Of the many universal facts that can never be changed, one is the bitter truth that Donald Trump can never serve as a positive inspiration to any sane soul. But that doesn’t stop the twisted minds, of a certain infamous individual known as RFK Jr., from openly embracing his “style.” But the ex-president has clarified that he is not cool with his signature move being blatantly copied.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid as a presidential candidate has faced an avalanche of responses, none of them encouraging the Democrat to pursue his decision. It started with his family not supporting his candidacy and openly criticizing it, followed by his party members speculating and claiming he was on Trump’s team and just competing in the race to steal votes from Joe Biden. Republicans soon joined the chorus as Junior’s candidacy being a risk to both Biden and Trump became apparent.

Clearly, no one is in Robert’s corner and if you caught his recent interviews, he is not in his own favor either.

Desperate to up his chances of at least getting enough votes to save his face, Kennedy, who has somewhat matched Trump’s pattern of being wildly inconsistent in his claims and promises, has decided to erase what difference remained in their tactics. Famous for being anti-vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic and gaining prominence for the conspiracy theories he peddled about vaccines, Kennedy is now switching lanes, assuring that Americans they will have assess to vaccines if he becomes president.

Sounds a lot like someone who asked the masses to inject bleach in their body to beat coronavirus, right? Someone who just loves to claim all credit for getting the COVID-19 vaccine to the public, but is also anti-vaccine, prefers criticizing everyone who supports vaccinations, and recently announced he will “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate?”

Yeah, that “someone” noticed this uncanny similarity as well and hurried to Truth Social to reprimand Junior, who was recently interviewed by Bill Maher.

“He said that “No Vaccine is safe and effective,” and then said “I would never say that, I’m not anti-vaccine!” Where did that come from? Maher defended the vaccine, which Junior’ actually seemed to agree with (WOW!), and then told him that his poll numbers have crashed. No Republican can vote for this guy. MAGA2024!”

You tell him, Donny… even though Republicans are still voting for you despite your inability to stick to your narrative. Still, Trump doesn’t need this not-so-subtle display of admiration from RFK Jr. when he has the likes of Eric Trump counting supporters at his court trials only he can see and singing ballads about his father’s “toughness” and “stamina.”

In the grand tradition of mixing satire with sirloin, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner, which had over 2000 guests, delivered yet another evening where the line between political roast and roast beef became delightfully blurred. 

Held annually, this dinner not only serves as a night for journalists, politicians, and celebrities to break bread but also to break into laughter — or cringes — at the expense of those in the high echelons of power. This year, the spotlight was unforgivingly bright on former President Donald Trump, with President Joe Biden and comedian Colin Jost leading the charge.

Biden, who has often been criticized for his measured and diplomatic approach, surprisingly pulled no punches when it came to Trump. In a stroke of comedic genius (or maybe an accidental revelation), he exposed the self-proclaimed genius’ true spiritual age at the latest public spectacle, which he reports as more a toddler than a titan.

If tantrums, tweets, and tirades are anything to go by, perhaps Biden is on to something profound. After all, isn’t there a certain preschool elegance to how Trump handles diplomacy and decorum?

This jab at his spiritual immaturity comes amidst a constant attack from Trump’s side about Biden’s age. True, Biden may be no spring chicken, but at least he’s got his bowel movements under control and, ahem, is not letting loose a barrage of rogue farts.

But the roast didn’t stop there. Trump’s ongoing legal battles were also fair game, with reports of his courtroom antics painting a picture of a man who treats the judicial system like a personal nap room. The nickname “Sleepy Don” has never been more suitable, although it’s not clear if the name comes from his habit of falling asleep during important events or his remarkable talent for making the whole country sleepy with his incoherent ramblings. 

Jost masterfully drew parallels between the president’s miserly heart and his apparent disdain for the environment. It explains so much – the Grinch’s heart, two sizes too small, and the Lorax’s obsession with the environment. Combine the two, and you’ve got a president who’d steal Christmas (your joy) and gleefully ignore the Lorax’s pleas as he cuts down every last Truffula tree in the Whoville National Forest.

Maybe we’re getting carried away and reading too much into his Seuss character orgy. Perhaps all Jost really wanted to point out was Trump’s uncanny resemblance to these beloved Dr. Seuss characters – the Grinch’s infamous smirk and the Lorax’s unmistakable orange hue. I mean, have you ever seen Trump and the Lorax in the same room together? Just saying, the similarity is striking. 

So Jost, yes, Trump is essentially a cartoon villain come to life.

Then again, with Trump, it’s hard to tell where the superficial ends. Poor Lara Trump, sitting in the audience, had to witness this shocking expose of her father-in-law’s true parentage. She probably thought she married into a rich German dynasty, but instead, she’s now part of a dysfunctional Seussian nightmare. Maybe that’s why she’s been trying her hand at music – an attempt to escape the madness and express herself through the universal language of song.

But why was Trump himself notably absent from the event? If you didn’t know already, he’s still nursing the wounds from the time President Barack Obama roasted him so intensely at the 2011 dinner that his hair went from fake gold to burnt sienna. The man who claims to have “the best words” has been steering clear of the dinner ever since.

And as if on cue, the master of making everything about himself couldn’t resist the temptation to weigh in on the festivities. Clearly, for some, the ability to laugh at oneself is an optional, not obligatory, trait. 

“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was really bad. Colin Jost BOMBED, and Crooked Joe was an absolute disaster! Doesn’t get much worse than this!”

Trump on Truth Social

This is just another example of Trump’s paper-thin skin and fragile ego. He can dish it out, but he can’t take it – unless it’s in the form of a Big Mac and a Diet Coke. And as Biden and Jost proved, even in his absence, he’s still the biggest joke in Washington.

By now any self-respecting Marvel fan has squealed over the 2^nd full-length Deadpool & Wolverine trailer at least once. The highly anticipated team-up has been at the top of fans’ must-see list since the first abysmal edition of the Merc with a Mouth appeared in X-Men Origins all the way back in 2009.  

So far the trailer hasn’t disappointed. Packed with one-liners and cheeky nods, it takes multiple watches to see all of the glorious easter eggs director Shawn Levy has added to every exceptional second. Which one is the best? The kind of comic book deep cut only the most dedicated Marvel fans will recognize.

Rob Liefeld: Lover of muscles, hater of feet

There are few comic book artists as prominent as Stan Lee, but Rob Liefeld has secured his own place in the Marvel Hall of Fame. Since he burst onto the scene in the late 80s, he’s done everything from rescuing the floundering New Mutants to masterminding Deadpool and his favorite frenemy, Cable. He even co-founded Image Comics to help comic artist maintain control of their darling creations.

Despite his many award-winning comics and his tenure as an artist – he got his start at Marvel before he had even reached 20 – Liefeld’s skills with a pen are contentious in the comic book world. Fans and critics alike can’t seem to agree on whether or not he’s actually good at drawing. And most arguments, as well as this deep-cut Marvel joke, hinge on his Achilles heel – or maybe we should call it an Achilles foot.

“Liefeld’s Just Feet,” a destroyed store that only appears briefly on screen, is a nod to Liefeld’s controversial problem in drawing, well, feet. Since the late 80s, Liefeld has been singularly untalented when it comes to drawing feet. For years, he’s found clever ways to hide the pesky appendage behind supporting characters, rocks, fire hydrants, weird angles, the edge of the frame, and basically any other appropriately (and inappropriately) placed objects he can fit in a scene.

Whenever a tootsie does happen to make it into a frame, it tends to have more than a few issues. His foot sizes are hilariously inconsistent with character size, the left feet turn right, and women appear to walk through life like a ballerina with a perfect point. It’s almost a signature at this point, and clearly, Liefeld is already in on the joke.

He took to Twitter to laugh about the jab and fully embraced it by cropping out Wolverine and Deadpool’s tosie-wosies for the post. After decades of being lambasted for his peculiar art style, Liefeld is just as impervious to the criticisms as Wolvie and Wade are to mortal wounds. After all, what damage can a playful dig about feet do when industry veterans like Barry Windsor-Smith – the man behind Red Sonia and Conan – have absolutely dragged him? Windsor-Smith once said of Liefeld’s art:

“He has nothing to offer. He cannot draw. He can’t write. He is a young boy almost, I would expect, whose culture is bubble gum wrappers, Saturday morning cartoons, Marvel Comics; that’s his culture.”

It must sting to have someone like Windsor-Smith bash your hard work, but Liefeld is certainly laughing all the way to the bank. At the end of the day, the Deadpool movies have a massive fan following and sit comfortably in the 80% range on Rotten Tomatoes, while 2011’s Conan the Barbarian bottoms out with a measly 25.

Unraveling entertainment history allows us to realize that each day marks the anniversary of some curious event. For instance, on April 28, two big celebrities broke out, one in the music industry and the other in the cinema.

Katy Perry traded gospel for lesbian music and became a hit

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson began her journey to stardom with 2001’s gospel album Katy Hudson. The album was a complete failure, as the singer’s brand of Christian music failed to resonate with the public. Hudson was determined to find a way to overlap her faith and her passion for singing, so she moved to Los Angeles to try her luck in secular music. God had different plans for Hudson, though, as she would become world famous only after adopting the stage name of Katy Perry and releasing a single about girls kissing girls.

To say that 2008’s “I Kissed a Girl” was a success would be an understatement. Even if Katy Perry didn’t have a name and a cult following at the time to back her single, she still hit first on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 list. In addition, “I Kissed a Girl” is one of the defining songs of the 2000s, an undisputable classic that still plays at parties. It would be safe to say that Katy Perry’s actual career began on April 28, when her first pop single first played on the radio.

Hard Candy was Elliot Page’s breakout role

April 28 is a big date for another beloved celebrity, Elliot Page. That’s because on this day in 2006, Hard Candy got a wide theatrical release in the U.S. and debuted the story of Page’s underaged character who’s seduced by a charming and dangerous sexual predator (Patrick Wilson). However, the tables soon turn as Page is revealed to be hunting the man down to punish him for his crimes. It’s a gruesome thriller with stomach-turning scenes that flipped the revenge horror trope upside down.

Even though Page was not even 18 when he shot Hard Candy, his performance grabbed the critics’ attention since the movie’s international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. However, due to the movie’s sensitive subject and Page’s unknown status in Holywood, Hard Candy was condemned to have a limited release on April 14, 2006. The surprisingly positive reception of the movie led to a broad release on April 28, allowing the whole country to witness the actor’s mesmerizing acting skills.

Say “Happy Birthday” to Jessica Alba

April 28 is also important because today is Jessica Alba‘s birthday. While no introductions are required for Alba, thanks to her prolific Hollywood career, today is a good day to remember some of the major milestones in her road to stardom. Alba had her breakout role in 2003’s Honey, a dance film that was mandatory at every slumber party in the early 2000s. After that, she starred in comic book adaptations such as Sin City and Fantastic Four. Director Robert Rodriguez liked working with Alba so much in Sin City that she would be cast in many of his movies, such as Machete, Machete Kills, and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.

Outside the silver screen, Alba is also a successful entrepreneur, having co-founded The Honest Company, which specializes in baby, personal, and household products. She also has a long history with charity that helps her stand apart from other Hollywood stars.

That’s the problem with trying to multitask — you are bound to slip up sooner or later and get labeled as too incompetent to be trusted. Marjorie Taylor Greene is feeling the consequences of the same as her efforts to be Donald Trump’s advocate have been pushed out of the limelight thanks to a new dream that has been shown to the ex-president by his freshly chosen champion.

Yep, this new fantasy would be right up there with his advice to inject yourself with bleach to beat COVID-19 and saying her can stop the war on Ukraine in a day. But Marj first — it’s the least we can do when Trump is cruelly and deliberately not acknowledging her desperation to be once again liked by him.

While you and I were enjoying our weekend, Green sidelined beating her drum to attack Mike Johnson and started scouting the streets of NYC to find at least one MAGA vehicle that proudly flaunts its support for the GOP presidential election candidate, then taking its picture, multiplying that one vehicle to the entire population of New York, and then proudly posting both in hopes of getting back in Trump’s good books after relentlessly weakening the Republican party with her narcissistic agenda.

At least, those in her comments acknowledged her diligence and shrewd Sherlock Holmes skill.

It’s not like Trump ever gave MTG his undivided attention — his scattered and twisted psyche can barely manage to be coherent — but whatever minor percentage of awareness he does possess has now been diverted to openly lauding and thanking daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. Why? Well, the newly minted RNC chair has left no stone unturned in her attempt to be a useful part of the Trump campaign. 

Nope, mooching money from the RNC to fund her father-in-law’s mounting legal troubles is not the only thing on her to-do list:

• Daydreaming about a physical altercation between Joe Biden and Donald Trump

• Time-traveling to the future where the U.S. has 81 states for Trump to exploit

In a Newsmax interview, Eric Trump’s equally unhinged wife claimed that the RNC is actively questioning election integrity and has lawsuits in 81 states. Given the unhinged promises Trump keeps making and his baseless boasts, there are two possibilities – either Lara’s “81 states” comes straight from Trump’s fever dreams or they will soon join his list of things to accomplish.

• Lamenting Donald Trump’s fate as the most badly treated president in the history of America

In exchange for her attempts to paint Trump as a victim who has been wronged time and again, Lara has been the subject of the former POTUS’ Truth Social posts where he doesn’t hesitate to thank her.

This acknowledgment of her hard work to sugarcoat his stained reputation is just the latest in the long line of glowing praises Trump has reserved for his “very talented daughter-in-law” which is a far cry from how he has been treating poor MTG. 

Remember the days when a single post from an Avenger could break the internet? Well, Chris Pratt just took us on a nostalgia-fueled trip down MCU memory lane with his latest “illegal” behind-the-scenes video.

From the looks of it, the BTS clip is from the final battle scene in Avengers: Endgame. Judging from Chris Evans’ fake shock at noticing Pratt making the video and the fact that the studio kept the film’s production under tight wraps to protect it from those sniffing around for leaks, it is easy to deduce why it used to be “illegal.”

The video is a who’s who of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ve got Dave Bautista (Drax), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda), Chris Hemsworth (who seems to be battling an invisible swarm of flies), and even a rare sighting of Chris Evans (Captain America) channeling his inner SpongeBob SquarePants. Meanwhile, Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) appears deep in thought, script in hand, while Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), and other casts make brief but impactful appearances. The presence of Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark), seemingly bored and chewing on something, adds a touch of humor to the scene.

But amidst the laughter and camaraderie, there’s a sense of bittersweetness that permeates the comments section. 

Fans have spotted Chadwick Boseman, forever our Black Panther, trying to hide his face from the camera. It strikes a chord, knowing now what we didn’t know then – that Boseman was silently battling cancer even as he suited up to save the universe.

Furthermore, if Pratt’s video is a reminder of Marvel’s glory days, it’s also a stark contrast to the company’s current state which is a mess of mediocre movies and Disney Plus shows. Fans are mourning the glory days of the MCU when every film was a must-see event and the Avengers were still assembling. 

One user laments:

“When Marvel was actually worth a damn.”

While another adds:

It’s no secret that the MCU has been struggling to recapture the magic of its early phases, with a string of lackluster releases and a growing sense of superhero fatigue among audiences. Sure, there have been bright spots – Pratt’s own Guardians of the Galaxy films continue to be a blast, and Spider-Man: No Way Home proved that the MCU still has some tricks up its sleeve.

Tom Hiddleston’s performance in Loki TV series as the God of Stories was an interesting revelation, and the show’s exploration of free will and determinism was surprisingly thoughtful for a series about a guy with magic horns. Now we have Deadpool & Wolverine hanging tight to the expectation that it will revive the currently comatose MCU with the aid of Wade Wilson’s proper Marvel initiation and Wolverine’s return.

But for every hit, there seems to be a massive miss (we’re looking at you, Eternals). When your big climactic battle scene involves a bunch of CGI monsters that look like they escaped from a PlayStation 2 game, you know you’ve got problems.

Perhaps the most telling moment in the video comes from Sean Gunn’s Rocket stand-in, who quips, “I’m pretty sure I’m the most famous person here.” It’s a joke, of course, but it also says a lot about the star power the franchise is steadily losing. These were the biggest names in Hollywood, all gathered together for a common purpose. And now? Well, let’s just say the fandom would trade their souls to erase Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and M.O.D.O.K.’s minion buttocks from existence.

The MCU has become so focused on expanding its universe that it’s forgotten what made it special in the first place– the characters, the heart, and the well-written plots that left us wanting more.

That’s what makes Pratt’s video so special. It reminds us of a time when the MCU was more than just a franchise — it was a family. A dysfunctional, quippy, occasionally problematic family, sure, but a family nonetheless. And in a world where every new release feels like a calculated attempt to set up the next big thing, it’s refreshing to see these actors just being themselves.

So thank you, Chris Pratt, for this blast from the past. Maybe this video will be the wake-up call that Kevin Feige and co. need to get back to basics and remember what made us fall in love with these characters in the first place.

Republicans, take heart. Sure, you may be facing an uphill battle in the upcoming elections. And sure, your party may be fracturing under the weight of its own incompetence. But at least you have Kristi Noem, a deplorable puppy slayer extraordinaire, waiting in the wings to save the day.

The South Dakota leader has discovered that bragging about shooting a little puppy in cold blood is a prerequisite for the second-highest office in the land. Move over, policy discussions and leadership experience; it’s time for flexing acts of animal cruelty to win over the voters.

In her forthcoming book No Going Back, Noem recounts in gruesome detail how she executed her few-month-old hunting dog Cricket for the unforgivable crime of being too excited about chasing birds. Yes, you read that right — a puppy was “less than worthless” and deserving of death for acting like, well, a puppy. Apparently, this was too much for Noem to handle, leading her to label Cricket as “aggressive,” “untrainable,” and “dangerous.” 

She decided that the only solution was to drag poor Cricket to a gravel pit and shoot her dead in front of a startled construction crew.

I know some bleeding-heart folks out there might say, “A 14-month-old puppy is just a baby!” or “Couldn’t she have found a more humane solution?” But that’s just typical Democrat talk, right? Real leaders like Kristi Noem understand that sometimes you have to make the “difficult, messy and ugly” decision to kill a puppy. It’s called being tough on crime, people!

She even defended her puppy-killing pitch for the Vice Presidency spot on Twitter.

It’s impressive how tone-deaf Noem manages to be. Of course, she just had to plug her book in the same tweet, because why let a good dog murder go to waste when you can use it to boost sales?

The truth is, this isn’t really about farming or hunting. It’s about appealing to a base that fetishizes violence. It’s about showing that you’re “tough” enough to make the “hard decisions,” even if those decisions involve executing innocent creatures. And apparently, it’s about selling books to people who think this kind of sociopathic behavior is admirable.

Naturally, Twitter is ablaze with reactions from voters, and spoiler alert — they’re not exactly thrilled, not even the MAGA supporters.

One user pointed out the absurdity of Noem’s actions.

It’s a fair question. Perhaps, she thought bragging about it would be good for her political resume.

Others took a more personal approach, sharing stories of their own challenging pets.

Most people understand that owning a pet comes with responsibilities and that resorting to violence is never the answer. A rather wild concept for Noem, I know. However, as the saying goes, “The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members.” Apparently, Noem’s measure is a bullet.

It seems even the MAGA fans are frustrated at the cold and dumb Republicans.

There was the time when Ted Cruz called Donald Trump a “sniveling coward” and a “pathological liar,” only to later phonebank for him like a good little soldier. Or how about when Marco Rubio made thinly veiled insinuations about Trump’s penis size on the debate stage? Truly, these are the kinds of principled stands that win elections.

But perhaps the most poignant tweet came from a user who pointed out the disturbing irony of Noem’s actions.

The irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Noem and her defenders will go to the mat for a fetus, but a living, breathing creature? Apparently, that’s just an acceptable casualty in the pursuit of political power. And it’s not just Noem – the entire Republican party has built its brand on moral superiority, on the idea that they’re the guardians of life and family values. But time and time again, we see that their commitment to “life” extends only as far as it serves their agenda.

But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is the same party that hitched its wagon to Donald Trump, a man who embodies the antithesis of every value they claim to hold dear. Family values? Please. Personal responsibility? Give me a break.

It’s no surprise that someone with such a callous disregard for animal life would be drawn to Donald Trump’s orbit. After all, birds of a feather flock together, and in this case, it seems that psychopaths do too. If Kristi Noem thinks that bragging about killing defenseless animals is the way to win the hearts of the American people, she’s got another thing coming. In fact, many would argue that her political career should be over before it even begins.

Rachael Ray is not just another TV personality who made things easier for us in the kitchen; she became a piece of pop culture. Her show; simply titled after her name, lasted 17 wonderful seasons. Many of her fans now wonder what she has planned as she becomes one of the first faces of lifestyle and food culture in America.

The Rachael Ray Show now airs in syndication, so check your local listings if you would like to go back and revisit 17 years of the daytime talk show that blended itself with her talents in the kitchen. However, for most of 2023, Ray enjoyed much-deserved time away from the camera. She vacationed on the coast of Italy over Labor Day back in 2023, stating that this was the first time in many years she had the holiday off.

Ray’s heartfelt goodbye from the show didn’t come without the groundwork being laid for what was to come for the television star. In summer 2023, she announced her new production company, Free Food Studios. With this new brand being in the zeitgeist, Rachael Ray has also had her hands in a healthy line of food for pets, cookware, and some meal kits for Home Chef.

Rachael Ray has also been aiding the people of Ukraine over the past few years since the country has been in peril due to the Russian attacks. She has traveled to Ukraine to help teach cooking classes, as well as partnering with brands that send a portion of their earnings to Ukraine to help the people of the country.

If you can’t tell by now, the Emmy Award winner enjoys using her brand to assist people, and in late 2023, she went even a step further. Her new show, which is currently streaming on Hulu, called Rachael Ray’s Rebuild, follows the lives of people who had their homes crumble due to natural disasters or accidents like a house fire, for example. Rachael Ray swoops in to save the day by piecing the home they love back together. The show premiered on October 23, 2023.

It seems that although Rachael Ray is not on television screens Monday through Friday for her daytime talk show, she is still making her presence felt in the world of streaming and behind the scenes for the greater good. Yeah, maybe other chefs who turned into celebrities like Anthony Bourdain took shots at her from time to time, but in the end, she’s just tried to maintain a positive impact on society.

With her iconic voice and her effervescent appearance in front of the camera, Rachael Ray has pressed on even despite some critiques of her personal life. She’s pivoted many times while not losing sight of her brand. That’s why her fans are always eager to see what’s next from her.

From Top Gun: Maverick to Oppenheimer and recently Dune: Part Two, we’ve had a lot of amazing theater experiences recently, but I think we can all agree that none of them came even close to the high we experienced in 2019 thanks to Avengers: Endgame.

A lot of things came together to make Endgame such a special occasion for the industry. Eliminate any of those elements and the movie wouldn’t have become the global sensation that shook the box office. I mean, even barring the 10-year build-up of all those other MCU movies, Endgame could not have succeeded if it weren’t for Infinity War hyping it up with its cliffhanger ending.

We all spent an entire year waiting, wondering, and speculating about the fate of our favorite characters. How was Endgame possibly going to give us a satisfying resolution to the Infinity Saga? Could the Avengers somehow find a way to reverse the Snap? What was going to happen to the MCU after Endgame? And yet, when the moment came and Endgame opened in theaters, all I could think about was finding the nearest theater playing the movie in my neighborhood and securing a ticket.

And what an incredible moment it was to be alive. At times during the movie, it felt like my entire life spent as a geek was finally paying off, and there would never be another experience to top this one. And going by their reactions, the people in that room with me must have felt much the same way.

We may never be able to relive the day we watched Avengers: Endgame with our fellow MCU enthusiasts from all walks of life, but thanks to social media, we may come close to the experience of those sensations. So, let’s take a trip down memory lane, to a time before all of these political upheavals, before COVID-19, and before Marvel Studios lost its touch, to review some of the best audience reactions to iconic Endgame moments.

Captain America picking up Mjolnir and giving Thanos an embarrassing and severe backside beating!

I think we can all agree that this was the single greatest moment in Avengers: Endgame, and quite possibly the entire MCU. Well, either this or the scene in Infinity War where Thor makes his entrance and turns the tide. We’d all known it for years, but it was very cathartic to finally have it confirmed that Captain America was worthy of the power of Thor. I can’t imagine a theater that didn’t explode when Mjolnir returned to Cap’s hand instead of Thor’s. Though, in fairness, my personal experience didn’t come close to this clip. The excitement in this one is almost primal.

The OG team’s signature credits still gives us chills!

Avengers: Endgame certainly marked the end of an era, and Marvel Studios understood the assignment well. While the MCU has been graced by many performers and characters over the years, it was always going to come down to those six original Avengers who rocked the world of cinema in 2012. Superhero movies had always been profitable even before Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, but that film made certain that everyone got the message loud and clear. Watching the signature of the six actors who portrayed the original team of Avengers at the end of Endgame will haunt our thoughts for many years to come.

Thor gets his hammer back, leaving the audience completely dumbfounded!

There’s no doubt that Stormbreaker is a weapon worthy of a god, but it could never be as iconic as Mjolnir. So imagine my surprise when it made a return in Endgame, especially after Thor went through all of that trouble in Infinity War to forge a more powerful weapon. Well, Taika Waititi may have broken the God of Thunder’s favorite toy in Ragnarok, but some things are just inevitable (unlike Thanos) and the writers had to find a way to make that Captain America Mjolnir scene work, one way or another.

The Scarlet Witch stands up to Thanos and almost beats him senseless!

Build-up is key when you’re dealing with a host of powerful beings each possessing unique abilities. The moment Wanda went toe-to-toe with Thanos and managed to overpower him lives rent-free in my mind after all these years, and I can’t help but wonder if she could’ve ended it there and then had Thanos not bombarded the entire battlefield with his ship’s firepower. In a movie so filled to the brim with exciting moments, this particular confrontation definitely came out of the blue.

“And I… am… Iron Man!” The scene that perfectly encapsulated 10 years of superhero cinema

Everyone was holding their breaths in those last moments of the fight against Thanos, where the Mad Titan beat back almost everyone and reclaimed the gauntlet. “I am inevitable!” He exclaims and brings up his hand to snap once again. The cinema is utterly quiet, except for the occasional sigh of surprise. Thanos snaps his fingers. Nothing happens. A few people laugh. The camera turns to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, and he has the Infinity Stones! Everyone cheers. The room quiets down again, anticipating Tony Stark’s perfect clapback. “And I… am… Iron Man!” He says and sends Thanos to meet his maker. I’m sorry, MCU, but you can never catch this lightning in a bottle again.

Captain America makes his last stand, the portals open, and the Avengers finally assemble!

When all seemed lost, and the Big Three had failed to defeat Thanos, Doctor Strange opened portals summoning every hero in the MCU, and they all came together to oppose the Mad Titan’s will. I can imagine Kevin Feige and co. sitting down years before 2019 and envisioning the scene where all of their characters would come together. Captain America finally says the line everyone had been waiting for him to say as early as the 2012 film, and the execution is just perfect. I used to think no scene in cinema would come close to being as epic as “The Ride of the Rohirrim” from The Return of the King, but Avengers: Endgame proved me wrong.

Even more audience reactions from Avengers: Endgame

While the scenes we already listed were the highlights of Avengers: Endgame, the almost 3-hour movie had much more to offer, especially during the second act where the Avengers revisit set pieces from across the MCU. The video above includes the highlights from both movies, namely Black Widow sacrifcing himself, Tony hugging Peter, and last but not least, Steve Rogers fighting Steve Rogers and commenting on America’s ass!

It’s a good thing that Marvel has Deadpool & Wolverine, perhaps its most hyped release since 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, to get fans distracted, because behind the scenes there’s a lot of major restructuring happening when it comes to future plans for the MCU.

Deadpool 3 will no doubt make a killing at the box office this summer, but the last Marvel movie to release was The Marvels, which infamously went down as the worst-performing MCU film of them all. And it’s just possible that its failure was so embarrassing it immediately killed plans for a spinoff.

Monica Rambeau series was reportedly cancelled in the wake of The Marvels bombing

The Marvels‘ post-credits scene was perhaps the most memorable thing about it, as it brought back Kelsey Grammer as Beast. It was also interesting that it was Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau who ended up in the X-Men’s universe not Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. According to new rumors, that’s because this was supposed to lead into a Photon series set for Disney Plus… However, this is 100% canned now due to the film falling flat. We’ve been assured that Monica’s story will now continue elsewhere, although it’s anyone’s guess where that could be.

Scarlett Johansson’s first MCU project since Black Widow could be a Disney Plus show

Don’t forget, while Marvel no doubt scrambles to tempt Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans into returning to the fold for Avengers: Secret Wars, Scarlett Johansson is already back in bed with the MCU for an upcoming project. The only thing is she’ll be serving as a producer rather than appearing on screen. For the longest time we’ve had literally zero information about the form of this mystery project, but the latest intel indicates that it will be a Disney Plus series. Given Johansson’s name behind it, presumably this show will be set in the Black Widow universe. Maybe it could be some kind of follow-up to Thunderbolts, which features Yelena, Red Guardian, and Taskmaster.

Mahershala Ali needs to get his ice skates on as Wesley Snipes’ Blade could be coming soon

Here’s your periodic reminder that Mahershala Ali was announced to be playing Blade in summer 2019… and we still haven’t seen him on screen?! Currently the Blade reboot is scheduled for November 2025 but it’s all but confirmed it’ll get pushed into 2026. Ali might want to hurry up and show his face, though, otherwise he might just be beaten to the punch by Wesley Snipes, who — rumor has it — is in talks to reprise his iconic ’90s role somewhere in the Multiverse Saga. For context, this is like if Tom Holland was cast as Spider-Man in 2016… and then never showed up before Tobey Maguire came back in 2021. What is going on, Kevin?!

The unconventional ending to Shōgun has left a lot of fans baffled, but only because this historical epic, in a way we’re not quite used to in today’s entertainment landscape, gradually refined the art of subtle storytelling until the season finale brought it to a satisfying climax.

I say what we’re “used to” because Shōgun is not the first of its kind, and nor even the first adaptation of James Clavell’s novel. With these historical dramas, the idea is to capitalize on the political intrigue and use action to fuel audience anticipation and hype.

The show itself certainly gave us enough reason to believe that Lord Toranaga and his perceived enemies were heading towards an inevitable clash. All that talk of “Crimson Sky” and saving the Taiko’s heir from ambitious men, and what we got in the season finale was just a calculated execution of Toranaga’s plans — plans that may have stretched over months, and possibly years.

The Toranaga this show unveiled in its season finale is a far cry from the noble warlord we were led to believe in originally. If anything, Toranaga is not even a warlord. He was never going to fight Ishido and his cronies, because he didn’t need to fight them. Toranaga was a deft political schemer, a Machiavelli of the East, who used his wits and vassals to the full extent of their usefulness to achieve his vision: That of setting up the greatest Shōgunate Japan has ever seen.

Shōgun is not the story of a single man. It’s not about the pilot John Blackthorne, or Toranaga-sama, this honorable chieftain whose mere presence sparks loyalty. Shōgun is the founding of a new era in Japan’s rich history, and the way it is handled within the context of a television show’s narrative is brilliantly reminiscent of Bushido (Samurai’s “Way of the Warrior” code) itself. Because as we’ve come to know, the Japanese are nothing if not subtle.

The man at the top dances to the very rhythm of the wind

Shōgun has been praised for its near-perfect faithfulness to Japan’s culture. The traditions we see played out in each episode are historically accurate, and even the Japanese the cast speaks is a version of the language spoken in the Edo period, and not the one you hear today.

At the same time, Shōgun prides itself in painting a very vivid image of both Bushido and Shinto, which inform the prominent religious and cultural tenets of the Japanese. That isn’t unconventional in and of itself, as many movies and television shows have been intrigued by the notion and tried to portray it to one extent or another in the cinematic medium, but what I find incredibly fascinating about Shōgun in particular is the show’s ability to weave the very essence of Shinto into the plot itself.

For the Shōgun writers’ room, things like Confucian ethics, codes of honor and responsibility, and even starkly brutal concepts like seppuku (ritualistic suicide) aren’t just elements that make up the plot or clutter the show’s runtime. As the show builds towards its finale, these ideas take on a life of their own as archetypes, and overwhelming the plot, they then determine how the story itself is going to play out, unbound by the medium rulebook or the expectations of an unsuspecting audience.

Granted, even James Clavell’s novel ends in a similar manner and only alludes to the era-defining Battle of Sekigahara in an epilogue, but a 1-1 adaptation would not have worked here.

Let’s look at our main characters as exmaples. Shōgun initially portrays John Blackthorne as a vicious scoundrel hell-bent on defeating his Catholic enemies, and Toranaga-sama as an honorable daimyō looking out for the realm’s best interests. By the show’s finale, we learn that Blackthorne is actually a man of conscience, while Toranaga is a ruthless manipulator with no compunctions about who he ends up sacrificing to reach his goal. Even Lord Yabushige, originally coming off as a callous murderer, is no worse a man than Toranaga. He simply isn’t possessing of the same brainpower.

Outwitted and outmatched, the feudal lords of Japan now have to bend the knee to a new Shōgun, with near-limitless power to back up his rule. Shōgun ends with Blackthorne looking up at his liege lord, forsaking any dream of ever leaving Japan, and realizing, just at that moment, the true extent of Toranaga’s keen intellect. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of Toranaga, depicting the warlord (and soon-to-be Shōgun) as he once again reflects on his decisions and tries to “study the wind,” as he told Yabushige. And who can tell what he will come up with next?

Nuanced storytelling should be adopted as the new norm

Nuanced narrative design goes in the face of transparent storytelling. In one form, you expect the audience to pick up on clues and learn to read the subtle distinctions in the way you set up the mise-en-scène. That could be anything from where characters meet, how their facial expressions change by the moment, and what little dialogue they speak to each other. (A feature further bolstered in Shōgun thanks to the language barrier between Blackthorne and the rest of the characters.)

In the second form, the predominant form of today, every emotion and every little detail or change is spoken out loud, leaving nothing to the audience’s imagination. The second form is overt, more a literary expression than anything cinema could account for, and leaves little room for interpretation.

Now we might ask: What was Shōgun really all about? Well, we know that the series has gained a lot of acclaim and notoriety over the past couple of weeks, but if you were to seriously ask people what made them fall in love with this period drama that came, quite literally, out of nowhere, you might get a plethora of answers, each dissimilar in its own unique way. For some, it may be the historically-accurate sets and accents and clothing. For others, it might be the extremely believable characters. For many, it’s the high-quality, no-nonsense period drama that the medium was lacking in recent years.

Whatever the answer may be, Shōgun is a showcase of nuance in storytelling, which is also what lends it incredible flexibility of interpretation. I’ve seen a lot of commentary on how “they don’t make shows like this anymore,” and our frenzied age of content compels me to agree with that sentiment, but the point of this interlude is ultimately to say that if more shows want to be as successful as Shōgun, then it’s not in the genre or time period or the depiction of one specific culture that they will find deliverance, but through this underappreciated, daring, and often neglected form of storytelling.

Disney World is a place of magic, wonder, and joy, where all your wishes come true… right? Wrong. At least in one employee’s case, what was supposed to be a dream job turned out to be the stuff of nightmares.

On TikTok, a former participant of the Disney College Program named Kassie gave folks a peek behind the curtain of what the experience did to her mental health. In a short clip, she starts by describing what we’re about to witness, saying “Watch the Disney College Program destroy me!” What follows is a sequence of photos taken during Kassie’s time at Disney World, portraying her slow transition from a place of happiness to despair, until she eventually quit.

The numerous images of Kassie’s tear-stained face paint a harrowing picture of what her experience must’ve been like, sparking curiosity about what exactly happened among those who came across the video. When probed for details about her story, the content creator didn’t shy away from going deeper into her story:

My coordinator sexually harassed me and people at my location severely bullied me. My leaders refused to move my location, even after I proved I was sexually harassed.

The video’s comment section was quickly filled with people either expressing their bewilderment, sharing similar stories, and exposing how they were negatively affected by the experience. “I still have PTSD from the Disney College Program,” one commenter wrote, while another affirmed “I cried after every shift. It was tough.” Between words of support, one person chimed in with the necessity of calling the world’s attention to the matter, saying that “someone should do a documentary on this.”

Due to the number of replies to Kassie’s original TikTok, she later posted a video requesting that folks with similarly terrible experiences at Disney World reach out to her. Her idea is to expose and raise awareness of stories like hers, which is not only a good thing to do, but also incredibly important. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, over “6500 sexual harassment claims were filed” with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020, showcasing how prevalent the issue is in the U.S.

Sure, after the #MeToo movement took the country by storm, awareness about the issue increased, but talking about it is never too much. Besides, while TikTok is best-known for its lighearted content, it can also help uncover some pretty disturbing stories from time to time. And trust me, it doesn’t take a lot for those to take shockingly wild turns.