There was so much to cover in 2024 across genre entertainment. Film and television welcomed new projects in the realms of Marvel Studios, anime, Star Wars, Warner Bros. and its DC Studios, and more. io9 also brought you latest from the worlds of games and theme parks, including big franchises like Indiana Jones and Universal Studios’ soon-to-arrive Epic Universe. Geekcore collectibles, toys, books, and comics kept our wallets very busy, too.
Here are our favorite staff picks for stories and coverage of all things genre.
Film
15 Things We Learned From James Gunn on the Set of Superman
By Germain Lussier
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a report from the set of James Gunn’s Superman. This past June, io9 was among several outlets invited to Cleveland, Ohio to visit the set of one of the most highly anticipated superhero films ever. The relaunch of the DC Universe, starring the world’s first and most famous superhero, all from the man who made Guardians of the Galaxy. And on that beautiful summer day, we learned a great many things about the film. And while we can’t share everything we learned just yet, we can share some very, very cool stuff. [Read more]
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Trapped the MCU in a Machine of Its Own Making
By Justin Carter
Back in the early Marvel Cinematic Universe days, the second movies of a sub-franchise weren’t much to write home about. Both Iron Man 2 in 2010 and 2013’s Thor: The Dark World felt like unremarkable sequels compared to their predecessors, hamstrung by being fast-tracked before they were ready or just not doing much beyond offering some light spectacle. That wasn’t the case with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. []
Moana’s Moana 2 Destiny Was Foretold in the First Film
By Sabina Graves
When the credits rolled on Moana 2, we could not get over the stunning reveal that Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) made a huge sacrifice which resulted in the Disney Princess becoming more than a royal wayfinder. As Moana gazed upon her gifts in the form of a new tattoo and oar upgrade, she asked herself “does that mean… ?” before Maui (Dwayne Johnson) gave a winking response as a non-answer as they celebrated their win against the gods. [Read more]
Madame Web Is the Best Superhero Movie 2003 Has to Offer
By James Whitbrook
You may have heard that Madame Web is not a good movie. That there are, in fact, things about Madame Web that could be described as “The Worst.” I am not here to refute those claims; there are in fact many things about Madame Web that are not what you would feasibly call “good.” But in its surprise camp turn, it embraces its period setting to deliver a potent reminder on how far superhero movies have come, and what they’ve lost along the way. [Read more]
Time Is Finally on Tenet’s Side
By Justin Carter
When Tenet released in 2020, it did so under the worst of circumstances. The context of the pandemic made the film a lightning rod when writer-director Christopher Nolan encouraged people to see it in theaters. Compared to his other recent movies, the time-bending spy thriller saw a more muted reaction. It made $365 million (against a $200M budget), and those who went to see it weren’t fully clicking with it. []
Jennifer Kent Looks Back on 10 Years of Traumatizing Audiences With The Babadook
By Cheryl Eddy
The Babadook is returning to theaters for its 10-year anniversary—but really, did Jennifer Kent’s searing tale of a mother grappling with grief so powerful it manifests a monster ever really escape your thoughts? The movie is terrifying on multiple levels, adroitly drawing on elements plucked from the darkest nightmares. io9 was thrilled to talk to the writer-director about her 2014 debut, which for a variety of reasons (some decidedly more lighthearted than others) has only seen its pop culture footprint grow larger since its release. [Read more]
John Krasinski’s IF: The Spoiler FAQ
By Germain Lussier
Who could have guessed that John Krasinski would be so good at making horror movies? His directorial debut was A Quiet Place, he followed it up with A Quiet Place Part II, and now he’s made IF, not a horror film by genre but a horrible film in quality. We reviewed the film quite unfavorably here but now that it’s in theaters, figured it might be worth diving into further by bringing by an io9 classic: the spoiler FAQ. []
Longlegs’ Osgood Perkins on Nic Cage, T. rex, and the Scariest Movie of the Summer
By Cheryl Eddy
It’s almost time for Longlegs to arrive, and if you haven’t been counting down the days, you must not be a horror fan. It stars Maika Monroe (It Follows) as an FBI agent hunting a truly peculiar serial killer—played by Nicolas Cage in one of his most memorably shocking roles ever, which is saying a lot. You can check out io9’s review of the film here, and keep reading for an interview with writer-director Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter). [Read more]
One of Dune‘s Biggest, Non-Spoiler Questions Is Answered in Sandworm Poop
By Germain Lussier
Dune: Part Two, which opens in theaters March 1, has a lot of thumpers in it. Like, a lot. Mainly because the Fremen and their culture are such a prevalent part of the film and often need a ride. And while watching, you can’t help but wonder, where do these thumpers come from? Who makes them? Are they just one-and-done devices? We decided to ask the man himself, Dune: Part Two co-writer and director Denis Villeneuve, for his thoughts on thumpers and his answer did not disappoint. []
io9 Meets the Real Hero of the Venom Franchise: Mrs. Chen
By Gordon Jackson
As the bizarre and divisive yet always shockingly good-natured Venom trilogy draws to a close (still the “gayest” Marvel franchise, contrary to public opinion), something we can all agree on is the sheer joy of its breakout character: Mrs. Chen, the unflappable bodega proprietor and Eddie Brock’s only human friend. It’s for this reason we were honored to have the opportunity to speak to Peggy Lu, the pharmacist-turned-actor who portrays her. [Read more]
Sonic 3 Is a Fast and Furry-ous Ride
By Sabina Graves
Full of electric spectacle and action-packed adventure, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 completes the best video game movie trilogy yet. [Read more]
How Cult Filmmaker Don Coscarelli Brought Phantasm From the Screen to the Page
By Cheryl Eddy
io9 talked to cult filmmaker Don Coscarelli when he released his memoir in 2018. Now, the director of Phantasm I-IV, as well as Bubba Ho-Tep, The Beastmaster, and John Dies at the End, is trying something new: fiction. Or rather, Phiction—a book of short stories that explores “tales from the world of Phantasm.” []
Aliens‘ Villain Carter Burke Is Back! And Paul Reiser Told Us All About It
By Germain Lussier
James Cameron’s Aliens is one of the great sequels of all time. Heck, it might be one of the greatest movies of all time. And, in the almost 40 years since its release, moments, images, and characters from the film have cemented themselves in the pantheon of pop culture. [Read more]
Television
Racists Are Trying to Make Dan Da Dan the Latest Front in Their Culture War
By Isaiah Colbert
Lately, the internet has become a nuclear wasteland. The shelf life to enjoy new media, be it video games or anime, inevitably becomes the focal point of a meritless culture war, where chuds accuse art of being “woke,” pearl clutch at diverse characters who don’t look like them being showcased in media, and launch harassment campaigns against creators and those attempting to foster constructive dialogue. [Read more]
Star Wars Is at Its Most Interesting When It Trusts Us to Not Trust It
By James Whitbrook
The third episode of The Acolyte is pretty incredible for a lot of reasons. It’s an episode that, in content, invites us to consider new perspectives on some of the saga’s most fundamental spiritual ideas, and delivers a meaty slice of back story for its protagonists and antagonists alike. But it also does something quite remarkable for Star Wars: it asks us to not make the assumption that what we are watching is the whole truth. []
The Creators Behind Netflix’s Castlevania Myth-Bust the Ins and Outs of Animation
By Isaiah Colbert
Animation has experienced a mixed output in 2024. On the one hand, shows and films like the recently released Dan Da Dan, Look Back, and Ranma 1/2 have reignited fans’ affinity for animation continuing to be an awe-inspiring medium teeming with visual clarity and fluid artistry. On the other hand, hotly anticipated shows like the long-delayed Adult Swim Uzumaki anime adaptation and Blue Lock season two have left fans wondering why their favorite projects didn’t get as much shine as their contemporaries. [Read more]
‘Banned’ Bluey Episode ‘Dad Baby’ Is Finally Viewable in the U.S.
By Sabina Graves
A Bluey episode originally released in 2020 everywhere except the United States finally gets the green light to be seen—with a catch: it’s only online (for now). [Read more]
Evil‘s Andrea Martin on Acting With Demons and the Terror of AI
By Cheryl Eddy
Andrea Martin’s career has included a lot of comedy—she was on legendary 1970s sketch series SCTV—but over the years she’s excelled in nearly every genre, with two current projects earning her even more new fans: Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, and Paramount+’s Evil. With Evil heading toward its series finale, io9 jumped at the chance to talk to Martin about what it’s like starring on one of TV’s best-ever horror series, particularly in the context of her character: Sister Andrea, a wise, wisecracking, demon-slaying nun. []
The Best Moment in Deep Space Nine‘s Greatest Episode Is a Punch Left Unthrown
By James Whitbrook
Twenty-six years ago today, Deep Space Nine delivered the knife under its cloaked examination of Star Trek’s morals in wartime with all the delicate precision of a sewing needle: the incredible “In the Pale Moonlight,” not just one of DS9 or Star Trek’s finest hours, but one of the all time greatest episodes of TV ever made. But the finest moment in an already immaculate piece of television is all about the ways to enact violence without lifting a single finger. [Read more]
Interview With the Vampire’s Season 2 Finale Goes Full Divorce Court
By Sabina Graves
Leave it up to Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) to give Louis’ (Jacob Anderson) interview a final definitive disruption that leads to marital woes for Armand (Assad Zaman). Call it a vendetta writ large for our entertainment while Molloy plays roast host like a daytime Maury or Divorce Court episode, because you’ll be hootin’ and hollerin’ during “And That’s The End Of It. There’s Nothing Else”—the eighth episode of AMC and AMC+’s Interview with The Vampire season two. The episode brings in showrunner Rolin Jones as its scribe for all the explosive revenge and revelations in the finale directed by Levan Arkin. [Read more]
Games, Immersive Entertainment, and Theme Parks
Every Moment You’re Playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Feels Like Torture
By James Whitbrook
Indiana Jones should be the perfect video game hero. He solves puzzles, he shoots Nazis, he leaps and swings through an international cavalcade of locations primed for platforming. His very existence has inspired some of the greats of the medium, from Tomb Raider to Uncharted, all in homage to the whip-slinging blueprint Indy provided. And while he’s definitely starred in plenty of attempts over the years, he still feels like he’s waiting for his moment to shine in the world of games of his own accord, rather than simply via the impact of his legacy. With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, he’s very much still waiting. [Read more]
The Essence of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Was You Made the Experience
By Sabina Graves
A year after the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser took its last flight, here’s a look back at the best of Disney Parks’ bold venture into the immersive entertainment space—and why in the end, it couldn’t quite work. []
Borderlands Will Always Shoot to the Beat of Its Own Gun
by Justin Carter
In its heyday, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era produced many still-ongoing franchises, but few have endured quite as interestingly as Borderlands. Gearbox Software’s shooter-RPG series has been so definitive and so infamous for so long in ways that will never truly go away. At the same time, it’s always been itself: for better or worse, Borderlands has no interest in changing what it is, or at least not for very long. [Read more]
The Dark Universe Begins Again at Universal’s Theme Park
By Sabina Graves
Universal Studios would not be the premiere cinematic experience theme park without the Universal Monsters. Influencing filmmakers from Spielberg to Peele, they are the blueprint of thrills and it’s about damn time that the almost century-old fandom will finally get its due with Epic Universe’s Dark Universe, the theme park home of gods and monsters. This new area joins the previously announced lands at Universal Studios Orlando’s newest theme park, including Super Nintendo World and How to Train Your Dragon’s Isle of Berk. [Read more]
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Ready to Bring You Back
By Justin Carter
After revitalizing Mass Effect with a remastered collection of the first three games and handing off Star Wars: The Old Republic to a separate studio, BioWare’s now putting its full weight behind its other big franchise, Dragon Age. Over the years, it’s been a question of if (and in what way) BioWare would return to the world of Thedas, even as it’d continuously reaffirm a new entry was in development. [Read more]
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Breaks 87 Years of a Weird Disney Princess Canon
By Sabina Graves
Over the past few days Disney fans who have managed to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World have been among the first to experience the continuation of Tiana’s fairytale after the events 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. The ride itself serves as a sequel in attraction form, where guests follow Tiana and friends as they put together a band for their Mardi Gras celebration. But there are so many more details revealed even before you board the flume water ride for fans of the beloved Disney film. [Read more]
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
