origin

11 Sep

My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 23 Review: Tenko Shimura: Origin

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This My Hero Academia review contains spoilers for Season 5, Episode 23. “You’re right. I just want to destroy.” There’s an inherent risk of ruining the magic that surrounds certain characters by answering all of the questions that contextualize them—especially when it comes to villains—but My Hero Academia has not only avoided this particular story struggle, but excelled in the territory and turned the challenge into some of the show’s most powerful episodes. They’re the perfect amount of dark and haunting without feeling exploitative or off the mark from what the series should represent.  There is no shortage of villains…

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07 Sep

MCU Origin Movies Ranked (Including Shang-Chi)

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Superhero movies have been around long enough that audiences are understandably starting to grow bored of a frequently recurring trope within them: the origin story. There are only so many times one can watch Uncle Ben die, or Thomas and Martha Wayne die, or Punisher’s whole family die (wow a lot of these have to do with death) before it gets old. Thankfully, the Marvel Cinematic Universe understands audiences’ superhero origin fatigue. Of Marvel’s 25 feature films, well over half are sequel or team-up efforts. Still, when introducing a new character to the world, sometimes an origin story is unavoidable. …

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07 Sep

Labyrinth: How Did Jareth Become the Goblin King? His Comic Book Origin Story Explains

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Warning: contains spoilers for the Labyrinth: Coronation Comics. Maybe yours is the kind of mind that’s never worried about why in the 1986 film Labyrinth, Goblin King Jareth – ostensibly a human man, albeit one who can turn into an owl – rules a species with which he shares zero physical characteristics. If so, then go in peace, friend, and enjoy life. You likely already are. If, however, yours is the sort of mind that regularly lets you leave home in slippers because it’s busy wondering how they get the horses to the Olympics, then step this way. The Labyrinth mystery has been…

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26 May

Final Fantasy Origin Rumors Hint at Dark Souls Style PS5 Game

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It wouldn’t be E3 season without a few good rumors, and one of the biggest E3 2021 rumors we’ve heard so far involves a Final Fantasy spin-off currently known as Final Fantasy Origin. Seemingly inspired by the critical and commercial success of the Final Fantasy 7 remake, Square Enix is reportedly interested in pursuing a variety of Final Fantasy related projects at the moment. While we already knew about Final Fantasy 16 and the upcoming PS5 port of the Final Fantasy 7 remake (which will include new content), recent rumors and a report from Fanbyte that cites Square Enix sources…

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24 May

The Legend of Zelda: What is the Origin of Link’s Name?

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A few years ago, Shigeru Miyamoto managed to troll the internet by “revealing” that Link’s full name is “Link Link.” It may have just been a cute nod to the fact that Mario’s name is apparently Mario Mario (a joke established by the infamous 1993 Super Mario movie), but considering that there is so much about Link and the Zelda universe that remains mysterious, fans tend to be invested in anything that Miyamoto says about the franchise. If you ask me, though, Link’s first name has always been more interesting than his last name. After all, why did Nintendo decided…

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10 May

Resident Evil Village: Mother Miranda’s Origin Story Explained

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This article contains RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE spoilers. While Resident Evil Village‘s trailers and demos strongly suggested that the mysterious Mother Miranda would ultimately be the game’s “main” villain, even the wildest theories regarding the character’s background didn’t come close to guessing just how important and fascinating she would prove to be. As is this case with many things in Resident Evil Village, though, there’s a chance you could walk away from the game without a proper understanding of who, exactly, Mother Miranda is and why she is more than just another entry into Resident Evil‘s impressive collection of big bads. While some…

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05 Apr

The Walking Dead: How “Here’s Negan” Opens the Door for a Saviors Origin Story

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While the origin story of The Walking Dead’s antihero former big bad was effectively revealed in Season 10 finale “Here’s Negan,” it noticeably missed most of the comic book miniseries it adapts. Indeed, the episode may have showcased the arc of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan from philandering former Phys Ed teacher to post-apocalyptic barbed-wire-bat-swinging badass, but his arrival as a covetous cult leader was nowhere to be seen. However, that story might still manifest in the television universe… just not on the main show. The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang essentially eliminated the notion of further Negan flashbacks on the…

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05 Apr

The Walking Dead: Laura Return and Origin Explained

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This Walking Dead article contains spoilers. The Walking Dead season 10 finally came to a close with “Here’s Negan,” an episode based on the comic book storyline of the same name that takes a deep dive into the villain’s past. How did a high school gym teacher become the ruthless leader of the Saviors? The episode answers that question and shows how his villainous turn directly ties into his attempts to save his wife Lucille (Hilarie Burton) from cancer. In a flashback scene that takes place several years earlier, we watch as Negan goes on a supply run to locate…

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05 Mar

The Walking Dead: Daryl’s Dog Origin Revealed in Exclusive Clip

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The Walking Dead season 10 continues to dig into the past with “Find Me,” which takes a look back at the years Daryl spent in exile from Alexandria searching for Rick Grimes after the bridge explosion in season 9 that marked Andrew Lincoln’s exit from the show. We all know Rick isn’t dead, but Daryl doesn’t so he spends the next six years searching for any sign of the Alexandrian leader’s remains. At the very least so that Daryl can put the man he calls “his brother” to rest. Daryl revisits this unseen period in his life while out hunting…

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18 Feb

Cruella: Does Every Villain Need a Sympathetic Origin Story?

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Clearly this isn’t your parents’ Cruella De Vil. This isn’t even your Cruella De Vil. However, there is something fiendishly charming about seeing Emma Stone charge into a ballroom and light her black and white dress on fire, revealing a chic red number beneath that would do Scarlett O’Hara proud. If fashion is a statement, Cruella is here to say the villain has just arrived! Yet one can’t help but shake the certainty that by the time we actually learn the plot of Disney’s Cruella reimagining, Cruella will be in anything but black and white, or fiery red. Rather Cruella…

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07 Jan

Why Wonder Woman’s Real Origin Story Lies in First Wave Feminism

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This holiday season, one of the few bright spots for families unable to go to theaters—and even those who did—was Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984. An ambitious and vibrantly colored celebration of heroism in all its forms, including those that don’t end in fistfights, it’s a superhero movie that’s won as many fans as detractors. But while basking in the new spectacle is well and good, it’s also worth considering how it came to be. For even in this HBO Max tentpole, one can still see how the feminist movement of the early 20th century is grafted into the very…

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27 Nov

The Mandalorian’s Grogu: Baby Yoda’s Real Name and Star Wars Origin Explained

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This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers. After a year of speculation, Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian, suitably titled “The Jedi,” has finally given fans some of the answers they’ve been searching for. Not only does the episode reveal what fan-favorite hero Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) has been up to since the end of the Rebels animated series but it also gives Baby Yoda/The Child a proper name. Meet Grogu! The straightforward way “The Jedi” answers so many of our questions is actually a bit shocking. In the Disney era, we’ve all gotten pretty used to toybox mysteries in…

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13 Nov

Spider-Man Miles Morales: Simon Krieger’s Fate, Origin, and Voice Actor Explained

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This Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales article contains spoilers. Spider-Man has always benefited from one of the best rogues’ galleries in comics, but the recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales features a villain whom some franchise fans may not immediately recognize: a businessman named Simon Krieger. While it probably won’t come as much as a surprise that Miles Morales focuses on a new villain given that it’s a spin-off of the Marvel’s Spider-Man story, it turns out that Krieger isn’t actually an entirely new face in the Marvel universe. The game’s ending also strongly suggests that this won’t be the last…

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09 Nov

Star Trek: Discovery’s Adira & Gray and The Need For New Kinds of Origin Stories

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This Star Trek: Discovery article contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 3, Episode 4. Note: I highly encourage you to read Riley Silverman’s “Star Trek: Discovery’s Trans Representation is Both Heartbreaking and Groundbreaking” over at SyfyWire. As a trans woman (not to mention a brilliant pop culture critic), Silverman has a perspective on this representation that I, as a cis woman, do not and has beautifully written about her complex reaction to Discovery‘s latest episodes. If you pay attention to Star Trek news, then you probably saw and got got hyped about the pre-Season 3 announcement that Discovery would be introducing…

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30 Oct

Horror Movie Origin Stories: Directors, Actors, and Writers on How They Fell in Love With the Genre

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If you’re a horror fan you’ll have one. A memory of a moment, or a series of moments, where you first felt the thrill of the genre. That sparkly feeling of fear and delight, when you want to look away but you feel like you can’t. It could be a book, a film, a tv show, a snatched glimpse of something you shouldn’t have seen when you were too young to understand it. We all start somewhere. Den of Geek spoke to a whole range of top people working in horror movies and tv to find out where it all…

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30 Oct

The Mandalorian: Cobb Vanth Origin and Armor Explained

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This Star Wars: The Mandalorian article contains spoilers. Timothy Olyphant makes his Star Wars debut in The Mandalorian season 2 as a very minor character from the Star Wars Expanded Universe that no one ever expected to see in live-action. The character in question is Cobb Vanth, a mysterious figure who was first introduced in the Aftermath series of novels that take place just after Return of the Jedi. Cobb appears in interludes in each of the three books, and they chronicle his adventures as the marshall of a Tatooine settlement called Freetown, although the small mining town is referred…

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21 Oct

David Fincher’s Mank Reframes Citizen Kane Origin Story as Mankiewicz’s Brilliance

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It holds the lofty perch of being the greatest cinematic achievement of all-time. The American Film Institute picked it as the best movie ever made. Twice. François Truffaut filmed himself daydreaming of Orson Welles in Day for Night (1973). Liev Schreiber starred as Welles in an HBO movie about the film’s making. Citizen Kane is like the white whale for moviemakers who want to make movies about other moviemakers. And now David Fincher is giving it a singular, and possibly revisionist, angle in Mank, a new Netflix film starring Gary Oldman as Herman J. Mankiewicz. Herman’s name is arguably not…

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22 Sep

The Flash: The Secret Origin of the Original TV Series

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A flash of lightning. An iconic red and gold costume. Weird sci-fi villains and blockbuster special effects. We could only be talking about the beloved The Flash TV series, right? Ah, but this isn’t Grant Gustin and Team Flash from the CW’s The Flash. No, this is The Flash TV series from 1990, the one starring John Wesley Shipp and boasting a theme song by none other than superhero movie maestro Danny Elfman. The Flash was an expensive gamble for CBS and ultimately only lasted one season, but its legacy lives on and it remains an important part of superhero…

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12 Sep

Milestone Universe Relaunch Reveals New Static Shock Origin

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As part of day two of DC’s big comic con pandemic substitute, DC Comics has made a metric ton of comics available for free online. Included in that passel of books are several from Milestone Comics – some classic issues of Icon, Hardware, and Static Shock, along with Milestone Returns #0, the kickoff to the big return of the Black-owned comic company slated for February. And there’s a pretty big surprise contained within. The book is written by Reggie Hudlin and Greg Pak, with art from DC Publisher Jim Lee, Brothers Bond artist Ryan Benjamin; Teen Titans artist Khoi Pham;…

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03 Sep

The Walking Dead: What is the Origin of the Zombie Outbreak?

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Back in the “Before Times” of January 2020, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman fielded a Twitter question about a pandemic unrelated to the one that would soon seize the world. “What was the origin of the zombie outbreak on The Walking Dead?” one Twitter user wanted to know. Kirkman answered the question simply and succinctly with:  “Space spore.” You may have noticed that the exchange above contains no links to the tweets in question. That’s because they no longer exist. Kirkman deleted his “space spore” tweet shortly after dozens of websites picked it up and ran with “The Walking…

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