Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2348

THE WALKING DEAD Season 7 Clip Hints at the Death of [SPOILER]

It’s no secret that somebody died in the last few seconds of The Walking Dead‘s sixth season finale, and AMC has been encouraging fans to guess about the survival of their favorite characters all summer. A new preview clip from last night’s episode of Talking Dead has some ominous implications for one of the series’ most beloved characters, so consider this your spoiler warning!

Ordinarily, a video of Austin Amelio‘s Dwight navigating a zombie roadblock wouldn’t draw much attention. But in this new clip, he just so happens to be wearing Daryl’s signature vest and riding his bike…and that’s why fans are immediately assuming that Daryl was the one who was killed by Negan. But would AMC really give the game away over a month before the seventh season premiere?

There’s a good chance that this is simply the network’s way of trolling us and making fans speculate about its meaning. Dwight stole Daryl’s crossbow in their first meeting, so there is a precedent for him stealing from Daryl that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s dead. Although, if Dwight was smart, he wouldn’t have pulled that trick twice on Daryl. That’s just asking for an ass-kicking.

Note that Dwight is also by himself in this scene, rather than among Negan’s men. That raises an intriguing question about what Dwight is up to, and if his agenda on the show will directly follow his character’s trajectory from the comic.

The Walking Dead season 7 will arrive on Sunday, October 23 on AMC.

Who do you think Negan killed on The Walking Dead? Share your theories in the comment section below!

Image: AMC

Everything you need to know about The Walking Dead‘s Negan

Henry Cavill Teases Black SUPERMAN Costume for JUSTICE LEAGUE

Before we proceed any further, there are major spoilers here for the ending of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in this post. If you haven’t seen it yet for whatever reason and still plan to then you might want to put a pin in this article and come back later.

Still with us? OK, so Superman was dead as a doornail at the end of BvS (at the hands of Doomsday, similar to how he died in the comics). Of course, we already know Henry Cavill‘s officiallyconfirmed as a cast member in next year’s upcoming Justice League film from Zack Snyder, which was reconfirmed given his appearance in the promotional images released from SDCC last month.

Part of Superman dying is that he always gets better. But how close to The Return of Superman story from the comics is Kal-El’s resurrection going to be in the film? Well, at least one aspect of the comics lore is going to be adhered to, as Henry Cavill posted an image of what looks like a black Superman costume to his Instagram account. You can see the image below:

#Superman

A photo posted by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill) on Aug 15, 2016 at 11:58am PDT

In the 1993 Return of Superman comics storyline, Superman’s corpse was outfitted with a black costume with silver highlights by worker robots in the Fortress of Solitude. This was his regeneration outfit, which drew solar energy to slowly bring Kal-El back to the land of the living. It looks like Snyder and company are keeping the black costume for at least part of the film, although I thought Superman’s Fortress of Solitude equivalent was destroyed back in Man of Steel—but maybe he had a back up one somewhere? Who knows. The DCEU doesn’t always have internal logic.

It should be noted that Superman also had a mullet when he came back, a nod perhaps to the old wives’ take that one’s hair continues to grow even after death. Could we see Clark rocking that look, too, for Justice League? I have to say, I wouldn’t mind it terribly if it were included as an Easter egg….just make Supes mostly wear his classic outfit and hair when standing next to his teammates — because we’ve waited a long, long time to see them standing together in the classic Super Friends pose in live-action.

What do you think of Superman rocking the black costume for the Justice League movie? Are you secretly hoping to see the mullett as much as I am?? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Image: DC Comics

Marvel’s CIVIL WAR II Gets an Extra Issue and a Delay

Through the first four issues of Marvel’s Civil War II miniseries, fans have been waiting for the percolating superhero conflict over predictive justice boil over into an all-out war. And now, they’re gonna have to wait at least another month to see that happen.

Civil War II writer Brian Michael Bendis has announced that the fifth issue will now be released on Wednesday, September 24; while Civil War II #6 is set for Wednesday, October 5. Currently, Marvel still has Civil War II #7 scheduled for October 19, but that’s probably not going to be its actual release date. Additionally, Civil War II will now be extended to eight issues, but there’s no set release date of issue 8.

According to Bendis, the reason for the delay is that Civil War II artist David Marquez recently had a son and he wasn’t able to devote his full attention to the comic.

“David [Marquez] has been handing in about a page a day for the last couple of weeks so we’re getting back on track,” wrote Bendis, “So much so that Marvel greenlit an 8th issue for us. I came up with a better ending but needed the pages. Very grateful that they let us do our thing.”

The original Civil War miniseries by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven was also plagued by delays a decade ago, and more recently, the Secret Wars miniseries was also held back after it gained an additional issue to wrap up the story. Pushing Civil War II back will likely mean that any tie-in books that could spoil the events of the main storyline could also be delayed.

Because Marvel solicits its new books several months ahead of time, we already know that Tony Stark will be out of the picture post-Civil War II, with Doctor Doom and a young girl named Riri Williams both laying claim to his legacy as Iron Man. That tends to suggest that Stark will be on the losing side of his battle with Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel. But if the preview art from the next Captain Marvel series is any indication, Carol’s popularity with the general public is going to crater pretty quickly.

How do you think Civil War II will end? Let us know in the comment section below!

Here’s everything you need to know about the original Marvel Civil War.

Image: Marvel Comics

New DEADPOOL 2 Cable and Domino Details Revealed

Deadpool was the first big comic book movie of the year, and it’s still one of our favorites. It was also a huge freakin’ blockbuster, which is why 20th Century Fox is fast-tracking the sequel. The Deadpool 2 casting rumors are already heating up, and we’re breaking them down in today’s Nerdist News!

Nerdist News host and Askani leader, Jessica Chobot has the latest word on our potential dueling Cables. According to Mashable’s Jeff Sneider (during an appearance on Meet the Movie Press), the time-traveling mutant son of Cyclops and a Jean Grey clone (Madelyne Pryor, for all of you comic book fans) could be portrayed by none other than Coach Taylor himself, Kyle Chandler. That’s perfect, because Chandler’s got clear eyes and Cable has a glowing eye. Add some full hearts and they can’t lose!

But what if Fox has someone else that they desire for Cable’s live-action debut? Umberto Gonzalez from Heroic Hollywood and The Wrap is reporting that the studio wants Liam Neeson. Is it because Neeson could potentially headline a Cable solo movie and the long-percolating X-Force film? Meanwhile, Deadpool 2 director Tim Miller is rumored to be set on Chandler for Cable alongside Halt and Catch Fire‘s Mackenzie Davis as Domino. We love the idea of Davis playing Domino, a kick-ass heroine who has ties to both Cable and Deadpool. Cable might be a little harder to pin down if Miller and the studio can’t see eye-to-cybernetic-eye.

Who do you think should play Cable and Domino in the Deadpool sequel? And do you think that the eventual actor cast as Cable will also play Stryfe in a duel role? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Rocket Lands Safely in Latest SpaceX Mission

Chalk up another win for Elon Musk and SpaceX. Early Sunday morning, the private aerospace company pulled off yet another successful 2016 mission.

Back in May, SpaceX sent the partially reusable Falcon 9 into space, successfully setting a commercial communications satellite into orbit and then landing the rocket’s stage one engine on a drone ship in the Atlantic. It was the first time anyone had ever landed a first stage from a geostationary transfer orbit (some 22,300 miles above sea level) mission. This time, they were forced to climb to a higher apogee than had ever been attempted before, as Gizmodo reports.

“Given this mission’s GTO destination, the first-stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing challenging,” SpaceX said in a statement prior to the mission.

The company’s disclaimer proved to be unnecessary, though. At 1:26 am EDT, the Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral and, about nine minutes later, its first stage landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. The stage two engine carried on, carrying with it a Japanese communications satellite called the JCSAT-16. Nearer to the cosmos, the engine shoved its payload gently into orbit, where it was set to come online soon thereafter.

Want to watch the whole launch and landing, complete with mathematics, graphics, and hip SpaceX people explaining the gravity of the event? Then check out the video above. With each successful mission with these reusable engines, Musk and Co. prove that space travel can be more cost effective. They also inch ever closer to a mission to Mars. When do you think SpaceX will ultimately launch their first human-led mission to Mars? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Space X

Hound Tall #24: Brexit

Moshe and guests discuss the force is the lead to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and find some laughs along the way but they mostly make fun of Polish people. Joining Moshe are Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Michael Hiltzick and Greg Proops, Lynn Ferguson and Matt Kirshen!

Follow @moshekasher on Twitter!

International ROGUE ONE Trailer Reveals Major a Plot Point

After the release of some major trailer, you can almost count on there being a mostly-the-same-but-slightly-different trailer to be released internationally. From there, it’s a game of seeing which shots are different or what little new nugget or Easter egg they include that the North American crowd didn’t get to see. In the case of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s most recent trailer, there’s a huge something new to discover—not an image or costume reveal, but a major beat to the plot.

If you don’t want to know anything, I’d recommend not watching it, and not reading any further. So consider this your spoiler warning.

So, the moment in question comes from the very familiar scene of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) being told about the mission, while shackled, from Mon Mothma and company. Although instead of the vagueness of the other trailers, the international one tells us flat out that Jyn’s father, Galen Erso (the still-unseen Mads Mikkelsen) is the one who sent the transmission about the Death Star’s creation in the first place, so that would mean that Jyn is aware of her father being involved in the plot before they head out and not a surprise as some had speculated.

However what we don’t know yet are the following: 1) Whether Galen sent the transmission under duress as part of an Imperial plot to weed out the Rebels. 2) If Galen sent the transmission at all or if they’re just telling Jyn that to make her want to get involved. 3) If Galen did send it, whether he knew his daughter would be among the people who received it. So many story points still up in the air, but it’s kind of cool/major to get an inciting incident this early in the trailers.

Ah, gotta love them Asian market trailers. They’ll spoil everything. Let us know what theories you have now, knowing this, in the comments below!

Image: Lucasfilm

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!

Behold the Most Amazing D&D Map Ever Created!

In my youth, we never used very many maps when playing Dungeons & Dragons. The maps provided in the game sets felt flat (because they were) and boring, and simple graph paper could do in a pinch if you need to really block out some area of effect or accurate combat distances. For the most part, we just let our imaginations do the heavy lifting, because what other option was there?

Well, if you are Ryan Devoto, you build the biggest, most kick ass Dungeons & Dragons diorama ever. Devoto commissioned skilled craftsmen and put in some hard hours to produce one of the ultimate gaming rooms. This board has it all: ships, towns, forests, farms, and a crazy maze/dungeon. It’s massive and, as you can tell from the photos, insanely detailed. No expense was spared, clearly.

Just look at these gorgeous photos of all this thing has to offer. You could have epic ocean clashes, explore dense forests, murder some farmers, take over a castle, whatever you want (we do not endorse murdering farmers). This thing offers an insane amount of gameplay; you could spend a lifetime adventuring through it. That dungeon alone looks like it’d take some huge dice-rolling sessions to get through, and with carefully placed creatures and treasures, it could be a new adventure every time. I can’t help but wonder what my old character, Rath, and his crew of outlaws known as The Phoenix Company, would do to this place. We’d have a hell of a time leaving a trail of destruction in our wake, that’s for sure. Once we had enough gold, maybe we’d retire on that beach. Looks cozy.

The shear size of this thing is mind blowing. This is dedication on a level that is staggering, and I’m more than a little bit jealous. If only I could convince my wife we don’t really need a formal dining room. More than anything, this piece has converted me to the glory of maps. Yes, not all Dungeons & Dragons games are this big or detailed. That’s obvious. Devoto has shown that the sky is the limit, and that you can make some that’s more than just a game board: it’s a freaking work of art. I’m ready to roll up some characters and build some dungeons, guys. Let’s do this.

Click through the gallery below and check out some of the awesomeness this diorama has to offer, then let us know your favorite feature in comments.

Images: Ryan Devoto

Female NASA Pioneers Shine in New HIDDEN FIGURES Trailer

Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson ought to be heroines to every young girl who dreams of a career in science, but even though Johnson is still alive, you probably haven’t heard their story–Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry for this particular Mary Jackson as of the writing of this article (though I expect that will change, and quickly). Hidden Figures seeks to remedy that omission, revealing the contributions of three brilliant women of color at NASA who were instrumental in getting Alan Shepard and John Glenn into space thanks to their calculations. It makes objections to female Ghostbusters feel even more silly–in an age when sexism and racism were institutionalized and odds against them overwhelming, these ladies prevailed with sheer brain power.

Reflecting the movie’s dynamic, its biggest star–a white dude you might know by the name of Kevin Costner–takes fourth billing behind actual leads Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae. The director is St. Vincent‘s Theodore Melfi, which means the film is likely to feature strong character work and not just be the obvious “big dreamer” formula. We know how it must end: Shepard and Glenn did come back from space, after all. But we’ve seen their story in The Right Stuff; consider this, perhaps, the prequel spotlighting the unsung, unseen heroes of that tale.

We talk frequently about encouraging girls in the STEM fields; it’s good to see Hollywood stepping up and demonstrating by example. Hidden Figures opens January 13th; let us know in comments if you plan on checking it out.

Featured image: 20th Century Fox

GAME OF THRONES Gets Political With New Parody Ads

Game of Thrones may not be back on HBO until next summer, but that doesn’t mean that the network can’t have some fun with the current election season. HBO has released four new videos as part of its “We Are the GOT” campaign, which gave four of the leading characters political ads and running mates as their destinies finally come together for the final two seasons.

First up is the new King of the North, Jon Snow, and his running mate, the wildly popular Lyanna Mormont. It’s Lyanna’s voiceover that carries Snow’s ad, and if we’re being honest, she should probably be at the top of this ticket! Lyanna may not be a warrior yet, but her sharp mind and her even sharper tongue has won her a sizable fan following. As much as we love Jon, he doesn’t always make the best decisions.

Now that the Mother of Dragons and armies are crossing the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen can finally put forth her claim to the Iron Throne alongside her running mate, Tyrion Lannister. Although Tyrion may be better suited for ruling, he could never capture the hearts and minds of Westeros in the way that Daenerys can. Plus, it’s always handy to have dragons around when conquering kingdoms.

The third candidate is already in control of King’s Landing…because she murdered almost everyone else who could have challenged her! Queen Cersei Lannister sits atop the Iron Throne in this ad, and her running mate, Qyburn, is barely an afterthought. But Cersei couldn’t have pulled off her coup without her new Hand of the Queen and their undead warrior, who was formerly known as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane.

Finally, there’s the wildcard candidate: Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, the show’s ultimate schemer. His lust for power is well documented, and his running mate is…Sansa Stark? The sixth season finale had some ambiguous glances between Sansa and Littlefinger when Jon was declared the new King in the North. But will Sansa really turn on one of her last surviving family members? We’ll have to wait a year to find out!

You can visit HBO’s official GoT party page here, or make it a “Tee party” of your own by picking up some T-shirts with your favorite running mates here!

Which GoT candidates do you support? Share your choices in the comment section below!

Image: HBO