The 10 Best Episodes of Columbo

From 1968 through 1978, and then again from 1989 to 2003, the rich and powerful, the haughty and the vain, all feared one man; a man who looked like he had forgotten to comb his hair and couldn’t remember to remove his overcoat. That man was Lieutenant Columbo of the Los Angeles Police Department, played by Peter Falk.

Introduced as a side character in a short story by writers Richard Levinson and William Link, Lieutenant Columbo first appeared in a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, played by Bert Freed. When that same story was remade as the TV movie Prescription: Murder in 1968, Falk took the part and immediately made an impression. Falk proved popular enough to warrant a second TV movie, Ransom for a Dead Man, in 1971, later that year getting a proper premiere as part of The NBC Mystery Movie series.

Drawing inspiration from Inspector Porfiry Petrovich from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Levinson and Link imagined Columbo as a wise and wily investigator. When Falk came aboard, he began adding affectations that became the character’s calling card: his unkempt appearances, he busted car and ever-present cigar, a dog named “Dog” and references to a forever-unseen wife, and, of course, his catchphrase, “Just one more thing…”

Columbo solved his last case when he caught a killer played by Matthew Rhys in 2003, but he leaves behind a host of great mysteries, including these 10 standout episodes.

10. Columbo Goes to College (1990)

For the most part, the revival episodes of Columbo pale in comparison to the original run. The 24 TV movies aired intermittently between 1989 and 2003 tended to make the lieutenant feel out of place in his own show, sticking him into hard-boiled cop drama, forcing him to do extended and unfunny bits (see: the tuba playing in “Sex and the Married Detective”), or lean into discordant raunchy plots (see, again: “Sex and the Married Detective”).

However, 1990’s “Columbo Goes to College” recovers some of the old magic by pitting the lieutenant against a pair of snotty college jerks (Stephen Caffrey and Gary Hershberger) who think their rich parents will protect them from punishment. Falk gets some back-up in the form of Robert Culp, who co-starred in some of the best episodes of the original series, for a story that builds to one of the most satisfying confession moments.

9. Fade into Murder (1976)

At its height, Columbo gave guest stars a chance to show off their skills and play against type. Not so for William Shatner, who appeared in 1976’s “Fade into Murder” as, get this, an arrogant actor! All kidding aside, Shatner is magnetic as Ward Fowler, who plays a charismatic detective Lieutenant Lucerne on television. When Fowler kills his controlling agent (Lola Albright) while disguised as a stick-up artist, he hopes to draw attention away from himself by offering unwanted advice to Columbo.

Fowler is a classic Columbo killer, so full of himself and so devoid of remorse that he doesn’t see the folly of judging a real detective according to the standards of the guy he plays on TV. Shatner invites the viewers to hate him, and then completely wins them over with his endless charisma. Just don’t pay too much attention to Shatner’s old Star Trek crew mate Walter Koenig as police officer in one scene, an unfortunate reminder that guys like Fowler aren’t so fun to be around in real life.

8. Double Shock (1973)

Unlike most mystery shows, Columbo wasn’t a whodunit. Rather, it was a “howcatchem,” an inverted detective story that reveals the killer and the murder in the first act, and spends the rest of the episode showing how Columbo figures it out and gets the bad guy to confess. The season 2 finale “Double Shock” initially seems to be following the usual path, beginning with ill-tempered Dexter (Martin Landau) killing his rich and elderly Uncle Clifford, before the latter can marry a much younger woman (one-time Catwoman Julie Newmar).

But with the reveal that Landau also plays Dexter’s outgoing identical twin brother Norman, viewers realize that they may not know what they think they know. The twin conceit forces Columbo watchers to guess more than usual, but it also gives Landau plenty of room to show off his skills, varying between the sullen Dexter and the sunny Norman. Even better, “Double Shock” features one of the more delightful interludes, when the lieutenant becomes an initially reluctant but then exuberant guest on Norman’s cooking show.

7. Try and Catch Me (1977)

If Columbo had a motto, it might be, “Looks are deceiving.” After all, nearly every episode involves some vain person dismissing Columbo as an air-headed buffoon, only to learn that he’s three steps ahead of them. At first, author Abigail Mitchell of “Try and Catch Me” doesn’t seem to fit the mold, and not just because she’s played by pint-sized octogenarian Ruth Gordon. Rather, the spunky old writer seems like a genuine sweetheart—until she commits one of the most upsetting murders in the series, trapping his nephew-in-law (Edmund Galvin) in an airtight walk-in safe to suffocate to death.

Yet, there’s more than meets the eye in even that action, as Mitchell murders the man for killing her beloved niece. That sense of justice allows the always-delightful Gordon to play Mitchell as a sweet and spunky antagonist to Columbo, even as her vendetta starts claiming less-guilty lives.

6. Forgotten Lady (1975)

Abigail Mitchell covers her killer instinct under the exterior of a sweet old lady. Grace Wheeler-Willis, the past-her-prime actress played by Janet Leigh in “Forgotten Lady” goes even further. Along with her on-screen partner Ned Diamond (John Payne), Grace plans a triumphant comeback, if only she can get funding for her new production. When her husband Henry (Sam Jaffe) refuses to devote his finances to the endeavor, Grace takes things into her own hands by killing him and making it look like a suicide.

Stories with celebrities within the world of the show can be hit-or-miss (see: “Swan Song,” which wastes Johnny Cash playing a killer), but it’s always fun to see the lieutenant act like a fanboy, either on his own behalf or that of Mrs. Columbo. “Forgotten Lady” takes it one step further by making Grace into not just a sympathetic villain, but a tragic one, leading to one of the most surprising final moments of any Columbo episode.

5. Étude in Black (1972)

Outside of the show, Falk is perhaps best known for his work with close friend John Cassavetes, the indie auteur behind such raw classics such as A Woman Under the Influence and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Those two worlds collide with the season two premiere “Étude in Black,” in which Cassavetes plays a brilliant composer who kills his mistress to prevent her from revealing the affair to his wife (Blythe Danner).

Falk and Cassavetes pair so well because the former’s shambling persona offsets the latter’s manic energy, and “Étude in Black” is no different. Few suspects have been so convincingly irritated by Columbo’s constant presence, and rarely has the lieutenant seemed so unbothered. Although the episode drags a bit, a result of NBC expanding the run-time to capitalize on Columbo‘s popularity, the script by future Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue creator Steven Bochco remains compelling, leading to a fantastic showdown at the end.

Fun fact: one could argue that “Étude in Black” counts as Gwyneth Paltrow‘s first screen appearance, as her mother Danner is visibly pregnant with her during a tennis scene.

4. A Stitch in Crime (1973)

Part of Columbo‘s appeal came from the way he contradicted other pop-culture cops at the time. While Dirty Harry Callahan and Popeye Doyle are making the streets safe by brutalizing everyone they meet, Lieutenant Columbo genially annoys suspects until their conscience overtook them, like Inspector Petrovich before him. “A Stitch in Crime” features the rare instance of the lieutenant losing his cool. Even better, it’s Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock himself, who pushes Columbo over the edge.

Nimoy plays Dr. Barry Mayfield, a talented young surgeon who feels that his older colleague, Dr. Heideman (Will Geer), is blocking his success because he refuses to rush a new drug to market. When Heideman needs emergency surgery, he foolishly entrusts Mayfield to perform the procedure, sealing his fate. To his credit, Mayfield does come up with an ingenious way of covering his crime. But not so smart that it can fool Columbo, who quickly runs out of patience with the surgeon’s callous attitude toward human life.

3. Any Old Port in the Storm (1973)

Columbo almost always expresses admiration for his suspects, but it usually feels like an extension of his act to get them to underestimate him. Columbo’s respect for winemaker Adrian Carsini (the great Donald Pleasence) feels different. The lieutenant figures out almost immediately that Carsini killed his half-brother Ric (Gary Conway) to prevent him from diluting the family’s wine offering in pursuit of higher profits. Yet, he’s happy to take his time with Carsini, listening to the man speak passionately about his beverage.

To be clear, the lieutenant still brings Carsani to justice by the end of “Any Old Port in the Storm.” However, the interactions between Columbo and Carsani give Falk the chance to play his character straight. Moreover, it’s nice to see a suspect actually respect the lieutenant and recognize his cleverness right away, even if that means he’ll be held accountable for his actions.

2. Negative Reaction (1974)

As already seen with Leonard Nimoy in “A Stitch in Crime,” a guest spot on Columbo gives character actors the opportunity to play against type. No one embraced the opportunity better than Dick Van Dyke, who soured his affable screen presence to play angry photographer Paul Galesko. Galesko spends the first act setting up an elaborate kidnapping hoax to kill his unpleasant wife, giving Van Dyke plenty of space to express his hatred of her.

Even at his angriest, Van Dyke cannot completely subdue his likability, making Galesko a killer both alluring and repellent. It also adds a unique charge to his interactions with Columbo, as we viewers fear that the lieutenant’s in danger, even when Galesko seems to play along with his interruptions. The combination makes for a thrilling episode of Columbo, one only slightly diminished by the tenuous nature of the evidence the lieutenant uses to get a confession out of Galesko.

1. Murder by the Book (1971)

As this list shows, some incredible talents have worked on Columbo. But the greatest of all may be the person who directed the show’s debut as part of The NBC Mystery Movie series. Steven Spielberg directed “Murder by the Book” in 1971, the same year as his debut feature film, Duel. Right away, Spielberg’s incredible talent for blocking is on full display, with a bravado sequence showing author Ken Franklin (Jack Cassidy) interrupting his writing partner Jim Ferris (Martin Milner), to play along with his pal before murdering him to prevent the loss of their shared profits.

Even without Spielberg’s direction, “Murder by the Book” would be an all-time great. The charismatic Cassidy always plays a great smarmy Columbo killer, and his Franklin condescends to the lieutenant with the best of them. Even better, the episode illustrates what makes Columbo such a great detective, with multiple scenes that find the lieutenant moving away from the crowd to pick up on a clue or detail that everyone else has missed.

In most cases, it is disastrous when a show’s first episode is its best episode. But with Columbo, “Murder by the Book” simply set a standard that was met bet the majority of the shows that followed.

Columbo is streaming on Peacock.

The Peaky Blinders Sequel Will Get a New Duke Shelby

The ending of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man left the franchise at something of a crossroads. With Tommy Shelby, the singular power behind both the series’ fictional gang and the show’s larger emotional narrative, dead for real this time, where would its story go next? What could be as compelling as what had already come before? And how would the show – already greenlit for two new seasons post Immortal Man — reorganize itself without the singular presence of its (now Oscar-winning) star, Cillian Murphy?

The answer is: around the family’s next generation. The new seasons will shift their focus to Tommy’s illegitimate firstborn son, Duke, though thanks to a fairly significant time jump, he’ll look a bit different than when we last saw him. Jamie Bell, probably best known for playing Abraham Woodhull on AMC’s Turn: Washington’s Spies, will take over the role from Barry Keoghan (who himself stepped in for Conrad Khan following Season 6) as the show moves into the 1950s, playing a Duke who is older, presumably wiser, and likely even more dangerous. (No pressure, though!)

To be fair, in the wake of the events depicted in The Immortal Man, there really only seemed to be one path the show could follow, and that was to focus on Tommy’s son. The film pretty much established Duke as both the new leader of the Peaky Blinders and the heir to Tommy’s gypsy title of “Rom baro” (a.k.a. king), and much of its plot revolved around repairing their relationship and putting Duke back at the center of the family he seems to have once rejected.

The two new seasons of the show will be set a bit over a decade after the events of The Immortal Man, in a Birmingham ablaze (figuratively) with the opportunities that post-war reconstruction represents. In the aftermath of the Blitz, there’s clearly plenty of money to be made and power to be grabbed by a group of enterprising young men wiling to break some rules along the way. Which, let’s face it, has always been the Shelby family’s mantra.

Given that most of the characters from the original generation of Peaky Blinders are now dead, the show will almost certainly have to introduce some new faces to help Duke in his ongoing quest for Birmingham domination. Netflix has also announced former Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton as something like a co-lead, but offered no real details as to who he might be playing. Could he be Tommy’s other son, Charles, returned from the war a different man than when he left? There would be something neatly symmetrical about two brothers leading the gang again, much as Tommy and Arthur once did so long ago.

Of course, there are plenty of other Shelby offspring left to help carry on the famly dynasty. Heaton could be playing any of Tommy’s siblings’ kids — there’s still something poetic about two Shelby cousins in charge, after all. Arthur’s son, Billy, Ada’s son, Karl, and any one of John’s seven kids could all be in the mix, though only Karl and his sister, Elizabeth, made an appearance in The Immortal Man.

But the secrecy surrounding Heaton’s character — the press release is not coy about revealing Bell is playing Duke — certainly offers a strong hint that a sibling rivalry between Tommy’s sons is the show’s most likely choice. This has always been a show about family after all, and what could more Shelby-centric than Tommy’s boys either building or battling for their future?

Gaten Matarazzo Follows Up Stranger Things With the Mind-Bending Pizza Movie

Gaten Matarazzo doesn’t know what Stranger Things fans will make of his new flick Pizza Movie, but he’s pretty sure their parents will like it a lot less. “They’ll be like ‘oh, Dustin’s in this!’ And then, uh oh…” he tells Den of Geek at SXSW, before co-director Brian McElhaney interjects with “Uh oh, he’s screaming the C-word over and over!”

Pizza Movie is definitely a wild change of pace for Matarazzo. Many people still associate him with the sweet but courageous Dustin Henderson in Netflix’s hit horror series, but this new project sees Matarazzo’s Jack, along with his best friend Montgomery (The Goldbergs star Sean Giambrone) swerving Demogorgons and Mind Flayers to take on a very different kind of quest, as they attempt to descend just two flights of stairs to pick up a pizza after taking some random pills called M.I.N.T.S.

The quest becomes a surreal, mind-bending nightmare as they encounter obstacle after obstacle. Having not observed the drug’s rules properly, they’ll suffer the worst of it until they chase it up with a pizza. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of the drug is being confronted by your worst nightmare, and the cast divulges their own, ranging from “war,” to “sharks with human legs,” to just “sharks.”

“I’m not scared of sharks, I don’t know why I said that,” wonders Matarazzo aloud suddenly, adding, “I even swam with sharks!”

Though Jack and Montgomery haven’t exactly reached the heights of popularity in Pizza Movie when the M.I.N.T.S. kick in—and there’s a hilarious sequence at the start of the film that drives this home—Giambrone counters that he is actually an alpha in real life, before being challenged to do 20 push-ups on the spot in the Den of Geek studio. Incredibly, he does, to cheers from the cast, including scream queen Lulu Wilson, who plays the duo’s old pal Lizzy.

Wilson is taking a well-earned break from the ghosts of Hill House and the violent intruders of the Becky movies in this new comedy, and she couldn’t be happier. She says she still got to flex her genre muscles during the film’s “bad trip” moments, describing the project itself as a dream come true. “The second I got this script, I was determined to book the role of Lizzy,” she tells us. “I’m still pinching myself that I’m here.”

Meanwhile, La Brea star Jack Martin plays the villain of the piece, a strict college RA who is taking his job way too seriously. “They let me be the biggest psychopath of all time,” he says gleefully. “Not a big stretch,” jokes McElhaney. “Jack kinda is the biggest psychopath of all time.”

BriTANicK comedy duo McElhaney and Nick Kocher say they first had the idea for Pizza Movie in college, but didn’t flesh it out until much later. They’ll “plead the fifth” on whether specific characters or stories are based on anything from real life, but say that “Everyone’s ordered food when they’re not fully sober and found it difficult, so yes, we got high and ordered pizza. This has happened to us.”

Pizza Movie will be streaming on Hulu from April 3, 2026.

13 Actors Who Got Bullied for Their On-Screen Personas

Over the years, several actors have faced real-life backlash simply for portraying fictional roles that audiences loved to hate. It may have been online harassment, public ridicule, or even personal attacks; what all these reactions had in common is that they blurred the line between performance and reality.

In many cases, the stronger the portrayal, the harsher the response. It’s a strange paradox of modern fandom, where convincing acting can lead to very real consequences, reminding us how easily audiences can forget there’s a person behind the character, and how internet anonymity can give strangers a lot of power.

Jake Lloyd, Star Wars: Episode I

Lloyd faced intense backlash as young Anakin Skywalker, later describing years of bullying from peers and overwhelming media scrutiny that contributed to his withdrawal from acting.

Jack Gleeson, Game of Thrones

Gleeson’s portrayal of Joffrey led to intense fan hatred, though often jokingly expressed, highlighting how convincingly he embodied a widely despised character.

Ahmed Best, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Best, who portrayed Jar Jar Binks, received widespread criticism and harassment, later revealing the backlash severely impacted his mental health.

Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad

Gunn received significant backlash for Skyler White, including personal criticism that blurred the line between actor and character.

Geoffrey Hughes, Coronation Street

Hughes faced negative reactions from viewers who associated him with his villainous TV roles, a common issue in long-running soaps.

Kelly Marie Tran, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Tran was subjected to sustained online harassment over her character Rose Tico, eventually leaving social media due to the abuse.

Tom Felton, Harry Potter series

Felton has spoken about fans struggling to separate him from Draco Malfoy, particularly early in his career.

Robert Pattinson, Twilight series

Pattinson faced intense public scrutiny and mockery tied to his role, especially during the height of the franchise’s popularity.

Paul Reubens, Pee-wee’s Playhouse

Though beloved, Reubens’ strong association with Pee-wee Herman made it difficult for audiences to separate him from the character in public perception.

Shannon Purser, Stranger Things

Purser experienced online backlash and body-shaming tied to her character Barb’s sudden popularity and visibility.

Josh McDermitt, The Walking Dead

McDermitt received threats and harassment due to his character Eugene’s actions, eventually stepping back from social media.

Alison Arngrim, Little House on the Prairie

Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, has spoken about being treated harshly by viewers who associated her with the character’s cruelty.

Ross Butler – 13 Reasons Why

Butler and other cast members faced backlash tied to the show’s controversial themes, often directed at actors despite narrative context.

15 Unsettling Movie Facts We Never Noticed

Movies tend to stay with us long after the credits roll, and more often than not, it is due to what they hide. Filmmakers often layer in subtle details, from sound design to performance choices, that make scenes feel naturally disturbing.

Opposed to scares or shocking twists, these are small, deliberate decisions that work on a subconscious level. The result is a lingering sense of unease that many viewers can’t quite explain on first watch. Once you notice these details, though, it becomes clear just how carefully crafted these unsettling moments really are.

The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal Lecter rarely blinks during conversations, creating an unnatural intensity that subtly unsettles viewers without them immediately realizing why.

Zodiac

The basement scene wasn’t entirely fictional, it’s inspired by real witness accounts, which adds an extra layer of unease to an already tense moment.

Nope

The Gordy’s Home sequence is shot in a way that mimics real-life trauma recall, with fragmented perspective and lingering tension that feels disturbingly grounded.

The Ring

Samara’s movements were altered using subtle frame manipulation, giving her unnatural motion that many viewers feel but don’t consciously detect.

The Exorcist

The bedroom set was refrigerated to capture visible breath, creating genuine discomfort for actors and adding to the film’s eerie realism.

Coraline

The Other Mother’s design becomes subtly more skeletal as the film progresses, a detail many viewers only notice on repeat viewings.

The Dark Knight

The Joker’s clapping in the jail cell scene is slightly off rhythm, reinforcing his unpredictable and unsettling nature in a subtle way.

The Blair Witch Project

The actors were given decreasing amounts of food during filming to increase tension, contributing to their real exhaustion and fear.

It

The child actors were often kept separate from Bill Skarsgård in full costume to preserve genuine fear reactions.

Joker

Arthur’s laugh is intentionally inconsistent and physically painful, reflecting a neurological condition that adds realism to his unsettling presence.

Get Out

The ‘Sunken Place’ effect uses practical lighting and performance rather than heavy CGI, making the scene feel disturbingly real.

The Lighthouse

The foghorn sound was designed to feel oppressive and disorienting, contributing to the film’s psychological tension.

Sinister

The home movie footage was shot to resemble real snuff films, which many viewers cite as the film’s most disturbing element.

The Grudge

The iconic croaking sound was created by the actress making the noise while inhaling instead of exhaling, producing an unnatural effect.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The dinner scene was filmed over long hours in extreme heat with real animal remains, creating genuine discomfort and distress among the cast.

15 Times an On-Set Injury Made the Final Cut

Movies are built on illusion, even though sometimes reality slips through in ways audiences never realize. Behind the polish of blockbuster scenes and dramatic performances, there are moments where actors were genuinely hurt, and the cameras kept rolling.

In some cases, those takes were so convincing, or too expensive to redo, so they ended up in the final cut. From broken bones to near-misses, these incidents blur the line between performance and real danger. They also reveal just how far productions are willing to go for authenticity, even when things don’t go according to plan. All that matters is: stay in character.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

DiCaprio smashed a glass and cut his hand mid-scene but stayed in character, continuing the take while bleeding, which was used in the final film.

Viggo Mortensen, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Mortensen broke two toes kicking a helmet in frustration, and his real scream of pain was kept in the scene.

Channing Tatum, Foxcatcher

Tatum slammed his head into a mirror during an intense scene, causing a real injury that remained in the final cut.

Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Cruise broke his ankle during a rooftop jump but continued the take, and the shot was used in the finished film.

Sylvester Stallone, Rocky IV

Stallone was hit for real during a fight scene and suffered injuries, with some of the footage included in the final film.

Jackie Chan, Police Story

Chan performed a dangerous stunt sliding down a pole covered in lights, suffering burns and injuries that are visible in the final cut.

Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon

Lee sustained real hits and injuries during fight sequences, with the realism preserved in the finished film.

Sean Connery, Never Say Never Again

Connery injured his wrist during a fight scene, continuing through the take, which was later used.

Daniel Craig, Casino Royale

Craig knocked out a tooth during a fight scene but continued filming, with the take partially used in the final cut.

Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler

Gyllenhaal cut his hand during a scene involving a mirror and stayed in character, with the moment included in the film.

Halle Berry, Die Another Day

Berry was accidentally injured during a stunt sequence, with parts of the scene still used.

Isla Fisher, Now You See Me

Fisher nearly drowned during a water escape trick, and some of the real struggle was captured in the final scene.

Charlize Theron, Æon Flux

Theron suffered a serious neck injury during stunts, and parts of the sequence remained in the film.

Linda Blair, The Exorcist

Blair suffered a back injury during a rigged scene, and her real reaction is visible in the final cut.

Tom Hanks, Cast Away

Hanks endured physical strain and injury during filming, with his deteriorated physical condition contributing directly to the final performance.

Actors Who Went Too Far for a Role, And Regretted It Later

Not every role requires Christian Bale-level method acting. But authenticity is everything for some performers, and being deeply immersed in the role is something worth the effort. Or at least, they think so at first.

While a performance might end up being incredible, there comes a point where you have to ask yourself if what you’re doing is worth it. Not just for the film or the craft, but for yourself. These next actors all sacrificed something for the arts, and came to regret those decisions.

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Ledger isolated himself and kept intense journals to shape the Joker, later discussing how the role disrupted his sleep and mental state during filming.

Jim Carrey, Man on the Moon

Carrey stayed in character as Andy Kaufman throughout filming, later admitting the experience was overwhelming and psychologically exhausting.

Kate Winslet, Titanic

Winslet performed demanding water scenes and later said she would not put herself through such harsh physical conditions again.

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Rourke underwent physical punishment and injuries for realism, later acknowledging the toll it took on his already fragile health.

Christian Bale, The Machinist

Bale’s extreme weight loss became infamous, and he later expressed caution about repeating such drastic physical transformations.

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Portman pushed herself physically and mentally, later describing the experience as isolating and emotionally draining.

Jared Leto, Suicide Squad

Leto’s intense method acting, including unsettling behavior toward castmates, drew criticism and later reflection on whether it went too far.

Shia LaBeouf, Fury

LaBeouf reportedly pulled his own tooth and avoided bathing to stay in character, later acknowledging the extreme approach affected him personally.

Isla Fisher, Now You See Me

Fisher nearly drowned during a water tank scene and later described how dangerous the situation became in real time.

Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

After acting opposite invisible animated characters for months, Hoskins later said he experienced hallucinations and lingering mental strain.

Brad Pitt, Se7en

Pitt insisted on performing a scene that resulted in a real injury, later reflecting on the risks taken during production.

Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Mara underwent intense physical and emotional preparation, later describing the experience as consuming and difficult to leave behind.

Ashton Kutcher, Jobs

Kutcher adopted Steve Jobs’ diet to an extreme degree and ended up hospitalized, later acknowledging the risks of fully immersing himself physically.

15 Movies That Were Way Harder to Make Than They Look

Saying that ‘making movies is hard’ is an incredible understatement, yet the finished product is not meant to showcase that. You’re supposed to immerse yourself in the story, not think how hard it was for the actor or director to achieve a given scene.

But of course, we do wonder. And some movies are even harder to make than others, either due to unexpected issues, complicated people, budget constraints, or all of them blended together. Here, we’ve compiled some of the most notoriously difficult movies to make, something you might not realize on first watch.

Waterworld

Filming on open water caused massive budget overruns, set destruction, and weather-related delays, making it one of the most difficult large-scale productions of its time. And it was a massive box-office flop, to boot.

Cleopatra

Massive sets, budget overruns, location changes, and health issues for Elizabeth Taylor turned the production into one of the most expensive and chaotic in film history, about 40 times the original estimatged budget.

Full Metal Jacket

Kubrick maintained relentless intensity during boot camp scenes, encouraging R. Lee Ermey to deliver extended improvised tirades that wore down actors for authenticity. Their discomfort is real.

American Graffiti

Despite its laid-back tone, night shoots, low budget constraints, and studio skepticism created constant pressure for George Lucas and the production team.

Life of Pi

Much of the film required water tank filming combined with CGI animals, creating technical challenges for actors and crew working in physically demanding environments.

Fitzcarraldo

Director Werner Herzog famously had a real steamship hauled over a mountain, creating dangerous and exhausting conditions for cast and crew during filming.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Took years to complete due to groundbreaking effects, massive sets, and technical experimentation, pushing the limits of filmmaking at the time.

The Shining

Famously grueling, the shoot involved endless takes and psychological pressure from Stanley Kubrick, especially on Shelley Duvall, creating real exhaustion that translated directly into the film.

Groundhog Day

Despite its light, repetitive premise, filming was complicated by constant resets of scenes, weather inconsistencies, and reported tension between Bill Murray and Harold Ramis.

Birdman

Designed to look like a single continuous shot, the film required complex choreography, precise timing, and extensive rehearsals, making its seemingly simple presentation technically demanding.

The Wizard of Oz

Production involved hazardous makeup, uncomfortable costumes, and dangerous on-set conditions, with multiple cast members suffering injuries or health issues during filming.

A Clockwork Orange

Production pushed actors into physically uncomfortable situations, including the eye-clamp scene that injured Malcolm McDowell, highlighting the film’s insistence on realism regardless of risk.

Boyhood

Filmed over 12 years, the production required long-term commitment from cast and crew, with scheduling, continuity, and life changes adding layers of complexity not visible onscreen.

The Blair Witch Project

Though it appears raw and minimal, the shoot involved isolating actors in the woods, providing limited direction, and creating real stress to capture authentic reactions.

Jaws

Mechanical failures with the shark forced constant rewrites and delays, turning the shoot into a logistical struggle that ultimately reshaped the film’s suspense-driven approach.

The Pitt’s Latest Casting Shakeup Is Painful But Realistic

The revolving door at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center will apparently keep on swinging ahead of The Pitt season 3. The mega popular medical drama saw Tracy Ifeachor depart after its first outing, as her character, Dr. Heather Collins, wrapped up her residency and moved to Alaska during the hiatus between seasons. Now, it seems like another original cast member is set to follow in her footsteps: Supriya Ganesh, who has played senior resident Dr. Samira Mohan since the show’s first episode, will depart the show after season 2.

Variety was the first to break the news of Ganesh’s impending exit, which the folks behind the scenes at HBO Max insist is story-driven and a natural part of Mohan’s arc. After all, the dedicated resident has spent much of season 2 struggling to find anything approaching a work-life balance and contemplating what her professional next steps should be after her mother essentially wrecked her plans to move home to New Jersey. There’s no hint as yet as to if or how the show will explain her departure — or whether it will be something left for season 3 to deal with when it returns next year.

Though this news is surely heartbreaking for fans — of the show, of Ganesh’s character, and/or of Mohan’s bizarrely cute flirtation with Shawn Hatosy’s Dr. Jack Abbott — in the world of The Pitt, this is the kind of twist that makes a certain kind of realistic sense. The series follows the hospital’s overworked emergency department staff over the course of a single 15-hour shift, highlighting the often brutal conditions and impossible choices they’re often forced to face each day. But PTMC is, first and foremost, a teaching hospital, staffed by a rotating group of multiple students and residents. Transfers among such groups are rare but not uncommon.

Samira is already a senior resident in emergency medicine in season 2, a speciality where the average residency lasts only 3-4 years. Proceeding on to some sort of fellowship — or even taking a break from medicine entirely — wouldn’t be at all strange for Mohan at this point in her career, no matter how much we’re all going to miss her.

But even as The Pitt taketh away, it also giveth. Along with the news of Ganesh’s departure, HBO Max also confirmed that Ayesha Harris, who plays fan favorite night shift resident Dr. Parker Ellis, has been promoted to series regular for the show’s third season. How Dr. Ellis will wind up on the day shift is anyone’s guess — is she transferred to cover Mohan’s absence? Pulling a double for extra cash? Who can say — but we can only hope the folks at HBO Max will also find a reason for Abbott to do the same. They owe us, after all.

New episodes of The Pitt season 2 premiere Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

Live-Action Dungeon Crawler Carl Series to Bring Princess Donut and Friends to Life

In Dungeon Crawler Carl, the apocalypse will be televised — or, in this case, streamed on Peacock. Yes, Matt Dinniman’s bestselling LitRPG (Literary Role-Playing Game) book series is about to get the full-on TV adaptation treatment, from none other than Seth MacFarlane, a man already known for his ability to bring offbeat concepts to live-action fruition with both humor and heart. (See also: Ted, The Orville).

Dinniman’s novels follow the story of the eponymous Carl, a United States Coast Guard veteran, and his ex-girlfriend’s show cat, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, two of the few survivors of an alien invasion that has essentially seen the Earth’s resources stripped for parts. As a result, they’re forced to enter the World Dungeon, an 18-level dungeon crawl that takes its themes and ideas from popular tabletop role-playing and video games. (If you’ve never heard of LitRPG, don’t worry — think of something like Ready Player One, just with more stats and upgrades.)

In the World Dungeon, Carl and Princess Donut have to compete in a livestreamed, intergalactic reality show — Dungeon Crawler World — where they must fight bosses, improve their attributes, and make it to the stairs to the next dungeon before time runs out (or be killed when the current level collapses) Much like The Hunger Games, they’re also forced to play to the audience watching along at home, building popularity and stats in the hopes of attracting the sponsors which will give them better gear. But even as the levels become increasingly difficult — shorter time limits, more dangerous situations — Carl vows to fight back.

Thor: Ragnarok’s Christopher Yost is set to write the series, with both MacFarlane and Dinniman as executive producers. Many Dungeon Crawler Carl fans were likely hoping to see the books adapted as an animated series, given their many sci-fi and fantasy elements, as well as its inclusion of various oddities like a talking, magical cat. But Dinniman himself sounds confident that MacFarlane and his production company, Fuzzy Door, will be able to pull it off.

“[We’re] not going to do it if it’s gonna look like absolute shit,” he told Variety. “And they will do CGI testing on Princess Donut and stuff like that. And that’s all I can say, I think. It’s all gonna hinge on what it looks like. But Fuzzy Door, specifically, if you watch Ted or The Orville, you’ll see that they know what they’re doing when it comes to this.”

There have been seven entries in the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series to date, which have sold somewhere around six million copies. Dinniman has indicated he plans to release ten books overall in the series — not counting ancillary or side stories like the fan-funded Dungeon Crawler Carl: Crocodile — and the eighth, A Parade of Horribles, is scheduled to hit shelves in May.

Christopher Eccleston Finally Reveals What Would Bring Him Back to Doctor Who

Christopher Eccleston introduced a whole new generation of fans to Doctor Who. The face of the franchise’s 2005 reboot, he played the Ninth Doctor for only a single season, but he helped redefine the idea of what a modern-era Time Lord could be and do. (Not to mention helping to spawn a Whovian revival that is still going strong over two decades later.)

But while Eccleston’s limited time as the Doctor was truly exceptional — “The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances” is an all-timer of a two-parter — his shocking departure has always haunted fans, many of whom (read: me) still wonder what another season of Nine might have been like. The actor famously had… let’s just call it a rocky relationship with then-showrunner Russell T Davies, and the rest of season 1’s production team, citing poor working conditions and other behind-the-scenes issues. (Eccleston’s memoir, I Love the Bones of You, also goes into some detail about his mental health struggles at the time, including an ongoing battle with an eating disorder.) In short, it wasn’t a great fit, and the experience soured him so much on the character and the franchise that he refused to return for the series’ 50th anniversary, even though Steven Moffat clearly wrote the episode with the intent to include the Ninth Doctor in it.

But, they say, time heals all wounds, and these days, Eccleston’s relationship with the franchise he helped to resuscitate is slightly less fraught. He’s playing the Ninth Doctor again, in an ongoing series of (excellent) audio dramas for Big Finish, and he’s a regular on the convention circuit, where he often talks about his past experiences with the show or what he thinks of its current state. (He predicted a possible Billie Piper-as-the-Doctor twist back in 2022 and seems fairly into the idea of her playing the Sixteenth Doctor now.) He’s even laid out some conditions for a possible return to the show for himself.

Eccleston was a guest at this year’s Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (also known as C2E2), where he was, as he so often is, asked about the possibility of returning to the Whoniverse one day. And his answer was… unexpectedly great, somehow managing to be both uncomfortably forthright and surprisingly hopeful at the same time.

“I thought about this, [and] not with the four people who are running it now,” he said, bluntly.

Yet, Eccleston doesn’t close the door on the idea entirely, instead pivoting to a dream scenario for his return that many Whovians likely share.

“Here’s the thing: Doctor Who’s written for boys. There has never been a female showrunner of Doctor Who,” Eccleston said. “So my dream is this: there was a little girl who was, I don’t know — six, seven, eight — in 2005 when my series went out, and she gets the job, and she asked me back? I’d go back like a shot.”

With rumors swirling that the forthcoming 2026 Christmas special might be Davies’s last hurrah in the showrunner’s chair (again), it is certainly possible that the franchise could finally hand a woman the keys to the kingdom. Unlikely, given how much of this modern era has been about passing the proverbial torch to the perceived “next in line” — a trend which would probably point toward Pete McTighe or someone similar as Davies’s natural successor — but not impossible.

Besides, Eccleston’s got a point. Doctor Who has never had a female showrunner before, something that would almost certainly shake up the stories the show is telling and provide a much-needed new perspective on the Doctor’s adventures. And if that move somehow got us Eccleston back too? Well, to crib a line from Nine himself: just this once, everyone wins.

X-Men ’97 To Give Fan Favorite X-Factor Character a Bigger Role in Season 2

One of the great pleasures of the original X-Men animated series was the way it more or less faithfully translated the comics to the screen. The character designs mimicked Jim Lee‘s dynamic art style, and Marvel epics such as the Dark Phoenix Saga, The Mutant Massacre, and Days of Future Past came to Saturday morning TV audiences with Chris Claremont’s dense plotting more or less in-tact. At the same time, the downside of this approach meant that some things needed to be trimmed to translate decades of comic book storytelling into a handful of seasons, leaving some important characters on the sidelines.

The continuation show, X-Men ’97, started to address this problem in its first season by bringing founding New Mutant Roberto Da Costa a.k.a. Sunspot into the fold. If the first poster for season 2 is any indication, the series will continue that tradition by giving Lorna Dane, the mutant known as Polaris more attention.

Polaris isn’t entirely new to viewers of the animated series. She popped up in the season 3 episode “Cold Comfort” as the girlfriend of Iceman Bobby Drake and a member of the government-sponsored mutant team X-Factor. That episode deftly combined the stories around Lorna’s first appearance in 1968’s X-Men #49, written by Arnold Drake and penciled by Don Heck and Werner Roth, with the early days of her time in X-Factor, as rebooted by Peter David and Larry Stroman. But Lorna has a richer, more complicated history that will lead to some great moments in X-Men ’97.

As seen in “Cold Comfort,” Lorna is a green-haried mutant with magnetism powers. She initially hides those powers (and her green hair), but eventually embraces them to become a member of the X-Men. Although she first dates Iceman, she soon bonds with Cyclops’s brother Alex Summers, a.k.a. Havok, and the two leave the team together to pursue graduate studies. Eventually, they make their way back to the team, but Polaris is quickly possessed by the incorporeal mutant Malice, who turns her into a cruel supervillain. The team fights to save her, but fails to do so before having to fake their death and hide out in the Australian outback for several years.

Eventually, Havok and the X-Men are able to free Polaris from Malice’s grasp and she rejoins the team, only for Alex to leave to rebuild the mutant island of Genosha. However, when Professor X and Cyclops recruit Havok to lead the new X-Factor, he and Polaris reunite once more.

Again, much of that appears in “Cold Comfort,” but Polaris’s story has gone on since then, in a way that will certainly inform X-Men ’97. While Alex was presumed dead (really in another reality and dating a nurse named Annie, a truly terrible storyline), Polaris learned what many have all wondered: that she is, in fact, the biological daughter of Magneto. Seeking to build that connection, she goes with Magneto to help him govern Genosha, but when an Omega Sentinel destroys the island and kills her father, Polaris becomes darker and crueler.

The destruction of Genosha was adapted into season 1 of X-Men ’97, which means that season 2 will likely pick up Lorna’s story there. While there will certainly be some exploration of how she carries her father’s complicated legacy, season one also ended by setting up a different version of X-Factor, as Bishop and Forge go off to find the time-displaced X-Men. Given that Lorna’s wearing her X-Factor uniform in the poster, we’ll likely see her join them, especially since she was in a variation of that line-up in the comics.

However X-Men ’97 plans to integrate Polaris, the comics have provided the writers with enough material to craft a complicated character, one who deserves to stand alongside the likes of Rogue, Wolverine, and Magneto.

X-Men ’97 season 2 arrives on Disney+ in mid-2026.

See You When I See You Examines the Oddities of Grief

It is not uncommon to become emotional when listening to a beautiful piece of music. Who among us hasn’t been moved to tears by the ethereal moonlit march of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” the big sonic goodbyes of Taylor Swift’s “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” or the distortion pedals of pop-punk band Sum 41’s 2001 debut album All Killer No Filler?

Wait… what? One of those things is very much not like the others. But it still makes perfect sense to Adam Cayton-Holland. While deep in the throes of grief-induced PTSD, the Denver-based stand-up comedian and writer got some questionable advice from a therapist; a moment that he has now incorporated into the personal film See You When I See You.

“The tip they gave me was ‘go find an album that you never listened to with your sister, buy it, listen to it again and again and again, and you won’t have any connotations with her,'” he says. “So I got a Sum 41 album All Killer No Filler and I played it fucking non-stop for months in my car. Now when I hear it, I sob immediately. It was the worst advice ever.”

Many stories examine how challenging the grieving process is, but few truly delve into just how weird it can be as well. One day you’re seemingly fine, the next you’re full-on weeping to an album that includes lyrics like “Be standin’ on the corner, talkin’ all that kufuffin / But you don’t make sense from all the gas you be huffin’.”

The oddity of grief is a topic well-explored by See You When I See You, written by Cayton-Holland, directed by indie legend Jay Duplass, and starring ascendent actor/director Cooper Raiff as the Cayton-Holland insert character “Aaron Whistler.” The film, which screened at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival & TV Festival this March, is based on the events of Cayton-Holland’s life and details Aaron’s struggle to come to terms with the death of his younger sister Leah (Kaitlyn Dever) via substance abuse, experiments with therapy, and yes, a healthy dose of early aughts rock music.

After Cayton-Holland first recounted his painful, personal story in the touching 2018 book Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir, he saw writing a screenplay as a way to further articulate his experience.

“I was processing a lot of the pain in the writing of the memoir,” he says. “I didn’t sit down to write it because I had my thoughts gathered; I gathered thoughts while writing it. Seeing the response to the memoir, knowing how personal the story was, but how universal the themes were and how people reacted to it, I thought more about ‘what’s a way to tell this that everyone can relate to while keeping my true story?’ That helped put it on the screen.”

The resulting script drew the attention of producers Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, and Jay Duplass, the last of whom just so happened to be looking to get back in the director’s chair after spending much of the previous decade shepherding other artists’ visions as a producer.

“It’s just heartfelt and funny, which is kind of what I’ve been doing my whole life,” Duplass says. “Obviously these past few years I’ve been opening up to other people’s stories. This one is certainly like the biggest, purest, most emotionally unwieldy story but also super funny. I felt like I couldn’t say no.”

It also got a major buy-in from Raiff, himself a director of note (Cha Cha Real Smooth) who doesn’t always love acting but was willing to make an exception upon reading Cayton-Holland’s script.

“Jay sent me the script and I just adored it and felt really connected to every character this family,” Raiff says, shouting out fellow Whistler family actors David Duchovny, Hope Davis, and Lucy Boynton. “I don’t like acting but I like acting for Jay. Jay’s been my mentor, my filmmaking dad, for six years now but I never got to see him in action. I just learned so much.”

As evidenced by the aforementioned Sum 41 debacle, a major theme of See You When I See You is memory as a double-edged sword. Aaron cherishes memories of his sister but they also create a considerable amount of pain and confusion.

“When you have PTSD and this traumatic event of losing someone that did physical damage to your brain, what nobody tells you is your memories are all shattered,” Cayton-Holland says. “Your sense of nostalgia gets shattered. If it was all so great, why did it end up like this? That sucks because these people that you lose are so much more than the sad ending. You had this great life with them but the PTSD is blocking that. Really, my journey was one of being able to recover memories and appreciate them as a gift. That’s a grief journey that a lot of people can relate to.”

The film creatively renders this struggle as Aaron’s mundane but meaningful recollections featuring Leah slowly transform into disaster scenarios in his mind.

“That was one of the most exciting things about the movie: creating a visual journey of a man trying to climb out of PTSD,” Duplass says. “What does that look like? What does that feel like? Part of that involves memory but what’s really happening is you’re experiencing things in the present moment that’s a function of your broken brain.”

Thankfully the real-life Cayton-Holland was able to find some stability and peace with the help of therapeutic techniques like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). The process includes bilateral stimulation, which can involve guided eye movements or handheld buzzers, and is designed to simulate deep REM sleep and regenerate repressed memories in a way that some find spooky. It’s also challenging to only pretend at EDMR without experiencing the real thing, as Raiff found out.

“On the day, they actually gave me real clickers and I accidentally did EMDR,” he says. “It was not the take we used. It was too intense. It’s like you’re hypnotized. I saw a flash of something and was like ‘uh… that’s not Aaron.'”

See You When I See You premiered January 27 at the Sundance Film Festival and screened again March 13 at SXSW.

Daredevil: Born Again Brings Michael Gandolfini Out of His Father’s Acting Shadow

This post contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2.

Midway through “The Scales & The Sword,” the third episode of Daredevil: Born Again‘s second season, Daniel Blake scores a minor victory. Blake, a rising star in the administration of New York City mayor Wilson Fisk gets accosted by the mayor’s scary right-hand man Buck Cashman for eating a sandwich just an hour before a political dinner. Undeterred, Blake explains his rationale for the pre-dinner meal, arguing that a full stomach will prevent him from getting queazy around the governor. “Plus,” he says, offering Cashman an extra sandwich to close the argument, “They’re dope as fuck.”

Were Blake’s actor Michael Gandolfini to do that scene in any of his previous works, including the first season of Born Again, it would have felt like an echo of something his father James would have done. But as Born Again second season puts Blake on a tragic arc, Gandolfini gets to play a character unlike anything in his dad’s impressive oeuvre, finally allowing the younger actor to stand on his own.

His Father’s Son

Any actor with a famous father would draw comparisons to their predecessor, but they’re especially apt in Gandolfini’s case. He made his debut with a small part in the 2011 James Gandolfini movie Down the Shore and then, after several supporting parts—including a reoccurring role in the David Simon HBO series The Deuce—Michael got his first big role by following in his dad’s footsteps when played a young Tony Soprano in the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.

It’s easy to see why Michael would get to play his dad’s character, beyond just the physical similarities. Tony Soprano is a television great because he looked every bit like the scary mobster he wanted to be, but could not hide his wounded inner-self. The elder Gandolfini always conveyed the sweetness and sadness in Tony, even when at his most monstrous. As a man just now in his mid-20s, the younger Gandolfini, of course, reads as more vulnerable. But his take on Tony, just like his parts in Warfare and as a large adult son in Beau Is Afraid, suggest imminent violence, the ability to do harm to anyone who gets on his bad side.

As an employee of Mayor Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin of Crime, Daniel Blake can certainly cause more than his share of destruction. But Gandolfini plays Blake like someone who would never willingly harm another person directly, even if he approves of his boss’s aggressive policies.

Dealing With the Devil

Blake is part of Born Again‘s mission to reflect our current political moment through the lens of Marvel Comics. Even more so than the Mayor Fisk storyline from the comics, Born Again examines the way right wing populism has influenced mainstream politics. The series shows how a loud subset of voters puts a brutal and overly-sensitive criminal into office and gives him wide executive powers, even cheering as he unleashes militarized police against the populace.

Blake stands in for the young men who find themselves attracted to the rhetoric of power embraced by these demagogues. Awe dawns across Blake’s face as he watches Fisk ignore bureaucracy to enforce his will, or sees Fisk bully those who cross him. The excitement that Gandolfini plays in the character expresses a young man’s desire to see someone who gets what they want, and doesn’t have to bow to society’s rules.

But in season 2, Born Again adds a new wrinkle by emphasizing Blake’s friendship with BB Urich, the young reporter played by Genneya Walton. Even though BB has been reduced to producing stories sympathetic to Fisk, the man who murdered her beloved Uncle Ben in the Netflix series, she still remains friendly with Blake.

The scenes shared between the two allow Gandolfini to play Blake as giddy, boyish, and kind. He wants so badly for BB to accept him, as demonstrated by the way he swaggers up to her during a party in his fancy apartment. When BB points out that Fisk violated the ethics of his office by keeping real estate holdings, Blake gets defensive, but not in a mean or angry way. He wants BB to accept his weak explanation for the behavior not because he wants to win the argument, but because he just wants BB to be happy for him.

Those conflicting feelings have come to the fore in the most recent episodes of Born Again, in which Cashman (Arty Froushan) and other Fisk administrators search for a leak within the team. Someone is getting footage of Fisk’s illegal actions to City Without Fear, a pirate satire program hosted by someone in a cheap Fisk mask. Even before episode 3 reveals that she’s wearing the Fisk mask, viewers already knew that BB has been taking footage from Blake’s computer and using it to make City Without Fear.

As Cashman and others bear down on him, and he suspects his best friend even more, Blake feels a torrent of emotions, giving Gandolfini interesting notes to play. At turns, Blake is angry, hurt, and scared, but not in the same way that his father played Tony Soprano, a weak man who was powerless against his own strength. Rather, Gandolfini finds true vulnerability in Blake, an inability to get what he wants, no matter how much he capitulates to people with power.

Born Again

We’re only three episodes into Born Again‘s second season, and things are already going badly for Blake. Daredevil may exist in the world of Marvel superheroes and anything can happen in a reality not bound by normal laws, but Blake’s days in Fisk’s employ may be numbered. Even if Blake ceases to be a going concern on Born Again, he’s already done enough to enrich the tapestry of the series.

Moreover, he’s done enough to establish Michael Gandolfini as an exciting young actor. No longer just young Tony Soprano, Michael Gandolfini is clearly ready to build his own career, bringing to life his own set of compelling characters in the MCU and beyond.

Daredevil: Born Again season streams new episodes every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.

X-Men ’97 Toy Leak Teases the Weirdest Wolverine Story

This post contains potential spoilers for X-Men ’97 season 2.

You know Wolverine. He’s the mutant named Logan, whose rapid healing factor drew a secret Canadian program to transform him into a super-soldier by grafting unbreakable adamantium metal onto his skeleton, including the claws that pop from his fists. He’s the most popular X-Man, the best anti-hero in the Marvel bullpen. He’s the best at what he does, and what he does isn’t very nice. And he’s been part of some really weird stories.

If a new Wolverine Funko Pop is any indication, one of those stories will come to life in animation for season 2 of X-Men ’97. Amongst the figures shown in the latest batch of leaks, we find one labeled, “Wolverine (Wasteland).” At first glance, the figure doesn’t look that different from the standard Wolverine design: he’s wearing yellow and blue spandex, a mask covers the top part of his face, and his claws are popped. But it’s only when one notices his sharp teeth, the ragged hood he’s using for his mask, and the jagged bone claws coming from his fist that comic book fans realize that this isn’t the Wolverine we know. This is the savage Wolverine from the late ’90s, the Wolverine who doesn’t have a nose.

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To understand how that Wolverine came to be, we need only look at a story beat that X-Men ’97 adapted in season 1. At the end of the first season, when the massacre on Genosha ended Magneto’s brief tenure fighting alongside the X-Men, the Master of Magnetism used his powers to pull the adamantium off Wolverine’s bones and out of his body.

The scene comes directly from the pages of 1993’s X-Men #25, the climax of the Fatal Attractions storyline. The moment forever changed Wolverine, for several reasons. First, it changed a key part of Logan’s backstory, revealing that his claws were bone extensions of his skeleton and predated the adamantium transfusion. In his earliest X-Men adventures, Wolverine described his claws as part of the gloves that he wore. Later, the claws were retconned to be added to his body when Department H of the Canadian government turned him into a super-soldier as part of the Weapon X program. X-Men #25 established that Logan has had claws ever since his mutant ability manifested when he was an adolescent.

More importantly, the storyline forced Wolverine to face his greatest fear. From his first appearance in 1974’s Incredible Hulk #180 and #181, Wolverine has been defined by his internal struggle, the feeling that his humanity has been forever overwhelmed by his bestial impulses. Wolverine found redemption as part of the X-Men, winning fights against villains not because he’s stronger or smarter or even a better fighter, but because his healing factor allowed him to stay in the fight longer than anyone else.

At first, the loss of his adamantium diminished his healing factor, leaving him more vulnerable to attack. For the first time in decades, Wolverine had to be judicious in his battles; he couldn’t just slash his way through baddies. But then, his healing factor not only recovered, but kicked into overdrive, and that’s where things get strange.

We learn that his healing factor had been largely used to keep the adamantium from poisoning him. But once Magneto pulled the adamantium out, his healing factor went into overdrive, mutating Wolverine further. Over the next several years of X-Men and Wolverine comics, Logan got meaner, hairier, and even less coherent. He started devolving into an animal and the stories at the time suggested that writers would finally embrace a long-rumored idea that Logan was originally imagined to be an actual Wolverine who mutated into a human. As he became more animalistic, Wolverine eventually lost his nose, with a flat snout where his sniffer once was.

As the above synopsis indicates, Wolverine’s devolution comes during a bad time for X-Men comics. Across his epic run that lasted from 1975 to 1991, Chris Claremont transformed the X-Men from C-listers into the best-selling comic on the racks. That popularity hit the mainstream with the arrival of the original X-Men animated series in 1993. But with Claremont off the franchise, editors desperate to keep the success going, and Marvel relying on its mutants to stave off its upcoming bankruptcy, X-Men comics were a cavalcade of bad ideas during the ’90s, even by the standards of the decade.

Yet, as goofy as the idea was, the noseless, animal Wolverine did speak to the character’s central question, that tension between man and beast. Given the excellent track-record set by the first season of X-Men ’97, we’re certain that the Funko figure points to not a retread of a bad idea. Rather, X-Men ’97 may be able to bring out the best in the noseless Wolverine story, exploring its themes without sacrificing any of the silliness.

Because if there’s one thing we know about Wolverine, it’s that he can mutate, adapting to any situation and ensuring that he remains the best at what he does, even if what he does happens without a nose.

X-Men ’97 season 2 will stream on Disney+ in mid-2026.

Donald Glover Reveals Why Mario Is So Important in His Family

These days, whenever an actor or filmmaker signs onto a nerdy property, their promotional tour always involves a bit of catechizing. We geeks expect the people making movies about our favorite comics and games to know everything about them, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie cast is no exception.

You might think that expectation would pose a problem for Donald Glover, who joins the movie’s cast as the voice of Yoshi, Mario’s dino pal. “I’m going to be honest: I never owned a Super Nintendo,” Glover confesses to Den of Geek. “I only owned a Nintendo, and then I won a Nintendo 64 off the radio. My dad wouldn’t buy the Super Nintendo, because we already had a 32-bit system with PlayStation,” he adds, cringing a bit as he invokes Mario’s competitor.

As much as it sounds like Glover’s throwing his dad under the Mario kart, Nintendo actually plays into a cherished memory for the actor. “The original Mario is burned into my memory,” he explains. “My dad brought it home from Service Merchandise. He worked nights, so he brought it home in the morning. I remember waking up for school, and he was just there playing it. And I was like, ‘What is this!?’

“He would try to go to sleep while we played it, but it was so new, and he didn’t understand how it worked. So every time that we would get a coin, and it would do that ‘ding ding ding’ noise, he would think it was us pressing the start button.

“He’d shout from his room, ‘You’re going to break it!’ And we were like, ‘It’s just the pennies!'”

The story gets a laugh from Glover’s co-star Benny Safdie, who joins the cast as Bowser Jr. and has his own memories of playing Mario as a kid. “My favorite was the Super Nintendo when you do the cage with all those things moving around,” he enthuses. “I’ve been playing Super Mario Galaxy a lot, trying to get all the stars.”

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However, Toad voice performer Keegan-Michael Key can’t quite join in with the fun. “I didn’t have a Nintendo,” he reveals. “I don’t have any memories to share of that, because I didn’t play any original NES games.”

Between The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and its 2023 predecessor The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Key has been getting a crash course in Nintendo, making up for lost time. That won’t be necessary for Donald Glover’s children, if they ever decide to follow in their father’s footsteps.

“I’m playing Super Mario Odyssey with my kids right now, and we play Mario Kart a lot,” he says. “But I’ve really been wanting to play the original again, because in Odyssey, you get to play the original Mario on walls in the game when you go down certain pipes.

“My kids think it’s so weird, but I’m like, ‘This is how it used to be!'”

Clearly, it’s Glover’s lot to explain Mario mechanics to his family, no matter if they’re from the previous generation and the next. Hopefully, that responsibility will lessen some once The Super Mario Galaxy Movie makes experts out of everyone.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now playing in theaters worldwide.

The Most Shocking Twists in Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars never quits. When her show moved networks in 2006 and then got canceled, she endured. A movie and a Hulu revival series would follow, and there’s often talk of bringing her back to our screens in the future. Thanks to the magic of streaming, new viewers are also discovering Veronica Mars and her can-do attitude, and fans say, “the more, the merrier!”

Portrayed with confidence by Kristen Bell, Veronica may still be our favorite marshmallow detective, but boy, did she go through some wild drama in her time. Let’s take a look back at all the biggest twists she had to contend with, from Aaron to Beaver and beyond…

Abel Koontz: Fall Guy

Speaking of streaming, Abel Koontz perfected some streaming media tech for Jake Kane’s software company, and instead of making a whole ton of money out of it, he got cheated out of the patent. If that wasn’t enough, he then took the rap for Lilly Kane’s murder, and because Keith Mars wasn’t particularly suspicious of him during his official investigation into her death, he was ousted as Neptune’s sheriff after Koontz’s surprising confession.

Veronica was also never fully convinced that Koontz killed her best friend. During her own investigation, which involved several visits to death row, Keith and Veronica’s diligent detective work uncovered several key inconsistencies that eventually led to Koontz’s release from jail. But if Koontz didn’t kill Lilly, who did?

Aaron Echolls Killed Lilly Kane

As the first season of Veronica Mars came to a close, Lilly’s killer was finally revealed. This wasn’t only the season’s biggest twist but potentially the biggest in the whole series, as famous actor Aaron Echolls was exposed as Lilly’s secret lover and murderer. We knew Aaron was violent and that he abused his tearaway son, Logan Echolls, but we had no idea how dangerous he actually was until that point.

In her efforts to get justice for Lilly, Veronica also put her life on the line when Aaron decided he’d be quite happy to kill another blonde teen. Luckily, Keith was there to stop him, but it made for quite the explosive season finale, especially with Veronica romantically involved with Logan at the time and unsure how to break it to him that his own father had romanced and killed his ex.

Logan and Madison Sinclair

Logan and Veronica’s relationship was often hot and cold after Lilly’s death and Aaron’s imprisonment, but it was never colder than when Veronica discovered that Logan had slept with Madison Sinclair, the shallow, spoiled Neptune bully who roofied her with GHB by spitting in her drink at a party following Lilly’s death.

Veronica was devastated to find out that Logan had slept with one of the worst people she knew. Still, Madison also had a complex and twisty history, having been switched at birth with Veronica’s good friend Mac. Madison had grown up rich and privileged, while the sharp, intelligent Mac had to use her smarts to get anywhere in life.

Meg’s Preg

Veronica and Meg Manning were friendly for a while, until Veronica’s ex, Duncan Kane, split with her and got back with Veronica, leaving Meg heartbroken. After the bus crash at the beginning of season 2, Meg was the only survivor, but Veronica was reluctant to visit her in the hospital as she lay in a coma after the Neptune High bus crash. When she finally did, she was shocked to see that Meg was heavily pregnant—with Duncan’s baby.

Sadly, Meg would eventually die after giving birth when a blood clot traveled to her brain, but Duncan was able to become a proper father to the child, whom he named after his late sister, Lilly.

Veronica’s Rapist Is Revealed

Bullied by his older brother Dick and slighted by their father, Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas had a chip on his shoulder from the get-go. However, Veronica was empathetic towards him. He was molested by his little league coach, Woody, and had kept it hidden for many years. He also seemed to be helpful when she was investigating Lilly’s death.

Everything changed in their dynamic at the end of season 2, when Veronica found out that Beaver killed Woody’s other victims by orchestrating the bus crash and blowing up Woody’s plane to finish him off as well. Beaver didn’t want to be known as one of his victims. Woody had also given Beaver chlamydia, which was how Veronica discovered that Beaver was her real rapist at the party where she was roofied all along: she’d contracted it from him following the assault.

When Beaver tried to kill Veronica, Logan intervened, and in a last shocking move, Beaver jumped from the roof of the Neptune Grand hotel rather than face the consequences of his actions.

Logan Dies

After 13 tumultuous years, Logan and Veronica finally tied the knot in the season finale of Hulu’s revival. It seemed like the happy ending we’d always wanted for the couple, who had been to hell and back to keep their relationship alive through so much drama. Up until that point, the season had focused on tracking a bomber who orchestrated explosions under the guise of his pizza delivery job, but Keith and Veronica had caught him and sent him to jail before they got hitched.

Yet, the pizza bomber had one last shock in store. He’d rigged Veronica’s car to blow with a previously deployed backpack bomb, and as she and Logan prepared to set out on their honeymoon, it exploded, killing him instantly.

Due to this truly upsetting turn of events, Veronica decided to leave Neptune and explore opportunities elsewhere. As she drove away from the town that broke her heart several times over, she listened to a final message that Logan sent to his therapist on their wedding day: “Is it weird to want to marry someone because you respect her? Because you want to be like her? Because you want children who will inherit her qualities? I want to marry Veronica because she’s the toughest human being I’ve ever met. Blows that would destroy most people…she always picks herself back up.”

This is the way the show ended for a second time. Perhaps one day we’ll see Veronica again, but without the love of her life in tow.

The House of Leaves Movies That Aren’t House of Leaves

After Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach’s indie sci-fi horror movie Iron Lung made waves at the box office, the popular YouTuber’s fans began discussing the possibility of him adapting Mark Z. Danielewski’s famously “unfilmable” novel, House of Leaves.

For the uninitiated, House of Leaves follows photojournalist Will Navidson and his family after they move into a new house with an unsettling anomaly. The house’s interior can expand into a dark, shifting labyrinth far larger than the house’s physical dimensions allow. As Navidson and others explore and film the house’s endless corridors, a recluse called Zampanò documents the events, but when Zampanò dies, a drifter named Johnny Truant discovers his manuscript and tries editing it, only to find himself spiraling into madness as the boundaries between the house, Navidson’s film, and reality begin to collapse.

It’s not the first time an emerging horror director has been linked with a potential adaptation of the bestselling book, nor will it likely be the last. Readers have yearned to see Danielewski’s complex story on the big screen since its 2000 publication, but there are already plenty of movies that offer similar vibes for anyone who can’t wait for the real thing.

Dave Made a Maze

The first thing to note about Dave Made a Maze is that it’s a horror comedy (among other things) which House of Leaves definitely isn’t. Yet they both focus on a similar core concept: a space that shouldn’t exist and behaves as if it has its own rules. They also feature fairly humdrum domestic settings that become gateways to impossible labyrinths filled with shifting corridors.

Dave (Nick Thune) creates his maze from cardboard, but like the House of Leaves house, it’s still one that can trap those who enter it and turn their exploration into a psychological and occasionally fatal trial. At one point, a film crew also enters the labyrinth, which blurs the line between observer and participant in both stories.

Though Dave Made a Maze is much more playful than House of Leaves, with appearances by Hal Hartley fave James Urbaniak and professional wrestler John Hennigan as a minotaur, it certainly contains enough core themes of Danielewski’s story to keep anyone enchanted by them happy.

Cube

Cube came out three years before House of Leaves was even published. The indie horror’s surreal setup finds a group of people waking up in a place that, at first, seems to have endless identical rooms, until one of them discovers that some of them contain deadly traps. As a result, the environment suddenly becomes both a psychological and physical threat. It unsettles the group’s perspective of space and security in much the same way that House of Leaves does, leading to paranoia and plenty of existential questions as the unwilling participants of the movie’s gauntlet desperately try to find a way out.

The deadly-maze concept at the heart of Cube should leave House of Leaves fans satisfied with its similar pieces of the story’s puzzle. There’s also a sequel, a prequel, and a Japanese remake to explore if Cube ends up being your bag.

Vivarium

Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg star in Vivarium as a couple who travel to the suburbs to view a housing development but get trapped there with seemingly no way out. All the houses are identical, but number 9 becomes their reluctant home as they are forced by their captors to raise a creepy child against their wishes.

The movie explores themes of parenthood and aging in an unforgiving, unknowable domestic setting almost as strange as the one in House of Leaves, but the movie refrains from layering on any typical genre tropes, leaning into the existential dread of the couple’s bleak situation instead.

You Should Have Left

You Should Have Left is the most House of Leaves movie on this list. So much so that if you Google “House of Leaves movie” right now, it’ll be the first actual result you’ll see. However, it is also the worst movie on this list, so approach with caution.

Kevin Bacon stars as a retired banker who books a family holiday in Wales, but the vacation home they’ve chosen turns out to be extremely strange. Time isn’t flowing as it should, and there’s an anomaly in the angles between the walls and the floors; the house is larger on the inside than on the outside. Try as they might, they can’t escape the house once they’ve settled in, and Theo seems to be trapped there. If all this sounds a bit familiar, you might naturally imagine that German writer Daniel Kehlmann, on whose novella this movie is based, may have picked up House of Leaves at some point.

Synedoche, New York

If your favorite part of House of Leaves is how it layers stories and forces you to question the reliability of their narrators, then Synedoche, New York is the one for you. Featuring an incredible performance by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and directed by notable surrealist Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) the movie follows a theater director called Caden Cotard (Hoffman) who creates a huge replica of New York inside a warehouse, but whose commitment to the project’s realism starts to blur the lines between fantasy and reality.

The labyrinthine stage soon expands beyond Caden’s control, and it’s not long before it starts to mirror the way his own life and relationships are unraveling. Like House of Leaves, the environment becomes an extension of human consciousness, reflecting the impossibility of fully understanding or containing your own existence.

Skinamarink

Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink divided audiences back in 2022. Ostensibly following two kids who wake up one night to find their father missing, the movie spends about 100 minutes exploring what happens when their home’s objects, doors, and windows start vanishing as well. However, the movie’s slow, experimental nature is the root of the problem for some viewers, even as it delights others.

House of Leaves fans who yearn to be hypnotized by both a malleable sense of time and spaces that don’t make sense could still find Skinamarink just the ticket, but they should also be aware going in that the movie isn’t structured in a way that can ever be truly understood, blending analog horror with a pervasive, unsettling nightmare logic that you can’t help but respect.

Coherence

After a comet passes Earth, strange occurrences develop on the night of a dinner party. What starts out as a fun evening quickly deteriorates into confusion and panic as the revelers begin to encounter multiple versions of themselves and the party house. Realities are blurring, and it becomes increasingly difficult to know who to trust during overlapping timelines and events.

Coherence is definitely a fascinating sci-fi that takes full advantage of its minimal cast and single location on a low budget, but its greatest asset is its rewatchability: it becomes a puzzle, full of twists that demand further investigation. Consequently, it 100% deserves inclusion on this list.

Inland Empire

We might be preaching to the choir on this one, as a Venn diagram of House of Leaves enjoyers and David Lynch fans should pretty much be a circle, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t include Inland Empire in our recommendations.

It’s not always the first Lynch film that people turn to because it’s more impenetrable than some of his other works, but the story’s fractured narrative will constantly have you questioning which layer of reality you’re in, and that’s very much in the House of Leaves stable. You’ll feel just about as lost watching Inland Empire as you do reading Danielewski’s dense tome, especially when the film dissolves into a stream of consciousness that asks the audience to make up their own minds about what is real and what is myth.

Invincible: Sandra Oh Discusses Her Favorite Debbie Moment Yet

This article contains spoilers for Invincible season 4 episode 5.

In its fourth season, the Prime Video series Invincible finally delivers a confrontation long in the making. No, it’s not the rematch between Mark Grayson and Conquest, nor any of the bone-shattering battles between the intergalactic coalition and the Viltrum Empire. Rather, it’s the moment that Nolan Grayson (J. K. Simmons) a.k.a. Omni-Man, returns to the planet he betrayed for the Viltrum Empire and to Debbie, the wife he abandoned to become conqueror of Earth.

“It’s a real confrontation on many levels,” says Sandra Oh, speaking to Den of Geek about playing Debbie in that moment. “I remember feeling lucky that J. K. had already done his lines, so I had his voice already. I also remember weeping through the entire thing.”

“It happened very easily,” she continues. “When you have the ability to play a character for a long time, you don’t have to reach that far because you’ve already said it, or you’ve already lived it. Your character is already in you, and it ends up feeling earned. People are waiting for this moment, so you can kind of let it all out.”

Debbie’s response to Nolan is one of the last dangling plot points in the central twist of Invincible, which began life as a series for Image Comics by writer Robert Kirkman and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley. When Mark’s (Steven Yeun) powers manifest, and he takes the identity of Invincible, he thinks that he’s going to follow in the footsteps of Omni-Man. But when Nolan reveals that he’s been sent not to protect the planet but to conquer it for Viltrum, it falls on Mark to fight his father. It falls on Debbie to keep everything grounded.

For Oh, the epic stakes of the Invincible concept add weight to Debbie’s reunion with Nolan, especially when he actually acknowledges his wrong-doing. For Oh, that moment transcends a simple plot beat in a superhero show and becomes something that resonates in the real world.

“It’s not only just Debbie as Debbie; it’s also who Debbie represents, all of humanity,” Oh explains. “She represents all those who have been betrayed, who feel helpless against the power structure.

“For the power structure that’s represented by Omni-Man to come to those who he betrayed and take responsibility over what the destruction he has wrought and ask for forgiveness is important for not just the character. It’s also an opportunity for the viewers to imagine what that would be for them. Let’s say you have betrayed people. What would you say? How would you ask for forgiveness? How would you take responsibility? And if you’re the betrayed, what would you say? Would you give forgiveness or not?”

Furthermore, Oh points out that Debbie’s status as a wife and mother makes her particularly well-suited to confronting Nolan about his actions. “There are so many big questions that Invincible brings up: Can you change your nature? Is forgiveness possible? And it doesn’t surprise me that it’s the mother who asks the question. She’s an important moral force. The feminine, the Earth, holds a lot of that responsibility.”

As with any superhero story, a great responsibility calls for great power. Debbie may not have the same abilities as her husband or son, but Oh points out a formidable gift. “I like her snappy resilience. She’s no nonsense, but her resilience has real feminine power,” Oh says.

“Here’s the human character, and everyone else has a superpower, but she’s not swayed. She’s not intimidated. When you feel hopeless or powerless within larger power structures and things you cannot control, Debbie shows how you can stand firm in what you believe and in your deepest humanity. I love that about her,” Oh declares.

So while the confrontation between Debbie and Nolan may not be Invincible at its most grandiose or bombastic, it is Invincible at its most real and, perhaps, its most important.

Invincible season 4 streams new episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video.

A24’s Backrooms Trailer Hopes the World Is Ready for a New Creepypasta Movie

If you’re feeling the weight of your years and you used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was, and now what you’re with isn’t ‘it’ anymore, and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary, that’s okay. All we need to understand is that aspiring filmmakers used to largely fund their first films with credit cards or arts bodies, and now they have Kickstarter and studios like Neon and A24 instead, who know that low-budget horror movies can do big box-office business. It’s just time to accept that some of the filmmakers behind those movies will also be popular YouTubers.

Following the success of this year’s self-funded game adaptation Iron Lung from Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach, A24 hopes the horrors will persist once again in Backrooms, the directorial debut of Kane Parsons aka Kane Pixels. Parsons became enchanted by the iconic creepypasta back in 2021 and created a web series around the concept, which imagines a vast, endless maze of monotonous rooms just beyond reality, where you just might accidentally slip out of the real world and become trapped.

Numerous video games have already dabbled in the Backrooms, but now it’s time for them to grace the big screen, and Chiwetel “Chewy” Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Duplass are along for the ride as Parsons attempts to elevate his material.

Check out the trailer below…

There’s been little in the way of enthusiasm for creepypasta-inspired theatrical movies since the critically savaged yet still profitable Slender Man in 2018. Sony’s messy, sub-10% RT score effort has been largely forgotten since its release, but the world may now be ready for a fresh bowl of creepypasta, and if the trailer is anything to go by, Chewy (Doctor Strange) and Renate (Sentimental Value) will be in typically good form.

Are you ready for the sickly, faded yellow vibe of the Backrooms this summer? Or do you get enough of that at the office? Let us know in the comments.

Backrooms is coming to theaters on May 29, 2026.

Robert Kirkman and Steven Yeun Break Down That Major Invincible Rematch

This article contains spoilers for Invincible season 4 episode 5.

Since it debuted on Prime Video, Invincible has been a brutal show, even more so than the comics that inspired it. That brutality seemed to reach a climax in season 3, when the Viltrumite known as Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) arrived on Earth. Mark barely survived that battle, and yet, somehow, the rematch in season 4 is even worse, bringing to the show an unprecedented level of violence.

“We give everyone a good warning,” co-showrunner Simon Racioppa tells Den of Geek, referring (of course) to the voice actors and animators, not the viewers. “We warn them first: This is coming, be aware.”

“It is the highlight of working on this show, to be able to watch every iteration of those sequences come together,” says Robert Kirkman, who created the comic with artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley and serves as co-showrunner with Racioppa.

“Because it happens in the writing. There’s a lot of modulation in the writing and picturing of the scenes. Then we do the first pass on voice acting, and we start seeing animatics and we start moving things, and then we see rough animation. When we do ADR, we heighten things, and as we’re seeing scenes with the sound mix, we’re adjusting things. We’re able to modulate everything every step of the way.

“Seeing when it all comes together and knowing what each person added, you understand what a massive thing these scenes are,” Kirkman concludes.

For star Steven Yeun, who voices Mark Grayson, his contributions involve not just lines of dialogue, but also providing the proper noises to indicate Invincible’s bones cracking, in one memorable moment, Mark’s response to getting his guts ripped out by Conquest.

“That was so fun. You just have to let the organs do most of the work,” he laughs. “You gotta let the slimy noises do most of the work. But in my mind, I know it’s such deep pain that it’s beyond pain. Your body’s in pure shock.

“But also there’s this other gear where he’s trying to beat this guy, and he wants vengeance. There’s a tension between holding his grip and pushing down while his stomach is being ripped out. It’s a metaphor for the loss of innocence that Mark’s experiencing. You’re getting part yourself ripped out while you’re still trying to assert yourself,” Yeun explains, before crediting the source material.

“Good on the writers,” he exclaims. “It’s pretty damn cool.”

“He’s selling himself short,” responds Racioppa. “I like Steven because he initially records for us without any visuals. We sort of describe the scene, and he’s read the script, but when we bring him back in, that’s when we have some pictures to show him.

“When he saw these, he said, ‘Oh, okay, I have to do this again. I have to go bigger because I can hit this moment.’ Once he actually saw everything on screen, we do it again with him and he’s able to somehow make his performance even better, even if it’s just breathing or just screams or just slow moans. He is so good at it, and it adds an extra level to everything. It makes the violence feel so real and affecting.”

“It’s a very interesting volley process, because Steven does the initial voice, and that dictates the animation,” Kirkman expounds. “So then when the animation comes back, he’s able to take something that was built on what he did, and improve it by playing with what was done. It’s a remarkable process.”

Clearly, the creators of Invincible love the hyperviolence that the Conquest battle and other scenes can provide. But what about the audience? Are they thrilled or repulsed by seeing the hero torn apart?

“I’m very fortunate because my kids are very old now, and they really like the show,” says Kirkman. “I was looking forward to seeing their reactions to that sequence, especially. It was a lot of fun to see them, because that scene is so affecting and unnerving. Even seeing it 100 times like I do, I’m still like, ‘Oh my God, that is a bit much.’ But it’s great to see how a team of hundreds of people working on Invincible focus and bring something like that to life.”

In short, it takes hundreds to tear apart a hero like Invincible, and we’re all the better for it.

Invincible streams new episodes every Wednesday at 3am EST on Prime Video.

15 Movie Stars You Didn’t Know Got Their Start as Kids

Every major movie star has a starting point, but for some, that journey began much earlier than audiences realize. Long before leading blockbuster franchises or award-winning performances, many well-known actors were already appearing in films, commercials, or television as children.

These early roles are often overshadowed by the careers that followed. From brief appearances to fully fledged child stardom, actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Natalie Portman built the foundations of their careers at a young age. Looking back at these beginnings offers a different perspective on how long some of today’s biggest names have been in the spotlight.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Began acting in commercials and TV shows like Growing Pains, establishing himself early before transitioning into major film roles in the 1990s.

Natalie Portman

Made her film debut at age 12 in Léon: The Professional, earning critical attention for a performance far beyond her years.

Christian Bale

Rose to fame as a child in Empire of the Sun, delivering a widely praised performance that launched his long-term acting career.

Scarlett Johansson

Started acting young, gaining early recognition in films like The Horse Whisperer, showcasing emotional depth even as a child performer.

Ryan Gosling

Appeared on The Mickey Mouse Club as a child (pictured above with Justin Timberlake), alongside future stars, before transitioning into serious film roles later in his career.

Kirsten Dunst

Began acting in commercials and films early, with Interview with the Vampire bringing her significant attention as a child actress.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Had a steady child acting career in TV and film, notably in 3rd Rock from the Sun, before transitioning into adult roles.

Jake Gyllenhaal

Appeared in films as a child, including City Slickers, before later establishing himself with more mature and complex roles.

Jodie Foster

Began acting in commercials as a toddler and gained early fame with films like Taxi Driver, establishing a long, acclaimed career.

Drew Barrymore

Rose to fame as a child in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, becoming one of the most recognizable young stars of her time.

Kurt Russell

Started as a child actor in Disney productions like Follow Me Boys, building a foundation that later led to a successful adult film career.

Elle Fanning

Started acting at a very young age, initially appearing alongside her sister before establishing her own independent career.

Neil Patrick Harris

Rose to fame as a teenage lead in Doogie Howser, M.D., showcasing his acting abilities early on well before How I Met Your Mother.

Shia LaBeouf

Began as a child actor on Disney Channel, gaining recognition before moving into major film roles like Transformers.

Ryan Reynolds

Began acting as a teenager in Canadian television series like Fifteen, gradually building toward a successful film career over the years.

12 Movie Mistakes Nobody Actually Cares About

Not every movie mistake is a problem. In fact, some of the most obvious errors in film history are the ones audiences happily ignore. Whether it’s a continuity slip, a scientific impossibility, or a blink-and-you-miss-it production blunder, these moments rarely take away from the experience. If anything, they’ve become part of the charm.

People that make movies are humans after all, and they make mistakes. But for the audience, as long as the vision stands and the intention is there, some oversights can be permitted, particularly when you’re fully immersed. Of course, pointing them out is all in good fun, and a great excuse for a rewatch!

Gladiator

A gas canister is clearly visible on a chariot during a battle scene, a major production oversight that stands out but never distracts from the film’s intensity. If anything, it shows that the chariot needed some extra horsepower.

The Avengers

Captain America’s suit is visibly damaged and then suddenly repaired in the same battle, a continuity slip that goes largely unnoticed in the chaos.

Pulp Fiction

Bullet holes appear in the wall before the gun is fired, a continuity error fans often point out, but one that hasn’t impacted the film’s iconic status. After all, you’re only looking for the holes when the gun is fired, not before.

Jurassic Park

The T-Rex enclosure changes layout mid-scene, going from flat ground to a massive drop, a spatial inconsistency widely discussed but easily overlooked. After all, the park’s layout is not the core of the movie.

Braveheart

A modern car is visible in the background during a battlefield shot, an anachronism that’s become a classic example of harmless movie mistakes. Fortunately, the vehicle almost blends with the background.

Casino Royale

Bond’s injuries appear and disappear between scenes, a minor continuity issue overshadowed by the film’s grounded tone and strong performances.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

A crew member briefly appears during a dueling scene, something sharp-eyed viewers have spotted without it affecting the film’s popularity. And honestly, it’s so dark that you can barely see him.

Star Wars

A stormtrooper hits his head on a doorway, a blooper that became so beloved it was later acknowledged in official releases.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

The story arguably reaches the same conclusion without Indy’s involvement, a logic flaw that hasn’t diminished its reputation as a classic adventure.

Avengers: Endgame

The film’s time travel rules contradict themselves at times (particularly regarding Captain America and his ending), yet audiences largely accept it due to the emotional payoff and scale.

Back to the Future

The time travel paradoxes raise endless questions, but viewers embrace the fun rather than scrutinizing the inconsistencies too deeply.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

A crew member wearing a cowboy hat appears briefly in the background, a funny mistake that fans enjoy spotting. He might just be a very fashionable pirate.

13 Great Movies Ruined By the Final Act

A strong opening can hook an audience, and a compelling middle can build something special, but a weak final act can undo everything that came before it. Some films are remembered not for how well they started, but for how frustratingly they ended.

Whether it’s a tonal shift, a rushed resolution, or a twist that doesn’t quite land, these endings often spark ongoing debates among fans. Of course, ‘ruined’ is highly subjective depending on who we’re asking, but at the very least, these films had a lot of potential that went nowhere due to their conclusions.

I Am Legend

The movie is well-known for making drastic changes from its source material, but no change is bigger than the ending, making even the name of the movie nonsensical. It used to have something closer to the book ending originally, only to change it after test audiences reacted negatively.

Law Abiding Citizen

Often criticized for abandoning its morally complex setup, the ending shifts focus away from its central conflict, leaving audiences feeling the story’s premise was not fully explored. This makes it extra complicated due to most fans connecting with the villain.

Glass

The finale’s subdued resolution and sudden narrative turns divided audiences, with many expecting a more impactful culmination after the buildup across multiple interconnected films. And all this without mentioning the puddle.

High Tension

The twist ending introduces inconsistencies that conflict with earlier events, leading viewers to question the internal logic of the story despite its effective early tension.

Honey, Don’t!

The final act struggles to maintain the tone established earlier, with tonal shifts that some viewers feel disrupt the film’s overall narrative cohesion. While the movie tries to tie everything together at the end, many questions remain, at least on feeling, unanswered.

Wonder Woman

Praised for most of its runtime, the film’s final act leans heavily into CGI spectacle, which diluted its grounded emotional and thematic elements. On the story side of things, blaming the god of war for, well, wars, makes us question how come war is still a thing after his death.

A Star Is Born

While emotionally impactful, the final act’s direction has been debated, with some viewers feeling it leans into familiar storytelling choices rather than subverting expectations. It also portrays controversial views regarding one of the main character’s death.

Phenomenon

The film’s ending shifts toward melodrama, which contrasted too sharply with the more restrained tone established earlier in the story.

Babylon

The extended montage finale divided viewers, with some praising its ambition while most felt it disrupted pacing and overshadowed the film’s central narrative threads.

10 Cloverfield Lane

The grounded psychological tension gives way to a more explicit sci-fi conclusion, a tonal shift that many viewers found jarring compared to the earlier claustrophobic storytelling. Granted, it is part of the Cloverfield series, but still.

Source Code

The ending introduces a hopeful resolution that some argue contradicts the film’s established rules, raising questions about the internal consistency of its time-loop mechanics. Just ending it a couple of minutes earlier would’ve been ideal.

28 Years Later

The final act of the movie changes tone so drastically, that for a lot of viewers it ruined the film. Of course, if you’re into the tone it shifted to, then you’ll be set, but not a lot of people expected the Power Rangers to be a key plot point of a zombie movie.

Hancock

The film’s shift from a grounded superhero deconstruction into a more traditional mythological storyline left some viewers feeling the final act lacked the originality of its opening. Worst than a bad final act, it is a bad final half.