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Patton Oswalt, Tatiana Maslany, and More Audition for Teen Dumbledore on CONAN

The search is on to find the perfect actor to play a teenage Albus Dumbledore in the next installment of the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them franchise. It’s a tireless job, finding the perfect actor to play the famous wizard in his formative years. And while we have to wait to see what a teenage Dumbledore will look like on the big screen, Conan O’Brien got his hands on some Dumbledore audition footage, and is releasing the audition tapes to the world.

It turns out some pretty big names in Hollywood went after the role — it also turns out not a single one of them was an actual teenager. Hollywood, right? Take a look at these fake but hilarious, totally real and definitely not staged auditions:

There’s just so much good stuff in this video, it’s hard to know where to start. Of course, this isn’t O’Brien’s first fake audition tape release. Who can forget the epic (albeit super fake) auditions for young Han Solo with the likes of Melissa McCarthy and 50 Cent? And while the fake young Han Solo auditions were hilarious, these young Dumbledore auditions are especially wonderful. Featuring people like Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza bringing their trademark sarcasm to the role (and an intense Pollock monologue delivered by Plaza), and Patton Oswalt’s impressive intense Potter knowledge and passion, this video is nothing short of a delight.

Alas, despite each of these actors’ best efforts, none of them were just right for young Dumbledore. We’ll have to wait and see who exactly brings the teenage wizard to life. But I think we can all agree that while Thomas Middleditch maybe missed the mark on his audition, seeing a Albus Dumbledore rocking a leather jacket and shades on his broom would be pretty badass.

What did you think of the auditions? Which one was your favorite? Tell us in the comments!

Feature Image: Team Coco/YouTube

The Top 10 Most Ridiculous Powers in ONE PIECE

The epic and irreverent anime One Piece is currently celebrating its 20th year of serialization, and what better way to do so than to take a look back at some of its most interesting characters? I’ve been a fan of One Piece for many years now and one thing that stands out to me that always makes me laugh is how over-the-top silly Oda’s characters are. It’s understandable that not every power or ability can be as heroic as Luffy’s, but One Piece has some of the most ridiculous ones you’ll ever come across. Here’s a list of the top 10 most absurd abilities in the series:

Buggy: The Chop Chop Fruit

I’ll start with one of my favorite characters who—despite all the bad luck in the world—somehow manages to always survive. A lot of it has to do with his ridiculous power from the Chop Chop Fruit that allows him to dismember himself in cartoon fashion and control his levitating limbs as long as they are within a certain range (and at least one foot is on the ground). Not complicated at all right? The only really cool part is that Buggy can’t be cut by anything, because he’ll just section off like his normal dismemberment. He literally fights with cartoon logic applying to his body. Weird right?

Bellamy: The Boing Boing Fruit

Bellamy might come across as a badass hunk of muscle who gets what he wants, but when you see his power in action it’s just hard not to laugh. The Boing Boing Fruit gives him the ability to turn his limbs into springs so he can bounce off of things. Yep. Mr. Badass over here. Bouncing around on his spring legs like a cheap McDonald’s Happy Meal toy. It’s hard to take him seriously, but Bellamy eventually grows on readers in the series as he drops the macho act and learns some humility. I guess you’d have to with a power as lame as spring legs. Though, it seems to be working for Nintendo’s ARMS game…

Kaku: Giraffe Devil Fruit

This one kills me, because it’s just so freakin’ funny. Kaku is a swordsman of renowned skill that strikes fear in to all those that oppose him. Sure, his square Pinocchio nose is weird, but when he puts the hurt on the Straw Hats with ease it’s clear that he’s no joke. That is, until he takes a chance on a Devil Fruit to increase his power by gaining an unknown and random ability. His lucky draw? HE TURNS INTO A GIRAFFE! In a world where people can have lava powers and can turn people to stone, one of the most threatening villains in all of One Piece gets the power to turn into a giraffe! HA! Even his own teammates can’t help but laugh at him and his only defense is to stare menacingly at his opponent and say, “I like being a giraffe. I love giraffes.” BWAHAHA!

Califa: Bubble Bubble Fruit

This is another part of Kaku’s joke power, where Califa and Kaku are both given random fruit with hopes of gaining awesome abilities. Hers ends up not being as funny as Kaku’s, but it definitely goes in the crazy weird and random category. Califa can emit bubbles  that turn people in to squeaky clean mannequins. It cleans dirt and power away, but its weakness is terribly obvious—water. Even weirder, her main attack covers herself with soap suds so that she looks like a soap-sheep. Yes, you just read the words “soap-sheep”. With both Califa and Kaku being such serious straight-man characters, it’s just too funny to see them both get stuck with lifelong silly powers.

Buffalo: Spin Spin Fruit

Some of the Devil Fruit names are self-explanatory and this one is right on the nose. Buffalo has the ability to spin and his fruit ability is described as turning him into a Rotation Human. Imagine that one on a resume. He spins his body in odd, unnatural ways to become a propeller that even lets him fly. He basically looks like a plane. Could he have just had a flight power that didn’t require rotating? Or maybe just a pair of wings? Sure. But where’s the fun in that?

Ivankov: Hormone Fruit

Emperio Ivankov is one of my favorite characters in One Piece for many reasons, but mostly because he’s a champion for drag queens and trans characters depicted in a visual medium, based on the legendary icon Dr. Frank N. Furter (played by Tim Curry) from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. His power is a strange one, but given the basis of his character, well, it just had to be. Ivankov can inject hormones of any kind through his nails into anyone, including himself, and alter their physical features any way he wants. He can fill them with growth hormones to make them giant or he can swap their genders at will. Mostly, he just makes his head really huge and winks at them so hard it blows them away. Literally.

Perona: Hollow Hollow Fruit

One of the funniest moments in all of One Piece comes from an encounter with Perona, the user of the Hollow Hollow fruit. With it, Perona can create ghosts that can move things and explode on command, but the strangest and most common use is to pass through people and make them super negative. That’s right. Perona’s ghosts pass right through you and all you can do is think about negative stuff until it wears off. Sure it’s a debilitating attack and the fact that they can’t be hurt physically is cool, but making people feel bad about themselves is just cruel and unusual. Unless you’re Usopp, that is, and then you’re so negative all the time that they just don’t have any effect at all.

Bentham/Bon Clay: Clone Clone Fruit

Bon Clay is another one of my favorites for his heroic nature as a non-binary drag queen, but also for his crazy ability. He’s over-dramatic and silly for sure, but his power is what really makes him weird. Bon has the remarkable ability to copy anyone’s appearance even down to their voice. But it’s how he has to do it that makes it weird. Bon has to physically touch the person he wants to copy with his right hand and when he wants to undo it he has to touch his face with this left hand. Not exactly Mystique levels of usefulness when it comes to stealth. Oh, and his appearance is based on Jim Carey from Dumb and Dumber so that’s a little odd, too.

Galdino/Mr. 3: Wax Wax Fruit

Like a lot of the Devil Fruit abilities, this one is exactly what it sounds like. Mr. 3 has the ability to control wax. Candle wax. That’s it. He can make wax from his body and then make it do what he wants. Now that’s a guy you want around when your power goes out. Wax can be useful in some defensive maneuvers and maybe even some capturing ones, but let’s be honest here—wax is hardly threatening and the weakness to fire doesn’t help. His hair is lame too.

Sengoku:  Human Great Buddha Fruit

This one sure is strange and I’m honestly still not sure how I feel about it in the series. Sengoku of the Marines can literally transform into a giant golden Buddha and attack people with increased power. He doesn’t turn into an animal or gain a cool elemental power like the majority of the characters in the series, but instead just turns into a giant deity. Huh. There are a lot of things in One Piece that make me scratch my head, but this one has me really struggling. But then again, why not? Luffy’s made of rubber and I guess I’m alright with that.

 

One Piece is currently simulcasting on Crunchyroll and is available on Hulu. The English manga is available in local bookstores.

Images + GIFs: Toei Animation

Alex Tisdale is a writer and illustrator who runs on coffee and pop culture. You can find him covered in ink and rambling on his   website   or on   Twitter.

Everything We Learned About ANT-MAN AND THE WASP at Marvel’s Hall H Panel

Thor and Black Panther will make all the headlines, but Ant-Man and the Wasp had the (arguably unenviable) task of being the opening act of Marvel’s panel, but it did so in clever fashion. This was a tenth anniversary of sorts for Marvel Studios, but rather than just do a typical highlight reel, they had Paul Rudd and Michael Pena host a montage and narrate the history of the cinematic story so far (rather pointedly leaving out Iron Man 2, and only noting of Iron Man 3 that “his house got blown up”).

What did we learn from all this? More than you’d think.

Paul Rudd played it like a PG version of Deadpool

Presumably taking a cue from the success of a Marvel merc at another studio, Rudd peppered his commentary with lots of outside-the-universe references, including calling the series’ biggest star “Chances Are‘s Robert Downey Jr.,”representing RDJ with a photo of him as Charlie Chaplin and a awkward toothy grin. Also in use: a photo of Chris Evans as Human Torch, David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury, and toy Hulk Hands to thumb wrestle with Pena. And I never, ever thought a Marvel movie character would reference Alexander Payne’s abortion comedy Citizen Ruth. He may not behave like this in the movie, but it felt like Marvel Studios testing out some fourth-wall-breaking irreverence.

The Ant-Man movies are still taking jabs at superhero patriarchy

Said jabs may not be sufficiently strong for those who’d like to see some real haymakers thrown at the glass ceiling, but the big reveal at the end of the summary was that Rudd and Pena have been condensing the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in order to convince Michelle Pfeiffer to play original Wasp Janet Van Dyne. Pfeiffer responds by saying it sounds like a big sausage fest, an assessment Evangeline Lilly shows up to endorse. The two ladies walk away as Pfeiffer shares her anecdote about the old Catwoman costume not having any way to use the bathroom, and she wonders if the Wasp’s does.

This prompts Pena to ask Rudd how he went to the bathroom in his costume. Rudd, of course, says, “I just go.”

The Wasp’s costume is new

As cool as the end-credits costume revealed in the last Ant-Man movie was, it did not cover her full body, as a shrinking suit should. The new one looks more like Ant-Man’s, but in baby blue and gold, not unlike the Milano spaceship from Guardians of the Galaxy. And with wings, of course.

Stay tuned. #antmanandthewasp

A post shared by Peyton Reed (@mrpeytonreed) on Jun 23, 2017 at 8:01pm PDT

Pym suits up again

We saw concept art of modern-day Michael Douglas in what looks to be a newer Ant-suit. Looks like his notion that he couldn’t shrink any more may have been a tad premature. Or maybe Pym particles improve, because…

Black Goliath may be coming

Kevin Feige announced that Laurence Fishburne will play Dr. Bill Foster, who in the comics was a lab assistant of Hank Pym’s, working on a less harmful version of Pym particles that he tested on himself, giving him growing powers that he first used as Black Goliath, and later as a substitute Giant-Man. He also has ties to another major Marvel character…

Is there a Netflix tie-in at last?

Bill Foster is the ex-husband of Claire Temple, played by Rosario Dawson on the Defenders shows. That doesn’t mean she’ll show up in the movie, and at best she may be just an easter egg mention, but it’s nice to see everything connect.

Official Ant-Man & the Wasp @Comic_Con poster I had the pleasure of painting! Or should I say Giant-Man & Wasp!! #PaulRudd @EvangelineLilly pic.twitter.com/HUmhqWTt4Q

— Andy Park-SDCC (@andyparkart) July 23, 2017

We have a villain, and he has become a she.

Not necessarily THE villain, but definitely the main one we know about so far. Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen (Killjoys) is traditionally depicted as both an Iron Man foe and a socially awkward cyber-criminal, so the gender switch could be an interesting change. Given that Scott Lang is a white-collar, anti-corporate crook, it makes more sense that he might face off against someone who works along similar lines but with less pure motives (Ghost has no qualms about killing, for example). Ghost’s suit can phase in and out and make other objects invisible, and in comics, s/he has also been affiliated with Justin Hammer, the Sam Rockwell character from Iron Man 2 who deserves another shot in the MCU.

There’s lots of playing in traffic

Of the unfinished effects shots we saw, many involved our shrinking and growing heroes making their way atop and below moving cars, ending as Giant-Man tries to hide between two buildings, rather unsuccessfully.

It looks like fun. Are you excited? Let us know your thoughts below.

Images: Marvel Studios

What Secrets Lie in the AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Posters?

Marvel Studios always seems to deliver during its Hall H panel at Comic-Con International, and this year was no different. Fans in attendance got to see footage from Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther, along with the Avengers: Infinity War trailer that was screened last week at the D23 Expo. Unfortunately that trailer hasn’t been made available to the public. However, the studio has released a set of posters for the film that shows off its impressive roster. There are so many heroes and villains, that Marvel had to split the poster into three parts.

Here’s a look at the posters in their entirety:

All three pieces of the #InfinityWar #SDCC poster! pic.twitter.com/7bzVt2TseL

— Nick Vargas (@Nv2187) July 23, 2017

Now that is what I call #SquadGoals. Every hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is displayed (minus Ant-Man, unless he’s so tiny that we can’t see him), and dead in the center is our central villain Thanos in possession of the Infinity Stones. After examining these posters, a few theories and takeaways for Infinity War have sprung to life. Luckily for you, we’ll make it easy and spell them out.

NEW #InfinityWar poster ! pic.twitter.com/xckWKKF3fv

— Best of Marvel (@thebestofmarvel) July 23, 2017

Above, we have the left side of the larger group poster. If you count them up, it holds 11 characters total, which should be some kind of record for cramming people into one movie poster. Do you recognize the man up front? You should, even if he’s sporting a slightly different look than you’re accustomed to seeing. That’s Steve Rogers rocking a beard! He must not have packed a razor with him when he went underground following the events of Captain America: Civil War. Gone is his red, white, and blue attire, replaced with a sleek black uniform. This look has fans wondering if Steve will adopt his Nomad persona from the comics when he decided to stop being Captain America. The only differences are the beard and no V-neck top, but perhaps the decision was made that duplicating the Nomad costume from the comics wouldn’t work on the big screen.

Steve isn’t the only one who looks different. Standing next to him is a blond-haired Black Widow. What’s the reason for her change in hair color? And why is she standing next to Steve? Could she have switched sides from Tony Stark to Steve in the time between Civil War and Infinity War?

Above them are the Vision and Scarlet Witch. Remember: Vision has the Mind Stone in his forehead, and Thanos is looking to assemble all the Infinity Stones. Something tells me Vision better be on the lookout for a very large, purple skinned man.

At the very top of this poster is everyone’s favorite galactic team, the Guardians of the Galaxy, joined by Thor and Loki. We learned back at the D23 Expo that Thor encounters the Guardians in the Infinity War trailer, so it makes sense for him to be aligned with the team. Maybe they also pick up Loki on their cosmic travels.

The two #AvengersInfinityWar posters released at Comic-Con fit side-by-side together… Expect a third poster to be revealed very soon! pic.twitter.com/t88BZ13ZdV

— MCU News & Tweets (@MCU_Tweets) July 22, 2017

Finally, we have the last two posters to complete the set. Starting at the far right is the man who helped launch the MCU, Iron Man. Our first thought is to wonder why is he flanked by the Guardians’ Gamora and Nebula? Since they are children of Thanos, maybe Tony works closely with them to gather intel on their father.

Up top we have an interesting grouping of the Hulk, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and War Machine. Reaction to the Infinity War trailer included rumblings of Winter Soldier standing alongside Black Panther and warriors of Wakanda as they fought an invading army. This could be a callback to the 2013 comic event series Infinity when Thanos sent an army to Wakanda to collect an Infinity Stone. Hopefully, this happens in Infinity War and T’Challa has some backup in the form of the men pictured with him, including a rehabilitated War Machine.

All that left is the man in the middle, and the reason for all this drama, Thanos. You’ll notice his gauntlet holds all five Infinity Stones. Whether that’s a foreshadowing of how Infinity War ends or merely for marketing purposes remains to be seen. Below him are the “Children of Thanos,” also known in the comics as the Black Order of Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw, and Cull Obsidian. One can’t expect Thanos to do all the fighting, so he’s bringing some backup with him.

Going back to all three posters put together, it’s funny to see Thanos’ right leg busting through the Avengers logo. You can also see how the colors yellow and green radiate to the left and right of his gauntlet, highlighting a hero who is currently in possession of the matching stone. The yellow light hovers over the Vision, who has the Mind Stone, and green shines on Doctor Strange for his Eye of Agamatto/Time Stone. Let’s cross our fingers that the planet behind Thanos isn’t Earth, but some other planet that the big showdown takes place on.

Did anything else stick out to you in the Avengers: Infinity War posters? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Marvel Studios, Marvel Comics

Tim Adams is a freelance writer who loves comics and the TV and movies that feature them. Follow him on Twitter!

We’re Losing It Over This DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special Trailer

Change can be hard for anyone, no matter how many times you’ve done it. Especially when that change is downright revolutionary and changes the course of history. Because those are the stakes at the heart of the Doctor Who Christmas special, which will see Peter Capaldi regenerate into the first-ever female Doctor (to be played by Broadchurch‘s Jodie Whittaker). But because life is all about balance and filling in plot holes, it looks like we’re also going to see the regeneration of the First Doctor as played by David Bradley, if the trailer for released at San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday afternoon is any indication.

But don’t just take our word for it — watch it right here, right now:

Titled “Twice Upon a Time,” the special will see both Doctors grappling with regenerating despite wanting to do so. In the end, according to the panel, both iterations of the Doctor realize they have to convince themselves in order to actually do it. (Which sounds like outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat’s way of trying to convince the many misguided fans upset about the change of the two-hearted, space-and-time-traveling alien from male to female.)

Also slated to appear in the episode is Pearl Mackie’s Bill, who will also be exiting the series alongside current Doctor Peter Capaldi, and Mark Gatiss, a frequent writer on Who and Moffat collaborator (Sherlock).

The clip looks thrilling, but if you’re looking for a few more feels, they also released a farewell video for Capaldi’s run before Whittaker and new showrunner Chris Chibnall take over next season.

Thank you, Doctor. #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/2zFGYYx8ZL

— Doctor Who BBCA (@DoctorWho_BBCA) July 23, 2017

We’ll have more from the panel later, so keep it locked to Nerdist for our own in-house Whovian Kyle Anderson’s write-up of the event.

What do you think of the Christmas special? Let us know in the comments below!

Image: BBC America

Alicia Lutes is the managing editor of Nerdist, host of Fangirling!, and frequent over-user of Twitter dot com. 

The 6 Best Things in the THOR: RAGNAROK Trailer

This year’s Comic-Con saved the best for last. The Thor: Ragnarok trailer was easily one of the greatest moments of SDCC 2017, and now that we’ve seen it, we are breaking down the six best moments from Marvel’s latest take on the Norse Avenger. And no, it’s not just a list of six different Jeff Goldblum noises or facial expressions, although we will accept GIF submissions for that on Twitter. So without further ado, let’s break down some of the things we love most about the new Thor trailer. And definitely watch today’s Nerdist News above for a more in-depth take!

1. Hulk

Bruce Banner has apparently been Hulkified for about two years since the evens of Age Of Ultron, and I guess his green alter ego has learned how to communicate a little bit better in the time period. Dr. Banner will be a fun character to watch try and figure out what the hell is going on in a strange new environment

2. A Sense of Humor

These movies are about big beefy boys hitting each other hard in the face with fists and hammers–don’t try to fight how insane and funny that is. The previous Thor film took itself way too seriously, so we’re glad to see Taika Watiti injecting a much needed dose of humor into the series.

3. Fenrir

Who doesn’t love a giant Norse wolf companion that is destined to kill Odin and may or may not be the son of Loki? Thor is weird, man.

4. Infinity Stones

For so long, we’ve only seen the power of the Tesseract in LEGO form, so it feels like pay-dirt to finally get a sneak peek.

5. Going Full Guardians

At first we thought we were going to get a buddy cop movie between Thor and Hulk, which would have been cool. But why not lean in to the Guardians of the Galaxy paradigm and go for a cosmic adventure team-up movie instead with the addition of Loki and Valkyrie?

6. Surtur

Surtur is a giant fire demon who is destined to play a large part in the destruction of Asgard as we know it. Is he just an oversized Hela companion or is he potentially a bigger bad than previously thought. Who can say?

What were your favorite moments of the new Thor: Ragnarok trailer. Head to the land down under (the comments section in this thin attempt at a Men At Work joke since Chris Hemsworth is Australian?) and let us know.

Images: Marvel/Disney

Angela Robinson talks PROFESSOR MARSTON AND THE WONDER WOMEN at SDCC

Wonder Woman is one of the most iconic superheroes in comic book history, an integral part of DC‘s trinity, and now the star of one of the most profitable cape movies of all time! But how much do you know about Wonder Woman’s real life origins? Who truly created her? A new movie by Angela Robinson seeks to answer those very questions. We snuck in to a super exclusive SDCC speakeasy to hear the director talk all about her passion project, which has been years in the making.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is a film that Robinson has been trying to make for almost a decade, first inspired by a particular book on the character. “Jordana Brewster knew I was this crazy Wonder Woman fan and got me the Les Daniels book on her, [Wonder Woman: The Complete History],” Robinson said. “This beautiful coffee table book. There was a whole chapter on the Marstons.”

The Marstons were arguably one of comics’ most unconventional creative teams. The polyamorous triad consisted of William Moulton Marston, a psychologist who also invented the polygraph, along with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and their lover Olive Byrne, one of William’s former students. The story grabbed Robinson and set her on a long journey to make Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. “My friend was working on one of the original Wonder Woman scripts,” Robinson said. “I started telling her the story of Marston and how the genesis of Wonder Woman wasn’t the same as Batman, Superman, or any other superhero. She said, ‘You have to make this movie.'”

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women has an enviable cast, what with Luke Evans and Rebecca Hall playing the Marstons. Robinson was delighted to find that Rebecca Hall had interest in the creators of Wonder Woman before she even came across the script. “I’d watch Rebecca Hall read the phone book, and I heard she was interested in playing Elizabeth Holloway,” Robinson said. “She’d actually done a lot of research into the story [of the Marstons] herself and found her own way to it. She was even considering adapting it! So there’ve been all of these serendipitous moments.”

In the recently released trailer for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, there’s an underlying theme of secret identities both on and off the page. This was a theme Robinson felt vital to the Marstons’ stories. “Everybody knows that Diana Prince is Wonder Woman’s alter ego,” she said. “The film explores the Marstons’ relationship, how he and his wife both fell in love with one of his students. They lived together and formed a family together. They had a secret identity in and amongst themselves.”

For Robinson, the realization that William didn’t in fact have a wife and a mistress, but was ultimately in a polyamorous relationship, was a revelation. “They have an expansive, incredible story,” Robinson said. “My job as a writer is to work out how to tell that in two hours. I went in thinking that Marston had a wife and a mistress, and then I read that Olive and Elizabeth lived together for 38 years after Marston died. Elizabeth named her only daughter after Olive. That readjusted my prism of how I was telling this story. To me, this film is a love story.”

Were you aware of the unusual relationship behind Wonder Woman? Can’t wait to explore the women who inspired Diana’s creation? Just happy to see a polyamorous relationship on screen? Jump into our comments and let us know!

Images: AnnaPurna Studios

SUPERNATURAL Spin-Off, WAYWARD SISTERS Confirms Four More Cast Members

Last month, the CW announced that they would be introducing a backdoor pilot into Supernatural’s thirteenth season for their new spin-off, Wayward Sisters. Fans have been asking for a spin-off focusing on Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) for quite a while now, and the June announcement had the fandom in a tizzy. However, at the time of the announcement, only Rhodes was confirmed for the spin-off. Although the fandom was pretty certain Jody’s bestie, Sheriff Donna (Briana Buckmaster), and Jody’s adopted daughters Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton) and Alex Jones (Katherine Ramdeen) would be cast, it wasn’t official. Still, the cast gave us a lot of hope that the original gang would be in for the Wayward Sisters fun.

Hey @kimrhodes4real, you busy for the next 12 years? Wanna get blingoed on my mini bar and watch pay-per-view…?

THOR: RAGNAROK’s Amazing SDCC Trailer Just Stole the Weekend

We still have to wait until November 3rd to find out where Thor: Ragnarok will end up ranking among the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we’re already ready to put it at the top of one list: the best freaking Marvel trailers we’ve ever seen. That’s because the latest look at the upcoming third Thor film might have just stolen the show at San Diego Comic-Con.

We’re not kidding when we say we’ve been obsessed with the first trailer for the film ever since it was released, but we didn’t expect to get another one just as good, let alone better. But the hilarious, explosive trailer Marvel Studios released at its Hall H on Saturday somehow did just that.

 

We almost don’t know where to begin, there’s just so much pure joy in this trailer. Can we interest you in gorgeous action shots? Cate Blanchett’s Hela squaring off against an army of Valkyries riding winged horses? The Hulk fighting the massive fire giant Surtur AND the mythical wolf Fenrir? How about an epic team up against one of the most compelling villains Marvel has ever produced? And we definitely can’t get enough of those buddy comedy scenes between Thor and Bruce Banner.

And if all of that isn’t enough, the appearance of a conversational, funny-as-hell Hulk with a fresh new haircut is too much happiness for our brains to process.

Even the new poster for the movie has us ready to enter the gladiator arena if it means getting to see this film right now.

Check out the new #ThorRagnarok #SDCC poster that just debuted in Hall H! pic.twitter.com/tB424JZ9Ka

— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 23, 2017

Gorgeous.

If Thor: Ragnarok ends up being as good as its trailers it is going to end up as the best MCU movie too.

What did you think of this trailer? We’re going to go watch it a million times more, but we’re also going to check out what you had to say about it in our comments section below, so tell us your thoughts.

Images: Marvel

All the READY PLAYER ONE Pop Culture References We Spotted in the Trailer

Heading to San Diego Comic-Con is like taking a trip down to the nerd oasis, but today Warner Bros. had us ready to log in to the Oasis, with the first teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg‘s Ready Player One. This initial look at the upcoming adaptation of Ernest Cline’s hit novel is action-packed, almost as much as it’s packed with the kind of pop culture references that fill the book. That’s why today on Nerdist News we’re sharing all the goodies we could find after combing the desert of this trailer frame by frame.

And while these aren’t a mirage, they sure are allusions.

It might be hard here to miss the Iron Giant (he’s very large), but did you spot Freddy Krueger on the battle field? And while you probably didn’t miss Doc Brown’s DeLorean ripping up the streets, did you happen to see the A Team’s van ready to go?

Ready Player One stars X-Men: Apocalypse‘s Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts, who narrates the trailer. He’s joined by Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance as Oasis founders Ogden Morrow and James Halliday, with Ben Mendelsohn as head Sixer/villain Sorrento, and Olivia Cooke as Watt’s competitor and love interest Art3mis.

We might not have seen or heard from any of them in this first trailer, but that’s okay with us. We prefer getting to obsess over all the pop culture references they gave us instead.

It’s a real nerd oasis.

What did you think of this trailer? Were there any pop culture references we missed? Ready Nerdist reader, to log in to our comments section below to tell us what you spotted, and don’t miss Alpha Book Club‘s discussion of Ready Player One on Alpha!

Images: Warner Bros. Studios

Editor’s note: Today’s episode of Nerdist News is sponsored by Tor Books.