Mark Ruffalo has revealed that Marvel boss Kevin Feige almost quit while making The Avengers due to the lack of diversity and representation within the superhero franchise. In an interview with The Independent, Ruffalo, who has played Bruce Banner and his Hulk alter-ego since 2012, recalled an early conversation that he had with Feige, in which the MCU helmer admitted he "might not be" around for much longer, as he planned to talk to Disney about the issue of why there were no female-led superhero movies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/02/10-best-moments-in-avengers-endgame"] "When we did the first Avengers, Kevin Feige told me, 'Listen, I might not be here tomorrow'," he said. "And he's like, 'Ike [Perlmutter, Disney's largest shareholder at the time] does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won that battle.'" With the battle clearly won by Feige, Ruffalo cites this pivotal moment as a "turning point" for Marvel as it triggered the studio's push towards greater inclusion and broader representation on screen, forever changing the MCU landscape. "Kevin wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes," Ruffalo added. "He changed the whole Marvel universe. We now have a gay superhero on the way, we have black superheroes, we have female superheroes – Scarlett Johansson has her movie coming out, we have Captain Marvel, they are doing She-Hulk next. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-superhero-movies&captions=true"] "No other studio is being that inclusive on that level," Ruffalo concluded. "They have to, though. This is the f***ing world." Feige has since confirmed that LGBTQ+ representation is coming to the MCU's Phase 4, which is expected to officially kick off with the release of Black Widow on May 1, 2020, followed by The Eternals on November 6, 2020. The second of these two films will feature the MCU's first openly gay character in a large role. "He's married. He's got a family. And that is just part of who he is," Feige told Good Morning America in August of last year. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-phase-4-official-lineup&captions=true"] For more on the movies that are set to launch Phase 4, check out our breakdown of the first official Black Widow trailer and take a look at the poster for the film, then read through our detailed Marvel's Eternals Explained and The Deviants Explained features before checking out our breakdown of The Eternals' first trailer footage. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Mark Ruffalo has revealed that Marvel boss Kevin Feige almost quit while making The Avengers due to the lack of diversity and representation within the superhero franchise. In an interview with The Independent, Ruffalo, who has played Bruce Banner and his Hulk alter-ego since 2012, recalled an early conversation that he had with Feige, in which the MCU helmer admitted he "might not be" around for much longer, as he planned to talk to Disney about the issue of why there were no female-led superhero movies. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/02/10-best-moments-in-avengers-endgame"] "When we did the first Avengers, Kevin Feige told me, 'Listen, I might not be here tomorrow'," he said. "And he's like, 'Ike [Perlmutter, Disney's largest shareholder at the time] does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won that battle.'" With the battle clearly won by Feige, Ruffalo cites this pivotal moment as a "turning point" for Marvel as it triggered the studio's push towards greater inclusion and broader representation on screen, forever changing the MCU landscape. "Kevin wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes," Ruffalo added. "He changed the whole Marvel universe. We now have a gay superhero on the way, we have black superheroes, we have female superheroes – Scarlett Johansson has her movie coming out, we have Captain Marvel, they are doing She-Hulk next. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-superhero-movies&captions=true"] "No other studio is being that inclusive on that level," Ruffalo concluded. "They have to, though. This is the f***ing world." Feige has since confirmed that LGBTQ+ representation is coming to the MCU's Phase 4, which is expected to officially kick off with the release of Black Widow on May 1, 2020, followed by The Eternals on November 6, 2020. The second of these two films will feature the MCU's first openly gay character in a large role. "He's married. He's got a family. And that is just part of who he is," Feige told Good Morning America in August of last year. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvel-phase-4-official-lineup&captions=true"] For more on the movies that are set to launch Phase 4, check out our breakdown of the first official Black Widow trailer and take a look at the poster for the film, then read through our detailed Marvel's Eternals Explained and The Deviants Explained features before checking out our breakdown of The Eternals' first trailer footage. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Kojima Productions, and Hideo Kojinma himself, have become the latest Game Developers Conference dropouts because of concerns around COVID-19 (a.k.a. Coronavirus). In a short post on its English-language website, a spokesperson for the Death Stranding developer wrote: "Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to novel coronavirus. Although much-anticipated, unfortunately this cancellation also includes Hideo Kojima’s session on the 19th and Eric Johnson’s session on the 16th." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/07/the-outer-worlds-switch-version-delayed-due-to-coronavirus"] Kojima was due to present a talk about his design philosophy for Death Stranding at the show, in which the legendary director would "unravel this process through an analysis of the game's concept, theme, storytelling, game mechanics, and development, utilizing the overarching keyword of 'connection' as a framework." It's the latest in a number of developer cancellations for upcoming public shows. PlayStation and Oculus have also pulled out of GDC, while PAX East has also been hit, with PlayStation and Square Enix among those who have changed plans around the event. The mayor of Boston has since publicly called for PlayStation to reconsider its PAX East decision, saying it contributes to harmful stereotypes. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.

Kojima Productions, and Hideo Kojinma himself, have become the latest Game Developers Conference dropouts because of concerns around COVID-19 (a.k.a. Coronavirus). In a short post on its English-language website, a spokesperson for the Death Stranding developer wrote: "Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to novel coronavirus. Although much-anticipated, unfortunately this cancellation also includes Hideo Kojima’s session on the 19th and Eric Johnson’s session on the 16th." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/07/the-outer-worlds-switch-version-delayed-due-to-coronavirus"] Kojima was due to present a talk about his design philosophy for Death Stranding at the show, in which the legendary director would "unravel this process through an analysis of the game's concept, theme, storytelling, game mechanics, and development, utilizing the overarching keyword of 'connection' as a framework." It's the latest in a number of developer cancellations for upcoming public shows. PlayStation and Oculus have also pulled out of GDC, while PAX East has also been hit, with PlayStation and Square Enix among those who have changed plans around the event. The mayor of Boston has since publicly called for PlayStation to reconsider its PAX East decision, saying it contributes to harmful stereotypes. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.

Sony has announced a new flagship smartphone called the Xperia 1 II and it packs the biggest camera sensor we’ve seen on a mobile device. The Sony Xperia 1 II’s biggest headlining feature is it now features a 1/1.7-inch main image sensor, which also happens to sit behind a 24mm Zeiss lens that’s also been optically stabilized and specifically calibrated for this phone. It might only be a 12MP resolution sensor, but that big imaging chip is 50% larger than the 1/1.26-inch sensor you’ll find in most smartphone cameras today. As always, a larger sensor absorbs more light to produces better low-light images with less noise—but it has also allowed Sony to integrate a faster focusing system as well. With the larger imaging chip, Sony was also able to implement a larger dual-photo diode sensor. This technology already allowed the original Sony Xperia 1 to split each pixel on the sensor two photodiodes, which would receive light from separate angles and essentially act as a phase-detect autofocus system. The Sony Xperia 1 II features the same dual photodiode sensor focusing system, but now it covers 70% of the camera sensor. What’s more, Sony has added a new 3D iToF sensor that calculates the time of flight from your phone to your subject (i.e. a person or building). With the expanded dual-photo diode and 3D iToF sensor combined, the new Xperia 1 II can give you constant autofocus and auto-exposure while you’re shooting. Additionally, Sony has ported the Real-time Eye AF feature from its mainstream cameras, so it can automatically lock focus onto both human or animal eyes while you're taking portraits or cat photos. Sony has also expanded the burst shooting capabilities of the Sony Xperia 1 II, which can now shoot at up to 20fps with constant AF and AE enabled as well. On top of the upgraded main camera, the Sony Xperia 1 II features another pair of 12MP sensors behind a 16mm ultrawide and 70mm telephoto lens. The ultrawide camera features its own dual-photo diode sensor, meanwhile, the telephoto can only use phase-detect autofocus but you do get OIS as with the main camera. Like the iPhone 11 Pro, users will be able to smoothly zoom between the Xperia 1 II’s three focal lengths, which will come in handy when you’re shooting 4K 60p videos with this handset. Cameras aside the Xperia 1 II features a familiar extra tall 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display following Sony’s 21:9 CinemaWide screen format. The chipset has also been upgraded to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The battery onboard Sony’s latest flagship is pretty average at a 4,000mAh capacity. The Sony Xperia 1 II also sees the reintroduction of the 3.5mm audio jack with the addition of dual front-firing stereo speakers. Lastly, Sony has added a few gaming-focused features on the Xperia 1 II including motion blur reduction and enhanced touch sensitivity. Sony has also told us that it will announce a special collaboration with Call of Duty: Mobile at a later date. Sony has yet to disclose pricing or availability information for the Sony Xperia 1 II, but we expect to hear an update any day now.

Riding the 5G wave

If you were wondering why we didn’t mention the Xperia 1 II was a 5G phone, well that’s because it’s sticking to 4G. Sony is saving its 5G experience for a higher-end Xperia Pro. The Xperia Pro comes 5G ready with sub6 and mmWave radios, but it otherwise features the same specs as the Xperia 1 II from its cameras to an identical chipset. On other difference you might notice about Sony’s highest-end phone is it's a bit larger and that’s to make way for a more robust frame with a dedicated HDMI port. Users will be able to connect this phone directly to a Sony camera—from the brand's mirrorless cameras to its professional camcorders. While connected the Xperia Pro can be used as an external recorder and even stream video directly over the Internet. As with the Xperia 1 II, Sony has yet to announce pricing or a release date for the Xperia Pro but we’re hoping to hear more soon. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

Sony has announced a new flagship smartphone called the Xperia 1 II and it packs the biggest camera sensor we’ve seen on a mobile device. The Sony Xperia 1 II’s biggest headlining feature is it now features a 1/1.7-inch main image sensor, which also happens to sit behind a 24mm Zeiss lens that’s also been optically stabilized and specifically calibrated for this phone. It might only be a 12MP resolution sensor, but that big imaging chip is 50% larger than the 1/1.26-inch sensor you’ll find in most smartphone cameras today. As always, a larger sensor absorbs more light to produces better low-light images with less noise—but it has also allowed Sony to integrate a faster focusing system as well. With the larger imaging chip, Sony was also able to implement a larger dual-photo diode sensor. This technology already allowed the original Sony Xperia 1 to split each pixel on the sensor two photodiodes, which would receive light from separate angles and essentially act as a phase-detect autofocus system. The Sony Xperia 1 II features the same dual photodiode sensor focusing system, but now it covers 70% of the camera sensor. What’s more, Sony has added a new 3D iToF sensor that calculates the time of flight from your phone to your subject (i.e. a person or building). With the expanded dual-photo diode and 3D iToF sensor combined, the new Xperia 1 II can give you constant autofocus and auto-exposure while you’re shooting. Additionally, Sony has ported the Real-time Eye AF feature from its mainstream cameras, so it can automatically lock focus onto both human or animal eyes while you're taking portraits or cat photos. Sony has also expanded the burst shooting capabilities of the Sony Xperia 1 II, which can now shoot at up to 20fps with constant AF and AE enabled as well. On top of the upgraded main camera, the Sony Xperia 1 II features another pair of 12MP sensors behind a 16mm ultrawide and 70mm telephoto lens. The ultrawide camera features its own dual-photo diode sensor, meanwhile, the telephoto can only use phase-detect autofocus but you do get OIS as with the main camera. Like the iPhone 11 Pro, users will be able to smoothly zoom between the Xperia 1 II’s three focal lengths, which will come in handy when you’re shooting 4K 60p videos with this handset. Cameras aside the Xperia 1 II features a familiar extra tall 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display following Sony’s 21:9 CinemaWide screen format. The chipset has also been upgraded to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The battery onboard Sony’s latest flagship is pretty average at a 4,000mAh capacity. The Sony Xperia 1 II also sees the reintroduction of the 3.5mm audio jack with the addition of dual front-firing stereo speakers. Lastly, Sony has added a few gaming-focused features on the Xperia 1 II including motion blur reduction and enhanced touch sensitivity. Sony has also told us that it will announce a special collaboration with Call of Duty: Mobile at a later date. Sony has yet to disclose pricing or availability information for the Sony Xperia 1 II, but we expect to hear an update any day now.

Riding the 5G wave

If you were wondering why we didn’t mention the Xperia 1 II was a 5G phone, well that’s because it’s sticking to 4G. Sony is saving its 5G experience for a higher-end Xperia Pro. The Xperia Pro comes 5G ready with sub6 and mmWave radios, but it otherwise features the same specs as the Xperia 1 II from its cameras to an identical chipset. On other difference you might notice about Sony’s highest-end phone is it's a bit larger and that’s to make way for a more robust frame with a dedicated HDMI port. Users will be able to connect this phone directly to a Sony camera—from the brand's mirrorless cameras to its professional camcorders. While connected the Xperia Pro can be used as an external recorder and even stream video directly over the Internet. As with the Xperia 1 II, Sony has yet to announce pricing or a release date for the Xperia Pro but we’re hoping to hear more soon. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

The world of competitive gaming is one of thrilling victories, soul-crushing defeats, and extreme skill. That said, perhaps no major video game tournament will ever result in a moment cuter than when a young girl by the name of Simone Lim won the Pokemon Oceania International Junior Championships this week.

The official Play Pokemon Twitter account caught the final moments of Lim’s hard-fought victory against her older opponent, Justin Miranda-Radbord, who actually took home the Pokemon Oceania Junior Championship in 2019. According to the tournament's commentators, this was also Lim's first competitive season and her first major tournament after winning in two regional tournaments.

An INCREDIBLE read by Simone, leading to a victory and earning Simone the title of 2020 Oceania #PokemonVG Junior Champion! pic.twitter.com/liiJyEj09I

— Play Pokémon (@playpokemon) February 23, 2020

Leading into the final round, the odds seemed slightly stacked against the young Lim. Miranda-Radbord himself has won multiple Pokemon championships. He managed to go 5-0 through the event, had the top seed, and seemed to have a slight advantage going into the final turns of the Oceania tournament’s final rounds.

Lim herself had a tougher road to victory, going 3-2 earlier in the tournament and landing a seed 7. Managing to win one round against Miranda-Radbord, she pushed the competition to its final round, where she was faced with a tough situation: Facing Radbord’s two Pokemon (a Rhyperior and a Dusclops) with just one low-health Tyranitar. Lim managed to predict which Pokemon Radbord would use Protect on, allowing her to defeat the Dusclops first before using Superpower on Radbord’s final Pokemon, clenching a very close win and audibly stunning the audience.

Lim can be seen just barely smiling through her hands, looking somewhat embarrassed, before her friend runs up to her and hugs her, eliciting a much bigger smile.

 

In the post-game interview, Lim said she knew her opponent would use Protect on his Rhyperior, then thanked her friends and family while clutching onto a large Eevee plush toy.

And here’s Lim standing next to her fellow champions in the other divisions of the Pokemon Oceania tournament. Needless to say, though she might be barely four feet tall, she’s standing head and shoulders above the competition today.

You can watch the whole 5-hour tournament here if you like. The battle between Lim and Miranda-Radbord begins around the 4-hours-and-3-minutes mark. Don't forget to check out IGN's Pokemon Sword and Shield hub page for more updates on the games, including the new Pokemon Home. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/blubbering mess for IGN.

The world of competitive gaming is one of thrilling victories, soul-crushing defeats, and extreme skill. That said, perhaps no major video game tournament will ever result in a moment cuter than when a young girl by the name of Simone Lim won the Pokemon Oceania International Junior Championships this week.

The official Play Pokemon Twitter account caught the final moments of Lim’s hard-fought victory against her older opponent, Justin Miranda-Radbord, who actually took home the Pokemon Oceania Junior Championship in 2019. According to the tournament's commentators, this was also Lim's first competitive season and her first major tournament after winning in two regional tournaments.

An INCREDIBLE read by Simone, leading to a victory and earning Simone the title of 2020 Oceania #PokemonVG Junior Champion! pic.twitter.com/liiJyEj09I

— Play Pokémon (@playpokemon) February 23, 2020

Leading into the final round, the odds seemed slightly stacked against the young Lim. Miranda-Radbord himself has won multiple Pokemon championships. He managed to go 5-0 through the event, had the top seed, and seemed to have a slight advantage going into the final turns of the Oceania tournament’s final rounds.

Lim herself had a tougher road to victory, going 3-2 earlier in the tournament and landing a seed 7. Managing to win one round against Miranda-Radbord, she pushed the competition to its final round, where she was faced with a tough situation: Facing Radbord’s two Pokemon (a Rhyperior and a Dusclops) with just one low-health Tyranitar. Lim managed to predict which Pokemon Radbord would use Protect on, allowing her to defeat the Dusclops first before using Superpower on Radbord’s final Pokemon, clenching a very close win and audibly stunning the audience.

Lim can be seen just barely smiling through her hands, looking somewhat embarrassed, before her friend runs up to her and hugs her, eliciting a much bigger smile.

 

In the post-game interview, Lim said she knew her opponent would use Protect on his Rhyperior, then thanked her friends and family while clutching onto a large Eevee plush toy.

And here’s Lim standing next to her fellow champions in the other divisions of the Pokemon Oceania tournament. Needless to say, though she might be barely four feet tall, she’s standing head and shoulders above the competition today.

You can watch the whole 5-hour tournament here if you like. The battle between Lim and Miranda-Radbord begins around the 4-hours-and-3-minutes mark. Don't forget to check out IGN's Pokemon Sword and Shield hub page for more updates on the games, including the new Pokemon Home. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/blubbering mess for IGN.

An impressive amount of images from the upcoming Resident Evil 3 remake appear to have leaked online. The images show off plenty of new looks at Nemesis, the iconic Resident Evil monster bred to hunt down S.T.A.R.S. members, plus a look at some different environments and at least one other major enemy. Check it out in the gallery below.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-3-leak-screenshot-gallery-images&captions=true"]

Posted to an ongoing Resident Evil 3 Resetera thread by a moderator known as Dusk Golem, the images show off Nemesis looming over Jill Valentine, much like Mr. X in the Resident Evil 2 remake. Nemesis also appears to be holding a massive flamethrower, brandishing it in front of Jill’s face at one point. Obviously, Capcom hasn’t confirmed any of these screenshots, so take it all with a grain of salt. The images themselves all have a watermark from the French gaming site, gamergen.com.

[caption id="attachment_2307407" align="alignnone" width="720"] Source: Resetera/Dusk Golem.[/caption]

Another couple of images show two enemies: One that that could most likely be the amphibious Gamma Hunter, and another that might be the worm-like Grave Digger. Either way, they’re both definitely terrifying at close range.

[caption id="attachment_230740" align="alignnone" width="720"] Source: Resetera/Dusk Golem.[/caption]

The images also show off new looks at other playable characters from Resident Evil Resistance, the multiplayer component to the RE3 remake. We see Carlos Olivera and Becca Woolett traipsing around a casino club environment rife with zombies.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/11/resident-evil-3-comparison-remake-vs-original"]

The Resident Evil 3 remake is out on April 3, 2020.

Don’t forget to check out 23 more screenshots from Resident Evil 3 that dropped last month, and here’s everything that’s changing in Resident Evil 3, and everything that’s staying the same. Follow the rest of our Resident Evil 3 coverage for more updates and previews.

[poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/biological weapon for IGN.

An impressive amount of images from the upcoming Resident Evil 3 remake appear to have leaked online. The images show off plenty of new looks at Nemesis, the iconic Resident Evil monster bred to hunt down S.T.A.R.S. members, plus a look at some different environments and at least one other major enemy. Check it out in the gallery below.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-3-leak-screenshot-gallery-images&captions=true"]

Posted to an ongoing Resident Evil 3 Resetera thread by a moderator known as Dusk Golem, the images show off Nemesis looming over Jill Valentine, much like Mr. X in the Resident Evil 2 remake. Nemesis also appears to be holding a massive flamethrower, brandishing it in front of Jill’s face at one point. Obviously, Capcom hasn’t confirmed any of these screenshots, so take it all with a grain of salt. The images themselves all have a watermark from the French gaming site, gamergen.com.

[caption id="attachment_2307407" align="alignnone" width="720"] Source: Resetera/Dusk Golem.[/caption]

Another couple of images show two enemies: One that that could most likely be the amphibious Gamma Hunter, and another that might be the worm-like Grave Digger. Either way, they’re both definitely terrifying at close range.

[caption id="attachment_230740" align="alignnone" width="720"] Source: Resetera/Dusk Golem.[/caption]

The images also show off new looks at other playable characters from Resident Evil Resistance, the multiplayer component to the RE3 remake. We see Carlos Olivera and Becca Woolett traipsing around a casino club environment rife with zombies.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/11/resident-evil-3-comparison-remake-vs-original"]

The Resident Evil 3 remake is out on April 3, 2020.

Don’t forget to check out 23 more screenshots from Resident Evil 3 that dropped last month, and here’s everything that’s changing in Resident Evil 3, and everything that’s staying the same. Follow the rest of our Resident Evil 3 coverage for more updates and previews.

[poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/biological weapon for IGN.