One of the latest Marvel casting rumors making the rounds is that Michael Barbieri’s Spider-Man: Homecoming character is based on Ganke Lee, who, in the comics, is the best friend of Miles Morales. Not regular Spider-Man, better known as Peter Parker. In the comics, Ganke Lee is a pudgy Korean-American who looks like…

Whenever Game of Thrones ends, it’s safe to say that poor Tommen Baratheon won’t be sitting on the Iron Throne. The entire series (minus a few evil magical ice zombies) is about people jockeying to become the ruler of Westeros, with most signs pointing to the exiled Daenerys finally returning home and reclaiming the…

A few days ago, many people were shocked—shocked!—at a pair of new studies that found that many Americans have authoritarian tendencies. They want a strong leader, who can sort out “those” people. This went against everything we had lazily chosen to believe about America! But it’s also pretty apparent if you pay any…

All this week, J.K. Rowling has been publishing History of Magic in North America, one part a day for four days. When it’s been at its best, it’s been sloppy; when its not at its best—which is most of the time—it’s uninformed and under-researched. At its worst, it is downright offensive, and here’s why.

The Wonder Woman movie is making a pretty bold change to her origin—but this isn’t just another example of DC Comics screwing needlessly with its characters. I’m here to tell you why this particular alteration is a brilliant idea. Spoilers ahead...

This has been a tough year. Pop culture let us down in many ways, even as our political system and our social institutions revealed a deeper seam of ugliness. But speculative fiction still offers us hope: not just optimism about human ingenuity, but actual reasons to look forward and keep our heads up.

Let me clarify: I don’t actually hate Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I watched the movie three times in four days, and will surely see at least twice more before it leaves theaters. But even though I love the movie, there is one major aspect of it that distresses me immensely. Major spoilers ahead...

Over the weekend, even as most of us were celebrating the fact that a new Star Wars movie did not in any way suck, some portions of the internet got sucked into a pointless, silly debate. Is Rey, the film’s hero, a “Mary Sue”? The answer is no. Next question?

Seriously, I’m asking, because I don’t know the answer. It’s not that the jokes aren’t funny—some of them were super funny, although last night’s series premiere was definitely hit and miss. It’s more that this whole concept is just wrong for the freaking Muppets. And then there’s Miss Piggy. Sigh.

Mulder and Scully on The X-Files are the couple who literally made “shipping” a thing, and they finally got together after years of romantic tension. But now, the new X-Files revival, airing next year, is going to break them up again. We’ve known for a while that this was happening—but yesterday, Chris Carter gave his…

Pixels reminded us all just how shitty an actor Adam Sandler can be. But it’s worse than you probably realize. As a star, and also as a producer, Sandler has created a string of horrible, vapid comedies that have helped make us all dumber. His movies are “films,” in the same sense that colonoscopies produce films.

Over the weekend, the internet was freaking out over the first pictures from the new Ghostbusters movie, featuring the cast looking tough and nerdy in their haunt-hunting coveralls. Headlines hailed it not as the new entry in a popular franchise, but as the “all female Ghostbusters.” Which is terrible.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a brilliant, miraculous action movie—and part of that is because it’s not really about Max, instead spotlighting Charlize Theron’s excellent Imperator Furiosa. So a brand new comic exploring the origins of this fascinating female character should be great, right? WRONG.

The internet is trapped in a shame spiral, and it’s time for us to get the fuck out. Last week, the vortex churned around British physicist Tim Hunt, the Nobel laureate who went to lunch and lost his job.

Recently, Jessica Coen shared a photo here of how I prefer to fly with my tiny child. A lot of folks in the comments thought maybe DCFS should take her from me (be my guest!) because I let her hang out on the floor. Now, this week, a mother — a pregnant mother — was apparently kicked off a United Airlines flight…

According to a new study, people who live in states with greater income inequality search online more often for “positional” goods that signify wealth. Two words: “fur vest.” Two more words: “Please stop.”

That goddamn app. Even though it's ugly and incomprehensible and barfs useless notifications at me, I keep using it. When I touch its stupid icon on my screen, it's a hate tap. It's a finger cringe. But I can't quit!

In between marketing winding up for its May release and Toy Fair around the corner, merchandise for Age of Ultron has been showing up everywhere. But one Avenger has been largely absent: Black Widow. It's not something new to Marvel — and that's starting to be a problem.