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We’re only a few weeks away from Marvel Studios’ Eternals, which bows in theaters on November 5, 2o21. In the first official clip released for the Chloé Zhao-directed film, we see a host of the superheroes’ powers in action as they battle some gorgeously rendered monsters.

The clip showcases the abilities of three of the Eternals—Ikaris, Makkari, and Kingo—who are trying to save people from snarly enormous creatures that look, quite frankly, awesome. (There are more than thirty Eternals in the comics, and the movie is set to focus on at least ten of them; get ready to learn about a lot of Eternals.)

Richard Madden’s Ikaris can fly (maybe not too close to the sun?) and shoot cosmic energy out of his eyes, which he demonstrates as he goes after one of the magnificently menacing dragon-like beasts. Lauren Ridloff’s Makkari is the fastest woman around, and she uses her amazing speed here on the offense. Makkari is deaf, and we get to see a great quippy exchange in sign language between her and Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo. Ridloff, a deaf actor, will be playing the first deaf superhero in the MCU. Nanjiani’s Kingo can create cosmic energy blasts that shoot from his fingertips (Nanjiani has called them “finger guns”), and he has a flamboyant style.

This clip is just fifty seconds long, but it’s already worked to get me even more hyped for Eternals. The movie looks visually stunning, and I love the seamless teamwork we see play out with Makkari and Kingo. There are quite a few Eternals to keep track of, but I have the feeling they’re all going to be given their own strong moments to shine. This seems like a superhero movie unlike those that have come before from Marvel Studios, and I hope that we’re in for something special.

(image: Marvel Studios)

Here are some other things that we saw today:

• Senator Kyrsten Sinema (in the running for a supervillain role), has headed to Europe to partake in her favorite activity, which is fundraising. (via The New York Times)
• Our beloved Patrick from Schitt’s Creek, Noah Reid, will be making his Broadway debut in Tracy Letts’ play The Minutes. This is a huge upgrade from Armie Hammer, who was previously in Reid’s role and withdrew in the midst of sexual misconduct allegations. (via Deadline)
• Are the Russo brothers coming back to direct more Marvel movies? (via Comicbook Movie)
• Netflix, which is in need of some serious crisis PR management as it continues to make terrible decisions around everything connected to Dave Chappelle, has now fired an employee who leaked information on how much money the streamer spent on Chappelle’s comedy specials. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
• “Jamie Lee Curtis: ‘My biggest roles were to do with my body, my physicality, my sexuality’” (via The Guardian)
• Can we maybe not put guns on the robot dogs? (via The Verge)
• The Addams Family director Barry Sonnenfeld says that then-child star Christina Ricci convinced him to give the movie a better ending. (via Yahoo News)

And finally:

In anticipation of the new trailer for #TheBatman during DC FanDome tomorrow, check out posters for Batman and Riddler. Tune in to #DCFanDome here: https://t.co/80vlZgaebu pic.twitter.com/sim36Ws9tv

— Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures) October 15, 2021

Even though time is a meaningless mushed loop these days, we’ve somehow arrived at another Friday! What did you see this.pre-weekend?

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After a year stuffed with MCU action, we’re almost upon the penultimate Marvel movie of 2021. While Spider-Man: No Way Home is promising a bunch of multiversal magic, when it comes to Eternals there’s a little less to go on. But what we do know is that the newest addition to the MCU will introduce no less than eleven new Marvel live-action heroes. With an already over-stuffed multiverse, it seems unlikely that all of them will survive, especially when most of them aren’t familiar to even the most passionate back issue bin explorer. So we’re here to look at their comic book histories and potential future in the MCU so we can make some very educated and definitely (not) scientific assessments on their likelihood of survival.

This is obviously all speculation, but on the off chance these come true, the following could be considered a spoiler. SO… let’s just go ahead and give one of these:

1/99 Sersi (Gemma Chan)

Marvel Studios

You can only unceremoniously kill Gemma Chan off once, so let’s begin there. This rare MCU do-over gives the actor a chance to find a lasting role with the studio. Aside from that glaring fact, Sersi could introduce the next iteration of the (Jacket) Avengers. In the ’90s, Sersi was a staple member of the team that adopted leather jackets to wear over their costumes. Nothing says “I’m cool” like a collar! With the MCU Avengers out of action, we think that we could be seeing Sersi and her A-team coming to our screens soon.

1/98 Dane Whitman (Kit Harington)

Marvel Studios

An enduring Avenger since the late ’60s. Marvel didn’t cast Game of Thrones’ Harington as Dane Whitman just to kill him. Along with continuing his romantic connection to Sersi, Dane will survive to take on his legendary Black Knight mantle and wield his signature Ebony Blade. And he could even live long enough to become the villainous Proctor. Either way, he’s an odds-on favorite to be a new Avenger and surviving member of the Eternals cast.

1/5 Gilgamesh (Don Lee)

Marvel Studios

If there’s any justice in the world, Don Lee will be the next MCU superstar. Sure, we’re playing favorites here, we want him to stick around. But canonically it makes sense for Gilgamesh to play a large part in the multiversal war to come. Just like Black Knight and Sersi, Gilgamesh has been an Avenger. Sure, it was in the much maligned Avengers #300 relaunch, but it still counts. Also, his powers are intriguingly unique. A talented and powerful hand-to-hand fighter, he can defeat an enemy with one punch. Plus, he has some serious history with a certain Kang the Conqueror, making his survival even more likely.

4/11 Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani)

Marvel Studios

Seeing as Kingo is currently the character fans are most excited about, we think his odds of survival are pretty high. The comic book iteration of Kingo is similar but very different as he lived in Japan and created a career from playing samurai. We know this movie changes him to a successful Bollywood actor for Nanjiani’s Kingo. During his long life, Kingo has gone against some of his fellow teammates and sought council in the Deviants. So it’s unclear where he’ll land in the context of the greater battle. But with his fan favorite status and reimagined history for the movie, we think his odds on living are pretty good.

4/9 Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry)

Marvel Studios

While we’d love to see Phastos—apparently the MCU’s first gay superhero—survive, we’re firmly in the middle on this one. Brian Tyree Henry is a blessing and the MCU is lucky to have him. But he’s also gay and Black in a superhero movie, which means that we’re not sure how long he’ll get to live. We hope that Marvel knows better than to Bury Your Gays with its first gay hero, but we don’t have much faith. In his defense, his incredible intelligence and powers that allow him to craft unbelievable machines seem like they could come in handy in the future battle to fix the multiverse… so maybe we’ll win this time?

1/2 Makkari (Lauren Ridloff)

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first on-screen Deaf hero who’s also played by a Black Deaf actress, we’re hoping Makkari sticks around. But just like Phastos, we don’t necessarily trust Disney to not sacrifice her at the first chance they get. Canonically, Makkari is one of the most influential and powerful Eternals. But if we look at the comics, it seems like we’re getting a Makkari after their interactions with the Dreaming Celestial: a Deaf/mute woman. That means it’s unclear how much they’ll pull from that powerful past. We will say, though, if romantic closeness to Sersi keeps you alive… Makkari might just have a chance.

1/1 Ajak (Salma Hayek)

Marvel Studios

Ajak is probably one of the most well known Eternals, so it seems like they could have a pretty good chance of survival. The reason they’re bang in the middle of our odds is two fold. In the trailer we see them visit Ikaris and then see him do his evil Superman eye lasers, so it could be that Ajak never leaves Ikaris’ farm. Secondly, in the comics Ajak has done terrible things to her fellow teammates like Gilgamesh and Makkari. So if she’s going to follow that path and turn on her one-time friends, she’s a likely candidate to die.

5/4 Druig (Barry Keoghan)

Marvel Studios

Look, according to the trailer this guy literally started a cult with his powers. First, that seems to go against the whole “don’t intervene” rule that stopped them stopping Thanos. Second, that’s a truly unhinged thing to do. But it absolutely goes along with his character in the comics, who’s a power-hungry untrustworthy villain. It’s interesting to see the trailers set him up as an ally. One of his most important and dangerous choices was helping Thanos… could that have been something he did in the MCU’s past too? And if so, surely he won’t live long.

40/3 Thena (Angelina Jolie)

Marvel Studios

Look, first things first: she’s Angelina freaking Jolie!!! And narratively from what we’ve seen in the trailers, it looks like Thena might be one of the most compromised members of the team. She seems to be connected to one of the monstrous Deviants that they’re trying to defeat. Also, during Avengers (vol. 8), Thena—along with all the Eternals—killed herself after the arrival of the Celestials’ final host. Though we don’t know if we’ll see all of them commit to that same fate, it seems likely that Thena might just sacrifice herself. And in the comics, she is one of the few Eternals who hasn’t been reborn since.

33/1 Sprite (Lia McHugh)

Marvel Studios

Sorry. Sprite. While her sarcastic humor and cool duplication skills in the trailer have made us Sprite fans, there’s one harsh truth here. If you’re a character who eternally looks like a teenager, it’s unlikely that you’ll get to see the sequel. Sprite also has a dark and deceitful history which has pitted her against her fellow teammates. Perhaps we could see that betrayal revisited in the movie, but either way we don’t expect Sprite to survive.

99/1 Ikaris (Richard Madden)

Marvel Studios

Look, we are sorry to the devilishly handsome Madden, but if Ikaris survives we’ll eat our shimmering intangible galactic armor. Not only does he appear to be standing in the way of the Eternals’ OTP of Sersi and Black Knight, but he has a couple of other things working against him. One, he’s too powerful. If you introduce Ikaris into the MCU he’s essentially Superman A.K.A. unbeatable. Marvel already has an over-powered problem, so they’re unlikely to add another near omnipotent character. Also, check out that name. His mythological inspiration flew too close to the sun. We’re guessing that if he doesn’t turn evil—like most modern Superman analogues—he’ll follow his namesake to doom.

Featured Image: Marvel Studios

The post ETERNALS: Who Will Survive and What Are Their Odds? appeared first on Nerdist.

It can be hard to set the mood just right when it comes to lighting a room. Especially when it comes to finding, say, a calming glow perfect for reading and thinking about deep philosophical subjects. Now, however, researchers at MIT have produced research into the nascent idea of making plants glow with visible light. And the gentle, electric-green hues of their prototypes seem perfect for diving into a good book.

MIT

Boing Boing picked up on the MIT researchers’ glowing plants, which debuted back in 2017. At that point, Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT Michael Strano and his colleagues had figured out how to embed specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of watercress plants. Subsequently, this allowed them to induce an extremely dim light in the plants. Cut to 2021 and Strano et al. say they’ve now added recharging capabilities to their glowing, leafy lamps.

While the researchers’ 2017 version of the plants used injected luciferase and luciferin—chemicals that work together to give fireflies their glow—this newer iteration eschewed that in favor of making the plants’ leaves themselves glow. To that end, the researchers created a “light capacitor” from the compound, strontium aluminate. This compound, which is a type of phosphor, can take the form of nanoparticles and remain phosphorescent. Meaning the strontium aluminate nanoparticles can absorb light and then release it slowly as a phosphorescent glow.

The researchers infused the strontium aluminate nanoparticles into the mesophyll substrate of several different plant types via the plants’ stomata; that is, the small pores located on the surfaces of their leaves. The nanoparticles subsequently collected in the leaves’ mesophyll, where they formed a thin film. One capable of storing electricity just like a capacitor from an electrical circuit.

As for the results? They’re deliciously sci-fi. While it seems there isn’t a video of the team’s latest plants, the video above from 2017 still gives some sense of their glow quality. (There’s a picture of the newer leaves glowing in the researchers’ related paper.) Strano and his colleagues also say that thanks to the light capacitor, their new plants can emit an hour of light. Critically, the plants only need a ten-second charge from an LED light for that hour. Although, unfortunately, it sounds like the plants don’t yet actually emit enough light to read by.

MIT

These findings demonstrate “a future vision where lighting infrastructure from living plants is an integral part of the spaces where people work and live.” Sheila Kennedy, a professor of architecture at MIT and co-author of the paper, share more about the idea in a press release. “If living plants could be the starting point of advanced technology, plants might replace our current unsustainable urban electrical lighting grid for the mutual benefit of all plant-dependent species — including people.”

The post New Glowing Plants Emit Ambient Light From Their Leaves appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s been a good day for those of us who love crumbs of what Pedro Pascal is doing. The actor is a busy man, jumping from city to city to film movies and television shows, and now we’re getting a bit more of a look into both HBO’s The Last of Us TV series and the third season of Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian!

While he is currently filming The Last of Us in Canada, the actor isn’t just on one highly anticipated show, and Carl Weathers told the internet that season 3 of The Mandalorian is underway in Los Angeles—which makes sense seeing as Pedro Pascal doesn’t have to be on set for the show, as he can do voiceover work (like he did during season 1). But today has been a good day for fans of Din Djarin and Joel Miller!

First, we got a somewhat grainy picture of Pedro Pascal walking to set in his Joel Miller costume.

Pedro Pascal (Joel) on the set today.

📸 @KristinRaworth pic.twitter.com/iqk3quLANw

— The Last of Us Updates (@TheLastofUsNews) October 13, 2021

It’s funny because all of the Joel Miller/Pedro Pascal fans (myself included) have been talking about this picture and how good he looks when it is blurry and grainy. But we take what we can get until Pedro Pascal posts a selfie as Joel or is shown on the set of The Mandalorian.

#TheMandalorian S3 is now filming 🎬

(via @TheCarlWeathers) pic.twitter.com/fhWjC23xx9

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) October 12, 2021

Either way, I love days where the news is just all of Pedro Pascal’s work being talked about. A good day for me.

(image: Naughty Dog/Lucasfilm)

Here are some other things we saw out there today:

• From executive producer David Fincher…

  VOIR, a new documentary series of visual essays celebrating cinema, from the mind of one of film’s modern masters.

  Premiering at AFI Fest and coming soon to Netflix. pic.twitter.com/gqHqlvbxZF

  — NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) October 13, 2021

• Henry Cavill gave us a look at Geralt’s new character poster for The Witcher. (via ComicBook.com)

• https://t.co/SpXLqHmctw pic.twitter.com/2WARzhd9Zp

  — Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) October 12, 2021

• There’s more news on the 13th season of DoctorWho. (via CBR)

• Jamie Lee Curtis is on the red carpet of #HalloweenKills dressed as Marion Crane from #Psycho, the role played by her mother, Janet Leigh, in Alfred Hitchcock’s original film pic.twitter.com/bWKTLlFuHF

  — The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 13, 2021

Anything we missed out there, Mary Suevians? Let us know what you saw in the comments below!

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 —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—