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Warning! Contains Spoilers For Venomverse Reborn #4!Marvel and DC have been trading ideas for decades, with each of them taking inspiration from the other. Marvel has just taken things a step further though by officially introducing their own version of Gotham City, including what characters like the Riddler and Joker would look like in the Marvel Universe.

Readers first get to see the fascinating Marvel version of these iconic DC villains in Venomverse Reborn #4 story "Nighthawk V. Hyperion" by writer Dan Slott and artist Stephen Byrne. This story follows a dark Earth where the Squadron Supreme, Marvel's very own version of the Justice League, is taken over by Venom. This disaster starts with Nighthawk, a clear parody of Batman, being upset that every year he gets older, and his villains only get more aggressive.

It seems that, over the years, Nighthawk has been having trouble facing off against his rogues' gallery,...

Frank Castle has always been one of the darker characters in the Marvel Universe. When his family was murdered for witnessing a mafia deal gone wrong, Frank made a vow to avenge their deaths by waging a one-man war on crime. Becoming known as "The Punisher," he rose to become one of the most feared names in the criminal underworld. But while Frank has been efficient in taking his enemies out, his methods have also been flawed, often leaving power vacuums for others to fill.

Update October 31, 2023: This article has been updated following the announcement that The Punisher writer Dario Scardapane is taking over Daredevil: Born Again, implying a greater role for Frank Castle in the series and the wider MCU.

The Punisher's methods have brought him into conflict with the authorities as well as other vigilantes. In a world that has traditionally had clearly defined heroes and villains,...

As seen in Netflix's The Punisher, Frank Castle has had quite a bloody history as one of the most dangerous vigilantes in the MCU. First appearing in Daredevil season 2 before getting his own show, it's recently been confirmed that Frank Castle will soon return to the MCU in Marvel Studios' upcoming Daredevil: Born Again series coming to Disney+, reuniting with Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock. As such, the new appearance can finally pay off where the Netflix show left the Punisher at the end of his second season.

Although the news that Jon Bernthal will be reprising his role as The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again is very exciting, it's not yet known how Marvel Studios will be handling the preexisting history of Murdock, Castle, and any other character who first debuted on Netflix such as Vincent D'onofrio's Kingpin. However, the confirmation that at least three Netflix characters...

On Sunday, iconic filmmaker Spike Lee was honored by the New York Film Critics Circle with a special award for his short New York New York, which was filmed during the pandemic. After fellow filmmaker Martin Scorsese presented him with the award, Lee did not mince words during his acceptance speech which was pre-recorded on January 6, the day when Donald Trump supporters invaded the Capitol.

“It’s a very sad day in the history of America,” said Lee in regards to the Capitol siege.

He continued bluntly, “We’re at the crossroads now…and everybody please be safe. This is not a game… This president Agent Orange will go down in history with the likes of Hitler.” He added that the politicians who have stood by Trump’s side are “on the wrong side of history.”

Lee showed gratitude for the award from the New York Film Critics Circle. He...

The Us actor is starring as a black Trump supporter in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. He talks about the racism he endured in Britain – and why the George Floyd protests are a sign of hope

Delroy Lindo has waited 25 years to work with Spike Lee again and Da 5 Bloods gives him one of the best roles of his career. But when he first read the script, the actor had a few questions about his character. Chiefly: “Does he have to be a Trump supporter?”

He says: “I remember saying to Spike, ‘I’ve got a 17-year-old son, man. I don’t want him seeing me representing this person.’” Like Lee, who routinely refers to Donald Trump as Agent Orange, Lindo can barely bring himself to identify the president by name. “It had to do with my values, as a parent and as a being on the planet,...

Netflix has released the first trailer for Da 5 Bloods. This is the latest from Oscar-winner Spike Lee and serves as his follow-up to BlacKkKlansman. That instantly makes it a high-profile release and, in a summer very short on big movies, given the current situation, this carries with it a lot of weight. Couple that with the fact that Lee is taking on the Vietnam war with a cast led by Chadwick Boseman and this becomes a possible must-see.

The trailer kicks off by showing us a group of old soldiers returning to Vietnam many years after the war. They then discuss an old comrade of theirs, played by Chadwick Boseman, as the meat of the plot makes itself known. A massive amount of gold was buried out there for them to come and find, which is why they have returned. Spike Lee splices in lots of actual footage from the Vietnam War,...

Like many of my generation, I first got hip to “Miserlou” via Agent Orange’s punked-up cover of it on their iconic 1981 Orange County punk LP Living in Darkness. I bought the record to hear their classic “Bloodstains,” but the Dick Dale cover became my favorite track on the album. And, like every human who encounters Dale’s electrified interpretation of the Eastern Mediterranean folk melody for the first time, I had my mind blown when I heard the 1962 original

By the 1980s, Dick Dale remained cult-famous — not only for...

Spike Lee urged voters to choose between love and hate during his BlacKkKlansman Oscar acceptance speech. President Donald Trump did not appreciate Lee's speech and called it a "racist hit" on his presidency during his Monday morning Twitter session. The often controversial director was taking his time on the Academy Awards stage in front of millions of people to talk about the 2020 presidential race. He had this to say.

"When we regain our humanity it will be a powerful moment. The 2020 election is around the corner - let's all mobilize and be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate."

Donald Trump took the Spike Lee speech as a direct attack and slammed the director on Twitter. Lee is a very vocal critic of Trump, who he often refers to as "Agent Orange," so it makes sense why the president would be more than a little upset.

As awards season continues, the first full video from The Hollywood Reporter’s roundtables has made its way online. This year’s directors conversation features Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), and Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) as they each discuss their latest projects, what brought them to filmmaking, and much more.

Opening things up, they discussed politics and art. “We live in very dangerous times,” Spike Lee said. “Artists reflect what’s happening in the world or what they want to happen, and the great thing about art is everybody can follow their own vision. But for me, this guy in the White House, Agent Orange — these are not America’s brightest moments. If you’re an artist and you make the decision that you’re not going to include politics, that’s a political decision in itself.

It was a big night for “A Star is Born” at the National Board of Review in New York on Tuesday, but the movie wasn’t the centerpiece of the evening. While Lady Gaga accepted her first acting award of the season and Bradley Cooper accepted his first for directing, they couldn’t capture the national mood. That fell to “If Beale Street Could Talk” filmmaker Barry Jenkins, whose acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay coincided with President Donald Trump’s televised remarks about the government shutdown.

“Literally, right now, the President of the United States is talking about walls and borders. Literally, right fucking now,” he said. “So I can’t help talk about the president, the borders, and all these walls. There is a film here called ‘Minding the Gap’ that is being celebrated, by [director] Bing Liu. His family immigrated here and the president does not want them here.

Things haven’t been going well for fans of the Marvel/Netflix shows since the third season of Daredevil aired. Sure, that was fantastic, but shortly after it arrived we got the cancellations of both Iron Fist and Luke Cage, leaving the future of this corner of the McU in doubt. At least we know that the already-filmed Punisher season 2 is on the way though, and it seems that its star, Jon Bernthal, is teasing that we could get some news about it soon.

The official Twitter account for the show posted a Gif of Frank Castle in a brutal brawl with his season 1 enemy Agent Orange. Bernthal then retweeted the post and added his own cryptic message: “Tick. Tock.”

Tick. Tock. https://t.co/UNilmGPv2l

— Jon Bernthal (@jonnybernthal) November 14, 2018

Presumably, this is the actor teasing that some kind of announcement or promo about season 2 is on its way pretty soon.

Firebrand filmmaker in fine fettle at Los Cabos appearance.

Spike Lee was in combative mood at Los Cabos International Film Festival on Saturday (10) as the BlacKkKlansman director commented on the Central American caravan migrants, race relations, and the mid-terms, referring to president Trump throughout as ‘Agent Orange’.

“We’re at an interesting time in the world,” Lee told friend and longtime collaborator Roger Guenveur Smith during an on-stage conversation at The Resort At Pedregal. “There’s a man who calls himself the president of the United States of America who’s said on record that all Mexicans are rapists, murderers and drug dealers,...

Never one to hold back, writer-director Spike Lee, who presented his latest film BlacKkKlansman at the Los Cabos International Film Festival, unleashed another scathing attack on President Donald Trump on Saturday.

A staunch anti-Trumper, Lee refuses to call the president by his name, referring to him instead as "Agent Orange." At a news conference at the Mexican festival, he harshly criticized the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents and called out the president's discourse on the Central American migrant caravan as pandering to his base.

"Agent Orange was on the campaign trail for his ...

Never one to hold back, writer-director Spike Lee, who presented his latest film BlacKkKlansman at the Los Cabos International Film Festival, unleashed another scathing attack on President Donald Trump on Saturday.

A staunch anti-Trumper, Lee refuses to call the president by his name, referring to him instead as "Agent Orange." At a news conference at the Mexican festival, he harshly criticized the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents and called out the president's discourse on the Central American migrant caravan as pandering to his base.

"Agent Orange was on the campaign trail for his ...

Spike Lee took to the stage at 194 Piccadilly in London to deliver BAFTA’s annual David Lean lecture. Previous speakers have included Paul Greengrass, Robert Altman, Peter Weir, Oliver Stone and David Lynch – but none of those filmmakers was as outspoken in their lecture as Lee.

In a lively 90-minute talk, which concluded with a Q&A, Lee addressed a wide range of topics from the Oscars to Donald Trump to his new movie “BlacKkKlansman.” In between, he played various clips from both his own films – including “Malcolm X” and “25th Hour” – as well as classics by others, such as David Lean’s “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”

Lee wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers during his lecture, first discussing the treatment of black people in Hollywood and in cinema following a clip from his 2000 movie “Bamboozled.” As he observed, “This movie is about demonization and degradation of black people.

When Spike Lee talks, people listen. At the Cannes Film Festival in May, the “BlackKklansman” director delivered a searing indictment of the Trump Administration, lambasting the president for his response to Charlottesville riots and including an epilogue in his movie that did the same thing. He went on to win the Grand Prix at the festival, some of his best reviews of the festival, and a late-summer smash: Lee’s lively, seriocomic look at the efforts of African-American police officer Ron Stallsworth (John David Washington) to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan by using a white voice on the phone grossed over $86 million domestically and remains a part of the fall awards season conversation as the movie hits DVD and Blu-ray next week.

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding “BlackKklansman,” its success carried an air of gravitas, as the movie taps into the roots of bigotry in the United States and their reverberations in the current moment.

Playback is a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films. New episodes air every Thursday.

For more than three decades, and still going strong, Spike Lee has been an incredibly prolific presence in the world of cinema. Rarely does a year pass without a “Spike Lee joint” hitting screens, and 2018 has brought one of his most acclaimed works yet, the Cannes prizewinner “BlacKkKlansman.” For Lee, the secret to that consistency is baked into the respect and admiration his has for his inspirations, artists like Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane, Toni Morrison and even sports stars like Michael Jordan and Willie Mays, individuals who left a lasting legacy in the form of a wealth of work.

Listen to this week’s episode of “Playback” below. New episodes air every Thursday.

Click here for more episodes of “Playback.”

“From the very beginning the goal...

Spike Lee was in typically outspoken form on Monday evening when he delivered BAFTA’s David Lean Lecture in London. The firebrand filmmaker discussed his work — showing clips from movies including Malcolm X and 25th Hour — and the current political climate in the U.S. during a wide-ranging 90-minute session.

Following a clip of his 2000 movie Bamboozled, the feted filmmaker vented frustration at the historic portrayal of minorities on screen, “This movie is about demonization and degradation of black people. That’s what Hollywood does. Imagery is powerful. At the time I made this film, American cinema was around 100 years old, TV was at least 50 years old. This film was about how black folk have been treated. I remember a time when we would gather round the TV when a black person was on TV. The fight has always been about who is going to tell the story. That’s what makes history.

If you love the smell of napalm in the morning, there’s a good chance you know more about “Apocalypse Now” than Donald Trump. Not that there’s anything so terrible about only being vaguely familiar with Francis Ford Coppola’s classic Vietnam drama, but the Daily Beast reports that, during a meeting with actual Vietnam veterans last year, Trump asked whether Agent Orange was “that stuff from that movie” and derailed the meeting with his inaccurate recollection.

Those present eventually realized that “Apocalypse Now” was the movie in question and that Trump was misremembering Robert Duvall’s famous line as “I love the smell of Agent Orange in the morning”: “Trump refused to accept that he was mistaken and proceeded to say things like, ‘no, I think it’s that stuff from that movie.'”

If you doubt the veracity of this story, consider how easy it is...

The director’s award-winning new film is the story of a black detective who went undercover with the Kkk. He talks ‘wokeness’, vindication and Trump’s America

The black detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan

Spike Lee has heard all his film-making life that he is preoccupied with race. Sometimes the criticism has not come from obvious voices. Back in 2000, when Lee suggested that a lot of African American comedy and music – including gangsta rap – was not far removed from minstrel shows, the actor Jamie Foxx observed: “I think it’s getting to the point where nobody cares, because he talks about it so much that now he’s just become the angry guy, the angry black man.”

For a long time, Lee has been proposing an idea of America – that its stories should be told in the context of its violently racist past – that not everyone wanted to hear.

Damn! The grand experiment isn't over yet!

Those who thought the return of Hetty meant things would return to normal were greatly disappointed by developments on NCIS: Los Angeles Season 9 Episode 15.

We found out, for example, that Mosley outranks Hetty. How is that possible?

Also, apparently there were no repercussions for Mosley authorizing the rescue mission of Hetty without clearing with her bosses. Maybe that high-falutin' title she brought out this episode meant she didn't have to get it cleared with anybody.

When I heard Mosley was an executive assistant director, I figured she was a replacement for Granger, who was Hetty's assistant. I thought she was just filling in until Hetty got back, and would move down to her regular role.

Related: NCIS: Los Angeles Season 9 Episode 14 Review: Goodbye Vietnam

Now it turns out that she's someone just south of Director Vance and is Hetty's boss despite Hetty's...