SAN DIEGO: Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con with dancing Deadpool variants and a choir for a panel that included news about the next two “Avengers” films and surprise guests, including Harrison Ford and Robert Downey Jr.
Downey is returning to Marvel’s films, but not as Iron Man. He’ll play the villain Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom, in at least one of the upcoming “Avengers” movies. Downey kicked off Marvel’s movie successes in “Iron Man” and played the popular character in nine films, but on Saturday appeared wearing Dr. Doom’s mask and a green cloak.
“New mask, same task,” Downey said to frenzied cheers.
The Russo brothers, who will be directing the movie featuring Downey, said his appearance in the film is “proof of the unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multi-universe.”
The reveal capped a jubilant return by Marvel to Comic-Con’s Hall H.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige kicked off the panel by saying that due to this weekend’s success of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe had now topped $30 billion in box-office earnings. In a nod to a scene in the movie, a choir sang Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” before Feige spoke.
“Deadpool & Wolverine,” released Thursday, has already broken one record and could shatter more in its opening weekend. Feige used Saturday’s panel to chart the course ahead for the MCU, revealing Ford’s character in the next “Captain America” film and revealing “Avengers: Secret Wars and “Avengers: Doomsday” as the titles of the next two films in the epic superhero team-up series. “Doomsday” will hit theaters in 2026.
Feige said all the actors introduced Saturday would appear in the upcoming “Avengers” movies, which will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. The brothers guided the “Avengers” franchise through its sprawling storyline capped by “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019 that included the death of Downey’s Tony Stark/Iron Man character.
“When we directed ”Avengers: Endgame,” Joe and I truly believed that it was the end of the road for us in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because we had put all of our passion, our love, our imagination into “The Winter Soldier,” into “Civil War,” into “Infinity War,” climaxing all of it with “Avengers: Endgame,” Anthony Russo said. “That four movie run was incredible and it left us creatively spent with all of our emotions on the film. In the time since, through a very special story, Joe and I have come to potentially see a road forward with you.”
They called “Secret Wars” the “biggest story that Marvel Comics ever told,” and Joe said it was the first comic book run he read as a child that made him “fall in love with comics.”
Saturday’s session comes after Marvel skipped the convention last year due to the Hollywood strikes, which prevented writers and actors from speaking on panels.
The cast of “Captain America: Brave New World” — Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez and Anthony Mackie — joined the stage first and teased details about the upcoming film. Esposito revealed that he will be playing the villain, Seth Voelker, also known as Sidewinder.
When asked about what it was like to join a Marvel project, Esposito said it was a “dream come true.
“When your dreams come true and you get the call, you walk through the door,” he continued. “I have a great deal of gratitude for all the fans who really had this dream come true, because it was fan casting that linked us together.”
The cast then stepped aside to share a scene from the movie on the big screen, which revealed that President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Ford, is hoping to rebuild the Avengers with Mackie’s Sam Wilson. It also showed Ford’s character transform into the Red Hulk.
Ford joined the panel after fans were treated to clips from the movie and flexed his muscles to the roaring crowd. He also expressed excitement over his latest role, saying, “I am delighted, and proud to become a member of the Marvel Universe.”
The cast and director of “Thunderbolts(asterisk)” also surprised fans with a short clip from the movie. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and David Harbor (in full costume and speaking in character as the Red Guardian at first) stormed the stage and shared some more details about their characters.
The film is slated to be released in May 2025.
The final film teased at the panel was “The Fantastic Four,” starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The movie will begin filming on Tuesday in London, Feige said.
He said the film will hit theaters in almost exactly one year in July 2025.
Following a video director Matt Shakman created specifically for Comic-Con that featured the cast in full ‘60s glory, he and Feige revealed the official title of the film, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
The session included no mention of Jonathan Majors, who played the villain Kang the Conqueror and was previously a major part of Marvel’s “Avengers” plans. The actor was fired by the studio after he was convicted in December of assaulting a former girlfriend. He was sentenced to a yearlong counseling program in April and avoided jail time.
Marvel already took over Hall H on Thursday with an electric panel celebrating “Deadpool & Wolverine,” in which the audience was treated to a full screening and surprise guests joining stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on stage.
The mounting enthusiasm for the film at Comic-Con was reflected across the country as the fans rushed to see it in theaters, securing the film as the new record holder for the Thursday preview for an R-rated movie. The comic book film sold an estimated $38.5 million worth of movie tickets from preview screenings Thursday.
The “Deadpool & Wolverine” success woke up a sleepy year for Marvel and assuaged worries about its box-office underperformance in late 2023. The superhero factory hit a record low in November with the launch of “The Marvels,” which opened with just $47 million.
Robert Downey Jr. is returning to ‘Avengers’ films as a villain in 1 of Marvel’s Comic-Con twists
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Robert Downey Jr. is returning to ‘Avengers’ films as a villain in 1 of Marvel’s Comic-Con twists
- He’ll play the villain Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom, in one of the upcoming “Avengers” movies
43 monkeys escape from a South Carolina medical lab. Police say there is no serious danger
- The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday
- The monkeys are females weighing about 3 kilograms and are so young and small that they haven’t been used for testing, police said
SOUTH CAROLINA: Forty-three monkeys escaped from a compound used for medical research in South Carolina but the nearby police chief said there is “almost no danger” to the public.
“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday morning.
The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday when a new employee didn’t fully shut an enclosure, Alexander said.
The monkeys are females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms) and are so young and small that they haven’t been used for testing, police said.
Alpha Genesis employees “currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food,” police said in a statement issued around noon Thursday.
The company usually handles escapes on site, but the monkeys got outside the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee, Alexander said.
“The handlers know them well and usually can get them back with fruit or a little treat,” Alexander told The Associated Press by phone.
But rounding up these escapees is taking some more work. Alpha Genesis is taking the lead, setting up traps and using thermal imaging cameras to recapture the monkeys on the run, the chief said.
“There is almost no danger to the public,” Alexander said.
People living nearby need to shut their windows and doors so the monkeys can’t find a place to hide inside and if they see the primates, call 911 so company officials and police can capture them.
Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website. The company did not respond to an email asking about Wednesday’s escape.
In 2018, federal officials fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after dozens of primates escaped as well as for an incident that left a few others without water and other problems with how the monkeys were housed.
Officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.
The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter to the US Department of Agriculture asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company.
“The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” Michael Budkie, the executive director of the group, wrote in the Thursday morning letter.
Australia moves to ban children under 16 from social media
Platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram would be held responsible for enforcing the age ban, Albanese said, and face potentially hefty fines for failing to do so.
The Australian government first mooted a social media age limit earlier this year, and the idea enjoys broad bipartisan support among lawmakers.
“This one is for the mums and dads. Social media is doing real harm to kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese said.
The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament in late November.
Tech platforms would then be given a one-year grace period to figure out how they would implement the ban.
Albanese said unchecked social media algorithms were serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers.
“I get things popping up on my system that I don’t want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old,” he said.
“Young women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact.”
Albanese said he had settled on 16 as an appropriate age after a series of age verification trials conducted by the government.
Analysts have previously expressed doubt that it would be technically possible to enforce such a strict age ban.
“We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy,” University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year.
A series of exemptions would be decided for platforms such as YouTube, which teenagers may need to use for school work or other reasons.
Australia has been at the vanguard of global efforts to clean up social media.
The government introduced a “combating misinformation” bill earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to fine tech giants for breaching online safety obligations.
Australia’s online watchdog is locked in a running battle with Elon Musk’s X, accusing the platform of failing to stamp out harmful posts.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the reforms were “truly world-leading.”
Social media platforms were repeatedly “falling short,” she said at Wednesday’s press briefing with Albanese.
“Social media companies have been put on notice,” Rowland said.
“They need to ensure their practices are made safer.”
Rowland flagged that there would be financial penalties for tech companies that failed to comply.
French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud wins top French literary prize
- The prize money itself amounts to just 10 euros ($11), paid by a cheque that winners usually frame and hang on the wall rather than cash.
PARIS: French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud on Monday won France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt, for a novel centered on Algeria’s civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s.
The jury needed just one round of voting to award the coveted prize to Daoud for his novel “Houris” about what has become known as Algeria’s “black decade.”
The book, written in French, is banned in Algeria.
Daoud was already known internationally for his 2013 debut novel “The Meursault Investigation” — a retelling of Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” from the opposite angle — for which he won the First Novel category of the Goncourt prize.
The writer, who used to work as a journalist and columnist in Algeria, has stirred controversy with his analyzes of society in Algeria.
The prestigious Goncourt prize usually sparks book sales in the hundreds of thousands for the winning author.
However, the prize money itself amounts to just 10 euros ($11), paid by a cheque that winners usually frame and hang on the wall rather than cash.
Daoud’s main rival for this year’s edition was Gael Faye, a Rwandan-born writer, composer and rapper, whose novel “Jacaranda” deals with the rebuilding of Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.
While losing out on the Goncourt, Faye was Monday handed the Renaudot, another coveted prize awarded during the French literary competition season.
Macron, on X, congratulated both writers, saying that “thanks to their voices, our French language expresses beauty, tragedy and universality even better.”
World’s largest captive crocodile Cassius dies in Australia
- Cassius, weighing in at more than one tonne, had been in declining health since October 15
- He took the title after the 2013 death of Philippines crocodile Lolong, who measured 6.17 meters
SYDNEY: A 5.48-meter (18 feet) Australian crocodile that held the world record as the largest crocodile in captivity has died, a wildlife sanctuary said on Saturday. He was thought to be more than 110 years old.
Cassius, weighing in at more than one tonne, had been in declining health since Oct. 15, Marineland Melanesia Crocodile Habitat said on Facebook.
“He was very old and believed to be living beyond the years of a wild Croc,” according to a post by the organization, based on Green Island near the Queensland tourist town of Cairns.
“Cassius will be deeply missed, but our love and memories of him will remain in our hearts forever.”
The group’s website said he had lived at the sanctuary since 1987 after being transported from the neighboring Northern Territory, where crocodiles are a key part of the region’s tourist industry.
Cassius, a saltwater crocodile, held the Guinness World Records title as the world’s largest crocodile in captivity.
He took the title after the 2013 death of Philippines crocodile Lolong, who measured 6.17m (20 feet 3 inches) long, according to Guinness.
Rapper Young Thug pleads guilty to gang, drug and gun charges
ATLANTA: Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty Thursday in Atlanta to gang, drug and gun charges and will be released from jail, though he could be put back behind bars if he violates the terms of his sentence.
The 33-year-old Grammy winning artist, whose given name is Jeffery Williams, entered his pleas without reaching a deal with prosecutors after negotiations between the two sides broke down, lead prosecutor Adriane Love said. That left the sentence completely up to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker.
Young Thug’s plea comes two and a half years after he was arrested and charged and nearly a year after the prosecution started presenting evidence in the problem-plagued trial. Jury selection at the courthouse in Atlanta began in January 2023 and took nearly 10 months. Prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses since opening statements last November in the trial of six defendants.
The trial has faced many delays, including in July when the original judge was removed after two defendants sought his recusal, citing a meeting the judge held with prosecutors and a state witness.
Young Thug pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges and two gun charges. He also entered a no contest plea to another gang charge and a racketeering conspiracy charge, meaning that he decided not to contest those charges but can be punished for them as if he had pleaded guilty.
The judge imposed a sentence of 40 years with the first five to be served in prison but commuted to time served, followed by 15 years on probation. If he successfully completes that probation without any violations, another 20 years will be commuted to time served. But if he violates the conditions, he will have to serve those 20 years in addition to any penalty for a probation violation.
Young Thug must stay away from the metro Atlanta area for the first 10 years of his probation, except for weddings, funerals, graduations or serious illness of family members, the judge said.
But she also ordered him to return to the Atlanta area four times a year during his probation to make a live anti-gang, anti-gun violence presentation at a school or a community organization serving children. She said that can count toward the 100 hours of community service she ordered him to perform each year during probation.
He’s also not allowed to associate with gang members or with the victims or other defendants in the case, with the exception of his brother and the rapper Gunna, with whom he has contractual obligations. He also cannot promote any criminal street gang or gang activity and can’t use hand signs or terminology that promotes a street gang.
Additional conditions include submitting to random drug screens and not possessing a gun. But he is allowed to travel both nationally and internationally for work, even while on probation.
Love had outlined for the judge the evidence she would have presented to prove Young Thug’s guilt, including some of his rap lyrics. She asked the judge to sentence him to 45 years, with 25 years in prison and the remaining 20 years on probation.
The rapper’s lead attorney Brian Steel said they “vehemently disagree” with many of the statements Love made and said it was “offensive” that the state is using Young Thug’s lyrics against him.
Steel said the evidence against his client is weak and accused prosecutors of misrepresenting and hiding evidence, saying Young Thug was “falsely accused.” Steel said he told his client that he thought they were winning the trial and should go through to a jury verdict.
“But he told me, ‘I can’t wait another three months if there is any possibility I could go home because I have children that are hurting. I have things to do,’” Steel said.
Steel asked the judge to impose a sentence of 45 years with five in prison commuted to time served and 40 years on probation.
Young Thug asked the judge to let him go home, saying he wouldn’t be in a similar situation again.
“I’ve learned from my mistakes, you know. I come from nothing and I’ve made something and I didn’t take full advantage of it. I’m sorry,” he said.
The judge said she appreciated that he realized the impact that he has on people worldwide. She said rap music may involve a lot of posturing but that children emulate some of the dangerous behavior mentioned in songs. She encouraged Young Thug to use his talent and influence to encourage kids to do the right thing.
“I want you to try to be more of the solution and less of the problem,” Whitaker said.
A tremendously successful rapper, Young Thug started his own record label, Young Stoner Life or YSL. Prosecutors have said he also co-founded a violent criminal street gang and that YSL stands for Young Slime Life.
He was charged two years ago in a sprawling indictment accusing him and more than two dozen other people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He also was charged with gang, drug and gun crimes.
Three of his Young Thug’s co-defendants had already pleaded guilty this week after reaching deals with prosecutors. The pleas leave the fates of two other co-defendants still undecided.
Nine people charged in the indictment accepted plea deals before the trial began. Twelve others are being tried separately. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.
