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The Fantastic Four: First Steps has passed a box office milestone that has the movie taking the top position for the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a key metric. The McU's 2025 movies have now all been released, with the reboot of the Fantastic Four coming after Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, both of which underperformed at the box office.

While The Fantastic Four: First Steps has become the highest-grossing entry in the Fantastic Four franchise, that is not saying much, as the previous live-action adaptations of the team did not post impressive box office numbers. 2025 also marks the first year since 2008 that a DC movie will gross more than an MCU film. However, there is a saving grace.

According to The Numbers, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has become the highest-grossing MCU movie of 2025. The MCU Fantastic Four reboot is at $434.2 million worldwide at the time of writing. That...

The Sympathizer, starring Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey Jr., arrived on HBO with all the makings of a prestige drama worth talking about. Audiences and critics were drawn in by its mix of espionage, identity, and sharp satire, and that’s hardly surprising when you see who’s behind the camera.

Park Chan-wook, the visionary director who gave the world Oldboy, co-created this seven-part miniseries alongside Don McKellar. It’s adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, so there’s literary heft behind all the visual flair. Chan-wook and McKellar recently made headlines for being expelled from the WGA for writing on the show during the writers’ strike.

The Sympathizer follows a North Vietnamese spy who mixes in so well with the South’s army that no one sees through his facade. Even as he slips out of Saigon and into the U.S. after the city falls,...

The 2024 HBO series, The Sympathizer, had generated a lot of buzz due to its interesting casting choices. Robert Downey Junior not 1 but 4 pivotal characters in the espionage drama series. He plays a CIA operative, an anti-communist congressman, a Hollywood filmmaker, and a professional Orientalist. Each of his characters represents one phase of the American authority. All of these figures had a huge influence on the captain’s journey.

He features along with a dynamic ensemble cast that adds to the complex narrative. The show has been adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen and is a gripping spy drama that explores themes of politics, identity, and betrayal set in the times of the Vietnam War. Let’s have a look at how Downey’s performances fit with the grand scheme of things in the show.

The Sympathizer Cast: Robert Downey Jr. Teamed Up With Sarah Oh and...

The new Marvel movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, has officially brought the famous superhero family into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Matt Shakman and set in a stylish 1960s world, the film shows the team facing off against the massive cosmic villain Galactus.

The movie stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, with strong support from actors like Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson, who plays Galactus.

What really got fans talking, though, was the mid-credits scene. It takes place four years after the main story ends and shows Sue Richards reading to her son Franklin. When Sue leaves the room to grab another book, Franklin is left with a mysterious figure wearing a green cloak and holding a metal mask. Fans immediately recognized the figure as Doctor Doom, one of Marvel’s most famous villains.

Since the scene came out, many fans have been wondering...

The new Marvel movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, brought the famous superhero family into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time. This 2025 film, directed by Matt Shakman, shows the team battling a massive threat, the cosmic villain Galactus. Set in a cool, retro 1960s world, the movie stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, with a strong supporting cast including Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson as Galactus.

But what really caught fans’ attention was the mid-credits scene. It takes place four years after the main story, at the Richards family home. Sue is reading to her son Franklin when she leaves to grab another book. When she comes back, Franklin is with a mysterious man wearing a green cloak and holding a metal mask. That was undeniably Doctor Doom, one of Marvel’s most iconic villains.

Since the scene was released, fans have been guessing...

The 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes completely shook Hollywood for months, but The Sympathizer's creators are still facing the consequences. The strike began on May 2, 2023, when the Writers Guild of America ordered its members to pause work on all productions, bringing the industry to a halt. They were eventually joined by SAG-AFTRA on July 14.

The WGA strike, in particular, focused on a number of issues, including larger writers' rooms, a demand for increased pay, and concerns about AI replacing writers. The strike ended on September 27, 2023, and the WGA signed a new collective bargaining agreement in October, as many of its demands were addressed.

Years after the strike ended, however, the WGA announced that The Sympathizer's writers have been ejected from the Guild. Don McKellar (No Other Choice) and Oldboy director Park Chan-wook allegedly continued to work on the show during the strike. According to Deadline, both have been permanently expelled from the WGA,...

Before fame got to Alden Ehrenreich for Zach Cregger’s Weapons and Marvel’s Ironheart, Netflix buried his best movie in years, which actually deserved a real shot at the Academy Awards. Back in 2023, Alden Ehrenreich starred in an iconic movie titled Fair Play alongside Phoebe Dynevor. The film received rave reviews from critics and was distributed by Netflix upon release after a brief theatrical run.

However, the movie never picked up on the fame and the complexity of the plot. Fair Play remained Alden Ehrenreich’s underrated gem and was soon buried under the barrage of movies and other projects by Netflix.

Of course, Ehrenreich had a really good role as Officer Paul in Zach Cregger’s recently released horror flick, Weapons; however, I think that it was his performance in Fair Play that deserved a real shot at the Oscars.

Alden Ehrenreich Had a Real Shot At The...

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” sold itself as a stand-alone picture — an increasingly rare quality six phases into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. MCU architect Kevin Feige himself called the movie a “no-homework-required” adventure, having no ties to any past Marvel entries. While this is true, “Fantastic Four” does set up the future of the MCU in a significant way.

It also establishes a potentially massive problem for Marvel’s upcoming “Avengers” event films.

Read on to discover how “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” leads into the next MCU films, and how it potentially wrong-foots one of Marvel’s greatest characters. Obviously, this article contains major spoilers, so you might want to check out the movie before you continue. Come back once you’ve had a chance to meet the family.

How does “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” end?

When the Fantastic Four — including a then-pregnant Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) — meet...

When Russo Brothers Almost Quit On Captain America: Civil War (Photo Credit –Instagram/IMDb)

Captain America: Civil War beautifully set the stage in a way for the Avengers: Infinity War. When Tony Stark reveals to Bruce Banner that the Avengers have broken up, Bruce innocently questions him, “Like the Beetles?” It generated a lot of laughs in the theatres, but that might not have been possible if Marvel’s Creative Committee stopped the Russo brothers from pitting Tony and Steve Rogers against each other in the 2016 movie.

Russo Brothers’ Team Cap vs Team Iron Man Idea Was Initially Rejected

Civil War was directed by the director sibling duo Joe Russo and Anthony Russo and featured most of the Avengers. However, Thor and Hulk were not part of the film. It featured Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye,...

4 Times Dakota Johnson Has Handled Crisis With Ease. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Dakota Johnson is arguably one of Hollywood’s most intelligent actors. She has a reputation for not suffering fools easily. The actress, who never fails to articulate the absurdity of a situation in public, once slammed social media users for dragging her into the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

Over the recent years, Dakota Johnson endeared herself as one of the few celebrities who have dished out unfiltered ripostes. The actress’ dry sense of humor and quick wit were on full display during her 2024 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she handled a wardrobe function with grace befitting a movie star often saddled with untimely crises.

Here’s a look at the four times The Fifty Shades Of Grey star handled crisis with grace:

Trending When Robert Downey Jr. Revealed Why He Wasn’t Sold On...

The Fantastic Four post-credits scene involved a sneaky cameo that pleased the whole fandom, but a new theory suggests that not all that meets the eye may be true. In fact, the iconic forest green hood, cape, and silver mask that are (undoubtedly) associated with Doctor Doom might only be a misdirection to swerve our attention away from who was really behind the deathly shroud.

As revealed by a fan theory on Reddit:

Fantastic Four: First Steps – Post Credits Scene Theory

byu/BigGrinJesus inMCUTheories

Although there are countless ways to discredit this theory, it also holds water because of its similarity to the source material in the Fantastic Four comics. Avid readers know that the timeline matches up with the arrival of the future Franklin Richards in his current version’s life, which could be crucial to unlocking his vast range of powers and true potential in the movie universe.

James Gunn’s guild has expelled Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar for writing on The Sympathizer during the 2023 work stoppage, according to a notice circulated by the union and subsequent industry reports. The pair, credited across the seven-episode HBO adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, were found to have violated strike rules that barred new writing and on-set script work while negotiations were halted.

The guild said three unresolved cases tied to the 2023 strike were finalized this week, with Park and McKellar removed from membership and another writer, Anthony Cipriano, suspended until May 1, 2026. Cipriano also received a public censure and a lifetime ban on serving as a strike captain. The union added that all Article X proceedings arising from the strike have now concluded.

Earlier this year members upheld penalties against four writers in related cases, including expulsions and a one-year suspension, and the board has now chosen to make the latest decisions public.

Robert Downey Jr.‘s casting as Doctor Doom may have left the fans seething, but a new fan theory on Reddit claims that not all that meets the eye is true. Downey’s Doom may be even more essential in setting up the finale of the Multiverse Saga by placing him as a pawn in a twisted game of heroes vs. villains.

As posited by the Reddit fan theory:

Marvel is playing the long game with Rdj as ‘Doom’

byu/GaussianChromosome inmarvelstudios

This theory turns the entire casting on its head and introduces a newer, better, and superior villain in the MCU. Given how essential the Fantastic Four will be moving ahead, it seems crucial for Downey’s Doom to take a backseat and herald the existence of a far greater evil threatening the Multiverse moving forward.

Robert Downey Jr.’s Legacy as Iron Man Can Still Be Saved Despite...

James Marsden says suiting up again as Cyclops for “Avengers: Doomsday” feels like “a nice little homecoming,” adding that returning to the visor “has been a blast.” In a recent conversation tied to his TV work, he reflected on two decades of fans asking if he would come back and hinted playfully at his character’s fate.

The actor joked he’s “getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume,” then quipped, “I’m dead. Well, maybe not.” Marsden last appeared as Scott Summers in a brief 2014 cameo and is part of a broader reappearance of legacy mutants alongside Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, and Rebecca Romijn, whose participation was spotlighted during a studio livestream.

“Avengers: Doomsday” is set for December 18, 2026, with Joe and Anthony Russo directing and Robert Downey Jr. playing Victor von Doom. Studio materials list an extensive ensemble crossing Avengers,...

Emilia Clarke was supposed to be in Iron Man 3 ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Known for her iconic portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s historical drama, Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke rose to stardom and is now a household name in the Hollywood industry.

Her acting in Game of Thrones earned her critical acclaim and several award nominations while helping her bag roles in movies like Solo: A Star Wars Story, Me Before You, and Last Christmas. However, she was never spotted in a superhero film or series until Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Secret Invasion. But there was a time when she got a chance to play a role in a major Marvel movie but lost it.

Which Marvel Movie Role Was Offered To Emilia Clarke?

While filming Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke got the chance to star in Iron Man 3. In a throwback Instagram post by Drew Pearce,...

Christopher Nolan Once Revealed He Was Confused About Heath Ledger’s Joker Voice In The Dark Knight(Photo Credit – Instagram)

Christopher Nolan’s last movie Oppenheimer earned Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy their first Oscars. The filmmaker himself picked the golden knight himself in 2024. Similarly, Heath Ledger also earned his Oscar, albeit posthumously, after playing The Joker in Nolan’s The Dark Knight. One can say the visionary director is an Oscar-winner maker!

The Dark Knight was released in 2008 and featured Ledger as Joker. Unfortunately, a few months before the film was released in the theatres, Heath Ledger passed away due to a drug overdose. While receiving the Golden Globe Award for Oppenheimer in 2024, Nolan recalled the last time he was on the Golden Globes Awards stage was when he took Ledger’s award in his absence after the actor’s demise.

The movie not only earned Heath Ledger an Oscar,...

Timothee Chalamet was the first choice for Spider-Man (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: Homecoming marked Tom Holland’s first solo outing as Spider-Man in the million-dollar franchise after his debut in Captain America: Civil War.

Directed by Job Watts, the film was a fresh reboot of the beloved character after Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man. While the Marvel Spider-Man films were a massive box office success, earning over $10.2 billion globally, they wouldn’t have been possible without Holland’s charismatic portrayal. Interestingly, before Holland landed the role, it was offered to Timothee Chalamet, but he was ultimately rejected.

In a throwback appearance at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Timothee Chalamet revealed that he auditioned for the Spider-Man role twice. While accepting the award for Best Actor for Call Me By Your Name, he shared during his acceptance speech, “I read twice and I left sweating in a total panic.

Which MCU Role Did Emily Blunt Miss Out? (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

Imagine being this close to landing an MCU role and then having to walk away. Heartbreaking, no? That was Emily Blunt’s reality with Black Widow in Iron Man 2. The role eventually went to Scarlett Johansson.

From Marvel Dreams to Gulliver’s Detour: The Role Emily Blunt Couldn’t Take

Emily Blunt revealed on The Howard Stern Show that she was originally in the running to play the fearless Natasha Romanoff in the MCU. However, fate had other plans — a binding contract forced her to take on Gulliver’s Travels, a film she admitted she didn’t even want to do, costing her the Black Widow role. “It was a bit of a heartbreaker for me because I take such pride in the decisions that I make,” she said. Blunt added that teaming up with Robert Downey Jr. would have been “legendary,...

In a full-circle moment, James Marsden is returning to the role that first put him “on the map.”

The Paradise actor and newly minted Emmy nominee sat down with Vanity Fair recently to discuss reprising his X-Men character Cyclops in the Russo Brothers’ forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

“I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume,” he said, laughing. “I was excited because you’re a part of something gigantic, and I’ve spent 20 years listening to people say, ‘When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Are you coming back?'”

The Westworld and Dead to Me alum continued, “I’m dead. Well, maybe not. I’m going to have a tough time struggling to get into costume if they waited a couple more years. So it’s been a blast. It really has. It’s been a nice little homecoming to...

Legendary Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook and his co-creator on the HBO Max series The Sympathizer have been expelled from the Hollywood writers’ union after allegedly working during the strike.

The director of Oldboy and The Handmaiden was booted from the Writers Guild of America alongside Don McKellar after working on the 2024 series during the work stoppage, the union told members Friday.

Adapted from the eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, the series from A24 and Rhombus Media follows a North Vietnamese double agent (played by Hoa Xuande) who continues passing along information after moving to Southern California before the fall of Saigon. Robert Downey Jr. was critically praised for playing multiple roles in the series.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to HBO and representatives for Park and McKellar for comment.

Park is the most high-profile figure yet to be identified by the union as a rule-breaker during its 148-day strike.

The next big Marvel movie, Avengers: Doomsday, is gearing up to be a massive team-up film featuring some of the biggest names in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Produced by Marvel Studios and Agbo, and distributed by Disney, it’s set to be the fifth Avengers movie after Endgame and will mark the 39th film in the MCU.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo with a script by Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely, the movie brings together heroes from the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Wakanda, the New Avengers, and the X-Men to face off against the villain Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr.

This movie went through a lot of changes during its development. Initially, it was tied closely to the Kang the Conqueror storyline, with director Destin Daniel Cretton and actor Jonathan Majors on board.

However, after some behind-the-scenes issues, including Majors being fired, Marvel shifted gears. The Russo brothers returned as directors,...

Marvel’s next big team-up movie, Avengers: Doomsday, is shaping up to be one of the biggest crossovers in the MCU’s history. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the film will bring together the Avengers, the Wakandans, the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers, and the X-Men to face Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr. It will hit theaters on December 18, 2026, as part of Phase Six.

One of the stars joining the fight is Joseph Quinn, who just made his debut as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in Fantastic Four: First Steps. In a recent interview with AP Entertainment, Quinn talked about the difference between filming Fantastic Four and working on Avengers: Doomsday.

He explained that Fantastic Four was a fresh start for its cast, while Doomsday throws him into scenes with long-time MCU stars and even some of the original X-Men actors from Fox’s movies.

After filming "The Fantastic Four,...

The ripple effects of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike continue. On Friday, August 8, the WGA announced that Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar had been expelled from the union for writing the HBO limited series, “The Sympathizer,” while their fellow writers were picketing. This is not the first discipline action from the union in regard to the strike. Reportedly seven writers have been docked for violations.

The historic 148-day strike took up several months of 2023 — mostly simultaneously with the SAG-AFTRA strike — and resulted in a new contractural agreement between the writers and studios that increased wages, set standards for writers’ rooms, and included provisions for streaming residuals and framework for AI regulations. It had a significant impact on the Los Angeles economy, as well as the film industry at large, as studio lots sat dormant and theaters, networks, and streamers felt shockwaves in their release pipeline.

Chan-wook and McKellar’s...

In the nascent days of the pandemic, many found themselves participating in activities that would otherwise have been deemed out-of-character (see: sourdough, jigsaw puzzles, ceramics.) Alden Ehrenreich, the actor who played a young Han Solo and has worked with everyone from the Coen Brothers to Park Chan-wook, found himself Googling Los Angeles commercial real estate.

For years, Ehrenreich would walk into various spaces — friends’ houses, restaurants, anywhere with a semi-raised platform, really — and offer the same refrain: “You could do a theater here.” The pandemic-induced downtime gave him the space to finally pursue a long-held desire to open a theater in Los Angeles. And the Google search led him to Huron Substation, a historical building in the Cypress Park neighborhood in the northeast of the city.

Originally built as a service station for Los Angeles’s one-time Yellow trolley cars up until the 1960s, Huron has been more recently used...

It’s a brand new day for Spider-Man in the MCU.

After the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the wall-crawling web-slinger finds himself unmoored by the personal woes that plagued Peter Parker. Now that the superhero’s alter ego has effectively been destroyed, Peter can be Spider-Man 24/7. With that comes new rules, new threats — and a new suit.

On Saturday, fans got to see an all-new costume for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man that will be worn in 2026’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Holland unveiled the new suit on social media in a video where he approaches the camera with his mask off. New photos from pedestrians have circulated endlessly online during filming since Saturday, including from Holland himself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tom Holland (@tomholland2013)

The studio likely released the first...

Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar have been expelled from the Writers Guild of America for writing on their HBO limited series “The Sympathizer” during the 2023 writers’ strike, according to media reports.

Additionally, Anthony Cipriano has been suspended until May 1, 2026, for working on “The Last Breath.” He was also given a public censure and a lifetime ban from serving as a future strike captain.

“They investigated dozens of allegations of violations and determined whether there was sufficient evidence to send cases on to the Board for further action,” WGA West leadership said of the Strike Rules Compliance Committee in a Friday statement. “There are no further strike-related disciplines and all Article X proceedings arising from the 2023 strike have concluded.”

The WGA had previously named four members who had appealed their initial accusations of breaking strike rules. In May, guild members voted to expel Edward John Drake and Roma Roth, suspend Julie Bush...

Is Chris Evans eager and excited to join the Star Wars franchise? ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Chris Evans in Star Wars? Now that’s something fans might not have expected. The former Captain America is out here manifesting a role in the galaxy far, far away, and honestly, why hasn’t it happened yet? The actor has already conquered the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even voiced Buzz Lightyear in Pixar’s Lightyear. But there’s still one Disney checkbox left which is Star Wars.

And he’s not picky about it either. Jedi? Sith? Rebel pilot? No. Evans is down for literally anything. In an interview with MTV (via ScreenRant), the Marvel star once said: “God, would I love to be in Star Wars! God – I mean I would do anything: if I was just a Stormtrooper, I’d be thrilled. Yeah, I’ll take a Wookie though. That’s fine.

Jon Cryer is not interested in a Two and a Half Men Reboot (Photo Credit – Amazon Prime Video)

During an appearance on The View in February 2024, Jon Cryer flat-out rejected the notion of bringing back the popular CBS comedy, Two and a Half Men, that was on air from 2003 to 2015, Variety reported.

When asked about the possibility of a reboot, Cryer was candid: “Oh gosh, oh gosh. Yeah, I don’t know how that happens.” He acknowledged that Charlie Sheen is doing better now, which is “wonderful,” but pointed out that they haven’t been in touch for a few years.

Jon Cryer also mentioned the fallout between Sheen and Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre, who was deeply affected by the rift. “That they have reconciled is really lovely,” Cryer added, referring to Sheen and Lorre’s renewed friendship after their dramatic split.

Trending Why Marvel Recast...

Kevin Feige needs to stop using ‘superhero fatigue’ as the reason for Marvel Studios’ mediocre outputs and its failures. The franchise has been releasing several shows and movies each year since 2020, leading to a huge drop in box office performance. In Phase Five alone, the franchise witnessed a drop in earnings, with only Deadpool and Wolverine, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 being top grossers.

While the quantity of content released is a huge reason for the franchise’s dip in earnings, lack of interest in the genre is not the only answer. The focus on quantity has affected the quality of the movies and shows, which Feige himself admitted last month (via Variety).

We spent 12 years working on the Infinity Saga, saying that’s never going to happen to us. We always had more characters than we could possibly make because we weren’t going to make a movie a month.

Weapons IMDb Score: Zach Cregger’s Horror Beats Sinners, 28 Years Later & Final Destination: Bloodlines (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Barbarian director Zach Cregger’s much-awaited mystery horror film Weapons finally hit theaters yesterday. After earning rave reviews from critics, including an impressive 96% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has now received its IMDb rating from audiences.

Join us in Maybrook. #WeaponsMovie in #4Dx – in theaters August 8. Tickets on sale now, link in bio. pic.twitter.com/JA5L0uuvXK

— 4Dx (@4dxusa) July 23, 2025

Now, let’s see if it has garnered similarly positive feedback on IMDb and how Weapons compares with the IMDb ratings of this year’s acclaimed horror hits: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, and Final Destination: Bloodlines.

Weapons vs. 2025’s Acclaimed Horror Hits

As of now, Weapons holds an impressive user rating of 8/10 on IMDb. In comparison, Sinners boasts a score of 7.6/10, while both...

Why Didn’t Robert Downey Jr. Consider Doing Iron Man 4? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Robert Downey Jr. put Iron Man on the map. Before him, Tony Stark was just another comic book character. But Rdj? He turned him into a full-blown icon. So, naturally, after the success of Iron Man 3, Marvel fans expected another solo movie. Except Downey, who wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance.

Sure, he kept showing up in the MCU—Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame. But when it came to Iron Man 4, he wasn’t sold. Not because Marvel didn’t want it (they definitely did), but because Downey had some serious reservations. He didn’t want to overstay his welcome, he had other projects brewing, and—he wasn’t getting any younger. So why exactly did Rdj hesitate to suit up again? Let’s break it down.

Why Did Robert Downey Jr. Choose...

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced on Friday that it has expelled two members, Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, for working on their HBO miniseries “The Sympathizer” during the 2023 writers’ strike.

The series, based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 novel, aired in 2024 and starred Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey Jr. According to the WGA, neither Park nor McKellar appealed their expulsions.

In addition to these expulsions, the WGA revealed that writer Anthony Cipriano has been suspended until May 1, 2026, for his work on “The Last Breath,” formerly called “Untitled True Story Haunting, Thriller Project.” Cipriano also received a public censure and a lifetime ban from serving as a strike captain.

Park Chan-wook, 61, is a well-known South Korean writer and director, famous for films like “Oldboy” (2003) and “The Handmaiden” (2016). His next film, “No Other Choice,” will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August. Don McKellar is a Canadian actor and filmmaker known for writing,...

The Writers Guild of America has expelled Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar for working on their HBO miniseries “The Sympathizer” during the 2023 strike. The announcement came on Friday, confirming that both writers did not appeal their expulsions.

Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar co-created the seven-episode series, which aired in 2024. The show starred Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey, Jr., and was based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 novel of the same name.

According to the WGA, the two writers violated strike rules by continuing to work during the strike. Representatives for Park, McKellar, and HBO have not responded to requests for comment, according to Variety.

In addition to Park and McKellar, the WGA also suspended Anthony Cipriano until May 1, 2026, for working on the thriller project “The Last Breath,” which was previously known as “Untitled True Story Haunting, Thriller Project.” Cipriano also received a public censure and a lifetime ban from serving as a strike captain.

In unfortunate news, renowned South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook has been expelled from the Writers Guild of America. Why? Well, the reason behind Park’s expulsion is that he was working on his HBO miniseries, The Sympathizer, during the WGA strike, which took place in 2023 (via Variety).

Not only Park, but co-creator Don McKellar has also been fired from the WGA for the same reason: for writing on Robert Downey Jr‘s miniseries during the strike.

For those who don’t know, the Writers Guild of America, which represents 11,500 screenwriters, went on strike from May 2, 2023, to September 23, 2023. This was due to a dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The writers demanded significant changes to their compensation and working conditions. They also wanted to strictly limit the use of artificial intelligence when it came to writing scripts since this could seriously harm their livelihoods. Eventually, on October 9, 2023, a new contract was signed.

The Robert Downey Jr. produced and starring The Sympathizer came and went last year with a lot less fanfare than many expected due to the talent involved and the fact the miniseries was based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. However, some unexpected fallout from the Emmy-nominated Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar created and written high-profile project emerged today from the Writers Guild of America West, and it really ain’t pretty.

The acclaimed Oldboy director and the multiple Genie Award winner have both been expelled from the WGA West.

The ejection is result of Park and McKellar crossing a pretty big line. In contradiction of all the rules of Hollywood labor best practices, the duo worked and wrote on the HBO miniseries during the 2023 strike that saw the scribes’ guild and SAG-AFTRA bring Hollywood to a halt for almost six months. The...

The Writers Guild of America announced Friday that it has expelled two members, Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, for writing on their HBO miniseries “The Sympathizer” during the 2023 strike.

Park and McKellar co-created the seven-episode series, which starred Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey, Jr. and was based on the 2015 novel of the same name by writer Viet Thanh Nguyen. It aired in 2024. According to the guild, Park and McKellar did not appeal their expulsions.

Variety has reached out to representatives for Park, McKellar and HBO for comment.

The WGA also announced that Anthony Cipriano has been suspended through May 1, 2026, for writing on “The Last Breath,” which was previously known as “Untitled True Story Haunting—Thriller Project.” Cipriano was also given a public censure and a lifetime ban on serving as a strike captain.

Park, 61, is a South Korean writer, director and producer best known for films like “Oldboy” (2003) and “The Handmaiden” (2016). His next feature,...

It is not really often that Actorle gets on my nerves, and thankfully, August 9 is not one of those days. With this Hollywood-themed daily puzzle site challenging you daily, one wakes up with nothing but fear, thinking if today’s the day when you won’t be able to get all the answers right.

Fortunately, as I said, August 9 is not one of those days. In fact, one of the challenges openly gave away the answer to the puzzle, hiding it in plain sight to be caught by those with a sharp eye. In case you are wondering which Actorle.com challenge it was, the following are all the solutions for the days you can go through and find for yourself.

Actorle Solution for Today The answer to Actorle on August 9 is Jason Schwartzman | Credits: Actorle/ Fandomwire

While I wholeheartedly wish the very first Actorle challenge was the one that...

William H. Macy, the revered Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning character actor, will sit down with yours truly on Sept. 9 in Toronto to record a special episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in front of an audience at THR’s Access Canada Summit, a three-day event that spotlights Canada’s vibrant content industry.

The recording will take place at Toronto’s Omni King Edward Hotel at 10:30 a.m. local time. Tickets are available for purchase on the summit’s website.

Macy, 75, is best known for his work in films like 1996’s Fargo, 1997’s Boogie Nights and 2015’s Room, as well as TV series such as ER and Shameless. He will be at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival with Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last January en route to being acquired by Netflix, and for which he...

Park Chan-wook, lauded for masterpieces like Oldboy, The Handmaiden, and the Cannes-winning Decision to Leave, is back with his long-awaited twelfth feature called No Other Choice. Based on the dark 1997 novel The Ax by Donald Westlake, this tense horror thriller spotlights a middle-aged man, Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), who spirals into moral darkness in a desperate struggle to support his family after losing his job at a paper company where he had worked for 25 years (via Deadline).

Co-starring Crash Landing on You star Son Ye-jin as his determined wife, Mi-ri, the film will also star Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok in prominent roles. With a script from Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee, the film will be produced by Moho Film, Kg Productions, and with Cj Group executive producing.

The film will have its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival on September 17 (via The Hollywood Reporter). Moreover,...

Tony Gilroy may be about to reunite with a fellow Star Wars veteran for his next film. A new report from Deadline revealed that Pedro Pascal, fresh off his turn as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, is in talks to lead Behemoth! from the writer-director. A deal has not been finalized, though all indications are that there should be no problems bringing the Mandalorian star aboard despite his very busy schedule. Searchlight Pictures recently joined the exciting new project as well, which is ramping up quickly as principal photography aims to begin this fall in Los Angeles.

Plot details are being kept well under wraps at this time, though the director has teased that Behemoth! will follow a cellist. Whatever the case, Gilroy's next project will have a lot of eyes on it. The two-time Oscar nominee hasn't directed anything since 2012's The Bourne Legacy. However, he's proven to be quite adept,...

Fans would be surprised to learn that Josh Brolin‘s role was supposed to be a cameo before it was extended into a full-blown villain. During his recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Brolin told Josh Horowitz that he was approached for a 10-minute role in the MCU when he was doing Everest.

He shared that Marvel later changed the role to become a major character in its Infinity Saga finale. He shared:

That was supposed to be a cameo when it was first brought to me. I was doing the Everest movie in London, and [Marvel] brought me this huge [character] bible. They were like, ‘It’s this little thing and [Thanos] is going to be in it for 10 minutes.’ And then they changed it, and it turned into this whole thing.

After Brolin’s revelation that his cameo was extended to a major role, we definitely feel that Marvel...

Last weekend, the latest MCU entry, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, led by Pedro Pascal, might've finished as the highest-grossing film, but it severely underperformed on its second weekend as signs of weakness began to show. That left the door open for impressive debuts for both The Bad Guys 2 and Liam Neeson's reboot of The Naked Gun, as well as other current theatrical mainstays performing positively.

One such positive performer on its fourth weekend was Superman, directed by James Gunn, which had its lowest weekend-to-weekend percentage drop of its theatrical run so far. Now, this coming weekend, the David Corenswet-led movie is predicted to perform well yet again, with a particular milestone on the movie's mind. At the domestic box office, Superman currently has a $322 million haul, which places it just $8 million behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the 2016 superhero movie that saw Henry Cavill's...

James Marsden is a well-known actor now, highly recognized for his role as Scott Summers/Cyclops in the Fox X-Men trilogy. Now, he's returning to the role for the highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday, and he's very excited about it.

"I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume," he joked to Vanity Fair. "I was excited because you're a part of something gigantic, and I've spent 20 years listening to people say, “When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Are you coming back?” I'm dead. Well, maybe not."

Cyclops is dead in the main timeline of the X-Men trilogy. He was killed off in the first half-hour of the third movie, X-Men: The Last Stand. Marsden went on, "I'm going to have a tough time struggling to get into costume if they waited a couple more years. So it's been a blast.

Complete Ranking Of Solo Spider-Man Movies (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

Spider-Man is one of the world’s most loved superheroes. Over the years, we’ve seen many versions of him on screen. From Sam Raimi’s charming Tobey Maguire films in the early 2000s to Andrew Garfield’s emotional take on the web-slinging hero, the visually stunning Spider-Verse animated films, and Tom Holland’s Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, each version has been quite entertaining.

IMAX Spider-Man: No Way Home (4K Uhd High-res Shots) with Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire & Tom Holland!

Superman Reboot Outpaces Iron Man In US, Eyes Worldwide Gap ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

James Gunn’s Superman has earned 322 million dollars in under a month, moving ahead of Iron Man’s 319 million domestic total from 2008 (per Box Office Mojo). The Marvel film, directed by Jon Favreau, marked Robert Downey Jr.’s significant return to major studio work after personal troubles had stalled his career.

Superman (2025) dir. James Gunn pic.twitter.com/BSW9f5p5ry

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James Marsden feels like his return as Cyclops in Avengers: Doomsday has been “a nice little homecoming” for him.The 51-year-old actor - who starred as the hero in 20th Century Studios’ X-Men franchise from the 2000 eponymous movie until the character's death in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand - is due to return as Cyclops for the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) blockbuster, and while Marsden feels he is “getting a little long in the tooth” to be a superhero, he’s thankful he’s been given the opportunity to suit up as the character again.Speaking with Vanity Fair, Marsden said: “I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume.“I was excited because you're a part of something gigantic, and I've spent 20 years listening to people say, ‘When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Are you coming back?’ I'm dead.

With “Paradise,” James Marsden received an Emmy nomination for playing the leader of the United States — but it’s not the first time we’ve seen him sitting in the driver’s seat. Soon, Marvel fans will see the actor once again portraying the leader of the X-Men as well.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Marsden opened up a bit about “Avengers: Doomsday” and his anticipated return to his earliest iconic role: Scott Summers (a.k.a. Cyclops) in 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” film series.

“I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put on the superhero costume,” Marsden laughed. “I was excited because you’re a part of something gigantic, and I’ve spent 20 years listening to people say, ‘When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Are you coming back?’ I’m dead. Well, maybe not.”

Marsden is one of several 2000s...

Tom Holland should be best known for his role as Spider-Man, or one of his other highly-praised acting roles, yet that is never what people who meet him want to talk about. Instead, they want to talk about the jaw-dropping moment Holland donned fishnets and performed Rihanna’s “Umbrella” on Lip Sync Battle.

While appearing on Gordon Ramsay’s show, Scrambled, Holland reflected on his 2017 drag performance on the reality competition that pitted two celebrities against each other in, as the title suggests, a lip-sync battle. As it turns out, Holland’s adversary on the show was none other than his now partner, Zendaya, but he may not have put in quite such a memorable performance if he had followed some advice he was given by his father. Holland said:

“What was really great about that is people didn't know that I could dance. I kept that quiet, I don't know why.

Josh Brolin isn't opposed to returning as Thanos in Avengers: Doomsday. He was, of course, the main villain in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame — films that both grossed $2 billion at the worldwide box office while making Thanos one of the most famous cinematic villains of all time, up there with Darth Vader and Voldemort, all names that are shorthand for evil. It's been hard for the MCU to fill those shoes; after failing with Kang the Conqueror, Marvel hopes Doctor Doom is up to the task in Avengers: Doomsday.

Speaking with Josh Horowitz via Comic Book Movie, Brolin spoke about the possibility of returning as Thanos. He said he maintains close contact with the Russo brothers and star Robert Downey Jr., which theoretically opens up the door for his return. While currently not part of the main cast, Brolin said he wouldn't hesitate if asked, explaining:

"If they...

According to the book of trivia, Marvel: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (pub. 2016), Mister Fantastic has a threshold of stretching up to 1500 ft. beyond which his body can begin to experience pain [Google Books].

In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, considering the lengths to which he was being pulled by Galactus, it is indiscernible why Reed Richards would react as though he were nearing the limits of excruciating pain. Although one could argue it was because of him resisting Galactus, or not having control over his molecular structure, or simply not knowing the limits of his own powers.

Nevertheless, given the history of the incredible feats of Marvel’s first family through their century-long existence in comics, the “nerfing” of Mister Fantastic’s powers in the movie has left some fans considerably upset.

What Are Some of the Most Incredible Feats of Mister Fantastic in Comics and Past Movies? Mister Fantastic...