May's Pokemon Go Community Day is nearly here. This month's event takes place around the world on Saturday, May 19, and those who participate will have a chance to get a special Charizard that knows a rare Fire-type attack.
As usual, the Community Day isn't centralized at a particular location, but rather during a specific window of time, meaning players can head anywhere to take part in the event. The Community Day runs for only three hours and begins at different times depending on which region you live in. You can find the scheduled hours for each region below:
North America
11 AM - 2 PM PT
2 PM - 5 PM ET
Europe and Africa
10 AM - 1 PM BST
Asia-Pacific
12 PM - 3 PM JST
During this month's Community Day, players will earn triple the usual amount of Stardust for capturing Pokemon. Any Lure Modules that are activated during the event will also last for three hours, up from their usual 30-minute duration.
The featured Pokemon during this month's Community Day is Charmander. During the event hours, the popular Red and Blue starter will spawn much more frequently than usual. If previous Community Days are any indication, players may also have a chance to encounter a rare Shiny variant.
Any Charmeleon that evolves into Charizard during the event hours will learn the powerful Fire attack Blast Burn, even if the Pokemon was captured prior to the Community Day. However, Charmeleon will need to evolve before the event ends in order to learn the attack, giving you only a brief window of time to get the exclusive move.
In addition to its monthly Community Days, developer Niantic will host another series of real-world events for Pokemon Go throughout the summer. The Summer Tour 2018 kicks off next month with a Safari Zone event in Dortmund, Germany, and continues in July with the second annual Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago. The tour will be capped off by a special Safari Zone event in Yokosuka later this summer.
In the meantime, Pokemon Go players can still capture the latest Legendary Pokemon, Latios and Latias. The two Eon Pokemon recently traded locations, meaning Latias is now available across North America, South America, and Africa, while Latios can be found in Europe and Asia. The Legendaries will remain in their current locations until they're scheduled to leave the game on June 5.
While Deadpool 2 may not technically exist in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe, it still happily employs the time honored tradition of the post-credits scene--with an extremely Wade Wilson twist tossed in for good measure, of course.
Don't pretend like you didn't come here for spoilers--there are a lot of those ahead.
As the dust clears in the final conflict between the X-Force and "Firefist," we see Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend, Yukio, tinkering around with Cable's time travel tech, which, according to him, should be all but useless now, keeping him stranded in the present day. Apparently, however, the gadgets of the not-too-distant future are no match for the engineering prowess of the X-Men, because NTW and Yukio are able to fix the device and pass it over to Wade.
That's right: Deadpool can time travel now, and it goes pretty much exactly the way you'd expect.
The first stops in Wade's timeline-manipulation grand tour are well within the scope of his own movie. He immediately hops back to prevent the death of his girlfriend, Vanessa, by correcting his botched cream cheese spreader throw and nailing her would-be murderer right between the eyes. Next up is the rescue of Wade's favorite faux X-Force (fauX-Force?) member, Peter AKA Sugar Bear, the regular guy with no powers. Peter met his untimely and grisly demise the first time around after he became the unfortunate recipient of Zeitgeist's acid vomit, so Wade steps in just moments earlier, telling him to go home before he can put himself in more danger.
It's worth noting that he does not try and save the rest of the team. Sorry, Terry Crews fans.
After the great Peter rescue things start to take a far more meta twist as Wade begins to hopscotch through various other movies. His first stop is 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the infamous "first appearance" of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. "First appearance" gets scare quotes in this case because, as fans will quickly tell you, the Deadpool who appeared in Origins was basically anything but Deadpool--a mutilated science experiment, sure, but other than that? Not so much. Origins' Deadpool was a mouthless, shirtless, dead eyed foot soldier who had about ten minutes of screen time total, so present day Wade is here to clean up the mess. Deadpool is dead, long live Deadpool.
The final stop on his trip is even more meta. Wade roles up to the home of Ryan Reynolds in 2010, as he first lays eyes on the script for the disastrous Green Lantern live action movie where Reynolds starred as Hal Jordan, complete with CGI costume and digitally enhanced comic book muscles. Green Lantern has become infamous as one of the pinnacles of bad superhero movies. So naturally, it's the perfect target for Deadpool's self-aware gags. Wade shoots Reynolds in the head, "preventing" Green Lantern from ever existing in the first place. Case closed. No more jokes about green cartoon super suits to be found here, folks. As far as DP is concerned, it never happened. Time to move on.
Now, what does any of this mean? That's a great question. Obviously, especially in the case of the movie-hopping, some of these gags exist just to be gags. Deadpool killing a previous, inferior version of Deadpool simply provides some laughs for fans who have been paying attention these last nine years.
Even with the in-universe stuff, it's pretty safe to assume that the continuity of Deadpool is a "Butterfly Effect" free zone. Wade saving Vanessa probably doesn't mean that the plot of Deadpool 2 never happened, saving Peter probably doesn't cause some sort of temporal ripple that means Cable never stuck around at the end, and so on. That type of consequence exists in movies like X-Men: Days of Future Past, but not here.
It's one of the benefits of being a character like Wade Wilson: You get to pick and choose what rules you want to follow and when. If anything sticks in a relevant, plot-enhancing way it'll likely be a continued role for Morena Baccarin, should she return for any sequels. And that's good enough for us.
Treyarch has big plans for the next entry in the Black Ops series. Along with revamped multiplayer, an expanded Zombies mode, and a series of solo missions centered around the Specialist characters, the developer plans to bring the battle royale craze to Call of Duty. During yesterday's Black Ops 4 reveal event, we got to play over an hour of multiplayer. We also spoke with studio design director David Vonderhaar about Treyarch's influence on the Call of Duty series and how the team is looking to make big changes with the next game.
Set between Black Ops 2 and 3, this fourth entry in the series re-examines the pace of combat, rebalancing many of the more established perks and weapons, while also slowing things down to offer a team-oriented and consistent combat loop. One of the biggest changes in Black Ops 4 is the move back to more traditional infantry-based multiplayer gameplay. Gone are the thruster-packs and wall-running antics of the future soldiers, and in their place is a more tactical take on engagement.
However, many of the more established features from the previous Black Ops games are still present. Along with the Pick 10 system, which allows you to customize your build with weapons, perks, and attachments, the Specialists from Black Ops 3 also make a return. In Black Ops 4, the Specialists--who include Ruin, Seraph, and Battery--and their dynamic with the other members of the team are far more important to winning matches, and there are many cases where the team will use their unique skills in tandem. My team used Recon's Vision Pulse ability to highlight all the enemies in a room, for example, and then relied on Ajax's riot shield to clear it out. This emphasis on teamwork and how to balance it with Call of Duty's gameplay took time to figure out, Vonderhaar said.
"It's really hard to make a tactical game if your character's not [on the ground], so that was the main motivation for us when looking at Black Ops 4. We looked at the thrust-packing and wall-running from the last game... but for the experience we wanted to make, it made the most sense to make things a little bit slower--and slower by Black Ops standards is not slow at all! To give it a more tactical experience, it was really about the [removal of] health regeneration and keeping you on the ground."
The general flow and movement of Black Ops 4 feels far more in line with Black Ops 2.
One thing I appreciated about playing Black Ops 4 is that the Specialists have a much stronger presence in-game. Compared to Black Ops 3, the unique characters were mostly about their special abilities, which were only activated every so often during a fight. But with each character having access to a particular set of gear in BO4, their place in the general flow of battle is much more identifiable. This goes great with the more tactical approach the game is going for, with players having to be a bit more reliant on their squad while also being more aware of which Specialists are on the other team. During our few games, I was more cognisant of which characters were in use by the enemy squad and how to best counter their skills. This was a nice change of pace from most other COD multiplayer games, where both sides just spam the same tactics ad nauseam.
While skilled players are still capable of taking on multiple enemies at once, there are a few changes in Black Ops 4 that they'll have to get used to first. Though players actually have more health than in previous COD games, Black Ops 4 also removes health regeneration in favor of a new healing button. This makes healing a conscious decision, as opposed to running for cover and waiting for the damage to pass over, that can also lead to some hairy moments where you have to pick a good time to heal. Also, the mini-map will only show a set distance ahead of you--meaning you're largely blind when navigating much of the map.
The more tactical flow of matches took some time for me to get used to, which meant a few failed games of multiplayer. Despite these changes, Black Ops 4's multiplayer still runs at an extremely brisk pace. The general flow and movement of Black Ops 4 feels far more in line with Black Ops 2, which was a favorite among fans. There were a number of thrilling moments during my matches in Hardpoint, Domination, and the new game type Control, which forces the teams to fight for specific territory with only a limited number of lives. Seeing the team gel together, as opposed to just running off and trying to be the hero, was exciting to be a part of.
One of the new game types in Black Ops 4 is the long-rumored battle royale mode called Blackout. Set on a large map, where players can take control of characters and use any weapon from the Black Ops games, Treyarch aims to make a battle royale mode that is consistent with the style and tone of the series. While the team hasn't shared any more info regarding the specifics of player count--which according to Vonderhaar is still being decided--they're confident they're introducing a new take on the game mode that will feel unique to Call of Duty and to other games of the sub-genre.
"We love those types of games internally, and our fans love those types of games as well," said Vonderhaar. "I think there's a strong opportunity to create something special for the series, and specifically for Black Ops fans. There's a unique way to do that for Treyarch, and for Call of Duty. If we didn't believe that, then we wouldn't do it. This is a unique battle royale-experience for the Black Ops series... All we really want with [Blackout] is for Black Ops fans to have an experience to call their own. We're going to do it the Black Ops way."'
The new pace of combat felt fresh, and I'm already looking forward to getting into a few more matches with the Specialists, along with diving into the new battle royale mode.
Treyarch plans to launch Black Ops 4 on October 12 for PC as a Battle.net exclusive alongside a simultaneous console release on PS4 and Xbox One. Going hands-on with it took some adjustment--who knew that we'd be so used to using jetpacks and exo-suits--but these changes felt welcome after few matches. The new pace of combat felt fresh, and I'm already looking forward to getting into a few more matches with the Specialists, along with diving into the new battle royale mode.
Publisher Titan Comics has unveiled a new comic series based on Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise. Titled Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies, the two-part, standalone mini-series debuts this summer and takes the franchise to an entirely new era: World War II.
Conspiracies follows the story of Eddie Gorm, a rookie member of the Assassin Brotherhood who must stop the Templars from unleashing an atomic weapon. Here's Titan's synopsis of the series: "In the depths of World War II, fresh Assassin Eddie Gorm uncovers Templar plans to create a devastating new weapon at the dawn of the atomic age."
Conspiracies is written by Guillaume Dorison, with artwork by Jean-Baptise Hostache. The series was previously published in French, making this the first time it will be available to an English audience. The first issue launches in stores and online on August 1. Ahead of its release, Titan has shared the cover and several pages of interior art, which you can take a look at it in the gallery below.
Conspiracies certainly isn't the first comic series inspired by Ubisoft's stealth-action franchise. Earlier this year, Titan released a comic adaptation of Assassin's Creed Origins. That four-part mini-series takes place after the events of the Assassin's Creed Origins game and features historical figures such as Cleopatra.
A variety of other major video game franchises have also received the comic treatment courtesy of Titan. The publisher has previously released comics based on Bloodborne, Wolfenstein, and most recently Dark Souls, with one inspired by Life Is Strange set to follow later this year.
By Anonymous on May 18, 2018 11:17 pm Deadpool 2 is out in theaters! Is it as good as the first movie? Greg and Chastity give their spoiler filled reviews of the Deadpool sequel, break down the new characters, best moments, easter eggs, and the hilarious end credits scene.
By Anonymous on May 18, 2018 10:45 pm We check out some Pokemon designs from Red and Blue that didn't make the cut, while Ubisoft's Skull and Bones gets delayed.
A low price may be nice, but nothing beats free. Good thing, then, that we all have a selection of games to play for free this weekend. Better yet, one of them you can even keep and play forever as long as you grab it in time. Let's dive in and see what kind of digital fun we can have this weekend without spending any money.
Fallout 4
Anyone with an Xbox One can download and play Fallout 4 for free between now and Monday, May 21. All you have to do is download the free version here. When you do, you'll find yourself in a vast open-world version of Boston that's been devastated by nuclear explosions. Good thing you can build new settlements and stomp around in power armor.
If you decide you want to continue playing after the free weekend is over, you can buy it--and all the DLC--at a discount. The game itself is on sale for $15 / £10 / $20 AU on the Xbox Store, or you can get a physical copy of the Game of the Year Edition for $30. Alternately, Amazon U.S. is selling digital codes of Fallout 4 for Xbox One for $10 (£9 in the U.K.).
Rainbow Six Siege
Thanks to frequent updates, this tactical team-based shooter keeps getting better and better. And this weekend only, you can play it for free on PS4, Xbox One, or PC (via the Uplay Launcher).
Any progress you make during the free play weekend will carry over to the full game if you decide to buy it. Between May 17 - 28, you can get the game for half price on the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store. On PC, you can get it for as low as $10 between May 17 - 21.
Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
Between now and May 19, you can grab a no-strings-attached free copy of the PC strategy game Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition from the Humble Store. Unlike the other games on this list, it's yours to keep forever if you do.
Galactic Civilizations II is a PC strategy game from 2006 that's set in a future when humans have colonized other planets. Unfortunately, several races of aliens had eyes on the area where we set up shop. Cue an intergalactic war of civilizations. Your job is to conquer the stars by managing resources and deploying forces in order to defeat (or befriend) the enemies in whatever way you choose. If that sounds like your cup of extraterrestrial tea, grab it quickly before the price goes back up.
Free Redbox game rental
The final free game you can play this weekend is up to you. By clicking here, you can rent any game from Redbox for one day for free (the discount is added once the game's in your cart).
The games on offer are an impressive bunch, even if the selection is fairly small. On PS4, you can get recent releases like God of War and Shadow of the Colossus as well as older popular games like Grand Theft Auto V and Overwatch. On Xbox One, you can rent newer games like Far Cry 5 and Sea of Thieves, alongside the likes of Fallout 4 and Minecraft. Unfortunately, no Nintendo Switch games are available to rent through Redbox at the moment.
Some links to supporting retailers are automatically made into affiliate links, and GameSpot may receive a small share of those sales.
Is there anything more difficult to make sense of in movies than the X-Men film franchise? Whether it's the initial trilogy, the three prequels that followed and completely changed the established timeline, or the three Wolverine spin-offs that are set all over the place, the X-Men movies are... a lot to deal with.
And that's before you throw Deadpool into the mix. While the Merc with a Mouth makes a mockery of just about everything--and plenty of meta jokes at the expense of his own movie universe--Deadpool and Deadpool 2 do exist in the X-Men franchise. More specifically, they are set in the altered timeline that follows the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Where in that timeline, though? Based on simply watching the films, chances are you'd expect they were set in modern day--2016 for the first movie, 2018 for the second. However, Deadpool 2 throws a massive wrench in that assumption. If you have yet to see Deadpool 2, consider this your spoiler warning as we're going to dig into the movie's events.
First and foremost, Deadpool 2 begins with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) playing with a music box designed to look like Logan's final moments from the 2017 film Logan, with the Hugh Jackman character dying. That particular movie is set in the year 2029, so either Deadpool can see the future or it's actually set in a post-post-apocalyptic world. However, neither of these are the case. Like most things Deadpool-related, this moment can simply be chalked up to another in a long line of jokes, even if that can be frustrating to those trying to keep the timeline straight.
However, the movie's tinkering with the timeline doesn't end there. During a scene at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Deadpool jokes--because that's what he does--that none of the A-grade X-Men ever show up in his movies. Instead, he's saddled with Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and, in this sequel, new addition Yukio. As he registers his complaint with the universe, the camera finds Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Professor X (James McAvoy), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) in a room, as Beast quickly closes the door to avoid the Merc.
It's a great joke and an excellent set of cameos. However, it simply makes no sense. These versions of the characters are from 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, which was set in 1983. Are we to believe the X-Men haven't aged in 35 years? Xavier should certainly look a bit more like Patrick Stewart at this point.
Yes, this is taking Deadpool 2 and its jokes way too seriously. In many ways, though, that's half of the fun. Taking a moment to examine the timeline this franchise has built, destroyed, and built again is interesting--especially when you take into consideration the gripes people have about the comparatively tiny discrepancies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Honestly, do you really care how long after Marvel's Avengers that Spider-Man: Homecoming is set? Not really, but it can be fun to talk about with fellow fans.
Besides, in many ways, making viewers obsess about timeline inaccuracies is exactly what Deadpool and Deadpool 2 are striving for. These movies are a complete romp that are about making jokes that appeal to the kinds of fans who spend a lot of time thinking about things like the X-Men movie timeline and whether the DC Universe is too dark and gritty for its own good. The titular character is simultaneously making jokes with fans and trolling them. And those very same fans eat it up.
In the end, it doesn't really matter what changes he makes to the timeline, because thanks to Cable's watch, he spends the movie's post-credits scene traveling back in time to change a number of things--including the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. At long last, that first, horrible version of Deadpool is gone once and for all.
Through the antics of that sequence, the character is making tons of massive changes to an already wildly confusing timeline. By the time he's done, who knows what state it's in? Perhaps it's even more unrecognizable before, or maybe nothing has changed. After all, once Deadpool 3 eventually hits theaters, chances are everything will be status quo because that's exactly what it should be. Deadpool's actions aren't going to have major implications on X-Men: Dark Phoenix or New Mutants, and they probably won't help Gambit get made any sooner.
Still, it's fun to think about. At least, until trying to make sense of it gives you a headache, then just go watch the movie again and laugh at the dick jokes. Really, though, would him going back in time to kill baby Hitler really have been so bad?
The X-Force weren't the only new characters introduced to the live action Deadpool universe in Deadpool 2. A brand new X-Man got added to the ranks--sort of. It's--well, OK, it's a little complicated. Negasonic Teenage Warhead has a girlfriend now, and her name is Yukio--but who is she, really? It turns out that's a really good question and the answer is: She's a couple of things.
First and foremost, she's one half of the first ever openly LGBT+ couple in a live action superhero movie, which is a pretty big deal, considering just how long it's been and just how many movies have ridden in on the superhero tidal wave. We may not know a ton about her and NTW's backstory together, or where Yukio actually came from, but we know flat out that they're dating and we'll absolutely take it. It's really about time.
Beyond her representational status, we get to see Yukio on screen be a pretty bubbly addition to the X-Mansion. She's not exactly the most verbose mutant around, but she seems pretty unbothered by Wade's presence, which makes her a standout among her teammates, who really would rather be anywhere but near him. Wade seems to like her, too--or maybe he's just happy to finally have an X-Man who isn't constantly on his case. It's honestly a 50/50 shot.
When Yukio was first announced and shown in the trailers we weren't given an official character name, just the actor, Shioli Kutsuna. Fans guessed that she was actually the mutant named Surge because of a clip featuring her swinging what looked like an electrified chain. Surge, over in the comics, is a Japanese mutant named Noriko Ashida and she--surprise!--has the ability to generate and manipulate electricity--so, really, a pretty good guess, given how little information was available.
Obviously, now that we know Yukio is not in fact named Noriko, the Surge comparison starts to get a little thin. Not only do the names not match, but Yukio's costume doesn't resemble Surge's uniform at all--no cool looking robot gauntlets to be found. That wouldn't necessarily be a dealbreaker, since costume updates for live action adaptations happen all the time, but given how no other pieces were falling into place, it seemed like pretty definitive answer. Yukio isn't Surge. At least, she's not really Surge.
We don't get a great look at Yukio's personality or mutation in Deadpool 2, but they obviously have something to do with electricity, or maybe even technology, given how she and NTW enable Wade's post-credits craziness. So it's probably a safe bet that Yukio's pulling a considerable amount of inspiration for Surge but, very likely, was the victim of some sort of rights issue when making the transition from page to screen.
The name "Yukio" is another X-Men callback, referencing a character from Logan's corner of the X-Universe: a beautiful and deadly human "ronin samurai" and thief who Wolverine encounters during his time in Japan. Despite her relative obscurity in the scope of Marvel's mutant roster, Yukio became a pretty endearing side character for a decent amount of the X-Men's adventures through the '90s, even going as far as to be one of the in-universe inspirations for Storm's iconic mohawk look and costume update. She was also a key player in the bulk of Logan's storylines involving his oft-forgotten wife, Mariko Yashida, and adoptive family. She even got her very own live action incarnation back in 2013 in The Wolverine, played by Rila Fukushima.
Clearly Deadpool 2's Yukio isn't exactly that character either. As far as we know, she has no connection to Logan and no history as a wandering samurai thief (though, hey, maybe she does? Who can really say. She didn't get that much screen time, maybe we're in for a big surprise somewhere down the line). This leads us to believe her name and the reference contained within is yet another shout out-slash-dig at Hugh Jackman's long list of X-Men and Wolverine spinoff movies.
Wade Wilson (and Ryan Reynolds) have never been shy about playfully taking shots at both Jackman and Logan, especially given Reynolds' weird history with his Deadpool debut in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Taking an obscure stab at The Wolverine by stealing one of the character names and, in effect, turning all of her tropes on their ear by making a hardened, ninja-inspired thief into a bubbly teen girl seems like it falls pretty squarely into the Deadpool wheelhouse.
So, who is Yukio? Well, as far as we can tell she's a totally new invention for Deadpool 2--but one that just so happens to be one part Surge, one part canonical, comics-verse Yukio, and one part left field Hugh Jackman meta-gag tossed into a blender, poured out, and re-shaped into something original. Nobody said Deadpool's handling of its own source material had to be faithful, after all. Making things simple just isn't his style.
By Anonymous on May 18, 2018 09:25 pm It's Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition launch day! Join Chastity and Ben as they check out the features and stages of new game on Nintendo Switch, including The Wind Waker stage, Forsaken Fortress! (Sponsored by Nintendo Switch)
We found out last month that No Man's Sky would be coming to Xbox One at some point this year with an update called "Next", but now we finally have a release date. The title will launch on Xbox One July 24 in the US and July 27 in Europe alongside the new multiplayer update.
Not only will you finally be able to play with your friends in the ever-expanding universe of No Man's Sky, you can either choose to work together, or against one another. And you won't be limited to just your party--you might also run into a few random explorers out there. The update will also allow you to build bases and colonies, engage in epic space battles, and build, race, and share different tracks on planets you discover.
But never fear, PS4 and PC players, the multiplayer update will come free to you too. However, the Xbox One version of the game will come with the multiplayer update and the Foundation, Pathfinder, and Atlas Rises expansions already installed. And of course, it will also have an Xbox One X-enhanced update.
In our original No Man's Sky review, Peter Brown gave the title a 7/10. "The more you get to know it, the more you recognize its faults, and it's easy to fall so deep into the act of exploring and trading that your focus narrows to those aspects alone," Brown said. "If, however, you consider everything it has to offer and listen to what Atlas has to say, No Man's Sky becomes more than a collection of slightly different worlds in a seemingly never-ending galaxy--it becomes an examination of the meaning of life in a way that's more valuable than all the gold or starships in its virtual galaxy."
A Japanese manga detailing the origins of Pokemon has revealed some previously unseen monsters from the first generation, Red and Blue. The book, centered on the life of Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri, showed off four unused designs.
The manga was shared on Twitter by Game Freak's James Turner, who has designed plenty of Pokemon himself. In a grid of Pokemon we can see four unfamiliar designs: a deer, a crocodile, a cactus, and a swordfish or shark. Presumably, to get access to designs like this the manga would have had to collaborate with Game Freak itself.
The unused designs are surrounded by Gen 1 mainstays like Blastoise and Voltorb, so these were very early ones that were cut. They're unlikely to make a return, especially since many of the animals and plants they're based on have since been used for newer Pokemon. Still, it's an interesting look at the design process.
Right now all eyes are on E3, where Pokemon fans hope Nintendo will outline what it has in the works for a Switch game. We outlined some of our own hopes and dreams ourselves. In the meantime, if you have a catching-'em-all itch that needs scratching, Nintendo is giving away free Legendary Pokemon all year in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon.
By Anonymous on May 18, 2018 08:30 pm Joey recruits resident Witcher expert Jake to guide him through The Witcher 3's lowest graphics settings (with some brothel-related detours).
Cable, Domino and the X-Force weren't the only new additions to the Deadpool corner of the live action superhero universe in Deadpool 2. We also saw the unexpected live action return of the Juggernaut, the character who is part supervillain, part anti-hero, all vintage meme. Surprise!
It's been twelve years since we saw Cain Marko in the flesh in the 2006 movie X-Men: The Last Stand, and things have changed pretty considerably since then. For one, Deadpool 2's Juggernaut isn't actually flesh at all, but a 100% CGI generated creature who, like the monster in the original Frankenstein movie, isn't credited as a mocap or voice actor and only as "himself." For another, we actually get some scraps of his backstory--it's brief and very much in passing, but, hey, we'll take what we can get here. It's been a really long time.
With that in mind, now's as good a moment as any to take a look back at just who and what the Juggernaut is, where he fits into the crazy, complicated X-Men timeline, and what his presence could mean for future Deadpool movies.
First things first: Cain isn't technically a mutant, despite making his home in the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe. He's a human with superpowers, but they're not genetic. Instead, he gets his abilities from a demon named Cyttorak. No, really, it's a whole thing.
Cain found a temple to Cyttorak and a cursed ruby inside which allowed him to become the avatar of Cyttorak and a "human juggernaut." If you're a big Doctor Strange fan, that name might sound familiar--the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak are a tool Strange has used pretty frequently in the past (we even got to see them in action in Infinity War). But for Cain, the "human juggernaut" part of the deal is what's really important. Essentially, his powers are exactly what they say on the tin: He's totally unstoppable--super strong, super durable, super fast, the works.
It's actually pretty unlikely that the Cyttorak element is going to come into play here in the Deadpool movieverse--after all, it certainly didn't back in The Last Stand, and let's be honest, when people think of the Juggernaut, "demonic avatar" isn't exactly the first thing that pops into the casual fan's mind. On top of that, he's introduced as being a prisoner in a mutant detention facility, which likely means the Deadpool universe isn't all that interested in differentiating between demon powers and those bestowed by genetics. However, we did get some confirmation onscreen of another critical part of Cain's history in this version: He's the step-brother of Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X.
As far as comic book odd couples are concerned, Juggernaut and Professor X are definitely up there. Stand them next to each other and there's basically no way you'd ever guess they have anything to do with one another. But the truth is, Cain's spiral into villainy is actually deeply wound up in his childhood jealousy of Charles. When his father, Kurt, married Xavier's mother, Sharon, Kurt decided to favor Charles, sparking up a lifelong resentment. Cain grew up ruthlessly bullying Charles to make up for it, which in turn just made Kurt's favoritism worse. You get the idea. He's got some pretty major daddy issues over the whole thing.
The reason Cain's costume includes his iconic (let's be honest, extremely goofy looking) domed helmet is to prevent Charles specifically from reading his mind--though it has the added benefit of keeping every other psychic out as well. We know this is still canon in the Deadpool/X-Men film universe because Cain directly acknowledges it--so, sure, we may never actually see Xavier on screen with Wade in a way that isn't a punchline, but that part of the shared universe is anything but stagnant.
Of course, the future of the Juggernaut in film may or may not continue much past this movie. The final battle between Cain and Colossus seemed pretty decisive, all things considered--but it's not like strict continuity and the rules governing things like life and death have ever been that big of a deal to Wade Wilson, so maybe it's best not to count The Juggernaut out just yet.
By Anonymous on May 18, 2018 08:19 pm The Incredibles is the next franchise to get the LEGO treatment and its out June 2018. Here's 14 minutes of brand new gameplay!
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Deadpool 2 is out in theaters! Is it as good as the first movie? Greg and Chastity give their spoiler filled reviews of the Deadpool sequel, break down the new characters, best moments, easter eggs, and the hilarious end credits scene.
We check out some Pokemon designs from Red and Blue that didn't make the cut, while Ubisoft's Skull and Bones gets delayed.
It's Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition launch day! Join Chastity and Ben as they check out the features and stages of new game on Nintendo Switch, including The Wind Waker stage, Forsaken Fortress! (Sponsored by Nintendo Switch)
Joey recruits resident Witcher expert Jake to guide him through The Witcher 3's lowest graphics settings (with some brothel-related detours).
The Incredibles is the next franchise to get the LEGO treatment and its out June 2018. Here's 14 minutes of brand new gameplay!
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