Now that Ant-Man and the Wasp has arrived, the next big ticket item in the MCU's perpetual motion machine is Captain Marvel, so doubtless you've been hearing a lot about Carol Danvers. But there's a pretty good chance you've also come across another, strikingly similar superhero code name in your quest for knowledge--not Carol Danvers, not Captain, but Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel.
Kamala's name has been in the news even outside of tangential Captain Marvel related searches since Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige confirmed that she's in the cards for future MCU phases. So naturally the question becomes: Who the hell is Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel anyway?
Well, like most things in the world of superhero comics, it's a little complicated. The first thing you'll realize when you search for "Ms. Marvel" is that Carol Danvers has also used that name. Kamala is actually the fourth person to hold the mantle, while Carol was the first. Kamala debuted in 2013, so she's actually pretty new on the scene all things considered, and came into play just as Carol was making her official switch from "Ms." to "Captain" full time.
A teenaged Pakistani-American girl, Kamala got her start as a side character. Her first appearance was actually in the background of Captain Marvel #14 where she watches Carol in action against a Kree supervillain named Yon-Rogg. Essentially, Kamala is the Marvel Universe equivalent of a fangirl--she loves comics and her favorite heroes and keeping up with their stories. It just so happens that she lives in a world where they actually exist, so it's more like following a celebrity for her than following her favorite fictional characters.
She didn't just decide out of the blue to try her hand at the superhero lifestyle, despite her passion for it. Kamala was born without powers, and for the vast majority of her life believed herself to be completely human. During a 2013 event called Inhumanity, the Terrigen Mists, a mutagenic substance that gives the Inhumans their abilities, spread across the globe and triggered a process called Terrigenesis in Kamala (and many, many other unsuspecting people around the world).
Essentially, she was suddenly wrapped up in a weird looking alien cocoon and emerged later with her latent Inhuman genes activated. For her, that meant the ability to polymorph her cells--she can stretch her limbs, grow her appendages, transform her features, and otherwise alter the general size and shape of her body at will. She calls it the ability to "embiggen," a word that's since become something of a catch phrase.
With her new powers, Kamala began trying to ease her way into the superheroic lifestyle, and there was no shortage of missteps along the way. She managed to thwart a robbery (thankfully learning that her Terrigenesis had also given her an accelerated healing factor after she was shot in the process) and go up against a real deal supervillain named the Inventor before she decided to officially take on the codename Ms. Marvel and make herself a costume--inspired by Carol's colors and design, of course.
From that point on, she began trying to protect her home of Jersey City as best she could using her idols as examples, and even gaining the attention of some of the Marvel Universe's A-listers like Wolverine, Spider-Man, and of course Carol herself. In addition to her revolving door of team-ups, Kamala has been a member of several super teams, like the Champions, the Protectors, the Carol Cadets (a team obviously started by Carol herself), and even the Avengers for a time.
Since her debut, Kamala has become virtually synonymous with the Ms. Marvel identity and one of Marvel's most popular heroes for new comic book readers. She tends to specialize in a mix of high-flying superheroic action adventure and slice of life, coming of age stories focused on her home life and high school career. Unlike Carol, her powers don't come from Kree genetics, but the complicated relationship between the Inhumans, the humans, and the newly mutated "New Inhumans" or "Numans" puts her in a similar brand of conflict: Both Carol and Kamala exist in the overlapping areas between two different worlds, and they both struggle with finding where their responsibilities actually lie.
It's not totally clear where Kamala might find her footing in the future of the MCU, especially considering Captain Marvel's mysterious circumstances and decades-long absence from the public eye (Captain Marvel is conspicuously set in the '90s, years before the contemporary MCU). But as the MCU pushes forward with characters like Peter Parker and Shuri blazing trails for teenage superheroes, there's definitely room being made for more--and Kamala's print popularity and versatility make her a shoe-in for upcoming phases, even if it requires a little reconfiguration of her origin story to make it work.
Amazon Prime Day is a 36-hour event that runs July 16-17 and offers savings on all kinds of products from the mammoth online retailer. You need to be a Prime member to take advantage of the deals, but you can get a free one-month trial and cancel it later if you want. But other retailers aren't just sitting around and letting Amazon soak up all the consumer spending. To stay competitive, several other retailers are doing sales of their own. Here are some of the best ones going on.
Newegg's FantatasTech Sale
Newegg's anti-Prime Day sale is called the FantasTech Sale. Starting at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET and running for four days, Newegg will cut prices on all kinds of tech products, from gaming PC components to computer monitors to audio equipment. Below are some standout deals at Newegg--but note that not all deals will be live for the full run of the sale.
Best Buy is running a Big Deals Days sale that ends July 17 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. It has discounts on things like phones, TVs, laptops, and home theater equipment. There's not much in the way of game discounts, but Best Buy just announced that if you want to trade in your copy of Madden NFL 18 and put the credit toward Madden NFL 19 (which releases August 10), you'll get the credit value of the game, plus an additional $10.
The digital PC game seller Fanatical has a whole lot of Capcom games on sale right now (games come in the form of Steam codes). From Resident Evil to Dead Rising and Mega Man, you can save on games in some of the publisher's biggest series. Some highlights are below, but you can find the full list here.
Target is doing its own online-only sale on July 17. Called the One-Day Sale, this event features discounts on games, movies, iPhones, clothes, and more. You can see the full ad here.
With Ant-Man and the Wasp in theaters, the countdown to Captain Marvel has officially begun. We have a ways to go--it's coming out March 8th, 2019--but we've still got a pretty good idea of exactly what we should be expecting from the MCU's very first female-focused solo film.
We're keeping a running list of every Captain Marvel related announcement, confirmation, and plot detail as they trickle in over the next eight months, so keep checking back for updates.
1. It's set in the '90s
One of the first pieces of Captain Marvel news we got was its time period: the 1990s, a "previously unexplored" era of MCU history. This means that not only is this movie the MCU's first prequel since Captain America: The First Avenger, it also means that Carol has, in theory, been active and out there somewhere in the galaxy this entire time. Wonder why the Guardians of the Galaxy never encountered her?
2. Lee Pace will return as Ronan
The MCU doesn't have the best track record with returning villains--in fact, Ronan of Guardians of the Galaxy fame making his triumphant return to the screen is actually an MCU first. Thus far, the only recycled baddies, or anti-heroes, appearing in the Marvel roster are fan favorites like Loki, Bucky Barnes, and, briefly, Red Skull.
In all likelihood, Captain Marvel is taking place well before Ronan went totally off the deep end as an Accuser, so we're probably going to see a completely different side of him this time around. But try not to get too attached--we all know where he ended up.
3. Skrulls are coming to the MCU
Last year, shortly after Comic-Con, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige confirmed that Captain Marvel will introduce Skrulls into the MCU. An alien race capable of virtually limitless shape shifting, the Skrulls have been in an intergalactic conflict with another alien race, the Kree, for centuries.
What exactly does that mean for the MCU going forward? Well, famously, Skrulls are master imposters--their comic book storylines generally emphasize the idea that close friends, teammates, and even arch enemies can be replaced by Skrulls for years at a time before anyone is any the wiser. By introducing the Skrulls to the live action universe retroactively, thanks to Captain Marvel's '90s setting--well, that's when things start to get really interesting. If Skrulls have really been here all this time, who knows who they've already replaced?
4. Carol's in the Air Force
In keeping with her comic book origins, set photos and interviews have confirmed that Brie Larson's Carol Danvers will be a member of the US Air Force. Brie Larson apparently trained with airmen for eight months to prepare for the role, and the Air Force was regularly consulted on Carol's character development--specifically whether or not it was possible for someone so young to have risen through the ranks as high as Carol will, apparently, have by the start of the film.
5. Nick Fury is back (and has known about Carol for some time)
In the Infinity War post credits, we got our first ever onscreen confirmation that Carol is definitely a part of the greater MCU at the hands of Nick Fury, who, moments before crumbling to dust, sent her a message on what looked like a futuristic beeper. This, of course, means that Nick has actually known about Carol's existence for some time.
It's been a while since we've had a proper solo origin story in the MCU, but Carol's getting the full treatment. Not only is Captain Marvel set in the past, it's positioned to detail out exactly how Carol got her powers, why she left Earth, and, presumably, how S.H.I.E.L.D was involved.
7. Jude Law will play Mar-Vell
The original Captain Marvel will be making his on screen debut right alongside Carol. Undercover Kree soldier Mar-Vell will be played by Jude Law. In the comics, Mar-Vell is one of the first Kree to be stationed on Earth. He adopts the alter ego of scientist Walter Lawson and begins to assess whether or not humans are a threat to the empire, but winds up falling in love with humanity and defecting.
Mar-Vell's description for the movie cites him as the person who mentors Carol in her new powers and abilities.
8. Phil Coulson is back
Fan favorite S.H.I.E.L.D agent Phil Coulson is coming back thanks to Captain Marvel's retroactive setting. His actual involvement in the story is yet to be determined, but it's been confirmed that actor Clark Gregg will be digitally de-aged for the entirety of his screen time--however long that actually is.
9. We're meeting Minn-Erva
Mar-Vell isn't the only Kree entering the MCU for the first time. Kree geneticist Minn-Erva will be making her live action debut played by Gemma Chan. In the comics, Minn-Erva was one of the people sent to observe Mar-Vell during his time on Earth and a scientist with a slightly dubious ethical compass. Her obsession with genetic advancement even leads her to attempt to lure Mar-Vell into a romantic relationship based on her hypothesis that their offspring would be genetically superior.
10. Carol has a pet cat
Samuel L. Jackson posted a photo on Instagram of the Captain Marvel cast and crew shirts which feature a design apparently highlighting the involvement of Carol's comic book pet cat, Chewie.
In the comics, Chewie is actually a cat-like alien called a Flerken that can fly, teleport, and shoot giant gross tentacles out of its mouth. (No, really.) Whether or not those particular qualities will be making the jump to live action remains to be seen, but even if he's just a normal cat this time around, he'll probably be pretty cute.
11. Captain Marvel is the strongest hero in the MCU
In an interview with Vulture, Kevin Feige casually called out Carol as the strongest superhero in the MCU, which is pretty major considering both the Hulk and Thor have been battling over that unofficial mantle for the last several movies. Unfortunately, relative strength is always great, but probably won't get us very far when it comes to going up against Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. Punching things is likely not the solution to returning half the universe to life.
Still, it definitely can't hurt to have a brand new powerhouse in the Avengers corner.
12. Ben Mendelsohn is playing...someone
Ben Mendelsohn has been cast in a role that's still shrouded in mystery, but speculation has been leaning toward the Star Wars and Ready Player One alum to be making his MCU debut as Yon-Rogg, a Kree defector who took up the supervillain name Magnitron. Yon-Rogg has a deep beef with Mar-Vell that more frequently than not ends with Yon trying to get Mar-Vell killed--sometimes in ways that wind up pulling Carol directly into the crossfire.
13. Lashana Lynch is Monica Rambeau (Maybe)
There may actually be a third Captain Marvel in the mix for this movie. Lashana Lynch has been cast as a yet unconfirmed role that fans are speculating might be Monica Rambeau, another adopter of the Captain Marvel mantle who was empowered by extra dimensional energy. Monica adopted the name Captain Marvel in the '80s and then went on to use the names Photon, Pulsar, and Spectrum.
14. Filming has officially wrapped
On July 8th, Brie Larson took to Twitter to announce that Captain Marvel had wrapped filming. This likely means it'll be another several months before we see a trailer--but a teaser might be coming relatively soon. This also means the handful of set photos we've seen have likely been a mix between actual Captain Marvel scenes and moments from Avengers 4.
However, Sam Fisher appears to be suffering some technical setbacks. Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) tweeted that engineers are investigating reports that Splinter Cell isn't showing as free for some users. If it doesn't appear properly on the store when you check in, the problem will likely be fixed soon enough.
As always, any new Xbox 360 games added to the Games with Gold service are backwards compatible, so you can play them on your Xbox One. They join a large and growing list of backwards compatible games, since Microsoft has made it adding new games a priority.
Those are the inclusions with Gold, but separately, Microsoft also offers its Game Pass subscription service for $10 per month. That has a wide selection of its own, including all new first-party games alongside their regular releases.
July 2018 Games With Gold
Xbox One
Assault Android Cactus (July 1-31)
Death Squared (July 16-August 15)
Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One)
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (July 1-15)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (July 16-31)
Dwayne Johnson is one of the busiest stars in Hollywood, and back in December, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle became the most successful movie of his career. But this doesn't mean that everything he puts his name to is a guaranteed hit, as the disappointing weekend results for his latest film, the action thriller Skyscraper, have shown.
Skyscraper made an estimated $25.4 million in its first three days, and entered the chart in third place. While this is better than the $22 million debut of Johnson's 2017 flop Baywatch, it is below the studio's $30 million prediction, and well under Jumanji's $36.1 opening. The biggest movie this weekend was the animated movie Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, which made an impressive $44.1 million, while Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp slipped into second place, with an estimated $28.8 million take.
The week's other new entry into the Box Office Top 10 was the sci-fi comedy Sorry to Bother You, which rose from No.16 after expanding the number of theaters it is playing in. Pixar's Incredibles 2 continued to do strong business in its fifth week, and is now the most successful animated movie of all time in US. It has made $535.8 million to date, soaring past Finding Dory's $486.3 million.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom dropped to No.5 from No.2, while horror sequel The First Purge and the thriller Sicario: The Day of Soldado continued to do well amongst more adult audiences. Finally the comedy heist reboot Ocean's 8 clings on at No.10, and has to date made an impressive $132 million from a more modest budget than many of its big summer franchise rivals.
You can see the full Top 10 list for the July 13-15 US box office below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.
US/Canada Box Office For July 13-15:
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation – $44.1 million
By Anonymous on Jul 16, 2018 11:21 pm Firefly star Nathan Fillion finally played Nathan Drake in an Uncharted movie, and Rainbow Six Siege is now banning toxic players.
The Legendary Pokemon Regice has been a fixture of Raid Battles since it debuted in Pokemon Go last month, but it won't be available for much longer. The Legendary Titan is only scheduled to appear until this Thursday, July 19, making this your last opportunity to add one to your collection before it leaves the game.
As with other Legendary Pokemon, players will first need to team up with other Trainers in-person at Gyms to battle Regice, and only after the Legendary has been defeated will they earn a chance to capture it. Just as its name implies, Regice is an Ice-type, which makes it especially vulnerable to Fire, Rock, Steel, and Fighting Pokemon, such as Blaziken, Machamp, and Tyranitar.
Regice originally debuted in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire as one-third of the Legendary Titan trio, along with Registeel and Regirock. The remaining two Legendaries are also slated to debut in Pokemon Go later this summer, although Niantic has yet to announce the exact date when either will begin appearing in Raid Battles.
In the meantime, Pokemon Go players will soon have another chance to catch a previous Legendary Pokemon. As a reward for achieving the Global Challenge goal during the Pokemon Go Fest event this past weekend, Niantic will host a special Zapdos Day on July 21. The Legendary bird will be available around the globe for a three-hour window of time that day, and players will even have a chance to encounter a Shiny variant.
Beyond Zapdos Day, players still have a chance to capture a special summer-style Pikachu, which is available for a limited time to celebrate Pokemon Go's second anniversary. Niantic has also revealed the first details for the next Pokemon Go Community Day. Unlike previous events, it will take place on two days, August 11 and 12, and feature Eevee.
The 1978 horror classic Halloween was a hit with audiences, so much so that sequels and reboots followed it for the next two decades. Michael's killer mask may have gotten a little shabby by now, but it looks like he's no less ready to terrorize Haddonfield, Illinois.
What It's About
Halloween will focus on Laurie Strode and her family, a few decades after the events of the original Halloween movie where she and a few of her friends were terrorized by a serial killer in a mask named Michael Myers. The movie will reportedly be ignoring the events of the other sequels in the franchise, and is instead acting as a direct sequel to the original movie.
Myers has been locked up in prison for all of these years, but he finally escapes after a convenient bus crash, and now, he's coming back for Strode and potentially her whole family. This time, though, Laurie will be ready for him because she knows he's coming and has been getting ready for it since the events of the first movie.
Who's Who
Crew
The film will be directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express).
Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride penned the script together.
John Carpenter, writer and director of the original film, returns to the franchise as executive producer, consultant, and composer of the movie's score.
Cast
Jamie Lee Curtis is reprising her role as scream queen-turned-badass grandma Laurie Strode.
Nick Castle is returning to the role of Michael Myers for the first time since the original film--at which point he was credited as "The Shape."
Judy Greer (Jurassic World) will play Karen Strode, Laurie's daughter.
Andi Matichak (Orange is the New Black) plays Allison, Laurie's granddaughter.
What's Been Released So Far
Universal released a trailer for the upcoming slasher film in June. It starts with a look at what life has been like for Strode since the initial event; she has become something of a mythical figure in her city's lore. There are several shots of her training with weapons, seemingly preparing for Michael's eventual return. The question that remains is whether anyone else is ready. There are several shots of panic as Michael makes his long awaited return, and a good jump scare at the end.
Universal has a whole lot of titles coming out soon that would fit into the Comic-Con niche, but they will be focusing onHalloween and M. Night Shyamalan's Glass; two of its most highly-anticipated films.
We know that some of the cast and crew will attend, including Jamie Lee Curtis. We want to know more about Michael's killer intentions, if they are more complex than just blood, that is. And we'd like to know more about how Laurie and her family have been doing since that infamous Halloween night years ago. Apparently, there will be some sort of surprise at the presentation, but whether it has to do with Glass or Halloween, or both, we can't say at this point.
Regardless of whether the surprise is about Halloween, we should get some new information before ithits theaters October 19, 2018.
The Last of Us Part 2 writer and co-director Neil Druckmann announced that Ellie will be accompanied by an NPC in the upcoming game. So far the only gameplay of Ellie we've seen is of her fighting solo against a murderous group of enemies, but apparently that isn't representative of the full game. The news broke during a Buzzfeed interview.
Druckmann didn't confirm who the NPC would be, saying, "Well, so, Ellie used to be an NPC, but she's the protagonist in this story, so the player is controlling Ellie. It's safe to say with the game that we made in the past that there will be some NPC with you in this story, even though we're not showing [the NPC] in this demo."
Fans are already beginning to hope that Ellie's companion will be Dina, the woman she kissed in the E3 2018 trailer. However, it could also be Jesse, Dina's ex, who spoke to Ellie at the beginning of the same trailer and seems to patrol on the outside of the protective community like Ellie does. We doubt that Part 2 will pull a switch on the original game's dynamic and make Joel the accompanying NPC, but anything's possible at this point. It might be one of the women from that unsettling Paris Games Week trailer we got last year, or someone we haven't even been introduced to yet.
The Last of Us Part 2's release date hasn't been announced, but we know that the game is launching on PS4. Read up on everything we know about Part 2 so far, and check out our pre-order guide if you already know you want to buy the game.
Amazon is going all out to drum up excitement for Prime Day, its annual sales event that sees tons of products across all categories get temporary price drops. Prime Day 2018 is a 36-hour event that kicks off July 16 at 12 PM PT (3 PM ET / 12 PM BT) and runs through July 17. While we don't know exactly what items Amazon will put on sale during Prime Day, the company has already begun offering up free PC games for anyone who links their Amazon Prime and Twitch accounts. All told, 21 free games are available throughout July. The only catch? You have to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of the deals. Thankfully, there are some loopholes.
The free games for Prime members in July include Tacoma, Brutal Legend, Hue, and a whole lot more rolling out each day between now and Prime Day. You can find the full list here. And if you stick with your Prime membership after July, you'll continue to get a bundle of free games each month through Twitch--much like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold.
If you haven't been a Prime member in the past 12 months, you can sign up here to start a one-month free trial (students get six months for free). That will get you all the free games from Twitch that are available between now and Prime Day. The games are yours to keep forever, even if you cancel your Prime membership before your first payment is due.
Let's say you've been a Prime member in the past 12 months, so the free trial doesn't apply to you. Don't worry, you don't have to drop $120 on a one-year membership to get your free games and take part in the Prime Day sales. Instead, you can subscribe for a month for $13 and take advantage of the deals. Then, if you want to cancel your membership before you're charged for a second month, you can.
Amazon Prime members get more than just free games from Twitch. The service also includes free two-day shipping on over 100 million products, access to Prime Video, Prime Music, and select free Kindle ebooks each month. If you shop at Amazon regularly or play PC games, it's probably worth the money.
With June well behind us, Sony has revealed the list of best-selling games on PSN for the month. The breakdown is divided into three lists: PlayStation 4, PS Vita, and PSVR, and Sony has also provided the most downloaded free-to-play games, PS4 themes, and PlayStation Classics.
The number one best-selling game for PS4 in June is Grand Theft Auto V, which comes as no surprise considering the title has been dominating sales charts since its release. It's followed by FIFA 18 and God of War, with the rest of the list mostly composed of popular multiplatform titles that released prior to 2018 or recent PS4 exclusives.
Two battle royales dominated the free-to-play download list: Fortnite and H1Z1, with the latter managing to take the top spot. Job Simulator was the best-selling PSVR game for the month, while Stardew Valley was the best-selling PS Vita title and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best-selling PS Classic. We've compiled all of the lists of the best-selling games and themes on PSN below.
June marks the halfway point for the year, and 2018 is already shaping up to be another incredible period for PlayStation. Plenty of 2018 exclusives are already beginning to dominate the PSN sales charts, like God of War and Detroit: Become Human. So far, this year has been a nice follow up to PlayStation's 2017.
If you're still looking for something to play on your PS4, check out our gallery of the best PS4 console exclusives. It lists every game that's released as a console exclusive for the PS4 that we've given a review score of 8/10 or higher. We've also compiled a list of the best cheap PS4 games if you want to save a little money.
A new trailer reveals that Dead Cells is leaving Early Access and officially launching on August 7. That same day, the game will also release on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Dead Cells has already sold nearly a million copies since its Early Access release on PC in May 2017.
Dead Cells is an action-platformer inspired by titles like Metroid and Castlevania. The title also features rogue-lite elements, like permadeath, and has proven to be a punishingly difficult game. Dead Cells is launching with 13 levels, four bosses, over 80 different weapons and skills, and four special powers. The new trailer details a few of the environments the player will traverse, as well as the enemies and bosses that they'll have to kill on their journey. Most of the special powers and many of the weapons and skills make an appearance in the trailer too.
You can pre-order Dead Cells right now, unless you're hoping to grab the title on Nintendo Switch. Switch pre-orders open up on July 18. If you're grabbing the game on console, pre-ordering is the way to go. There's a 20% discount on all console pre-orders, which knocks the U.S. price down to $20.
Dead Cells launches on August 7 for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. If you need more information before buying the game, listen to us discuss on The Lobby why players should care about Dead Cells. If you want to see Dead Cells in action, watch our Let's Play of the game.
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