Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 64

IRONHEART Introduces a Character With Ties to a MCU IRON MAN Villain

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Sometimes, you have to make some unorthodox choices to get what you want. More than anything, Riri wants to build a state-of-the-art iron suit and become iconic. The problem is, she doesn’t have the money to do it. Her time at MIT is done, which is her own fault tbh, so there’s no more grant money. And getting a local job in Chicago isn’t going to bring in stacks of cash that she needs. So, when she goes on a “job interview” for the Hood’s sketchy team, she signs up to join, even though she knows they will use her tech mind and suit to do illegal things. Speaking of her suit, it is in shambles and in need of upgrades. This adventure for new parts connects Ironheart to tech collector Joe, who is actually Ezekiel, the son of Iron Man villain Obadiah Stane. 

In episode two, Riri needs parts to fix her broken suit to make it work before meeting up for the 8PM mission. She still doesn’t fully trust nor understand AI Natalie, but she is willing to receive the program’s information about dark web sellers. The nearest person is Joe McGillicuddy, who lives in Evanston. Riri pays him a visit. He’s a rather weird and skittish dude who is far too easy to blackmail to get to his stash.

Marvel Television/Disney+

He takes her and the suit on a little road trip—complete with some Alanis Morissette sing-a-long action and life advice from Riri—to his secret bunker. Riri wonders why he would have so much extensive tech and how he has the ability to acquire it all. He claims the place made him feel close to his dad, an engineer who loved tech. She doesn’t question him further due to time constraints. But it is clear that he’s not fond of her suit nor using tech he worked hard to acquire. 

Riri pulls off the TNNL job alongside Hood’s crew and they all have a nice stack of cash. However, she still has two more jobs to work with him in order to fulfill her obligation. Riri doesn’t feel great about what they’ve done, including Parker killing a police officer. AI Natalie warns her that there’s something really off and dark about Parker. Riri knows she’s right but the cash makes her not want to press the issue.

Episode three brings things to a head when Clown, a member of Parker’s crew, puts his hood on. It causes some temporary trouble and piques Riri’s curious mind. She wants to figure out how it works, especially after ex-crewmember Stuart’s death, to protect herself from potential trouble. Riri wants to take a piece of his hood during a mission to analyze it, and that’s possible using Joe’s bio-mesh skin concept. 

Marvel Studios

At Joe’s place, she accidentally discovers the remains of Obadiah Stane in a Ziploc bag. In case you forgot, he was the previous COO of Stark Industries and Howard Stark’s pal in the original Iron Man film. Obadiah staged a coup to take over Stark Industries completely and kill Tony, even wearing his own large and menacing suit. He’s pretty darn important as the MCU’s first villain.

He admits to being Ezekiel Stane, the son of Obadiah whom everyone thought died in a plane crash. He tells Riri the truth about Obadiah’s death, saying he doesn’t want to be like him at all. Riri coming to him with a suit on with the same type of energy makes him incredibly nervous. This makes sense considering he knows what can happen when that type of tech is used for nefarious reasons. Ezekiel Stane says he cannot be a part of whatever Riri is into. She opens up about her stepdad Gary, who loved Stark, and his tragic death. This is the right tug on Ezekiel’s heartstrings. He gives her what she needs for her upgrades and she promises that this won’t blow back on him.

Unfortunately, that’s probably what’s about to happen. Riri tries to use the skin to sneak past Heirlum’s advanced security system, but it detects her anyway, leading to pure chaos. John discovers Riri with a piece of the hood and they fight briefly before she locks him in a room to suffocate. During the scuffle, the mesh comes off Riri’s arm, leaving evidence for the police. Riri lies about John’s death to the crew and Parker sees a vision suggesting that she’s at fault for it. This doesn’t bode well for Riri nor Ezekiel, if the authorities and/or Parker are able to tie that piece of tech to him.

RELATED ARTICLE

How Robert Downey Jr. Can Be Both Tony Stark and the True Doctor Doom in the MCU

We will have to wait and see what happens with Ezekiel Stane when the final three episodes of Ironheart drop next week.

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Do MJ and Ned Appear in IRONHEART? Riri Williams’ Story Takes Us Into MIT

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Ironheart is finally soaring on Disney+ and taking us to Chicago to explore Riri Williams’ rise as to becoming a hero. But, before we go to her hometown, we get a glimpse of her life at MIT. Despite being very young, she’s been a student at the prestigious institution for a few years already. Of course, we know she isn’t the only brilliant mind in the MCU who goes to this institution. So, we all want to know if Peter Parker’s pals MJ and Ned show up in Ironheart, right? They did get accepted there at the end of No Way Home, after all. The answer to that question is pretty straightforward. 

In the first episode of Ironheart, Riri Williams brings us into her life at MIT following her “internship” over in Wakanda. And, it seems she has a penchant for experiments and choices that lead to disaster. She wants to build something iconic, a suit that can one day become useful to help in emergency situations. The problem is, Riri doesn’t have Tony Stark funds to do it, so she is selling completed assignments to students to make money.

Marvel Television/Disney+

This, combined with her failed experiment that causes serious damage, leads the dean to expel Riri from MIT. Riri goes back home and subsequently leaves MIT in her rearview mirror. That means we don’t see MJ and Ned in Ironheart, unfortunately. I doubt that she even bothered making a ton of friends there because she has such a one-track mind.

RELATED ARTICLE

Who Is Riri ‘Ironheart’ Williams? Her Marvel Comics Character History, Explained

Not having those cameos is totally okay because this series is about Riri’s story as she takes a dark path that puts her in danger. What will happen when Parker finds out the truth about John’s death? What secrets does that piece of his cloak hold? Will Riri get locked up for a long time before she ever really gets to soar? We will find out when Ironheart’s final three episodes drop.

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IRONHEART Soars With Its Exploration of Temptation, Grief, Legacy, and Magic (Review)

Over the past couple of years, Marvel Television has proved a few things. Character driven stories with street level heroes, compelling villains, and supporting ensemble casts with strong emotional ties to the lead resonate with viewers. Striking the balance between tethering elements to the larger MCU and honoring comic source material with infusing fresh standalone takes on renowned, rookie, and deepcut characters alike produces small screen magic. And, it is never too late to explore a story, as long as it is done with tact and care. We saw this quite recently with Agatha All Along, and we get this with a gem that I hope folks don’t sleep on: Ironheart. 

Nearly three years after Dominique Thorne’s debut as Riri “Ironheart” Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ironheart is hitting Disney+. As a diehard fan of Eve Ewing’s Ironheart comic run, I admittedly went into the series with some deep trepidation. I didn’t dislike Riri in Wakanda Forever. But there simply wasn’t enough of her in that narrative to really gel with me. And the Ironheart trailers didn’t give me a ton of confidence either. How would this show would handle Riri’s MCU origin story? Still, I always trust in Ryan Coogler, who executive produced the series, and that instinct has yet to fail me. 

Ironheart is a culturally and emotionally nuanced epic that navigates the pitfalls of socioeconomic strife, the loneliness of genius and grief, and the magic of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with loads of heart and wit. From its well-crafted storylines and stellar performances to its interweaving of sinister sorcery and innovative tech, Ironheart quickly finds its footing and fires on all cylinders. Creator and head writer Chinaka Hodge’s love for comic Riri blends with her unique creative liberties to build something lovely.

The series follows a dejected Riri Williams, who is back home in Chicago after an unsuccessful stint at MIT. A stubborn, anxious, and often one track minded young woman, Riri laser focuses on building an iron suit that can change the world and help others in crisis. She also wants to make her mark on the world and feel like she matters, which is a lofty mission.

While her genius rivals Tony Stark, her social and financial circumstances serve as barriers to her dreams. Ironheart digs deeper into the tragedy and subsequent anguish that spurs her relentless dedication to this mission. It reveals that she’s actually not a Stark fangirl who wants to follow in his footsteps, but instead wants to take his creation to different heights. This frees her to be who she truly is, which is certainly not a “girl Iron Man.”

RELATED ARTICLEWho Is Riri ‘Ironheart’ Williams? Her Marvel Comics Character History, ExplainedAll of these elements drive her into nefarious territory alongside Anthony Ramos’ Parker Robbins, whom we know as the Hood. Armed with childhood trauma, charisma, and a crew of misfits, Parker is the other side of Riri’s coin. They are driven by and towards similar things, but he’s willing to get demonic and deadly to achieve his goals. This along with other mysteries puts Riri into a swirl of inner conflict. It pushes her towards choices that threaten to ruin her life before it really starts. It’s a pretty clear mirror for the familiar pressures of gang life in a quest to achieve importance, money, and perhaps loyalty through found family. Ironheart cleverly weaves in lesser-known comic presences and grounds itself in the MCU. There are connections and references, but they don’t bog down its well-paced story for Easter eggs and fan service. Even the reveal of a highly anticipated, previously unseen Marvel character feels like a natural addition to this MCU story versus a ham-fisted grab for attention. There are many ways that bringing sorcery and tech together can go wrong. However, Ironheart pulls it off, thanks to some fantastic tertiary characters.Marvel StudiosThorne brings an intellectual richness and emotional resonance to Riri’s messy and morally askew trajectory. Her command as the series lead provides a solid foundation for her storyline to soar. There isn’t a single person she doesn’t play well with onscreen, from her mother Ronnie (Anji White) to her “friend” Xavier (Matthew Elam). But the chemistry and camaraderie between Riri and Lyric Ross’ Natalie is pure beauty and Black Girl Magic. Their connection transcends generations and strums up the nostalgia of being attached at the hip to your childhood homegirl. What a feeling! Through their friendship, Ironheart examines AI from several viewpoints, all of which are valid and worth exploration. Ramos’ Robbins could’ve showed his teeth more as the show’s most visible antagonist. But there’s a lovely marriage of vulnerability and duplicitousness that adds to his intrigue and the show’s gritty tone. He is just a man, after all, and not some evil entity or wizard. And I must say I’m down with his plan to gather a group of intelligent yet underprivileged folks so they can stick it to rich jerks and make some cash. Does he find a way to screw it all up? Of course. It wouldn’t be a good show if he didn’t. Ironheart explores what it means to build a legacy, what we lose from accessibility barriers and unjust rejection, what we gain from processing our emotions, the ever-looming temptations that threaten to shake our morals, and the power of writing your unique story in a world that aims to silence you. Yet it also doesn’t shy away from what we’d expect from an MCU offering: fun, action, and delightful surprises.Marvel Television/Disney+It takes some bold swings and hits the mark, giving viewers believable stakes, satisfying payoffs, and one hell of a setup for the future of several characters. This series marks the end of bumpy Phase Five and gives me hope for a more focused and intentional Marvel future.Ironheart ⭐ (4.5 of 5)

Ironheart is currently streaming on Disney+.

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Alternate X-MEN ’97 Finale Would Have Introduced Kitty Pryde and Colossus

It’s been over a year since the season one finale of X-Men ’97, and it remains one of the best Disney+ Marvel Television series to date. We are still probably a year away from the second season dropping on Disney+, but we’ve now learned that two very iconic X-Men members were slated to join the team in the season one finale. Via Comic Book Movie, we’ve learned that a post on social media from former X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo confirmed the finale would have ended with the introduction of iconic mutants Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) and Colossus. This would have been the first appearance ever of Kitty Pryde in this animated universe.

#xmen97 cut alternate ending to Season 1 featuring #Shadowcat and #Colossus pic.twitter.com/gDZqDyg07W

— Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) June 21, 2025

In the finale of X-Men ’97 that viewers saw, the X-Men became scattered throughout time. Some members are in the distant future, with others trapped in ancient Egypt. Some, like Wolverine, are in an unknown time period. In 1997, Forge believed he could rescue the X-Men. So he recruits Bishop on a time-traveling journey to rescue the mutant heroes. In this original version, Shadowcat and Colossus would have appeared instead. Kitty would have even appeared with her trusty pet dragon, Lockheed. In the finale as aired, we do see their faces on a corkboard as potential recruits but they never actually show up. In the alternate plan, they fly in from England, which suggests they are part of the British mutant team Excalibur, and Kitty was once an X-Man.

Marvel Comics

Hopefully, we see Kitty and Piotr become X-Men in the second season. Both characters are among the most iconic X-Men ever in the pages of Marvel Comics. Yet, Colossus only appeared twice in the classic X-Men: The Animated Series, and never formally joined the team. And as we mentioned, Kitty never appeared at all, with Jubilee functionally taking her place on the team roster. Her only cartoon appearance was in the original 1989 “Pryde of the X-Men” pilot. The two characters are famously a couple in the comics. Or at least they were for years. So maybe we could see that romance blossom in X-Men ’97 season two. Here’s hoping these two legendary mutants finally make the cut.

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Ryan Coogler Confirms THUNDERBOLTS* Director Jake Schreier Is Directing X-MEN for MCU

The much-anticipated X-Men reboot from Marvel Studios may have found its director. Fresh off the critical success of Thunderbolts*/New Avengers, a report from Deadline says that director Jake Schreier is currently Marvel Studios’ first choice to direct. And while promoting Ironheart in an interview with Metro Entertainment, series producer Ryan Coogler came right out and said, “Jake is directing that” when asked about X-Men. That could all change, of course, but given his Marvel Studios pedigree, we imagine Coogler knows of what he speaks.

🚨 Ryan Coogler confirms Jake Schreier will direct the X-Men reboot

🎥: @zacidk pic.twitter.com/DCPDYBP6Kd

— Metro Entertainment (@Metro_Ents) June 24, 2025

One year ago, Marvel announced that Hunger Games screenwriter Michael Lesslie was writing the script, and that appears to still be the case. Much like the Thunderbolts, the X-Men are outcasts and underdogs, making Schreier a perfect match with the material.

Marvel Comics/Marvel Studios

We know almost nothing about this new X-Men movie, except that it’s due to arrive after Avengers: Secret Wars. Several of the original X-Men from the Fox films will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which most fans expect to be the swan song for that iteration of the team. Whatever we’re getting next will be a whole new version of Marvel’s mutants. Although, we expect many of the same characters. It’s hard to imagine an X-Men reboot with Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey, among other iconic mutants. The only returning cast member from the original X-Men we could see return is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, if only because he’s so identified with the role. But that’s pure speculation.

Although not confirmed by anyone at Marvel, rumors abound that post-Secret Wars, the studio will focus almost entirely on mutants. A movie called X-Men would likely just be the start. Aside from the students at Xavier’s school, you could have paramilitary mutants like X-Force. Also, hard-boiled detective mutants like X-Factor, and trippy interdimensional mutants like Excalibur. In the pages of Marvel Comics, the mutants are practically a universe unto themselves. Heck, the X-Men adjacent Starjammers could also serve as a replacement for the Guardians of the Galaxy. When it comes to Marvel mutants, the sky’s the limit.

Originally published on May 8, 2025.

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Sarah Michelle Gellar Wants to Bring Back Dead Characters in the BUFFY Reboot

The pilot episode for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, directed by Chloé Zhao, is gearing to start production soon, with returning Slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar and new Slayer Ryan Kiera Armstrong getting ready to fight the undead. And the question on every Buffy fan’s mind since the legacy sequel series announcement is “Which other classic cast members might return?” Well, it seems Sarah Michelle Gellar has been asking the very same question. But in an interview with Vanity Fair Italia, via Variety, the actress says she hopes to bring back even characters who famously ended up dead on the show in the Buffy reboot.

Here’s what she told Vanity Fair about undoing death in the Buffy reboot:

It will be lighter than the last few seasons of the original. We will try to find a balance between new and old characters. My dream is to bring back everyone who has died, but space will have to be made for new stories as well.

Twentieth Century Television

Buffy fans know that many of the franchise’s most beloved characters ended up dead over the course of the series. Chief among them are Buffy’s mother Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland), Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), and Anya (Emma Caulfield). Also, original Buffy cast member Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase, saw her character die on the spin-off series Angel. Also killed off in the final season of Angel was Buffy’s former Watcher, Wesley Wyndam Pryce (Alexis Denisof). Some of those deaths were poignant and very realistic, like Buffy’s mother Joyce. Certainly bringing her back, along with a few others, would feel in poor taste.

Twentieth Century Television

Having said that, the Buffy franchise is no stranger to resurrections. Several iconic deaths on Buffy were later undone, including good guy vampires Angel (David Boreanaz) and Spike (James Marsters), and perhaps most famously, Buffy Summers herself. Heck, Buffy actually died twice. And some of those actors could come back as their dead characters in dream sequences, visions, and even multiversal variants. Yes, the world of Buffy has alternate universes too, ya know. So some of those iconic actors might return without literal resurrections. We’ll just have to be patient and wait and see who comes back from the dead in the Buffy reboot, when New Sunnydale returns after so many years.

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Paramount+ Cuts SHOWTIME Name From Ad-Free Tier

There’s always something going on in the streaming world. Almost every week seems to include some news about a streaming service removing content, cancelling a favorite show, increasing its prices, or some other type of unpleasant shenanigan. This week’s news involves Paramount+, which boasts a few original series as well as library content. (I use it to watch my favorite soap opera on demand.) The service’s ad-free tier, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, is changing its name to Paramount+ Premium. Yes, Paramount+ is dropping SHOWTIME from its streaming service name in favor of something more broad stroke. 

In a world of many nonsensical things, this change actually makes sense. According to , Paramount told its subscribers this news on June 23 and made a post about the change. “Since we recently introduced a sampling of Showtime programming to the Essential plan, the Premium plan name reflects the broad and diverse offerings across both plan tiers,” the company said. “Showtime programming remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service!”

Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.Will SHOWTIME Series Still Be Included in Paramount+ Premium’s Ad-Free Tier?

Paramount+ does have a lot of content overall. So it makes sense to make it clear that you can stream a lot of things ad-free. Yes, that includes your favorite SHOWTIME content like Yellowjackets and all those Dexter series. 

RELATED ARTICLE

YELLOWJACKETS Scores a Season 4 RenewalWill Paramount+ Premium Have a Price Increase?

Thankfully, this change doesn’t come with a price increase. It still costs $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year for the ad-free tier. The perks are still the same, including the ability to download movies and shows and stream CBS live. So just keep on streaming while you wait for the next bit of news to hit.

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28 YEARS LATER and Counting: The Undying Influence of Richard Matheson’s I AM LEGEND

The zombie genre is a ubiquitous force in 2025. Just take a look around. From television to video games to mega-franchises like The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, and 28 Days Later—the sequel of which, 28 Years Later, is in theaters now—the undead are as culturally rich and fascinating to audiences as ever before. But before zombies were sprinting through pop culture—metaphors for consumerism and fascism—they had a totally different association. They were an element of Haitian folklore repackaged through through the lens of colonial anxieties. Zombies were not the flesh-eating monsters we’re not familiar with, but bodies effected by magic that removed their autonomy and made them vessels of control. Sony Pictures/Corgi Books

The shift to how we now recognize zombies happened in the middle of the 20th century with Richard Matheson’s seminal 1954 horror novel I Am Legend. Originally categorized a vampire fiction, Matheson’s story was in fact the true beginning of the modern zombie; ravenous and infected flesh-eaters. George A. Romero, credited with bringing this version of the zombie to the big screen, cited I Am Legend as his primary inspiration for his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. “I had written a short story, which I basically had ripped off from a Richard Matheson novel called I Am Legend,” Romero says in the documentary One for the Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead, found on the film’s original Blu-ray release. 

Romero’s totemic film influenced all that came next, but it’s important to acknowledge the source text. To better understand how we got from Haitian sugar plantations to the mushroom apocalypse of The Last of Us, let’s take a deeper look at the origins of the zombie and how Matheson totally reinvented how we see the creatures.

From Hoodoo to Hollywood

‘I don’t care. I don’t have to. I don’t have to do anything.” – I Am Legend

United Artists

The idea of the zombie entered American consciousness through early 20th-century accounts of Haitian Vodou, a religion that developed in Haiti and blends West and Central African spiritual traditions with Roman Catholicism. Books like William Seabrook’s The Magic Island (1929) and films like White Zombie (1932) portrayed the zombie as “slaves”, freshly dead bodies revived through magic to carry out the deeds of their necromancers. But most of these depictions were not grounded in real history, but rather racist caricatures of Haitian culture that expressed colonist fears of retribution and racial otherness. (The dehumanization of Haitians continues in modern-day America, where they remain scapegoats for white supremacist anxieties.) 

The perception of zombies changed when horror started intersecting with the Cold War-era. Nuclear fallout and the associated fallout of it—including radiation poisoning and mass extinction—became the centerpiece of fictional horror storytelling. The perfect ingredients for a new monster to emerge. 

The Genesis of I Am Legend

“In a world of monotonous horror there could be no salvation in wild dreaming.” – I Am Legend

Gold Medal Publishing

I Am Legend is set in Los Angeles somewhere in the near future and follows Robert Neville, the “last man on Earth” after a widespread infection killed all other humans. But these dead bodies didn’t stay dead. In this version of the apocalypse, the ill reanimate shortly after death, bloodthirsty husks of their former selves. 

By day, Neville fortifies his home, scavenges supplies, and kills the sleeping “vampires” (as they’re referred to in the novel) with wooden stakes, which immediately liquifies them. By night, he hides in his barricaded house as the infected emerge from hiding and try to lure him out. As the story progresses, we learn more about the arrival of the disease and the horrifying way it claimed the lives of Neville’s wife and young daughter. He is a man tormented not just by this impossible new reality, but by the incomprehensible grief that only he will ever understand. 

Because of this, Neville slowly unravels. He succumbs to alcoholism and loses touch with reality. He fears what he’s becoming, even though he’s somehow immune to the true horrors. What does it mean to be the sole survivor of a world-ending plague? What does it mean to be haunted by the formerly living, who are conscious enough to know who Neville is, but dead enough to feel like empty imitations of the people he once loved? 

The Science of Horror

Matheson peppers the novel with incredible and revelatory detail. The novel suggests a scientific explanation for the state of the world: a bacterial infection that erodes the body and mind, turning diseased people into these vampiric creatures. Many of the traditional vampire tropes are there—allergies to garlic, an inability to withstand sunlight, a fear of crosses—but the element of disease is new. There is also some nuance, as the novel slowly reveals. There aren’t just the dead, reanimated bodies, but also “living” vampires—infected people who have the traits of the undead  (they are nocturnal and also husk-like) but are still technically breathing. This range of symptoms, and the viral outbreak nature of the story, is something that still exists in zombie fiction. 

Eventually, Neville captures a woman he believes to be uninfected, only to later discover she is a spy sent by a new society of infected who have formed their own culture and see him as the true monster. That’s where the novel takes its name, and is another thing present in modern zombie storytelling. When most of the world is made up of reanimated corpses, it’s the survivors who become monstrous through inversion. 

Vampires or Zombies?

“Normalcy was a majority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of just one man.” – I Am Legend

While I Am Legend refers to its creatures as vampires, their behavior and the novel’s framing create what would become standard zombie tropes. Matheson’s zombies are numerous, mindless, and predatory. They return each night to scratch at Neville’s front door, taunting him. (One of the more evocatively horrifying recurring elements of the novel.) There are no “master” vampires as there are in most vampire tales. No one big bad guy to kill that allows a human hero to emerge. Instead, it’s an ugly and untamed reality. A mass epidemic that is so widespread it’s impossible to contain. It’s not about conquering, it’s about accepting a new reality.

American International Productions

This blend of vampire and zombie is a fascinating concoction. It evolves both away from their mythical origins and creates a new kind of creature tethered to very modern concerns of  pandemics and social isolation. The shift in tone from gothic to post-apocalyptic continues to shape the undead genre. 

Night of the Living Dead , and the Zombie Blueprint

“The world’s gone mad and I’m part of the madness.” —I Am Legend

As mentioned above, Romero didn’t hide Matheson’s influenced on his zombie franchise. Night of the Living Dead took the premise of I Am Legend and democratized it. It’s not just one man against a mass hoard of reanimated corpses, but a story of community told via a group of survivors. The word “zombie” is never said aloud but Romero’s living dead exhibit many of the traits Matheson introduced. 

Continental Distributing

Romero also famously used zombies as political metaphor, something less present in I Am Legend. The racial tensions in Night of the Living Dead, especially in the context of 1960s America, made the genre a vessel for social commentary. But the blueprint—the swaths of infected, a crumbling civilization, and the existential dread that comes with such an Earth-shattering event—is straight from Matheson. 

The [Unfortunate] Impact of 2007’s I Am Legend

“ Maybe the world didn’t go to hell. Maybe it was just me.” – I Am Legend (Film)

Romero’s films were loosely inspired by Matheson’s novel, but there have also been several straight-up adaptations, including 1964’s The Last Man on Earth and 1971’s The Omega Man. But the best-known version, at least to 21st-century audiences, is 2007’s Will-Smith-starring I Am Legend. 

Warner Bros.

While the film brought the novel back into public consciousness, it arguably did more harm than good to its legacy. While it retains the basic premise—Neville as the last man on Earth in the midst of a zombie apocalypse—it alters the tone and basically everything else. The monsters are CGI mutants who are more rabid animal than former humans, which also eliminates a lot of the existential tragedy of the original story. The title even makes less sense in this version, because Neville never really has the revelation that he’s the legendary one now. Instead, he has a pretty standard Hollywood hero arc where he finds a cure for the living infected and sacrifices himself for the greater good.

Your mileage may vary on the quality of the film. It certainly has its defenders, and adaptations needn’t be beat-for-beat reproductions of a source text. But the beauty of the novel rests in the ambiguity of monstrosity, and the evolution of our understanding of humanity’s role in the history of the world. Matheson’s point—and arguably Romero’s, as there’s no real political through line—is lost in a sea of fast-action, ugly computerized visuals, and a conventional ending that only dumbs down the story it’s trying to emulate. 

Why I Am Legend Still Matters

“I am legend.” – I Am Legend

Matheson’s influence is, as already established, pretty much everywhere. In 28 Days Later and its upcoming sequel 28 Years Later, we see the same vision of a world overrun by infection and not the supernatural. Screenwriter Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle’s infected are fast, but the existential despair of the situation traces back to I Am Legend. And The Last of Us has similarly shared DNA. The cordyceps outbreak and the focus on character-driven drama feel like spiritual successors to Neville’s crisis.

Reading I Am Legend in 2025 is a fascinating journey, and one any true-blue horror fan should take. Even if Matheson’s writing feels dated or the story replayed, it’s important historical context for those curious about the progression of the undead in fictional. In fact, the novel feels almost more relevant than many of the aforementioned titles in the modern context, because it resists things like exploring scientific specifics and tidy answers in general. The book doesn’t have a savior or cure. It is, rather simply, about a man whose world ended, who tried to hold on, and who ultimately learned he was no longer part of it.

Warner Bros.Humanity in the Darkest Moments

But I Am Legend is also a novel that confronts a very real aspect of humanity: that we are all living alongside death. Everyone we love will die. Many already have. We’ll all die, too. It’s customary to bury or burn the dead, and with them the secrets they carry about mortality. When bodies are out of sight and out of mind, we don’t have to think so much about the reality of mishandled pandemics, scientific ignorance, or even more personal details like scores never settled, conversations never head. The dead become a thing of the past.

But zombies don’t let us off so easy. Death is a confrontation. Our dead loved ones tap at the door, taunting us, forcing us to acknowledge what’s easier to memorialize instead of understand. Their diseased bodies make scientific reality inescapable. They are more horrifying for what they reveal instead of what they consume. Matheson brought the conversation to the forefront, but the other chapters are still being written.

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Everything We Know About SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY

If a Peter Parker falls off a New York City skyscraper and no one knows who he is, does he make a sound? Please don’t bother trying to answer that very silly question, because we all know Tom Holland’s web slinger is going to cause a ruckus at the box office when he returns as the iconic character in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. What will this new chapter for the (currently anonymous) superhero look like? Who else will star in it and who will be behind the camera this time? Here’s everything we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day so far.Sony Pictures

TitleMarvel Studios

Tom Holland’s fourth standalone film as everyone’s favorite neighborhood hero is called Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The movie takes its title from the 2008 Marvel Comics series. Its storyline shares many similarities with the current plight of the MCU’s character, as it followed Peter Parker after a universe-changing event undid his marriage to MJ. The series was part of a controversial Spider-Man storyline that upset some fans.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Plot Marvel Comics

Marvel Studios and Sony have not released any official information about Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s plot. Tom Holland has called the film ““a fresh start” for the character following the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. That film, which completed the Spider-Man Home Trilogy, ended with Doctor Strange casting a spell that made everyone in the universe forget Peter Parker existed. While not the same, that monumental event is similar to Peter’s situation in the comic book series the movie gets its title from.

One unconfirmed synopsis on the film’s IMDb page does provide a believable description of the film, which will take place between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Here’s the unofficial (for now at least) logline:

After Doomsday, Peter Parker tries to focus on college and leave Spider-Man behind. But when a new threat endangers his friends, he must break his promise and suit up again, teaming with an unexpected ally to protect those he loves.

Marvel Studios

That does line up with comments franchise producer/steward Amy Pascal provided about the film. She told Deadline‘s Behind the Lens, “We have to deal with the fact that he decided he was going to give up being Peter Parker, and he was gonna focus on being Spider-Man, because being Peter Parker was too hard. So that’s what the movie is about.”

Behind the Scenes Marvel Studios

Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) is taking over directing duties from Jon Watts.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Cast Sony/Marvel Studios

Zendaya and Jacob Batalon will return alongside Holland as Peter Parker’s memory-wiped love interest and best friend/guy in the chair MJ and Ned. Sadie Sink will also join the MCU in a still unreleased major role. (Jean Gray, perhaps?)

Netflix

One actor whose role we do know is Jon Bernthal’s. He will make his MCU movie debut as the Punisher, Frank Castle. It should be noted that unsubstantiated IMDb synopsis predates reports Bernthal joined the cast. If it proves true, his vigilante might very well be Peter’s unexpected ally.

Marvel Studios/Netflix Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Release Date

Spider-Man: Brand New Day will swing into theaters on July 31, 2026.

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New WEAPONS Trailer Is Somehow More Mysterious

As a professed horror movie junkie, I’m always chasing the dragon for the new scare fix. I want them spookies so bad I can taste it! It’s not even that I love the feeling of scared. I just want to know a movie is capable of doing it! Also the creepy shit is fun. At any rate, I have no way of knowing whether or not Zach Cregger’s new movie Weapons will be this kind of horror movie, but each and every new piece of marketing has me more and more intrigued. The vibes are certainly there, the mystery is definitely there. Now we have a second full trailer and even more of the “WTF is this?!” is there. I’m excited, can ya tell?

The facts are these, to quote Pushing Daisies. The entirety of Mrs. Gandy’s class, 17 children, all got up one night, without reason or warning, and ran away into the night. It was only Mrs. Gandy (Julia Garner)’s class. Naturally, the town is furious and confused and believe she has something to do with it. But she, evidently, is just as confused as everyone else. One of the parents (Josh Brolin) takes it upon himself to figure out what happened and where they went. It doesn’t look like and easy or fun task.

Warner Bros.

This trailer shows us a bit more of what happens after the initial mystery and we can glean it’s probably something demonic. The line of salt on the floor the kid steps on, the bell at the end with the rune on it, the fact that grown ups get all bloody faced and snarly… I’m pretty convinced it’ll be somehow demon related. But maybe not! Who can really say? What I will say is this movie looks pretty damn terrifying and that makes me very excited. Scary Benedict Wong?! That’s quite a feat. I loved Barbarian but that one did have a vein of comedy running through the middle section. We don’t have any indication this will be comedic. I feel like this could be the new Hereditary or something.

Weapons comes to cinemas August 8 and dear heavens.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

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