Peacock Nabs George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards Adaptation From Hulu

The TV adaptation of the Wild Cards book series, which was created by A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R.R. Martin, will be released by Peacock. The show was originally set to be produced for Hulu.

Wild Cards was first announced back in 2018, with Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle) announced as writer and showrunner. However, he is no longer involved, and the show is now in development for NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock. Variety states that producers are currently looking for a new writer to take over the project. Martin will executively produce, with Melinda M. Snodgrass, who co-edits the book series.

Wild Cards is a long-running interconnected superhero universe that started in 1987 and spans many anthology books and standalone short stories, with more than 40 writers contributing to date. The series focuses on an alien pathogen that rewrites human DNA to either create superhuman powers or horrific deformities. The latest anthology, Knaves Over Queens, was published in 2019 and edited by Martin and Snodgrass.

In related news, it was reported last month that Martin will also produce an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s sci-fi story Roadmarks for HBO. The series will be written by Star Trek: Discovery’s Kalinda Vazquez.

As for The Winds of Winter, the next A Song of Ice and Fire novel, Martin recently revealed that he wrote “hundreds and hundreds of pages” for it in 2020. Unfortunately for fans who have been waiting years for the novel, Martin also stated “I will make no predictions on when I will finish.”

WandaVision Writer, Director Address Biggest Fan Questions

Even though the season finale of Marvel’s WandaVision on Disney+ aired last week, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty left to discuss about it. The show had numerous mysteries that still have people wondering, so IGN spoke with series writer Jac Schaeffer and series director Matt Shakman to ask them about the biggest questions fans still have.

They address Evan Peters playing Quicksilver, the identities of the engineer and the missing person, why Wanda didn’t face any real consequences, and break down what was Agatha’s plan all along.

Warning: full spoilers for WandaVision ahead!

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Why Did Evan Peters Play the Role of Quicksilver in WandaVision?

When Evan Peters showed up in the role of Quicksilver at the end of Episode 5 it was as much a shock to Wanda as it was viewers watching at home. Is he playing the same Quicksilver from Fox’s X-Men movies? Is this how mutants will join the MCU? Why does Wanda accept this person as her brother when he looks nothing like him? These were just some of the burning questions fans had, but as we learned in the finale, Peters wasn’t there to introduce the X-Men to the MCU, he was just Wanda’s neighbor mind-controlled by Agatha, an aspiring actor named Ralph Bohner.

Some fans felt slighted, as if Marvel played a cruel joke on them, not unlike how Ben Kingsley’s Iron Man 3 character turned out to be a fake version of Tony Stark’s nemesis the Mandarin and was played as a gag. The hashtag #SaveQuicksilver even started trending on Twitter days after the finale.

But according to Schaeffer, pulling a fast one on fans was never the intention. She explained their thinking behind using Peters and how it fit into the themes of the show.

“We didn’t want it to just be a gimmick and just be a gag because that’s no good, so there were several things in play,” Schaeffer said. “First, this is the meta-ist meta-show in the meta-verse. It’s just meta, meta, meta, and so it complemented the overall tone and aesthetic of the show in this uber way, so that felt very right and great for the identity of the show.

“But more than that, it was really about what’s happening in Wanda’s head and the idea that someone could show up and not look like her brother and that she would accept it. What’s going on with her in terms of her denial, and her self-doubt, and her disorientation that Agatha could trick her in this way? We wanted to feel that very viscerally and it seemed like an incredible opportunity for the audience to feel it too with this meta-level of casting, with all of their associations to Evan in this other space [Fox’s X-Men movies]. The idea of doing it with just any other actor, I’m like, ‘That’s not going to land.’ That’s not going to have the same thrill, and craziness, and questions, and be as disorienting, and so that was so much of what it was about for us.”

Schaeffer also highlighted how swapping original MCU Quicksilver actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Peters let them satirize how TV sitcoms would sometimes re-cast a role without the other characters ever acknowledging it (unless you’re Jazz from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).

“It is absolutely a nod to how sitcoms manage change, how they bring in a baby, how they change the actor, all those ridiculous things, which are actually to me really sinister, really, really effed up, and we wanted to get in with that texture, and use it to our advantage,” she said.

Ultimately, Schaeffer hopes fans can appreciate what they were striving for with Peters.

“I don’t want anyone to feel like a prank was pulled on them. I don’t want anyone to feel tricked and, of course, you don’t want people disappointed in things,” she said. “I would redirect to what the show is really about, and what is meaningful about the show, and what does resonate.”

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Shakman expanded on how Peters not only serves as a meta commentary on TV recasting but how the character became a pivotal element of the plot.

“For a show that was very meta and that was exploring sitcom tropes, this felt like something that was fun for us to do,” he said. “This is ultimately not Pietro at the door. This is a puppet of Agatha Harkness. This was part of the narrative from the get-go. This is her way of infiltrating this house, her eyes, her ears, and her way to poke and prod Wanda, to the inevitable crisis moment that Agatha needs, in order to understand the magic that Wanda has, and to take it from her, so that’s part of our overall narrative. And it isn’t her brother. It’s someone that she has tried to convince Wanda is. And we know in Wanda’s reaction that she doesn’t fully believe it, and she spends the next couple of episodes trying to figure out who is this person, which is, I think, another thing about grief.

“Our whole show ultimately is about how we deal with trauma, how we come to terms with loss. And sometimes we trick ourselves, and sometimes we agree to see things that we know are not there, because it brings us some solace. She’s willing to fall into the arms of Evan Peters, believing that it’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson, because she needs it. And I think that my heart goes out to her for that. And so, ultimately, it was on point for us thematically, it was on point in terms of the meta.”

Did We Actually Meet the Aerospace Engineer in WandaVision?

When Monica Rambeau said she knew an aerospace engineer who could help them enter the Hex, Marvel fans went into full-on theory mode trying to predict who would show up. The most prominent fan theory was that Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four would make his debut, played by John Krasinski, and this theory caught on like wildfire to the point where it began to trend on social media.

But as we all know now, the identity of the engineer wasn’t an iconic Marvel character but Monica’s friend Major Goodner.

According to Shakman, they never suspected such an innocuous line of dialogue would lead to that kind of fan frenzy.

“We were surprised about the aerospace engineer,” Shakman said. “That really wasn’t about a misleading Easter egg at all. Obviously, Evan Peters was a different and intentional construction in the story, but the aerospace engineer was simply Monica wants to get back in to the Hex, she’s hearing from Darcy about the challenges of that, an idea occurs to her, she’s an astronaut, she calls somebody who can help her with a rover, and that was it. So we were quite surprised that that line of dialogue took on the significance that it did. Hats off to the creative minds out there. I think it’s wonderful, and maybe we should’ve been smarter and had Reed Richards out there with the rover. That would’ve been great.”

Adding to the confusion of the moment, Monica had referred to the engineer as her “guy,” so when Major Goodner showed up, some viewers were puzzled because they were expecting a male character, and some questioned if Major Goodner was actually the engineer. Schaeffer clarified that Major Goodner is indeed the engineer, and Monica was using “guy” in a gender-neutral way.

“That’s the way that I speak. I do a lot of her being, ‘Meeting my guy.’ I find that entertaining when I degenderize language,” she explained.

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Who Is the Missing Person In WandaVision?

Another mystery character fans heavily speculated about was the missing person in witness protection that Agent Jimmy Woo tracked to Westview. The show ended without the missing person’s identity being revealed, and it appears that thread was intentionally left unresolved on purpose.

“I wouldn’t want to say too much about that. Stay tuned,” Shakman teased.

So while we didn’t get to meet the missing person in WandaVision, keep your eyes peeled for them in future Marvel projects.

Did Wanda Get Off Too Easy?

In the WandaVision season finale, Agatha breaks Wanda’s control over the citizens of Westview, and when they share in horrifying detail how Wanda has been mentally torturing them this entire time, Wanda recognizes what she did to them was wrong and pulls open the Hex long enough for them to escape. Later, Wanda takes a walk of shame past the townsfolk on her way out of Westview.

Given the severity of her crimes, some fans felt Wanda didn’t take enough accountability or face enough consequences. But according to Schaeffer, that was by design.

“Monica is not going to tackle [Wanda] to the ground and take her to prison. There’s not really room for accountability in this particular show, but I don’t think it’s forgivable what she’s done,” Schaeffer explained. “I don’t think that the finale is portrayed like everything is hunky-dory. She walks through those people, and they’re justifiably furious with her and feel victimized, rightfully so. I don’t think that accountability piece is part of this particular story.”

There’s a precedent for Marvel turning its heroes into forces of antagonism, like how Tony Stark became the “bad guy” in Captain America: Civil War, and it seems Wanda was intentionally left in a morally gray area.

“It was important for us to not have it be a black and white situation. [Wanda is] grieving and having to come to terms with losing Vision, saying goodbye to him and the kids, and there’s a real emotional impact to that journey. She was unaware of what she did to this town, really, until the finale, when Agatha makes it clear to her what she’s done. She’s allowed herself to stay in a kind of a state of denial for a long time about what the impact of her fantasy life is doing to the real residents of Westview. And once she realizes that, she begins a process. It’s not a clean process, it’s messy. She starts to open it up, and then closes it, but then ultimately, reverts everything to the way it was. She does make things right at the end, and she doesn’t get out of town without feeling a lot of angry stares. She’s very aware of how everyone feels about her at the end,” Schaeffer said.

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What Was Agatha’s Plan All Along?

The catchy song “Agatha All Along” reveals how Agatha was the one pulling the Wanda’s strings the whole time. Yet it wasn’t entirely clear what Agatha was responsible for given that Wanda was the one who created the Hex and the TV sitcom world inside it, so Schaeffer broke down Agatha’s true plan and goal.

“[Agatha] senses this enormous expression of power. It is her bag to take power from people, so she showed up to investigate,” Schaeffer said. “She’s also no dummy, so she’s not going to show up and immediately announce herself. She’s going to watch, and wait, and see what she’s dealing with, and she needs the answers of, who is Wanda, and what is she capable of? What is the nature of her power? She was poking and prodding her, essentially trying to make her reveal herself or essentially detonate in a way, and it wasn’t successful. Her attempts got more and more aggressive and insidious, as the song says, until she finally reveals herself because Wanda won’t step into her truth, is how she characterizes it.”

For more on WandaVision, check out our WandaVision full season review, why Mephisto wasn’t in WandaVision, and view the latest episode of our post-show digest series, Canon Fodder.

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Joshua is a Senior Editor and Producer of Features at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Star Wars are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

Why Super Mario RPG Remains The Best Mario Experience

Everyone has their favorite Mario game and remembers their first experience fondly–stomping goombas and koopa troopas, collecting stars, and making tight jumps in whichever whimsical world sticks with you, especially at a young age. With games like Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 often cited as the quintessential series entries, and seeing that evolution with the likes of Galaxy and Odyssey, it’s easy to see why these action-platformers are highly regarded and often cited as formative gaming experiences..

I’ve enjoyed those games and understand the fervor of people’s love for them, but they’re not necessarily what made Mario important in my eyes. The lens through which I’ve always understood the franchise has been Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the 1996 SNES game from Squaresoft (now Square Enix). It’s a game that took the things we loved about Mario and subverted expectations. It made Mario, Bowser, and Peach allies, and it gave the series’ characters a vibrant world to live in.

Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger were already among the SNES greats, but Square had one last game in it before jumping ship to the PlayStation. And the developer’s RPG mastery transformed that beloved Mario universe into something much more than a platforming adventure. Square gave Mario the Final Fantasy treatment with unique story arcs, the development of existing characters, new faces that quickly became favorites, an ingenious combat system, and an unforgettable soundtrack. On its own merits, Mario RPG stands among the genre’s greats.

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I didn’t have a strong attachment to the Mario franchise at the time. But I did have those SNES RPGs that tested my reading comprehension and problem solving skills at a young age. Whereas Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger were relatively dark and brooding (which is why I cherish them), Mario RPG was a breath of fresh air–whimsical, light-hearted, and a pleasant world to be in.

Towns and villages were full of goofy characters that made the world feel alive, and let you peer into the goings-on of the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. While traveling through the mines, forests, sunken ships, and sky-bound towns, you’d help the folks of these places take back what’s theirs, instead of just skittering through them and hopping on heads. In doing so, you’d earn the respect and support of the Mushroom Kingdom’s denizens as you try to return things back to normal.

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Mario RPG never takes itself too seriously, and it shows in its characterizations. Mario’s role as a silent protagonist works, especially when he has to communicate with others in the story with all the instances of silly charades he has to play. Bowser gave off a low-key tsundere energy while Peach delivered a sass and fighting spirit that she never got to show off before. They also came together with newcomers like Mallow; although he might be a big crybaby, his journey to develop his own strength and place in the world was heart-warming. And don’t get us Geno stans started. The toy-come-to-life is of few words and gives off a badass vibe with his stern attitude and powerful moveset.

The whole reason Bowser begrudgingly joins forces with Mario and Peach is to take back his castle from Smithy, this gigantic sword that overtook his keep and spread his minions across the land. It’s a mutual enemy that flips the whole damsel-in-distress trope that Mario RPG pokes fun at. Even the other villains you want to take down with ferocity are actually just really strong goofballs. Take Booster and the whole level of Booster’s Tower, for example. His clownish ass taunts and laughs at you as you chase him up his tower, but along the way is a masterclass in physical comedy–puzzles like matching the portraits of Booster’s ancestors, avoiding bombs he throws from his little train cart, and dodging his goons from exposing you hiding behind curtains. So many memorable moments of absurdist humor can be found throughout Mario RPG and it’s a tone that other RPGs (and Mario games) just didn’t have room to do.

The game also hits many of the core JRPG tenets with aplomb and a particular kind of execution, which comes through in the turn-based battles. Everyone has their own special weapons that all function differently: Mario’s hammers or koopa shells, Bowser claws or chain chomps, and Peach’s slapping gloves or parasols, and so on. Everyone had their unique spells that also required your attention and input. Battles kept you engaged because attacks, spells, and defending yourself aren’t complete without the perfect timing of button presses. It was an active element for a turn-based system that pulled from a key element of the core Mario games, and that was carried into the Paper Mario series.

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Mario RPG was filled with secrets, references, and memorable battles, too. The best of all being the optional (and extremely tough) boss fight against Culex. It felt like I had earned something worthwhile just to unlock the fight itself and hear the Final Fantasy IV boss theme play in a Mario game. Even after so many attempts, it was a genuine accomplishment for me to finally defeat him, and a genuine surprise to hear the Victory Fanfare tune afterward. It was a profound moment, capped by Culex’s words, “Perhaps in another time, another game, we may have been mortal enemies… Let us part as comrades in arms,” as the iconic Crystal Prelude played in the background.

Just like various Final Fantasy games, however, the thing that has kept my memories of Mario RPG alive and fresh over the past 25 years is the soundtrack. I don’t think I’ve ever written about an RPG without exploring how its music contributes to the experience and how I’ll remember the game itself. Mario RPG is full of joyous melodies that instill a sense of adventure and pleasantness, but also has some low-key sinister tunes that express danger and intimidation at the right moments. I think that what most people know about Mario RPG’s soundtrack is that infectious melody from “Beware The Forest’s Mushrooms.” It’s the perfect example of how standout melodies are supported by rhythms and harmonies in the background to make a song sound full with the various 16-bit-era instrumentals playing off each other to create a complexity only the best composers can do.

That’s a credit to Yoko Shimomura, who has a deep history of recognizable work that puts her in the conversation with some of the best game composers–Kingdom Hearts to Final Fantasy XV, Mario and Luigi subseries, and dozens of other games. But what she did for Mario RPG is what cements her legacy as one of the all-time greats.

Among the many iconic melodies from Mario that have pervaded pop culture, Mario RPG has the depth and range that stands with some of the best in games. As our favorite games of yesteryear start to age and become more and more a product of its time that evokes nostalgia, the music that captured our experiences with these games are timeless.

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Mario RPG ticks off all the boxes of what makes an RPG great, especially from its era: great music, banding together to fight a common enemy, fun turn-based battles, a great sense of finality, and even some heartfelt goodbyes. Only in recent years have I let myself be more vulnerable when it comes to video game storytelling, and I’ve expressed as much in covering Persona, Yakuza, and Final Fantasy XIV. But I actually think my first teary-eyed moment came at the end of Mario RPG when it was time for Geno to return to action-figure form. He was such a badass dude, and my favorite party member to use. His animations, skillset, demeanor, and design were just so damn cool to me. Six-year-old me wanted to be cool like him, too!

JRPGs do this all the time and I should know better by now, but if there’s anything that’ll turn me into a puddle of tears, it’s a proper hero’s goodbye. If memory serves me right, Geno left with a grace and modesty that only fit his character.

Not often does a Mario game build a genuine narrative connection to individual characters. As a fairly sensitive kid, seeing Mallow be accepted with his insecurities and overcome the perception of being a “wimp” meant something to me. And even though Mario doesn’t say a word, his physical expressiveness and willingness to fight showed a side of him you don’t always see. That Mario who fought alongside Bowser, Peach, Geno, and Mallow and took the time to help each town and its people stave off evil, that’s the Mario I know and love.

How often do we get to look at a Mario game in this way? Not often at all. Mario RPG contains an experience you truly can’t get from any other game in the franchise. It’s one of the most imaginative takes on the Mario universe, and it’s that Squaresoft touch that captured the magic of RPGs while fitting it perfectly into the context of a Mario game to make it their own. Across the board, Mario RPG wasn’t just an impressive adaptation of the essentials of a Mario game, it’s also recognized as one of the best RPGs of the era, transcending Mario tropes in ways that still stand out to this day.

Resident Evil Village: Capcom Warns Fans About Early Access Scam Emails

Capcom is warning Resident Evil fans to be aware of any “Early access invitations” to play Resident Evil: Village as these are fake messages designed as scams.

In an email that Capcom has sent out, the company advises anyone who has received an “Early Access” invitation to play the upcoming Resident Evil game should not accept as these appear to be phishing attempts from a third-party. This is not long after Capcom itself was a victim of a data breach that appears to have impacted employees.

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Capcom says the sender address is displayed as “no-reply(at)capcom(dot)com”

Here’s Capcom’s full email warning below:

Hello,

We hope you’re very well.

We’re sending this message as we’ve been made aware that there are currently emails circulating that pretend to contain “Early Access invitations” to Resident Evil Village. The sender address is being displayed as “no-reply(at)capcom(dot)com”.

We want to inform you that these messages are NOT from Capcom and appear to be phishing attempts by an unauthorized third party. If you have received such a message, please DO NOT download any files or reply, and delete the message immediately.
If you are unsure of the authenticity of correspondence from Capcom, please contact us directly to verify.

Resident Evil Village will be released on May 7, 2021, and given how the release date is fast approaching these scammers appear to be taking advantage of fans’ anticipation. So if you see an email from Capcom that looks too good to be true, it is. Not to mention there already appear to be Resident Evil leaks online.

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Meanwhile, you can check out IGN’s full, genuine Resident Evil Village coverage, including our interview with the developers on the design of the popular Lady Dimitrescu.

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Matt T.M. Kim is News Editor at IGN.

Capcom Warns Players Of Resident Evil Village Early Access Email Scam

A PSA for Tall Vampire Lady enthusiasts: Beware of a phishing scam going around in email inboxes claiming to offer early access to Resident Evil Village.

Capcom issued a statement to GameSpot warning players of the scam: “We’re sending this message as we’ve been made aware that there are currently emails circulating that pretend to contain ‘Early Access invitations’ to Resident Evil Village. The sender address is being displayed as ‘no-reply(at)capcom(dot)com’.”

“We want to inform you that these messages are NOT from Capcom and appear to be phishing attempts by an unauthorized third party. If you have received such a message, please DO NOT download any files or reply, and delete the message immediately,” Capcom concludes.

Capcom has had its fair share of data breaches recently. In November 2020, a hacking group called Ragnar Locker accessed Capcom’s internal networks and possibly compromised personal information of employees and customers. Snippets of alleged RE Village spoilers have also been floating on the web, though it is unknown if the leaked info came from the November breach.

A RE Village demo is currently available to play, but only on PS5 consoles. Dubbed the Maiden demo, the snippet doesn’t feature protagonist Ethan Winters nor any combat. It’s a teaser with the aim of giving players a “real feel for the visuals and audio,” according to producer Pete Fabiano. You can check out our spoiler-free RE Village Maiden demo walkthrough.

A second demo should be available in the Spring and will not be PS5-exclusive.

Resident Evil Village releases on May 7, 2021 and will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For more info, check out our RE Village preorder guide.

Now Playing: Resident Evil Village – Official 3rd Trailer

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Los Angeles Area Movie Theaters Could Re-Open This Weekend

Los Angeles, one of the nation’s biggest theatrical exhibition markets, is poised to re-open its movie theaters as soon as this weekend depending on the outcome of a meeting of local health and state officials later this week. During a recent visit to a mobile vaccination clinic, Governor Gavin Newsom indicated movie theaters and theme parks could be coming back to life sooner rather than later–and with restrictions still in place.

It all depends on the COVID-19 vaccine and the impact it seems to be making. By Friday, Newsom says, 2 million vaccines will have been administered, an impressive milestone that also represents a hopeful dent and reversal in coronavirus trends.

“Moving through the weekend and into next week, you will see more activity, more loosening,” predicted the governor (via Deadline). “That’s encouraging and I hope people will be enthusiastic about what this means moving forward, because we have a series of other thresholds and other goals that will allow us to move forward with more clarity, more conviction and more confidence as we move through the next few weeks and the next few months.”

As of this writing, the expected restrictions will allow movie theaters to reopen at 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is less–and outdoor live events like concerts and sports will be allowed to reopen at 20 percent capacity. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the larger Los Angeles market accounted for nearly 9 percent of all box office revenue in 2019.

If this is the beginning of a new nationwide trend, then it recasts our lists of the biggest movies to watch for in 2021 and all movies delayed by COVID-19, so far, in a new light.

WandaVision: Hot Toys Reveals a Magical Wanda Maximoff Figure

Warning: this article contains some spoilers for the final episode of WandaVision!

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Now that WandaVision has completed its nine-episode run on Disney+, the toy and collectible floodgates have opened. That includes Hot Toys, who have just unveiled a pair of incredible new figures inspired by the Marvel series.

Both Wanda and Vision are getting the full 1:6 scale treatment from Hot Toys again. Vision will once again sport his familiar green MCU costume, albeit it with a vastly upgraded body compared to the previous Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War figures. As for Wanda, Hot Toys is tackling her new comic book-inspired Scarlet Witch costume that debuted in the series finale. Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at both figures:

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The Scarlet Witch not only features a detailed recreation of Wanda’s new MCU costume, it also includes a brand new head sculpt featuring Elizabeth Olsen’s likeness. This is the first Hot Toys Wanda figure to feature sculpted hair rather than rooted hair. The figure also includes multiple hands (including some that are translucent pink), a posable, removable cape and a display base.

The Vision figure also includes interchangeable hands and a matching display base, but he has a neat accessory of his own. The figure includes a backdrop depicting the magical energy field of the Hex.

Both figures are available to preorder through Sideshow Collectibles and other retailers, with a projected release window between July and September of 2022. Scarlet Witch is priced at $275 and Vision is priced at $250.

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For more on WandaVision, see IGN’s breakdown of every Marvel and sitcom Easter egg in the series and learn how the series finale sets up Doctor Strange 2. Then find out why head writer Jac Schaeffer didn’t want the series to have a main villain like Mephisto.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Former Overwatch MVP Sinatra Suspended From Valorant Following Sexual Assault Allegations

Valorant pro esports player Jay “Sinatra” Won has been suspended from the competitive game and his team, the Sentinels, following an investigation into sexual assault allegations.

Cleo Hernandez posted a 10-page document about her and Won’s nine-month relationship. In the lengthy statement, Hernandez detailed a relationship filled with “months of up and down fighting,” instances of Won gaslighting and laughing at her, and other forms of physical and emotional abuse. Hernandez went in-depth about specifics and explicits in her statement, sharing text exchanges between her and Won, screenshots of DMs, and harrowing memories.

“I have avoided talking about any aspects of me and Jay’s relationship for over a year,” Hernandez wrote at the top of the post. “I never spoke about it mostly because this is horrifying and also because I’ve seen the way women in our community are treated when they try to talk about being hurt by prominent figures. I know he will use his platform and his fame to try and take me down and say this isn’t true because that’s who he is.”

As a result of these allegations, both Valorant developer Riot Games and the Sentinels have suspended Sinatra while an internal investigation is underway. Furthermore, Sinatra will no longer compete in the Valorant Champions Tour slated to take place this weekend.

Sinatra has yet to publicly comment on these allegations or the investigation.

Sinatra was a household name in the Overwatch League, leading the San Francisco Shock to the 2019 grand finals–and winning the entire thing. He also won the MVP award in the same year. He transitioned from Overwatch to Valorant in April 2020, saying he “lost [his] passion.”

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Better Call Saul’s Sixth And Final Season Starts Filming

Production on the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul has officially begun. Showrunner and co-creator Peter Gould made the announcement on Twitter, sharing a photo of the clapperboard with an image of Bob Odenkirk as “Gene” from Better Call Saul’s flash-forward scenes where he gets a new identity as an employee at Cinnabon.

The image also confirms that episode 1 of Season 6 is directed by Michael Morris, who directed three earlier episodes of the show. The director of photography is Marshall Adams, who has worked on Better Call Saul and the Breaking Bad movie El Camino.

Similar to the final season of Breaking Bad, it appears all hell is going to break loose in Season 6 of Better Call Saul. If you’re up to date, you know that Season 5 ended in a dramatic fashion, setting up a lot of action to come.

Odenkirk, who plays Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, told Collider that “the wheels come off” in Season 6 and the show “explodes in a million directions.”

Odenkirk told The Hollywood Reporter something similar, saying he expects the final season to be “supremely intense.”

“I can’t wait for the fireworks, really,” he said. “Our show is a bit of a slow burn over the past few years, and [showrunners Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould] build up. There’s certainly exciting moments throughout, but towards the end, it gets super supremely intense.”

The season itself was scheduled to debut in 2021, but that may no longer be the case due to issues related to COVID-19 that impacted the schedule.

In addition to Better Call Saul, Odenkirk will be seen in the new Universal movie Nobody from the producers of John Wick–the first trailer premiered at the Super Bowl.