GoneTrending

For the past decade, Marvel has continuously pushed the limit on just how many A-list caped crusaders a studio can fit on a movie screen. In Endgame‘s final battle alone, over 30 of Earth’s mightiest heroes stood ready to lay down their lives in order to stop Thanos and restore order to the world. However, this raises the question of when will we see Marvel properties round-up a bunch of folks who don’t play nice together. While DC has their Suicide Squad and Sony’s X-Men tackled The Brotherhood of Mutants, outside of Hydra (which while an evil organization feels unfair to call a “supergroup”), Marvel movies haven’t created a formidable organization of villains — at least not yet.

On Sept. 24, Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage hits theaters, and based on the new trailer, what we know about the next Spider-Man film, and even the short Morbius trailer that dropped last year, it could mark the start of a multi-dimensional Spider-Man show-off against the most iconic super-villain group in comics: the Sinister Six.

Created in 1964, The Sinister Six are an organization of six supervillains that really don’t care for Spider-Man and all his do-goodery. In the first incarnation of the group (as well as in many of the versions that follow), Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, Sandman, and Vulture are the ones to band together and take on Spidey. However, several other of Peter Parker’s foes have played a part in Sinister Six, including Rhino, Green Goblin, Lizard, Morbius, and even Eddie Brock’s Venom.

So, what makes this all seem so likely? In the upcoming Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Alfred Molina is reprising his role as Doctor Octopus, and Jamie Foxx is returning as Electro, two major players in the Sinister Six. What makes this so unusual — and exciting — is that both of these actors worked in Sony movies by different directors, featuring different Peter Parkers, leading to speculation that a multiverse event is incoming. While this might seem farfetched, Marvel Studios already has an established multiverse (Earth-616 being the most commonly used and “normal” dimension) and is seemingly leaning harder into it with WandaVision and Doctor Strange 2: In the Multiverse of Madness, the latter of which is directed by first Spider-Man director Sam Rami.

Pretty interesting, right? It gets better!

Now, unlike Spider-Man, both Let There Be Carnage and Morbius (coming early 2022) have not been invited to the MCU Phase Four parties — but both trailers prove that might not matter. In the Morbius trailer, there are two huge indicators the movie takes place in the primary MCU: graffiti on a wall calling Spider-Man a murderer (which checks out with how Spider-Man: Far From Home ends), and an appearance by an incarcerated Vulture, reprised by Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Michael Keaton.

In the trailer for Let There Be Carnage, a parallel comes in the shape of The Daily Bugle — the in-comic newspaper Spider-Man is persecuted by and works for. You see, the version of the Daily Bugle we see looks identical to the one in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man series. In addition, the story shown in the newspaper in the trailer has the headline “Avengers Lose to Nightmare.” This could mean two interesting things: there is a universe where the Avengers lost, and we might see that universe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in which Nightmare is rumored to be a villain. Oh, and did we mention Sam Raimi is directing that? This man just keeps popping up.

While director Andy Serkis said, Venom is “unaware at this point of other characters like Spider-Man,” and the studio is treating his story very separately from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he also remarked there are “little things you can pick out of it.” This leads us to believe the connections exist and will be abundant in Let There Be Carnage, and man, we can’t wait to see them.

The Crime of the Century (HBO, 9:00pm) — Alex Gibney’s recent successes include skewering the botched pandemic response (which continues to disastrously reverberate) as well as Elizabeth Holmes and the Church of Scientology. He’s now taking aim at Big Pharma for a two-part HBO documentary called Crime of the Century. Tonight, Part 1 dives into how Purdue Pharma aggressively marketed OxyContin to get the highly profitable pill pushed through the FDA approvals for wide use without sufficient studies and evidence. The project also argues that this OxyContin-paved crisis made it much easier for even more dangerous prescription drugs to achieve the same results.

Running Wild With Bear Grylls (Nat Geo, 9:00pm) — Model and actress Cara Delevingne joins Bear to do the daredevil-in-nature thing.

9-1-1 (Fox, 8:00pm) — The gang just respond to sheer chaos after a mystery writer dies, and the entire city goes on the hunt for the author’s buried treasure.

9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox, 9:00pm) — Owen’s suddenly the prime suspect in the serial arsonist case while a fiery situation also plagues T.K. and Carlos.

Debris (NBC, 10:00pm) — Bryan’s past comes to light due to knowledge held by a woman affected by the Debris, which leads to Bryan working to confront his trauma.

Breeders (FX, 10:00pm) — Martin Freeman’s starring turn in this comedy enters the sophomore season with new parenting challenges. This week, a power outage strikes at As Jim and Jackie’s golden wedding anniversary party.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Jake Tapper, Billie Eilish

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Ewan McGregor, George Wallace, LuckyDaye Ft. Yebba

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Leslie Jones, X González, Weezer

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Tracee Ellis Ross, Paula Pell

The Late Late Show With James Corden — David Oyelowo, Maisie Peters

In case you missed these streaming picks:

Mythic Quest: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Two pandemic specials sustained viewers between seasons of Rob McElhenney’s workplace comedy, which shall see plenty of awkward maneuvering while the crew comes back to the office after you-know-what happened. In short, sometimes the bigger battle than the work itself is learning (and in this case, relearning) how to achieve harmony with one’s coworkers, but here’s great news: Snoop Dogg stops by this season to spread his feel-good… vibes.

Jupiter’s Legacy (Netflix series) — Kick-Ass and Kingsman creator Mark Millar is to thank for this epic superhero series, starring a heavily bearded Josh Duhamel as The Utopian. He’s the head of a superhero family that’s hoping to pass the torch to a new generation, but (no real surprise) things aren’t going well. Yes, this description does evoke shades of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible (on Amazon), but the vibe is less R-rated and also entertaining on its own merits. No spoilers here, but there are twists involved with this family’s ethics as heroes, and the show answers a lot of questions left open by Marvel Studios’ The Avengers with all of its collateral damage.

As Rudy Giuliani continues to face mounting legal problems including the recent raid on his apartment by federal investigators, two competing documentaries have been announced that will explore the downfall of the man who was once referred to as “America’s Mayor.” The first documentary is from Campfire Studios, the team behind the critically-acclaimed WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn for Hulu. That project will take a longer look at Giuliani’s career including his time in the 1980s as one of New York City’s top federal prosecutors. While we mostly know him as the shout-y guy leaking hair dye from his skull while pushing Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election, the Campfire doc will explore the almost forgotten time when Giuliani was legendary for his skills at bringing down mafia bosses.

The other doc will be a collaboration between MRC Non Fiction and Rolling Stone that takes a more recent look at Giuliani’s fall from grace. While lauded for his leadership in the aftermath of 9/11, Giuliani’s star began to fade as the terrorist attack became too large of a focus during his attempted runs at the Republican presidential nomination, and things didn’t improve as he continued to get sucked into the GOP’s orbit before becoming latched to Trump. Via Deadline:

“Rarely has a public figure in America fallen so far so fast in the public eye,” says Jason Fine, Rolling Stone’s Director Content Development. “As we’ve reported on Rudy’s downfall — his bizarre political maneuvering, shady business dealings, and now, being under criminal investigation by the same U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan that he once ran — we see his story as a parable for the dark forces that have shaped American politics.”

Of course, the most important part of any Rudy documentary is making sure to include his wild wine lady witness Mellissa Carrone. We’re guessing both docs will have a lengthy segment on the former dancer turned political “whistleblower.” You honestly can’t tell Giuliani’s story without her.

(Via Deadline)

Tucker Carlson has spent the last few weeks pushing some fear-mongering nonsense related to the Covid vaccine, but do the rest of his Fox News cohorts share that same irrational aversion to protecting themselves from the deadliest pandemic in our lifetime? Apparently not.

On Monday morning, just a day after the hashtag #TuckerVaxxed was shared around social media, the gang on Fox & Friends — Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade — used their airtime to reveal that all three of them have been vaccinated, and they’re pretty damn relieved about it. Carlson, who’s shared plenty of disinformation with his viewers (citing unconfirmed death tolls and encouraging his viewers to harass mask wearers), faced criticism from CNN medical advisor and analyst Jonathan Reiner for failing to be transparent about his own vaccination status. Reiner demanded to know if Carlson had actually been vaccinated, which would make his conspiracy-laden, anti-vax campaign on the network not only dangerous but hypocritical as well.

Carlson has yet to fess up about whether he got stabbed or not, but his colleagues at Fox News did this morning as Earhardt admitted all three Fox & Friends hosts had gotten the shot and were happier for it.

“I understand there are people that have vaccine hesitancy but we all three are vaccinated and I tell you when I got it it was like, ‘okay…relief,” Earhardt said on-air. Doocy agreed with her, adding that those who haven’t gotten the shot yet are the ones “in peril.” The trio was discussing recent CDC mitigation efforts focused on masking indoors and social distancing measures that may stay in place longer than we’d hoped, but the timing of this vaccination confession feels a little suspect considering all the heat Carlson got over the weekend. Does this signal a rift at Fox? Are the ultra-conservative, right-wing pundits at the news network actually advocating for wildly liberal concepts like “science” and “facts”?

Probably not. After all, Kilmeade was quick to point out that it was the individual’s choice of whether to receive the vaccine or not though all three seemed to suggest that if their viewers chose not to get the shot, they should expect to have to continue following mask mandates and social distancing policies. Still, even hinting at the possibility that their freedom to choose might come with consequences — and that it is probably safer and easier to just go ahead and get vaccinated already — is in stark contrast to the panic-peddling that Carlson seems to be doing on his own show.

While childcare challenges facing women in the workplace have come under the spotlight during the pandemic, the issue isn’t new. As one of the only nations in the world without guaranteed paid parental leave as well as one without broadly subsidized childcare, parents often have to weigh childcare costs with their earnings and make tough choices between work and family.

In academia, where graduate students are working toward a career but aren’t fully into one yet, figuring out how to balance family and studies on a limited income is also a challenge, which is why one MIT professor’s photo of an addition to his lab has people cheering.

Troy Littleton, professor of biology at MIT, shared a photo of a portable crib squeezed in between a desk and a cabinet and wrote:

---

“My favorite new equipment purchase for the lab – a travel crib to go in my office so my graduate student can bring her 9-month old little girl to work when necessary and I get to play with her while her mom gets some work done. Win-win!!”

My favorite new equipment purchase for the lab – a travel crib to go in my office so my graduate student can bring… https://t.co/y67A78h6ei

— Troy Littleton (@JTroyLittleton)
1620417958.0

A flood of comments praising the professor poured in, as people shared how their own professors or bosses had similarly supported them and their children.

@heatherfarmer__ @JTroyLittleton Mine did the same! And got slightly annoyed when we found daycare. 🙂

— Dr Hanne (not that type of doctor – no seriously) (@StandingHannah)
1620470113.0

The praise reinforced the fact that pursuing a profession and building a family are not mutually exclusive endeavors and that creating ways to help parents—especially mothers, who tend to be the primary caregivers during the earliest years of a child’s life—balance both things is a valuable move. While bringing a baby to work wouldn’t work under all circumstances, allowing for the option when it can work can make all the difference in the world.

@Dr_Perreault @JTroyLittleton It takes a village to raise a baby!! 💪🏻💪🏻

— Jules (@juliakaplun)
1620491280.0

Interestingly, sprinkled throughout the comments of praise were comments of befuddlement from people outside of the U.S. Questions like “Don’t you have paid leave when you have a baby?” and “You mean there aren’t free childcare facilities on-site?” from Europeans, Australians, etc. brought home the fact that this childcare/career conundrum is largely a uniquely American thing.

@ferruz_noelia @JTroyLittleton You’re not an American, are you??

(University-provided daycare at my university cos… https://t.co/HuMUFJBiGL

— la.donna.pietra (@ladonnapietra)
1620494526.0

Like many “feel good” stories of individuals stepping up to fill a hole where a social safety net should be, professor Littleton’s post almost seems a bit sad in light of these comments. It would be great if we could structure our systems to be more family-friendly as a matter of policy. At the same time, his offering a way for his student to continue her studies while taking care of her baby illustrates a sense of understanding and compassion our society needs more of.

Thank you, professor Littleton, for serving as an example and opening people’s minds to what is possible.

Dave Chappelle is all about the Texas life these days. He even decided to tour in the Lone Star State with Joe Rogan during a pandemic, a development that led to Chappelle contracting COVID, but the pair’s friendship doesn’t appear to have hit a similar bump at all. Rather, Chappelle stopped in for Friday’s edition of The Joe Rogan Experience (on Spotify), and they (naturally) shot the sh*t for over three hours.

In the process, the two chatted about Elon Musk’s (then-upcoming) controversial booking on SNL, but another nugget of interest surfaced: the (alleged) revelation that Chappelle used to purchase weed from Idris Elba, long before the Luther star became famous. Really, that’s exactly what Chappelle said: “Idris Elba, the famous actor, used to be a security guard at [comedy club] Caroline’s… I used to buy weed from him.”

This isn’t too hard to believe, right? Idris became quite the club guy, not only on the comedy front but while moving into DJ territory as well. If only one could have stopped the weed-fever dream that may have led to Turn Up Charlie on Netflix.

Meanwhile, format of the Rogan-Chappelle episode was as non-formatty as was to be expected. The rambling topics included life in post-Trump America, cancel culture, and the controversy over some of Chappelle’s old comedy specials that are now streaming on Netflix. “Everyone was saying that the specials were dated, because there were jokes in there that they considered transphobic,” Chappelle said. “I still don’t think those jokes are transphobic, I’m not gonna have that discussion but if I ever have to, boy I’m ready.”

Listen to the full Spotify episode below.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, one of social media’s most prevalent tropes was people encouraging each other to use the quarantine to finish their respective projects such as books, albums, or other heavy works. As it happens, it appears plenty of authors did just that; not only are there two books about Mac Miller coming out in the next year or so, but there are also books coming from Questlove, Dave Grohl, and more. Today, Simon and Schuster made another book available for pre-order: Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur by New Yorker writer Sheldon Pearce.

According to the promotional copy on the publisher’s website, Pearce interviewed “dozens” of people who knew Tupac in life, from the bold-faced marquee names to lesser-known individuals who interacted with the revolutionary rap icon. Pearce spoke to such individuals as Tupac’s high school drama teacher, one of his co-stars from a 1983 production of Raisin In The Sun, and one of his partners in a nonprofit devoted to nurturing young artists.

Changes is timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of ‘Pac’s death in 1996, and well as what would have been his 50th year of life. It’s due June 8, 2021 via Simon & Schuster and you can pre-order it here.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans should hear.

This week, TeaMarrr released her new song “Specific” with Duckwrth, Anthony Hamilton offered a new one with the assistance of Jermaine Dupri and Bren Joy‘s deluxe version of Twenites made it’s way to DSPs.

TeaMarrr — “Specific” Feat. Duckwrth

On TeaMarrr‘s latest release “Specific,” she tapped in with Duckwrth for the song and it’s a perfect match. “Specific” is the first single release off the Raedio singer’s forthcoming project.

Anthony Hamilton — “You Made A Fool Of Me”

Anthony Hamilton shared his new track “You Made A Fool Of Me,” with the help of Jermaine Dupri as he gears up for his next album. The song is reflective of a time when a woman betrayed Hamilton’s love by sneaking around with another man and every word is sung with depth and soul.

Bren Joy — Twenties (Deluxe)

Nashville singer Bren Joy kicked things up a notch this week with the deluxe version of Twenties. The Nashville talent recently held a YouTube live stream where he intimatley performed songs off the release at the city’s Brooklyn Bowl in preparation of his Bonnaroo performance this fall.

Inayah — “What Are We”

Inayah is questioning her friends with benefits status with her soulful single “What Are We,” and it’s accompanied by a nostalgic music video. “What Are We” is the follow-up to her first release of 2021, “Fallin” back in February.

Njomza — “Winter In Atlanta” Feat. Russ

Talented singer-songwriter Njomza’s forthcoming EP LIMBO was recently announced with a release date of June 18 and “Winter In Atlanta” featuring multi-platinum artist Russ is a first taste of what’s to come.

Emanuel — “Worldwide”

Motown‘s Emanuel has a new single, “Worldwide,” and it’s is a manifestation song. The R&B singer describes creating the song naturally in his basement. “During that time, we were really dreaming out loud in the way that we would talk about our futures and in the way that we were trying to summon this grand reality,” he revealed in a statement. “This song was really born from the deep want to take the music to the world.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Weeknd released After Hours back in 2019, but despite its age, the album continues to have a significant impact on popular music: Last week, a new Ariana Grande-featuring version of “Save Your Tears” found its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Now, on the chart dated May 15, the single remains in the No. 1 spot for a second consecutive week.

As a reminder, some trivia from when the song first topped the charts last week: “Save Your Tears” is the sixth No. 1 song for both The Weeknd and Grande, following “Can’t Feel My Face,” “The Hills,” “Starboy,” “Heartless,” and “Blinding Lights” for the former and “Thank U, Next,” “7 Rings,” “Stuck With U,” “Rain On Me,” and “Positions” for the latter. Also, After Hours the first album to yield three No. 1 singles since Drake’s Scorpion did so in 2018. Grande is also just the second artist with three No. 1 duets following Paul McCartney: Grande’s “Stuck With U” and “Rain On Me” are collaborations with Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, respectively.

Elsewhere on the chart, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s Silk Sonic single “Leave The Door Open” continues to hover around the top at No. 2, Billie Eilish’s “Your Power” premieres at No. 9, and The Kid Laroi and Miley’s Cyrus’ “Without You” rises to its new peak at No. 10.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

One of Hollywood’s biggest stars has cut ties with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Shortly after it was announced that NBC will not air the Golden Globes due to the HFPA’s lack of diversity, including not a single Black member, Deadline reported that Tom Cruise has “delivered back” his Golden Globe trophies. The actor won Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for Born on the Fourth of July, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Jerry Maguire, and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for Magnolia.

“Sources said this just happened, as the Golden Globes house of cards continues to crumble and NBC cancelled next year’s broadcast. Cruise becomes the latest star to speak out, including Netflix, Amazon, and NBC among others over the slow crawl the organization is making to reform its lack of diversity,” the Deadline report reads.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a small group of international journalists that decide the Golden Globes nominees and winners every year.

Scarlett Johansson has also spoken out against the HFPA, calling it an organization that “was legitimized by the likes of Harvey Weinstein to amass momentum for Academy recognition, and the industry followed suit. Unless there is necessary fundamental reform within the organization, I believe it is time that we take a step back from the HFPA and focus on the importance and strength of unity within our unions and the industry as a whole.” The Black Widow actress also said that she’s faced “sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment.”

(Via Deadline)