Save Us From Superheroes—Because They Can't Save Us
Superheroes are over, done with, dead. There, I said it. If I see one more lustrous cape, magic doodad, or chiseled hunk of a Chris, I’m gonna beg Thanos to keep snapping. Look, I love Black Panther, and Captain Marvel totally deserves her own movie. But, man, the story is played out. Some misunderstood dweeb…
Cantina Talk: Boba Fett Is Dead (Again)
Normally this time of year, fans are eagerly awaiting the December release of a new Star Wars movie. But with Episode IX not hitting theaters until the end of 2019, things are relatively quiet in the galaxy far, far away. But at least the news that is coming out is good: Composer John Williams is…
Assassin's Creed Odyssey Promises Romance—Then Locks It Away
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is not nearly as romantic as I'd been led to believe. Her name is Odessa, and, a few hours into Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, she's the first person in the entire world I can flirt with. A descendant of Odysseus, supposedly, she's on the island of Ithaca to visit his ruined palace, hoping…
Cantina Talk: Leia's Family Loves Episode IX, and a Rogue One Show Blasts Off
Who knew that the nearly two-year gap between Star Wars movies would see the space in fans’ hearts filled so completely by small-screen developments? Forget the multiplex—at least until December 2019, when Episode IX hits theaters—because a galaxy far, far away seems to be in your own home, or wherever you take your devices. (Or,…
All Your Questions About K-Pop, Answered
By now, you probably know what K-pop is. (Real quick if you don’t: It’s a genre of super sugary, upbeat pop music from South Korea.) But while the genre has been around since the mid-1990s, it’s seen a massive uptick in popularity stateside thanks, in part, to the massive popularity of groups like BTS. In…
Streaming Tightens Its Grip on the Golden Globes
It's time once again to turn on The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of culture, from box-office news to announcements about hot new trailers. In today's installment: Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon dominate the Golden Globes; Ryan Reynolds logs onto Reddit; and Spider-Man's next villain is no longer so mysterious. Golden Globetrotters…
Spider-Man Loses Its Web-Swinging Joy in an Overstuffed City
Spider-Man videogames and the digital open world grew up together, the latchkey children of modern gaming. After the genre-defining 2001 release of Grand Theft Auto 3, Treyarch's Spider-Man 2 (2004) was one of the next epochal titles to emphasize free roaming; while it functioned as an adaptation of the film of the same name, though,…
Is Today's True Crime Fascination Really About Justice?
Robert Durst. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. Adnan Syed. Michael Peterson. Brendan Dassey. Steven Avery. Any self-professed true crime fan worth their weight in luminol is undoubtedly familiar with not just these names but with the minute details of the crimes of which those individuals have been accused (wrongly or otherwise). While the genre is not new—its roots…
What We Like When We Like Eggs on Instagram
Five years ago, there was potato salad. Then there was half an onion, chicken nuggets, and now there's an egg. Eleven days ago, the anonymous Instagram account world_record_egg posted its first image, what appears to be a simple stock photo of a brown egg. (It might be hard-boiled, who’s to say?) “Let’s set a world…
How Do I (Safely) Use Dating Apps?
Click:on the Q: How Do I (Safely) Use Dating Apps? A: Happy Valentine’s Day! Welcome to the delightful (and sometimes horrifying) world of dating apps. Flirting from your phone can be fun, as well as alluringly convenient—make a match on your morning commute!—but it’s also work. It takes time and effort to sort through the…