Is Blade Marvel's Next Oscar Movie?

     Kevin Feig, president of Marvel Studios, recently announced the Phase 4 plans for their Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Endgame at this year's Comic Con. For the next two years we are in for some great movies including a Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange movie (Wandavision), a What If movie that explores the what if scenarios in the Marvel universe that has become a popular side-series in Marvel comics, and a Thor movie which gave us a pleasant surprise with not only Natalie Portman returning from a long hiatus from the MCU as Thor's love interest Jane Foster, but she will become the new Thor.
     Again, it was like superhero movie Christmas, but that wasn't the only big news we got. As part of their Phase 5 movies, Marvel will be working on a long anticipated Blade movie along with a new Blade, Mahershala Ali. Ali being helmed as Marvel's residential vampire slayer is an interesting choice moreso than your regular news of an actor deciding to don tights for a superhero movie for Marvel and DC. This could be a inkling that Marvel could have their eye on the prize, literally. Oscar gold if you want to be technical.
     Apparently making box office billions is not enough for studios anymore as it seems like any superhero movie comes out will generate a ton of money. It seems that with Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, and now with the Oscar buzz behind the upcoming Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix, superhero movies are dipping their toes in the Oscar pool. Ali is a two time Oscar winner, grabbing two awards for Moonlight and last year's The Green Book. Is Marvel's plan is for Ali to not only slay Vampires in the Blade reboot, but to slay the Academy Awards as well? 
     I know what you're probably thinking. How could a movie about a dude slaying vampires be an Oscar contender? Well, if you read the comics you would know that there is a lot of story there and attaching the right directors and producers, along with an amazing team could open up a lot of creative and opportunity for this movie to be the comic book darling of the Oscars, a la Black Panther which got the same treatment with its ensemble in front and behind the camera. It would also be a shame to squander Ali's acting ability by having a two time Academy Award winner doing anything short of masterful work. What are your thoughts?

The Main Villain of Breath of the Wild 2 is Not Ganon (Probably)

     The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild was arguably one of the best games of 2017. The visuals, the story, the gameplay. It was perfect in everyway and all Zelda fans could ask for. Fans have already put the game in leagues of the series classic games like Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, and even the original Zelda. So what do you do when you make a game that everyone loves? You make another one.

     And that is exactly what Nintendo is doing when they announced that we are getting a sequel to Breath of the Wild during their E3 Direct. Aside from the announcement we got a special teaser.

    Not much is happening, everything is cryptic, but it does take place sometime after BOTW and aside from random cuts that from the game, Link and Zelda are in a cave witnessing the mummified remains of what looks like one of the sages from the previous game becoming corrupted and coming back to life. There's not much you can get from it but that isn't stopping fans from forming their own theories about what will happen in the game, more specifically who will be the antagonist. 

     Based on the how corrupting force that is in the teaser, most people are assuming that the villain will be Ganon, again.

*Before you read any further beware. There are spoilers.*

     In the last game Ganon, oops I mean CALAMITY Ganon, looked pretty much the same way for the majority of the game. Ganon evolved into a entity of pure evil and corruption, corrupting the guardians that were designed to destroy him should he ever came back to threaten Hyrule this time around. He actually succeeded in taking over Hyrule by fatally injuring Link enough that he had to be in a stasis in order to heal. Zelda however was able to partially seal Ganon or at least made him dormant so that he couldn't spread, completely corrupting Hyrule. In the end of the game Link was able to defeat him and Zelda was able to fully seal him away.

     Back to the teaser trailer, the corrupting force in the teaser looks very reminiscent of the how Calamity Ganon looked throughout most of BOTW. So, does this mean that Ganon's back this time around? Possibly, but it could be something else. Ganon is unquestionably the main antagonist of The Legend of Zelda series appearing in many titles throughout its history, but so have other villains, often taking his place while he was either sealed away, or killed. It wouldn't really make sense for him to come back and be the main villain in two games in the same era. Both examples of this are Majora's Mask and Spirit Trackers which were direct sequels of Ocarina of Time and Wind Walker, taking place in the same time era and where you had other main antagonists that Link had to defeat right after he just defeated Ganon.
     Story wise it wouldn't make sense either. A large part of BOTW was presented in Zelda's point of view and was in part a story of her growing and becoming this powerful person figuratively and literally as she was going through turmoil of how could she save Hyrule from Calamity Ganon's influence, meeting big obstacle, and overall being able to be strong enough to seal him away. Him coming back would cheapen BOTW's story. We do not know much of who will be the main antagonist and it could be very well be Ganon back again since he does tend to break out of his sealed prison just like a DC villain. This are just my thoughts. What are yours?

Avengers: Endgame and the Future of the MCU: What is Marvel Planning?

    Avengers: Endgame is only a couple of days away, this Friday, and if you haven't been paying attention Marvel has been making this the movie that all comic books fans have to see. If you haven't saw Infinity War, number one: SHAME! Number 2: Infinity War left us at a emotional cliffhanger of some sorts as we were introduced to the villain Thanos.
     Thanos was Marvel's biggest and most powerful threat yet as he not only was able to beat the Hulk and most of Marvel's most powerful heroes with no trouble, but was dead set on a mission to acquire the infinity stones six powerful gems which whoever posses them had to power of time, space, etc, but most importantly could undo half of the life in the universe in one snap. And Thanos did just that. The ending of Infinity War has put the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in a loop as we lost important heroes and characters setting up the next installment of the Avengers films to be the end all to be all which the remaining Avengers treating this a make or break mission where some will have to risk their own lives in order to defeat Thanos and undo what he did in Infinity War.
     Endgame has not only been hyped up to be the biggest challenge the Avengers have faced, but it will mark the end of one era and the beginning of another. But what will happen next in the MCU? We don't know exactly. Marvel has been very tight lipped about what they plan for the next phase, and it isn't X-Men or Fantastic Four suddenly popping up out of nowhere in a post credit scene in Endgame. But what exactly will happen after Endgame?
     With how Marvel is gearing things up we know that some heroes are not coming back. There have been speculation that some heroes might die while fighting Thanos,but who? Thor and Black Widow have upcoming movies so it won't be them. The biggest guesses would be Captain America since actor Chris Evans has basically said that he is done with the role. My guess is that if Cap's gone than Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., is gonna be killed off too. But things may not be as bad and this era may not end on a bittersweet note after all. We saw a scene in the recent trailer where Hawkeye was training his daughter, Kate Bishop. There is  possibility that we could see the next generation of new heroes taking up classic title in the MCU's future. We do know that there will be a new Hawkeye series on Disney+ where Kate will be trained to become the new Hawkeye. Iron Man may not even die and will retire from the role and become a mentor to Spider-Man or probably Riri Williams, who could come in and become the new Iron Man or Iron Heart. With Captain America Marvel could very well choose to continue the franchise with either Bucky or Falcon taking over the iconic role. Regardless of what happens we know that Endgame will mark the end of an era and will usher in a new one, and we're gonna be waiting awhile for mutants and the X-Men to come in. A LONG while. What do you think?

What Will The Legendary Mascots of Pokemon Sword and Shield Look Like?

     This week we finally got a look at the next generation Pokemon game for the Switch, Pokemon Sword and Shield.

    In the trailer you see new places in the brand new Galar region which is either based on England? Scotland? or maybe it the U.K. We also got a chance to already look at the new starter pokemon, Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. With this being the first trailer we only got to see so much, but knowing Game Freak, the company who makes Pokemon games, there will be over a ton of information that will be revealed later on.
     I'm sure this has led a lot of pokefans to start speculating and making theories on what Game Freak has in store for us this time around. One of these is what will the legendary pokemon look like in the game, or more importantly what will Sword and Shield's legendary mascot pokemon will look like.
     If we want to find any clues, we may have to look no further than the logos for Sword and Shield. Game Freak often leaves indications on what the legendaries look like in the logos. A few examples are in Gold and Silver with Ho-oh and Lugia literally being gold and silver, X and Y where the legendaries Yveltal and Xerneas were X and Y shaped pokemon, and in Sun and Moon where not only were Solgaleo and Lunala were pokemon representing the sun and moon, but had their crests designed in the logo of their games as well. So, what clues are in Sword and Shield's logo?
   In both logos we see a wolf's head on top of a sword and shield. There is a chance that the legendaries can be wolf pokemon based how prominent wolves have been the staple in european mythology. In indo-european mythology, wolves are often associated with the warriors class with people who are said to transform into werewolves and the Celtic goddess Morrighan who sometime appear in the form of a wolf and represents sovereignty, along with being considered a goddess who guides and protects kings. It does make some kind of sense for the Galar region's key legendary pokemon to fit this since it is based on the U.K and there are a couple of castles in Galar's regional map one being in the center of the region and an old castle near the bottom near the lakes.
    Most legendaries have gotten a background story connected to their respected region for sometime now. Solgaleo and Lunala have been the pokemon to ward of ultra beasts in Sun and Moon as well as the Tapus being the pokemon who protect Alola. Groudon and Kyogre shaped Hoenn. How will the wolf legendaries' fit into Sword and Shield? We could get a similar story like Black in White where it's legendary pokemon, Zekrom and Reshiram where the two pokemon belonged to warring brothers. The only difference could be just like Morrighan, one of the wolf legendaries, or both, were responsible for the king of Galar to rule the region. There's a possibility of the legendary wolves to just be like Black and White's other dragon pokemon, Kyruem, and just be one pokemon and it having two forms, an attack form and a defense form, representing shield. This is of course all speculation and none of this is true. We will all have to see when we get further details about word and Shield. What are your thoughts?

Characters Who Should Be Guest DLC in Mortal Kombat 11

Mortal Kombat XI is coming and it has set our hearts a flutter as Scorpion rips them out. MK XI looks to be just as much as a bloodbath as it's predecessor was which is a complement for a fighting game franchise that has been around for years. One of the ways the series has stay fresh, along with not just rebooting the entire franchise, but becoming a gory Smash Bros by adding guest characters we all live to see kill or be killed by our favorite kombatants. We had horror favorites from Freddy Kruger to Jason Voorhees to  the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise popping in. Recently there are rumors of our favorite brooding dark guy in a cape, not Batman, Spawn might be in the next DLC. Here are some characters I think should be in the game as DLC.

Candyman

Mortal Kombat isn't new to adding our favorite serial movie killers in the game so why not Candyman. Candyman's hook would be a nice weapon we would love to see buried in someone's head and he could launch bees as projectiles. We're also getting a reboot so it's perfect timing.

The Terminator (T-800)

This could be a bit weird but why not. You fight enough robots in the franchise anyway. Imagine Arnold saying fight with me if you want to die.

Pinhead

Another horror movie legend. If you are a Hellraiser fan you already know that torture and causing mass pain and carnage in right up Pinhead's alley and being put in the game would feel like home. Pinhead could attack people with chains which could work as a grab. He could even throw that Hell puzzle cube as a projectile. His super could be sucking you into is Hell dimension and zapping you with that Leviathan diamond thing. A fatality based on the Jesus wept scene would make the bloody icing on the cake. Who wouldn't want Pinhead in the game, other than Quan Chi?

Joker

DC and Netheream studios have this love thing going on with Injustice, and DC vs Mortal Kombat but we never talk about that, so why not let some DC characters join in on the fun? No other character would have fun like the Joker. He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve from spraying poison Joker gas and throwing bombs as possible projectiles the fun never ends.

Lobo

Our favorite comic book foul mouth wisecracking mercenary badass who isn't Deadpool. Lobo would be a nice add to the game. He's mean, he's ruthless, he love to dish out the pain. He's basically intergalactic Kano with Kiss makeup with enough sassy wit to stand toe to toe with Johnny and Kassie Cage while putting those toes and foot up their asses.

Lizzie, George, or Ralph

Old fans would recognize these as former Midway legends. Lizzie, George, and Ralph were monsters from Rampage where they would destroy towns in Godzilla fashion. Seeing more monsterous versions of themselves tearing people apart would be nice to see.

Deathstroke

Yes, another DC character. Deathstroke does seem more prone to fit right in with his own arsenal of weapons and the no hesitation to kill his enemies.

Andy Serkis as Mokap

If you were aware of the old Mortal Kombat games you would know that they have a character named Mokap. Mokap was a joke character that went from doing motion capture in the old Midway studio to fighting four arm dragon-men and Netherealm sorcerers. Since rebooting the game to a more serious, and even more gruesome telling, Mortal Kombat hasn't had a good joke character in a while. Why not just only bring back the joke character Mokap, but have him be everyone's favorite actor in a tight spandex suit with balls attached to it? It would be the epitome of a joke character.

Who do you think should be in the game as DLC?

Why Nintendo's Creators Program Failed

     Let the joyous news be spread the wicked old Nintendo's YouTube creators program at last is dead! Yes, people you've heard it. Nintendo has announced that they will be putting an end to their Creators Program. Nintendo's statement:

"We are ending the Nintendo Creators Program (NCP) to make it easier for content creators to make and monetize videos that contain Nintendo game content. We will no longer ask creators to submit their videos to the NCP, and creators can continue showing their passion for Nintendo by following Nintendo’s guidelines."

     So, by ending the program Nintendo appears that the company is going to be a bit more easy on how content creators feature videos containing Nintendo games. Hearing this news, you can be certain a lot of gamers on YouTube or YouTubers who like to make videos featuring Nintendo content are pretty excited hearing this news. But why? What made Nintendo's program so unpopular?
     As you know YouTubers get paid on YouTube by views and ad revenue. Gaming is one of the most popular genre with millions watching videos dedicated to video games as well as watching live streams of creators playing video games. Nintendo has been notorious in how they would take down videos and remove streams of creators featuring their content. In response to this Nintendo made a creators program in order to reach out to YouTubers and make things simple. This made things right? Wrong.
     The program had YouTubers follow a strict set of guidelines in which they had to follow in order to not have their videos taken down. Along with the set of rules what made YouTubers upset was the fact that they couldn't live stream games as Nintendo as they viewed this as spoiling content and driving away people that would buy the games. Also you would have to send the video to Nintendo and wait three business days for it to be deemed "satisfactory". What also didn't sit well was that signing up for the program Nintendo would pocket and good chunk of the money, 30% of revenue for the channels and 40% for video content.
     Nintendo had a program where a lot of YouTubers found to be a bit unfair and in some cases completely took advantage of their content. Famous YouTuber Pewdiepie said:

"I also think this is a slap in the face to the YouTube channels that does focus on Nintendo game exclusively. The people who have helped and showed passion for Nintendo's community are the ones left in the dirt the most.

And finally, when there's just so many games out there to play. Nintendo games just went to the bottom of that list. Even if more publishers starts implementing this idea of sharing revenue. Then fine, there's always going to be plenty of games out there, ready to become the next "Mienkraft" - Sounds cheesy, but it's true."

     It's true that with how Nintendo's original program stood and how many YouTubers felt that it was unfair it would largely turn them off from signing onto the program and even not consider playing Nintendo games which would not only hurt the relationship between them and the company but also having their games be featured in videos which could lead to more people buying their games. The program will be ending March 20, 2019. What are your thoughts on this recent news and Nintendo shutting down their Creators Program?

So Who TF Are We Exactly Playing in Pokemon Let's Go?

     The recent trailer for Pokemon Let's Go was released and at first it seems to be nothing big as you finally get to see the other Gym Leaders and the Elite Four and how their battles will be.

     However in the final part of the trailer, it is said that you'll will meet other characters. What other characters you say? Pre-Gold and Silver Jhoto Gym Leaders? Nope. As a total shock you get to meet and battle Red, Blue, and Green from the original games. This seems to be huge but as big and exciting this news may be it leaves a lot of confusion and leaves a big question: Who exactly are we playing in this remake?

     For those who don't know Pokemon Let's Go is an enhanced remake of Pokemon Yellow, which was a gen one game.With most remakes it implied that you are playing the same character as the original. At first you would figure that would be the case in Pokemon Let's Go, but yet here we are encountering not only the main character of the original game (Red), but we are fighting him and his rivals (Blue and Green). So, who are we exactly playing as if we're not playing?

     So, what gives? Recently Pokemon has been more sci-fi with us lately with the introduction of wormholes and possible alternate realities and universes. This was lightly touched upon in Omega Sapphire and Ruby where a NCP stated that there is a possibility that the remakes could all be set in an entire universe instead of them just being retellings. This was later brought to the fore front with Sun and Moon where wormholes played a crucial part in the game and elaborated even further in Ultra Sun and Moon where Giovanni actually went in some of these wormholes and alternate universes to start his new Rainbow Rocket empire. Are the characters we are playing in Pokemon Let's Go are alternate characters in that universe and had the original Red, Green, and Blue somehow been brought in that universe via a wormhole? If that is the case this could be the first time in the series where former main characters meet their alternate universe counterparts. Or this could be so weird non-canon post game battle frontier thing some they always do in a couple of games. What do you think?