Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1715

Do ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Easter Eggs Set Up the MCU’s Future?

Warning: There are potential spoilers ahead for Ant-Man and the Wasp !

In just a few days, Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp will open up a whole new realm–literally. The first Ant-Man movie offered a glimpse of the Quantum Realm, while Doctor Strange gave us a mind-bending trip through the multiverse and alternate dimensions. Now, Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne’s journey may take them even further than Strange, and what they find in the Quantum Realm could set the stage for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Today’s Nerdist News activates our Pym Particles and shrinks down for some answers.

Join host and former Micronaut Jessica Chobot as she takes on the delicate question of whether Ant-Man and the Wasp will be the key to undoing the events of Avengers: Infinity War. While the new movie largely stands on its own, fans can expect to see some acknowledgement of “the Snappening,” and we’ll say no more for now. But we’re looking even further ahead than next year’s Avengers 4.

Fans didn’t notice the Wasp Easter egg from Scott’s visit to the Quantum Realm until after Ant-Man hit Blu-ray. Ant-Man and the Wasp will have more of those visual hints that will only be apparent after viewers can pause and analyze them at their leisure. How do we know? Because director Peyton Reed has already told io9 that “we have definitely laid some groundwork for some stuff down there [in the Quantum Realm]…similar to what we did in the first movie.” In the same piece, Marvel’s Kevin Feige was even more specific, saying, “Like the first movie there are clues in the Quantum Realm to other possibilities and things…I’m talking frames [of film].”

What does this imply for the future? If we had to guess, we think that the Quantum Realm may exist outside of Thanos’ attempts to rewrite reality. It may also allow the heroes the opportunity to travel through time or even alternate worlds as they try to undo Thanos’ actions. It could also offer us a few teases for Marvel films we don’t even know about yet.

How do you think the Quantum Realm will be used in the MCU after Ant-Man and the Wasp? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Studios

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Have You Ever Wondered Why the T. rex Had Such Tiny Arms?

With Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom now in theaters, a resurgence of interest in dinosaurs is once again sweeping the Internet. Luckily, PBS has a series that is perfect for dino-lovers of all ages and minimal attention spans. Eons, hosted by Hank Green, Kallie Moore, and Blake de Pastino, takes a look at the long evolution of ancient creatures every Tuesday on their YouTube channel. And one of the most recent episodes deals with a mystery that has plagued paleontologists and children for years: Just why does the Tyrannosaurus Rex have such ridiculously tiny arms?

In the video above, first shared by Laughing Squid, Green covers the salient points with humor and speed. Take a few minutes out of your day to learn new trivia to impress your friends with over-grilled hot dogs and fireworks this weekend.

No time to watch? Here are the highlights:

– T. rex evolved from a Triassic Prosauropod called Riojasaurus, which walked on all fours. But as the millennia passed, the Riojasaurus gave rise to the likes of Plateosaurus and Jingshanosaurus, which walked on their hind limbs.

– By the time the genus Tyrannosauridae came into existence, the forelimbs had evolved into spiky death claws. Over time, the carnivores’ tails became used for balance while their skulls became larger and more powerful. As such, their forelimbs were no longer needed for hunting or balance and began to recede.

– However, T. rex arms still had musculature, so they weren’t vestigial. Theories as to their use include holding the dinosaur steady during mating, or holding prey still while eating. They could also have been on their way to evolving completely out of the species, but the mass extinction put a kibosh on that evolutionary plan.

Got any “alternative” theories on T. rex arms? Let us know!

Images: PBS EONS/Walt Disney Pictures

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This Multiplayer Game for Dogs Is the Cutest Co-op Ever

Multiplayer games are currently dominating the gaming industry, and for good reason—there’s nothing better than completing a fun challenge with friends. And now, thanks to DogScientist.com (via Neatorama), dogs now have that same opportunity to game with a buddy. DogScientist builds all kinds of puzzles and challenges for their Golden Retriever Albert, and when Albert got an adorable and peppy puppy assistant Delta, they built a new device to channel all of that energy.



The game consists of a metal drum that spins in the center of the contraption, and as it does so, treats fall out of the holes into one of six compartments below. The dogs are positioned on either side, and must push the lever that corresponds with the correct compartment in order to release the treat. In the first part of the video, Albert and Delta are just trying to figure out how the machine works. But they’re smart dogs (dog scientists, to be exact), so they learn the game pretty quickly. It then becomes a race of who can get to the treats first.

After a while, the game takes a turn for the cute, and Delta realizes they can get the treats faster if she goes to Albert’s side and helps him, further cementing the idea that dogs are the most wholesome beings alive. It may be a simple game for us, but it really makes you think about how smart these dogs are to be able to figure it out as quickly as they do. These pro gamers need to watch their backs, because it looks like Delta and Albert are a team to look out for.

Image: DogScientist

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Will STAR WARS: EPISODE IX Return to Prequel Trilogy Planets?

J.J. Abrams says he wants to connect Episode IX to the Star Wars prequels. On today’s Nerdist News Talks Back we discussed if he might do that by returning to some old locales in the galaxy far, far away, along with the sudden popularity of documentaries, the future of Star Trek, and Taco Bell‘s “highest” award.

Host Jessica Chobot was joined today by Nerdist editor Kyle Anderson, producer Derek Johnson, and very special guest Sasha Perl-Raver, host of FX Movie Download, and they started with some of the first rumors for Episode IX. Reports say J.J. Abrams might be filming in places that appeared in both A New Hope and Rogue One, as well as the Italian city Caserta that was used for Naboo. Do we buy these rumors? Are we excited by this possibility? When will we get some concrete info about the movie from Disney? And how could all three trilogies end up connecting?

Next they talked about Variety‘s article highlighting the success this summer of documentaries like Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, RBG, and Three Identical Strangers. Why are docs having a resurgence? Are audiences looking for some counter-programming? And do we prefer to see them in theaters or on streaming services?

Star Wars wasn’t the only big-time franchise on the docket today, as Star Trek and all of its new projects is in the midst of a resurgence. Could it soon equal or even surpass it’s sci-fi brother Star Wars in the near future? What timeline would we prefer Quentin Tarantino’s film to focus on? Is another series with Jean-Luc Picard the way to go, or would we prefer a show with all new characters? And of all the Star Trek projects in development which one are we most excited for?

Finally, High Times magazine has named Taco Bell the ultimate stoner restaurant. Was this up for debate? Is the real question whether or not it’s the best restaurant period? What menu items are our favorites? And what are the merits of ordering via the drive-thru versus actually going inside?

Nerdist News Talks Back is off tomorrow for the 4th of July, but we’re back on Thursday at our YouTube and Alpha channels at 11AM PT, and we’ll end our week with an all-new episode of Nerdist News What the Friday at 1PM PT exclusively on Alpha. Whether you’re on Naboo, Coruscant, or Tattooine tune in to talk the biggest pop culture stories of the day with us.

What did you think of today’s show? Talk back to us about it in the comments below.

Images: Lucasfilm, Paramount

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ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Cast Answers the Internet’s Most Searched Questions

It’s no surprise fans have plenty of questions they want answered from Ant-Man and the Wasp since it will be the first Marvel movie to follow Infinity War. Where exactly will it take place in the MCU timeline? Who will vanish into dust when Thanos snaps his finger? What hints will it give us about who will appear in Avengers 4? And maybe the most important question of them all: “What up with that Paul Rudd?” Okay, maybe that last one doesn’t seem all that relevant, but it was still one of the web’s most searched questions the cast was asked to answered.

Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and their newest cinematic enemy Hannah John-Kamen (who plays Ghost in the movie) were the latest group Wired asked to answer the internet’s most looked-up questions about themselves, their careers, and the Ant-Man sequel. As always the queries range from the pertinent, to the silly, to the totally inane, though it’s not often an entire cast is this charming and delightful answering them.



Wait…that question about Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen…how many people are confusing Michael Douglas with Martin Sheen? Also, it’s clear BIG ALMOND got to Rudd too. Stop pushing almonds on us all the time! Unless “almonds” is how you can get Paul Rudd hair. That’s our biggest question too, because while we’d hated seeing all of those heroes disappear in the Mad Titan’s dusting, losing that glorious head of hair would be too much to take.

If you could ask the cast any question what would you want to know? Tell us your best query in our comments section below.

Featured Image: Wired

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Planetary Part 3

Books with lots of pictures can be just as rich as any other book, and that’s why Hector Navarro is hosting Alpha Comic Book Club! A weekly exploration of comic books and their history, we take a storyline and dive deep into it. Whether it’s something new and fresh, a classic, or even a story forgotten in time, you get to help us choose which comic the club will be reading for the next week.

The post Planetary Part 3 appeared first on Nerdist.

Planetary Part 4 w/ Kelly Sue DeConnick

Books with lots of pictures can be just as rich as any other book, and that’s why Hector Navarro is hosting Alpha Comic Book Club! A weekly exploration of comic books and their history, we take a storyline and dive deep into it. Whether it’s something new and fresh, a classic, or even a story forgotten in time, you get to help us choose which comic the club will be reading for the next week.

The post Planetary Part 4 w/ Kelly Sue DeConnick appeared first on Nerdist.

This Nifty Video Chart Measures the Heights of Every Marvel Comics Superhero

Ant-Man? Small. The Incredible Hulk? Big. But exactly how tiny does Scott Lang get when he shrinks into action? How high above his enemies does Bruce Banner tower when he turns into a giant green rage monster? And how do they stack up to the rest of Earth’s mightiest heroes? We now know who looks up to whom—literally—when the Avengers come together, thanks to this handy new video chart that lists the heights of some of our favorite comic book characters.



Marvel Entertainment‘s YouTube channel put together a moving graph that lists the exact height for characters like Howard the Duck, Rocket Raccoon, Kamala Khan (at both normal and embiggened heights), Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as for enormous characters like Devil Dinosaur, Groot, and the biggest of them all: the aptly named Giant-Man.

Comic book Rocket is much bigger than I realized, but so is comic book Groot. I just wish they listed Peter Quill’s exact height so I could know what size Doc Martens Star-Lord would need to pull off a George Costanza so he could try and look like Thor’s equal.

As for the actual size of Marvel’s greatest heroes, we all know it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. (Except for Lockjaw.)

Which Marvel comic book character’s exact height surprises you the most? Let us know whose height let you down (or up) in our comments section below.

Featured Image: Marvel Entertainment

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The Tesla Semi’s “Mad Max Mode” Prevents Road Fury

After putting “Don’t Panic” on the dashboard of a sports car headed to Mars, naming a giant drill after SpongeBob SquarePants’ pet snail Gary, and giving Tesla vehicles a Spaceballs-inspired “ludicrous mode,” Elon Musk has made it clear that he’s the kind of nerd who never misses an opportunity to make a pop-culture reference. We can relate, but the fact that he also just so happens to be the CEO of three incredibly newsworthy companies allows him to make his references reality like no geek can. Case in point: Tesla’s semi-truck now has “Mad Max Mode.”

In response to a photoshopped imaged showing the Tesla semi as the war rig in the fabulous Fury Road film, Tesla and Musk have apparently already added a real “Mad Max Mode” to the truck’s autonomous blindspot detection and spacing, or at least to the development-stage autopilot display. The mode reportedly decreases the distance the truck will keep between itself and objects in the blindspot.

It’s real pic.twitter.com/L9h3F86Guo

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2018

We can only hope that the new mode only makes the truck respond to blindspot obstructions as rapidly as Charlize Theron in motor oil face paint would, and doesn’t involve blood bags of any kind. Though, as another Twitter photoshop pointed out, going full Mad Max might look pretty fangin’ cool.

We all know this is what Mad Max mode was designed for… pic.twitter.com/Qd1fBvcn0P

— Erik Kuna

WONDER WOMAN Director Patty Jenkins Reunites with Chris Pine in Chilling Trailer for I AM THE NIGHT

Superhero fans are busy deciphering what a set photo of Steve Trevor means for Chris Pine’s role in the Wonder Woman 1984, but audiences won’t have to wait long to see the actor reunite with director Patty Jenkins, as the two will join forces once more in the upcoming TNT mini-series I Am the Night. And while there’s no mystery over who he plays on the show, it will explore one of the most infamous crimes in Hollywood history.



The first trailer for the eight-episode series introduces Pine’s Jay Singletary, “a former Marine-turned-hack-reporter/paparazzo.” His previous reporting on the shocking and legendary Black Dahlia case leads him to a young girl whose connection to one of Tinseltown’s most famous crimes might be the key to finally solving it, but not without plenty of danger.

“Inspired by true events, I Am the Night tells the incredible story of Fauna Hodel (India Eisley) who was given away at birth. As Fauna begins to investigate the unbelievable secrets to her past, she meets a ruined reporter haunted by the case that undid him. Together they both follow a sinister trail that swirls ever closer to an infamous Hollywood gynecologist, Dr. George Hodel, a man involved in some of Hollywood’s darkest debauchery and possibly it’s most infamous unsolved crime.”

Considering the subject matter and overall tone of this trailer, the series feels like Chinatown crossed with True Detective. With Chris Pine starring and Patty Jenkins both executive producing and directing three episodes, we’re eager to see this mystery unfold.

What do you think of this first trailer? Don’t keep your thoughts a secret, share them with us in the comments below.

Featured Image: TNT

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