Category: A&E

By DESTINY RAMOS and EMMIT MURPHY

Warning: The following article contains spoilers.

Read Part 1 https://ethic-news.org/2022/02/16/act-1-marvel-takes-first-step-into-multiverse-with-spider-man-no-way-home/ and Part 2 first https://ethic-news.org/2022/02/17/act-2-marvel-takes-first-step-into-multiverse-with-spider-man-no-way-home/

Out of the many Spider-man: No Way Home movie posters circulating, this appeared to be one of the more popular ones based on fan feedback and sharing on social media sites. (Credit to Marvel Studios)

Distraught from May’s death, Peter flees from the building without contacting any of his friends, who are obviously worried after the fight. In a desperate wish to see his friend, Ned accidentally uses Strange’s sling ring to open a portal to Parker.

But the portal they open is not to the Peter they expected, but to Peter Parker of “The Amazing Spider-Man” films played by Andrew Garfield. 

During Garfield’s interviews for the 2021 movie “Tick..Tick.. Boom,” he was constantly asked if he was in the movie, but denied it until the release.

“I wasn’t expecting to ever have a conversation again about potentially playing Peter Parker. I felt very excited just to be a fan again. But I got this call from Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige and Jon Watts with this idea. It was immediately undeniable. It sounded incredibly fun, incredibly spiritual — trippy and thematically interesting. On a base level, as a Spider-Man fan, just the idea of seeing three Spider-Men in the same frame was enough,” Garfield told Variety.

Mj and Ned are shocked that he had opened a portal that took Strange weeks to first open. Not only that, but now a Peter from a different universe was in the dining room. Confused and untrusting, MJ throws bread at Peter until he agrees to prove he is truly Spider-man by hanging and crawling on the ceiling, which he does. 

The two are still confused, but figure they will try again to reach the correct Peter. In an attempt to do so, Ned opens a portal to Peter Parker from Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” films played by Tobey Maguire.

In the Deadline interview with the three Spider-Man actors, Maguire had stated, “I was intrigued immediately, like, in that conversation, the kind of love and celebration of these movies and what it meant, I think, to Amy [Pascal] and Kevin [Feige] was apparent. And to me, when artists or, you know, people who are steering the creative process have a kind of authentic, genuine intent of celebration and love, it just was so apparent in both of them, that, I don’t know, I just wanted to join that.” 

When they first meet, the two Peter’s are slightly confused with Raimi-Verse Parker saying “wait that’s not your friend” when referring to Webb-Verse Parker. The two Parkers then start a very brief fight where Webb-Verse Parker realizes that Raimi-Verse Parker is Spider-Man as well. The two then decide they need to find the MCU Peter Parker, and ask Ned and MJ if there would be any place he would go to “get away from everything.” MJ knew where to find their Peter from this comment and, with Ned, found their Peter on the roof of Midtown High. 

After embracing their friend and giving their condolences, MJ tells Peter that “there’s some people here” to see him, introducing the other Peters to their Peter. At first, MCU Peter was frightened by seeing the two Peters, and was angered when they first spoke to him saying that they ‘understood’ what Parker was going through when he thought they didn’t. Parker said they did not understand “what [he’s] going through” before Raimi-Verse Peter responded with the death of Uncle Ben and Webb-Verse Peter responded with the death of Gwen Stacy. 

After they share their understanding of “with great power comes great responsibility,” they decide to get to work on cures for the villains. The following scene develops the chemistry between the Spider-Men with a shocking reveal of Raimi-Verse’s webbing or even the Spider-Men pointing at each other with the script saying, “All three point at each other: Him? Memes!” 

After developing the cures and Ned’s reassurement that he will not turn into a villian and kill MCU Peter, the Spider-Men set up at the Statue of Liberty and MCU Peter uses J. Jonah. Jameson and the Daily Bugle to broadcast his location to the villains. Before the final battle, the Spider-Men indulge in small talk, like how exactly the Raimi-Verse Peter’s webs work or the most dangerous villains the Spider-Men have ever fought.

Their dialogue is interrupted by their spider-senses going off followed by the strike of Electro’s lighting and the reappearance of Sandman and the Lizard. MCU Peter quickly throws the Machina de Kadavus to MJ and Ned who are still at Midtown High. 

In the pursuing battle, the Peters attempt to take the villains on together but quickly find out that they are really bad at working as a team. The Spider-Men meet in the scaffolding of the Statue of Liberty and discuss how to properly work as a team. It’s at this moment where MCU Peter brags about being on the Avengers in which the other Peters respond with a confusion on who the Avengers are.

Ready to take their threat head on, the Spider-Men leap back into action and start taking out the villains one by one, starting with Sandman. The plan was to lure Sandman into the head of the statue and activate the collider to cure him.

The next target was Electro and to cure him by sapping the energy from his body to get rid of his electricity. The plan goes awry when Electro gets ahold of Webb-Verse and Raimi-Verse Peter, but luckily they are saved by the recently cured Otto Octavious. And he is then able to cure Electro and take away his powers. 

While Electro was being cured, MCU Peter was dealing with the Lizard who had tried to attack Ned and MJ due to Ned’s inability to close the portal. After chasing him out of Midtown High, MJ throws the Lizard’s cure to Peter and he manages to bring Curt Conners back to his human form.

With the villains cured, Ned and MJ try hiding the Machina de Kadavus but end up opening a portal to Doctor Strange who had been “dangling over the Grand Canyon for twelve hours” and is about to send the villains back to their universes until he sees that MCU Peter’s plan is working.

With Octavius now at the scene, he is finally reunited with Raimi-Verse Peter who share a very heartwarming few minutes that reference the first scene the two had together in the 2004 film. Meanwhile, Electro, now powerless, has a conversation with Webb-Verse Peter and praising him for everything he does and mentioning that he thought Peter would be black, to which he apologizes for.

Electro’s hope is referencing Miles Morales of the 2018 film “Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse.”

The peace was broken by the return of the Green Goblin, who implanted a pumpkin bomb inside the Machina de Kadavus. Green Goblin’s return to the scene had ensured one of them would be hurt or almost killed, this being MJ. 

Goblin’s pumpkin bomb had blown MJ off the structure into harm’s way and MCU’s Peter immediately jumps after her but is unsuccessful in catching her as Goblin’s glider pushes him away before he could reach her. Webb-verse Peter watches as all these events occur, then jumps and catches MJ without a second thought. 

Fans went crazy in theaters realizing he completed the task he once failed with his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) who tragically died by his hand in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”

Peter begins to cry after landing and making sure MJ was okay, remembering the same incident that caused Stacy’s death in the 2014 film. 

“We were shooting for two weeks, Tobey and I, but I think we managed to achieve something that is not just showing up and going, ‘Hi! Bye!’ My Spider-Man got to save his younger brother’s romantic relationship, potentially,” Garfield told Variety. “And to heal the most traumatic moment of his own life through doing it for his younger brother. Making sure that he didn’t have the same fate, there’s something cosmically beautiful about that. It meant getting a second chance at saving Gwen.”

Gobin is now the last villain that needs to be cured. When MCU Peter is able to confront him and tells him he’s going to kill him himself, he throws constant punches while Goblin laughs through every hit.

 As soon as Peter gets Goblin down for the final time, he grabs the same glider that killed May, in hope of killing him with it. Before he gets the chance, Raimi’s Peter steps in as a way of telling Peter not to. Right at that moment, Goblin unexpectedly stabs Raimi’s Peter. Webb’s Peter then throws Goblin’s cure to MCU’s Peter who immediately gets the satisfaction of doing the same thing to Osborn.

Fans who were afraid for Raimi’s Peter were relieved when he said he’s “been stabbed before.”

While the villains had all been cured, there was still the issue of the multiverse collapsing onto the MCU, which was caused by the Goblin’s previous pumpkin bomb. The cracks in the multiverse are seemingly irreversible until MCU Peter offers a solution, making everyone forget Spider-Man and Peter Parker are one and the same. Strange hesitates but eventually agrees and tells Peter it would be best to tell his friends goodbye for the last time. 

Peter first stops by the other Spider-Men and together have the biggest brotherly hug between any superheroes. He then stops to finally say goodbye to Ned, his best friend since his first movie, and MJ his girlfriend for the remainder of their time in the MCU. With one last promise to MJ telling her that he will find her after they forget him, the spell is cast and the multiverse is saved.

Epilogue

With everyone now forgetting who Peter Parker is, Parker heads to the coffee shop MJ works at with a speech to hopefully refresh her memory. When actually meeting MJ, Peter opts out of telling her and decides to keep her out of his life as Spider-Man. 

It is still possible that MJ has a slight recollection of Peter with the script saying, “HOLD ON MJ, watching Peter go with a lingering sense of… recognition”.

With his former life behind him, Peter moves into his new apartment after graduating from high school via a GED. He then suits up in a brand new blue and red Spider-Man costume that is “new for him, but reminiscent of suits he’s seen before” according to the script. He then flies over the RockefellerRockefeller Christmas tree with the last line in the script saying “Peter Parker is no more, but Spider-Man lives on…”

By DESTINY RAMOS and EMMIT MURPHY

Warning: The following article contains spoilers.

Be sure to read Part 1 first: https://ethic-news.org/2022/02/16/act-1-marvel-takes-first-step-into-multiverse-with-spider-man-no-way-home/

A second marketing poster before the movie was released. (Credit to Marvel Studios)

A second  marketing poster before the movie was released. (Credit to marvel studios)

This is not the first time MCU fans have seen the multiverse. In earlier projects, the multiverse was hinted at in films such as “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and “Doctor Strange” but only proved to be real when the short series “Loki” and “What If…” were released in mid 2021.

Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel Studios, said, “The Ancient One mentions it in Doctor Strange, when she’s taking Stephen Strange through that sort of mind warping journey. It was always one of the most powerful storytelling tools in the comics. One you have to wield carefully, because it can get overwhelming. One that now with, obviously the 60 to 80 year history of the comics, now we have a 20 plus history of the movies and there are enough characters that we can start playing with it that way.”

Having 20+ films in the MCU provided enough material for the multiverse to finally come alive in “Spider-man: No Way Home” and future MCU projects, such as “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” which is said to feature the Scarlet Witch, Spider-man, and many other characters.

Parker leaves without knowing the multiverse has been opened. Now feeling completely hopeless, he attempts to make things better for his friends, who have endured the same amount of trouble Parker has, by meeting with someone from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But during that time, Parker has an unexpected visit from none other than Otto Octavius, better known as Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) from the original Spider-Man films from 2002. Molina’s return as Doc Ock had been leaked long before the confirmation in the trailer that was released Aug. 30, 2021, but it was constantly denied. 

“When we were shooting it, we were all under orders not to talk about it, because it was supposed to be some great big secret,” Molina told Variety. “But, you know, it’s all over the internet. I actually described myself as the worst kept secret in Hollywood!”

“It was wonderful,” Molina stated. “It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet and a slightly dodgy lower back.” 

Because of these concerns, CGI was used to disguise him to look the same as he did 17 years ago. This was all it took for Doc Ock to come alive once again, even though Molina had other concerns regarding fight scenes, but remembered the robotic arms did all the fighting and all he had to do was have “a kind of mean look on [his] face.”

Parker is confronted by Octavius. Minutes pass and the two are fighting because of a big misunderstanding. Octavius is not aware he is in a new universe, and believes he is fighting a different Peter Parker. When he finally realizes that Holland’s Peter isn’t the one he knows, Parker takes control of Octavius’s mechanical arms.

After Parker takes control of Octavious and safely saves MIT’s Vice Assistant Chancellor, he and his friends are accepted into the school with the Assistant Chancellor’s blessing. The short moment of peace is interrupted by the Green Goblin’s (Willem Dafoe) pumpkin bombs. As Parker is ready to head back into battle, he and Octavious are transported back to the crypt of Doctor Strange.

Dafoe’s reprisal of Norman Osborn was welcomed with open arms by fans and was received as well as his first time as the Goblin nearly 20 years ago in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. 

Dafoe was very willing to return as the Goblin for the film on one condition, he wanted to do his own stunts. 

“To do this physical stuff was important to me,” the 66-year-old actor Dafoe stated. “In fact, one of the first things I said to Jon [Watts] and Amy [Pascal], basically, when they pitched it to me before there was even a script, was, ‘Listen. I don’t want to just pop in there as a cameo, or just fill in in closeups. I want to do the action because that’s fun for me. And also, because it’s really impossible to add any integrity or any fun to the character if you don’t participate in these things.”

Now, in captivity along with Octavius and Lizard (Curt Connors), Strange explains to Parker what is happening and that he needs to capture the last two villians and where to find them.

Parker heads to a forest in an all black suit, which seemed vaguely familiar, reminding fans of the black suit used in San Rami’s “Spider-Man 3” in 2007. Coming to a clearing in the forest, Parker finds Electro (Jamie Foxx) using the energy from power lines running through the forest. 

Foxx stated, “You know what I was excited, knowing Amy [Pascal] for years man, and knowing what she’s done with this franchise, and she was explaining to me it was gonna be hot you know.” 

Foxx also explained that “[he] didn’t have to be blue” which was a major point of contention for him and his character.

Dillons initial, and obvious, first move is to attack Spider-Man, and has the upper hand until Sand-Man, or Flint Marko from Sami Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 (Thomas Haden Church) is also revealed to be in the forest and saves Spidey. After the duo take down Electro and the newly introduced villains stop seeing Parker as a threat, Parker explains their situation. The two are then teleported to the same crypt the other three villains are being held in by Parker.

Now back at the crypt, Strange continues to explain to the three (and the villains in captivity) the concept of the multiverse and the fate of those being held, which was to be killed by Spider-Man, in their own universes. Now upset by this, Parker takes the ancient artifact from earlier in the movie and traps Strange in the mirror dimension seen in Doctor Strange. Now Parker believes it’s his duty to ‘save’ these villains so that their fate isn’t to die at the hand of Spider-Man.

Parker then takes all five villains and Aunt May to Hogan’s apartment where he uses the missing Stark tech that Hogan has possession of to accommodate each villain, with MJ, the artifact and Kaecilius’ Sling Ring safely at Ned’s home. Starting with Octavius, Parker (with the help of Norman Osborn, given he is also a skilled scientist) replicates the chip that keeps the robotic arms from controlling Ock and attaches it where it was before being destroyed. Immediately, Ock is met with relief. Every voice Ock has claimed to hear from the past is gone and he is able to control the arms on his own. Parker and Osborn are ecstatic knowing it worked.

The happiness doesn’t last long, as a moment after, Osborn’s second personality (Green Goblin) has made itself clear and begins to attack Parker because they “do not need [him] to save [them] and do not need to be fixed”. It isn’t long before all remaining villains begin to rebel and leave the building to avoid being ‘fixed’ and sent back to their universes.

Osborn and Parker fight in Hogan’s apartment for a while before smashing through multiple stories within the building. Before watchers know it, Parker and Osborn are in the main lobby of the apartment complex where the final moments of the fight take place. May, who followed Parker downstairs with the cures to the final three villains, Osborn, Lizard, and Sand-Man, tries to help Parker by injecting Osborn’s cure into him. To their surprise, it does not work, and now angered by this attempt, Osborn attacks May and Parker with the glider that killed him over 20 years ago. 

With no time to recover, Parker is caught more off guard as Osborn hops on the glider and leaves with a single pumpkin bomb left to finish the job. These attacks did not kill Parker as Osborn had wanted, but rather ended with the death of May with her uttering the famous words, ‘With great power, must also come great responsibility’ in one of her last breaths.

Read Part 3 here: https://ethic-news.org/2022/02/17/act-3-marvel-takes-first-step-into-multiverse-with-spider-man-no-way-home/

By DESTINY RAMOS and EMMIT MURPHY

Warning: The following article contains spoilers.

One of the six official marketing posters for Spider-man: No Way Home that was released after the movie’s debut. (Credit to Marvel Studios)

The highly anticipated “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was released on Dec. 18, 2021, exceeding fan expectations by a landslide with all hopes, speculations and theories coming true. As of Jan. 21, 2022, “No Way Home” has made $707 million, just a little over a month of being in theaters.

The movie begins where “Spider-Man: Far From Home” left off with Spider-Man’s identity being revealed by J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) of the Daily Bugle and the chaos that followed. Spectators see what happens with the now known Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and the trouble Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) left after his passing. Not only is Parker’s identity on every news outlet in the city, but all the chaos interfered with his personal life and education as a high school student, with reporters on the outskirts of his home and school, and the students and staff watching his every move.

With the world now knowing Parker’s identity, legal trouble had found its way to Parker, his aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and friend Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Daredevil’s Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) had a surprise appearance as Parker’s attorney, leaving fans speechless as well as cheerful and excited for Murdock’s newfound role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  

Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige, confirms Cox will be returning as Daredevil in future MCU projects.

 “If you were to see Daredevil in upcoming things, Charlie Cox, yes, would be the actor playing Daredevil. Where we see that, how we see that, when we see that, remains to be seen,” Feige stated.

With Murdock’s appearance, the famous line fans adored so much came. As Parker was speaking to Murdock, a protester outside of Parker’s apartment had thrown a brick into the window which Murdock caught with his left hand having senses similar to Parker’s. With Murdock having caught the brick, Parker asked how he was able to catch it, to which Murdock replied with, “I’m a really good lawyer.” Fans absolutely adored this line and have created many jokes and memes associated with it.

Initially, Parker had trouble with his identity being revealed from paparazzi at his school to people vandalizing his suit but was ready to accept the consequences until his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) were prevented from getting into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because of his actions. Parker immediately attempts to fix everything for his friends. This entire segment of the movie, and the movie as a whole, accurately depicts Peter Parker’s selflessness by showing how he would do anything for anyone he cares about other than himself.

After his revelation, Parker goes to Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in hope of Strange’s help to have all citizens of New York forget the identity of Spider-man. Strange, having lost his title of “Sorcerer Supreme” due to the 2018 blip shown in “Avengers: Infinity War,” refuses Parker at first, thinking there wasn’t anything he could do to help without his title, and knowing that Wong (Benedict Wong) would not help him.

Before Parker is able to leave, Strange then remembers another way he can help without the title of ‘Sorcerer Supreme.’ He then leads Parker into a basement, later revealed to be Strange’s crypt, where Strange begins a spell involving an ancient mystical device known as the Machina de Kadavus. The relic would be able to perform a memory wiping spell, so that everyone, including Parker’s loved ones, would forget who Peter Parker is. This does not sit well with Parker and asks Strange to have it so that certain people could remember who he was. Strange does, rewriting the spell time after time as Peter lists all the people he would like to remember him as Spider-Man. The spell was rewritten a total of six times before backfiring and unknowingly opening the multiverse.

Read Part 2 https://ethic-news.org/2022/02/17/act-2-marvel-takes-first-step-into-multiverse-with-spider-man-no-way-home/ and Part 3 here https://ethic-news.org/2022/02/17/act-3-marvel-takes-first-step-into-multiverse-with-spider-man-no-way-home/

By NATHAN DENNIS  

Content warning: Explicit language in song title 

New York’s legendary hip-hop icons, Havoc, from the Queensbridge Rap duo Mobb Deep, and Styles P, from the Yonkers Rap group “The LOX”, team up as a super group to deliver their self titled collaborative album “Wreckage Manner” on Dec. 3, 2021.  The album Wreckage Manner consists of 10 tracks with a length of 31 minutes, entirely produced by Havoc. The collaborative album is accessible on all streaming platforms and has been labeled with the Parental Advisory sticker by the Recording Industry Association of America because of the explicit content on the album. 

The collaborative album consists of the tracks: 

1.  F— Around 
2.  Move How We Wanna 
3.  Fiend For 
4.  Pay Me In Cash 
5.  21 Gun Salute 
6.  YO 2 QB 
7.  Havoc and The Ghost 
8.  Good As Gold
9.  Hymn to Him 
10.  Nightmares 2 Dreams  

The album’s lead single “Nightmares 2 Dreams” was released Nov. 18, 2021 and an official music video was released on YouTube on the same date as the album. Both rapper’s Havoc and Styles P reminisce about their journey from transitioning from street life into the music industry over snare, a hypnotic piano loop and patterned drums. 

On Jan. 22, Clockwork Music and Addictive Affairs present a one night only concert at Revolution Live featuring Havoc of Mobb Deep with Big Noyd and DJ L.E.S., Styles P of “The LOX”, Kool G Rap and special guest performance from Termanology. This is Havoc and Styles P’s first performance of their collaboration album “Wreckage Manner.” 

Havoc and Styles P have been interviewed as a collective with Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM on Jan. 24 and the podcast Drink Champs under Revolt on Feb. 5, speaking about their life experiences, their careers in their respectable groups and their collaborative project. 

Havoc says, “One day I just woke up, I wanted to do a project with one of my favorite artists, Styles P was at the top of that list, you know what I’m sayin’, so I text him up, I hit him up, he was with it, sent him some music and we just did the thing.” 

Styles P says, “Wreckage synonym for havoc and manner is synonym for styles and we felt you know, we was bringing what we was bringing, but we was bringing it in a different way and respect to our respective groups LOX and Mobb Deep. He’s a member of the Mobb and I’m a member of the LOX. We’re gonna to give you that, but it was in a manner we was gonna do it and we felt like it was gonna be real accurate hip-hop that gives you a wreckage feeling, but with grace and style.” 

By EMMITT MURPHY

Warning: This article may contain some spoilers.

“Hawkeye,” the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), premiered on Disney+ on Nov. 24. The mini series follows Clint Barton, played by Jeremy Renner, as he confronts the enemies he made during the five year gap between “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” as Ronin. The show will also be the debut of the second Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, played by Hailee Steinfeld.

The show takes inspiration from the 2013 comic book “Hawkeye” written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by David Aja. The book follows the Hawkeyes as they go through their day to day lives, whether that be taking down an underground Russian mob, hijacking a high society auction to steal back a stolen S.H.I.E.L.D tape, or just helping a dog who got hit by a car.

Many elements from the book are transferred from the comics such as the tracksuit mafia, the aforementioned Russian mob that are the main antagonists of the comic. The tracksuit mafia are hellbent throughout the story to eliminate Clint Barton after he constantly caused them a problem, like when he forced them to sell him a building after they threatened to harm their tenants or how he saved one of the mafia’s runaway wife trying to escape.

In the show, the tracksuit mafia are connected to Clint through his Ronin persona, where it is revealed that they were one of the criminal organizations that Clint attacked during his time as Ronin. The most prominent deviation from the comic is that the tracksuit  mafia is led by the deaf assassin, Echo. 

Echo was first introduced in “Daredevil #9” (Dec. 1999) where she was shown to be raised by Wilson Fisk after her father was murdered by him. She was originally set to take out Daredevil until she found out he was Matt Murdock, who she was in love with. After Matt told her the truth about Fisk, she confronted Fisk and fatally wounded him.

Her backstory in the show is similar to the comics. The main deviation is that her father in the show was the leader of the tracksuit mafia before being wiped out by Ronin. It is still up in the air on whether Fisk is involved in Echo’s origin, but his appearance has been hinted at with the unnamed Uncle character who was referenced by Kazi who is speculated to be Wilson Fisk.

Speaking of Kazi, he has so far only been a sign language interpreter for Echo, but in the comics Kazi is the mercenary who deafens Clint Barton. Originally from a Russian circus family, Kazi moved to America as a boy when his family was tragically murdered in an armed conflict. As a mercenary he worked for countless crime syndicates before making a deal with the tracksuit mafia to hunt down Clint Barton. 

There are also a select number of characters being taken from the comics alongside Echo, the most prominent being the second Hawkeye: Kate Bishop. Kate Bishop first appeared in “Young Avengers #1” (April. 2005) and took up the title of Hawkeye in issue #12. In the comics, Kate is the understudy of Clint Barton but seems just, if not more, capable than him, displaying superior confidence and archery.

In the show, Kate Bishop is portrayed as a more hotshot archer who is in over her head in most situations and needs Barton as a mentor. Kate’s addition to the universe also grows the ever expanding roster of underage heroes in the MCU, possibly building up to the Young Avengers in later installments into the universe.

Of course, not every storyline and plot point from the comics will be adapted into the show, but it is likely that the ones listed above will be adapted into the series, and with the rumors of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk returning, the series may add to the universe in a greater way than expected. 

By ELLA FITZPATRICK

Warning: Mild spoilers for the 2021 film ‘Dune’ (PG-13) ahead.

The latest —and highly anticipated — adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science-fiction epic Dune (1965) is an extraordinary film. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, a French-Canadian director and writer best known for his work in “Blade Runner 2049” and “Interstellar,” excels in capturing a new perspective of the novel on screen while not altering the plot enough to change the story.

The storyline

The story centers around Paul Atredies, the son of a noble family, taking a precarious and emotionally charged journey from his home planet, Cardan, to the unforgiving desert planet of Arrakis in the year 10,191.

To ensure the safety and security of his people, Duke Leto, Paul’s father, is tasked with cultivating the planet’s well-known resource: spice. Also known as melange, spice is a hallucinogenic drug that promises long life, heightened awareness and other medicinal properties, making it one of the most desired commodities in the galaxy.

However, others such as the Harkonnens, a rival noble family, want this wealth. During the Harkonnens siege against the Attredies house, Paul and his mother Jessica, find themselves stranded in the formidable desert where they must evade the beasts that swim beneath the sand as well as buried secrets about their pasts that will determine their futures.

The artwork depicts a scene from the movie ‘Dune’ where the main protagonist, Paul Atredies, and his mother, Lady Jessica, are escaping a sandworm while stranded in the hot deserts of Arrakis.  (Artwork by Alicia Gullon)

Previous movie adaptations

There have been many attempts to adapt Herbert’s novel, but they came with little success. In 1971, producer Arthur P. Jacobs bought the rights to produce the movie, who then asked Alejandro Jodorowsky to direct the film. Ultimately the movie was never made due to the lack of funding when the project billowed out to a whopping 10-14 hour film.

David Lynch, an American filmmaker and musician, then took the role of directing the first official adaptation of the novel, released in 1984. However, Lynch’s film failed to convey the original story Herbert wrote and upset a large proportion of the intended audience. According to IndieWire, the movie was so hated that Lynch publicly disowned his work as not to let it define his career.

The influence of history on “Dune”

“Dune” is the first novel in a 15 book series, six of which Herbert wrote before he died in 1986,  and the authorship went to his son Brian Herbert. Written in the 1960s, Herbert drew on real-life history to develop his story including the Cold War, Middle Eastern oil politics, Russian Imperialism and environmental movements in the United States.

The conflict between the House Atreides and Harkonnens mirrors the clashes between Imperialist Russia and Middle Eastern territories during the 1900s.

 According to Thomas Chi, in his book “Petroleum Oil on Dune by Frank Herbert,” the character Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is written to be similar to Vladimir Ilch Lenin, a politician who, after the fall of the Romanov Dynasty, became a founder of the Russian Communist Party in 1917.

Their names further link the similarity that they both sought to gain large control of industries. The Baron sought to regain control of  the spice production on Arrakis, so he invaded the Atreides house. And Lenin wanted territory, power, and influence against his English rivals, so his attempts to gain said things involved invading the Middle East to gain a resource that the world depends on — oil.

Significance of culture and religion

Herbert also incorporated Islamic and other Middle Eastern cultures into the “Dune” universe through the religion of the Fremen: a group of Arrakis natives who follow the fictional religion Zensunni—a portmanteau of Zen Buddhism and Sunni Islam.

Middle Eastern influence is also seen in the languages Herbert created when he refers to Paul using  words with Arabic undertones including  “Usul,”  “Muad’Dib,” “Lisan al-Gaib”  and “Kwisatz Haderach.”

The Catholic Church is also referenced in the religion of the Bene Gesserit: a religion composed of women who interfere in intergalactic politics to further their own agenda by using genetic experimentation to help direct humanity on a path to enlightenment. The Bene Gesserit have elder leaders known as Reverend Mothers,  which, like in Catholicism, are Mother Superiors among the group of women.  

The ecology in “Dune”

The parallels of real world history within “Dune” are undeniable, especially in Villeneuve’s movie. As a novel heavily influenced by the role humans have over ecology, Villeneuve’s choice to film in Abu Dhabi and Jordan — Middle Eastern territories — gives the audience a true landscape of Arrakis than any green screen could. It also allows for more interpretation of a main point in Herbert’s novel: should humans hold the power to manipulate entire ecosystems for their benefit?

For an inhabitant of Arrakis to survive, they would need a stillsuit — a full body suit worn in the open desert and designed to preserve and reuse the body’s moisture for the wearer to drink. On a planet with no known water resources — excluding dew — water is seen as a form of wealth among the population.

To help monitor these harsh conditions, Dr. Liet Kynes, a planetary ecologist was sent by the Padishah Emperor—the highest governmental power within the Imperium. While Kyne’s initial role was to serve the Imperium as liaison, her allegiance alternated to the Fremen who worked with her to solve the water and environmental crises that they faced. Even after she died, Paul sought to carry on her legacy of altering the ecosystem to benefit the Fremen, a controversial action in the book and in real life.

Representation in cast

Kyne’s character serves as a representation of gender and ethnic roles within the movie. In the book, Kynes was originally a white man and was even portrayed this way by Karel Dobrý  in the 1984 movie. However, in Villeneuve’s “Dune,” Kynes is played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster, a Black British actress.

The rest of the cast consists of extraordinary and well-renowned actresses and actors including Zendaya as Chani Kynes, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atredies, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Issac as Leto Atreides, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Javier Bardem as Stilgard, David Bautista as Glossu, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat.

The cast of ‘Dune’ features representation of genders and ethnicities, but lacks the Middle Eastern representation seen in Herbert’s novel. This potentially feeds the idea that “Dune” is a white savior narrative with cultural appropriation. Considering where the movie took place, it is hard to imagine that Villeneuve was unable to incorporate this. However, these are not the only holes that Villeneuve failed to incorporate. Yet, he will have the opportunity to fill these minor story gaps in “Dune: Part Two,” set to release in 2023.

The film’s immersive score

It is not just the filming locations that bring the audience closer to the story of Dune. Hans Zimmer, a German film score composer best known for his work “No Time to Die,” “Interstellar” and “Inception,” brings a landscape of immersive music to the film. Untraditional sound techniques such as throat singing, non repetitive drum rhythms, war horns, scraping metal, bagpipes, electric instruments and haunting female vocals — which, according to Variety, are to represent the Bene Gesserit order — all play a role in conjuring the disorienting sounds of “Dune.”  

With the unorthodox use of unnatural instruments to create music and sounds, Zimmer’s music transports viewers into an otherworldly experience. It connects the audience with the hallucinogenic effects of spice and other unsettling psychological aspects of the film.

While there have been failed attempts, Villeneuve’s “Dune” is a cinematic masterpiece. By incorporating the ecological, spiritual, political and psychological aspects of the late novel, Villeneuve almost accurately creates the world that readers of “Dune” have envisioned and waited 56 years for.

By NADIA CENICEROS

Adele’s last album, “25”, was released in 2015 and she later went on a 6 year hiatus until now. On Oct. 14,  2021, Adele released “Easy On Me,” along with a music video. She later stated she is releasing a new album, “30”, on Nov. 19, 2021. The album has 12 songs, lasting 58 minutes.  The album can be streamed on all music platforms.

The songs in the album include:

1. Strangers by Nature
2. My Little Love
3. Oh My God
4. Can I Get It
5. I Drink Wine
6. All Night Parking (with Erroll Garner) Interlude
7. Women Like Me
8. Hold On
9. To Be Loved
10. Love Is a Game

Adele had a ‘One Night Only Concert’ on Nov. 14 where she performed 10 songs at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. She performed six songs that were from her past albums, along with four songs from her new album including ‘Easy on Me’. 

The concert audience included celebrities like Lizzo and Melissa Mcathy and people who managed to get tickets. This was her first concert since 2017. 

She had damaged her vocal cords causing her to cancel her last two shows, according to USA Today. This caused a huge break in the singer’s career. 

Adele has also announced that she will be doing a Las Vegas concert residency. It is set to start on Jan. 21 and end on April 16 2022, where she will perform two shows a weekend.

Taken on Nov. 18 2021, a day before the release on Nov.19 2021 at a local Target, Adele Vinyls and cassettes being sold and purchased. (NADIA CENICEROS/ Ethic News photo)

Before the album was released, Target had released the vinyl and cassette player the day before release date. Fans were able to purchase them before the album was supposed to be released. 

Only three days after the album was released, the album has become the best selling album in the US in 2021. The album stayed the top of the Billboard Music Charts for several weeks, selling over 1 million copies.

The album is about her divorce with Simon Konecki. “The estranged couple originally separated in April 2019, before Adele officially filed for divorce in Sept. 2019,” according to Vanity Fair. The songs relate to how the divore happened and how she felt during it. The songs also involve her son Angelo Adkins. Angelo was six at the time of the divorce. 

By Salvador Barrera

“Squid Game,” a television series on Netflix, has become a worldwide phenomenon in the blink of an eye. The show poses the question: how much are you willing to sacrifice for a chance at salvation? “Squid Game” boiled down to its core, demonstrating how much humanity is willing to sacrifice for hope.  

Salvador Barrera poses with a card that is seen frequently in the show. (Bella Espinosa/Ethic News photo)

The series starts with Gi-Hun in poverty and needs money to regain custody of his daughter after. As the show progresses, he meets a man who offers him a chance to participate in Squid Games where he gambles his life for money. He competes in children’s games and as he continues in the games, he becomes desensitized to the death of others. By the end of the series, a man is willing to persevere and not succumb to the death that longs for him. 

This series is a masterpiece in its own way. However, it leaves much more to be desired as many plot holes need to be addressed in the new season, such as what happens to Gi-Hun’s daughter and how do the organizers of Squid Games get gamemasters to host the games. 

Although many questions arise, “Squid Game” gives a thorough explanation for the current events in the story, such as the backstories of each of the main characters and the shock that the old man has a dark realization that everything is not as it seems.

Yet, the show identifies the different plot points well. The show depicts how every contestant has a life outside of the games and their different motives for wanting to win the prize. The cash prize is the incentive for the contestants since they are all currently in poverty. Despite the different plot points, the show finds a way to connect this to the main idea that all the contestants have to play. 

It successfully brings attention to the hardships that many have to endure and how they see no other way out of their pain and struggle besides the games. 

Although the contestants are faced with the reality that they can quit the games, they decline and put their life on the line for a glimpse of hope. 

Many critics of “Squid Game” say that it is too gory and insensitive to audiences. However, the show uses an adequate amount of horror to hook the audience in and keep them on the edge of their seats. It is not made for children, it was made for people seeking the truth of humanity with evil and people should expect this as they watch it.