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https://nerdist.com/article/otter-in-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-3-lylla-marvel-comics-history/
If you’re wondering just who that anthropomorphic otter was that our beloved Rocket Raccoon gave a warm embrace to in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 trailer, wonder no more. In all likelihood, that otter is Lady Lylla, a character that originated in Marvel Comics. They often described her as Rocket’s “soulmate.” Lady Lylla made less than 10 appearances in the comics. However, she remains a crucial part of Rocket’s backstory, something that Guardians 3 will no doubt explore. Here’s the lowdown on the Marvel Comics history of Rocket’s one true love.
Lady Lylla, Otter and Toy Empire C.E.O.
Lylla first appeared back in 1982’s The Incredible Hulk #271, which was only the second appearance of Rocket Raccoon. In those early appearances, Lylla was the heir to an enormous intergalactic toy company, Mayhem Mekaniks, on the planet Halfworld. They named the planet that due to it being half industrial, half natural. Think “half Coruscant/half Dagobah,” to use Star Wars terminology.
Once, the planet was a giant asylum, where robot caretakers looked after the patients. The robot caretakers eventually became sentient, and experimented on the patient’s animal companions in an effort to evolve them. Eventually, Halfworld became a planet occupied entirely by anthropomorphic animals, similar to what we saw in the Guardians 3 trailer. We have a feeling James Gunn is fusing Halfworld with Counter-Earth, another similar Marvel Comics concept from the same era.
Meeting Her Soulmate
Eventually, a hostile takeover over Mayhem Mekaniks occurred, by the malevolent half-man/half-mole Judson Jakes, and Lylla’s parents were murdered. She needed help, and she received it from our favorite swashbuckling “trash panda.” Although Lylla regained control of Mayhem Mekaniks after that, she fell in love with Rocket. The two went on to become a couple. They went off into the galaxy to have adventures together, getting a “happily ever after” style ending.
Reunion with Rocket
There were many years between these adventures, which took place in the four-part Rocket Raccoon series, and Rocket’s return to the Marvel Universe in the ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy comics. In those comics, we learned that Rocket and Lylla split up before he became partners with Groot and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, Rocket and Lylla reunited in 2011’s Annihilators #4.
There, Rocket learned that his former love had married an anthropomorphic rabbit named Blackjack O’Hare. Ultimately, Rocket accepted that Lylla had moved on, and the two parted ways, as Rocket continued his adventures with the Guardians. In fact, Rocket discovered that many of the memories he had of his girlfriend Lady Lylla were implanted, putting into doubt whether they were really soulmates after all. It’s now been a decade since Lady Lylla appeared in a comic, the previously mentioned Annihilators #4.
It is likely that James Gunn will heavily revise the backstory of Lylla for the MCU. While we expect her and Rocket to have a history together, we doubt that Halfworld or her giant toy empire will be a part of it. It’s far more likely that both Lylla and Rocket were subjects of the High Evolutionary’s experiments, and formed a bond as test subjects in his laboratory. We’ll find out how much of her backstory remains when Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 hits theaters in May, 2023.
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If you’re wondering just who that anthropomorphic otter was that our beloved Rocket Raccoon gave a warm embrace to in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 trailer, wonder no more. In all likelihood, that otter is Lady Lylla, a character that originated in Marvel Comics. They often described her as Rocket’s “soulmate.” Lady Lylla made less than 10 appearances in the comics. However, she remains a crucial part of Rocket’s backstory, something that Guardians 3 will no doubt explore. Here’s the lowdown on the Marvel Comics history of Rocket’s one true love.
Lady Lylla, Otter and Toy Empire C.E.O.
Lylla first appeared back in 1982’s The Incredible Hulk #271, which was only the second appearance of Rocket Raccoon. In those early appearances, Lylla was the heir to an enormous intergalactic toy company, Mayhem Mekaniks, on the planet Halfworld. They named the planet that due to it being half industrial, half natural. Think “half Coruscant/half Dagobah,” to use Star Wars terminology.
Once, the planet was a giant asylum, where robot caretakers looked after the patients. The robot caretakers eventually became sentient, and experimented on the patient’s animal companions in an effort to evolve them. Eventually, Halfworld became a planet occupied entirely by anthropomorphic animals, similar to what we saw in the Guardians 3 trailer. We have a feeling James Gunn is fusing Halfworld with Counter-Earth, another similar Marvel Comics concept from the same era.
Meeting Her Soulmate
Eventually, a hostile takeover over Mayhem Mekaniks occurred, by the malevolent half-man/half-mole Judson Jakes, and Lylla’s parents were murdered. She needed help, and she received it from our favorite swashbuckling “trash panda.” Although Lylla regained control of Mayhem Mekaniks after that, she fell in love with Rocket. The two went on to become a couple. They went off into the galaxy to have adventures together, getting a “happily ever after” style ending.
Reunion with Rocket
There were many years between these adventures, which took place in the four-part Rocket Raccoon series, and Rocket’s return to the Marvel Universe in the ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy comics. In those comics, we learned that Rocket and Lylla split up before he became partners with Groot and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, Rocket and Lylla reunited in 2011’s Annihilators #4.
There, Rocket learned that his former love had married an anthropomorphic rabbit named Blackjack O’Hare. Ultimately, Rocket accepted that Lylla had moved on, and the two parted ways, as Rocket continued his adventures with the Guardians. In fact, Rocket discovered that many of the memories he had of his girlfriend Lady Lylla were implanted, putting into doubt whether they were really soulmates after all. It’s now been a decade since Lady Lylla appeared in a comic, the previously mentioned Annihilators #4.
It is likely that James Gunn will heavily revise the backstory of Lylla for the MCU. While we expect her and Rocket to have a history together, we doubt that Halfworld or her giant toy empire will be a part of it. It’s far more likely that both Lylla and Rocket were subjects of the High Evolutionary’s experiments, and formed a bond as test subjects in his laboratory. We’ll find out how much of her backstory remains when Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 hits theaters in May, 2023.
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After delivering the biggest box office grosses yet for a Mission: Impossible movie with its last installment, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie are returning for two more. McQuarrie will write and direct Mission Impossible 7 & 8, which are being shot back-to-back.
Most recently, we got a special look at Mission: Impossible 7. This Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One featurette revealed what is said to be “the biggest stunt in cinema history.” Take a look at the antics below.
Here’s everything we know about the upcoming Mission: Impossible films.
Title
In Mission: Impossible tradition, we expect these films’ titles to feature a colon and an em dash. And, in fact, Mission Impossible 7‘s official title has been revealed to be Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. We assume this means Mission Impossible 8‘s title will be Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two. But we will have to wait a little bit for that confirmation.
Mission: Impossible 7 and 8‘s Plot
We don’t yet know too much about the plot of the upcoming Mission Impossible movies. But judging by the franchise’s history, they’ll like involve a lot of action, many stunts, and at least one daring escape.
Behind the Scenes
Christopher McQuarrie is returning to write and direct both Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8. He previously who previously wrote and directed Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible — Fallout. Like the franchise’s fifth and sixth installments, the next two are filming back-to-back.
Mission: Impossible 7 and 8‘s Cast
Naturally, Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, as is the other franchise staple Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell. Also reprising their characters in the upcoming films are Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett and Frederick Schmidt. One major returning figure is Henry Czerny’s Eugene Kittridge, who hasn’t appeared in the franchise since the first installment in 1996. Kittridge was the IMF director hunting Ethan, under the impression he was the agency’s mole. McQuarrie confirmed Czerny’s return on Instagram.
Among new faces joining the franchise, which McQuarrie also announced on Instagram, are Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Charles Parnell, Indra Varma, Mark Gatiss, Rob Delaney, Cary Elwes, and Shea Whigham. Morales will play Ethan Hunt’s next foe, replacing Nicholas Hoult, who departed due to scheduling conflicts.
In August we learned that Nick Offerman and Janet McTeer would join Mission Impossible 8. We don’t know details about their roles yet.
Additionally, Mariela Garriga will come aboard both films as well.
Mission: Impossible 7 and 8‘s Release Date
The upcoming pair of Mission: Impossible films are caught up in yet another wave of pandemic-related delays. Mission: Impossible 7 will debut on July 14, 2023. Mission: Impossible 8 will now open on June 28, 2024.
The Franchise’s Future Beyond the Next Two Installments
No official word yet if these two films will serve as the “series finale” for the franchise. But Variety is indicating that this is, indeed, the end for Ethan Hunt and his comrades. A report from the trade suggests that Mission: Impossible 8 will wrap up the long-running franchise. Paramount Pictures has not commented on the news but Nerdist has reached out for confirmation.
If it is the end for the franchise it’s quite a feat—one that lasted eight films and nearly thirty years. Tom Cruise will be over sixty by the time Mission: Impossible 8 hits theaters, so its the perfect time to hang up his Ethan Hunt coat, and hopefully go out on a high note. And we mean a literal high note, as he’ll probably be going out while hanging off the side of a mountain or a skyscraper one last time.
Originally published on January 14, 2019.
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This past summer marked the 30th anniversary of 1992 follow-up Batman Returns from Tim Burton (Wednesday). The sequel, written by Daniel Waters (Heathers) with a “story by” credit for Sam Hamm (Batman), was a financial hit at the box office but still pulled in less than its predecessor.
Audience-wise it was divisive, with some thinking Burton made it too dark. But anyone familiar with Batman lore would counter that the hero’s entire backstory is incredibly dark, as are most, if not all, of his antagonists’ origins. To quote Robert Pattinson, the star of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Batman is a freak, which people seem to forget.
Like most Batman movies, Returns begins with a villain. In a flashback 33 years prior to when the film’s events take place, we see wealthy, unspeaking couple Tucker and Esther Cobblepot (Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger) toss their monstrous child off a bridge, watching his basket float down into the sewer.
Later this is revealed to be the origin of Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin (Danny DeVito), a frightening man with a beak-like nose, who is inexplicably able to speak perfect English despite being raised by actual penguins. Another mystery is how he managed to form the Red Triangle Gang, a group of circus freaks, to do his bidding. Poodle Lady is my favorite. But this is a movie that requires a major suspension of belief. If you want logic with your supervillains, Batman Returns is not for you.
Next, there’s Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), an icy-haired corrupt businessman with the quintessential villainous plan involving a power plant and tons of money. He demeans his frazzled assistant Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) who is beautiful but has glasses and a ponytail which, according to movie tropes, means she’s unattractive. She’s an overworked, underappreciated cat owner living alone in a bubblegum pink apartment, who calls herself a “corn dog” for clamming up.
After spending roughly thirteen minutes learning about the baddies, it’s time for Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) to appear, and of course, the first time we see him he’s brooding in the dark. He suits up as Batman to save a gathering of Gothamites from an invasion of an evil circus troupe — made up of machine gun-toting clowns, destructive fire breathers, and an organ grinder firing bullets.
When Shreck finds Selina in the office after hours, he casually pushes her out of the window. The fall kills her, though she manages to only sustain a head cut and torn sleeve. A slew of random stray cats revive her with…their saliva? It’s a very Burtonesque origin story that makes zero sense but is visually satisfying. Most characters in a Burton project look half-dead anyway.
Selina returns home and just absolutely wrecks her dollhouse of an apartment, murdering stuffed animals via garbage disposal and spray painting the walls for some reason. She also smashes two bulbs in the oddly placed neon pink “Hello There” sign (in her bedroom, no less), leaving it to read “hell here.” Subtle. She then stitches together a skin-tight catsuit using material from a single jacket. (Remember, suspend that belief!) The bespeckled, sensibly dressed Selina Kyle is no more. The milk-chugging, latex-clad Catwoman lives. When she’s unmasked, her wild curls are simply stunning.
Penguin uses Shreck to waddle his way into Gotham’s elite but forms an alliance with the Cat in an incredibly sexually charged scene, though that could be said for all of Pfeiffer’s scenes after Selina’s transformation. She gets intimate with Bruce while dancing at a charity ball (because every Batman movie has to have one). A big complaint some people have with Batman Returns is the lack of, well, Batman. But I’ve always found Batman’s rogues gallery much more interesting than the hero himself. The villains also just get to have more fun. Catwoman’s scene destroying Shreck’s store is just oozing with glee.
The set design for Burton’s Gotham City looks like a theme park version of the city. The buildings and statues are unnecessarily massive and don’t even try to look real. When it’s decked out for Christmas, a giant tree and all, the town square looks like a demented Whoville.
Considering the movie takes place during the Christmas season — not to mention the tree lighting ceremonies, snowy cemetery speeches, and mistletoe puns — Batman Returns is undeniably a Christmas movie. With the Scrooge-like Max Shreck and a sewer-dwelling penguin person, the Gotham created by Burton and company is cartoonishly bleak, filled with psychologically traumatized people who just need one bad day to turn into a villain.
Colin Farrell will reprise his role as Cobblepot in the upcoming HBO Max series The Penguin, which picks up right after the events of The Batman. Since the film opened on Halloween night in Gotham, maybe the series will progress into Christmastime and we’ll get to see how Farrell’s Penguin handles the holidays.
Batman Returns is available to stream on HBO Max.
When it comes to anthology genre TV, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone is the one most people hail as the best. It was by no means, however, the only show of its kind. In the wake of Zone, shows like The Outer Limits, Thriller, and One Step Beyond flooded TV in the 1960s. Alfred Hitchcock himself even had two separate series of suspense stories. By the 1970s, however, the well had started to run dry. It’d come back in the ’80s, but the last gasp of the first rash came in the form of Night Gallery, Serling and producer Jack Laird’s pure-horror (within reason) series. All three seasons of this oft-forgotten show are out on glorious Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, and it’s really worth a look.
History of Night Gallery
The production history of Night Gallery is fascinating and super complicated, so I won’t try to get into it too much, but suffice to say, unlike The Twilight Zone, this was not a full Serling joint. He hosts and he wrote a good number of segments, along with producing, however.
The premise of each episode has Serling walking around the titular “Night Gallery,” a huge and mostly empty space with paintings hanging from the ceiling. Each painting is a macabre interpretation of a different story. Serling sets up in front of a painting and gives a trademark opaque introduction for whatever story we’re about to watch.
The Night Gallery Pilot
The first Night Gallery episode was a feature length TV movie. It featured three separate stories; the first, “The Cemetery” is a riff on the M.R. James story The Mezzotint in which a painting changes, indicating something scary will soon attack. It features Ossie Davis as the long-serving butler of a wealthy Southern landowner on his deathbed and Roddy McDowell as the wealthy man’s nephew who stands to inherit everything.
The second story in the pilot is “Eyes,” directed by a young Universal contract director named Steven Spielberg. It finds Joan Crawford as a high society with vision impairments matron who undergoes an experimental surgery that offers her 12 hours to see. And the final story, “Escape Route,” has a fugitive Nazi facing ghostly comeuppance for his past crimes.
The Night Gallery pilot is very straightforward, though executed incredibly well, and was popular enough to get the series greenlit. The interesting thing, however, is that as the show went on, the kinds of stories got a lot wilder, with far fewer “gotcha” twists and more proper horror. The first season consisted of only six episodes, the second a full 22, and the third would be cut down to 30 minutes rather than 60, and has 15 episodes.
The Best Night Gallery Segments
In total, the show had 96 separate segments. Rather than try to talk about all of them, instead I want to talk about some of my favorites, to give you an idea of why I think Night Gallery is so special and why it deserves to be talked about in the same breath as The Twilight Zone.
Season 1, Segment 3b: “Certain Shadows on the Wall”
This is an excellent riff on a classic ghost story. Agnes Moorhead is an aged woman who dies under mysterious circumstances and, inexplicably, her shadow remains on the wall to taunt her sinister brother. This features some truly creepy visuals and mood, great work from director Jeff Corey.
Season 1, Segment 5c: “The Doll”
An adaptation of an Algernon Blackwood story, “The Doll” finds a child’s toy terrorizing a Colonial officer in Queen Victoria’s army. A lot of Night Gallery‘s best segments fit into traditional Victorian, Gothic horror tropes, which coupled with the ’70s TV aesthetic produces an especially unsettling effect.
Season 1, Segment 6a: “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar”
The longest single segment on the show, and also the most atypical. Serling wrote this tale of a has-been salesman (William Windom) who longs for “the good old days” when his life had promise. Upon hearing that his favorite bar will be torn down, the man begins experiencing ghostly visions of the past. This segment earned Night Gallery an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Single Program” in 1971.
Season 2, Segment 10a: “The Dark Boy”
Night Gallery adapted several “weird fiction” stories from the early 1900s. “The Dark Boy” is one such, adapted from August Derleth’s story of the same name. In it, a young school teacher at the turn of the century takes up a position at a rural community. The welcoming committee tells her she’ll have 16 students, however when she gets to class she learns there’s a 17. Despite her attempts, this boy never seems to get what she’s teaching. Eventually she, and the audience, learn the sad and spooky truth of who this child is.
Season 2, Segments 11a and 12a: “Pickman’s Model” and “Cool Air”
In successive episodes, Night Gallery adapted two H.P. Lovecraft stories. The first, “Pickman’s Model,” finds an artist depicting terrible and nightmarish things in his paintings. Guess what? They’re real. This one would later end up in Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, which I think is actually the better version.
The second, “Cool Air,” adapted by Serling, turns one of Lovecraft’s very short horror stories into a romantic, supernatural drama. In it, a young woman falls for her father’s colleague. The man has a very specific aversion to heat of any kind, pumping his rooms with a rudimentary air conditioning system. There is, of course, a reason for his needing cool air, and as you might expect, it’s not a happy one.
Season 2, Segment 17b, “The Ghost of Sorworth Place”
Another excellent ghost story for the series. This one sees an American tourist happen upon an estate in Scotland owned by a comely young widow who seems petrified of something. The man soon learns the woman fears the return of her husband, who died one year prior. It’s Night Gallery, so you can guess this probably isn’t just paranoia. The ghost effects here are some of the series’ best.
Season 2, Episodes 20-22
While looking over the segment list, I realized that all seven segments in the second season’s final three episodes are brilliant. They include: a student of sorcery trying to ensure a life of leisure; a “sin eater” in the Middle Ages meeting a grim fate; robots getting revenge for mistreatment; an expat in Borneo plotting a gruesome end to a romantic rival; and a psychiatrist who has to help a scientific genius process grief. All of them are just superb.
Season 3, Episode 2, “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes”
By the third season—saved from cancellation at the last moment—the network mandated the show go to 30 minutes. That meant, aside from two outliers, that was only one story per episode. Generally these episodes are not as good; however, the second episode is a crackerjack entry. It finds a photographer whose latest muse is not merely a beautiful woman, but the beautiful woman whom every ad agency wants as their spokesmodel. The trouble starts when, as the photographer gets more and more money, more and more men end up mysteriously dead. Succubus, babyyyyyy!
Season 3, Episode 6, “The Other Way Out”
An old man lures a murderer to a secluded farm house where the man seeks to enact his revenge. He places the murderer in a pit with no way out. All the old man (played by Burl Ives, no less) tells his prisoner is that he’ll be dealt with when “Sonny” arrives. We learn the extent of the murderer’s crime and hear his pleas for mercy, only to be met with an absolute gut-punch when Sonny indeed arrives.
These are just some of the best episodes of the show. Give it a look and see for yourself. All three seasons of Night Gallery plus the pilot movie are available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Just as they did with The Outer Limits and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, they’ve poured dozens of hours of commentaries and extras for fans of horror media and old American TV. They are the best sets of their kind on the market.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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