Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1817

SUPER SMASH BROS. is Coming To Nintendo Switch This Year

Nintendo Switch‘s first year on the market wildly overachieved everyone’s expectations, even Nintendo’s! But how could Nintendo possibly top a year that had new installments of both the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda franchises? This is how: Super Smash Bros. is coming to the Switch! The announcement trailer dropped the end of a new Nintendo Direct, and it features absolutely no gameplay footage at all. Instead, the Inklings from the Splatoon series suddenly find themselves in a brand new arena, as Mario, Link, and other Nintendo icons dramatically make their presence known.



Oh, it’s time to get excited! Super Smash Bros. is one of the most beloved Nintendo series, and this is bound to be a blockbuster when it hits later this year. It’s been four years since the last Super Smash Bros. was released, and a sequel has been long overdue. Both Mario and Link have picked up some new tricks since their last appearance in the series. It should be interesting to see if Mario can utilize Cappy in this game and even possess other players as he did in Super Mario Odyssey. As for Link, his face was obscured by shadows, but he appeared to be wearing his Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild costume.

While the core gameplay is likely to stay the same, we’re also very curious to see the innovations for this sequel, as well as the inevitable guest characters beyond Nintendo’s roster of characters. Rest assured, we’ll be following this game’s progress every step of the way.

Are you excited about Super Smash Bros. coming to the Switch? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Nintendo

More of the nerdy things you love!

Logan‘s Dafne Keen cast as lead in BBC’s His Dark Materials series!
Terminator 6 adds Mackenzie Davis!
Star Wars: The Last Jedi deleted scene gives us an alternate version of Captain Phasma’s fate !

LOGAN’s Dafne Keen Will Star in HIS DARK MATERIALS TV Series

Is there Dust in the air or is it just me? The latest news about the BBC’s long-gestating His Dark Materials TV mini-series adaptation nearly brought tears of joys to this fan’s eye. According to Deadline, The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper and Logan star Dafne Keen have signed on to the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s critically acclaimed His Dark Material novels for BBC One. Hooper will helm the series and Keen will play the lead role of Lyra Belacqua. The Daily Mail‘s Baz Bamigboye also claims that Hamilton‘s Lin Manuel-Miranda has joined the cast as the hot air balloon-piloting aeronaut Lee Scoresby.

The series, produced by Doctor Who veterans Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner of Bad Wolf, will run for eight episodes and was written by National Treasure scribe Jack Thorne. The series, first announced in 2015, is expected to commence production in wales in the near future, which means that further casting details are inevitable.

For those of you who haven’t read one of the greatest book series of all time, His Dark Materials is comprised of a trilogy of fantasy novels: Northern Lights (also known as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. The first novel in the series, Northern Lights, was published in 1995, and tells a sprawling coming-of-age story of two children–Lyra and Will, who find themselves caught up in a wild, harrowing adventure that takes them across space and time into parallel universes. The trilogy offers up a heady blend of theoretical physics, philosophy, theological pontification, as well as some truly wild stuff like armored bears, flying witch covens, and a knife capable of cutting through subatomic particles. In other words, it gives you a lot more to chew on than most young adult literature.

Stay tuned to Nerdist for even more on this mini-series as it develops and thank your lucky stars that we’ll finally have something to wash the taste of that truly abysmal movie adaptation out of our mouths once and for all. In the meantime, why not read Pullman’s new sidequel novel in the His Dark Materials universe, The Book of Dust?

What do you think of this casting news? Who else do you hope to see join the series? Let us know in the comments below.

Images: 20th Century Fox; Philip-Pullman.com

The biggest TV news right now

Jessica Jones season 2 is here, but is it worth your time?
Jon Favreau is making a live-action Star Wars TV show.
Why Speed Racer deserves to be remembered, 50 years later.

The most ridiculous censored-for-TV movie scenes

What Iron Man’s New Armor Means for INFINITY WAR

Warning: There are potential spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War ! 

You know an Avengers movie is close when Entertainment Weekly is dropping the variant covers like candy. This time, the team at EW outdid themselves with 15 variants which depicted over a dozen heroes and one Mad Titan. Perhaps the most intriguing image belonged to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, who showed off his new armor for the first time. Today’s Nerdist News is examining Iron Man‘s updated model and what it means for Infinity War.

Join host Jessica Chobot as she guides us through the finer points of Iron Man’s Bleeding Edge armor. This is one of Stark’s most advanced designs to date. Stark’s new suit is weaved on to his body with nanobots, much like Black Panther‘s Shuri-designed costume. However, the Bleeding Edge armor can go even further by using the nanobots to build almost any component or weapon Stark needs at any given moment.

Remember when Stark’s armor couldn’t really function in space or even in the upper atmosphere? We think the Bleeding Edge armor not only fixes the flaw, but it may also take him to Titan. That’s Thanos‘ homeworld, and our theory is the trailer has already shown us a battle between Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Thanos which went very badly for our heroes. Even the Bleeding Edge armor may not be enough.

There’s also a chance Stark will use the Bleeding Edge armor to save Spider-Man’s life and send him back to Earth when Thanos calls down a moon from the sky. It would definitely be a memorable exit for Downey after ten years of MCU movies. But we already know Stark will appear in the still untitled fourth Avengers movie. One way or another, we’ll see Iron Man at least one more time after Infinity War.

What do you think about the first glimpse of the Bleeding Edge armor? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel

Joaquin Phoenix’s JOKER Movie Will Basically Be THE KILLING JOKE

We were pretty baffled when it was announced last year that Martin Scorsese (you know, the guy who made gritty, realistic crime movies like GoodFellas, The Departed, and Mean Streets) was producing Warner Bros. and DC’s upcoming Joker standalone movie, to be directed by The Hangover franchise’s Todd Phillips. What a strange mixture of people. And with the current rumors being that Joaquin Phoenix would play the Clown Prince of Crime, we couldn’t possibly see how that would go. Now, however, a new report by The Wrap has shed some light on things, possibly tying the story to one of Scorsese’s best movies and a famous comic book arc.

Though a representative of Warner Bros. could not give any comment on the speculation, The Wrap says the movie will focus on the pre-criminal Joker as a failed comedian in the 1980s and that failure leading to his cackling murderer persona. This is obviously similar to the flashbacks seen in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 one-shot Batman: The Killing Joke which posits that “one bad day” turned a normally good man and failed comic into a monster. That comic is an unavoidable touchstone in various media in the 30 years since its release. But it is also reminiscent of Scorsese’s 1983 movie The King of Comedy in which Robert DeNiro played a mentally disturbed wannabe stand-up comedian who kidnaps his idol played by Jerry Lewis to help launch his career. This might explain the Scorsese connection.

Now, obviously this is unsubstantiated by the studio, and Phoenix hasn’t even signed on yet, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Even though the only DCEU film to be both financially and critically successful was the hopeful Wonder Woman, the bulk of the films thus far have been full of ’80s-era comic dourness and a reverence to creators like Moore and Frank Miller. And if you’re going to have a Joker movie about his origins, I suppose there’s only so many ways to go. Just seems fairly pedestrian and typically grimdark to me. Let’s hope an interesting take on the subject can come from these creative heavyweights.

Images: DC Comics

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and an avowed DC Comics fanboy. Follow him on Twitter!

More from the world of comics!

Why the makers of the DC Comics movies need to leave ’80s comics behind!
Our list of the 7 most essential Batman comic book stories!
The Shazam movie drops some pretty silly plot details!

Breaking Down the Latest Images from AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

Entertainment Weekly’s new covers feature the heroes of Avengers: Infinity War ready for battle. What secrets do they reveal about the movie? We discussed it on today’s Nerdist News Talks Back, along with Jon Favreau joining the galaxy far, far away, and if the latest leaked photo from Shazam should have us worried.

Jessica Chobot was joined today by editor Kyle Anderson, as well as producers Kate Meyers and Jesse Gill, and they started with Lucasfilm’s announcement Jon Favreau will write and produce Disney’s first live-action Star Wars series. He’s had a lot of success for them with the first two Iron Man movies, as well as The Jungle Book, but do we think he’s a good choice for Star Wars? When do we think Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy will finally hire a woman to lead a film? And what kind of story do we hope the show will tell?

Speaking of huge Disney franchises, EW released 15 new covers ahead of Infinity War. What do we make of them? What is up with Iron Man’s strange new suit? Why is Bucky’s arm suddenly not silver? After Thor’s missing eye, is that further evidence we can’t trust these trailers? And are we okay with this being the longest MCU movie yet?

Finally, there’s another leaked photo of Zachary Levi in his Shazam costume, and it’s…..uh….not what we were expecting. Is this really his costume, or could this be a dream sequence? Do we think they’ll change the backstory and cut out Billy Batson? And how do we think the character will fit into the larger DCEU? Should we expect any Justice League cameos?

There’s still time to call this off, you know. We can pretend none of it ever happened. pic.twitter.com/PiZXDrjjj8

— Charles, the Changing Man (@CharlesPulliam) March 8, 2018

Nerdist News Talks Back airs live Monday to Thursday at 1 p.m. PT on our YouTube and Alpha channels, and we end the week with Nerdist News What the Fridays at 1 p.m. PT, only at Alpha. That’s why no matter what day of the week it is we always have all your magazine covers covered.

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

More of the latest!

How will Groot’s new change affect the MCU?
How the Star Wars Rebels finale sets up the future of the galaxy.
First look at Infinity War‘s Iron Spider confirms key features.

Featured Image: Marvel

Musician Uses LEGO Instruments, Composes Amazing Song

For years, LEGO builders have made impressive creations that go far beyond the expectations of the company behind these tiny interconnected blocks. We’ve seen many custom builds that took our breath away, but this is the first time we’ve seen and heard LEGO music in action. Musician Andrew Huang recently released a video in which he used a guitar made out of LEGO alongside other LEGO instruments to play an original song he composed. If this is a new direction for LEGO builds, then we like it!



Within the video, Huang uses his own collection of LEGO bricks to make a kick drum, snare drum, and a shaker. The finished instruments don’t have perfect shapes because Huang didn’t have all of the bricks he preferred to use, but they are all functional. The LEGO guitar was made by Jay Jillard, a talented luthier who has previously made other guitars out of interesting materials.

Near the end of the clip, Huang played “If You’re Always Alone,” a song he wrote which has not yet been officially released. Huang was also recently a guest on Rebrickulous, a LEGO YouTube original series, where he shared his expertise on how to make LEGO music. As part of the video, Huang and the show’s hosts recorded sounds using the LEGO pieces they had available before using music software to reassemble everything into the song’s audio components.



What do you think about Huang’s LEGO instruments and his performance? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Andrew Huang

Keep on rockin’ with more music stuff.

Here’s a new music video starring Tommy Wiseau.
A 70-musician Super Mario medley.
A cave is the world’s largest musical instrument.

TERMINATOR 6 Adds Mackenzie Davis and Plot Hints

We’re starting to learn a little bit more about the latest Terminator reboot. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Mackenzie Davis is in negotiations to star as “a soldier-assassin on a mission,” a description that could equally apply if she’s a resistance solider or a Terminator, though at this stage she’s described as a human character. This will, however, give her the distinct honor of having been in both a Blade Runner and Terminator movie, a step toward Bill Paxton-hood in the annals of genre franchise MVPs.

A little more about the plot has also been dropped by unnamed sources, suggesting that a Latina is being sought for the central role of the planned new trilogy. Given that James Cameron is involved as a producer, perhaps this means we can expect a character like Vasquez in Aliens or Trudy in Avatar to finally be the lead character rather than back-up. Deadpool‘s Tim Miller is directing at least the first film, and it isn’t known if Davis’ character will survive into a sequel or not.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are also expected back, and Miller has previously talked about exploring who the human is that all the prior Schwarzenegger Terminators were based on, and how he was selected for that particular prototype duty. Our guess is that he’ll go in a different direction from the deleted “Sergeant Candy” scene from Terminator 3 (above). Given that Sarah Connor had been killed off in that one, it’s fair to guess the entire movie may no longer be canon for the next trilogy.

What do you think about where Terminator 6 (probably not the final title) is headed so far? Will you be back to theaters for it? Don’t just talk to the hand…talk to us in comments below.

Image: Warner Bros.

Terminate this!

When Terminator toys get official Robocop mash-ups.
Why female leads will save the Terminator franchise.
Terminator versus…Trainspotting?

GODZILLA Anime Reveals Radical Sequel Concept Art

Godzilla is the longest running franchise in film history, and earlier this year Netflix debuted a new anime incarnation of the King of Monsters himself with Godzilla: Monster Planet. The first ever animated film in the franchise, it’s also the 32nd entry in the  series! The first in a trilogy of new animated Godzilla movies, the 88-minute extravaganza tells the story of a near future Earth devastated by huge monsters, leading to an alien invasion and humans attempting to make a new home on the–actually real!– planet Tau Ceti e. 20 years later a ragtag group of human survivors attempt to return to Earth, finding it now ruled by Godzilla himself! With state-of-the-art animation and a gripping take on Godzilla lore, Godzilla: Monster Planet is a fantastic addition to the franchise. Fans have been eagerly waiting on news of the next entry, and today the official Godzilla anime website has teased some really cool concept art!

*Spoiler Alert* At the end of the first movie, we see that Godzilla has had cute/terrifying babies, and that the titular monster has actually grown in size and is looking very, very intimidating! This new concept art image shows Godzilla towering above the clouds and showcasing his super cool electromagnetic pulse that was revealed in Godzilla: Monster Planet. The site also revealed the title of the second film, which will be Godzilla: Kessen Kidō Zōshoku Toshi (Godzilla: The City Mechanized for the Final Battle). It’ll be unleashed on Japanese fans on May 18! The team also announced that fan favorite Mechagodzilla will make an appearance!

We loved Godzilla: Monster Planet and can’t wait for the next installment! Are you excited for this whole new vision for Godzilla? Going to be heading straight to Netflix to check it out? Let us know in the comments!

Images: Toho, Netflix

More great and nerdy stuff!

Why the ’60s anime Speed Racer deserves to be remembered!
We humbly submit, the top 50 cereals , RANKED!
Guillermo del Toro once played a werewolf in a Mexican Alka-Seltzer commercial!

DC Reveals Catwoman’s Wedding Dress for Batman Marriage

This summer, Gotham City is going to be hosting the biggest superhero wedding in years as Batman and Catwoman tie the knot. But Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle can’t exactly start their new lives together in-costume. That’s why DC has offered up the first glimpse of Selina’s wedding dress, as seen on Joëlle Jones’ cover for Batman #44.

That Batman cover made its debut at Polygon, and the wedding dress includes black patterns that form dagger-like shapes which envelop Selina’s upper and lower body. It’s definitely an eye-catching design. DC also shared some of Jones’ earlier designs for the dress.

Artist @Joelle_Jones went through several designs while creating Catwoman’s wedding dress. Don’t miss the final version in BATMAN #44, available 4/4: https://t.co/uhXuO7MPYp pic.twitter.com/nsLqp318rZ

— DC (@DCComics) March 7, 2018

And what of Master Wayne? Bruce is getting his own cover by artist Mikel Jani, which shows off his choice of wedding attire.

Somehow, we think that Bruce would probably be more comfortable in his Batman costume. We wouldn’t be shocked if Alfred picked this outfit, because the tails make it look really old fashioned. But Batman #44 is about more than just getting the wedding choices in place. Writer Tom King has set up a dual narrative, with Jani illustrating Bruce’s pages and Jones taking on Selina’s pages. The choice to tell the story with two artists suggests the issue will dive into perspectives of Bruce and Selina. They may be committed to their union, but they remain very different at their core.

The biggest shock about Batman and Catwoman’s wedding will be if it actually comes to pass. We already know that the Joker will do his best to disrupt it, and their other mutual enemies may eventually get wind of it as well. Batman #44 will be released on April 4, while the big wedding will be in Batman #50, which is coming on July 4.

What do you think about Catwoman and Batman’s wedding attire? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: DC Comics

Flip the page of more comics!

Why Black Panther’s representation matters.
A gorgeous variant cover for the American Gods comic.
Gerard Way unveils new Batman: Black and White figures.

Why SPEED RACER Deserves to Be Remembered

Anime is fairly ubiquitous in North America these days; Netflix is even commissioning original animation from Japan and Korea, and even though there still tends to be a bit of a stigma surrounding anime when you’re talking to lame normies the average viewer, people at least know what it is. Back in the ’60s, though, “anime” wasn’t a term anyone had used yet, and Japanese cartoons had to be heavily dubbed and re-edited for American consumption. Astro Boy and Gigantor were black-and-white series that made the transition in the early-60s, but neither of them could match the full-color masterpiece that was Speed Racer, still great 50 years later.

Speed Racer began life as a manga series called Mach GoGoGo by Tatsuo Yoshida in 1966. Almost immediately, the syndication rights to Mach GoGoGo were acquired by Trans-Lux, and Speed Racer premiered on American television in the fall of 1967. Much of the violence was toned down from the Japanese version, and the stories were re-written and voice-directed by Peter Fernandez, who provided the voices for Speed Racer himself and the mysterious Racer X as well as rearranging and writing English lyrics to Nobuyoshi Koshibe’s iconic theme song. Speed Racer ran for 52 episodes between 1967 and 1968 and was a major hit.

It also very quickly became the go-to joke for people who didn’t like or understand anime; since it was a low budget production, some shots were reused ad nauseum and some of the dubbing was hilariously fast to fit the speed of the Japanese lines. Like Godzilla movies for live-action, these tactics used to make the series palatable for English-speaking audiences became the very thing people made fun of them about. Would the show stand up after such a long time? I’d certainly watched my fair share of Speed Racer when it was shown on the fledgling Cartoon Network between 1996 and 2001, but would I enjoy a rewatch? Turns out, yes I did.

The series follows a young racer (Go Mifune in the original Japanese version, Speed Racer in the English) as he attempts to become the world’s greatest car racer, using an experimental car called the Mach 5 designed by his father, Pops Racer. He is aided by his girlfriend, Trixie, while his younger brother, Spritle, and Spritle’s chimpanzee friend, Chim-Chim, cause trouble in slapstick adventures of their own. Each adventure had Speed in a race while various criminals, low-life, and rivals try to stop him from winning. His biggest competition is the mysterious and almost superheroic Racer X, who (spoilers) is Speed’s long-lost older brother.

Speed Racer has recently gotten a gorgeous Blu-ray transfer from Funimation, who also included all of the Mach GoGoGo episodes to compare and contrast. Watching the series looking and sounding better than it ever has certainly heightened its strengths: its frenetic action and detailed car designs make for constantly entertaining episodes. Since Tatsunoko Production didn’t have the highest budgets, they couldn’t show the kind of fluid motion Warner Bros or Disney films could, but it aimed to be much more dynamic than the flat left-to-right movement of Hanna-Barbera. We focus a lot more on the characters’ faces and the closeness of the cars as the background moves speedily behind them.

You might think a show about Grand Prix car racing couldn’t possibly be enthralling week to week, but you’d be wrong; Speed Racer always managed to keep the excitement at a high with its inventive new villains and threats (Episodes seven and eight feature “the Mammoth Car,” a behemoth the size of a train that tries to take out Speed) and constant danger. There was always some crime or mystery for the Racer clan to face. Even the races themselves remained exciting. If a competitor crashed, it would almost always be accompanied by a massive explosion and then you’d never see them again. They straight-up died.

I’ll probably never fully enjoy the shrieking of Spritle and his ridiculous exploits with Chim-Chim, but the beauty of the show is that the series is never about them too much. In this way, Speed Racer set the trend for a number of anime series that followed, where even the most intense action-adventure series could have extremely over-the-top comedic elements that heighten the cartoon aspect of it all. I think of something like Outlaw Star, which by all accounts was a space adventure for older kids and grown ups but still included absurd cartoony bits.

Speed Racer proved to be incredibly influential to animation. Japanese action series such as Gatchaman and Battle for the Planets made their way to the U.S. in the 1970s, and the ’80s exploded in terms of access to English-dubbed Japanese series. In addition, many people working in American animation today cite Speed Racer as a major influence, most notably The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom creator Butch Hartman; he’s put Speed Racer references in everything he’s ever done.

Watching it now, 50 years on, Speed Racer has a glorious mix of cutting-edge and dated. The animation is at once quaint and magnetic, and watching these episodes, even though I wasn’t a kid in the 1960s, I’m filled with a kind of nostalgia, like I’m wrapped in a warm hug of action. This has the same effect on me as stuff like Thunderbirds and Jonny Quest. There’s an effect a Speed Racer episode has on the viewer that just can’t be replicated. It’s a kind of special no time can erase.

Speed Racer: The Complete Series Mega Set is available now from Funimation, in this decorative and terrifying Speed head.

Share your favorite Speed Racer episode in the comments below!

Images: Funimation

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He’s written the animation retrospectives Batman: Reanimated, X-Men: Reanimated, Cowboy Rebop, and Samurai reJacked. Follow him on Twitter!

More animation for your eyes!

The Pink Panther and the !
Revisiting the entire series of Samurai Jack !
Michael Keaton NEEDS to be Bruce Wayne in a Batman Beyond movie!