Fanboys Anonymous

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

Robert Pattinson IS Batman

I haven't seen any of his movies, I think, other than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I honestly can't remember a single movie I've seen him in other than that. But he's got the look, and I think he'll do a good job.

I bet you weren't expecting to hear that, were you?

Batman has a Twitter

They never had an official Twitter account for Batman until now? Really? That seems so strange.

@DCBatman is the name. Neat.

Toy Story 3 IRL Trailer

People are recreating Toy Story 3 in stop motion animation. This is insane, and so cool, and so well done.


Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Animated Series Coming to Netflix

In 2020, there will be an animated series set during the events of Jurassic World, revolving around six teenagers on a camp adventure on Isla Nublar, who get stranded and blah blah, you know how things go.

I like the idea behind it. Having it be an animated series is much easier than trying to make it a real live-action thing, and it's tapping into a different market. Hopefully, it'll be good.

Wonder Woman 1984 Poster

She looks like Wonder Woman, but wearing the bonus costume you unlocked after beating the game. I'm not digging it.

No Arkham Info at E3

Of course not. It's only been how many years of "sorry, no info this time"? It's very curious why they haven't announced absolutely anything about this proposed Justice League or Arkham or Superman game.

Sigourney Weaver Will Return for Ghostbusters III

Yesssss. Now, I still think it will be a shame if they don't find a way to say that Oscar is actually Peter's son. That will be disappointing. But this is a step in the right direction, and it still leaves that as a possibility until I'm proven wrong.

Lucifer Renewed for Season 5

AWESOME. It's a shame this will be the final season, but I'd rather the show end on a high note than to go on forever and just get cancelled out of nowhere. At least if they know this is the end, they'll actually end it with the conclusion they're looking for.

Details for X-Men vs. Fantastic 4 Film

There was an idea, back in the day, to do a Civil War film about the X-Men and Fantastic 4 against each other. Supposedly, Johnny Storm would have gone supernova and damaged Manhattan, which would have created the Superhero Registration Act. Eventually, Reed Richards would have severed Wolverine's arm by turning his fingers into molecule-wide scissors to cut it off (how that would have worked, I have no idea, cause it's still adamantium and you can't just say "Wolverine has no arm now", nor do you have him grow it back with the adamantium...).

Yeesh. This would have been rough. It's an interesting enough concept for a What If story, but not a film.

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, host Tony Mango breaks down the hits and misses of the latest film in the X-Men movie franchise, Dark Phoenix, by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

This is the story of one of the X-Men's most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic DARK PHOENIX. During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. The film is the most intense and emotional X-Men movie ever made. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we've come to know and love must face their most devastating enemy yet -- one of their own.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

Black Mirror finally returned to our screens on Wednesday, June 5th and the promise of a more hopeful, optimistic future was… sparse. Anyone who has seen the previous four seasons will know that Black Mirror has a history of making you question any seemingly positive new technology, whilst also being able to deliver a gut-wrenching revelation at the drop of a hat. Well, season five is pretty much more of the same. Brooker's promise of a change in approach, a more positive, or at least less negative, view of the future seems to have been a joke at our expense. I'm going to review each of the episodes individually, before trying to piece together an overall narrative, which I think exists within this season.

Striking Vipers

Striking Vipers tells the story of two friends, Danny and Karl, who in their twenties live together, along with Danny's girlfriend Theo. Danny and Karl play a Tekken-like game called Striking Vipers, where Danny regularly plays as 'Lance' and Karl regularly plays as 'Roxette'. 11 years later, at Danny's 38th birthday party, Danny and Karl are somewhat estranged, seemingly only seeing each other for Danny's birthday each year. Karl has bought Danny the newest edition of Striking Vipers, which has a VR capability to put you in full control of the characters, feeling every sensation in the game.

Later that night, Danny and Karl play as their usual Lance and Roxette. After a short fight, Karl (as Roxette) falls on top of Danny (as Lance) where they start to kiss. Shortly after realizing what was happening, both players leave the game.

Over the next few weeks, they continue to kiss, and even have sex, in the game, as Danny slowly becomes less interested in, now his wife and mother of his child, Theo. When confronted by Theo, Danny insists nothing is happening, before locking Striking Vipers away and messaging Karl to say that it has to stop. At Danny's next birthday, Theo invites Karl over for a meal so the two of them can catch-up after Danny complained that there wasn't the chance to do so the year before. Once Theo is out of the room Karl explains to Danny how nothing feels the same as their sex in the game and how he has tried to have sex with other players and even AI characters to no avail.

That night, the pair have sex in the game again, before Danny decides that they have to see if it is real, they meet in real life to kiss, deciding that if they felt something they would go ahead with a relationship, but if not, that would be the end. However, when neither of them feels anything Karl gets angry and they start to fight. The fight is broken up by the police and an angry Theo collects Danny, before riding home in silence. The episode ends at a future birthday, where there seems to be an agreement that every year, Danny and Karl can meet in Striking Vipers and Theo can go to a bar to meet a stranger.

This episode was my least favorite of the season, but it did kind of set the right tone. A very up and down episode where there are plenty of opportunities to go one way or the other, but there's not really a strong pull in either direction. All three characters seem to be somewhat unhappy, but still able to do what they enjoy. Danny is clearly happy with his life with Theo, but when confronted with a threat, he is able to give up on Theo, before easily returning to her fully once he questions his in-game relationship with Karl. Then once again, as soon as Karl comes back into his life, it seems like there is very little struggle internally before they come to an amicable agreement.

Theo is very much a supporting character, but even her arc throughout the episode only faces a slight hiccup, where she confronts Danny about how distant he is, before returning to a seemingly happy life. Karl faces the most turmoil though, but this is consistent throughout the episode. From the beginning where he lives with the happy couple, to the end where he lives alone with his cat, looking forward to that one day a year. Seemingly unable to truly live his life now that he has lost his best friend, but still relies on him for sexual pleasure. This episode was my least favorite of the three and didn't really feel like it added anything to the franchise.

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too

In this episode, a young girl, Rachel, who lives with her father and her older sister, Jack, is a big fan of pop star Ashley O. Ashley promotes a new product called 'Ashley Too', an AI doll that is able to respond to people with Ashley's own personality. Rachel asks her dad to buy her an Ashley Too for her birthday, which Jack has to remind her dad is this Wednesday. The episode then cuts to Rachel opening Ashley Too, before she confides in the doll. Rachel begins to treat the doll as a friend, tells Ashley Too about her mother's death and the doll eventually convinces her to enter a competition, dancing to one of Ashley's songs, having learned the dance from Ashley Too.

After the dance goes wrong, Jack locks Ashley Too in the basement, having mocked Rachel for her obsession with the doll. After this, we find out that Ashley O writes her songs using her dreams and has a notebook full of ideas, but her manager and Aunt, Catherine notices that her notes have been getting more disturbing. She then discovers Ashley has stopped taking her pills and confronts Ashley about this over dinner.

Ashley says that she can break her contract, which isn't due to break until she's 25, because of the illegal pills, before Catherine reveals that she has put all the untaken pills into Ashley's food. Ashley then falls into a coma. Catherine goes on to blame the coma on a seafood allergy, before scanning Ashley's brain for more music and creating 'Ashley Eternal' a holographic version of Ashley, that is able to perform new songs, using sound recordings from Ashley Too and a lot of sound editing. Six months into Ashley O's coma, Jack finally gives Rachel her Ashley Too back.

When Ashley Too hears the news of the coma, it starts to malfunction and breaks. Jack and Rachel then discover that Ashley Too's capabilities were limited and that it actually holds a full copy of Ashley's mind, the doll is then able to convince the sisters to try to save Ashley O, after revealing the treatment she was subjected to by Catherine. After waking Ashley up from the coma, they crash into the venue where Catherine is revealing Ashley Eternal. The episode then cuts to Ashley and Jack playing alternative music together, as Rachel and Ashley Too watch on.

This is the final episode chronologically of the season, and by far the most optimistic in Black Mirror yet, but still leaves you with small moments of despondency, that makes it hard to feel too optimistic. The ending Is obviously very positive and paints a vision of hope, but the very core of the episode is about how people will go to further and further lengths for money, fame and to keep their glamorous life the way it is. Although the main arc of the story is one of hope, I think this episode has very little to feel hopeful about and instead represents a one-off vision of the future, where technology simply happens to result in a positive outcome by chance.

It almost feels like this is shoehorned into the series in order to not have everything go bad, but assuming the doll didn't malfunction in the first place, it was simply another mechanism to make fans want to be more like their favorite star, and to spend more money in order to do so. This episode also had somewhat odd timing, with the ending feeling rushed and as though there was a step missing somewhere. Well worth a watch, and a nice change at the end, but not the best we've seen from Brooker.

Smithereens


Smithereens is centered around Chris, a Hitcher (basically Uber) driver. A few minutes into the episode Chris is at a group therapy session, listening to a mother describing her emotions after her daughter committed suicide. The two then have a brief conversation where Chris reveals he hasn't yet found the right time to talk about his own reason for being there. The two then have sex before Chris discovers that she attempts to log into her daughter's Persona account every day, only getting three attempts before she is locked out, unable to obtain her daughter's password from the company themselves.

After this, Chris picks up Jaden, who is an intern at Smithereens, a large social media company, who is going to the airport to meet his boss. Chris lies about an upcoming traffic delay in order to take a diversion, where he holds Chris at gunpoint, moves him to a different car where Jaden has his hands tied together and a hood over his head. Chris drives past two police officers, who give chase after noticing the passenger with a bag over his head. Chris ends up veering off the road to avoid two cyclists, getting stuck in a field as he does so.

As the police approach, he waves the gun in the air, threatening to shoot Jaden if they come closer. At this point, Chris reveals that his intention is to speak to Billy Bauer, the CEO of Smithereens, and gets Jaden to put him in contact with the highest-ranking person he knows. After a small amount of time, Chris is speaking to Penelope, the COO of Smithereens who is based in America, and is reluctant to distract Billy Bauer from his 10-day retreat. Chris tells Jaden that the gun is fake, the police hear this as the call has been reversed so that Penelope, the FBI and the police at the scene are still able to hear inside the car, whilst Chris is on hold. But as they begin to approach the car, Chris fires a bullet into the air, revealing that it was a test to see if they were listening to him. Chris hangs up after saying they have 5 minutes to get Billy Bauer on the phone. Billy calls Chris, who reveals that his wife died in a car accident after he crashed whilst looking at a notification from the Smithereens app and that he hasn't been able to forgive himself.

Chris reveals that his plan all along was to kill himself and that he just wanted Billy to understand the addictive nature of the app, which Billy admits to, and says is out of his control. As a final favour, Billy contacts the CEO of Persona, who gives the mother her daughter's password. Chris then goes to release Jaden who, having heard the entire conversation with Billy, tries to convince Chris not to kill himself. They then struggle over the gun and police snipers take a shot at the car. The episode ends with people receiving a notification from Smithereens, reading it, then continuing with their life.

This is by far the best episode in the series and has everything we expect from Black Mirror. It is perfectly paced and has a twist just as everything seems to be going right, or even wrong. Everyone in this episode felt like a real person, and every twist was realistic enough that it didn't take anything away. Having him fire the gun, moments after revealing it was fake added new life to the episode, as the whole time there is doubt about how much danger Jaden Is really in. Chris' knowledge of police tactics, along with the revelation that he has been using someone else's Hitcher account to only take bookings from the Smithereens London office, suggests that this has been thoroughly thought through.

Even the emotional responses to Chris are hard to fully explain, with him seeming sadistic initially, taking this young guy by gunpoint just for the chance to speak to Billy Bauer, to realizing that he is so emotionally distraught by his wife's death, that he feels the need for some kind of closure, but not even he knows what he wants that to be. And the final few scenes that give no closure and leaves the audience with a painful want for more, not knowing why the daughter committed suicide, or even if the mother ever got the correct password, not knowing what the Smithereens notification said, and ultimately, not even knowing whether the shot hit Chris, Jaden or both of them, makes this an instant Black Mirror classic.

Season five of Black Mirror is very hit and miss, with Smithereens being must-watch and an episode that could easily be used to draw in new-viewers, whilst Striking Vipers is very skippable. Overall, season five does have a very different feel to the rest of Black Mirror, it has optimistic elements, with Danny and Theo seemingly having a very happy life, Ashley and Jack are able to perform like they want to, and Chris was never intending to hurt anybody. But there is still a very solemn feel to each episode, Karl is left in a strange situation, Rachel still, in a way, loses her idol and her sister to each other, and the ending of Smithereens leaves so much uncertainty and a feeling of the pain that social media can cause. So although this season is, overall, more optimistic than the rest of the Black Mirror franchise, it still manages to leave the audience questioning technology and how we live our lives, and even leaves you subdued, but yearning for more in a way that Brooker seems to have mastered.

The latest and last of the X-Men films, according to promotional material, which conveniently ignores the whole New Mutants thing that should totally just go to Hulu and not attempt a theatrical run, will be Dark Phoenix, which premieres tomorrow.

I'll be having my Reviewpoint for it as soon as I can after watching it tomorrow night, but by all accounts, it seems like this is going to be a train wreck, and not just in the finale.

I've been wanting to pump out more content here for Fanboys Anonymous, and I figured now is the best time to debut one of the new segments I've been working on, dubbed Predicting the Plot.

How this works is pretty simple: I'll be taking an upcoming film and giving my fan theories on how I think the movie will go down, from start to finish, with as many details as I possibly can give, based entirely on the previews that I've seen and my predictions. I might be dead wrong, but I might get a lot of things correct, and I encourage you all to give your predictions just the same in the comments below.

So without further ado, let's kick things off by trying to figure out what is going to happen in Dark Phoenix.

The movie starts with Professor Xavier giving a monologue about human evolution and mutation, possibly tying it in with the celestial aspect of things. I'm expecting something like "Since the dawn of time, humans have looked to the stars for knowledge of the gods" along with an ominous message foreshadowing how Jean Grey is totally going to be possessed by this godly force of nature. Cut to the opening credits of the bitchin' X-Men theme that is the second best one out there, as the '90s animated theme is still the top dog.

This transitions to either everyone at the X-Mansion receiving word of the mission to save the astronauts, or possibly the problem with the astronauts themselves. The point is, some astronauts get messed up in space and the X-Men step in to help. Maybe there's a scene beforehand or in-between this that deals with the public perception of them as superheroes that explains why they would go on this mission (either to help convince people they're here to help, or because people already like them and they actively reach out to ask for help).

One way or another, within the first 20 minutes of the movie, the X-Men are in space and saving the astronauts. A solar flare puts everyone in danger and Jean absorbs it. Everyone's confused about what happened and how she was able to survive that.

She gets checked out by Hank McCoy and they find out that she's okay, but her power levels are spiking. They're off the charts! Whatever happened up there magnified her mutant abilities and she's in danger of going out of control. But nah, she's cool, she's Jean and she's our family. No need to worry.

Let's spend some time with Magneto on Genosha. He's got a sanctuary for mutants going on. Hopefully, this isn't a total repeat of the last film and we don't just see a bunch of these mutants get killed as a motivator for him to rejoin the action, but I think that will happen later.

Jean starts acting weird and everyone begins to notice and get skeptical about her losing control, as she starts talking to Jessica Chastain, who is this manifestation of the Phoenix Force in her mind that they can't see. Maybe Charles can see it. Maybe he can't connect with her because she's blocking him out.

By the 1/4 mark of the movie or so, Jean is back in her childhood home. That's where we see that she's causing a ruckus and the X-Men step in to try to stop her. POOF! Mystique is killed! Oh no!

Jean runs off and has that scene where she's crying in the alley, asking "Why did you make me do that? She was my friend." Chastain's character keeps feeding her b.s. about how the X-Men fear her power and so on.

Mourning for Mystique. Some are just sad, while some are angry and want to kill Jean in retaliation. Beast is one of the people who is against Jean. Scott is, naturally, on the side of "no, she's still Jean and she can be redeemed, because this wasn't her fault." If Magneto isn't already brought back into the mix yet, this is where he comes in, recruited by Beast and whoever else (Storm?) feels like they need Magneto's help to take her down.

We basically kill time for a while until the end battle. I'd be really surprised if there are any extra elements to this plot, like if Omega Red stops by to say hello, or if Mr. Sinister is part of this. I know that they've already tried to set up Essex, but I feel like that thread will just be ignored.

There must be some sort of grand scheme of Chastain's character. Maybe she just wants to destroy the entirety of Earth. Maybe she has no fight in this whole human/mutant thing. Maybe this ties into the Shi'ar Empire, but I doubt it. (Side note: remember when people thought she would be a Skrull?) Anyway, whatever her plan is, she's using Jean as a conduit and playing puppet-master to control her into doing her bidding.

There needs to be some sort of mooks for the X-Men to fight. I'm assuming an invading species of aliens that Chastain's character controls.

For the life of me, I don't know how this movie went from having an ending that took place in space to something that's now a train derailment. That seems like such a big departure. But I assume whatever the impetus for that is, the end result stays the same, in that Jean sacrifices herself to take out the alien threat (namely Chastain's character) and the movie ends with everyone mourning her and honoring her in some fashion.

If they're particularly ambitious, they'll do something like have Jean's consciousness enter the body of someone named Madelyne Pryor, similar to what they did with Xavier in The Last Stand, and/or they'll tease the Shi'ar Empire and the M'Kraan Crystal.

It absolutely bugs the living hell out of me when I see franchises going down the same exact path over and over again with the philosophy in mind that it's "something different", as if different automatically means good by default, and that just because they failed to do it right the first time means they can keep trying until they do, and keep saying it's different.

This latest Terminator film has officially crossed over in my mind from "most likely going to suck" to "definitely going to suck" with leaks of the plot that seem to confirm exactly what I was suspicious of. More on that, later.

First, I want to vent about this trend that we've been seeing for the past decade or so.

Christopher Nolan's Batman films had the origin of Batman, then a Batman who gave up after 2 years or whatever, and then a retired "old Batman" in The Dark Knight Rises. The series completely skipped over Bruce Wayne being Batman, but whatever, it served the purpose of that trilogy.

Then, to follow that up, we had this birth of a new multi-film franchise with the Justice League, and yet, Zack Snyder decides he wants to START with "Old Batman" again? Why?? We got two films out of Batfleck before everything went to hell and now, the new Batman film—if it ever actually happens—thankfully is going with a younger Batman. Hopefully, they don't make the mistake of making him Old Batman by the second film.

Daniel Craig's James Bond followed the same pattern. The first film was his origin, the second film was a direct immediate follow-up, and then poof, he's Old James Bond for three films, because someone was super into the idea of asking the question "Wouldn't it be interesting if we had a 007 who was struggling with his age? We haven't seen that before" and pulled the trigger in the THIRD film in the series, rather than the fifth or so. Then, they had nothing to follow it up with but retreading that same pattern.

It seems there's a tendency to want to have Evil Superman on the big screen. He wasn't as good of a guy in Man of Steel, he was hated in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and a portion of Justice League revolved around Evil Superman (which would have been much bigger in the original idea). Apparently, Supergirl just did their version of the Red Son storyline, and Red Son is going to get an animated film adaptation soon, too. Two more variations of Evil Superman to go along with the Return of Superman animated film that addressed that idea and has been made twice.

Jurassic World was just a worse version of Jurassic Park, and the sequel was a thinly-veiled copy/paste of The Lost World in a lot of ways.

And here we are, getting ready for Terminator: Dark Fate and they're killing off John Connor again.

This is an idea that Hollywood has been trying to do for a LONG time, and they've already just about done it twice before, but that wasn't enough.

At first, it was Terminator Salvation, with the original plot being that John was killed and Marcus took up the mantle. Bait and switch. We got you! John wasn't really the savior of humanity like you thought, because he was just an inspiration and a name that people needed to get behind and this other dude could wear his skin or whatever and fulfill that role! Aren't we clever?

Thankfully, they were talked out of that, and the film went down the way it did.

But then, Terminator Genisys happened, and surprise surprise, John's evil in this and totally not the savior we all thought he was! Let's kill him off!

And now, Dark Fate is going to have a plot where Skynet is renamed Legion and they kill John, just so we could have a NEW SAVIOR who is just "female John Connor...wouldn't that be a neat twist?"

You might as well name her Joan Connor...

No. It isn't original, as you've done it before. It isn't different, as it's happened twice. It didn't work the previous two times and it won't work this time. You're just rehashing the same exact plot, but throwing away the entire purpose of the only two films in this franchise people actually care about and consider to be good, all at the fan service of your own idea that you are valuing over everything else.

You want to know the reason Star Wars is in shambles now compared to what it was before The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi came out? Because this new regime has 1) repeated everything from the original trilogy, and 2) spat in the face of the films before it in order to replace those characters with their own versions.

Yes, there are misogynist idiots out there who don't like Rey strictly because she's a woman and any female protagonist, no matter how great she would be written, would bother them. But there are more people like myself who hate how she is a poorly written protagonist who happens to be female, and who is prioritized over the previous characters. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Luke, Leia, Han, Lando and everyone did everything they did in order to WIN, only for it all to be thrown away because "REY has to be the one who really wins, and if you think we did a bad job with our crappy writing and our preferential treatment to our own characters, we'll call you sexist, because clearly, your problem was that she was a woman, even though that's not what you're complaining about."

Here is my issue with this new Terminator plot. I have no problem at all that the heroic Terminator is a woman. In fact, that's pretty awesome, and I'm glad they're doing that, as it not only provides a positive role model for the young girls watching the film, it's also a subversion of expectations and something we haven't seen before outside of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which was so underrated). Until I'm given a reason to believe otherwise, I'm 100% down with the new Hero Terminator.

My issue is that they're killing the main character - the savior of humanity - in order to replace him with a new one, because "wouldn't that be interesting to do the same thing as before, but this time, it's a girl?"

This new girl, the new savior of humanity, if you wanted me to get on board with her as the driving point going forward, THIS is how you properly introduce that plot point:

- The year is 2019. Judgment Day never happened as it was supposed to.

- John became a senator, like the other ending of Terminator 2. He had a daughter, like in that ending, who had asked Sarah to help tie her shoes.

- Sarah has never stopped being paranoid that Judgment Day will happen, but despite her hysterical tendencies, John has never put her in a psychiatric ward, because he knows his mom is not insane. This has led to lots of criticism with everyone, including at times, his wife, Kate.

- Why not tie that name in, and if you want to up the diversity factor, make Kate of some sort of Hispanic ethnicity. It seems they're going in that direction with a focal point anyway, it helps broaden the range of casting, it's 2019 and if you have a problem with John marrying someone who isn't a blonde haired white girl, then you've got bigger problems than this movie, etc. Anyway, just a random note.

- John's relationship with his daughter (let's name her Tara, after Tara Holden) is strained. She doesn't believe in all this doomsday talk and doesn't understand why her father has spent his life fighting bills that are proposing AI and weapons manufacturing and whatnot.

- Then, it happens. A new Terminator shows up, targeting not just John, but Tara, too.

- The female Hero Terminator helps save the day and we get the backstory of why this is happening. Judgment Day was stopped, but a New Judgment Day has been created in a parallel timeline that is bleeding over into ours. You see, they DID stop Judgment Day, but they only stopped this reality's Judgment Day, and the original timeline worked out a little differently elsewhere.

- Skynet figured out time travel in the original film. What would be the next logical step if they had succeeded? They would see other realities as a threat and would advance their science to learning how to cross dimensions.

- Now, you've got a built-in excuse to have multiple different Terminator offshoot films and projects, where you're dealing with other stories and possibilities that you can fold in on itself from time to time.

- John from this timeline is considered the apex of it all. He's the one who stopped a Judgment Day from happening, and he's the biggest threat, but at this point, he's already gone ahead and done the worst thing in the world for Skynet, which is that he had his daughter.

- You see, in the grand scheme of things, Sarah was immensely important because she was fated to give birth to John, who won the war for humanity. And the next step for John wasn't death, but to be an inspiration. He's already done that with the people who follow his career (and in the other scenario, those who were inspired by his fighting in the war), and there's nobody who will look up to him as much as his future daughter, who takes on his teachings and follows in the family legacy.

- In this parallel universe timeline, John stopped the original Judgment Day, and Tara stopped the invasion from the other universe and figured out a way to keep that fight going, so they need to kill everyone before that happens and blah blah blah.

Look at that. You've got a female protagonist with an actual purpose that is new, but still fits the theme of the franchise and makes it so John isn't a failure who was kept alive just to die and be replaced. You have a female Hero Terminator because why not? You have Sarah fighting alongside John and Tara to keep the family unit strong. You can even work in Arnold in some way, but this isn't supposed to be a super in-depth fan fiction post and it's already gone on longer in that direction than I had intended, as I'm on a roll with this rant.

Killing John isn't interesting. It just shows that you have ONE idea and you keep going back to that well, and that one idea is "let's undo what the other films did." That's what has hurt this new Star Wars series. Old Batman not being able to be Batman isn't interesting anymore. Evil Superman not being able to be SUPERMAN - the embodiment of what is good - is not as impactful anymore. A James Bond who isn't able to perform has been done.

THINK OF SOME NEW IDEAS THAT DON'T REQUIRE FLIPPING THE SCRIPT. If you can't take the lore of something and build upon it in a natural way, and your only answer is to either repeat what has already been done with your new versions of the same characters (Rey is Luke, Finn is Han, Poe is Leia) or you have to throw out the entire purpose of what preceded it (Anakin is the chosen one who restores balance to The Force and Luke and company save the galaxy, only for The Force to not be in balance and The Empire to basically reform again)...then, I had to inform you, but you're a terrible writer.

Terminator 2 is my favorite movie of all time and has been since I was a child, and with each passing film, they keep trying to ruin that. And you know what? They're succeeding.

Welcome to the first of what I'm hoping will be an ongoing series here at Fanboys Anonymous, dubbed Ending the Marvel Universe, wherein I'll be giving you my ideas of how I feel particular characters from Marvel Comics should wrap up their stories.

Before getting into anything, let's establish some ground rules for this first edition.

What I'm attempting to do here is approach each character from a "grand scheme of things" overall perspective, rather than any particular version of the character. For instance, the version of Peter Parker from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is different from Superior Spider-Man, which is different from the 90s animated series and so on. However, I feel like there are some fundamental tropes that should stay a constant, and I like to keep all of those in mind while thinking of these scenarios.

Also, as much as I like playing around with What If scenarios, I also want to make sure this doesn't feel like a Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe type setup. This isn't "some dystopian world where wouldn't it be interesting if XYZ happened?" Rather, this is my idea of "if I had the ability to script the beginning, middle and end of this character's arc, how would I conclude their story with the very last piece of the puzzle?"

On top of that, since we're dealing with more than one particular character at a time, we need to rope in their supporting cast. If I am doing an Ending the DC Universe story for Batman, I want to tell you how I think Alfred Pennyworth's story ends and so on.

So with all of that out of the way, let's start with someone who is very much at the forefront of this type of idea at the moment, after Avengers: Endgame - Iron Man.


My idea of Tony Stark is very much what we got in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's a playboy, a total jerk with a massive ego, very quick-witted and funny, who happens to have a heart of gold (and some metal fragments) that fundamentally drives him to be a superhero, rather than a supervillain, as he could have very easily gone the opposite direction and become someone like Dr. Doom or Dr. Octopus.

Stark isn't someone I think needs to die a sacrificial death. In the MCU, it made sense, given Robert Downey Jr.'s contract and such, but in the comics and other media, you aren't constricted by that type of environment. Instead, I think Stark's death is a prolonged one.

In my mind, the Marvel Universe works in such a way that the Scientist Supreme idea is pretty neat, but that title should go to Reed Richards. To me, he is THE smartest out of the typical characters (obviously excluding folks like The Living Tribunal), but there are others who are insanely intelligent in their own right. Shuri, Peter Parker, The Tinkerer, Amadeus Cho (maybe my #2 or #3 if you count Doom as #2), etc.

Bruce Banner's specialty is biology and gamma radiation. Hank Pym's is molecular physics and he just so happened to have developed an affinity for ants out of necessity. Beast is brilliant. High Evolutionary is absurdly intelligent. Mr. Sinister is and so on.

Tony Stark is THE guy when it comes to mechanical engineering. That is where his expertise lie and where he presents the biggest contribution to the Marvel Universe. Basically, if you want something to be built, he's your guy. He's responsible for quinjets and the Avengers headquarters in all incarnations. He's the guy to build Ultron or find a way to destroy it, not Pym. Stark's empire is weaponry made out of technology and his legacy should be technology that isn't necessarily all weaponry.

Tony lives a long life. He does everything in his power to keep his vitals going well into advanced age. He's not a biologist, so he's not able to cure death or anything crazy, but he's able to slowly keep replacing body parts of his with mechanical organs to keep himself going longer and longer.

Eventually, Pepper Potts, who is in control of Stark Industries/Enterprises, passes away from natural causes. She isn't driven by the same type of motivations as Tony and doesn't want to become more robotic and all, and she's also more at peace with death. Tony makes sure she's comfortable, and they have a great life together.

They have children. Possibly a boy and a girl, named Anthony Howard Stark and let's say Morgan Pepper Stark. I'm not sold on the names 100%, but that doesn't matter as much. More on them, later.

Happy Hogan retires from any kind of labor and dies a normal death, probably from hypertension or heart failure or whatever due to his weight. That sounds sad, but it's just the way most people go, and of course, he's missed.

Rhodey retires from active service and becomes the head of the weapons division of Stark Industries. After all, they're still going to create weapons, right? They're just more responsible about it all. Eventually, when Rhodes passes away, he is given many honors for his military contributions and his role as an Avenger.

Kenjiro Fujikawa takes over for Pepper Potts as CEO in control of Stark Industries when she leaves. Eventually, the business is divided between Rumiko Fujikawa and Tony Jr and Morgan. Let's even go so far as to say that Rumiko and Tony shack up and have a daughter they eventually name Kiri if we want to tie in that comic or something.

What's Riri Williams doing with all this? Well, she's the person who takes up the mantle of Ironheart when Tony stops being Iron Man and before his kids can get involved in that side of things. Riri is a prodigy and someone who is bankrolled by him. Let's say Harley Keener is, too, if we want to bring him into the mix. He could be Iron Lad. I don't know. The point is, Ironheart is out there as the superhero aspect and she names herself that in honor of Tony's impetus for being Iron Man.

But that's not all, as I love the Iron Legion concept and the Guardsmen, so more than anything, Tony Stark doesn't want one singular Iron Man or Iron Woman, he wants robots to be able to do the work for them so nobody is actually getting hurt. Who controls those, as well as most of the production side of the company? A triumvirate of J.A.R.V.I.S., Friday and H.O.M.E.R.

And that is where we wrap things up. How does Tony Stark's story end?

Eventually, he's basically a brain in a jar, having become more machine than man, and he not only realizes this, but he realizes that his time is up when there is something like an inoperable brain tumor or whatever (possibly a tie-in to Ultimate Iron Man). So he does the one last thing he can do, which is to download his consciousness into an artificial intelligence so he'll always be with his kids.

Tony becomes the new J.A.R.V.I.S. and he may even be silly enough to give himself a name similar to that, like S.T.A.R.K. being Sentient Tactical Autonomous Robotic Kompanion or Synthetic Thought Analysis Resource of Knowledge or whatever.

Tony's consciousness is downloaded into all the computers and he's going to live forever, theoretically speaking, so he can continue to watch over the world and contribute in that way long after his body has given up on him.

And just before he passes away and the uplink is complete, he sees Ho Yinsen giving him peace that he didn't waste his life, as well as his mom and dad who are proud of him, his best friends Rhodey and Happy, and his wife, Pepper, all welcoming him from the great beyond.

That is how I would end Iron Man's story.

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

Zoe Saldana Was Almost Cast as Lois Lane in Man of Steel

I've always thought Amy Adams wasn't a good choice for the part, and I feel like Zoe Saldana might have been better. However, if she did that, she might not have done Guardians of the Galaxy, so we got the better end of that deal. Who knows who would have been Gamora in this other universe?

Rey's Father is Han Solo...Maybe...No?

A rumor going around is that it will be revealed that Han Solo had Rey with another woman, not Leia, during a short time when they were separated, and that's why Ben is so pissed at him. Not only would this be a pointless change, it's also a stupid means of doing something that doesn't solve the real problem. The issue many have with Rey is that she's absurdly powerful for no reason other than "bad writing, fuck you if you disagree, that must mean you hate women." If she were a Skywalker, that would explain why she's so powerful, because it's in her blood. But in order for that to happen, she needs to be the offspring of Luke or Leia, NOT Han Solo.

At this point, I'm hoping if they aren't going to say that she's Ben's sister as a byproduct of Han and Leia, that they make her Ben's lover and she ends up having Ben's kid and THAT kid is the subject of the future of protecting The Force, and they use "Skywalker" as a new name instead of "Jedi" or something. But to be honest, I have no faith in any of the Star Wars movies anymore.

However, it's supposedly already been debunked by Pablo Hidalgo by the math of it all, which, of course, we knew (but only through books, because these movies can't explain anything anymore and require tons of books and comics to explain what everything is).

Matthew Vaughn's Idea for Superman Trilogy

The entire first film being Krypton and Superman growing up there as an adult before coming to Earth? Bad idea. That flies directly in opposition of one of the absolute core aspects of his character, and whenever people do that, it makes me wonder why they think they should be making these stories. If your intent is to do something different for the sake of different, but you're presenting it as anything other than "What if..." or whatever, then you're just wrong. That's why you'll never hear me pitch the idea of a Spider-Man series where Peter Parker grew up with Uncle Ben being perfectly alive, or a Batman pitch where Alfred is some car mechanic named Big Al....stupid...

Idris Elba's Rumored Suicide Squad Character

There had been talk before that he was taking over the Deadshot role, which went away. Then, rumors of Deathstroke or Sportsmaster. But now, what I believe to be the most credible, is that he could be Bronze Tiger.

That makes SO much more sense to me, and I say bring it on.

Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer Leaks

The Manfredi mob? Silvio Manfredi? Very cool!

Welcome to another edition of 6 Flicks Picks, wherein I list all of the upcoming films that are scheduled to be released in the United States for the month which is about to begin and break down which ones I'll be watching in theaters, which ones I'll wait to rent at home, and which ones I'll be skipping out on entirely. After going through the list, I'll choose which six films stand out to me as the ones I want to see the most, even if there are more or less than six that interest me.

Note: The list below is based primarily off the expanded nationwide USA release dates on IMDB as well as some other random outlets if possible, so some information may be different. If I am missing some of the limited releases or the dates conflict in some fashion, please let me know in the comments below and any adjustments and corrections will be made!

Without further ado, another new month means another new set of films, so what's coming soon to theaters in June 2019?

Dark Phoenix

Synopsis: Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world.

Will I watch? = Yes

The Secret Life of Pets 2

Synopsis: Continuing the story of Max and his pet friends, following their secret lives after their owners leave them for work or school each day.

Will I watch? = Maybe

Late Night

Synopsis: A late-night talk show host suspects that she may soon be losing her long-running show.

Will I watch? = No

Pavarotti

Synopsis: A look at the life and work of opera legend Luciano Pavarotti.

Will I watch? = No


Men in Black: International

Synopsis: The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.

Will I watch? = Yes

Shaft

Synopsis: John Shaft Jr., a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, enlists his family's help to uncover the truth behind his best friend's untimely death.

Will I watch? = Maybe

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Synopsis: A young man searches for home in the changing city that seems to have left him behind.

Will I watch? = No

The Dead Don't Die

Synopsis: he peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.

Will I watch? = No


Toy Story 4

Synopsis: When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

Will I watch? = Yes

Child's Play

Synopsis: A mother gives her son a toy doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature.

Will I watch? = No

Them That Follow

Synopsis: Set deep in the wilds of Appalachia, where believers handle death-dealing snakes to prove themselves before God, Them That Follow tells the story of a pastor's daughter who holds a secret that threatens to tear her community apart.

Will I watch? = No

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

Synopsis: This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary story- teller examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career.

Will I watch? = No


Annabelle Comes Home

Synopsis:Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her "safely" behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest's holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target-the Warrens' ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends.

Will I watch? = No

Yesterday

Synopsis:A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.

Will I watch? = No

The Other Side of Heaven 2: Fire of Faith

Synopsis: Missionary John H. Groberg returns to Tonga in the 1960s with his wife and their five young daughters. When their sixth child is born with a serious illness, the Grobergs face their ultimate test of faith, only to find themselves surrounded by the love and prayers of thousands of Tongans. Barriers of inter religious strife are soon broken down as all unite in hopes of a miracle that will save the baby's life, as well as the life of a Tongan minister's son.

Will I watch? = No


Which films make the cut?

#6 and #5. Rocketman and Godzilla: King of the Monsters — Technically, these come out May 31st, but I'm cheating and adding them into here because technically, I'm not going to get a chance to see both on the same day and June 1st would be when I would have a chance to go and see one or the other. Ha. That's how you get around picking another one of these duds. I'm not into Child's Play. I don't like the quirk of The Dead Don't Die. I haven't seen The Secret Life of Pets 1, so I can't see the sequel yet.

4. Shaft — I had seen the previous Shaft film, so why not?

3. Men in Black: International — While this franchise isn't something I'm inherently super duper fond of, they do have value and this does look like it could be fun.

2. Dark Phoenix — Boy, the X-Men films have been really hit or miss, haven't they? I have little to no faith in this, but it's still an X-Men movie.

1. Toy Story 4 — Don't make me cry. Don't make me cry. Don't make me cry.

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, host Tony Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Godzilla: King of the Monsters by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

Members of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species-thought to be mere myths-rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

Even if the show's quality dipped down from time to time, The Big Bang Theory was on the air for 12 seasons, so the finale had a lot to live up to.

After having watched the last episode, I felt mostly satisfied with the conclusion of nearly everybody, but very disappointed with how Raj's story wrapped up. Or, rather, didn't.

Raj's character arc throughout the show went from a guy who couldn't speak to women to someone who could and was searching for love to no avail. He needed to end with some sort of happy finish that showed that his efforts wouldn't be in vain.

Instead, his finish was a throwaway joke that he was on a date with Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is married (to Freddie Prinze Jr.). There's no hint that the future will be different for him than any other episode of any other season. He's still alone, he still has no prospects, nothing.

And I feel like this would have been SUCH an easy thing to fix, which bugs me so much that I felt the need to write this up, as it's still in my mind this long after that last episode aired.

How do you fix it? You just change Gellar to a completely random woman.

Raj sits next to someone on the plane that he has maybe two bits of dialogue with. One little exchange. There's a bit of flirtation, wherein he mentions that the last time he was going to get on a plane, he was going to propose to someone he wouldn't have wanted to spend his life wife, and that Howard showed him how he needs the romance he's always been hoping for.

There could be a connection with this random woman, wherein he'd feel a romantic spark with the idea in mind that he could have met the love of his life on the plane ride to the Nobel ceremony...and she'd somehow be presented in a way that the audience would get it.

Then, she's the one who is his date at the ceremony, and there could be a throwaway joke about how Sheldon thanks her in his speech even though he doesn't know her name yet or whatever.

That way, it's hinted that Raj has a future with this woman and that they'll forever have a story to tell about how they met and how romantic it was.

Now was that so hard?

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, hosts Tony Mango and Caroline Oliveira breaks down the hits and misses of Brightburn by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? With Brightburn, the visionary filmmaker of Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither presents a startling, subversive take on a radical new genre: superhero horror.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

Westworld Season 3 Trailer

Oh hey, I don't know what's going on. Must be just like season 2! To be honest, I'm still excited for this, because the first season was so good. Even though the second was needlessly complicated, I'm hoping they've learned their lessons and this will get back on track.

Toy Story 4 Trailer #2

"I've known that guy my whole life...two days!"

They didn't need to have any trailers for this. Based on the strength of the previous 3 movies, I was going to see it by default.

Black Mirror Season 5 Trailers

Smithereens: Sounds like a baby boomer is complaining about people using phones all the time nowadays.

Striking Vipers: I have no idea.

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too: Not into Miley Cyrus, but the evil Alexa thing is interesting.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Trailer

Al Pacino looks younger right now than he did the past few years. That's good.

This doesn't quite feel like a Quentin Tarantino film to me, and to be honest, if this wasn't a movie with his name on it, I don't think I'd be interested. But since it's a Tarantino film, I'll see it.

True Lies TV Series for Disney+

I can see some potential for this to work, or at least to try. However, part of what made the original something people were into was Arnold, and I assume he won't be in it. Recasting or making up a brand new set of characters in a rehash/reboot/sequel type scenario is probably going to feel really recycled and lame, especially since it's hard to imagine this won't get tiresome if the seasons are too long.

Ghostbusters High

Dan Aykroyd has written a prequel of the three main characters (because obviously, Winston isn't part of the crew until the first film) meeting each other in 1969 New Jersey, with the intent to create a television show out of it.

In theory, I'm down...but let's see what happens with this new Ghostbusters III first.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Vanity Fair

Creatures. Desert. Vague content. Yeah, it's a Star Wars photo shoot that means nothing.

Terminator: Dark Fate Trailer

Terminator 2 is my favorite movie of all time. Don't fuck this up. You're gonna fuck this up, aren't you? Yup.

WHERE. IS. JOHN. CONNOR? Getting more and more worried that this movie is going to pull some bullshit about him being killed off and not the "real" savior or something.

Sonic the Hedgehog Delayed

Now, the movie is coming out Valentine's Day 2020 to allow more time for them to redesign the character. That makes a lot more sense than the November release date they were going for before. Hopefully, it'll be worth it.

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, host Tony Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Aladdin by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

Young Aladdin embarks on a magical adventure after finding a lamp that releases a wisecracking genie.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the latest in the line of animated DC direct-to-video films. Is it worth the watch or it is something that should be skipped?

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Directed by Jake Castorena
Written by Marly Halpern-Graser

STARRING:
Troy Baker (Bruce Wayne / Batman, The Joker), Eric Bauza (Leonardo), Darren Criss (Raphael), Baron Vaughn (Donatello), Kyle Mooney (Michelangelo), Ben Giroux (Damian Wayne / Robin), Rachel Bloom (Barbara Gordon / Batgirl), Brian George (Alfred Pennyworth), Jim Meskimen (Commissioner James Gordon, Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow), Andrew Kishino (Oroku Saki / Shredder), Cas Anvar (Ra's al Ghul), Keith Ferguson (Baxter Stockman, Harvey Dent / Two-Face), Tom Kenny (Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin), Carlos Alazraqui (Bane), John DiMaggio (Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze) and Tara Strong (Harley Quinn, Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy)

Here are some specific thoughts that ran through my mind during the course of the film as a stream of consciousness:

• Gotham loves its blimps.
• In the context of this story, Barbara totally confused me as April O'Neil until they said the name.
• Why did they choose to give Batman the blue and gray outfit?
• Bruce drinks out of a Superman mug? What a surprisingly non-egotistical thing to do.
• I feel like the dynamics of this team-up should be that Batman gets along best with Leonardo, Barbara with Donatello, Dick Grayson with Mikey and Damian with Raph.
• The aesthetics of Penguin and his goons is very campy, but works.
• Wait a sec, is that one goon supposed to be Krang?
• YOOOO that Foot Soldier getting the ninja star to the head was not expected.
• Glad they didn't job Batman out to Shredder just so the turtles could be the only ones capable of taking him down.
• Full-on Baxter Stockman. I like it.
• Ubu rarely shows up. Nice to see him alongside Ra's al Ghul.
• So homeboy turned into a wolf. If they don't have another that turns into a snapping turtle, I'll be surprised.
• Donatello's head is weird.
• Love Damian being a violent jerk who is underestimated.
• A decapitation, too? Goddamn. Some violent deaths in this kids' movie.
• I want some road pizza.
• Troy Baker is the second best Joker voice behind Mark Hamill.
• Damian's voice is annoying. Too mousey.
• Pink Floyd reference...I don't know if I love it or hate it.
• Jason Todd's death is canon in this, which is very cool.
• Way too much sauce on that pizza if every bite causes them to have an entire mouth covered like that.
• Joker Shredder is wicked.

Most of these animated films are 90 minutes of very generic action and a thin plot. This was certainly that. But hey, it was fun to see Batman and the turtles team up. Childhood me from the 90s would have FREAKED to see this, and it probably would have been one of those films I would have watched nonstop. At least for nostalgia purposes, if you're into these characters, you should definitely check it out.

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

Charlize Theron Turned Down Hippolyta in Wonder Woman

Supposedly, Theron was offered the role and turned it down (seemingly out of a bit of offense that she would be Wonder Woman's mom as opposed to Wonder Woman). Frankly, I think it's for the best. She's a great actress that could do wonders (pun intended) in a lot of roles, but I don't think either of those would have been a good fit for her.

Connie Nielsen did the role justice. She's not an unknown, but she's not as recognizable of a face as Theron, and it would have been a bit distracting seeing Theron in the role.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Teaser

Yeaaaah....no.....

Black Mirror Season 5 Trailer
Black Mirror can pretty much do no wrong at this point, after so many episodes. I have no idea what's going on with these teasers, and I don't want to know. Just hook me up.

Batman: Hush Trailer

I'm down with just the name Batman in the trailer, let alone that it's Hush. The trailer didn't wow me, but there was nothing that kept me from still being excited.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Reboot

Why? Just because it's a named entity from the time frame people my age were kids? There's no need for this.

Chris Rock Rebooting Saw

Why? Wasn't there enough of these movies? Is it really that hard to think of a new series than to just slap the Saw logo on it and hope people see it?

Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.

Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:

Avengers: Endgame Surpasses Titanic

The movie is now the #2 highest grossing film of all time worldwide and is approaching Avatar's record super fast.

Oddly, it still has a long way to go before it surpasses The Force Awakens for the domestic total, and we could see it become the worldwide top before it beats out the USA one. Strange.

I sincerely hope Endgame beats literally every possible record. Avatar doesn't deserve that top spot, nor does The Force Awakens, and the MCU really is the king of all franchises and should be the benchmark.

Who Was Katherine Langford in Avengers: Endgame?

Apparently, not Kate Bishop, but the older version of Morgan Stark, who would have appeared to Tony in a soul world vision (similar to how Gamora popped up and talked to Thanos). Morgan would have given Tony his blessing for sacrificing himself and it would have served as a means to tell him that everything will be okay.

I wish they would have included this! That would have been such a good parallel to compare his goal and that of Thanos, and their relationships with their daughters. That's a shame we didn't get to see it. But just because we didn't see it on screen doesn't mean it isn't still canon, as that could have been what Tony saw in a momentary flash before he had passed away.

Headcanon, quite literally in his head.

Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer

VERY cool. I'll be honest, I still absolutely hate some things about this version of Spider-Man, like Michelle "MJ" Jones and Flash Thompson, and how they're missing Harry Osborn, and how...you know what, another rant for another time. This is about the positives.

Carrying on after Iron Man's death is a great story. Bringing Nick Fury and Maria Hill in is great. Having Mysterio be masquerading, I think, as someone from another world is a good idea, cause when he reveals that he's actually just a con artist, then that's even cooler.

Did I spot a Crusher Hogan poster? Very cool detail!

The overall feel of this and everything about it, for the most part, I really dig. Sign me up. Wait, I already bought my ticket, so I guess I'm already signed up.

Possible Role for Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker

Rumor has it they'll reveal that Snoke was possessed by Palpatine and Matt Smith's character will be the next vessel, before eventually going into Kylo Ren, who will convert to the light and reject Palpatine and restore himself as Ben Solo.

If they go this route, that's at least a method of TRYING to fix some of the problems, but it doesn't fix everything. It still means Anakin and Luke were failures. It still means they couldn't do a trilogy without just repeating the original trilogy. It doesn't help fix Rey's character. So on and so forth. But it's at least a start.

Disney's Film Slate Dates

There are a lot of interesting things to take away from this information of the upcoming 2020-2027 release schedule.

New Mutants has been moved AGAIN. I don't know why they don't just rename this to "Mutants" and put it on Hulu.

Avatar's sequels are being pushed back AGAIN too. I'm wondering if this means James Cameron is perpetually waiting for a new type of technology to be what sells these movies, just like how the first film only made as much money as it did because of the 3D gimmick. But if that's the case and these movies can't stand on their own and need some 4D or whatever type bonus thing to entice people to see them, then that's awful and they shouldn't make the movies, but do something new and different.

Gambit is RIP. Saw that one coming. That's a shame, though. Channing Tatum had a lot of potential for that.

Star Wars is taking some time off. Maybe that's to recalibrate what their plans are and actually, I don't know, plan something in advance? They should have done that from the beginning and didn't and now they're paying the price.

They're still advertising this March 27, 2020 Mulan movie, but I'm not seeing much in the headway of that. Curious.

Also curious how Jungle Cruise is going to be different from just being a combination of Jumanji and San Andreas or something.

Cruella is going to be stupid, I bet. December 23, 2020 is a good release date for it, though.

"Untitled Indiana Jones" for July 9, 2021. Interesting.

It: Chapter 2 Trailer

Creepy. Great casting. I'm curious what they've changed this time around.

Michael Rooker for King Shark?

Yes please!!! That would be awesome!

Lethal Weapon Cancelled

Why didn't they just cancel it after season 2 with the whole switch from Clayne Crawford? You can't have Lethal Weapon without Martin Riggs. He IS the Lethal Weapon. Stupid. If they had tried to recast him with Sean William Scott, it would have still been a problem, but maybe it would have worked. Replacing the character itself is a different story.