself. Yet, the most prominent of them is Saru, one of the best characters in the uneven show, brought to life through fantastic special effects work and the always amazing physical acting of the legendary Doug Jones. Saru is a Kelpien, a new race designed for Discovery, and the first of his kind to join Starfleet. In particular, the Kelpiens stayed away from exploration due to their timid nature, a biological instinct that warned them of encroaching danger. Of course, that meant Saru’s warnings went off constantly especially around Burnham. Yet, he stayed loyal to the mission, a decision that felt believable thanks to Jones’ warm screen presence. 5. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Strange New Worlds) A role created by none other Majel Barrett in the original Star Trek pilot “The Cage,” Commander Una Chin-Riley is the original Number One. When Rebecca Romijn took over the part in season two of Discovery, she followed Barrett’s lead to reveal more of Number One’s bravery, competency, and even her sense of humor. Chin-Riley can handle anything Strange New Worlds throws at her, whether it’s battling rabid Gorn or singing a duet with La’an. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! That said, the short seasons of Strange New Worlds, which still hasn’t produced as many episodes of a single pre-Discovery season, means that we haven’t had the same look at Number One as we have othered on this list. Still she’s taken full advantage of the chances she’s been given, as seen in the season two standout episode “Ad Astra Per Aspera.” Revealed to be an Illyrian, a race that uses augments despite Federation on the practice, Number One must defend her position in Starfleet. And defend it she does, capturing in a single speech the sense of bravery and aspiration that makes Star Trek so great. 4. Sub-Commander T’Pol (Enterprise) No one on this list has it easy, but no first officer quite faced the same challenges as T’Pol, the Vulcan first officer assigned to aid/stall humanity’s first steps into deep space aboard the Enterprise NX-01. Even beyond the fact that she had to serve under Captain Archer, a man whose mix of belligerence and incompetence set a model that Starfleet Admirals would follow for generations, T’Pol also had to deal with a duplicitous Vulcan high command. That no-win situation only made T’Pol stand out more. Jolene Blalock perfectly embodied a true believer Vulcan who slowly gets won over by the humans. Her ability to convey the frustration of her position without expressing emotions makes Blaylock one of the best Vulcan performances in Trek history. That’s especially true in Enterprise‘s much stronger third and fourth seasons, in which T’Pol’s friendship with the crew becomes the foundation of the Federation. 3. Major Kira Nerys (Deep Space Nine) Voyager‘s fumbling of Chakotay is made all the more frustrating by the fact that its predecessor nailed a similar dynamic. Major Kira Nerys of the Bajoran resistance came to Federation Starbase Deep Space Nine after spending her adult life waging war against Cardassian occupiers. Now, she not only has to transition to peace time, but must also work with Starfleet, which prioritizes peace with the Cardassians over full reparations to the Bajorans. Rather than run from the conflict, Deep Space Nine embraced it and rested it largely on the soldiers of Kira, played fantastically by Nana Visitor. As early as season one’s excellent “Duet,” Kira revealed herself as not just an incredibly competent commanding officer to work with Sisko, but also a full person with complicated feelings. Kira’s ability to fight through those feelings, to do her job and do it well, makes her one of Trek‘s best first officers and one of the best characters in the entire franchise. 2. Commander Spock (TOS) Were it not for Spock, you would not be reading this article because Star Trek would have died as a weird but interesting sci-fi show from the ’60s and never become the massive ongoing story it is today. Where William Shatner embodied the show’s sense of adventure and where DeForest Kelley embodied the show’s old-timey Western roots, Leonard Nimoy was truly alien as Spock. Through Spock, the series perfectly combined its sci-fi tropes and its ambitions to tell philosophical stories. Moreover, Spock set the standard for Star Trek first officers. He had his own role on the ship and, with it, his own often great stories (“Spock’s Brain” isn’t that bad). But when he clashed with the captain, he provided a necessary counter to his human leader, providing valuable insight to help Kirk realize his full potential. It’s no wonder that Spock became the breakout character of the series and that he and Kirk’s relationship inspired a whole genre of fan fiction. 1. Commander William Riker (The Next Generation) Need evidence of Will Riker’s greatness? First, watch Jonathan Frakes perform the Riker maneuver. Then, watch his forerunner Will Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Sure, the character gained more of an adventurous side during the transition from Decker to Riker, changing from wet-blanket to Kirk surrogate. But where Decker felt cold and ineffective even in his romance scenes with Ilia, Riker felt competent and kind, even away from Troi. It’s that warm competence that makes Riker the ideal Star Trek first officer. At a moment’s notice, Riker could take the helm and even fire torpedos at his compromised captain. But he could also flash a big goofy grin while playing cards with the rest of bridge crew and show compassion for a struggling ensign. Even before he explained himself to Jellico in “Chain of Command,” we already understood why Riker didn’t want to graduate to captain. He was happy in the space between solitary leader and member of the crew community, a job he performed at the highest level of excellence.

If you recall the days of VHS tapes, you’ll also probably remember the scary FBI warnings at the beginning of movies that cautioned against piracy. Although a little heavy-handed, it always acted as a staunch warning: You own the tape, but you don’t own the content. Today these types of warnings still exist with piracy laws protecting copyrighted work across movies, TV, books, and art. By definition, piracy involves the unauthorized use or reproduction of another’s work. However, when it comes to the gray area of AI, piracy and copyright laws tend to lose all their power. That certainly seems to be the case with Meta’s latest alleged book raid. According to recently redacted court filings, the technology conglomerate headed by founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly used Library Genesis (better known as LibGen) and other digital piracy “shadow libraries” to train LLaMa 3, the company’s latest and supposedly greatest AI large language model (LLM), to better interface with future users. And yes, if true, this means in a stunning show of bravado, Meta essentially pirated books that were already pirated in order to better train a pet AI. What adds greater frustration about this latest development is authors have been fighting the good fight against LibGen and its ilk for years. So many were understandably outraged when learning that Meta may have also stolen their work. The main difference here (if it even matters) is that LibGen remains a controversial yet free service. In contrast, Meta uses the intellectual property of others to help fuel its billions in profits. Not everyone can be Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. Most authors make very little off their books. Few can live off royalties, and even fewer get substantial advances. A billion-dollar company stealing anyone’s work (including publishing heavyhitters) feels like a giant slap in the face. With the U.S. lacking AI laws and regulations on the federal and state levels, it gets even trickier for creatives to protect their IP and receive fair compensation. AI Presents Unique Challenges for Class Action Lawsuits As reported by The Authors Guild, legal action was taken against Meta in 2023, and all authors affected by Meta’s LLaMa 3 training have automatically been included in the Kadrey v. Meta class action in northern California. However, the case is still ongoing and hangs on one important fact: is Meta in violation of direct copyright infringement?  With AI being what it is, copyright gets complicated, especially when combined with Meta’s fair use defense. Essentially, fair use allows you to bypass getting permission from the copyright holder for purposes like criticism, teaching, reporting, and research. In most cases, the work is “transformative,” meaning it adds something new to the original material. And due to Meta’s LLM ingesting, digesting, and spitting out a Frankensteinian text generator, the fair use argument unfortunately has some legs. However, as Dan Pontefract pointed out in a Forbes article, “fair use arguments were meant for education, commentary, and criticism, not corporate exploitation for commercial profit at scale.” Whether direct copyright infringement holds weight or not, Meta’s raid of LibGen, which houses more than 7.5 million pirated books, raises ethical concerns and spotlights the need for more AI laws and regulations. Tech Raids Prove AI Laws Are Necessary AI isn’t going anywhere. To toss out another Frankenstein metaphor, we created a monster that can’t just be abandoned. For many, AI offers unmatched efficiency, task automation, and a new way of delegating mundane tasks with better accuracy. Certain fields undoubtedly benefit from AI, but Meta proves books and other creative media aren’t among them. Mark Twain once said, “There is no such thing as new ideas.” It’s an argument frequently used in pro-generative AI circles. If everyone is recycling ideas, how is AI any different? However, generative AI isn’t just coded; it’s trained on the published works of artists and writers. Their inspiration may have come from the creations of old, but they still sat, thought, and created something new with human talents and flaws. Agatha Christie had to plot out her mystery novels. She couldn’t just plop them into ChatGPT and type, “Write me an ending.” But thanks to her efforts, now anyone can use generative AI to cook up a locked room whodunit mystery with likely a familiar conclusion. This leads to a host of issues, like who actually owns the work if it’s created from a compilation of many copyright holders? Currently, the U.S. has no federal legislation regulating AI development or use (White & Case). On the state level, there are a few laws pertaining to generative AI. For example, Colorado and Utah have laws stating that agencies must disclose generative AI use to their users. Tennessee likewise updated its right of publicity law to include a clause relating to the unauthorized use of an individual’s photograph, voice, or likeness in algorithms, software, or other technology. California also requires websites to post the data used to train their generative AI systems, including whether it stems from work protected by copyright, trademark, or patent.  Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! While these various laws outline potential solutions to protecting copyright holders and consumers, it’s just a start. Until then, those pursuing legal action against companies like Meta will have to rely on pre-existing piracy and copyright laws that leave a lot of wiggle room in AI matters. Kadrey v. Meta could very well end in Meta’s favor. As it stands, the court has thrown out most of the claims besides direct copyright infringement. That might not have been the case if regulations about how companies train their AI models had already been in place.  Famed Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli ran into similar issues with OpenAI last month. With OpenAI’s 40 image generation tool (an offshoot of ChatGPT’s paid model), users everywhere were able to create images they claimed were in Studio Ghibli’s signature style. Those unfamiliar with Ghibli can look to hits like Spirited Away and Grave of the Fireflies for a taste of the studio’s richly detailed, hand-drawn animation. Films like those or The Boy and the Heron are as much labors of love as they are lines and colors. And they’re no easy feat to create. As Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki told EW, it can take one month to draw one minute of animation. With OpenAI’s 40 image generation tool creating allegedly Studio Ghibli-like images with the press of a button, OpenAI’s newest feature has thus stirred up controversy of its own.  While “style” cannot be copyrighted, this brings into question how OpenAI trained its AI model. Fan art? Similar images? Sure, maybe. But if OpenAI used official Studio Ghibli art for training without permission, we’re right back in copyright infringement and piracy territory (currently the Japanese company has announced no plans to pursue legal action). The same applies to Google’s AI summary feature, which compiles information from articles in the search results to deliver a quick, and sometimes wildly inaccurate, answer. As for literature, Meta had the chance to shape this AI hellscape by seeking permission from authors and publishers, and/or paying for the use of their intellectual property. However, with no federal laws regulating generative AI, the tech company allegedly frolicked in the ungoverned Wild West of artificial intelligence and torrented millions of books in the process. While Meta claims to care about building “the future of human connection,” its actions suggest there’s nothing human about it.

This article contains spoilers for the first three episodes of Andor season 2 Yavin 4, more commonly known simply as Yavin, is a jungle moon orbiting the gas giant Yavin Prime. In Star Wars canon, Yavin serves as the homebase for the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. It’s such an important place in the Star Wars universe that the timeline is centered around the battle against the Empire that takes place here. Things either happen Before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or After the Battle of Yavin (ABY).  Up until this point, we’ve only really seen Yavin on screen as a rebel base, not what it was like before the rebels chose to make it their home. But now thanks to Andor, we know that the moon was still pretty feral and wild before the rebels fully settled in. In the first two episodes of Andor season 2, Cassian (Diego Luna) lands on the moon with the stolen TIE Avenger, hoping to send the ship off with his contact Porko as planned. But Cassian quickly discovers that he’s not alone in the jungle and that his own ship has been seemingly torn apart. Stranded rebels from the Maya Pei Brigade confront Cassian, believing that he really is an Imperial Pilot, despite his arguments otherwise. He tries to convince them that they’re on the same side, and that Luthen has been helping to fund them. But they won’t hear it. Soon infighting among the Brigade begins as they’re all desperate to find a way off the planet. Just as they’re about to come to a potential truce, they’re all attacked by giant beasts that call the planet home. Cassian uses the chaos to escape in the TIE Avenger and we see the familiar pyramids of Yavin 4 as he heads off into space. Before this moment, we don’t know that all of this is taking place on Yavin, but it makes sense that the moon began as a waypoint for various rebels. Both Luthen and the May Pei Brigade seemed to believe that Yavin was abandoned enough to use without drawing Imperial attention. Though it clearly would have helped for them to communicate that fact with each other.  However, the Rebel Alliance is still very much in its infancy at this point. It’s a collection of small cells rather than the more organized armada we see in A New Hope and Rogue One. The less each cell knows about each other, the better. If one cell goes down, the others don’t have to worry about being ratted out to the Empire. It’s kind of cool that Andor has given us a peek at what Yavin was like before the Rebels turned the moon into their home. Just like much of the rest of the galaxy under the Empire’s rule, the moon is harsh and unforgiving in its own way. But that will inevitably work to the Rebels’ advantage whenever they decide to set up shop full time. It’s not like Yavin 4 is some kind of hot vacation destination. It doesn’t seem like anyone would go to Yavin 4 without a reason. Hopefully we get to see more of Yavin 4’s progression as Andor goes on. This moon is an important part of Star Wars history and it’s fun to see how Yavin got its start as a Rebel hideout.

Sean Connery quit the role of James Bond in 1967 during the production of You Only Live Twice. Burned out by the pace of production (five films in five years), his abrupt rise to superstardom in the series and the endless press scrutiny that came with it—not to mention Connery’s increasing suspicion that he wasn’t getting paid his due—the actor walked away, leaving the massively successful franchise in doubt. It also opened up what became one of the most coveted characters in show business. According to Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury’s book Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films, some 400 actors were considered to replace Connery, who many felt was irreplaceable. Among the names thrown around in the offices of producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman’s Eon Productions were One Million Years B.C. star John Richardson, Camelot cast member Anthony Rogers, Dutch actor Hans de Vries, British bad boys Oliver Reed and Terence Stamp, and even then-Batman star Adam West. Future 007 Roger Moore was also approached for the first time but was committed to his TV series The Saint at this moment. Interestingly, the book also notes that Connery apparently had a change of heart at one point in early 1968 and was willing to come back under certain financial terms. But Broccoli and Saltzman, disappointed in their leading man’s public dismissal of the role for much of the year prior, were ready to move on and take a gamble with a new Bond. “We have to find a new approach,” Saltzman said at the time, adding that they also wanted to pivot away from the series’ increasing reliance on spectacle. With that in mind, and with all the names above and more in contention for the “biggest star search in history,” Broccoli and Saltzman declared that the second actor to play James Bond in the official film series was… someone named George Lazenby. Wait… who?! A Blind Date and a Thrown Punch Led to Lazenby Born in Australia in 1939, George Lazenby was a high school dropout who followed a woman to London and ended up becoming a successful male model for a string of print and TV ad campaigns. Acting wasn’t on his mind, and certainly not stepping into the role of the world’s greatest spy, when he went on a last-minute blind date with an agent. She called him a few days later and suggested that he might be right for a top-secret part she’d heard about. When Lazenby found out the role was James Bond, he didn’t concern himself with his thin (or rather, nonexistent) acting resume. He was, however, worried about his look, which featured the long hair and sideburns quite prevalent in Swinging ‘Sixties’60s London. But he didn’t just go to any barber: he went to Sean Connery’s very own barber and got the same cut as the Scottish actor. Then he went to Connery’s tailor, who just happened to have a suit on hand that the former 007 star hadn’t claimed and which fit Lazenby perfectly. It was almost as if it was fate. Lazenby talked his way into the office of Saltzman, too, and spun some tall tales about his work as an actor in Australia. (Oh, to apply for jobs in a pre-internet world!) Told to come back the next day to meet with director Peter Hunt, Lazenby asked his neighbor, an acting coach, for a quick lesson or two that evening. But when he met with Hunt, he confessed that he had no acting experience. Hunt was still impressed that he managed to fool the tough, no-nonsense Saltzman. “Stick to your story and I’ll make you the next James Bond,” he told the Australian upstart. The producers screen-tested Lazenby in secret to stop word from getting out that they were looking seriously at a model to take on the role of Bond. They also observed him swimming, riding horses, playing baccarat, and allegedly even having sex—a production assistant was assigned to bring women to Lazenby’s apartment and observe discreetly how he performed to determine that he was not gay. His final test was a mock fight with a stuntman so that the producers could see whether he would look convincing in hand-to-hand personal combat. But Lazenby, who had no experience in staged fisticuffs but had participated in his share of real-life brawls, punched the stuntman for real, bloodying his nose and sending him to the floor. “That’s when Harry stepped over him, grabbed me, and says, ‘We’re going with you,’” Lazenby recalled for Some Kind of Hero. Lazenby was announced as the new James Bond on Oct. 7, 1968, and would make his debut in the role the following year in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The sixth official 007 film was based on Ian Fleming’s 10th Bond novel, widely considered one of the author’s best. It was also perhaps the most emotional and character-driven book in the series up to that point—and the film’s producers had just picked a non-actor to handle it. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! One and Done Saltzman, Broccoli, Hunt, and screenwriter Richard Maibaum all concurred that the 007 films had to dial down the jetpacks, rockets, and volcano lairs and get back to the grittier spirit of the books. As a consequence, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service remaining to this day perhaps the most faithful of the movies adapted from a Fleming novel. Like the book, the movie follows Bond as he tries to stop arch-nemesis Blofeld (Telly Savalas) from launching a biological weapon in a global blackmail scheme. At the same time, 007 meets and falls in love with a wealthy yet troubled countess named Tracy (Diana Rigg), and eventually decides to quit the Secret Service and marry her. Alas, Tracy is shortly thereafter gunned down in a devastating final scene by a vengeful Blofeld. At the time of its release, reviews of OHMSS were mixed to negative, with many critics suggesting the series was running on fumes and targeting Lazenby for his lack of acting ability… or for simply not being Sean Connery. Noted critic Gene Siskel wrote in the Chicago Tribune that Lazenby “doesn’t fill Sean Connery’s shoes, Aston-Martin, or stretch pants. The new 007 is more boyish and consequently less of a man.” The box office also reflected what many surmised to be the franchise’s sagging fortunes. While You Only Live Twice hadn’t performed as well as either Thunderball or Goldfinger—the peak of Connery and arguably Bond’s popularity—OHMSS fared worse. It grossed just $82 million worldwide, a roughly 30 percent drop from YOLT, and did only half that film’s business in the U.S. To make matter worse, Lazenby listened to some rather poor advice from a self-styled “guru” named Ronan O’Rahilly and came to believe that 007 was on the way out culturally. So he told Broccoli and Saltzman that he would not return for a sequel. The producers were shocked. Even though OHMSS did not perform as well at the box office as previous outings, it was still profitable, and they were prepared to offer Lazenby a contract for six additional films. But instead the second 007, who even showed up at the film’s premiere with a perhaps dismissive long hair and a beard, walked away. OHMSS Is Forever Bond producers Broccoli and Saltzman took a considerable risk—perhaps the biggest of the Bond series to date—when they hired unknown non-actor George Lazenby to follow in Sean Connery’s footsteps. So it’s no surprise that the producers and distributor United Artists both felt burned when Lazenby quit after one movie. To recast again would have been an absolute publicity crisis. So it perhaps was no surprise they decided to seriously open up hte check book and convince Connery to return for one more film, the farcical and now often ridiculed Diamonds Are Forever. They followed that with a series of increasingly lighthearted entries headlined by trusted international star Roger Moore. What would have happened if Lazenby hadn’t listened to O’Rahilly and stuck around? Well, for one thing, the series’ always shaky continuity might have at least made a little more sense. Yes, Bond is hunting for Blofeld at the beginning of Diamonds Are Forever, but Tracy’s death is never mentioned and the fact that it’s a jaunty Connery on the job—instead of a potentially grief-stricken, vengeance-driven Lazenby—made any emotional connection to the previous film moot. It’s as if the producers wanted to erase OHMSS entirely from the canon. And in a way, they succeeded: the film was not shown on network TV for years and was almost forgotten. We’ll never know if Lazenby’s box office fortunes or acting abilities as Bond would have improved with another couple of movies; he languished in obscurity for years, acting here and there, until shifting to real estate in Los Angeles and doing quite well for himself. But at the same time, something began to happen in the ensuing decades: OHMSS was rediscovered by critics, filmmakers, and newer 007 fans, with the movie being reappraised as one of the very best in the franchise. Even heavyweight directors like Christopher Nolan and Steven Soderbergh call it their favorite Bond movie. And the truth is, it deserves those accolades: OHMSS stands alone in the Bond canon with outstanding action sequences, a fantastic villain and love interest, and a genuine character arc for 007 that Lazenby, to his credit, ably manages to sell. Most importantly, it proved that, although they didn’t live to see it, Broccoli and Saltzman’s gamble paid off. It just took years for audiences to recognize it. And it also proved that the Bond franchise was durable enough to occasionally take big swings, whether it was altering the tone of the series, adjusting to the mood of the times, or even changing the star himself. No matter what risks the franchise may take, one thing is certain… James Bond will always return.

Warning: contains spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale season six episode five “Janine”. Of course New Bethlehem was a lie. The Sons of Jacob have a good thing going in Gilead: unchecked power, privilege and pussy – who’s going to give all that up in the name of international relations?  In episode five, Lawrence learned the truth. The High Commanders are only paying lip service to New Bethlehem while they fill up on Mercedes and Rolexes, and it fills up with credulous marks like Rita. The plan is to give it a few years, and then turn wolf on those sheep, put Lawrence on the wall, and carry out coup number two. New Bethlehem and its offshoots will become old-school Gilead. Lawrence, Nick and Serena’s assurances about the repatriates’ safety will be dust in the wind. And the Sons of Jacob will celebrate with scotch and blowjobs. Unless Mayday’s bombing plan comes off and turns that frat-bro cabal into dog food, which is better than they deserve.  Imagine being considered a misogynist jerk even by other Gilead commanders; the extent of Bell’s hideousness is almost an achievement. You’d like to think that his boorish cruelty would only be tolerated in The Handmaid’s Tale, but in our world, Bell probably have a hit YouTube channel and millions of followers on Instagram. Hell, he’d probably be president.  In just one of this episode’s moments of Shakespearean drama, Lawrence learned about the plot against him through eavesdropping. Now his goals and those of Mayday have come into unexpected alignment: to save New Bethlehem and salve his conscience, he also needs the Penthouse commanders gone. Does that mean he’ll work to get the Mayday plan back on track with the two freedom fighters currently hiding in the trunk of his car? As June predicted, it didn’t take long for Mayday’s plan to go awry. A lone Guardian, emboldened by his country to treat women as property, saw an opportunity and went for it. Unluckily for him, he’s the latest in a line of assholes June and Moira have beaten their way free of and it was into the incinerator he went.  There was nothing celebratory about the violence this time; director Natalia Leite didn’t include a shot of Elisabeth Moss or Samira Wiley staring into the camera post-kill and splattered with the blood of their attacker, because this murder wasn’t a watershed character moment for either of them, it was just another damn day in Gilead.  The important character moment happened before the Guardian entered, when Moira and June reached an instructive conclusion about not forgetting who the real enemy is in the fight for gender equality. “If we start comparing our suffering then those fuckers have won,” said Moira in a line from screenwriter Ubah Mohamed that feels like a verdict this show wants to broadcast: rather than in-fight and play misery one-upwomanship with each other, let’s unite against the thing hurting us all.  June said it right when she told Moira that she would never understand what she’d been through (though she left unvoiced the extra part about her being a straight white woman talking to a Black lesbian, which, granted, might have turned the scene into a stagey educational video instead of a real-feeling confrontation between friends). Speaking of real feelings, the shift of tone from intensity to ironic humour in that exchange felt particularly well-observed. Nobody can joke about degradation like abuse survivors can.  On the subject of surviving degradation, Janine – who gave her name to this episode despite not being its main concern – remains a wonder. Instinctively heroic and somehow still capable of both hope and love, she refused to save herself before the others. Madeline Brewer has always been a thousand-watt bulb in this show, and she continues to burn bright. Speaking of lighting, should we take it as foreshadowing doom that Commander Wharton’s proposal to Serena took place in this show’s traditional spotlit-evil-commander-dinge instead of, say, the sparkling New England sunshine of her meeting with Aunt Lydia? Probably. Wharton is saying all the right things, but his apparent progressiveness just doesn’t tally with his status as a Gilead high commander. Can he be another Lawrence, responsible for atrocities but, next to men like Bell, comparatively… good?  Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Wharton didn’t seem friendly in the scene in which he warned Nick about the Guardian shooting, the whole plot thread of which was freighted with dramatic irony. Like a Shakespeare villain, Nick was repeatedly told of his great honour while we knew he was the one who’d pulled the trigger. Young Toby’s confused mumblings about his dog almost bought him a pass, but ultimately, safety-seeking Nick knew the risk was too great to let him live.  Nick, Wharton and Lawrence make three commanders at once on this show with complex inner lives. A rarity. The question is, in what direction will each of them turn now? The Handmaid’s Tale season six streams on Tuesdays on Hulu in the US, and will begin on Saturday May 3 on Channel 4 in the UK. 

Returning to the mainland after a week cruising the Galápagos Islands feels like crashing back to earth from an otherworldly voyage. There’s no need to kiss the ground upon arrival, though. By the end of your trip to the archipelago located 560 miles west of Ecuador, nobody wants to leave the geological wonder that draws visitors from around the planet for a once-in-a-lifetime journey. Or twice in a lifetime. Remarked one enthusiastic tourist, who returned to the islands after 30 years to share her love of penguins with her young grandson: “This is the last item to cross off on the bucket list of my entire life.”  National Geographic’s latest documentary series, Secrets of the Penguins, offers a glimpse into why the Galápagos Islands elicit such strong reactions from its visitors.  Each of the 13 major islands and six minor islands, the majority completely uninhabited, feature a magical combination of colorful habitats, from black basalt lava cliffs, to red sand beaches and one of the world’s most active volcanos, on Fernandina Island, towering almost 5,000 feet. The headliner for visitors, though, often weighs less than five pounds, and its elusivity in some ways is the main attraction.  The Galápagos penguin is one of the rarest penguins in the world, which according to National Geographic’s May issue, are considered vulnerable or endangered along with more than half of all penguin species. Though these majestic creatures are negatively impacted across the globe by threats like pollution, warming climates, and overfishing, the blueprint on how humanity can affect positive change through conversation are found in the Galápagos. Secrets of the Penguins, which is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, is led by director of photography, producer, and National Geographer explorer Bertie Gregory. He started filming the series in Galápagos, and joked that the cold water acclimatization “spoiled me,” as he hung out in the tropics with the sea turtles. Soon after he was traveling to colder climates like Antarctica to follow emperor penguins in often treacherous and potentially dangerous conditions. However as the production packed up for various locales, the efforts of the Ecuadorian people and natives of Galápagos stuck with Gregory.  “[Galápagos] is set up with this ethos and this mantra that wildlife has value both intrinsically and of course economically It’s an amazing model for how we should be treating nature.”  We got to see it firsthand as Den of Geek was invited to experience the islands through National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions on an expedition cruise that toured islands like San Cristobal, where Charles Darwin famously first landed in Galápagos, and the seahorse shaped Isabela, the largest island formed by the fusion of six shield volcanoes. It was off Isabela where I caught my only peek at those elusive Galápagos penguins during a deep sea-snorkeling excursion. After adjusting my snorkeling mask above water, I dunked down only to lock eyes with a sea turtle, then whipped my head around underwater and two penguins darted past me like torpedoes. I failed to spot another penguin the rest of the trip, though my subpar deep-sea swimming skills could be to blame.  Being flanked underwater by those penguins was fleeting but unforgettable. When we spoke with Gregory on the vessel via Zoom, after watching a special premiere of the docuseries’ three episodes, he was in awe that we spotted penguins after mere days, when it took their crew weeks to corral suitable footage for the show. For our group of press and general public aboard the expedition, a major part of what made the journey special was the expertise on board that not only helped us spot wildlife, but contextualize their relationship to breathtaking habitats that surrounded them, from land iguanas of various sizes, textures, and colors at Urbina Bay to the flush forest of the highlands on Puerto Ayora, where great giant tortoises roam.  Lindblad Expeditions relationship to the island dates back to 1967, when the company’s founder, Lars-Eric Lindblad, led the first voyage to the islanders for international travelers. Through their partnership with National Geographic, the expertise only deepened. Aboard the ship, National Geographic certified photo instructors helped arm guests with the best practices to capture shots of the blue-footed boobies or sea lions flopping around the beaches. The naturalists, almost exclusively from Ecuador or Galápagos, made themselves readily available day or night to answer questions pertaining to the wildlife, environment, or conservation. They have immense pride in the creatures on these islands and take seriously the efforts to protect them. When you disembark the expedition vessel on zodiac boats, all groups of no more than 16 people must have at least one naturalist with them at all times. So limited are the number of visitors and ships around these islands, you’re constantly required to keep the vessel moving every 12 hours. It leaves you in awe of the pristine playground wildlife like penguins have. And you walk away with a new or renewed interest in community efforts around conversation.  “The challenge is never with the wildlife,” Gregory says. “My hope is that this series kind of gets people to sit up and think about penguins a bit more and realize that their success is intertwined with our success. If more places around the world were like the Galapagos, the world would definitely be a better place.” Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

Andor is finally returning for its second and final season on Disney+. When we last saw Cassian (Diego Luna), he had just started to help Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) and the burgeoning rebellion, more so out of necessity and survival than a real desire to make change. But as we speed through the next several years of Cassian’s life, we’ll see him become the dedicated rebel we see in Rogue One. While we’re very excited to see the show return, Star Wars recently announced the full episode release schedule for season 2, and it’s a little different than what you might expect. Here’s what you need to know about when and where to watch Andor season 2. When Will Season 2 of Andor Be Available to Watch on Disney+? Typically, new episodes of Star Wars series will release 1-3 episodes for the premiere and then one episode weekly after that. Season 1 of Andor released the first three episodes at once, and then one episode weekly for the rest of the season. But with season 2, Andor is trying something different. Three new episodes will drop every week starting April 22. Each set of three episodes will represent a year of Cassian’s life leading up to the events of Rogue One. The release schedule is as follows: Episodes 1-3 will be available to watch on Tuesday April 22 at 6 p.m. PT/ 9 p.m. ET Episodes 4-6 will be available to watch on Tuesday April 29 at 6 p.m. PT/ 9 p.m. ET Episodes 7-9 will be available to watch on Tuesday May 6 at 6 p.m. PT/ 9 p.m. ET Episodes 10-12 will be available to watch on Tuesday May 13 at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET Andor Season 1 Recap There’s a lot that happens over the course of Andor’s first season. Here’s everything you need to remember before watching season 2. Morlana One In 5 BBY, Cassian Andor is looking for his missing sister on the planet Morlana One. During an altercation with a pair of officers, he accidentally kills one and murders the other to cover his tracks. He flees the planet and tries to hide out on Ferrix, asking his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw), and his friends Bix (Adria Arjona) and Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) to help cover for him if anyone comes asking. Morlana One’s security force Pre-Mor investigates, but the Chief Inspector wants to cover up the incident so that they don’t raise any flags with the Empire. Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), a deputy inspector, becomes obsessed with solving the case despite his supervisor’s wishes. He tracks Cassian’s ship to Ferrix and puts out a warrant for his arrest. When Karn and other officers arrive to arrest him, Cassian is able to escape with the help of Luthen Rael, who convinces Cassian to join his rebel network. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The Aldhani Rebellion After fleeing Ferrix, Luthen takes Cassian to the planet Aldhani where a small group is planning to steal credits from an Imperial supply hub on the planet. Despite some mistrust in the group and a few casualties, the heist is ultimately successful. Vel (Faye Marsay) and Cassian are the only survivors, and Cassian flees with his cut after it’s all over. He stops by Ferrix to try and convince Maarva to escape with him, but she insists on staying and resisting the increasing Imperial occupation. Escaping Narkina 5 Leaving Maarva and his life on Ferrix behind, for now, Cassian hides out on the tropical planet Niamos. He’s living a fairly comfy life until he accidentally gets caught up in a group running from Stormtroopers and is unjustly arrested. Cassian is sentenced to six years on Narkina 5, a prison labor camp that we later discover is building parts for the Death Star. Cassian and the other prisoners soon discover that the Empire is extending sentences and forcing people to stay and work even after they’ve served their time. Not wanting to die in this prison, they work together to break out. Riot on Ferrix Cassian and Bix’s contact with Luthen unintentionally draws the attention of ISB agent Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and her division. She is eager to take down the rebel cell known as Axis, and believes that Cassian is the key. Imperial officers kidnap and torture Bix to try and find his location. When that doesn’t work, they use Maarva’s death as a lure to try and pull him out. Luthen, Vel, and Cinta (Varada Sethu) also hope to use the funeral as cover to assassinate Cassian so that he can’t give up Luthen’s identity.  At the funeral, a recording of Maarva’s last words encourages the people to stand up to the Empire and fight back. Heeding her words, the people of Ferrix fight back and a riot breaks out in the streets. Cassian is able to use the chaos to free Bix, urging Brasso to take her somewhere safe off world. He then approaches Luthen, telling him that he can kill him if he wants, or he can take him into his operation. Luthen replies with a smile and Cassian officially joins the fold.

This review of Andor season 2 contains no spoilers. A show like Andor in times like these feels like such a breath of fresh air. It’s a soul-stirring story about love, loss, and fighting against impossible odds. It’s what Star Wars should be about above all else, not nostalgic cash grabs for the sake of nostalgia. Easter eggs and callbacks can be fun in a world as vast and expansive as the Star Wars galaxy, but if a casual viewer can’t hop in and still take something valuable away from it, then what’s the point? The second season of Andor is certainly ambitious, covering four years in twelve episodes as the story gets closer and closer to Rogue One. Those who thought that season 1 was a bit too slow will be pleasantly surprised by the pace of this season. But despite an increase in momentum and speed, the series still manages to hit a lot of important emotional beats. Cassian (Diego Luna), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), and the planet Ghorman serve as the main pillars of this season, but they are supported with equal strength by all of the characters and the world around them. Adria Arjona handles Bix’s struggles with PTSD with a strength and vulnerability that makes it easy to see why Cassian loves her so much. Denise Gough and Kyle Soller bring new layers to Dedra Meero and Syril Karn’s partnership this season that remind us that they aren’t mustache-twirling villains, but rather also people with something to lose in this world. Ben Mendelsohn expertly threads Orson Krennic’s deviousness and thirst for power into the story, the perfect avatar for the cruelness of the Empire in the absence of the Emperor himself. All of this to say that the performances this season are exceptional. The score by Nicholas Britell is also impeccable this season. All of the emotional beats are perfectly amplified by the music choices, from hopeful crescendos to catchy dance tunes to powerful rally cries. There are tunes that have stayed in my head for days after watching the episodes and probably won’t leave anytime soon. Music has always been an important part of Star Wars, and with this season, Britell joins John Williams as one of the best composers this franchise has. It’s hard to talk about the planet Ghorman and its role in the story without giving away the season’s entire plot, but weaving this planet and its tragic history into the show was a masterful choice on the writers’ part. It’s the perfect way to show both the brutal indifference the Empire feels toward its people and the resilience of those who fight against it. Episode 8 is truly one of the best episodes of TV I’ve ever seen, and if it doesn’t light some kind of emotional fire within you, I don’t know what will. There are times when I wish Andor had more time to let some of the heavier moments breathe. This season occasionally moves a bit too fast for its own good. By only giving us a snapshot of a year three episodes at a time, we lose some characters and plot threads that would benefit from a little extra attention.  Not because the series should have to spoon feed us everything, but because everyone in this series is so good and their characters are so compelling that it’s hard not to want to know more about them and what makes them tick. We don’t get to see much of the everyday people in the galaxy in other projects, and that’s part of what makes Andor stand out. This version of the galaxy feels so lived-in and real. There may be aliens and planets far, far away, but the story is human above all else. For all of the tragedy we see in season 2, there is still hope in equal measure. Rebellions are built on hope, after all, and that’s something Andor doesn’t let us forget. Hope and heart are the lifeblood of Andor and fuel the action-packed season ahead. Cassian struggles this season with his place in all of this, as does Mon Mothma, which is something I think a lot of us can relate to right now. It’s hard to feel like what you’re doing is enough when the powers that be continue to commit atrocities in the name of law and order. But hope for a better future is what keeps them fighting another day, and I think it would do us all some good to remember that. Andor season 2 is even more timely than series creator Tony Gilroy and the other writers likely intended. When the season was filmed, not many could have predicted that the United States would be where it is today. But despite the horrors that may persist in the real world, this season of Andor reminds us that hope isn’t silly or trivial, it’s the force that keeps us going no matter the odds. The first three episodes of Andor season 2 premiere Tuesday, April 22 at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+. Three new episodes debut per week, culminating with the finale on May 13. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Learn more about Den of Geek’s review process and why you can trust our recommendations here.

This article contains SINNERS SPOILERS. Black representation within horror movies, specifically of the supernatural variety, is becoming increasingly extensive these days. No, not in that way where we are the first to die in slashers. I’m talking about ones where we are the protagonists or supporting characters with supernatural abilities.  Many might attribute this to the cultural impact left by filmmaker Jordan Peele. And sure, that’s played a role, but truth be told, we made our mark in the genre eons ago, beginning at the height of the Blaxploitation movement with William Crain’s Blacula starring William Marshall. Ever since Blacula pioneered the subgenre,  whenever we star in horror films as the monsters, it’s usually as vampires. It’s widely known that Black don’t crack, so of course we shine as the undead.  Ryan Coogler reminded folks of that fact over this weekend with Sinners, and in honor of that fresh blood we’re looking at all the Black vampire characters who have been influential in the subgenre. Blacula – Blacula (1972) Blacula is the grandaddy of all Black vampires. During the peak of the Blaxploitation era, when you had all your action heroes like Shaft and Cleopatra Jones, Blacula was the first with fangs. William Marshall starred as African prince Mamuwalde, who is bitten by a racist Count Dracula after he refused to let him buy his wife Luva (Vonetta McGee) as a slave. Cursed and put into a deep slumber, Mamuwalde wakes up in ‘70s LA. Much like the now commonplace vampire tropes, he falls for his reincarnated form of the woman he once lost. Blacula’s defines camp, which is fitting for the Blakxploitation era and befitting the subgenre’s pantheon. Without him, the remaining entries on this list wouldn’t exist.  Ganja and Hess – Ganja and Hess (1973) The year after Blacula released, writer/director Bill Gunn offered a more unique, sophisticated, and romantic take on Black vampirism.  Oh, to be in the ‘70s and eating with two Black vampire movies! In Ganja and Hess, Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones) and Ganja (Marlene Clark) are united in grief over the passing of Green’s assistant and Ganja’s husband, George (Gunn). Together they find renewal and love with each other. It also happens that Hess sucked the blood out of George (Gunn) after he was stabbed with an ancient blood-sucking African tribe’s dagger, right before George off’d himself. Oh, and that same dagger turned him into a vampire. No biggie. Ganja is soon turned into a vampire too after learning the truth, and it’s insanely romantic. Green and Ganja offered a profoundly rich and experimental depiction of Black love. They are true vampire couple goals. Screw Edward and Bella! Katrina – Vamp (1986) In a time when R-rated sex comedies were the rage, Vamp was a neon-drenched Gothic alternative that leaned harder in its horror than comedy. But British musician and dancer Grace Jones was worth the movie’s price of admission. She was such an icon during the ‘80s that it was the whole marketing angle for Vamp! Hell, she was the reason why Vamp is relatively watchable now. As Katrina, this relatively silent but deadly vampire masked in mosaic makeup done by the late Keith Haring, gives some unfunny frat boys oh, so much hell in the span of a single unfortunate night. Whenever she’s onscreen, Katrina invokes so much menace, which matches the Gothic ‘80s aesthetic and makes for a valiant foe who is mesmerizing in every frame. Hell, she should’ve won in the end. I’m starting a new petition. Let’s get it going #JusticeforKatrina.  Maximillian  – Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) If Blacula was a vampire navigating the West Coast as an undead in LA, Eddie Murphy’s Maximillian offered a counterpoint by sinking his teeth into the east. Hailing straight from the Caribbean and landing in Brooklyn, this thick-accented, friendly bloodsucker is full of quips and ready to get hitched. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! His sights are keen on Detective Rita (Angela Bassett), who grows to learn that she’s already half-vampire in the blood.  There’s not much to say about this oddball Wes Craven/Eddie Murphy mashup, for it exists as a blip in both beloved talents’ filmographies. With that said, Vampire in Brooklyn isn’t without its charm, as Murphy explored the horror genre with a fun, spirited performance as three separate characters. If anything, it just goes to show Black vampires can simply be funny.  Blade – Blade (1998) You better not be a vampire trying to ice-skate uphill, ‘cause Blade will cut you down. Be honest: when you think of Black vampires, chances are you first think of Wesley Snipes’ sword-wielding, short afro-styled daywalking antihero. Who can blame you? Blade invented cool with his chic sunglasses, leather getup, and badass vampiric action moves. He was also the first Black Marvel superhero in cinematic history, sporting three movies—of varying degrees of quality—that were emblematic of the radical Y2K era of action films. While the wait for his MCU reboot might be extensive, at least we have the one and only Wesley Snipes’ Blade to save the day on disc, just the way Y2K intended.  Akasha –  Queen of the Damned (2002) Following the remarkable R&B singer’s tragic passing in 2001, Queen of the Damned exists as both only her second and final performance in a feature film. And to this day it reminds everyone that she was a unique talent through a remarkable performance. In the film, Aaliyah portrays Akasha as the first vampire in Anne Rice’s universe. Akasha is cunning, seductive, beautiful, and powerful. Frankly, the textbook definition, if not the blueprint, of a vampire.  When Akasha is awakened, this undead royalty and a Goth rock star Lestat de Lioncourt (Stuart Townsend) have a toxic and love affair where she plans on world domination, and he is seduced under her control As a film, director Michael Rymer’s Queen of the Damned is what you get when you send an Anne Rice fan to Hot Topic in 2002. SEriously, Lestat takes over a nu metal band during the heyday of Korn! You can’t get more Hot Topic than that! Much like many horrors of the early 2000s, Scooby-Doo included, it is a film of questionable quality that birthed many bisexual goth awakenings.  Laurent –  Twilight (2007) Say what you will about Twilight, but I had always thought Laurent had such a cool look. A French Black vampire with red-eyes and dreaded hair just oozes swagger. His appearance in Twilight and New Moon was menacing, but this member of James’ Coven had such a distinct style and elegance that I still remember going “nooooo!” when Jacob and his wolf pack took him down to protect Bella. The [Mr.] terrific Edi Gathegi gave his all as Laurent and while evil and gone too soon, he was one of the coolest modern vampires I’ve ever seen put to film. And it feels only right to honor the latest fangers in the pantheon via Coogler’s Sinners, all of whom fall beneath the evil power of an Irish vampire after Jack O’Connell walks into a Mississippi juke joint. Unfortunately for Stack (Michael B. Jordan), Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller),  and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), this leads to them turning into fanged bloodsucking vampires. Once they cross over though, they elicit such a menacing and frightening presence. Influenced by Remmick, all they want is to spread their vampiric cult and add more to his community’s liberation from American racism.  The three characters’ vampiric forms and antagonism to the surviving joint’s revelers add layers to the religious and individualistic themes writer/director Ryan Coogler tackles within the film. 

This review contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 episode 2. The Last of Us is no stranger to throwing emotional gut-punches. Even for those of us familiar with the games who may have seen this episode’s big twist coming, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann continue to keep us on our toes. This episode strays from the game in not insignificant ways, but every change is arguably for the better and makes the final moments of the episode all the more devastating. Jackson faces the perfect storm of threats in this episode. Unbeknownst to them, they have Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her crew posting up in a lodge on the outskirts, plotting their revenge against Joel (Pedro Pascal). The town is preparing for a potential infected attack that ends up coming to pass in a massive way. And to top it all off a literal snow storm rolls in reducing visibility and making communication with patrols virtually impossible. Despite their coldness toward each other in the previous episode, Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) seem to have made amends, or at least their version of amends, at the start of the episode. When Jesse (Young Manzino) comes to retrieve her for patrol, Ellie surprisingly asks to head out with Joel, insisting that they’re better now. Jesse tells her that unfortunately Joel already left with Dina (Isabela Merced). He wanted to go on patrol with Ellie, but thought it best to let her sleep in after the night’s festivities. Just like in the previous episode, we learn a lot about Joel and Ellie’s relationship through Ramsey’s performance. She’s clearly still mad at Joel, but trying her best not to be and is tired of everyone asking about it. In one of the biggest changes from the game, we see Tommy (Gabriel Luna) speaking to the town while Jesse and Ellie are preparing for patrol. He’s getting them ready for a potential attack on Jackson from infected after reports of growing numbers being spotted outside the gates. This moment, and the attack that comes not long after Jesse and Ellie have left, do a phenomenal job of showing just how much Tommy has become a true leader of this town. He and Maria (Rutina Wesley) both put themselves on the line for Jackson and rally the town to victory. But their victory isn’t without loss, both within the town and outside of it. Because while Tommy, Maria, and the Jacksonites are fighting off an insanely large horde of infected, Abby is still dead set on revenge. Thanks to the horde of infected and the snow storm, Abby inadvertently runs right into Joel and Dina’s patrol. Joel saves her life and in return she offers them shelter in the lodge with her friends to wait out the storm. Realizing that this is her chance, Abby orders Mel (Ariela Barer) to knock out Dina, which she hesitantly does. Abby then gets to work on Joel, telling him that he doesn’t get to rush this moment for her. It’s not easy to watch by any means. Even her friends start to show visible discomfort at her actions. But Dever is so powerful in this scene. She may not have the physicality that game Abby does, but she still embodies the full breadth of the characters’ grief and rage, especially in this moment.  When Ellie finally arrives, it’s heartbreaking to watch her realize what’s happening. She stands in for the audience, in a way, screaming out to Joel to get up as he lays there bloodied and broken. We know this is it, but we try to hold on to hope that he’ll somehow rally and make it through, until Abby takes the handle of the broken golf club and lands the final blow.  Ellie’s cries and screams as she crawls over toward Joel are haunting. We’re watching Abby do to Ellie what Joel did to her, only even more violently. When she threatens to kill Abby and her crew, we know that she means it. Because Abby may have finally gotten the revenge she’s been so desperately craving, but she doesn’t know that she just unlocked the same drive within Ellie. This episode is thrilling, haunting, and truly feels like an emotional punch (or golf club) to the gut. The action-packed infected attack on Jackson juxtaposed with the tense search for Joel and Dina out in the storm does wonders for building tension throughout the episode. Even if you knew Joel’s death was imminent, seeing how it comes to pass in the series vs. the game is different enough that it almost feels like we’re seeing it happen again for the first time.  Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! There are so many moments that make you want to scream and cry and yell at your TV (in a good way). If the visceral, emotional impact of this episode is any indication, this is a damn good episode of TV. This season is clearly not pulling any punches, and no one is safe from the violence of this unforgiving world, even in a place as idyllic as Jackson. New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, culminating with the finale on May 25, 2025. Learn more about Den of Geek’s review process and why you can trust our recommendations here.

This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 episode 2. The Last of Us just delivered one of its most brutal and tear-jerking episodes yet. Those who are familiar with The Last of Us Part II’s story may have seen this big twist coming, but nothing could have prepared us for just how hard it was going to be to experience this scene with Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Kaitlyn Dever giving it their all. If the sequence of events leading to Joel’s death wasn’t haunting and heart-wrenching enough on its own, the episode throws in an easter egg at the end that just twists the broken golf club in deeper. The song that plays over the end of the episode, as Jackson starts to pull itself back together and Jesse (Young Mazino), Dina (Isabela Merced), and Ellie make the slow trek of dragging Joel’s body back to town, is a cover of Shawn James’ “Through the Valley.” If the voice singing the cover sounds familiar, that’s because Ashley Johnson, the original voice and performance actor for Ellie in The Last of Us Part I and Part II, lent her voice to the song. Johnson first covered this song for the Playstation Experience 2016 Reveal Trailer for The Last of Us Part II. It was the first official glimpse at the game, and features a look at potential locations before showing Ellie picking up a guitar while bloodied and bruised and playing this song. Joel then steps into the abandoned house she’s playing in and asks “What are you doing, kiddo? You really gonna go through with this?” To which Ellie replies “I’m gonna find and I’m gonna kill every last one of them.” Using Ashely Johnson’s cover of this song again in the series is more than just a clever easter egg for hardcore fans to find. It adds emotional depth to the scene. Her mournful yet melodic voice singing these words makes it feel as though Johnson’s version of Ellie is also saying goodbye to Joel all over again, in a way. Johnson also made a cameo last season as Ellie’s mom, Anna, so this is another way to still include her in Ellie’s journey this season. The song in the context of how it was first used in The Last of Us lore via the announcement trailer is also impeccable stealth foreshadowing for the series. We already know that the show version of Ellie has her sights set on revenge, she threatens as much when she’s forced to watch Abby kill Joel. But this nod to one of the first ever looks at The Last of Us Part II and its story lets us know that the violence and bloodshed are only just beginning. This callback shows how much Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann care for and appreciate this story and all of its layers. It’s not just an easter egg for the sake of an easter egg. This cover of “Through the Valley” is an important part of The Last of Us history and is the perfect soundtrack to end this heavy episode. New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, culminating with the finale on May 25, 2025.

With a wrestling show, the opening match can be nearly as important as the main event. While the main event is about finishing the show in a climactic fashion and leaving a lasting impression, you also need to get the audience into the proceedings with a killer start. Get the blood pumping and jumpstart all the energy to carry the next few hours. With WrestleMania being WWE’s biggest show of the year, those opening minutes can sometimes bring us some fantastic matches to get the ball rolling. Here are the openers that truly started the show off right. For the sake of ground rules, we’re counting matches on the official show itself, so no pre-shows or dark matches. The Rockers vs. Haku and The Barbarian (WrestleMania VII) WrestleMania VII was a solid WrestleMania show with an extra hour or so of nothing matches topped on for the sake of getting everyone a paycheck. This opener worked to that advantage, as there was zero story between The Rockers and Bobby Heenan’s goons going in, but they ended up pulling off exactly the kind of match the show needed. It helped that this was the last real gasp of tag team wrestling actually mattering in WWF and just having two teams go out there and put on a solid performance was a regular thing. It also helped that it had a great dynamic that any new viewer could pick up on: the lumbering and powerful heels up against the plucky faces who were smaller but could run rings around them. Lots of fun tag tropes and teamwork thrown in from The Rockers made this work and showed that even before he broke out as a solo star, Shawn Michaels was earning his reputation as Mr. WrestleMania. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X) Bret Hart had an eventful time at Royal Rumble 1994. In the undercard, he and his brother Owen lost when challenging for the tag team titles, causing Owen to snap and brutalize Bret’s hurt leg. Bret then pulled himself together to compete in the Royal Rumble match that night, becoming co-winners with Lex Luger due to falling to the floor at the same time. It was decided that Bret would face Owen at WrestleMania in an exhibition, as he’d then go on to face the winner of Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna in the main event. Owen was already mad about how reluctant Bret was to face him, only now he was madder that Bret was technically looking past him, as he was going to compete for the title, win or lose. On the same night that gave us the legendary ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon, the event peaked early with this battle between brothers. The two put on an excellent show full of amazing ringwork and reversals. That it ended with Owen cleanly getting an upset win was the icing on the cake. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (WrestleMania 21) Awesome as this one is, it’s also a bittersweet middle to a thematic trilogy between the two competitors. At the previous WrestleMania, Eddie Guerrero successfully defended the WWE Championship and stood tall in the PPV’s final shot. In the months that followed, Eddie fell down the card and ended up as tag champ with Rey Mysterio. To open WrestleMania 21, the two partners had a singles match against each other, trying to stand on the legacy of their classic from Halloween Havoc 1997. While the two didn’t quite reach those heights, they still killed it and showed that they still had that chemistry. Despite Eddie’s best efforts, he couldn’t keep Mysterio down for three and ended up losing to a flash pin, setting the stage for a heel turn and ridiculous storyline centered around the custody of a young Dominik Mysterio. Sadly, this would be Eddie’s final WrestleMania due to a sudden death from heart issues. In the follow-up, Rey Mysterio would win the 2006 Royal Rumble match to make his way to WrestleMania 22, where he would win the World Heavyweight Championship. All the while, it was used as a tribute to his former tag partner and one of his greatest opponents. Money in the Bank (WrestleMania 23) The Money in the Bank concept was introduced at WrestleMania 21 and ended up being a huge success. It wasn’t until its third installment at WrestleMania 23 that they decided to lead with it, and they went full ham by making it an eight-man match. A great set of talent here with initial winner Edge being joined by CM Punk, Randy Orton, King Booker, Finlay, Mr. Kennedy, Jeff Hardy, and Matt Hardy. Then you get Sharmell and Hornswoggle showing up, making this one of the more chaotic takes on the match. There was rarely a bad Money in the Bank match, especially early on, and this one’s no different. They do get silly, like having Booker pull out a tiny ladder in the heat of the moment and the later bit where he could win the match, but Matt Hardy threatens Sharmell with a Twist of Fate unless he steps down. Then you get the crazy spots, like when Edge is laying on a ladder acting as a bridge and Jeff Hardy jumps off another ladder and into Edge. Or the time when Mr. Kennedy does the Green Bay Plunge on Hornswoggle off a ladder. Kennedy himself would end up winning this one, though his aftermath as the briefcase holder was entirely cursed. Finlay vs. JBL (WrestleMania XXIV) Mercifully, WWE was finally putting an end to one of their most grueling ongoing stories about Hornswoggle being Vince McMahon’s illegitimate son. Only it turns out Vince wasn’t the father, as it was really Finlay. Sure. This was all revealed after JBL beat the leprechaun half to death, setting up this “Belfast Brawl,” which is quite a sentence I just typed. After months and months of awful McMahon sketches and segments, we were at least going to get a cool hardcore match out of it. We’ll take our wins where we can get them. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! It’s rare for WrestleMania to start off with a plunder match, but this one really gets the crowd going thanks to it being two stiff workers who can take it as much as they can dish it out. This also gives us the fantastic moment where JBL is in the ring with a trash can, sees Hornswoggle scrambling around on the outside, and just whips the can at him at lightning speed. JBL winning might have been seen as a downer, but putting this whole angle out of its misery was something to be celebrated. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WrestleMania XXX) The road to WrestleMania XXX was like somebody falling down the stairs, somehow landing on their feet, and insisting that they meant to do that. Daniel Bryan was meant to be swept under the rug as a top guy, but between CM Punk’s abrupt exodus from the company, the fanbase’s complete rejection of Batista as the top face, and an utterly disastrous Royal Rumble, they ended up being bullied into a fantastic main event storyline centering around Bryan winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton and Batista. But that wasn’t his only match of the night. In order to earn his spot in the main event, he had to face evil boss Triple H at the start of the show. It was their one and only match together, which made it more of a novelty to see so early on. The two jibed perfectly and we got one of the last truly great matches in Triple H’s career. Even though this was Bryan’s match to win, Triple H’s tendency to use his real life backstage sway mixed with how many times Bryan’s fans had been burned threw in a non-zero chance that the hero wasn’t going to pull it off. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz (WrestleMania 34) When done right, a triple threat match can really complement what the talent brings to the table. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor once had a great match to crown the first ever Universal Champion. Here, they were fighting for Miz’s Intercontinental Championship and by throwing the extra guy in there, it just allowed for a fast-paced match full of inventive spots and the ability to trade out a wrestler to rest up before jumping back into the fray. Even with Miz being the weakest of the three wrestlers, he still adds a fantastic dynamic of being the one who takes advantage of the situation. Lots of moments of him trying to be an opportunist, including a wonderful spot where Rollins just barely escapes a roll-up pin from Balor, and is so distraught and distracted by making sure the ref only counted to two that it leaves him open for a sudden Skull-Crushing Finale. The extra man keeps spoiling the pinfalls until it’s time for Rollins to flatten both opponents one after another with his Curb Stomp. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania 35) Brock Lesnar was at one point the ultimate threat in WWE. At the same time, Seth Rollins was being built up as a top face and was challenging him for the Universal Championship. Despite the high-profile nature of this bout, the narrative, according to Paul Heyman, was that Brock was pissed about not being the main event. If he wasn’t going to be the main event, he would open the show so he could be done with things early and skip town. Brock was so furious that he jumped Rollins during the entrance and unfairly destroyed him before the bell could even ring. Rollins insisted on going through with the match and turned things around with an illegal punch to the balls. It was cheating, but it was justified. Rollins then spammed his Curb Stomp three times in a row to keep Brock down, winning the title in just a couple of minutes. Rollins would eventually beat Brock fair and square to give him that major rub (immediately undone by his Fiend feud), but this quick and impactful win was definitely a great start to the PPV. Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley (WrestleMania 37) WrestleMania 37 Night 1 had a very unique situation going on at the start. For one, this was the first major WWE show since the pandemic that had a full crowd. By default, this crowd starting off WrestleMania would be off the wall pumped. The problem was that there was a nasty storm that caused a major delay, and by the time they were ready to do the actual wrestling, the crowd was wet and defused. It wasn’t instantaneous, but Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley going at it eventually woke them up. Two big, meaty men slapping meat will do that sometimes. A great pairing who played off each other well, they did a good job making both of them seem like irresistible forces and immovable objects at the same time. It did involve a screwy finish, but Lashley being able to knock out Drew with the Hurt Lock really put a bow on how dominating the Almighty could be. Definitely better than the following night’s goofball Randy Orton vs. Fiend match and its “box-like structure” bullshit. Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley (WrestleMania XL) Fun fact, it wasn’t until WrestleMania 36 that a women’s match started off one of these shows. Even then, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The Kabuki Warriors had no crowd to win over thanks to that pesky COVID thing that just made a mess of the world. We wouldn’t see any women fight it out at the beginning until the 40th WrestleMania in what was arguably the biggest potential match that WWE could put together with that division. On one side, it was Rhea Ripley, who had an incredibly lengthy and popular run as WWE Women’s World Champion. On the other side, it was Becky Lynch, the woman who once won the main event of WrestleMania and was fresh off releasing her autobiography. It was a hard-hitting passing of the torch that’s way more impressive when you realize that Becky was also battling through strep throat that week. Even with that handicap, the two started the show off with a bang.

This article contains Sinners spoilers. In a movie suffused with otherworldly musical sequences and phantasmagorical imagery, it is easily the weirdest thing we see. Jack O’Connell’s presumably thousand-year-old Remmick is performing a Celtic jig from his homeland, and freshly turned vampires like poor disfigured Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller), lonely Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), and even rebellious Stack (Michael B. Jordan) are prancing right along with him in the river dance. Only a handful moments earlier in the film, these same people, all Black or of mixed heritage, were communing with a different kind of spirit when they thrived and writhed to the sound of a blues guitar so true that it connected them with their ancestors and descendants. For a glorious moment, the past, present, and future coexisted, with the sounds of rhythmic drums, electric guitars, and propulsive spoken verse melding together into a harmony that is the African American and larger diaspora experience. But that was their party and their fleeting moment of escape. Before the night is out, it’s been rendered as illusory as Stack and twin brother Smoke’s ownership of this slaughterhouse-turned-juke joint. Now many of those same souls have been “seduced”—or forcibly attacked—by a smiling white devil who offers pledges of comity and fraternity. And those forced to buy into that lie repeat it like an unconvincing PSA that would one day be placed before the grandkids they’ll now never be allowed to have. Among the first to be turned, Cornbread bemoans to Smoke “why can’t we all just get along” and be “polite” to one another? He pleads this even as his new employer angles to literally rip Smoke’s throat out and watch him bleed out on the slaughterhouse floor. For all the imagery of vampire fangs and crimson-red eyes, the story of Sinners is one that’s as old as the cotton fields it’s set in. It’s an American tragedy. “The film for me personally was a reclamation of a time period and a place that my family doesn’t talk about much,” Ryan Coogler previously told us during a preview of Sinners’ trailer back in January. The director was referring specifically to Mississippi where his maternal grandfather grew up, as did a beloved uncle who would only speak of the land of cotton while blues records played. “It’s a lot of feelings associated with our history. We go there, showing these people in their full… humanity.’” Coogler refers to the generation on the screen at the juke joint as his grandparents’ era. And they’re depicted as just as wild and free-wheeling as the generations who preferred rock ’n roll or rap over the blues and jazz. That is demonstrable in the sequence where the guitar and voice of Miles Caton’s Sammie conjures ghosts. But it is also the story of how each generation must face levers of control and coercion—of white faces promising equality and unity, even while they have a literal klansman among their ranks. Indeed, the first time we meet the film’s vampiric villain he has mysteriously escaped Indigenous vampire hunters who surely have a tale to tell of their own while chasing this revenant across the hills. He is spared, however, by faces who trust a white man first, much to their sorrow soon thereafter. Before Remmick turns this dirt poor couple attempting to muddle through the Great Depression into undead lackeys, the vampire clocks the husband as a klansman after spotting a hood in the house. Later we learn from the same ghoul that by drinking this shit-kicker’s blood, Remmick realized the Klan never intended to let Smoke and Stack keep the land they bought with their own hard-won money. The plan apparently was to slaughter as many Black men and women as possible to make a lesson for any other entrepreneurial men of color in the area. The vampires just got there first. It’s as sickening as it is unsurprising, and it belies the real-world insidiousness of Remmick’s offer of immortality. He claims that he does not see race or religion among his flock. But if you join him, even as free a spirit as Stack is consigned to dance to the vampire’s drum; to play the white man’s music; and to have his own individuality and heritage sapped away and appropriated. So this is also, of course, the story of Mississippi and the larger American South that birthed the blues. It’s no accident that Coogler captures the rolling fields of cotton in wide, painterly IMAX lenses. This is the coveted cash crop that so many Black Americans’ ancestors were torn from their homeland to pick, toil, and die over. It is also the same crop that similarly enslaves in all but name the neighbors of Stack, Smoke, and Sammie throughout Clarksdale, Mississippi. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Sammie’s father, a preacher at the nearby plantation, laments his son’s secular, heathen music. However, he himself like his father before him is trapped on the same plantation that perhaps two generations prior was tended by literally enslaved people. After the Civil War and emancipation, though, white Southern fears of William Tecumseh Sherman’s promises of 40 acres for every freed Black man proved unfounded. President Andrew Johnson returned most plantation land to its previous white owners, and to make up for the loss of Black slaves, the remnants of the planter class trapped newly freedmen into Faustian sharecropping bargains. Black farmers were “paid” with a share of crop they could sell, but it would never be enough to make up for the land and tools rented and leased to them. They would be caught in a cycle of debt and poverty that would become generational. Sharecropping was still the law of the land in the Jim Crow South of 1932 when Sinners is set, and many Black men who believed they could beat the rigged game were terrorized or worse by the Klan and its institutionalized ilk. Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) tells the story in the film of a bandmate who dreamed of using a tiny fortune they made to open his own store. He was lynched before he reached a train out of town. And a few years earlier, and a few states over from where Sinners is set, white neighbors grew so indignant of an emerging Black upper-middle class in Tulsa, Oklahoma that in 1921 they murdered nearly a thousand of them, including by dropping bombs from the sky in World War I era airplanes. Remmick seems to offer a theoretically less cruel sense of conquest, even if it’s by drinking actual life blood. But it’s really not that different than the white record producers of Carter family who might pay Lesley Riddle for writing a song, but never gave him copyright credit. They never let him truly own his own music. Certainly Elvis Presley got a lot richer singing “Hound Dog” than Big Mama Thornton. Sinners contextualizes how much of this was Smoke and Stack’s past while relying on the audience to fill in the gaps we know from their future. The vampire getting Black converts to insist on the need of politeness and community might even be viewed as a cynical wariness to those who yearn for a “post-racial” America when 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, Southern states are still attempting to whitewash the horrors of slavery out of our history books and classrooms. Encourage future generations to go back to the plantation. Hence why the real catharsis of Sinners is not Smoke staking the fanciful monster that claims to date back to the days of St. Patrick. It’s Smoke slaying a much more tangible creature by emptying a tommy gun clip into the local grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He doesn’t really defeat the system, of course. In fact, Smoke dies from a bullet wound he picks up during his fire fight with the lynch mob. The American system is rigged, and the dream of his and Stack’s juke joint could never be long-lasting. But for a brief and beautiful moment, it’s real. And in the here and now, that white old bastard is still worm meat. It’s a momentary victory like that night at the party, or any other where Sammie grows into blues legend Buddy Guy. And it can be savored by sinners and saints alike.

The Man Who Fell to Earth. Labyrinth. The Prestige. These are the titles that usually come to mind when people think of David Bowie’s film career, and with good reason. Even when playing real-world scientist Nikola Tesla in The Prestige, each of these performances captured Bowie’s ethereal public persona. Bowie floated through the movies like a being from another world, immediately imbuing the story with mystery and danger. It’s somewhat fitting then that Bowie’s best film performance came in the most unexpected of places, a movie about the life of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Bowie had one short but powerful scene in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, using both his otherworldly nature and his natural warmth for a beguiling take on Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. A Unique Telling of the Greatest Story Of course The Last Temptation of Christ is hardly a standard Jesus movie. Directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader, and based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, the 1988 film immediately courted controversy. Despite that fact that Scorsese and Schrader are both believers, the former a Catholic and the latter a Calvinist turned Episcopalian, Last Temptation drew the ire of those who took exception its portrayal of a very human Jesus (Willem Dafoe) full of doubts and fears. The Last Temptation certainly takes liberties with the usual Passion Play reading. Scorsese eschewed realism and historical accuracy, giving us Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot with a New York accent, musicians Michael Been of the Call and John Lurie of the Lounge Lizards as James and John, complete with The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner as their father Zebedee. But there’s an air of painful realism to Bowie’s scene late in the film, when the arrested Christ is brought before Pilate. As Governor over Judea, Pilate represented the Roman Empire to the people of the occupied land and considered petty disagreements between religious factions as beneath him. In Scorsese’s telling, when this Pilate even meets Christ, it is inside of the Roman governor’s stables. Pilate begins the scene with his back turned to the camera and to Jesus, paying more attention to the steed brought for his inspection. “So you are the King of the Jews,” he asks with disinterest, only turning around when Jesus responds, “King’s your word.” Even then there’s more than a little condescension when he asks Jesus to perform a miracle for him. When none is forthcoming, Pilate wearily decides that he’s “just another Jewish politician.” Pilate tries to provoke Jesus, pointing at him and calling him dangerous, but even that can’t elicit a desired reaction. When Jesus retells a prophecy from the book of Daniel, interpreting it as a story about how God will use him to topple Rome, Pilate cuts him off, clearly bored with another story about the occupied people destroying the occupier. For most of the two-and-a-half-minute scene, Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus emphasize Pilate’s distance from Jesus. The scene begins in a wide shot, showing the physical space between them. As the camera cuts to closer shots, Jesus and Pilate rarely appear in the same frame. At the end of the exchange, the camera stays on Pilate as he strides away, having fully measured Jesus up and deemed him as just one more rabble-rouser that the empire must clean up. A Tale of Two Kingdoms Bowie uses that distance from the camera, as well as his precise interlocution, to heighten Pilate’s unearthly qualities. That decision flies in the face of common sense. After all, he’s in a scene with Jesus, proclaimed as God in the form of human. Even in their conversation, Jesus explains that he represents a kingdom that, in his words, “isn’t here.” Shouldn’t Dafoe be playing the alien one here? Because Scorsese and Schrader are creating a grounded, human Christ, however, they want to achieve the exact opposite. Like Kazantzakis’ novel, The Last Temptation takes inspiration from the Gospel of John, which emphasizes Jesus as inaugurating a kingdom unlike any on Earth. So the human qualities and focalization through Jesus makes injection of an Earthly kingdom feel strange. In other words, to represent Rome, the ultimate unreal kingdom in John’s Gospel, Bowie must feel as alien as possible. Bowie expresses that perspective with his nonchalant attitude toward Jesus, all hand waves and arched eyebrows to look down on his charge. But the real testament to Bowie’s skill comes when the scene changes and Pilate sits next to Jesus. “It’s one thing to change how people live, but you want to change how people think, how they feel,” Pilate says, noting the difference between Jesus and the other rebels he’s sentenced. But when Jesus explains that change will happen with love instead of killing, Pilate cannot continue. He repeats that this kind of change is “against Rome, against the way the world is” and therefore is useless. “Killing or loving, it’s all the same. It simply doesn’t matter how you want to change things. We don’t want them changed.” Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! After that last line, something remarkable happens on Bowie’s face. Pilate’s still looking down at Jesus, still condescending to him like the powerful Roman official that he is. But when Jesus looks back and refuses to respond, Pilate’s face drops. The corners of his mouth turn downward. A sadness creeps into his eyes. Bowie’s expression suggests that Pilate wants Jesus to challenge him, to show him in fact that the world can be changed, changed even through love. And when Jesus doesn’t answer—either out of a refusal to speak, as is often the case in the Gospels, or out of the doubt that wracks Dafoe’s Jesus—Pilate cannot help but feel disappointed. He stands up and pronounces Jesus’s sentence with all the officious insincerity of Michael Palin’s crucifixion coordinator from The Life of Brian and walks off screen. In the World, Not Of the World Where does Pilate go? The answer is, of course, back to the safety of his Roman home and lifestyle. But within The Last Temptation of Christ, it feels like he moves completely out of Jesus’s existence, which underscores the themes. Despite the short contention they almost formed, a powerful and self-assured Roman cannot believe in the message of a self-doubting Jewish teacher. They belong to different worlds. It takes someone like Bowie who has always felt like a man who fell to Earth to underscore that difference. By casting Bowie as a member of the alien Roman Empire, Scorsese brings to life a Jesus who is of the Earth, a Jesus rarely seen on the movie screen.

Warning: contains spoilers for Doctor Who episode “Lux”. Picking up mere moments after “The Robot Revolution“, the Doctor and Belinda find themselves in 1950s America, where they face off against another member of the Pantheon in an energetic, inventive follow-up to last year’s “The Devil’s Chord“. Along the way, they encounter malevolent cartoons, banal human evil and, perhaps most terrifying of all, hardcore Doctor Who fans. Spoilers? Don’t make me laugh! For an episode packed with madcap, reality-warping thrills, “Lux” feels oddly familiar, as if this new era of the show has found its preferred mode. It’s very much a sequel to “The Devil’s Chord”, and not just because of the big theatrical villain – there’s the period setting, the aesthetics rooted in old-fashioned entertainment, the Doctor scrambling to keep up with the rules laid down by a capricious god-like entity. Even the picture house feels of a piece with the music studios in which most of “The Devil’s Chord” was set. These similarities are obviously deliberate, and they make sense. Lux Imperator, aka Mr Ring-a-Ding, is a member of the loosely-defined Pantheon of chaos gods, which also included the Toymaker, Maestro and (somewhat confusingly) Sutekh among its number. Sutekh is the outlier there, but Lux, the Toymaker and Maestro all operate along broadly similar lines. And while each brings their own set of ideas to the table, allowing for plenty of loopy visuals and reality-based rug-pulling, there is a risk at this point of diminishing returns setting in. There’s also a risk that the episode, being so of a piece with “The Devil’s Chord”, practically demands comparison. Mr Ring-A-Ding is certainly a visual delight, a spot-on evocation of classic Fleischer Studios cartoons, and it’s fun that when he starts becoming more ‘real’, his appearance accordingly becomes more grotesque and unsettling. But even voiced by the mighty Alan Cumming, an actor who never met a piece of scenery he wasn’t willing to heroically chow down upon, Lux just doesn’t quite have the juice of Jinkx Monsoon’s powerhouse Maestro. That said, it’s not entirely fair to ding the episode because the villain doesn’t rise to the heights of (in this writer’s opinion) one of the all-time great guest turns in Doctor Who. And Lux is certainly a distinct creation – it’s interesting that, unlike the other members of the Pantheon we’ve met so far, he doesn’t seem to be completely evil. The cutaway from Mr Pye dancing with his black and white celluloid wife (a quietly haunting image) is intriguing in that respect, as Lux seems to be earnestly moved by the sight. And his desire to find and harness the power of nuclear energy seems to be less about mass destruction, and more about reaching some sort of apotheosis – he is a creature of light, so he is naturally seeking out the brightest light he can. It’s fitting, then, that his death is less a death, and more the achievement of that apotheosis. Unlike Maestro, Lux isn’t dragged kicking and screaming into the Doctor’s terrible trap. The Doctor just gives him what he wants – “two billion times more energy than the biggest nuclear bomb on planet Earth” – and he floats off into the cosmos, his cartoon tears dissipating in space as he ascends to become “everything and nothing”. It’s strange, poetic and slightly unsettling, and feels consistent with the fantastical nature of the Pantheon. The episode is also clearly having a ball playing with the possibilities of its premise. The Doctor and Belinda becoming cartoons is delightful, as is watching them figure out how to escape Lux’s traps – acquiring physical dimensions by demonstrating emotional dimensions, speeding up the celluloid, pointing out continuity errors, and eventually climbing out of the screen itself for some meta-commentary on fandom, spoiler culture and the history of Doctor Who. The scene with the fans could have been too cute by half, but it manages to be enjoyably rather than obnoxiously knowing, partly because it’s funny, but also because the affection for the three Who fans is clearly genuine. There’s also something potent in the idea that even within Lux’s nesting reality traps, the Doctor still has power; that fake fans created to ensnare and destroy him instead harness their love of the show to achieve a measure of ‘realness’ and use their knowledge to help him escape. There’s undoubtedly an essay here about what this means for the ‘Doctor as Lord of the Land of Fiction’ theory, especially considering the fans’ return in the mid-credits scene  – I’m absolutely not the critic to write it, but I look forward to reading it when someone does. Not everything here works, admittedly. Composer Murray Gold manages to overdo it not once but twice – first during the diner scene with Tommy Lee’s mum, ladling on the syrup just in case we weren’t appropriately moved by a mother sitting alone in a diner at 5am desperate to talk to someone about her missing son, then again for Mr Pye’s dead wife story. The creepy echoing song is a much stronger, more specific choice, and it makes you wish they’d stuck to that. It could even be argued that Gold overdoes it a third time in the scene with the three fans. Bringing back an iconic past theme is a nice gift for loyal Whovians, both in-universe and IRL, but it also has the effect of taking a weird, existentially haunting idea – fake people sacrificing their brief chance at consciousness for the greater good – and turning it into something more conventionally, generically heart-warming. But then again, ‘The Sad Man With A Box’ does get me. So, jury’s out. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! I’m also (prepare yourselves for a crunchingly awkward segue) in two minds about the episode’s treatment of racism, though admittedly it’s hard to know what the right tack is here. It obviously wouldn’t fly to have a Doctor and companion both played by non-white actors travel to 1950s Miami and not encounter any racism. And the episode treating segregation as a horrible but banal fact of life feels appropriate. But as is often the case when Doctor Who tries to tackle real-world prejudice, there’s a point at which the nature of the show as fantasy adventure television bumps up against the horrific reality. Of course the Doctor isn’t going to drop into 1950s America and end racism the way he can topple a tyrannical government on Blargon 6. But while his declaration that, until our world sorts itself out, he will “live in it – and shine” feels consistent with his character, it can’t help but scrape awkwardly against our real-world knowledge. The moment with the policeman pointing a gun at the Doctor and Belinda might be the problem here. It’s an incredibly charged moment for viewers in 2025, as endless horrifying news reports have given us a visceral, unshakable awareness of how this dynamic often plays out in reality – even now, 70 years later after the scene is set. And it just doesn’t feel like the sort of thing the Doctor can imperiously swagger his way out of. It’s the curious tension of Doctor Who, in that it’s far easier to imagine a black Doctor thwarting an army of murderous Daleks than one white cop. Of course the episode manages to have its cake and eat it by revealing the cop to be another layer of Lux’s illusions, though I still struggled to shake the feeling that this imagery is more complex and upsetting than the story is equipped to deal with. But again, there may just not be a perfect way to go about it. And trying is preferable to ignoring. Elsewhere, while it is a bit of a shame that the juicy conflict between the Doctor and Belinda feels largely resolved by episode’s end, Gatwa and Sethu have lovely chemistry and already feel like a fun pairing, distinct from the Doctor and Ruby. Varada Sethu also has a real flair for dry, sarcastic line readings, particularly her “Well that sounds like an absolute epic” after the fans’ underwhelming description of “Blink”. It does seem inevitable that the tension between them will rear its head again,  though, and next week looks like a pretty stressful instalment. Oh, and needless to say – the Doctor and Belinda’s 50s’ fits? Sublime. One has to imagine that staying on the TARDIS is worth it for the wardrobe alone. Doctor Who series 15 continues with “The Well” on Saturday April 26 on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ around the world.

Friday, April 18th marks 87 years since Superman first showed up in comics pages, and DC is not going to let that slide without at least a little bit of a party.  With James Gunn’s Superman hitting theaters this summer, DC is ramping up for a big few months for Big Blue. We already talked about a bunch of their plans in comics pages – everything from the return of Lex Luthor to Dan Slott’s new Superman book to an all-ages book that I’m almost certainly buying for my kid. But today, on the big Supermanniversary, DC is really going over the top. If you’re in Burbank and you have some time on your hands, there is a sold out, very special, Superman-themed Warner Brothers Studio Tour that starts with a hang with some comic greats – Dustin Nguyen, Jon Bogdanove and Scott Koblish – and ends with a special screening of the classic Donner film, hosted by TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz.  If, however, you are not within spitting distance of southern California nor connected to the seedy underworld of studio tour ticket scalping, DC’s still got you covered. For the school aged among us, they’re running virtual tours of DC’s offices for school groups, with a focus on Superman and storytelling, something that likely pricks up most nerd parents’ ears. And for folks who are too old/cool for school but have a local comic shop available, DC’s got something too: new printings of comic classics.  There are special, Superman Day editions of All-Star Superman and Superman Unchained; and free copies of Superman for All Seasons #1 and All-Star Superman #1 in stores especially for the 18th.  Superman for All Seasons is a classic coming-of-age tale about Clark leaving Smallville, written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale at the peak of their Long Halloween-period. It’s widely regarded as one of the best Superman comics of all time – Sale’s art is phenomenal, especially. This story was the foundation of the Loeb-produced Smallville show, and apparently it’s an influence on the new movie. Superman Unchained was a New 52-era miniseries written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Jim Lee and it’s a very interesting, very well-made comic. It’s interesting because it came from a period in Snyder’s career where he hadn’t yet developed the bombast he would write with post-Metal, but he was also writing for Jim Lee. So, like any sane person, he made the biggest comic he could, and the result was fun and gorgeous.  All-Star Superman is arguably the greatest Superman story ever told. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are perfect together and the story is everything right about the character.  Expect plenty more Superman celebrations as the summer goes on, and we’ll have all the news you’ll want to know about it. 

“We love getting to play with the incredible DC library of characters and stories,” declares DC Studios co-head Peter Safran. “And we really want to do justice for them.” Safran’s comments come as part of a new Superman clip focused on James Gunn‘s process of discovering the story and the actors’ passion for the characters in the director’s reinterpretation of the Kal-El mythos. The producer’s observation also shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone following his and Gunn’s work in the DC Universe. After all, The Suicide Squad pitted Z-Listers like Javelin and Bloodsport against Starro the Conqueror. Meanwhile Peacemaker referenced Matter-Eater Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes. So yes, Superman has some surprising pulls, including Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner. But the weirdest inclusion just got his first big reveal in the below sizzle reel… In Superman, Metamorpho the Element Man, played by Barry breakout Anthony Carrigan, is a whole new breed of strange. And while we’ve seen a glimpse of Metamorpho’s face in previous Superman teasers, this new Superman Day footage gives fans their first full-look at Carrigan’s Metamorpho in action, which somehow manages to be even weirder in live action than on the page. Of course Metamorpho was made to be weird. Originally the idea of DC editor George Kashdan, who wanted to see a science based hero, Metamorpho was developed by writer Bob Haney and pioneering illustrator Ramona Fradon. Fradon wanted to go beyond the traditional superhero look for the character, eschewing the full-body tights for skin of four different colors and textures, one for each of the four elements. Kashdan, Haney, and Fradon introduced Metamorpho to the world in 1965’s The Brave and the Bold #57. More swingin’ ’60s adventure than standard superhero tale, the story followed adventurer Rex Mason to Egypt where he sought the Orb of Ra for his employer Simon Stagg. On their boss’ orders, Stagg’s henchman Java, an unfrozen caveman, traps Rex in a pyramid and leaves him there for dead. However, a meteorite trapped within the pyramid emits cosmic rays which transform Stagg’s body, giving him the ability to assume the form of any element. Thus Metamorpho was born. Metamorpho’s initial adventures played like wacky takes on James Bond stories, complete with secret lairs, globetrotting capers, and a best girl in the form of Sapphire Stagg, Simon’s daughter. Eventually, Metamorpho moved more into the mainline superhero world of the DC Universe, most notably in the Outsiders, a team of misfits that Batman put together upon leaving the Justice League. Placing him alongside characters like Katana and Black Lightning, Outsiders writer Mike W. Barr and artist Jim Aparo made Metamorpho more of a crusty, blue-collar guy in the vein of the Thing of the Fantastic Four. He still had his beautiful girlfriend and her duplicitous father, but Metamorpho seemed more like a regular guy who had a stroke of bad luck compared to his teammates. That characterization has continued on since the mid-1980s in the pages of Justice League Europe, in the edgier reboot of the Outsiders in the 2000s (where he acquired the facial swirls used for Carrigan’s version), and especially in The Terrifics, a DC comics take on the Fantastic Four. Recently, writer Al Ewing and artist Steve Lieber have brought the character back to his ’60s mod roots with a delightful new ongoing about Metamorpho’s strange adventures. The black and white pants that Carrigan’s Metamorpho sports in Superman certainly recall his costume in The Terrifics, as do those worn by other side heroes in the movie, including Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, and, of course, Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific. Moreover, a scene featured heavily in the promotional material shows Gardner and Hawkgirl coming to confront Superman in a building with Stagg Enterprises signage. It seems likely, then, that Mr. Terrific, Gardner, and Hawkgirl all serve with Metamorpho on a variation of the Terrifics, one run by Mr. Terrific, but supported in some way by Simon Stagg. Then again, DC hasn’t announced an actor to play Stagg yet, and they have announced that Sean Gunn will appear as Maxwell Lord, a character who often finances the Justice League. Will Superman‘s Metamorpho be connected somehow to the major threats that Superman must face? Will he be a shagadelic adventurer? Will he be a blue-collar everyman? We can’t tell yet, but we can be sure of one thing. However Metamorpho appears in Superman, he will be weird. Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

What makes a good Jesus movie? That is admittedly a loaded question, but on weekends like this when the airwaves and streaming services are awash in biblical epics of every stripe—those appealing to followers of the New Testament and those favoring only the Old—it is a query that arises time and again in my mind. Whether you love or hate the Hollywood hokum of Cecil B. DeMille and King Vidor, there are many excellent films derived from the Torah. In the modern era as well, storytellers as eclectic as Darren Aronofsky and Ridley Scott return to those same tales to perhaps checkered results. Yet when it comes to the New Testament and the stories and teachings of Christ, the cinematic offerings always appear sparser and strangely limiting. To be sure, there have been many movies made about Jesus, perhaps more so than ever these days with indie distributors, speciality labels, and unified church groups producing faith-based programmers every Easter, including this one. They all tend to dutifully pull from the Gospels of Luke or Matthew or Mark, and sometimes sprinkle in a little Charles Dickens for good measure (no, really). But by and large, these films have the stilted delivery of a Sunday school recitation—they repeat the beats a congregation knows by heart while offering little of the awe or wonder, or self-reflection that the story is meant to provoke. Curiously, this is more or less the case as well with the much higher production valued versions made by Hollywood during the height of the biblical epic craze in the 1950s and ‘60s. There was a lot more pomp and splendor provided by Nicholas Ray’s resources on the original King of Kings movie in 1961, or George Stevens’ in The Greatest Story Ever Told circa ‘65, but the determination to not offend or upset any Christian ticket-buyer caused both films to have an airless tedium that time has made no less dire. Still there’s one exception from this same era that I think might come the closest to cracking the code of making a good movie about Christ that neither offends the devout—like otherwise two terrific films shrouded in doubt and self-examination, Norman Jewison’s Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)—nor bores everyone else to tears. And the secret might be that while deliberately echoing the pageantry of DeMille, William Wyler’s Ben-Hur was not a movie about Jesus Christ the man; instead it thrillingly, and without existential complexity, reflects the values of Jesus Christ the teacher. There might be some who discount this nearly four-hour epic set as much in Rome and the Mediterranean as the Holy Lands as a Jesus movie. For most, it’s simply remembered for that spectacular chariot race filmed in glorious 65mm and just about the widest possible aspect ratio. But there’s a reason it was the second most successful film ever when released in 1959, and it’s the same as what caused the novel, written by Civil War veteran Lew Wallace, to become the most popular American fiction of the late 19th century. As its subtitle assures us, this is “A Tale of the Christ,” and the first scene of the movie is a silent, painterly recreation of the Christmas story—a feat bookended by a similarly hushed reenactment of the death and implicit resurrection on the other side of the picture. In between those two sequences, Christ is a figure felt throughout the film but never quite seen. His presence permeates though, elevating the film’s central narrative about one Hebrew prince named Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his personal rivalry with childhood soulmate turned autocratic oppressor, the Roman tribute Messala (Stephen Boyd), into a reclamation project. Theirs is the classic revenger’s story extracted from its most adventurous and swashbuckling interpretations, a la Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Despite being best pals in their youth—if not something more according to one of the film’s screenwriter Gore Vidal—Messala cruelly betrays his kindred spirit for advancement in the Roman machine, and Judah is sentenced to die on a galley ship as a slave. Through luck (or providence), he is then spared from a shipwreck and watery grave. He escapes his fate, rises to an unlikely status of renown in the Roman world, and uses it to return home and challenge Messala to what amounts to a climactic chariot race to the death. It is a story of spurned fraternal love, and through it all the screenplay not so subtly expounds on the emptiness of revenge and how killing Messala will not restore to Judah a sister and mother who were condemned to a leper colony, nor will it fill the void in his soul. Meanwhile, constantly in the margins of his life, there is a strange carpenter with an ethereal draw. He is the empathetic man on the desert road who offers Judah the Slave water when his Roman masters seek only to bask in his dehydrated despair. The same man is there again on a mount outside of Jerusalem when Ben-Hur can only think of his petty personal problems, vacillating between being a wealthy Roman pawn or a penniless Jewish rebel. That figure is also finally at the end of the film in need of Judah’s own help while carrying a cross up a hill. So yes, it is a story of Christ, but one which has the restraint to only nod toward Christ’s affect on others as opposed to the special effects they might promise. Never once is Jesus’ face seen on the screen, but without doubt this is every American Sunday school’s vision of Jesus. The best religious scene in the movie has been parodied, including quite hilariously by the Coen Brothers, but there is a reason they were still thinking about it 60 years after the fact. In the scene where Jesus gives water to a dying man, the divinity of the Son of God is explicit despite being only inferred. We see simply a hand holding Judah’s face as he desperately sips from a wooden ladle of water, oblivious to the stranger’s palm cradling the makeshift cup and his head. Only after tasting life again does Ben-Hur look up and recognize something in this man. It’s something a scornful Roman centurion also sees when threatening to whip the carpenter before being startled into lowering his weapon and looking away in shame from Christ’s gaze. There is no doubt in this film that this is an assured and confident Son of God who lacks the doubt of Scorsese and Willem Dafoe’s far more complex and human interpretation of the figure. That confidence is also probably what most want in an Easter movie, and despite lacking Scorsese’s messy humanity, Wyler’s film is neither pedantic or preachy in its religiosity. It’s heavy-handed in intent—it is a Hollywood biblical epic!—but by refusing to show Jesus’ face or even one of those miracles for the first three hours, Ben-Hur is able to create some of the awe and ethereal majesty the gospels tell us occurred. A touch of grace goes a long way, and even in fleeting ellipses sprinkled throughout three and a half hours, they’re more than enough. They evoke the mystique and mystery folks go to church for, without feeling like you’re getting the long-winded sermon too. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! And by the end, Christ’s divinity is proven in one last miracle: Jesus’ dying hands touch Judah’s family, curing a sister and mother of leprosy like dirt that’s washed away by the falling rain. This is a full-blown Jesus movie that makes mountains out of a mount. When taking the project, Wyler was primarily known as a director of intimate dramas with often melodramatic and psychological underpinnings. He made what is still the only Wuthering Heights adaptation worth a damn (the 1939 one starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, of course) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Roman Holiday (1953). At the time, he claimed he wanted to make the thinking man’s biblical epic as well, which was clearly a shot fired at DeMille. He later expounded that it “took a Jew to make a good film about Christ” (Wyler was himself Jewish). These might be pithy one-liners from a director at the end of his life looking back on a film that won him an Oscar, but they also ring true. It took some distance from the Jesus story to make a worthwhile film out of it. To be clear, there have been other good, and arguably better, films about Christ. I am personally quite fond of Jesus Christ Superstar and Last Temptation, but one was dreamed up by a lyricist and atheist so struggling with his doubts that he made Judas his sympathetic point-of-view character; the other is directed by a true believing Catholic who also wanted to interrogate his doubt and, possibly, Christ’s own sense of despair and disbelief. In other words, it was a movie that caused zealots to burn down a movie theater in Paris. On the other side of the coin, is the forced piety and frankly menacing zealotry of Mel Gibson’s dreary passion play and all the incurious pablum made in its boffo wake. Then there is the thinking mind behind Ben-Hur. It tells its story with plain directness and vigilant, reassuring comfort; it also found a way to passionately demonstrate how Jesus’ teachings can cause a man to become better and forsake the sword… but not before having an amazing chariot sequence. We’re talking about one of the best scenes in movie history. Hallelujah, saints be praised.