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Han Solo, Mystique, and Other Excellent Younger “Pre-Castings”

Solo: A Star Wars Story had to recast a couple of notable characters from the Star Wars universe, which made us thinking about other times roles have been recast with younger actors. So, where do Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover rank in the pantheon of actors cast as junior iconic characters made famous by somebody else? It’s a tougher field of competition than you might expect, even when you narrow the rules down to make it a fair fight. It’s easy enough, for example, to cast an actor and their past self for the same movie, and direct them similarly, but once a character is established in the public’s mind, rolling out a younger version for prequels and/or subsequent installments is a tougher deal.

For the purposes of our exercise, they must also be in the same canon: it isn’t fair, for example, to cite Robin Lord Taylor as a younger version of Danny deVito’s Penguin when they’re clearly playing radically different versions of the character in conflicting realities. They must also be younger than the original appearance, so Emilia Clarke in Terminator Genisys doesn’t count, playing the same age as Linda Hamilton in 1984.

Let’s look at some of the most notable recastings:

Better than the original:

Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse.

Rebecca Romijn was fine for the relatively one-note, angry Mystique in the original X-Men movie, but once First Class decided to make Raven Darkholme a more layered mutant, torn between two mentors and somewhat ambiguous as to whether her binds with them are romantic or fraternal, Lawrence was given the part and killed it, so that even with her contract up and her price tag skyrocketing, Fox thought it was worthwhile to pay out and bring her back for an upcoming fourth film.

Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II

Hollywood’s first numbered sequel was also about fifty percent prequel, as De Niro stepped into the role of Marlon Brando’s Godfather in his younger days. Both were great, but De Niro had the bigger challenge: while Brando had a lifetime of goodwill behind him, the younger actor had to take a role embodied by the great one, who had won an Oscar for it, and make it his own, without relying on old-man makeup to help him out. It paid off when he won an Oscar of his own for the same role.

Yukie Nakama as Sadako in Ring 0: Birthday

The original Ringu toyed with our sympathies plenty, as the malevolent, videotape-bound spirit known as Sadako is initially revealed to be the vengeful ghost of a murdered girl…but the twist is that she was evil and deserved her death. Or did she? In a nifty prequel twist that goes back to Sadako’s origins, she becomes the victim again–half of a soul cleaved in two that manifests as both evil presence and innocent schoolgirl. Nakama makes you love what you once feared, and renders the inevitable ending a heartbreaker.

Josh Brolin as Dwight in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Clive Owen is no slouch as a thespian, but asking him to do an American accent (“doddly luttle Miho”) is a mistake. So when a plastic surgery plot twist mandated recasting for an earlier adventure in Frank Miller-world, the more world-weary looking Josh Brolin took it over. It seems in this town, accents get facelifts too.

Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy.

Look, we’re not saying the Hobbit movies are better than The Lord of the Rings movies overall, nor that Ian Holm is in any way lacking. What we are seeing is that when it comes to the character of Bilbo himself, Freeman adds a welcome touch of comedic laziness and reluctance to an otherwise deadly earnest franchise that’s often in danger of taking itself too seriously.

Equal or Almost as Good

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto in X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse.

If there were a Mount Rushmore for perfect nerd-casting, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart would be on it; it does not get better than them, and their pedigree made X-Men the great franchise it became. Unbelievably, when it came time to go younger, we got two additional actors worthy of playing the greats.

The crew of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek (2009) and its sequels.

Okay, so technically they’re not exactly prequels–they’re altered-timeline versions. But from Chris Pine’s dramatic gestures to Simon Pegg’s flustered exasperation and John Cho’s cool head, the recasting of the classic crew was about as perfect as we could hope, and has rightly garnered the blessing of the surviving originals. Let’s not get into Khan, though.

River Phoenix as Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Before Alden Ehrenreich, the daunting task of embodying peak Harrison Ford at an early age fell to the Stand by Me star, who seemed like a totally different type of actor generally. And yet once he stepped on that speeding train and started growling his lines, he made us believe–not just that he was Indiana Jones, but that Indiana Jones could conceivably have become fully formed by one brief adventure. Poor Sean Patrick Flanery had to follow that.

Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover as Han and Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Donald Glover is getting the lion’s share of early praise, but it’s not like he’s that challenged; it’s one effortlessly cool cat playing another, and he rarely has to play Lando off his game. It’s tougher for Ehrenreich to be Han Solo without being a weak imitation, but he makes Harrison Ford’s mannerisms his own, with a combination of cockiness and false bravado that feels truly human while offering echoes of the icon.

David Bradley as the First Doctor on Doctor Who.

We’re cheating a little bit here, but Doctor Who does get shown in theaters from time to time so we’ll call it a movie for now, and this was simply the most brilliant stealth way to get fans to accept a recasting ever: first, the BBC cast David Bradley in a biopic of William Hartnell, the actor who played the original Doctor. Then, once that had faded from immediate memory, he showed up in a surprise cliffhanger leading into Peter Capaldi’s final Christmas special as the original Doctor. Yes, “younger” here is relative, but if it’s pre-regeneration, it counts.

Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma in Revenge of the Sith deleted scenes and Rogue One.

Although she was the leader of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma was best remembered in the original Star Wars trilogy as the person who introduces Admiral Ackbar. In younger form, however, she gets a bit more to do, radiating gentleness and goodness that nonetheless conceal a strong will. It’s a shame she and Palpatine never really get to face off, as they’re perfect opposites.

Basically Impersonations, but We Love ‘Em

Rob Lowe as Number Two in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Mike Myers got his Wayne’s World buddy a killer part in his most successful franchise when it turned out Lowe had a killer Robert Wagner impression up his sleeve. And given how idiosyncratic that is, we say kudos–anybody who’s been waiting years to impress people with his Wagner voice deserves the biggest stage possible.

Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Alec Guinness was effortlessly cool in the original trilogy, making obligatory exposition sound profound and natural. By contrast, McGregor often feels a bit stiff and overly focused on imitating that specific English accent to a tee (or should that be “tea”?). Nevertheless, when he occasionally howls out a line like “You were the chosen one!” in anguish, he sounds like he means it.

Josh Brolin as Agent Kay in Men in Black 3.

It’s obvious Tommy Lee Jones didn’t have much use for the franchise any more by the third time around, and Brolin was clearly a back-up plan for a full-time replacement if necessary. But if there’s any hesitation on Brolin’s part, it doesn’t show; he hilariously leaps into his Jones mannerisms with aplomb.

Who did we miss? Be sure to let us know in comments.

Images: 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm, New Line Cinema, Paramount, BBC

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On a Weird WESTWORLD, Everyone Chases Illusions

Cease all motor functions: there are spoilers through  Westworld season 2, episode 6 past this point.

How many Westworlds do we have to keep track of? That’s the alarm bell that went off in my head when Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) stepped off the train and into the smoothly running code version of Sweetwater hiding the devastation of the real Westworld from the Cradle’s computer. We’ve got Looking For Funding Westworld, 30 Years Ago Westworld, Present Day Westworld, Two Weeks From Everywhere Westworld, Sneaky Bernard Westworld, Rotting James Delos Westworld, and, now, Lawnmower Man Ford Westworld where everything is hunky dory.

In the Westworld most open to our eyes, things are far from okay. In fact, “Phase Space” may be the episode that shoves the series from despair to nihilism. After all that braying from The Man in Black (Ed Harris) equating “real stakes” to mortality, he and the other main characters are dipping dangerously into new realms of meaninglessness.

The key for him was his conversation with his daughter Emily Grace (Katja Herbers) at the campfire, where she gave him the choice between leaving this fake world behind to forge a new relationship with her or to continue riding from generic video game quest to generic video game quest as a stubborn man-child. He chose.

Convincing himself that Ford’s test means more than his flesh and blood, The Man in Black picked hollowness, mistaking it for enlightenment.

To be blunt: what does it matter?

What does it matter if The Man in Black makes it back out? After gaining the thing he’s wanted the most, his time in Westworld is a series of reaching checkpoints, Ford taunting him from a robo-child, and not a single emotional anchor in sight. Maybe, as Emily feared, he’s too far gone. Cutting out before daybreak to ride into oblivion.

In plugging into the next layer of Westworld, Bernard has stumbled upon meaninglessness. There are only so many synthetic worlds you can program before everything loses significance. Ford’s (Anthony Hopkins) winking return answered a mystery in the third-most interesting way and brought it all full circle. He was inside the control unit that’s now inside the Cradle telling the park that the system is running on all cylinders. Even with the bullets and swords working on humans, death isn’t permanent in this place.

The promise of perfecting the tech that brought Delos back solidifies that even further. How much longer until we see a hybrid of one of the main, dead characters?

Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) also accidentally created meaningless in her life, but that wasn’t clear until Teddy took charge with a profound coldness. She’s had to trick her most loyal follower into loyalty, which places her in the same soulless realm as all the modern humans looking for meaning in the violence of the park. The callousness she’s doomed herself to through control isn’t as useful when pointed inward to her own kind. But she succumbed to the corrupting lure of absolute power, and nihilism followed suit. What does it matter if she gains the whole, real world but loses her love?

And Teddy’s going to kill her, right? He’s got a ten gallon chip on his shoulder now and enough malice to pull the trigger.

But as the first season was Dolores’ story, this season is Maeve’s (Thandie Newton). We should all be free to choose our own path, even if it leads to death, and her near-single focus has finally dropped her on her old front porch and a big bundle of nihilism holding a pair of dolls. Even though we knew it would go this way (she hasn’t been in the role of the homesteader for a long time), I wasn’t prepared for how hard it was going to hit. Newton has owned this season, and this was a shining achievement for her. Which we had just enough time to appreciate before running from danger again.

Just as with anything else in Westworld, the threat of getting an arrow through your head provides the meaning when emotions get weaponized. Maeve’s daughter (Jasmyn Rae) was the one thing Maeve wanted, and she didn’t even know who Maeve was. She already had a mother. The role was filled. For a second it seemed like Maeve was going to have complete, terrifying freedom to create a new role for herself, but she chose the old role by grabbing her not-daughter’s hand to lead her away from the attacking Ghost Nation warriors (and leaving Maeve’s programmed mom to…die?).

Again, “Phase Space” was drenched in meaninglessness. All the things the characters wanted were illusions. Some chose to keep chasing them, others figured out ways to imbue them with new meaning, and some have yet to fully realize the ghosts they’re chasing.

For Dolores and her crew, let’s hope that they’ll find something real once they get to the real world. It turns out this season is going to be larger than we initially thought.

Stray Thoughts:

Was Ford speaking through the Ghost Nation warrior who told Maeve they were on the same path? Or was she right to rebuke him? Or neither?
What is Dolores’ plan to conquer the real world? We saw the giant earth movers a few episodes ago, but what could she use them for? To bury the park? Will her limited knowledge of the real world actually count for much?
Will Bernard be scalpless the rest of the season?

Images: HBO

Meanwhile, in other news you can use:

New Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge details have emerged.
Some of the earliest Star Wars posters are pretty funny.
A lot of babies are being .

AT-ATs, Nien Nunb, and More New STAR WARS: GALAXY’S EDGE Reveals

With a rough date now scheduled for the grand opening of the Star Wars area of its theme parks, Disney revealed more new details tonight as part of its Galactic Nights celebration at Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida. As part of a panel introduced by franchise MVP Warwick Davis, a team of Imagineers gave us some all-new sneak peeks (via Inside the Magic) that have us, like Luke before he became a Jedi, always looking to the future, never our minds on where we are or what we’re doing. Look, that leads to the Dark Side, we know, but can you blame us?

We already knew the planet was called Batuu, but the specific village where the action takes place is called Black Spire Outpost. Nien Nunb will play a role (with the original Kenyan voice actor from Return of the Jedi), which gives us hope he won’t meet the same fate as Admiral Ackbar come Episode IX. But what fans have wanted to know for a while now is how the rides will work: we already know one is based on the Millennium Falcon. The other has been reported as taking place in a First Order Star Destroyer hangar, and it appears now that it might include full-scale, practical AT-ATs. Yes, AT-ATs, as opposed to AT-ACTs and gorilla walkers. This matters. The riders in the concept art don’t appear to be wearing 3D glasses, so it’s likely to be one intense simulation.

“We are actually building AT-ATs. Full scale AT-ATs.” #GalacticNights pic.twitter.com/IU7VFlTPb4

— Inside the Magic (@InsideTheMagic) May 28, 2018

There’ll be a mini-Blockade Runner you can enter, and it seems to be the entrance to the second ride.

Galaxy’s Edge will also feature a Resistance transport that you will step into and go on your own Star Wars adventure! #GalacticNights pic.twitter.com/jbVSCKGlIH

— Inside the Magic (@InsideTheMagic) May 28, 2018

Here’s a full video of the panel:

Are you ready to book your tickets right now? Let us know in comments.

Image: Disney

More on Galaxy’s Edge:

Here are your opening dates.
Aerial footage of construction.
And everything else we know.

First Officially Licensed MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO Restaurant Opens

Have you ever wanted to step into a Studio Ghibli movie? Why are we even asking—of course you have. A restaurant in Thailand, opening this month, gives anyone who walks in the same warm, snug feeling of a beloved Ghibli movie. My Neighbor Totoro, to be precise.

May’s Garden House Restaurant in Bangkok is the first themed restaurant officially licensed by Studio Ghibli. It’s the little details that really capture the feeling of the 1988 anime classic, from the adorable plates and table settings to the incredibly intricate designs on the stained glass windows.

私もあげとこ〜〜
みんなでメイのレストラン来た

Mark Hamill Shares Some Early STAR WARS Posters and They Are Wild

Before Disney bought Lucasfilm, Mark Hamill was keeping the Galaxy Far Far Away alive, and since his return as Luke Skywalker he hasn’t stopped, with his Twitter presence a constant joy for Star Wars fans everywhere. Today he shared some prototype posters for the original Star Wars film, which–along with his thoughts–are a total riot.

POSTER CONCEPTS-I could never explain #StarWars to friends before it was released-Here’s a few early ideas the marketers considered:

A) Did kids know who Flash & Buck were in ’77?

B) Wordy explanation

C/D) A Vision Of A Movie That Must Be Seen To Understand pic.twitter.com/fEophzh5lC

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) May 26, 2018

Besides being pretty funny, the posters are a great example of how much has changed in Hollywood and film marketing from over the last 41 years. The classic poster art Hamill shared relies heavily on exposition, and works with an expectation that the audience probably has no idea what a science-fiction film looks like. Of course, things couldn’t be more different now, and posters are often focused on nothing other than the stars or characters that feature in them. We also live in a world of pop culture saturation, where most blockbusters are being adapted from already known quantities, rather than those from original spec scripts that are seen as almost certain failures by their studios–as Star Wars was in 1977 by 20th Century Fox.

The one thing the posters share with modern marketing is the idea of a meta nod or reference to a similar property, which is a tactic still utilized by studios today. Though sadly we don’t see as many great posters that attempt to world-build an entire fictional universe on a one sheet!

Do you have a favorite Star Wars poster? Just love following Mark on Twitter? Let us know below!

Images: 20th Century Fox

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Hasbro Delivers Gwenpool by Surrounding Her With Spider-Men (Toy Review)

Hasbro knows you want more female figures. The challenge, sometimes, is getting the buyers for the big chains, who don’t always know much about toy source material, to pay attention. They might–might–know what a Black Widow is now that she’s been in so many major movies, but if you want to sell popular new comics heroines like Kamala Khan or Gwenpool, slapping a Spider-Man logo on them is the way to get them in stores. (Unless they’re X-Men, and then you’ll be slapping a Deadpool logo on them.) Kamala came out in last year’s Spider-Man Marvel Legends line, packed in her own unique standalone box, and this year, Gwen’s getting the same treatment, though she’s more heavily packed as the only two-per-case figure.

 

Not unlike a DC Icons figure (but $5 cheaper on average), Gwen comes with a bonus “licking lips” head, extra hands, smartphone (that fits into a belt pouch, and swords which stash into her cute penguin backpack. That long pointy thing is a lizard tail, which we’ll get to.

Some of the bonus hands are specifically designed with “selfie” poses in mind.

She’s one of two women in the line, though the other is more explicitly spidery: Spider-Woman recently got a more streetwise costume makeover, and it has finally made it to toy form.

The sunglasses are removable; if you’re looking to customize Dove Cameron’s Ruby from Agents of SHIELD, this might not be a bad base figure.

Spider-Woman is accessory-less, and like most of the smaller female figures in Marvel Legends lines, comes with the large torso piece of the build-a-figure, who in this case is the Lizard. Let’s take a look:

He’s a mixed bag, this one: a fantastic sculpt with less-than-perfect engineering. The dinosaur head is awesome, and the body is detailed enough that he even has back deco under the labcoat where you’ll never see it:

But those double-jointed knees barely move at all, and when they do, it’s super-loosely and with only about a 15 degree range. As for the tail, having it articulated instead of bendy sounds good, until you realize the unnaturally angular execution.

The highlight of the line is the perfectly chosen Mysterio, whom they couldn’t have known would be announced as the next movie villain. But he looks right out of the comics image that many sites chose when running the casting announcement.

The “magic” effect is two clip-on pieces that attach to his boots and will almost certainly see some re-use. But the kicker is his true face, which is freakin’ disturbing for a kid’s toy (albeit totally normal for a biker gang tattoo).

The whole wave is on a bit of a purple and green kick, so we also get Prowler, who was briefly played by Donald Glover in the last film, and uses a generic base body here:

No purple on Lasher, but lots of green. Unlike the Iron Spider Avengers figure, which failed to reproduce the extra limbs from the movie, this guy has four extra appendages coming out of his back; aside from that, he uses the basic Spider-Man body.

Also using said body is Spider-Punk, who looks like the sort of figure Hasbro might have made up once upon a time, and is a great gag gift for any nerdy musician friends you may have, with denim jacket and sneakers. He’s an easier cosplay if the only Spidey outfit you can find is incomplete and store-bought.

He is canon, though–an alternate dimension rockin’ rebel in a world where Norman Osborn is president. And for once, Spider-Man’s “thwip” gesture hand actually is meant to be doing the devil horns.

 

The other Spidey variant is more drastic: Spider-Man noir, a ’30s Shadow-style pulp version of Peter Parker. The figure is cool, but his right ankle is off-center and looks a bit off, at least on mine (Yondu had the same issue).

As a bonus, you can pop off his head and substitute anyone else’s, so he can be Blade, Punisher, or even Star Lord in Matrix gear. If Keanu Reeves ever does a Marvel movie, this could start a custom Neo.

Gwenpool is still the must-have of the wave, and maybe this settles whether or not she’s a Spider-Man character or a Deadpool character–we’ll have to see what Fox and Sony think.

Is this a collect-them-all wave for you, or is picking and choosing the way to go?

Let me know in comments.

Images: Luke Y. Thompson

Luke Y. Thompson is Nerdist’s weekend editor and major toy scholar. Talk plastic points of articulation with him on Facebook or Twitter.

More comics and comics toys!

Want to know more about Gwenpool? Here’s our original review.
Hasbro’s last Marvel Legends wave was Deadpool-themed.
And here’s a mighty big Daredevil figure.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY Explains Han’s Lucky Gold Dice

CAUTION: This article contains minor spoilers regarding the plot of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

When it comes to Han Solo‘s lucky gold dice, the first and only time they appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy was A New Hope. They were never seen again on film until The Last Jedi, when Luke Skywalker gave a force-projected version of them to his sister, Leia Organa. Fans subsequently noticed Han’s lucky charms were making a comeback in the first Solo: A Star Wars Story teaser, yet their presence also suggested writers Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan would be altering their Expanded Universe origins.

That’s exactly what happens, as Alden Ehrenreich’s Han already possesses them when the movie begins. We’re never told how he acquired them, though it’s clearly evident he already believes in their luck-granting abilities. During Han and Qi’ra’s (Emilia Clarke) doomed attempt to flee Corellia, he gifts her the dice. “For luck?” she asks. Smiling, he says, “Damn right!” Unfortunately for the two lovers, Qi’ra is apprehended and Han is forced to join the imperial forces in order to escape — thereby crushing his belief in their good fortune.

Per The Force Awakens visual dictionary, the dice were “used in the ‘Corellian Spike’ game of sabacc in which [Han] won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian.” This is when he had previously acquired them. After Disney purchased Lucasfilm, however, the EU became Star Wars Legends and was therefore no longer canonical — including Han’s revelation in the 1983 Marvel Star Wars comic “Jawas of Doom” that they were “the dice I won her with.” This presented the Kasdans with an opportunity.

They took it by altering the gold dice’s origins, to a degree, but they also used it to change Han himself. He is far less cynical (“I’ve got a really good feeling about this”) than his older self eventually becomes, and when Qi’ra returns the dice during the Kessel Run, they restore his faith in fortune. So much so that, when Han and Lando (Donald Glover) have a sabacc rematch at the end of the film, the latter discovers his opponent’s hidden cheat and defeats him “fair and square.” They’re still “the dice I won her with,” but in a far more meaningful way.

Were you happy with the gold dice’s origins in Solo: A Star Wars Story? Let us know in the comments!

Images: Lucasfilm, Marvel

More Solo stories:



The hottest Star Wars villains of all time, ranked in totally correct order.
Emilia Clarke does the worst Wookiee impression ever
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SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY’s 8 Best Chewie and Han BFF Moments (Spoilers)

Han and Chewie are a formidable pair, whether they’re flying the Millennium Falcon, avoiding Kanjiklub, rustling rancors, or trying to make it back in time for Life Day lunch! Fans were finally given a chance to see the origin story of the galaxy’s best buds in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and we were loving every single minute of it. So let’s commemorate it with a list celebrating their best BFF moments in the newest entry to the franchise from far, far away!

The Meeting

When Han is thrown into the pit of a “beast” by the Empire’s soldiers, it not only gave us some serious Return of the Jedi vibes but also set the stage for a seriously iconic moment in Star Wars history. Face to face with his future BFF, a mud covered Han speaks Shyriiwook to the enraged Wookiee, avoiding the fate of the three men before him who were supposedly eaten by the hungry hairy one.

The Escape

“Trust me.” These two words will come to define a friendship that’s spanned decades, a marriage, a child, and of course a death. Han’s simple suggestion that his new Wookiee friend should believe in him quickly establishes the relationship between the cute co-pilots, enabling them both to escape the clutches of the Empire… for now.

The Shower

A great bit of physical comedy, this lovely moment saw the pair sharing a shower after their muddy escape. It foreshadowed just how close things between Han and Chewie will get, as the big rug stepped into the water with Han, much to the scruffy nerf herder’s dismay.

The Nickname

Solo: A Star Wars Story was a masterclass in simple character moments, and this was a perfect example. As Han and Chewie stood on the outside of the ship and formally introduced themselves, Han responded to Chewbacca’s full name with, “You’re gonna need a nickname ’cause I ain’t saying that every time.” And lo and behold, the story behind the “Chewie” moniker was revealed!

The Train Heist

In the Star Wars: Legends stories, Chewbacca owes Han a life debt. Although it wasn’t said in as many words, it looks like he probably does after the happenings of Solo: A Star Wars Story. The pair arguably save each other in the Empire’s prison, but Han definitely saves Chewie from a grisly death during the coaxium heist, and their friendship was set in stone.

The Kessel Spice Mines

Chewie does what Chewie does best in the Kessel Spice Mines and saves Han’s butt! Just when things are looking dire for our favorite smuggler and the hyperfuel he’s trying to get back to the Falcon, Chewie comes back from saving his Kashyyykian brothers and sisters and saves the day–and Han’s neck–for what will definitely not be the last time.

The Sass

Han and Chewie have always shared a fantastic rapport, and Solo: A Star Wars Story showcased that brilliantly as the pair joked and snarked at each other. Ehrenreich and Suotamo absolutely kill it here, both excelling at the quick wit and humor that have made the pair so beloved over the years.

The First Flight

Watching Han and Chewie finally take their seats in the Falcon’s cockpit and fly her was a truly special moment as the film delivered big time. It cemented the relationship we all know and love whilst expanding on it by revealing Chewie’s age and experience in the process.

Do you have a favorite Han and Chewie moment that we missed? Just love getting more of a feel for the iconic twosome? Wanna rave about Suotamo and Ehrenreich’s performances? Let us know below!

Images: Disney, Lucasfilm

More Solo stories:



The hottest Star Wars villains of all time, ranked
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe Is Inspiring a New Wave of Baby Names

It’s not surprising to hear that a pop culture phenom has ushered in a wave of brand new baby names. The influx of children named Khaleesi, Katniss, or Hermione prove that geeky and pop culture-inclined parents get some serious name inspo off of their favorite fandoms. And it seems that the huge wave of love for the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally started to rub off onto the next generation.

According to Yahoo, babies born in 2017 had quite the Marvel flair–something that is only likely to increase after the smash MCU hits of 2018, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. So what heroic names have parents given to their progeny? The big numbers go to the more mild-mannered MCU-inspired names: 5,833 babies born last year got their spidey senses early when their parents named them Parker. There also were 355 Natashas born last year as well as 128 babies born named Pepper. For those thinking of less quiet young ‘uns, the name Wade has also made a comeback with 899 kiddos bearing the namesake of the Merc with a Mouth.

Of course, though those names might be shared by some of our favorite heroes or our favorite CEOs of Stark Industries, they are pretty normal names. You could argue that though the influx of those names was probably attributed somewhat to the MCU, it’s probably not all Marvel’s influence.

And frankly, a lot of parents wanted that inconspicuously nerdy name for their kids. However, some parents wanted to be sure their kids loved the MCU from birth, and went with some more in-your-face MCU names. In 2017, we got a serious influx of tricksters when 96 Lokis were born into the world. Luckily, we have nothing to fear because while we got a flood of Lokis, 63 babies were also named Valkyrie. But Valkyrie isn’t the only hero to have children named after her. Other Marvel-inspired baby names that entered the world in 2017 were Rocket, Quill, Drax, Nebula, and everyone’s favorite archer, Hawkeye.

T’Challa and Shuri didn’t make the 2017 list, but if names like Drax and Nebula made the list for 2017, I think we can expect 2018 to hold some serious Wakandan representation in the baby name department. So for all of you elementary and pre-school teachers out there, get ready to have some of the earth’s mightiest heroes in your classrooms in the next few years.

Would you ever name your kid after a Marvel character (or have you already)? If so, which ones? Tell us in the comments!

Feature Image: Marvel/Disney

Gif Credit: Total Film/Giphy, WiffleGif/Giphy

More Marvels abound!

Will Mantis be key to defeating Thanos?
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7 Comics You Have to Read if You’re a LEGION Fan

The one major problem with FX’s Legion is that its airtime seems so fleeting. Although the current season still has a few episodes left before it wraps, we’ll soon be facing months and months of a Legion-less existence. How will we get our fix?

Big superhero blockbusters are always enjoyable, but even the most ambitious Marvel or DC movie can’t cram a whole season’s worth of reality-warping mind tricks into two and a half hours. Turning to other TV shows won’t do it, either, since there’s nothing else like Legion on the small screen at the moment. While series like Gifted offer some fun mutant action, their approaches to narrative are too straightforward to provide the thrill of true weirdness. Instead, let’s go back to where it all began: comic books. There’s no substitute for comics when it comes to pure, unfiltered, meta-narrative strangeness. Here are seven titles that will mess you right up, Legion-style.

 

THE NEW MUTANTS #25-27 (CHRIS CLAREMONT/BILL SIENKIEWICZ)

David Haller made his official debut in these issues of Marvel’s The New Mutants, a 1980s X-Men spinoff. The story itself is Peak Claremont—long-lost offspring! Mind control! Love triangles/parallelograms/dodecahedrons!—but honestly, the story’s not the main focus here. All you really need to know is that he has multiple personalities, each of which controls an aspect of his powers. The art, however, is A+ stuff.

Sienkiewicz’s unsettling linework, gorgeous painted covers, and expressively elongated bodies (imagine if a Modigliani portrait came to life and moved into a studio apartment in gritty 80s New York) combine to create an aesthetic that destabilizes the reader, thereby compelling them to share in David’s instability.

 

X-MEN: LEGACY VOLUME 2 (SIMON SPURRIER/VARIOUS ARTISTS)

There are actually several X-Men: Legacy series, so make sure you pick up the right one; this is the Marvel NOW! title, which ran from 2012-2014. Spurrier’s take on David Haller moves away from Claremontian drama to focus on issues surrounding mental illness in a refreshingly perceptive way. As per the character’s introduction in New Mutants, David wields formidable power, but only when one of his multiple personalities takes over his mind. The comic deals with his struggle to balance the many voices confusing his sense of identity, as well as his attempts to master his powers without losing himself.

If this sounds familiar, it may be because X-Men: Legacy partially inspired the season one plot of Legion; Spurrier is listed under “Special Thanks To” in the end credits of every episode. All that mental health realness? Thank Spurrier’s David Haller.

STRAY TOASTERS (BILL SIENKIEWICZ)

As Monty Python might say, “And now for something completely different.” Published by Marvel’s now defunct Epic Comics imprint for creator-owned work, Stray Toasters (1988) is hard to describe, but here goes. There’s a serial killer on the loose who replaces people’s inner squishy parts with machinery and has a toaster for a head. On his trail is criminal psychologist/supernatural dabbler Egon Rustemagik (yes, really), recently released from a mental institution. Could Todd, a young boy with a strange connection to the toaster-headed killer, help him unravel this case? Or….not?

It’s a supremely weird comic that makes very little sense—Sienkiewicz doesn’t write his own comics often, and it shows—but it’s also a chance to see what a conceptual master can do when he’s off the leash: the mix of artistic media and styles, the deliberately transgressed panel borders, the late 80s indie sensibility. Sit back and let it wash over you as you keep wondering WTF is happening. Legion fans will know that feeling well.

 

DOOM PATROL (GRANT MORRISON/RICHARD CASE)

Several comics critic friends of mine once described Legion as “Morrisonian.” After revisiting Morrison and Case’s run on DC’s Doom Patrol, I see what they meant. The comic shares so many key themes with the FX show, especially the first season. A bunch of weirdos bound together by their inability to function in conventional human society? Check. A protagonist whose powers are inextricable from mental illness and trauma? Check. Meta-narrative digressions that turn out to be instrumental to the story? Check. A whole lot of inexplicable characters and causal logic that you just kind of have to accept in order to keep the story going? All the checks.

This blend of superhero adventure and forays into the truly bizarre is what makes Doom Patrol so enjoyable, and could be just the thing to satisfy your Legion-induced cravings.

 

THE INVISIBLES (GRANT MORRISON/VARIOUS ARTISTS)

Kicking things up about a billion notches, The Invisibles is a masterclass in Legion-esque weirdness. Over 59 issues, Grant Morrison explores the true purpose of the core assumptions underpinning superhero narratives, and tries to determine what comics could become if those assumptions were subverted or dismantled. Do those endless good vs. evil battles accomplish anything, or is their strict moral duality imposed upon them (and us) by something much darker? Is The Invisibles‘ story the actual story, or are we reading the delusions of a sad sack trying to stave off his looming midlife crisis? And, come to think of it, since all works of fiction are made up anyway, is the act of investing in this comic an act of self-delusion?

Add to that some proper body horror and journeys in and out of various characters’ minds, and—okay, it’s still not quite the same as Legion, but conceptually, it comes pretty dang close.

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN (JONATHAN LETHEM/FAREL DALRYMPLE)

An acclaimed novelist plus an acclaimed indie artist on an obscure Marvel superhero. Who would have guessed the end result would be so brain-tickling? The ten-issue miniseries revives the titular hero, Omega the Unknown, with a prestige fiction feel, and in the process veers into the heart of “what the heck is going on” territory.

Lethem and Dalrymple’s Omega the Unknown is light on dialogue, which gives the unique visuals more time to shine but also holds back explanations, opting instead to force the reader to find their own narrative connections. In the process, the comic asks us to consider how we create and extract meaning from the stories we consume.

ENIGMA (PETER MILLIGAN/DUNCAN FEGREDO)

Can we separate ourselves from the narratives that shape us, and what would we do if we could? Milligan and Fegredo’s Enigma revolves around a young man whose life is beginning to resemble that of his favorite superhero, complete with themed archenemies and a backstory so secret that even he didn’t know about it. Fegredo’s scratchy, almost aggressively inky lines emphasize the blurred boundaries between reality and fiction at a visceral level, while Milligan’s interest in seeing how many times a story can be folded in on itself brings the reader face to face with some uncomfortable questions.

Questions like: where does the construction of narrative end and my reality begin? Have I ever been able to construct my own life, or is something I don’t understand doing it for me? Am I better off not knowing?

Enigma only lasts for six issues, but the spine chills should carry you through at least a few Legion-less weeks. That is, if any of these comics, or indeed this article, are real….

Got any Legion-esque comics that didn’t make the list? Tell us below!

Images: Marvel, DC

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