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A fantasy book with no magic? That’s like a bagel without cream cheese! Cereal without milk! An owl without a graduation cap! Criminal! Heretical! An affront to nature! Or is it? Maybe fantasy books don’t actually need to be propped up by whacky magic systems, allowing author to focus on character building rather than enchanted swords and ponderable orbs. Maybe these authors are actually on to something here? I’ll give these 10 best fantasy books with no magic a try, but I’m still gonna put cream cheese on my bagel. Some things are meant to be a certain way for a reason, any college educated owl could tell you that.
His Majesty’s Dragon
If dragons existed during the 19th century, would the Napoleonic Wars would have gone differently for their namesake Corsican general? Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon is a thought experiment that attempts to answer that very question! After Napoleon has victory all but assured through the clever use of his dragon riders, the tides of battle shift when British sailor William Laurence finds a dragon egg on a captured French frigate. He forms a bond with the beast, naming his new mount Temeraire, and finds himself reassigned to the British Aerial Corps to do battle for the Crown. Dragons aren’t magical beings in this series, just animals with strategic merit. Like horses that can fly and breathe fire! Sorry, actual horses, y’all are gonna have to do better if you want to earn military glory.
A fantasy book with no magic? That’s like a bagel without cream cheese! Cereal without milk! An owl without a graduation cap! Criminal! Heretical! An affront to nature! Or is it? Maybe fantasy books don’t actually need to be propped up by whacky magic systems, allowing author to focus on character building rather than enchanted swords and ponderable orbs. Maybe these authors are actually on to something here? I’ll give these 10 best fantasy books with no magic a try, but I’m still gonna put cream cheese on my bagel. Some things are meant to be a certain way for a reason, any college educated owl could tell you that.
His Majesty’s Dragon
If dragons existed during the 19th century, would the Napoleonic Wars would have gone differently for their namesake Corsican general? Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon is a thought experiment that attempts to answer that very question! After Napoleon has victory all but assured through the clever use of his dragon riders, the tides of battle shift when British sailor William Laurence finds a dragon egg on a captured French frigate. He forms a bond with the beast, naming his new mount Temeraire, and finds himself reassigned to the British Aerial Corps to do battle for the Crown. Dragons aren’t magical beings in this series, just animals with strategic merit. Like horses that can fly and breathe fire! Sorry, actual horses, y’all are gonna have to do better if you want to earn military glory.
Do you really? Do you really wanna taste it? No, like, seriously, do you? Cause we will all have the chance to do exactly that once again this summer. James Gunn’s Peacemaker is returning for its second season at Max on August 21. Now we finally have an idea of what awaits John Cena’s Christopher Smith when he puts his shiny vigilante helmet once again. Warner Bros. Discovery has shared Peacemaker season two’s first teaser trailer. Turns out saving the world doesn’t make you a hero to everyone. Especially when you “haven’t always been great people.” And also when you killed a powerful soldier’s son.
Usually, first teasers show us very little, but in typical Peacemaker fashion, the show isn’t f***ing around. This Peacemaker season two teaser trailer kicks off with Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, and Sean Gunn’s Maxwell Lord running the least professional superhero job interview ever.
Season two of Peacemaker will also see many familiar faces return alongside Cena, as we can see in the trailer. Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Freddie Stroma, Danielle Brooks, Nhut Le, and Viola Davis are all back. Frank Grillo will also appear on the show as the live-action version of his character Rick Flag Sr., whom he voiced on the animated Creature Commandos. His storyline from that series will bring him right to Peacemaker’s door, as the head of A.R.G.U.S. seeks revenge for the murder of his son.
How will the all-new DCU square its story with the events of the first season of Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad? This Peacemaker season two teaser’s final sequence might be our first hint. It features Peacemaker using a doorway into what appears to be another dimension where another Peacemaker lives. Two Peacemakers? That’s a whole lot of peace.
It also means there’s potential for a whole lot of violence, especially if that parallel universe’s Peacemaker never found his own version of the 11 Street Kids.
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No one in the MCU remembers Peter Parker after Doctor Strange’s spell in No Way Home. No one even knows who is underneath Spider-Man’s mask after that universe-changing event. It will essentially be a brand new day for the character when Tom Holland’s webslinger returns to big screens. So it makes sense that Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have decided to officially call his next movie, Spider-Man 4, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day might not sound like a very controversial title, but the comic book the film takes its name from certainly is.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ Destin Daniel Cretton is taking over directing duties for Spider-Man 4. He’s taking over from Jon Watts, who helmed the Home trilogy. Cretton also got to take the stage at this year’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas to discuss Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He wasn’t entirely alone during the presentation, though. Holland joined him via video to reveal the title of their Spider-Man movie, Holland’s fourth standalone installment.
The actor called Spider-Man: Brand New Day “a fresh start.” And Holland additionally described it as “a ride that we haven’t really seen before.” Only comic book fans will know all about Spider-Man’s previous Brand New Day. Joining Holland in the movie is The Bear actress Liza Colón-Zayas in a currently undisclosed role.
The MCU’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day title is a reference to the 2008 comic run that followed Peter Parker after his marriage to MJ was undone by a universe-changing event. (Sound familiar?) It was part of a controversial storyline for the friendly neighborhood hero in the 2000s that not everyone loved.
Sony and Marvel obviously know that. Yet they still decided to title their film after a comic series that got a mixed reaction. That indicates they fully believe in this adaptation. They might even be hoping the negative connotations some (not all!) have about the storyline will be a good thing for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It will also be especially interesting to see what becomes of this movie because
it’ll take place right between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
But this always seemed like the most logical place for the character to go after Spider-Man: No Way Home. No one in the MCU knows who Spider-Man is right now. It truly is a brand new day for him. Or at least it will be when Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters July 31, 2026.
Originally published on April 1, 2025.
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The much-anticipated X-Men reboot from Marvel Studios may have found its director. Fresh off the critical success of Thunderbolts*/New Avengers, a new report from Deadline says that director Jake Schreier is currently Marvel Studios’ first choice to direct. This would be the first X-Men film since Dark Phoenix in 2019, unless one counts New Mutants. One year ago exactly, Marvel announced that Hunger Games screenwriter Michael Lesslie was writing the script, and that appears to still be the case. Much like the Thunderbolts, the X-Men are outcasts and underdogs, making Schreier a perfect match with the material.
We know almost nothing about this new X-Men movie, except that it’s due to arrive after Avengers: Secret Wars. Several of the original X-Men from the Fox films will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, which most fans expect to be the swan song for that iteration of the team. Whatever we’re getting next will be a whole new version of Marvel’s mutants. Although, we expect many of the same characters. It’s hard to imagine an X-Men reboot with Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey, among other iconic mutants. The only returning cast member from the original X-Men we could see return is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, if only because he’s so identified with the role. But that’s pure speculation.
Although not confirmed by anyone at Marvel, rumors abound that post-Secret Wars, the studio will focus almost entirely on mutants. A movie called X-Men would likely just be the start. Aside from the students at Xavier’s school, you could have paramilitary mutants like X-Force. Also, hard-boiled detective mutants like X-Factor, and trippy interdimensional mutants like Excalibur. In the pages of Marvel Comics, the mutants are practically a universe unto themselves. Heck, the X-Men adjacent Starjammers could also serve as a replacement for the Guardians of the Galaxy. When it comes to Marvel mutants, the sky’s the limit.
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