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Blizzard Officially Responds to blitzchung Controversy

Blizzard has responded to the controversy regarding Ng Wai “blitzchung” Chung, stating that it will give blitzchung his prize money and will lower his ban from professional Hearthstone play from one year to six months. However, it does not offer an apology or remove all punishments against blitzchung following his support of Hong Kong’s liberation movement.

J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment, wrote a letter to Blizzard’s community to address the event that occurred at last week’s Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament, saying that even though Blizzard will reduce the punishment, “there is a consequence for taking the conversation away from the purpose of the event and disrupting or derailing the broadcast.”

Blizzard Reduces Ban Time, Returns Money To Hearthstone Player After Hong Kong Controversy

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Blizzard recently found itself embroiled in controversy when it banned a professional Hearthstone player and rescinded his thousands of dollars in prize money after they expressed support for the Hong Kong protests in China.

The player, blitzchung, made his statement during a victory interview–and this was in violation of “rules he acknowledged and understood, and this is why we took action,” Blizzard’s president J. Allen Brack said in a statement.

Brack went on to say its decision was not driven by its relationship with its partners in China. “The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision,” Brack said.

The executive went on to say that Blizzard enforces rules about what can and cannot be said during player interviews to “keep the focus on the game and on the tournament.” For this reason–and this reason alone–Blizzard decided to take action against blitzchung.

“If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same,” Brack said.

While Blizzard is standing by its decision to punish, Brack acknowledged that the company made some mistakes in how it handled the situation and specifically how it determined the penalties against blitzchung. “We’ve had a chance to pause, to listen to our community, and to reflect on what we could have done better. In hindsight, our process wasn’t adequate, and we reacted too quickly,” Blizzard said.

“We want to ensure that we maintain a safe and inclusive environment for all our players, and that our rules and processes are clear. All of this is in service of another important Blizzard value–Play Nice; Play Fair.”

Brack said that blitzchung competed in the Hearthstone tournament in a fair manner, and as such, he still should have been paid the prize money he earned. “We now believe he should receive his prizing,” Brack said.

However, Brack said “playing fair” encompasses conduct during match play and after, which would include his Hong Kong comments from the post-match interview.

In terms of his suspension, Brack said a six-month ban is “more appropriate” than the one-year suspension that was announced earlier. “There is a consequence for taking the conversation away from the purpose of the event and disrupting or derailing the broadcast,” Brack said.

The shoutcasters were also caught up in the controversy, and Blizzard is banning them as well for steering the conversation away from the game. “With regard to the casters, remember their purpose is to keep the event focused on the tournament. That didn’t happen here, and we are setting their suspension to six months as well,” Brack said.

“One of our goals at Blizzard is to make sure that every player, everywhere in the world, regardless of political views, religious beliefs, race, gender, or any other consideration always feels safe and welcome both competing in and playing our games.”

After Blizzard announced its action against blitzchung, whose real name is Ng Wai Chung, the response was fierce, with gamers calling for boycotts and some deleting their accounts. US Senators criticized the move as censorship, some Blizzard employees staged their own protest, and host personalities like Brian Kibler announced they would no longer shoutcast Hearthstone events. Most recently Hearthstone’s first ever World Champion, James Kostesich aka “Firebat,” called the penalty ridiculous and unreasonable.

Blizzard’s big fan convention, BlizzCon, is scheduled to November. A group of gamers are organizing a protest over the Hong Kong situation at the event.

Full Blizzard Statement:

“Hello Blizzard Community . . .

I want to take a few minutes to talk to all of you about the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament this past weekend. On Monday, we made the decision to take action against a player named blitzchung and two shoutcasters after the player shared his views on what’s happening in Hong Kong on our official broadcast channel.

At Blizzard, our vision is “to bring the world together through epic entertainment.” And we have core values that apply here: Think Globally; Lead Responsibly; and importantly, Every Voice Matters, encouraging everybody to share their point of view. The actions that we took over the weekend are causing people to question if we are still committed to these values. We absolutely are and I will explain.

Our esports programs are an expression of our vision and our values. Esports exist to create opportunities for players from around the world, from different cultures, and from different backgrounds, to come together to compete and share their passion for gaming. It is extremely important to us to protect these channels and the purpose they serve: to bring the world together through epic entertainment, celebrate our players, and build diverse and inclusive communities.

As to how those values apply in this case:

First, our official esports tournament broadcast was used as a platform for a winner of this event to share his views with the world.

We interview competitors who are at the top of their craft to share how they feel. We want to experience that moment with them. Hearing their excitement is a powerful way to bring us together.

Over the weekend, blitzchung used his segment to make a statement about the situation in Hong Kong—in violation of rules he acknowledged and understood, and this is why we took action.

Every Voice Matters, and we strongly encourage everyone in our community to share their viewpoints in the many places available to express themselves. However, the official broadcast needs to be about the tournament and to be a place where all are welcome. In support of that, we want to keep the official channels focused on the game.

Second, what is the role of shoutcasters for these broadcasts?

We hire shoutcasters to amplify the excitement of the game. They elevate the watchability and help the esports viewing experience stay focused on the tournament and our amazing players.

Third, were our actions based on the content of the message?

Part of Thinking Globally, Leading Responsibly, and Every Voice Matters is recognizing that we have players and fans in almost every country in the world. Our goal is to help players connect in areas of commonality, like their passion for our games, and create a sense of shared community.

The specific views expressed by blitzchung were NOT a factor in the decision we made. I want to be clear: our relationships in China had no influence on our decision.

We have these rules to keep the focus on the game and on the tournament to the benefit of a global audience, and that was the only consideration in the actions we took.

If this had been the opposing viewpoint delivered in the same divisive and deliberate way, we would have felt and acted the same.

OK, what could Blizzard have done better, and where do we go from here?

Over the past few days, many players, casters, esports fans, and employees have expressed concerns about how we determined the penalties. We’ve had a chance to pause, to listen to our community, and to reflect on what we could have done better. In hindsight, our process wasn’t adequate, and we reacted too quickly.

We want to ensure that we maintain a safe and inclusive environment for all our players, and that our rules and processes are clear. All of this is in service of another important Blizzard value—Play Nice; Play Fair.

In the tournament itself blitzchung *played* fair. We now believe he should receive his prizing. We understand that for some this is not about the prize, and perhaps for others it is disrespectful to even discuss it. That is not our intention.

But playing fair also includes appropriate pre-and post-match conduct, especially when a player accepts recognition for winning in a broadcast. When we think about the suspension, six months for blitzchung is more appropriate, after which time he can compete in the Hearthstone pro circuit again if he so chooses. There is a consequence for taking the conversation away from the purpose of the event and disrupting or derailing the broadcast.

With regard to the casters, remember their purpose is to keep the event focused on the tournament. That didn’t happen here, and we are setting their suspension to six months as well.

Moving forward, we will continue to apply tournament rules to ensure our official broadcasts remain focused on the game and are not a platform for divisive social or political views.

One of our goals at Blizzard is to make sure that every player, everywhere in the world, regardless of political views, religious beliefs, race, gender, or any other consideration always feels safe and welcome both competing in and playing our games.

At Blizzard, we are always listening and finding ways to improve—it is part of our culture. Thank you for your patience with us as we continue to learn.

Sincerely,

J. Allen Brack

President of Blizzard Entertainment”

After Pitching Dragon Age Musical DLC, David Gaider Is Finally Getting To Make His Musical Game

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Dragon Age lead franchise writer David Gaider is making a new and intriguing-looking musical adventure game Chorus. As it turns out, the veteran game developer–who left BioWare years ago–has been thinking about making a musical game for a long time.

In an appearance at the GameSpot Theatre today at PAX Aus about his new game and studio, Gaider said he in fact pitched musical DLC for Dragon Age during his time at BioWare. The musical Dragon Age DLC could have taken place inside the metaphysical Dragon Age realm called The Fade, he said. It was a semi-serious, semi-joking pitch, Gaider said, but whatever the case, it never happened.

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Gaider is now getting to realize that dream. His new game, Chorus, is a musical adventure game where they big story beats play out through song. Gaider is working on Chorus with Summerfall managing director Liam Esler (former Obsidian, Beamdog developer), while prolific voice actress Laura Bailey (Uncharted, Gears of War) is voicing the main character.

Voice acting legend Troy Baker is the Voice Director for Chorus, while Grammy nominated composer (Austin Wintory) is the composer for the game. In short, Summerfall has assembled a truly all-star cast for Chorus.

Summerfall is looking for $600,000 USD on Fig to fund Chrous, and you can visit the crowdfunding page to learn more about the numerous backer benefits and more.

PAX Aus runs October 11-13 in Melbourne, and GameSpot is on hand at the show all weekend to bring you news and further coverage. For more, check out a rundown of all the panels in the GameSpot Theatre.

El Camino: What Was Jesse’s Letter About?

SPOILERS ahead for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie!

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie resolves any lingering questions about Jesse Pinkman’s fate at the end of Breaking Bad. But the film also presents an unanswered question of its own. What did Jesse write in his letter to Brock Cantillo, the young son of Jesse’s late girlfriend Andrea?

Brock was a little boy Jesse came to care for while he was dating Brock’s mom Andrea. But Jesse, for all his affection for Brock, is also responsible for much of the pain this child would eventually endure.

Jesse met Andrea Cantillo in Narcotics Anonymous in Season 3.His initial intentions toward Andrea weren’t altruistic; he wanted to sell her blue meth. He pivoted after discovering she was the mother of Brock. After Andrea’s kid brother Tomas was shot to death, Jesse gave Andrea money to buy a new home in a better neighborhood.

Seth Rollins Vs. The Fiend At WWE Hell In A Cell Was Doomed From The Start

Contrary to popular belief, professional wrestling wasn’t always scripted or predetermined. Over a century ago, it was still “real.” Two men would get in a ring and have a legitimate athletic contest with a winner and a loser.

The shenanigans came later, when the promoters realized that by fixing all the matches, they could ensure that they promoted the most reliable, talented, and charismatic performers in their stable. And over time, this match fixing evolved into the current-day kayfabe we see today, with its larger-than-life characters and theatrical presentation.

But as unrealistic as modern professional wrestling can often seem, the core idea behind it remains the same: that when you book the matches and you book and how they end, it should be a near-guarantee that the audience will go home happy. And that’s why it’s impossible to view the main event of 2019’s WWE Hell in a Cell as anything other than a massive failure, on multiple levels.

The live audience booed the result, and continued booing even after the lights came up for everyone to go home. Many in the crowd chanted chanted “AEW,” the name of the new rival wrestling promotion on the block. And wrestling Twitter set itself ablaze, ranking the main event as one of WWE’s worst in recent memory.

To briefly summarize the match that has fans in an uproar: Seth Rollins, the current WWE Universal Champion, took on Bray Wyatt in a title match at the Hell in a Cell PPV on October 6. Rollins is the good “babyface” of the feud, and Wyatt is the evil “heel” of the feud.

Regardless, Wyatt is getting lots of cheers, because his new character, “The Fiend,” is the coolest looking thing to come out of WWE in quite some time. Fans also see Wyatt as a likeable underdog. From 2012-2018, his character was a backwoods cult leader with a silver-tongue. And although he was pegged for great success, Bray Wyatt never received the push or definitive win necessary to becoming a next-level performer. Would this new Fiend character finally break through where his prior character couldn’t?

The title match took place inside Hell in a Cell. A match stipulation innovated by long-time booker/manager Jim Cornette, Hell in a Cell was inspired by the steel cages of the Memphis territory days, which encompassed the immediate area outside the ring. Cornette added a roof to the cage like the ones in NWA WarGames, and the result was Hell in a Cell.

A wrestler wins the match by pinfall or submission; there are no disqualifications. The no disqualification rule prevents any sort of screwy finish, such as when a champion gets himself disqualified in order to retain a title, while the cage itself prevents people from fleeing the ring and forfeiting. Traditionally, a Hell in a Call took place at the end of a feud, when one wrestler’s cowardly tendencies could longer be tolerated, or because the acrimony between two wrestlers had reached such a fever pitch, that they seemed ready to kill each other.

But in 2009, WWE created an annual pay-per-view called “Hell in a Cell,” where at least one one of the show’s matches would take place inside of the structure. And thus, the match to end all matches, the most dangerous possible stipulation for when feuds got intensely personal, slowly became ‘that thing we do during October.’ If the feud hadn’t reached the animosity necessary for this sort of extreme match, it didn’t matter. It was October, which meant that the title match needed to be inside of the Cell.

So that was the first problem. When built properly, a Hell in a Cell match could be the final chapter of a long, angry feud, with escalating, dangerous stipulations. But Wyatt sneaking up on and spooking Rollins for three weeks did not equate to a match this extreme. This was the first match between Rollins and this brand new character (Rollin has fought Wyatt, but not his Fiend alter-ego). It was only the second match for the Fiend. Where do they go from here?

Also concerning: Seth Rollins just won the title from Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam on August 11. This was a landmark victory; Rollins won cleanly to a man who has lost only a handful of times in his entire professional wrestling career, and almost never without his opponent cheating. To have Rollins lose the belt so quickly would cheapen the value of this win, and by proxy, cheapen Lesnar as well.

So WWE’s writers were left with a no-win scenario heading into SummerSlam. Did they hand The Fiend his first loss in his second match (which would make narrative sense) but toss six months of brilliant character work into the garbage? Or did they give Wyatt a too-soon win and title reign that wouldn’t make much narrative sense but would keep the audience happy in the short-term?

For much of the match, it seemed like WWE was going for the latter, wiser option. The company has rocketed wrestlers to the main event before, and it can work if the performer is talented enough to hang tough. Wyatt withstood multiple Curb Stomps (Rollins’ finishing move), steel chair shots, and more. Wyatt, however, would not stay down. It was a little cartoony, but worked in a Michael Myers-ish sort of way—so long as Wyatt ultimately made the comeback and scored the win. It wasn’t ideal, but WWE could work on this in the aftermath.

Rollins didn’t win. Wyatt didn’t win. Instead, the WWE writers booked an ending that made no one happy: A referee stopped the match because it was getting too violent. Seth Rollins had just smashed a sledgehammer onto a pile of steel chairs covering Wyatt’s head when the referee called for the bell.

A lack of a finish defeats the entire purpose of having the Cell; a definitive finish is the entire point of the match. Also part of the Cell’s mythos is the violence. To ask that the Cell match be violent, but not too violent, is a tricky line to draw, especially if it’s not clearly defined.

And that’s ultimately the takeaway. Much of the criticism has been around the closing seconds of the match. But what has been lost in entire debacle is that the match was doomed to fail from the start.

It’s often been observed that wrestling fans are an impossible bunch to please—people will complain no matter what the finish is. But in this case, the finish was the result of poor matchmaking, and of the WWE writers trying to fix something broken from the moment the match was booked. They were given an impossible task: to keep the title on Rollins and also have Wyatt emerge from the match looking strong. There is no logical, reasonable way to do that in a no disqualification match, where all conventional “challenger wins, but champion retains” finishes don’t exist.

The Friday, October 11 episode of Smackdown is the first night of the WWE Draft. The best thing that could possibly happen, at this stage, is for Rollins and Wyatt to go to different brands. WWE needs to leave well enough alone; rehabilitate the Fiend character to be an unstoppable threat, who doesn’t need to be saved by the referee, before having these two fight again—maybe at WrestleMania, this time with a definitive winner?

In the meantime, there’s enough blame to go around. Sure, blame WWE for picking a terrible option out of a number of bad ones. But there’s a larger discussion that needs to be had about booking stipulation-themed PPVs and building feuds in a logical manner—for making sure the storytelling elements of a match stipulation coincide with the dynamic between the two competitors. Instead of asking how WWE could have booked the match better, fans should be asking why the match had to exist in the first place.

Pokemon Go Dev Releases New Tool To Suggest Points Of Interest

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Pokemon Go developer Niantic has launched a new tool that aims to make the process of adding new points of interest to its games easier. The tool is called Wayfarer, and it lets players not only suggest new wayspots for Niantic titles, but also allows them to review and edit suggestions by other players.

As Niantic explains on its blog, “With Niantic Wayfarer, eligible players will be able to review nominations of local points-of-interest (museums, art installations, historical markers, etc.) so they can be added to Niantic products (e.g. Portals, PokeStops and Gyms).” The tool is currently only available for select Ingress players, but the studio says it will expand to Pokemon Go users as well “before the new year.” You can learn more about the tool and sign up for it on Niantic’s website.

We’re happy to introduce Niantic Wayfarer: our new tool that enables eligible users to review interesting places to play our games across the globe. Learn more about what it takes to join, and how you can help enhance your local game experience at https://t.co/2SjjoC8OlH pic.twitter.com/DWkecc4lYH

— Niantic, Inc. (@NianticLabs) October 10, 2019

This certainly isn’t the first time Niantic has given players the ability to suggest new wayspots. Last year, the developer rolled out a PokeStop nomination feature in Pokemon Go that allowed players to suggest potential new PokeStops, and Gyms. That, however, is limited to certain countries and is only available to players in those regions who’ve hit the game’s level cap of 40.

In other Pokemon Go news, the game’s October Community Day event takes place tomorrow, October 12. The featured Pokemon this time is Trapinch, and if players can evolve it into its final form, Flygon, up to an hour after the event ends, it’ll learn the event-exclusive move Earth Power.

Pokemon Go players also still have a few more days to catch the game’s current Legendary, Altered Forme Giratina. The Renegade Pokemon will appear in five-star Raid Battles until October 17, after which point it’ll be replaced by a different Legendary–although Niantic has not yet announced which Pokemon will take its place.

Not Everyone Knows How To Speak Video Games

On this episode of the GameSpot’s After Dark podcast, the crew is joined by Brian Altano, who you may know from IGN and the Comedy Button. There’s a variety of topics discussed, including a little video game console called [checks notes] PlayStation 5, and the latest entry in a little role-playing series called [check notes] Dragon Quest, among other things.

One of the interesting discussions focuses on the language of video games, which many of us have learned intimately through playing games over the years. However, for newcomers, it’s much harder to understand how to play games and many don’t make it easy. In fact, they can make assumptions about what we know and are capable of. You can listen to the episode using the links below and read a transcript of some of that discussion there too.

Where You Can Listen

See But Don’t Tell

Lucy: One or more of us has been playing either Control or Fire Emblem. And I’m here to finally break my streak, at least, in that I played Erica at the weekend, the Flavorworks game. So I played it with my phone because I, annoyingly, trapped a nerve under my shoulder blade at the tail end of last week. And so I was like, “I’m doing nothing this weekend but just playing games.” Annoyingly though, Erica, because you play it on your phone, I had to play it lefthanded. And so every time I was trying to do something I was like, “Aw, come on, man.” But it’s really cool.

Kallie: This is the FMV game?

Lucy: So it is… I don’t know, I think FMV sort of does it a disservice because it’s really well shot and acted, and kind of the complete polar opposite of… at least what I assume, what I think of when I think of FMV. It’s an interactive movie. It’s more so than Bandersnatch. So Bandersnatch is just you picking, you know, the left option or the right option. Whereas in this one you are kind of interacting with the environment. So you would do things like, one of the first things it shows you is a lighter and you… It doesn’t tell you how to do anything either, you just kind of automatically open it and then flick it on the screen.

Brian: So it’s intuitive.

Lucy: Yeah. So it was weird because literally the day before I’d been watching… There’s a really good video essay about what gaming is like for people who aren’t gamers. And it’s all about how we intrinsically know the language of gaming. Like you know that you press this button to jump, or if you try this, this will happen. Because you have years and years of just gaming vernacular. I don’t know, you just pick it up.

Brian: Like input recognition and stuff, yeah.

Kallie: Yeah, to make a zoomed-in version of that would be like understanding Zelda puzzles because there is a language to them. And so your first Zelda, you’re kind of like, “I guess I just put a bomb here.” But now you know like, “Oh that wall looks suspicious.”

Jake: Yeah, like I got this item in this dungeon, that means I’m probably going to do this thing and this one.

Lucy: I mean, but this video… I mean, we should probably link it [Editor’s note: It’s linked below], but it was really good because it was like this guy had his wife play a wide variety of games. So there was Dark Souls, there was Uncharted 2, I think it was. Hollow Knight, Super Mario Brothers. And Portal was the other one. Portal was wild because she could understand putting portals down, but she didn’t know to use the mouse to look around. So if you look at… Because automatically as a gamer- You would know to use the mouse to look around. And it’s just, all the footage is of her just sort of staring at this one wall, getting frustrated because she can’t do anything.

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Jake: That reminds me, when I first played Halo 1, I remember not understanding that the right stick is how you look. I was like, “I should just be able to move right with just one finger. Why do I need to use this other one?” And now it makes perfect sense. I can’t imagine playing a shooter without that.

Brian: I had a friend that was the best kid in our crew at GoldenEye, and we just looked at it in his hand once, and we’re like, “You don’t ever strafe left and right. You just point and shoot.” And he was like, “You can do that?” And we’re like, “What? You’ve been wrecking us for like a year.”

Lucy: Oh my God.

Brian: And then we told him that and then he got even better, and we’re like, “Damn it!”

Lucy: Should have kept it to yourself.

Jake: And you didn’t invite him over anymore.

Brian: Yeah, never. We just dropped him like a bad habit.

Lucy: So I watched that video and I actually remembered, so I was at Paris Games Week when they revealed Erica and I remember talking to Jack from Flavorworks about it. And basically, when he was presenting the game he was like, “Yeah, it’s kind of weird how we all understand games. But what if you presented that to someone who just has no understanding of it?” And that’s the kind of stuff that you can see throughout Erica, in that the way that you interact with the game. It just makes more sense to me. It’s less game logic and more just regular logic.

Kallie: Yeah. Like in our review, our reviewer Funke, who’s a newer reviewer for us, he was talking about like, there’s one scene where Erica, who’s acted by a real person, can ding a bell to get service or attention or something and you do that by putting your hand over your phone the way you would ding that bell. And he tried it two ways. He tried just dinging it once and then he tried dinging it so many times that in the scene the person she’s with gets irritated.

Brian: Oh, wow.

Kallie: I’m sorry, did you finish it? It’s kind of like, it’s really short, right?

Lucy: One and done. I did it in about an hour-and-a-half. But it’s a branching storyline, different outcomes, and it does a cool thing where it doesn’t give you all the trophies as you’re playing, so it gives you the trophies as the credits roll. And I went through and looked and I was like, “Oh my God, I could’ve done things so different.”

But it’s, I guess, more of a psychological thriller. Erica, her father is murdered when she’s a young girl. So immediately I was like, “Well crime, hello. True crime, I have to play this.” And yeah, it’s a really cool, creepy narrative. And I really enjoyed it. And I kind of want to go back and see how my decisions would play out if I did it a different way.”

Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan Revealed Movie’s Plot 5 Years Ago

With El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie now in limited theatrical and on Netflix, an interview Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan did back in 2013 after the show went off the air has resurfaced … and it turns out Gilligan gave away the entire plot of his movie in it.

Read on for our original report from 2018 but be warned: It’s FULL SPOILERS for what happens in El Camino!

(For more on El Camino, check out our rave review and our roundup of all the Breaking Bad cameos in the film.)

Joker To Dominate Box Office Yet Again While Gemini Man Flops

Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix continue to outpace the competition in the North American box office as Joker enters its second weekend, Variety reports. Early estimates are projecting $50 million at 4,374 theaters nationwide. This comes after a record-breaking opening weekend, despite concerns of violence causing the film to be pulled from several theatrical chains.

The news is less optimistic for the new Ang Lee and Will Smith joint, Gemini Man, which pits Smith against a fully rendered CGI clone of his younger self. Gemini Man is coming in significantly under expectations with $19 million projected at 3,642 theaters nationwide.

In our review, GameSpot’s Chris Hayner called Gemini Man bland, and lacking in depth and development for its characters. “At the end of the day, though, it’s the story and forgettable characters that keep Gemini Man from being something special,” Hayner wrote. “Lee knew what he was making with Gemini Man, and it shows. It’s a movie-length technology sizzle reel. This is a film meant to show audiences just how far the medium has come. From filming at 120 FPS in 4K, to digitally building a clone of the movie’s star to make them fight in a series of over-the-top action sequences, there’s a lot to marvel at in Gemini Man. But the visuals can also border on uncanny, and Gemini Man just doesn’t have the story to back that action up.”

Meanwhile, GameSpot’s Mike Rougeau called Joker “a new, complex version of a familiar character that we’ve never seen before,” and “the dark anti-hero origin story that comic book movies deserve.”