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io9Books & ComicsCoates’ Captain America Wants to Ask You the Important Questions
Comic books and the movies, shows, and other media based on them aren’t always explicitly political, but both forms of art and their stories about heroes and villains are crafted by people whose worldviews are shaped by the political realities of the world we all live in. When Black Panther writer Ta-Nehisi Coates took over … Continued
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io9Books & ComicsWandaVision‘s Nazi Watch May Be Important to the Show, But You Don’t Need to Buy It
In addition to a show-within-a-show, each of WandaVision’s episodes has featured vintage-inspired commercials advertising fictional products. In some way, they all allude to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe outside the warped bubble reality of Westview where Wanda Maximoff and Vision are now living. But do we really need them to be real products, too? WandaVision’s … Continued
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io9Books & ComicsDisney’s Falcon & Winter Soldier Has to Explore Race and Captain America’s Legacy
Now that they’ve done their part to save the universe in Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are packing up their gear and jetting off to Disney+ to star in their own miniseries. Falcon & Winter Soldier is sure to give the duo an interesting space to define themselves as Avengers in a post-Endgame … Continued
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io9Books & ComicsBlack Widow’s Epic Return to Marvel Comics Is Exactly the Kind of Story Her Movie Should Be
Black Widow’s death was one of the few major changes to come out of Marvel’s Secret Empire event that Kobik, a living embodiment of the Cosmic Cube’s power, did not undo. Unsurprisingly, the super spy’s already back from the dead, but her return reveals interesting new information that changes everything we know about her. Over … Continued
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io9Books & Comics
Doctor Strange Wants to Try and Fix One of Secret Empire‘s Most Horrendous Moments
One of the biggest messes that still remains from the bleak fallout of Secret Empire is actually one of the event’s first shocking moments: the complete destruction of the city of Las Vegas, on Stevil Rogers’ orders. Now, Stephen Strange wants to try and fix it… but he only manages to make things much worse. … Continued
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io9Books & Comics
The Road to Captain America’s Redemption Starts in the Most Cap-Worshipping Town in America
Steve Rogers has been through hell. Marvel’s Secret Empire event took the character to a dangerous place, one that spent the best part of a year muddying the public image of both one of comics’ most beloved heroes and his publisher. This week, the Steve we knew is back, but his new comic isn’t quite … Continued
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io9Books & Comics
Marvel’s Secret Empire: Omega Is a Warning That Secret Empire Will Never Really Be Over
In the most technical sense of the word, Secret Empire: Omega is an epilogue to Marvel’s controversial Secret Empire event, which turned Captain America into the Supreme Leader of Hydra who murdered thousands in his campaign to create a new, fascistic world order. But Secret Empire: Omega is really something quite different. One of the … Continued
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io9
This Week’s Deadpool Answers One Huge Question About the End of Secret Empire
Yesterday’s tenth and final issue of Secret Empire left us with some pretty major questions about the end of Stevil Rogers’ fascist rule. Mainly, what was the point of the whole thing? But also: What actually happened at the end of everything? Turns out one major clue was hidden in this week’s issue of Deadpool. … Continued
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io9
What Was the Point of Marvel’s Secret Empire?
There was something very telling about Marvel’s decision this past Monday to announce to The New York Times how its Secret Empire event would end. It felt like the publisher was trying to get ahead of yet more problems coming from the series’ conclusion. Now that the final issue of its primary series is in … Continued
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io9
For Some Reason, Marvel Pretty Much Just Gave Away How Secret Empire Ends
It feels like it’s been years since we first saw Steve Rogers shove Jack Flagg out of a jet before uttering “hail Hydra” and announcing to the world that he was, essentially, a newly-minted supervillain. Today, ahead of Secret Empire’s conclusion on Wednesday, Marvel kinda spoiled how the event’s gonna end. As Secret Empire has … Continued
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io9
What’s a Major Comic Book Event Even Supposed to Be Anymore?
Big superhero events are always marketed with promises of permanent status quo changes and shocking developments. The problem is, nobody believes that anymore. As of today, both Marvel and DC Comics are in the process of rolling out new major comic book events that, according to both publishers’ press releases about them, are designed to … Continued
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io9
Squirrel Girl Knows That Comic Book Events Are All Basically BS
One of the most delightful things about The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl—a comic bursting at the seams with delightful things—is its opening recap page. In most comics, this is just a recap of the story. In Squirrel Girl, it’s Doreen’s Twitter feed, and this week’s issue sees Spider-Man attempting, and failing, to convince her of the … Continued
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io9
The Hilariously Gross Moment Behind This Week’s Big Secret Empire Win
After weeks of one grim setback after another, Marvel’s superheroes finally earned a real victory in Secret Empire in the latest issue. But it turns out there was an amazingly silly start to that victory that you didn’t get to see in the pages of the main Secret Empire book. The victory brought about in … Continued
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io9
Marvel’s Heroes Finally Scored a Major Win in Secret Empire and It Feels So Good
Comics are at their very best when they take you on a journey that makes you feel a broad spectrum of emotions. A good comic sets up a bold premise and then crafts a plot around that central idea, but a really great comic draws you into its pages and become deeply invested in its … Continued
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io9
Secret Empire Just Took the Scarlet Witch and Vision’s Relationship to an Even Darker, More Dysfunctional Place
Vision and the Scarlet Witch have had one of the most difficult, complicated, on-again off-again relationships in comics history. Their love, like most, has at times been fraught with dysfunction, but the connection between them has been sustained by a potent blend of passion, understanding, and respect. Until Secret Empire, that is. Vision and Wanda … Continued
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It Looks Like The Wrong Person Just Died In Marvel’s Secret Empire
In the fifth issue of Marvel’s Civil War II, the Avengers, Inhumans, and more were at war with one another over whether they have the right to apprehend villains for crimes that they’ve yet to commit. But their battle stops when everyone is suddenly struck with a vision of Miles Morales, Ultimate Spider-Man, killing Captain … Continued
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io9MoviesShould We Be Worried About Ron Howard Directing the Han Solo Movie?
Guten tag, my… uh… gang, I guess? Please enjoy a bit of “Postal Apocalypse” calm before the storm of San Diego Comic-Con! This week: Disney’s Star Wars problem, whether Secret Empire will come to the MCU, and how to show someone you love something that’s become problematic over time. Also, I, uh, write a Transformers … Continued
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io9
In His Upcoming New Series, Sam Wilson Trades in Captain America’s Shield for a Pair of Wings
When Sam Wilson became Captain America back in 2014, it was only a matter of time before he realized that no matter how patriotic a person may be, nobody looks good dressed up in all red, white, and blue. After a few years of flinging Steve Rogers’ old shield around, Sam’s getting back to his … Continued
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io9
Jane Foster Just Proved She Doesn’t Need Mjolnir To Be Thor
Jane Foster became the Thor when the original Thor’s (Odinson) magical hammer Mjolnir deemed him unworthy and chose Jane as its new wielder. While Odinson’s been slogging his way through a beer-fueled existential crisis, Thor’s spent her time living up to her new role as Asgard’s goddess of thunder. While Thor still possesses all the … Continued
