Marvel's newest Darth Vader series opened with a huge twist for the Dark Lord of the Sith, as Vader was confronted by none other than his dead wife, Padme Amidala. But is this really Padme? And if so, how did she manage to survive and stay alive all the way up to the Original Trilogy era? Star Wars: Darth Vader #2 has the answer. Read on to learn the truth about Padme's return, but beware of spoilers ahead! [poilib element="accentDivider"] [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-big-reveal-in-darth-vader-1&captions=true"] This new series is set shortly after the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Having recently confronted Luke Skywalker and failed to turn him to the Dark Side, Vader is now obsessed with hunting down and punishing everyone who helped Luke remain hidden. So far, that journey has taken him from the Lars homestead on Tatooine to Padme's abandoned apartment on Coruscant to a planet called Vendaxa. It's there Vader was confronted by the sight of his wife at the end of issue #1, seemingly alive and well and definitely very angry. The sight of Padme awakens even greater feelings of turmoil and longing in Vader. However, it's not long before he and his new droid companion ZED-6-7 realize the truth. It's not Padme at all, but her former handmaiden Sabé. [caption id="attachment_2317129" align="aligncenter" width="927"] Art by Raffaele Ienco. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)[/caption] First introduced in The Phantom Menace (where she was played by a then-unknown Keira Knightly), Sabé is the most significant member of Queen Amidala's entourage of handmaidens. It was she who impersonated the Queen during the Battle of Naboo, and Sabé remained at her friend's side for years afterward as Padme transitioned from queen to senator. She last appeared in the 2019 novel Star Wars: Queen's Shadow, which revealed Sabé and bodyguard Captain Tonra went into hiding after the end of the Clone Wars to investigate the cause of Padme's death. This series appears to be picking up where Queen's Shadow left off. Vader convinces Sabé to accompany him on his quest, insisting she was betrayed by the Jedi and would have supported the Empire had she lived. After slaying a group of beasts and presiding over the burial of Sabé's dead soldiers, the two leave Vendaxa. Sabé reveals she and her team were able to steal video recordings from Padme's apartment on Coruscant. However, they were never able to penetrate the Imperial encryption protecting those recordings. That's where Vader comes in. Unfortunately for him, the encrypted recordings have been stashed away on Naboo. He's about to visit the very last place in the galaxy he wants to be. [caption id="attachment_2317130" align="aligncenter" width="938"] Art by Raffaele Ienco. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)[/caption] We can't imagine this unlikely alliance is going to end well for either character. It's probably only a matter of time before Sabé stumbles across Vader's true identity and role in Padme's death, at which point even C-3PO wouldn't be able to calculate the odds of her survival. As for Vader himself, this mission seems to be awakening painful memories he's spent two decades trying to keep buried. The goal with this series may well be to show how Vader began walking the path to redemption and reclaiming his Anakin Skywalker identity even before killing his master aboard the Death Star. This is hardly the only big development in the world of Star Wars comics this year. Marvel's relaunched Star Wars series revealed how Luke Skywalker's blue lightsaber was recovered on Cloud City and why Han Solo wasn't the only character to be frozen in carbonite. Meanwhile, the final issue of Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren shows how Ben Solo completed his journey to the Dark Side. We'll have the full scoop on that story later today. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/21/star-wars-the-clone-wars-season-7-premiere-review"] For more major Star Wars revelations, check out our breakdown of all the reveals in the Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker novelization, including the definitive answer to how Palpatine survived the events of return of the Jedi. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Song of the South will not be released on Disney+. Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger answered an audience question at an annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday about whether all Disney movies, including Song of the South, will eventually be on the service. Iger says they still plan to release older content to Disney+, but Song of the South will stay out. Iger said the film is "not appropriate in today’s world,” according to Deadline. Song of the South is set on a plantation in Georgia after the Civil War. Despite featuring the iconic "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" song and influencing the popular Splash Mountain ride at Disney's theme parks, the film has never been officially released for home use in North America. The film has been released unedited on VHS, Laserdisc and other formats in various European and Asian countries. Copies of those releases are widely available online. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/28/new-to-disney-plus-for-march-2020"] Controversial Disney movies like Dumbo (1941) have appeared on Disney+ with a disclaimer placed at the end of the film or TV show's summary. It reads, "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." People have complained that the disclaimer is not enough. Mashable cites a tweet that praises Warner Bros.' policy with their older cartoons, and how the different wording can go a long way. Every Disney theatrical short pre-60s, including ones that don't have any "outdated cultural depictions", have this message. There are even some cases where the disclaimer is posted on edited films. Fantasia, Three Little Pigs, and Santa's Workshop have had controversial content edited out but still feature the disclaimer that says "This program is presented as originally created." Then there are cases like Aladdin, a movie that has faced criticism from Arab-American groups since its release, according to The New York Times article It's Racist, But Hey, It's Disney. A song lyric was edited out of the opening scene of Aladdin after its blockbuster run in theaters. The lyric, "Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home" was changed to "Where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home." Aladdin does not feature the disclaimer in its Disney+ summary. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=movies-and-tv-shows-not-on-disney&captions=true"]

The disclaimer hasn't changed since Disney+ launched in November 2019. Actress Whoopi Goldberg was inducted into Disney's "Legends" club and expressed a desire for Song of the South to be released.

Goldberg said at the time, "I’m trying to find a way to get people to start having conversations about bringing Song of the South back, so we can talk about what it was and where it came from and why it came out."

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Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who wants to mention that if you Google "song of the south" then the full, unedited movie is available to legally watch for free on the first page of Google results.

Former NFL superstar Rob Gronkowski is headed to the WWE. He is reportedly set to make his professional wrestling debut on the March 20 episode of SmackDown on Fox. Gronkowski will also appear at WrestleMania 36 in Florida, but an insider told TheWrap that he will not compete at the event. Instead, his appearance will build hype towards a matchup set to take place sometime in the future. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/24/wwe-2k20-review"] The former New England Patriots tight end won three Super Bowls with the Pats before retiring nearly a year ago. After his retirement, Gronk served as an analyst on FOX NFL Sunday throughout the 2019 NFL season. Gronkowski will reportedly keep his role as a football analyst even after his professional wrestling career begins. Rumblings of Gronkowski's deal with the WWE first came out on Tuesday night's episode of WWE Backstage, where Ryan Satin said that Gronkowski was "close" to finalizing a deal with the league. The WWE is apparently hoping that Gronkowski's mainstream appeal will translate into more interest and revenue. For more on the WWE, check out IGN's recap of last year's WrestleMania 35. On the video game side, check out every IGN WWE game review, including our WWE 2K20 review, which we called "a mess." For football fans, NFL 2K is returning in 2021, but the new games will be "non-simulation football game experiences," leaving Madden NFL unchallenged in the high-end simulation market. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Logan Plant is a news writer for IGN, and the Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN's weekly Nintendo show. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

Well, E3’s canceled. It’s a phrase some have expected to have to write at some point in the last few years, but it’s unlikely anyone foresaw this reasoning behind it. But there remains the lingering feeling that, even without the COVID-19 outbreak that led us to this point, we might have been seeing similar news appearing at some point before the June event. With Sony, Geoff Keighley, and even the show’s own creative directors pulling out ahead of the event, all did not seem well behind the scenes of gaming’s most famous expo. Now that it’s officially off, most of the gaming industry will be searching for a new way to show off the biggest upcoming releases. Depending on how well that goes, this could, quite feasibly, be the beginning of the end for E3 as we currently know it, rather than a one-year blip. Here’s how that could happen. The most obvious immediate routes for those who were scheduled to attend E3 lie in two directions. The first is Gamescom. The German show is already the world’s biggest games event by footfall and comes with its own slate of (albeit smaller) conferences. Gamescom also has a major developer, publisher, and retailer presence – E3 has traditionally had a side-function of acting as a useful meeting space for companies, leading to future deals between them. Gamescom could provide a similarly useful space, leading to companies pivoting towards it. Set over two months back from E3, it might be seen as a safe bet in terms of the trajectory of the spread of Coronavirus, while retaining some of the sheen and prestige of an E3 announcement. It wouldn’t be hugely surprising to see a far more announcement-heavy Gamescom 2020 (should that show go ahead, of course) - particularly as Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live (which began last year, and is due to continue this year) has already helped galvanise Gamescom-centric announcements. The second is to follow Nintendo’s lead, and take those announcements in-house and online. The Direct model has been successful enough for the world’s biggest console manufacturer to adopt it, and Sony’s State of Play has been joined by the likes of Xbox, Devolver, and Blizzard, who have all taken digital announcement events in their own directions. It feels likely that some of E3’s major players will now attempt to create their own schedule, with the benefit of making big announcements entirely on their own terms, and with less possibility of being drowned out by someone else’s mega-news arriving on the same day. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/06/e3-2020-creative-directors-resign-with-mixed-emotions-ign-news"] That comes coupled with the fact that AAA game release dates themselves have become increasingly scattershot in recent years, led by the likes of Capcom’s recent moves to January and March releases for its major games. Where E3’s June placement has always made sense for publishers teasing a lucrative Holiday release, it may be that companies begin to prefer to handle their own announcements, simply because the timing lines up more neatly with their respective releases at different times of year. What’s truly interesting is what happens if those approaches prove successful, and perhaps more successful – at least in potential savings – than a traditional E3 announcement. E3 might have been seen as something like an industry safety blanket for some time – companies announce there just because. Removing that marketing beat from the equation might push publishers to reconsider strategies and their traditional reliance on E3 -- a lot of companies may be about to realise that it’s simply better for them to handle their announcements in a different, more personalised way. We know that E3’s organisers, the ESA, are now exploring the idea of an 'online experience' to replace the show, and are likely already scrambling to secure announcements, attempting to make sure that E3’s main event being canceled doesn’t equate to E3 shutting down as a whole for the year. It may already be too late -- corporate E3 attendees have surely been making contingency plans for some time, and will probably move to make those a reality (placating worried potential customers) rather than wait to hash out a new plan. There’s a chance those deals have already been made with the ESA, but the organisers’ insistence that event planning would go ahead – even as E3’s host city declared a state of emergency – could well have forced some hands. It may have worked for a few ticket sales at the time, but in hindsight it may have been a step too far, forcing companies to think beyond E3. All of which leaves E3 itself in a precarious position. It’s entirely possible that, come 2021, more companies than just Sony will see the event as something of an unnecessary formality, and make the decision to skip the event. That could leave us with either a smaller, perhaps more specialised E3, a digital-only E3 (retaining the brand and tradition, with fewer overheads), or no E3 at all. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-big-games-coming-in-2020&captions=true"] From a fan perspective, all of this could lead to a mixed bag of results. E3 has traditionally acted as ‘game announcement Christmas’, an event the industry and fans alike flock around. The potential loss of that focal point is, apart from anything else, just a bit sad. From a more pragmatic position, the need to be a part of E3 has more than likely led to companies trying to outdo one another, leading to wilder and wilder shows and a marketing calendar that pushes for big announcements to drop under a universal deadline. Atomising game announcements into company-specific shows could lead to a toned-down approach to game reveals – while we might see a more regular turnout of new games and new gameplay, there's less of a pressure to simultaneously reveal a game and have it available for hands-on opportunities after the show, allowing press and, at recent E3s, consumers to form their own opinions outside of the marquee conferences. E3 was by no means a perfect event but, if it did disappear or diminish, its benefits could vanish too. Most worrying for the ESA right now will be the fact that disappearing or diminishing is not really its decision. The future of the world’s most important gaming event lies in the hands of those who usually attend it - and the next few months will be critical in seeing how that pans out. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he's sad today. Follow him on Twitter.

Several Supernatural cast members are safe and sound after a recent plane scare that ended with an emergency landing en route to Las Vegas. Cast members Jensen Ackles, Alex Calvert, Misha Collins, and Richard Speight were heading to a Supernatural convention in Las Vegas when on March 6, one of their plane's engines exploded, as originally reported by ET Canada. Fortunately, the emergency landing was successful and nobody onboard was hurt. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-15-best-horror-tv-shows-of-the-last-10-years&captions=true"] Speight said that once the engine exploded, the plane started to tilt to the side in air and the cast did their best not to panic.

Q: what happened with the plane? Richard: Jared tried to k word alcal, misha, Jensen and I. We were flying in his plane and the right engine exploded. The engine literally blew up and the plane started tilting to the side and we all tried to not panic #SPNLV#SPNVEGAS

— isisSPNChi // fan (@MonarchMish) March 9, 2020

While nobody onboard was hurt, Ackles said he'll never be flying again.

.@mishacollins : we had a plane problem last night and had to turn around and we're all texting loved ones and @JensenAckles is like it's fine. We landed and he's like I'm never flying again. #spnlv pic.twitter.com/mW8MLoMZzN

— Fangasm (@FangasmSPN) March 8, 2020

The plane belonged to Supernatural star Jared Padalecki, according to ET Canada, but Padalecki was not onboard at the time of the emergency landing. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/02/08/supernatural-300th-episode-jeffrey-dean-morgan-talks-john-winchesters-return"] Supernatural is set to end with its current season, Season 15. Padalecki already has his next gig lined up as he's set to star in a reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger. Fans want Ackles to play Batman in some form now after seeing him don the cape and cowl for Halloween last year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for charges of sexual assault and third-degree rape. He will serve his sentence in a New York prison and will be registered as a sex offender. Weinstein spoke to the courtroom before his sentencing. He expressed regret for his actions, but ultimately condemned the #MeToo movement. “I really feel remorse in this situation,” Weinstein said to the courtroom, as reported by Deadline. According to Variety, he continued, “I think men are confused about all of this…this feeling of thousands of men and women who are losing due process, I’m worried about this country.” Deadline said the first two rows of the courtroom were filled with Weinstein's accusers. Two of those women, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann, were the primary accusers in the case, and both delivered statements to the judge before Weinstein's sentencing. [ignvideo url="http://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/27/the-weinstein-company-to-file-for-bankruptcy-ign-news"] Haley accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in his apartment in 2006. “It scarred me deeply, mentally and emotionally," Haley said at the sentencing, according to Variety. "What he did not only stripped me of my dignity as a human being and a woman, but it crushed my confidence.” Mann accused Weinstein of raping her while she was in an abusive relationship with the producer. “I don’t know how to explain the horrors of being raped by someone who has power,” Mann said. “The impact on the psyche is profound. Rape is not just one moment…it is forever.” The disgraced producer -- sitting in a wheelchair -- reportedly apologized to both women after they spoke. Prosecutors were asking for Weinstein to serve the maximum 29 years in prison while the defense was asking for 5 years. New York Justice James Burke ultimately settled with a 23 year sentence. Weinstein was being held at Riker's Island but is now being transported to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Weinstein turned himself over to authorities in May 2018, which was just three months after his movie studio, The Weinstein Company, filed for bankruptcy. Weinstein was one of Hollywood's biggest producers. His production company released multiple films a year and has produced movies including Quentin Tarantino's films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Spy Kids franchise, the Scary Movie franchise and TV shows like Project Runway. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

Xbox head Phil Spencer and Ubisoft have announced that both companies will be hosting digital events in place of E3, which was just cancelled. Spencer stated on Twitter that details on the timing of this digital event will be revealed in the "coming weeks" and this new plan will be a way to "celebrate the next generation of gaming with the @Xbox community who love to play." Ubisoft also announced that it supports the ESA's decision to cancel E3 2020, but that it is "exploring other options for a digital experience that will allow us to share all the exciting news we have planned, stay tuned for more!" E3 was cancelled over concerns about the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. The ESA has announced that it is exploring the possibility of an "online experience" to replace the show, but there is no indication whether or not Xbox will be part of this. ESA's statement explained their difficult decision: "After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry--our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners--we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles." "Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/13/xbox-series-x-console-announcement-trailer"] E3 follows the cancellation/postponement of such other events as the Game Developers Conference, Taipei Game Show, and South by Southwest. Spencer confirmed the news that Xbox was planning on attending E3 2020 following Sony's decision to sit out for the second year in a row. 2020 is a huge year for Xbox, as it is gearing up to launch the Xbox Series X and Halo Infinite this Holiday season. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-big-games-coming-in-2020&captions=true"] Ubisoft had previously discussed that it was planned on releasing five new AAA games in 2020-21, and that one of them was not Beyond Good and Evil 2. Those plans were likely to become clearer at E3 2020. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Beau DeMayo, one of the writers behind the Netflix original series The Witcher, has opened up about the creative team's decision to develop Nightmare of the Wolf as an anime movie, saying its a story that suits the medium. In an interview with ComicBook.com, DeMayo, who started out as an assistant and executive at Disney, working in animation, stressed the importance of finding the best means of telling a story on screen, as he explained why they had chosen to make Nightmare of the Wolf in an animated format rather than live-action. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/31/vesemir-to-appear-in-the-witcher-animated-film-by-netflix-ign-daily-fix"] "I was aware when Lauren [Hissrich] came and asked me to write it, what we could do in animation that you cannot do in live-action," he said. "There is not necessarily always parity between those two mediums. There are things that you can animate in an animated form that will look so amazing, so badass, that if you did it in action, in live-action, it's just going to look goofy or it's just going to register as a little false to the human eye." DeMayo added how there is "a grace and an art form to animation, and especially anime, that allows a different flavour," explaining how it provides a new realm to tell their story, charting the origins of Vesemir, aka Geralt of Rivia's mentor and father figure, as he teased, "what is the type of story that we could tell that we could never tell in our live-action scope?" [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/30/the-witcher-nightmare-of-the-wolf-movie-will-be-a-vesemir-origin-story-netflix-confirms-ign-news"] He also admitted that the creators of the prequel movie were presented with some "exciting" storytelling possibilities after they made the decision to step away from the live-action medium. He even shared more details about what to expect from the script, saying there will be "something with magic and monsters and adventure and romance." "And the script itself, there are certain things it takes advantage of in terms of animation that only animation can do," he revealed. "I think that's what's the most exciting thing that I'm waiting for fans to see... it is a story we could not have told in live-action in any way, shape or form. At least not with an incredible burden on production, I will say that." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=netflixs-the-witcher-cast-vs-video-game-characters&captions=true"] Studio Mir, the renowned Korean animation studio behind The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender, are currently hard at work on The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, though it is unknown whether the new movie will be released before or after the return of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri in Season 2 of The Witcher in 2021. For more on Netflix's The Witcher, read about the fantasy elements that we can expect to see in the second season of the live-action series, find out who has been cast as Vesemir in the upcoming episodes and check out all of the other recent casting announcements, including the addition of more Witchers. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

E3 has been officially canceled over concerns about the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. This marks the biggest impact on a video game show this year as a result of public health concerns regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. The Entertainment Software Association is now exploring the possibility of an 'online experience' to replace the show. A statement from the ESA reads: "After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry--our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners--we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles." "Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters.  But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today." Both attendees and exhibitors will be contacted about "full refunds". The ESA also confirmed that it was "exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-big-games-coming-in-2020&captions=true"] The statement ends with the ESA saying, "We thank everyone who shared their views on reimagining E3 this year.  We look forward to bringing you E3 2021 as a reimagined event that brings fans, media and the industry together in a showcase that celebrates the global video game industry." IGN heard from a number of sources yesterday that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) would officially be announcing the cancellation. However, companies like Devolver Digital publicly tweeted to followers that they should cancel plans for E3 prior to the official announcement, implying the news was imminent. E3 follows the Game Developers Conference, Taipei Game Show, and South by Southwest as another major show that's been impacted by COVID-19, and is a blow to the video game industry in an important year. The ESA previously stated that E3 would be progressing at "full speed" despite a state of emergency enacted by the city of Los Angeles, California. Other game conferences this year have also been postponed or canceled due to concerns over COVID-19. In the lead-up to this year's Game Developers Conference, attendees like Sony, Microsoft, Facebook, and more announced they would be dropping out of the show to protect their employees. The organizers would later announce the whole show would be postponed. A similar chain of events happened to the annual music and arts festival SXSW, which saw a string of dropouts before the event was ultimately shut down by the city of Austin, Texas. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Disneyland's upcoming Marvel-themed expansion, Avengers Campus, won't open its doors at Disney's California Adventure Park until July 18, 2020 but IGN was among a group of press that got an early preview of the secretive new land on March 6, and we've got all the intel on the new rides, superheroes, attractions, food, and merchandise you can expect when the Avengers open their headquarters to the world in a few months. Disney also confirmed that Tom Holland will reprise his role as Spider-Man for the upcoming WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure ride. Much like Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Avengers Campus aims to fully immerse you in the world of your favorite heroes, but, as Walt Disney Imagineering's Portfolio Creative Executive Scot Drake points out, one key difference with the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that "we don't have to transport you to Arendelle or to a galaxy far, far away. These stories are here and now ... they're in our world." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=avengers-campus-concept-art&captions=true"] Just like the MCU itself, the story for Avengers Campus starts with Tony Stark (we'll get to how he's still around in a minute), who has retrofitted one of his father's old Stark Industries sites as the base for the Avengers Campus. This is a place where heroes from "across time and space" (a very important observation) can assemble to help train a new generation of heroes, each bringing their own specific expertise and aesthetic to a number of distinct areas - or "addresses" within the Campus. Right now, there's not much to see at Avengers Campus except scaffolding, empty buildings, and plenty of rubble, but Disney's Imagineers are deep into the process of transforming California Adventure's former A Bug's Land into a high-tech home for Earth's Mightiest Heroes ahead of the Campus' July opening, with areas anchored by Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Check out the concept art for how Avengers Campus will look on opening day in the gallery above, and read on for our breakdown of everything you can expect from Marvel's biggest theme park footprint yet. (If you're wondering about the name, you should know that Marvel loves its acronyms - C.A.M.P.U.S. stands for Centralized Assembly Mobilized to Prepare, Unite and Safeguard, obviously.)

Avengers Campus Attractions and Rides

WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure

The first new ride at Avengers Campus will be an all-ages Spider-Man attraction (with no height requirement) that will utilize state-of-the-art motion-tracking technology to allow riders to sling webs from their wrists just like Spidey in an interactive environment that includes a 3D component. The ride takes place at a facility called WEB - the Worldwide Engineering Brigade - where, according to Walt Disney Imagineering's Executive Creative Director Brent Strong, "young inventors like Peter Parker have been brought together by Tony Stark to help create technologies to allow everyday people like us to have powers just like the Avengers." While visiting an open house presentation at WEB, guests will find themselves embarking on a mission with Spider-Man to help subdue some rogue Spider-Bots created by the young scientists before they cause chaos around the Campus. Here's how Disney describes the layout of the ride, which was still being built during our tour: "A blend of physical, fully dimensional sets and virtual environments will take recruits on this interactive escapade, which includes animation, moving props and special effects." Strong compares the Spider-Man ride to Disney's Ratatouille attraction in its blending of physical and virtual worlds, combined with Toy Story Midway Mania's gamified interactivity, but notes that WEB Slingers will take things to another level by removing the interface of a rider needing to use an object like a laser gun to interact with the world around them. "A lot of those other experiences, it's the device that has the power. We wanted you to feel like you had the power," he says. "And so early on, our goal was 'how do we make the interface disappear?' There's a ton of work that's gone into creating that, but the end result is just... magic."

Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout

Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout has been operating at Disney's California Adventure since 2017, when it replaced The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror ride, but when Avengers Campus opens, it will integrate the fan-favorite attraction into the story of the new land in a way that the Imagineers hope will be seamless. The in-park story for the ride is tied to the habits of The Collector, Taneleer Tivan (Benicio del Toro), and his penchant for gathering mementos - both living creatures and inanimate oddities - from across the galaxy. Now that Avengers Campus is open, The Collector has brought his collection right to their doorstep, and according to story development lead Jillian Pagan, the literal impact of his arrival will be obvious as soon as you arrive: "You will see the disruption that Tivan's fortress has caused to the Campus. As you go through the different addresses of the Campus, you'll see that his fortress has kind of melted the old tunnels that you're going through." Cracked pavements and warped metal will be the least of your worries, though, when it becomes clear what the Collector is really up to. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=%22This%20is%20going%20to%20be%20the%20largest%20assembly%20of%20these%20heroes%20anyplace%2C%20anytime%2C%20anywhere.%22%20-%20Dan%20Fields%2C%20Executive%20Creative%20Director%20of%20Disney%20Parks%20Live%20Entertainment"] "There will be some tension of, [the Avengers are] still checking him out, they're still taking a look at what he's doing, but he essentially came and said, 'Hey, you're trying to train the next generation of heroes. What better way to prepare them for the cosmos and what's out there than my cosmic collection?'" Pagan previews. "Meanwhile, we know The Collector, we know his style. Is he potentially here to capture some heroes, say the Guardians of the Galaxy, say The Avengers, say potentially some of the recruits that are wandering into his fortress? Is he scamming us? That's always been the underlying story with him, and now we can fully manifest that." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/05/25/the-disneyland-guardians-of-the-galaxy-ride-is-awesome"]

While Pagan says there currently aren't any plans to tweak the previously filmed footage of del Toro or the rest of the Guardians cast inside the ride, she notes, "in the current pre-show, if you listen to Tivan's speech he says, 'I'm inviting you in today to see my most recent acquisitions, The Guardians of the Galaxy.' So it's clear that he maybe just snatched them from the Campus and is still being a little seedy about it, and that's why now Rocket's breaking out and we're helping him, and it's all finally clicking into place."

Avengers E-Ticket Attraction

While the other, previously announced new ride at Avengers Campus won't be available at launch and is planned for "Phase 2" of the land, what little we know about the reportedly "massive" Avengers E-ticket attraction is certainly intriguing. It will be located at the Avengers Headquarters section of the Campus, which will boast a lifesize replica of the Quinjet on the roof.

In the story of the new Avengers ride, according to Disney, "you will step onboard a Quinjet and fly alongside the Avengers in an epic adventure to Wakanda and beyond. You will team up alongside the Avengers in a battle to save our world against one of the most powerful villains they have ever faced. Imagineers are hard at work conceiving an all-new innovative ride system to put you in the middle of this action." Drake offered a brief preview of the Avengers attraction at New York Comic Con in 2019: “For us, an E-ticket is our highest level of thrill and immersion and ride systems all coming together, and we’re delivering on The Avengers, of course. And The Avengers deserves big, epic innovation, storytelling, and putting us right in the middle of the action. We all want to be a part of that team, and in this attraction, we’re going to deliver on that.” At last year's D23 Expo, Drake also described the ride system as “something that we’ve never seen before," declining to compare it to something like Disney World's Avatar Flight of Passage ride or any other attraction that currently exists.

Avengers Campus Hero Encounters

In addition to the rides, new recruits at Avengers Campus will be able to meet (and possibly train alongside) some of their favorite characters from the MCU, both heroes and villains, at the new Disney California Adventure Park expansion. Dan Fields, Executive Creative Director of Disney Parks Live Entertainment, says that Avengers Campus will differ from other parts of the park because the characters will be "roaming" throughout the day, adding an air of spontaneity to any interactions similar to what fans might've encountered at Galaxy's Edge. "You're used to, 'there's a show time and I see them on that stage. Or I see them in that parade, or I have a meet and greet with them, for these hours.' There are those elements that will be the normalized scheduled shows, but the texture of the roaming... I defy you to find a time in the day where you walk through there and don't see a few characters out and about," he says. "Also, you're going to be seeing different characters bump into each other in ways that we've never seen before, heroes you haven't seen together... This is going to be the largest assembly of these heroes anyplace, anytime, anywhere. Avengers Campus is literally going to be teeming with heroes." Some of the key character experiences you can expect in Avengers Campus include:

Iron Man

We know what you're thinking - isn't Tony Stark dead? As Pagan explains, "at the front of the land [we'll] have a plaque that outlines the mission of the Campus, and on that we say that heroes have assembled from across time and space here to train you," which means that, although all of the characters we encounter will have knowledge of the events of the movies, the Tony Stark who's showboating at Avengers Campus is obviously from a different timeline or universe than the Tony Stark who sacrificed himself in Avengers: Endgame (along with this version of Black Widow and a peppy young Captain America). So this Tony is alive and well and ready to show off his Mark 80 Iron Man armor for photo ops outside Avengers Headquarters. But if you have questions about the multiverse, there's someone else you should talk to...

Doctor Strange

The Sorcerer Supreme can be found at the Sanctum, an outdoor oasis where Doctor Strange will train recruits in the mystic arts. According to Pagan, "Doctor Strange will know the history of the Sanctum, and part of that history is that there's this mystical Orb of Cagliostro, and within that is contained this crazy time vortex... and as you interact with Doctor Strange he can explain all that, but it can also provide us - possibly literally - a portal into, if there's some timey-wimey-ness [happening in the land], well we have this timey-wimey portal over here. Doctor Strange can help you explain the mysteries of the multiverse."

Spider-Man

Not only will recruits be able to team up with Spider-Man (and his pal Peter Parker) over at WEB, you'll also be able to see the wall-crawler performing flips and stunts as he swings over the roof of the WEB building, up to 65 feet in the air, before coming down to greet visitors for photos. While the Imagineers were cagey about Spidey's gravity-defying abilities, fans of The Imagineering Story docuseries on Disney+ might've caught a glimpse of an impressive "stuntronic" animatronic robot capable of performing incredible acrobatics in the season finale, and, well, we'll just let you theorize while you're watching the video below... [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/11/spider-man-at-avengers-campus-disney-california-adventure-park"]

Black Panther and the Dora Milaje

If you think you've got what it takes to defend Wakanda, recruits will also have the chance to train with Black Panther's elite bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, led by General Okoye, as part of an interactive exercise. Other characters who will be roaming the land and interacting with guests - and each other - include:

• Black Widow
• Ant-Man and the Wasp
• Captain Marvel
• Captain America
• Thor and Loki
• The Guardians of the Galaxy
• Taskmaster

And it wouldn't be the Avengers without a little action thrown into the mix - guests will also catch a glimpse of Black Widow, Captain America, and Black Panther facing off against Taskmaster and other foes at Avengers Headquarters throughout the day, with fight choreography designed by the stunt team who worked on the upcoming Black Widow movie. See a selection of the heroes you'll be able to meet at Avengers Campus in the gallery below. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=avengers-campus-all-the-heroes-and-characters-youll-meet&captions=true"]

Avengers Campus Food and Restaurants

Disney fans have come to expect immersive dining experiences at the parks, so it's no surprise that Avengers Campus has a few high-concept food and beverage options, many of which are direct nods to the history of the MCU.

Pym Test Kitchen

The Pym Test Kitchen is the land's primary dining location, playing on the idea of Ant-Man's "Pym Particles" to present food that looks as if it's been shrunk or grown to an unexpected size. The design of the restaurant is based on the quantum tunnel that has been featured in the films, and the ceiling will showcase a conveyor belt that seems to turn a regular-sized pretzel into a massive one. Pagan explained some of the thinking behind using Ant-Man and The Wasp as the faces of the dining experience: "We brainstormed all sorts of different crazy potential ideas for the restaurant, but the one that stuck ... was what if Ant-Man and Wasp were using their technology to create new innovations in food science, and feed more people by literally growing the food? And then that gives the guests an important role, because now you're coming in and helping them with their foods research." Some menu highlights include a supersized "Pym-ini" filled with salami, ham, and provolone, which can be cut into bitesize portions or bought whole, like a pizza, for family-style sharing; a giant, sharable candy bar filled with caramel, nougat, peanuts, chocolate brownie and dark chocolate; and the Impossible Spoonful, featuring mini rigatoni and ditalini pastas with plant-based meatballs and cheese. Fans of The Incredible Hulk will also recognize a new soda option on tap - Pingo Doce, a sweet (and distinctly green) drink that probably won't make you Hulk out.

Pym Tasting Lab

Over at the Pym Tasting Lab, recruits in need of adult libations will find a variety of cocktails and craft beer options. And if you've ever wanted to drink beer like Thor (no, we don't mean smashing mugs on the floor), the Tasting Lab employs a reverse draft system where the glass will fill from the bottom up, as if by magic - although we're guessing Doctor Strange probably won't refill it for you for free.

The cocktails at the Tasting Lab include a mix of flavors and textures, including the Molecular Meltdown, which combines Garage Brewing Marshmallow Milk Stout with vanilla ice cream and topped with crunchy mini marshmallows, and the Particle Fizz, an Endless Summer Hard Seltzer with cherry popping pearls.

The Shawarma Palace Cart

Fans of the Avengers know how much the team loves shawarma, so it's no surprise that they invited the Shawarma Palace gang to launch a second location at Avengers Campus to pay homage to their memorable post-Battle of New York snack. The food cart will feature a savory wrap with chicken shawarma and garlic sauce, along with a plant-based falafel version.

Terran Treats

Apparently curated by Taneleer Tivan, this snack cart will be located outside Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout and will feature several sweet treats that can be eaten on the go, including the misleadingly colored Sweet Spiral Rations (which look like churros, but might not taste like them), and the Cosmic Cream Orb, a puff pastry filled with raspberry cheesecake mousse. Check out a gallery of some of the food and drink options at Avengers Campus below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=avengers-campus-food-and-drink-preview&captions=true"]

Avengers Campus Merchandise and Toys

If you intend to go all-in on your recruitment, you can load up with clothing and toys at a couple of different stores:

WEB Suppliers

Located by the WEB Slingers ride, the WEB store will, unsurprisingly, sell WEB-themed merch and clothing, including STEM-inspired kits that can be used to create your own webs, Web-shooter accessories, and a selection of Funkos and other toys. Guests can also buy smaller, remote-controlled versions of the Spider-Bots featured in the WEB Slingers ride, which can be used to battle against a friend, and upgraded using special add-ons that allow the Spider-Bots to take on the abilities of other heroes like Iron Man, Black Panther, Black Widow, Ant-Man, and The Wasp. Unlike the Droid Depot at Galaxy's Edge, there won't be an area to customize the Bots in the store, as the add-ons will come pre-packaged.

Campus Supply Pod

Over at the Campus Supply Pod, recruits can find Avengers Campus gear, including hoodies, t-shirts, drinkware, and accessories. Check out a selection of the merch that will be available at Avengers Campus at opening in the gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=avengers-campus-merchandise-and-toys&captions=true"] We'll have more from Avengers Campus in the coming months, but for now, hit the comments to tell us which part of the new Disney California Adventure Park expansion sounds most exciting to you, and check out our coverage of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, now open at Disney World and Disneyland.