Yearly Archives: 2020
Batman and Catwoman Are Having a Baby
DC Comics writer Tom King recently wrapped up a years-long run on Batman’s solo title that put the spotlight on Bruce Wayne’s romance with the cat burglar who stole his heart, Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. But their story isn’t over yet. To cap off their love story, King is teaming with artist Clay Mann on a Batman/Catwoman mini-series, and thanks to a new tweet from King, it appears a third character will be joining them -- their child. That’s right, Catwoman is pregnant.
The tweet simply shows a piece of art showing Batman and Catwoman standing atop a Gotham City gargoyle, like they do, but Catwoman is clearly showing a baby bump. The art could be from the upcoming Batman/Catwoman miniseries, but another option could be the Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular, which features a short story by King and his frequent collaborator artist Mikel Janin. IGN reached out to DC for clarification but they declined comment.
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They should probably get down from there. (Artist unknown. Image credit: DC Comics)[/caption]
Mitch Gerads, the artist who drew the two-part romance arc “Rooftops” in King’s Batman series, replied to the image with one of his pages from Batman #15 showing a naked, post-coital Bruce and Selina cuddling on a rooftop, implying that was the moment of conception for the baby.
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They definitely felt the love that night. (Art by Mitch Gerads. Image credit: DC Comics)[/caption]
King's Batman story features a flash-forward (seen in Batman Annual #2 and drawn by Janin) showing a possible future of an elderly Bruce and Selina raising their daughter Helena Wayne, so unless some unforeseen twist that changes that, we already know the happy couple is having a girl. A bit of trivia: Helena Wayne was the daughter of Bruce and Selina on Earth-2, and now it seems King is folding that into the main continuity.
But the story of Batman/Catwoman will feature more than just a newborn. The villain will be the titular bad guy from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm making their DC Comics debut, the Phantasm aka Andrea Beaumont.
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Batman and Catwoman have had quite the rocky relationship. At one point they planned to get married but Catwoman left Batman at the altar, which was revealed to be part of an elaborate plan concocted by Bane to "break" Batman's spirit. Yet despite forces conspiring against them, Batman and Catwoman eventually got back together.
In other Batman news, Ben Affleck opened up about why he really left The Batman, and we analyzed the crazy fan theory about the Batsuit's strange new chest emblem.
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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
They should probably get down from there. (Artist unknown. Image credit: DC Comics)[/caption]
Mitch Gerads, the artist who drew the two-part romance arc “Rooftops” in King’s Batman series, replied to the image with one of his pages from Batman #15 showing a naked, post-coital Bruce and Selina cuddling on a rooftop, implying that was the moment of conception for the baby.
[caption id="attachment_2305265" align="aligncenter" width="720"]
They definitely felt the love that night. (Art by Mitch Gerads. Image credit: DC Comics)[/caption]
King's Batman story features a flash-forward (seen in Batman Annual #2 and drawn by Janin) showing a possible future of an elderly Bruce and Selina raising their daughter Helena Wayne, so unless some unforeseen twist that changes that, we already know the happy couple is having a girl. A bit of trivia: Helena Wayne was the daughter of Bruce and Selina on Earth-2, and now it seems King is folding that into the main continuity.
But the story of Batman/Catwoman will feature more than just a newborn. The villain will be the titular bad guy from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm making their DC Comics debut, the Phantasm aka Andrea Beaumont.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=birds-of-prey-comparing-the-characters-looks-through-the-years&captions=true"]
Batman and Catwoman have had quite the rocky relationship. At one point they planned to get married but Catwoman left Batman at the altar, which was revealed to be part of an elaborate plan concocted by Bane to "break" Batman's spirit. Yet despite forces conspiring against them, Batman and Catwoman eventually got back together.
In other Batman news, Ben Affleck opened up about why he really left The Batman, and we analyzed the crazy fan theory about the Batsuit's strange new chest emblem.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/15/the-batman-is-the-bat-symbol-really-the-gun-that-killed-his-parents"]
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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.Sony Patent Suggests a New PSVR Controller May Be in Development
Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent that may point to a new PSVR controller.
The patent, titled "Controller Device," details a new design for a remote-like VR controller that shares some similarities with the current PlayStation Move controllers, but it also has its fair share of upgrades.
Like the PlayStation Move controller, which has been around since the PlayStation 3 era, the patent shows a controller with a wand-like shape, four small face buttons, a trigger on the back, and a larger center button.
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The giant light ball is gone, and the patent describes finger-sensing technology that can detect contact from the user's fingers. PC VR rigs have had similar technology for some time, but the original PS Move controllers currently used for PSVR lack this functionality.
The patent also shows a wrist strap, and some are speculating that the strap may be used to simulate grabbing objects in VR, which is a function seen in Valve's Index VR controllers.
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It remains to be seen if this patent will become a real product in the future. The PlayStation 5 is set to release this year, and Sony has confirmed that current PSVR hardware will be compatible with PS5.
As for a new VR headset, a recent report from Bloomberg claims that Sony is planning to release a new version of PSVR to go on sale sometime after the PS5.
For more, check out another Sony patent for VR-compatible prescription glasses.
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Patent originally spotted by UploadVR.
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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.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Digital and Blu-ray Release Dates
Disney and Lucasfilm have officially announced the digital and home release dates for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
In the US, the digital version of The Rise of Skywalker will arrive first on March 17, with the 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD formats hitting shelves on March 31. In the UK, the digital edition will land in HD and 4K UHD on April 13, while fans who prefer physical releases will be able to pick up their copies on April 20.
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The Rise of Skywalker release is set to be accompanied by, "over two hours of bonus material," including a feature-length documentary titled, The Skywalker Legacy, which will go behind-the-scenes of Episode IX.
Other extras include storyboard-to-screen style featurettes that will dive into the making of Pasaana and the epic landspeeder chase, along with an exploration of the ship that connects Rey to the mystery of her missing parents and a closer look at new droid D-O. Plus, a conversation with Warwick Davis about his return as Wicket the Ewok, this time with his son, and a bonus creature feature that will reveal the puppetry, makeup, prosthetics and digital magic that helped to bring the galaxy's menagerie of aliens to life.
Interestingly, the list of special features does not make reference to any of the rumoured deleted scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor, including one that may have provided additional context for Kylo Ren's rampage on Mustafar.
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In addition to these releases, a complete 27-disc 4K Blu-ray boxset of the 9-Movie Skywalker Saga has now become available for pre-order.
In our review of The Rise of Skywalker, we concluded the film had been, "engineered to hit the viewer on multiple levels while struggling to settle 42 years' worth of story elements," which we suggested was "too much for any one film to handle."
For more reactions, take a look at our round-up of IGN staff reviews for the final chapter, find out the film's Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores, and discover how Episode IX's opening weekend compared to other Star Wars entries.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Chris Pratt Addresses Question of Thor in Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Marvel Cinematic Universe star Chris Pratt couldn't give an answer when asked if Thor will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but he didn't rule out the possibility.
At IGN's red carpet event for Pixar's Onward, we asked Pratt why Thor isn't in Guardians 3.
"How do you know that Thor's not in Guardians 3? We haven't shot it yet, he might be in Guardians 3," Pratt said. "We don't know! There's no definitive yes or no on that."
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This is the first time in a while that someone involved with Guardians 3 has answered a question about Thor's status. Last July, a fan asked director James Gunn if Thor would "be a part of it," referring to Guardians 3. However, Gunn dodged the question by saying, "No. Thor will not be in The Suicide Squad," which Gunn will finish before filming for Guardians 3 begins.
Guardians 3 could be a long way off, as Gunn previously apologized for Guardians 3's absence from Phase 4 of the MCU. However, it may be worth the wait, as Karen Gillan, who plays Nebula in the MCU, said the script for Volume 3 is the best of the trilogy.
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For now, MCU fans have plenty to look forward to, with Black Widow releasing in May, as well as the upcoming slate of Disney+ shows.
For more, read how Chris Pratt and Tom Holland want to start an Avengers Dungeons & Dragons party.
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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.
Sony Won’t Be at PAX East Anymore
Sony has announced that it is canceling its participation in the upcoming PAX East due to concerns over COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus.
The company announced the news as an update to its PlayStation Blog post detailing its PAX East plans. "Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as "novel coronavirus")[,]" Sony wrote in an update to its February 13 blog post.
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Sony was originally scheduled to present the first playable public demo for The Last of Us Part 2 at PAX East. Other games in Sony's PAX East lineup included Marvel's Iron Man VR, Nioh 2, Doom Eternal, Spelunky 2, and more.
It is unclear if the demo will still be available since Sony has decided to pull out of the event. IGN has reached out to Sony for more details, including whether The Last of Us Part 2 will still be available as a demo at the show.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has interrupted several planned gaming events already. Overwatch announced it will temporarily relocate its Chinese teams to South Korea, and Nintendo confirmed the outbreak will impact Animal Crossing: New Horizons shipments in Japan. Developing... [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.We’re so sad to have to miss PAX East! We were really looking forward to meeting you and seeing your reactions to the demo. Although we know this makes the wait until May 29 a bit harder, we appreciate your understanding. Don’t worry, we’ll have more to share closer to launch. https://t.co/tIJ0Z7Ztcs
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) February 19, 2020
Grand Theft Auto 4 Returning To Steam, But Without Multiplayer
After being delisted on Steam, Grand Theft Auto 4 will return to Valve’s platform as Grand Theft Auto 4: Complete Edition. However, despite the name, this version is missing something: the game’s multiplayer mode.
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From March 19, Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition will be added to Steam and any other digital distribution platform where GTA 4 is sold. This version will replace Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, effectively combining them into a single package. Existing owners will have their version replaced with this one, which means those who only own GTA 4 will actually be upgraded to the Complete Edition.
The Rockstar official support page also confirmed that while old save files will be compatible with Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition, but Steam Achievements will not be available until the new version launches in March.
This change is a result of Microsoft dropping support for Games for Windows Live, which was integrated into the PC version of GTA 4. The lack of support has forced Rockstar to make some adjustments to the game, which unfortunately has meant the removal of multiplayer and leaderboards.
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The new version will also lack three radio stations - RamJam FM, Self-Actualization FM, and Vice City FM - although Rockstar’s statement on the GTA 4 Steam page claims that this is a temporary situation.
Steam users will find that the automatic update will do the heavy lifting for them, but those with Windows Store or physical media copies will need to do some extra work. The key codes provided in physical media boxes can now be used to claim the game digitally, provided they are currently unclaimed. Those with versions of GTA 4 claimed in the Windows Store via Games for Windows Live will need to link their Microsoft account with the Rockstar Social Club, which will then replace the old version with a new copy of Grand Theft Auto 4: Complete Edition.
In other Rockstar news, Dan Houser - co-founder of the developer and writer of GTA 4 - recently announced that he’s departed Rockstar.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
No Man’s Sky Update Lets You Hatch a Spaceship From an Egg
Hello Games has announced that it is releasing the 9th major free update for No Man’s Sky this week: the Living Ship update.
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Living Ship adds, as the name suggests, a race of biological spaceships to the game. These organic space-faring craft can be nurtured from eggs and grown into huge, pilotable ships. With an entirely different look, cockpit, and movement design to any other ship in the game, they will make quite the unique addition to a fleet.
While the organic spaceships are the headline feature of the update, Living Ship also adds more variety to exploration in the form of space points of interests, which can be discovered during traversal of No Man’s Sky’s solar systems. NPC ships can also now be encountered in space. Hello Games also promises a variety of quality of life improvements.
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Living Ship is part of a new approach Hello Games is taking with No Man’s Sky’s update cadence. Where previous updates like Next and Beyond took many months - almost a year - to release, the studio has recently adopted the idea of delivering smaller but much more frequent updates. The developer does promise that “more radical” things are being worked on in the background, but hopes that these smaller features will help keep players more regularly entertained.
Previous smaller No Man’s Sky updates included the addition of a full audio creation tool called ByteBeat, and the Synthesis update that brought a slew of fan-requested changes.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
New Final Fantasy 7 Remake Footage Shows Off DLC Summons
A trio of videos posted on the official Final Fantasy 7 Remake Twitter account has revealed the animations and abilities for three summons: Chocobo Chick, Carbuncle, and Cactuar.
First up is Chocobo Chick, who's definitely not just a tiny version of the classic ChocoMog summon. Instead, the tiny bird flies around Cloud and casts magic spells at its target. It's a cute little addition, but certainly doesn't seem to be the tide-turner that many summons are. Carbuncle is undoubtedly the cutest of the trio, and - as is tradition for the summon - casts Reflect on the whole party in order to protect characters from magical damage.Today we're giving you a glimpse at three special #FinalFantasy VII Remake DLC summons. Take a look at Chocobo Chick, Carbuncle & Cactuar in battle!
Chocobo Chick comes with every pre-order of #FF7R, find out more here https://t.co/5ITHMObkaH pic.twitter.com/KPr7OK3Meu — FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (@finalfantasyvii) February 19, 2020
— FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (@finalfantasyvii) February 19, 2020Finally there's Cactuar, who once again brings the 1,000 Needles attack to the battlefield. As summons in Final Fantasy 7 Remake don't just cast their signature move and then leave the fight, Cactuar can also be seen doing a much wider, 360-degree attack. Cloud is shown to defend with the Buster Sword when this attack is being used, so it seems that perhaps Cactuar doesn't distinguish between friend and foe. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-25-new-images&captions=true"] All three summons are new for the remake, and were not available in the original game. They are available through a variety of purchase-based means; Chocobo Chick is a pre-order bonus, Carbuncle comes with the Digital Deluxe or 1st Class edition, and Cactuar is available with any purchase of a deluxe edition. In other FF7 Remake news, it appears this beefy new interpretation of the classic RPG will be over 100GB. It's got a fancy new opening movie, too, and you can see how it compares to the original in our video below. If you've never played the original, catch up with episode 1 and episode 2 of our Never Played Final Fantasy 7 let's play series. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/14/final-fantasy-7-opening-movie-comparison"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
Mulan: Live-Action Remake of Disney G-Rated Animated Film Lands PG-13
Disney's live-action remake of Mulan has received an official PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, which marks the first time a House of Mouse live-action remake of an animated classic has earned this classification.
Disney's upcoming Mulan release has broken the mould of the studio's former wave of live-action remakes of their animated films, as the new Mulan has been rated PG-13 for its "sequences of violence", per The Hollywood Reporter.
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The British Board of Film Classification has yet to confirm the official Mulan live-action age rating for the UK. However, the 1998 animated film was originally rated U, with "mild threat and violence" listed under the guide notes, which may indicate a 12A certification for the upcoming release.
Before now, Aladdin, Dumbo and Disney's other live-action adaptations of beloved fables have all been given PG or G ratings. In addition, Mulan is the first title from Disney's live-action studio to receive a PG-13 rating since the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017.
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From the footage shown in trailers, Disney's live-action Mulan has been depicted as a grand war epic that expresses a darker tone than its musical predecessor, though it appears to be using a lot of similar imagery to the original film.
For more on Disney's Mulan adaptation, which arrives in theatres March 27, take a closer look at the six new character posters for the film, check out this selection of photos that show Mulan in action, and watch our 2020 vs. 1998 side-by-side comparison feature.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Chris Pratt and Tom Holland Want to Start an Avengers Cast D&D Party
Tom Holland has revealed that he and Chris Pratt have discussed setting up an Avengers cast Dungeons & Dragons session, redefining what it means to assemble.
Speaking to IGN at Disney Pixar's Onward World Premiere, Holland was asked if he has ever played D&D before. While he never has, he did gave fans of Earth's Mightiest Heroes a reason to cheer.
"I haven't, no, but Chris and I have been talking about setting up an Avengers D&D session," Holland said. "Which would be amazing. We actually want to like film it, because it would be really fun. Not livestream it, because I don't do...is this live? It is live! Oh ok, I'm really stressed now."
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An Avengers D&D session with Holland, Pratt, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and many more could be something spectacular if done right.
It could allow our favorite Marvel movie characters no longer with us to have one more story, it could allow for our heroes to explore some of the abandoned plot threads in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or it could simply allow us to once again see the Avengers sitting around a table eating shawarma.
While it may focus on something completely out of the MCU, it could be fun to get a different perspective from our favorite actors, one that could be in a similar fashion to the upcoming Marvel's What If...? series coming to Disney+.
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Alongside the D&D talk, Holland also discussed how the upcoming Uncharted film will take inspiration from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and will have a "global" scope.
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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.
