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Despite his disappointing experience with «The New Mutants,» Jon Hamm still wants to find a home within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Speaking to Screen Rant in late 2023, the former «Mad Men» star discussed how he’d still love to bring one of Marvel’s characters to life. «Hopefully, whatever their plans are, they include me,» Hamm said. «But if not, I know that they have a pretty deep bench of folks that are ready to be a part of those stories.»

Hamm already has ideas about who he’d like to portray and has name-dropped one big bad in particular who regularly causes major issues in the comics. «There are certainly a lot of stories in the ‘X-Men’ world to be told. ‘Fantastic Four’ as well, [like] Doctor Doom,» Hamm said. «There are so many great things out there. But yeah, I hope I get a chance. Who knows?»

The ruler of Latveria hasn’t yet been scheduled to arrive in the MCU, and Kang is still expected to try and conquer the universe in future films despite Jonathan Majors being dropped from the role. In fact, one of the first names rumored to be Majors’ replacement is «The Color Purple» star Colman Domingo, who, like Hamm, has expressed interest in being a villain before. If that slot gets filled as the Marvel Studios ship steadies itself once again, Hamm would be an excellent choice for Mr. Sinister, Doom, or, frankly, anyone who needs to look good in a cape or suit.

Harve Bennett was no stranger to making «Star Trek» features by the time «Star Trek V: The Final Frontier» came along since he joined the film franchise as a producer on 1982’s «Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.» Despite shepherding three «Star Trek» movies before «Star Trek V,» Bennett found his experience no match for the clout William Shatner earned as the star of the classic TV-turned-film series. As such, the storyline — where Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) Vulcan half-brother, Sybok (Laurence Luckebill), takes hostages in a ploy to use the Enterprise in his search for God — stayed intact.

«He wanted to do it, so after much aggravation, I said, ‘All right, we’re going to go find God, but we’re going to make it the best trip we possibly can!’» Bennett told Star Trek Explorer. He thought the film, which was Shatner’s feature directorial debut, was a good trip but not a strong «Star Trek» story. «It was doomed by its premise,» Bennett said. «I learned long ago, if it ain’t in the premise, it ain’t there, but Bill felt if we worked hard enough and dazzled them with enough stuff, we could do it, and I don’t think we pulled that off … I think a faulty premise results in a flawed picture.»

Despite a solid tally for «Star Trek V» at the worldwide box office — it earned $70.2 million against a $30 million budget — it wasn’t enough for Shatner to return to the director’s chair for the next «Star Trek» film. Instead, 1991’s «Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country» was directed by Nicholas Meyer.

The Tin Man from the film version of «The Wizard of Oz» doesn’t go into graphic detail about how he lost his flesh and bones, but it isn’t smooth sailing for him, either. The character was riddled with issues when the film was made more than 85 years ago. Actor Buddy Ebsen was originally cast for the role, but the pure aluminum dust in his silver makeup landed him in the hospital — breathing with the assistance of an oxygen tent — for weeks. Even after the makeup artists changed their approach to applying silver makeup to reduce their odds of poisoning actors, Ebsen’s replacement Jack Haley still developed a serious eye infection from the makeup.

In addition, the oil used to loosen up the Tin Man’s stiff joints was actually chocolate. In the book «The Wizardry of Oz,» Haley explained, «The oil Ray Bolger squirted at me, to loosen up my joints, was not oil but chocolate syrup. They squirted chocolate in my face, because the oil wouldn’t photograph right, but chocolate will.»  

The heavy makeup caused one other casualty. While they were stars of a major Hollywood production, the actors who played Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion were ultimately forbidden to eat meals inside MGM’s commissary with the rest of the cast. The «ban» came after other diners complained that the adhesives left on their faces after they removed what they could of their costumes looked like hanging globs of mucus. In a 1939 interview, Bolger admitted they were «too much of a sight» so the trio ate in a little room off the studio lot.

After feeling like she was never good enough due to constant rejection as an actress, Taylor Dooley met Justin Cassotta who, seemingly at first, fell head over heels for her exactly as she was. Despite a 11-year age gap between the two (Dooley was 19, Cassotta 30), they tied the knot in 2016 and welcomed two children. However, the relationship was mentally and emotionally abusive for Dooley, who shared on «Vulnerable» that she was often gaslighted by Cassotta.

Whenever Dooley tried to tell Cassotta that he couldn’t yell at her, he made her question her mental sanity. «I’d go, ‘Well, I’m not crazy, this actually happened.’ He’d go, ‘No, I didn’t say that. You took it that way because you have issues,’ and I’d go, ‘Oh, okay,’» Dooley said, adding that all of this felt normal because of what she went through in the business as a kid.

Things began to change after Dooley became a mother, as she worried how Cassotta would be around the kids. Dooley suggested they attend therapy, but her husband wasn’t having it. «He said, ‘You’re crazy and everything you’re saying is a lie and I’m leaving.’» It was a difficult time for Dooley, who still thought that they could make it work. Yet after some time, she realized how abusive her relationship truly was, and that a divorce in 2021 was for the best.

The December 2023 release of «Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom» served as the final flick in the DCEU. Now, all eyes are on the James Gunn-directed «Superman: Legacy,» which is set to formally launch an interconnected universe in 2025. With the so-called «Snyderverse» over, it seems like fans can now (bitterly) say goodbye to the prospect of a director’s cut of «Suicide Squad.» The film’s theatrical cut emerged as a box office success, grossing over $745 million worldwide in 2016, when the momentum for the DC franchise was at an all-time high. Despite stellar box office receipts, the movie was maligned by critics and fans alike, with significant criticism hurled at the film’s choppy editing, loose narrative, and over-indulgent use of pop songs. 

Since that version’s release, Ayer has publicly discussed how his iteration was drastically different. Some notable differences include more of Jared Leto’s Joker and a radically different tone, which was less reliant on comedy. A 2016 report from The Hollywood Reporter, released days before the film’s release, revealed that Warner Bros. had several competing cuts of «Suicide Squad,» taking the final cut privilege away from Ayer. 

Because of the response that «Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice» received, Warner Bros. was insistent that «Suicide Squad» feature a lighter, more crowd-pleasing tone that ultimately didn’t work out. The studio event went ahead and commissioned a cut of the film edited by Trailer Park, the folks who edited the film’s trailer. 

Since they became fair game for Marvel Studios to use, the X-Men have slowly been brought into the MCU fold. Versions of such iconic mutants as Professor Charles Xavier (Sir Patrick Stewart), the aforementioned Beast, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) from across the Multiverse are now in the MCU, but fans have yet to see a proper X-Men movie. It stands to reason that the team and its corner of the Marvel Universe will receive a proper MCU feature soon. If it were to be offered up to her, DaCosta knows one major story element she’d like to cover.

During an appearance on Jake’s Takes, DaCosta discussed one of her ideal cinematic X-Men stories. «I really like Scott Summers and Storm together and their dynamic fighting over who should lead the X-Men, like in the Chris Claremont run,» she said. The director sees a lot of potential in a Cyclops and Storm team-up film at the movies, which would be a refreshing change of pace from 20th Century Fox’s Professor X and Wolverine-heavy «X-Men» saga.

Hopefully, someday, DaCosta will get the opportunity to bring her friendly Cyclops and Storm rivalry to the big screen under the Marvel Studios banner, expanding on her work with the X-Men in «The Marvels.»

Perhaps the biggest reason Leonard Nimoy refused «Star Trek: Generations» was that he could not get Paramount Pictures to agree to get a rewrite of the script. According to «Generations» producer Rick Berman, who started his work on the «Star Trek» franchise with the project, Nimoy was unhappy with the film’s script from the get-go. Recalling his work on the film, Berman said Paramount head Sherry Lansing told him to get Nimoy to direct the film. However, any bid for further work on the existing script was a non-starter.

«It had gone through a lot of rewrites and the studio loved it and they basically felt it was a shooting script,» Berman said in «The Fifty-Year Mission.» «When Leonard read it, he said, ‘This needs a page-one rewrite.’ I told him that that was not the way we were planning to do this and that’s not the way it was scheduled, and we parted ways.» The film was eventually directed by David Carson, whose work included four episodes of «Star Trek: The Next Generation.»

Berman admitted that, in retrospect, he wished he had done things differently and Nimoy should have had a chance to do something with the script. «I was not experienced enough to actually know that,» the producer said. «If he had suggested that he wanted to work on the script it would have been one thing, but he kind of had a page-one rewrite sort of attitude.»

Although he didn’t get to direct «Generations» or tweak its script, Nimoy had a chance to pass Spock’s torch to fellow actor Zachary Quinto in director J.J. Abrams’ «Star Trek» reboot in 2009.

In addition to movies, many books have entered the public domain beyond «The House at Pooh Corner.» One such example is «Lady Chatterley’s Lover» by D.H. Lawrence, which tells a scandalous tale of an upper-class woman beginning an affair with a lower-class man after her husband sustains an injury. The book was even banned in the United States after publication due to obscenity, but it’s remained in the cultural zeitgeist, even receiving a Netflix adaptation in 2022 starring Emma Corrin, best known for playing Princess Diana on «The Crown.»

Other books that now fall in the public domain include «All Quiet on the Western Front» by Erich Maria Remarque, «Dark Princess» by W.E.B. Du Bois, and «Orlando» by Virginia Woolf.» That last work is of particular note, as it tells the story of a nobleman spanning several centuries who one day awakens to discover he is now a woman and must learn to navigate the world with new gender roles and expectations. As society at large starts unraveling what gender truly means in the modern day, «Orlando» feels more essential than ever before. Now that it’s in the public domain, the book is easier for people to read it and, hopefully, get something valuable from it.

In «The Trial of Dagobah,» Yoda goes on a hunting trip on Dagobah after running low on food in his hovel. Upon his arrival at the valley where he hunts, the narrator mentions that Yoda won’t use his lightsaber for such a simple task and doesn’t even have it on him. «In any case,» we’re then told, «he resolved long ago he would never wield another lightsaber. As part of his penance. For the hubris that led to the fall of his order. For the blindness that led to his exile. For the shame of knowing that the consequences of that failure even now continue to plague the galaxy. No, he will not swing a Jedi’s lambent blade again.»

It’s a pretty brutal moment. Clearly, Yoda is still living with immense guilt, even nearly two decades after the rise of the Empire (the comic takes place on the same day Luke Skywalker lands on Dagobah). On his way home, he falls into a pit and is pinned down by rubble. «Oh, Yoda. Foolish you are,» he thinks to himself. «If had a lightsaber you did, cut yourself out of this predicament you could.» In this moment, though, he doesn’t give into despair, ultimately realizing that his shame and grief have held him back from the Force. «A true Jedi is never in need of a lightsaber,» the narrator says as Yoda calls on the power around him to escape. «Not when the Force is his ally.»

The feud between David Prowse and George Lucas can be traced back to the original Star Wars movie. During filming, Prowse delivered all of Darth Vader’s lines himself. In a 2016 interview with Film Fad, he admitted that he knew his dialogue would have to be dubbed over due to the constraints of the costume, but he assumed he would be the one to do it. Instead, Lucas chose to cast James Earl Jones, which Prowse attributed to the studio not wanting to pay to fly him out to America for recording.

There are many stories of Prowse and Lucas colliding after the first film was released. The actor mentioned the possibility of Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker’s father at a 1978 fan event, which took place before a script for «The Empire Strikes Back» had been properly written. Prowse later claimed it was simply speculation, but rumors hold that Lucas was very upset at the suggestion. Perhaps not coincidentally, Prowse didn’t show his face in «Return of the Jedi» in the scene where Luke removes Vader’s helmet. Instead, Sebastian Shaw portrayed the dying Anakin Skywalker. In an interview with Rockcellar Magazine, Prowse said this was because Shaw was a friend of Alec Guinness and needed work at the time, so the casting was essentially a favor. Still, some have theorized that Lucas had more vindictive intentions.

Despite transitioning from supporting roles to leading roles in the late 2000s with a string of successful films including «The Hangover» and «The A-Team,» Bradley Cooper still loves a good cameo, and «10 Cloverfield Lane» is just the tip of the iceberg. In 2015, Cooper briefly appeared in four episodes of «Limitless,» the follow-up TV series to his 2011 film of the same name.

But while the argument can be made that his involvement was necessary to connect those two projects, there’s less justification and more delight surrounding his cameo in Paramount Pictures’ «Dungeons and Dragons.» The 2023 fantasy adventure film sees Cooper transform into Marlamin, a halfling with a golden heart and a fondness for women twice his size. According to co-director Jon Francis Daley, he landed the A-lister in much the same way that J. J. Abrams did: by working well with him on a prior project.

«I did a show [in 2005] called «Kitchen Confidential» with Bradley that only lasted 13 episodes. We had so much fun on that show because the stakes were so low,» Daley told Variety. «[For ‘Dungeons and Dragons,] I sent him a letter saying like, ‘It’d be fun to play again.’ He had just seen the film. He called it a triumph … and he was like, ‘I’m on board. Sign me up.’» The moral of the story? Work with Bradley Cooper, become his friend, and he just might cameo in your future projects.

Confronted with the deleted «Star Trek Into Darkness» scene during an interview on «Conan» later that same year, Benedict Cumberbatch shared that he had spent quite a bit of time sculpting his physique before stepping into the on-set shower but clarified that he was not upset after J.J. Abrams informed him that it had been taken out due to a lack of cohesion. «I thought, ‘Oh, well, never mind.’ A lot of chicken I ate and a lot of other things and just a hell of a lot of working out, and that’s gone, but that’s fine. That’s how you roll when you’re doing movies,» he said.

The actor then suggested he felt slightly mortified when he first heard whisperings about Abrams’ May 2013 interview, relating, «Somebody said, ‘Do you know you’ve just been on Conan and you’ve been half naked in the shower scene?’ So I watched it, and I was like, ‘Damn it. Damn it. The man’s just sort of thrown me out there, under the bus.’» The host then had Cumberbatch watch the edited scene, making the actor appear uncomfortable.

One big flaw with this theory is the clear age difference between Kevin McCallister and Jigsaw. While the «Home Alone» movies never explicitly mention their timelines, we can assume that their stories occur in the early 1990s, when the first two films were released. In the first movie, Kevin is 8 years old, meaning he’d be a teenager in 2001, when «Saw» is presumably set — if the date on Lawrence Gordon’s (Cary Elwes) cellphone is anything to go by. Jigsaw is clearly a seasoned adult in the first «Saw,» so based on that, he can’t be the kid from «Home Alone.»

Despite this, James Wan got a kick out of this fan theory. While speaking to HuffPost, he said he loves it when people have fun with his movies, and he didn’t rule out the possibility of Kevin McCallister and Jigsaw being one and the same. «I should’ve known all along that Macaulay Culkin would grow up to be John Kramer,» he joked.

Still, it’s unsurprising that «Home Alone» has been connected to a gruesome horror franchise. After all, the family holiday favorite has seemingly inspired horror filmmakers for years, and it may also have been influenced by a spooky home invasion flick from the 1980s.

The BBFC’s «U» rating is most analogous to a «G» rating from the Motion Picture Association — a seal of approval that a film’s content is appropriate for very young children. In the United States, all three original Star Wars films received PG ratings from the MPA upon release, so it makes sense that they’d share the equivalent demarcation in the U.K.

These days, Star Wars is skewed more toward older kids. In 2005, «Revenge of the Sith» became the franchise’s first entry to get slapped with a PG-13 rating, and every live-action theatrical outing since has received the same. The main sticking point for the BBFC seemed to be the violence in «Return of the Jedi,» with their website detailing a laundry list of specific moments: «A man is repeatedly electrocuted and reacts in pain. A villain’s hand is cut off at the wrist; however, there is limited detail. A woman is fed to a fantastical creature. A man is thrown to his death.»

Again, the new PG rating fits how the film has always been viewed in the U.S. As the label suggests, it isn’t a hard rejection of children watching Star Wars, but simply an extra note for parents and guardians to consider before putting it on the TV.

It didn’t take long for Ben Shapiro’s quip to be ripped apart by the denizens of X. Writer-director Joe Russo posted a simple comparison of all of Kennedy’s successes compared to Shapiro’s. «Kathleen Kennedy: Indiana Jones, Poltergeist, ET, Gremlins, Back to the Future, The Goonies, Batteries Not Included, Who Framed Roger Rabbit Cape Fear, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Twister, Star Wars (and more),» Russo wrote. «Failed Screenwriter Ben Shapiro: Lady Ballers.»

Trolls like to ignore all the work Kennedy was a part of prior to the «Star Wars» sequels began: her eight Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, her co-founding of Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg, and her status as the third-highest-grossing producer ever at the global box office. They also ignore the fact that «The Force Awakens’ is the fifth-highest-grossing movie ever made, that «The Last Jedi» is number 20, or that «Rogue One» and «The Rise of Skywalker» are both in the top 50.

Shapiro himself famously failed in an attempted screenwriting career — something that X users were quick to point out. «If Ben Shapiro thinks Kathleen Kennedy is the worst entertainment executive of his lifetime, wait until he hears about Ben Shapiro,» @Dreamking89 wrote in a post. User @IronGiante echoed the sentiment, calling Shapiro a «failed little screenwriter who couldn’t even make it in Hollywood.»

As it turns out, the von Trapps lived a very comfortable life in the United States eventually, though they arrived without much money to their famous name. After settling in America in 1939, they took advantage of their considerable talent and performed across the country as the Trapp Family Singers. Despite a brief interval when their American visas expired and they had to head to Scandinavia to tour, the von Trapps soon returned to America for good, buying a home in Stowe, Vermont.

The family led a music camp on their estate, and Maria and the von Trapp children went on to become American citizens (though records indicate Georg never became a citizen himself). After quite a lengthy career as the Trapp Family Singers, they collectively decided to stop touring in 1955 — in part because many of the children had left the group. Georg died in 1947, but Maria lived 40 more years. Their biggest legacy beyond «The Sound of Music» may be that the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe is still operating as of this writing.