GoneTrending

At Comic Con, former Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. star shocked fans when he revealed that he would be the new Doctor Doom, not too long after winning his Oscar. Downey Jr. was met with a wave of screams and claps, but after that died down, questions began to form. Will this be a different universe than Tony Stark? How will they incorporate his very rich origin story? Will the Avengers recognize him as former Iron Man? And what the hell happened to Howard Stern’s role?!

Back in June 2022, Stern might have accidentally let it slip that he was possibly in talks to star as Doom, or some iteration of Doom, or simply a character in a Doom film. While signing off The Howard Stern Show, Stern’s mic briefly stayed live and he mentioned he would be involved in some sort of production about Doctor Doom, and that he was “miserable” about it.

“They’re going over the schedule with me and it’s gonna suck,” Stern said, seemingly unaware that his mic was on. When asked if he was working this summer, Stern replied, “Well, I told you I’m gonna do Dr. Doom. But… believe me, I’m f*cking miserable about it.” So it seems like he wasn’t too happy about it anyway. But then this is where things get interesting: Stern also mentioned calling up Robert Downey Jr. before the mic cut off. Could this have been the phone call that had Downey Jr. consider retuning to the MCU? Or did Stern bribe him to take over the role?

It’s also possible that maybe he was the original Doom, but the MCU has shifted dramatically since then, so we may never know.

There is always a possibility that Stern could appear as a different variant or iteration of Doom. That kind of stuff is much more common these days! Maybe that means Julian McMahon will finally get back on the big screen. One can only hope.

Downey Jr. will star as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday which is slated for a May 2026 release.

Much of the marketing campaign for Deadpool & Wolverine — and pretty much all the other Deadpool movies, too — revolved around the fake antagonistic relationship between stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. It was fun(-ish) while it lasted, but enough with the semi-ironic bromance: the people want genuine chemistry between Marvel Cinematic Universe co-stars, and Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby are here to provide it.

While appearing at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, The Fantastic Four: First Steps stars, who play Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic and Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, respectively, did their best Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain impression. Kirby called Pascal “sexy,” and they later held hands on stage (possibly to help him manage his anxiety).

Marvel movies are frequently romantically limp affairs, but that does not appear to be the case here (even if Reed isn’t always the greatest husband to Sue). “i can hear ever single thought vanessa kirby is having about pedro pascal in this video girl get it together,” one user wrote on X about the footage of them together, while another added, “No really, find someone who looks at you the way Vanessa Kirby looks at Pedro Pascal!”

Here’s more:

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which also stars Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing, opens in theaters on July 25, 2025.

The United States’ efforts to win an eighth straight Olympic gold medal in women’s basketball got off to one heck of a start on Monday. The Americans took on Japan in their Group C opener at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, and in a rematch of the gold medal game from 2021, the United States took care of business against a feisty Japan squad en route to a 102-76 win.

While the three-point line kept things close throughout the first half, Japan had no way to deal with the size that the United States brought to the tournament. Try as they might, when the Americans were able to break Japan’s relentless ball pressure, they were just way too big on the inside, and were able to get second and third chances by going up and over their opponents for offensive rebounds.

By the time the two teams entered the locker room for halftime, the Americans were able to take a 50-39 lead into the locker room thanks to monster first halves for A’ja Wilson (17 points, seven rebounds) and Breanna Stewart (14 points, six rebounds). They had a 30-14 advantage on the glass, with 10 offensive boards. And if not for the fact that Japan went 9-for-22 from three and they could not get anything to go from deep — the United States shot 1-for-12 from behind the three-point line despite plenty of good looks — things could have been considerably more one-sided.

The U.S. came out of the locker room at halftime and, despite their continued struggles to hit threes, continued to impose itself, with Chelsea Gray pulling the strings and carving up Japan’s defense.

They managed to extend their lead by hammering Japan in the paint and playing an egalitarian style of basketball, with the ball consistently moving and buckets coming as a result. While their opponents kept trying to let it fly from three, the United States took advantage of its edge in both size and athleticism over and over again.

The U.S. was able to get its lead up to as many as 32 points before Japan was able to tighten things up a little at the very end — while the Americans will almost certainly not need to rely on point differential during group play, it could be important in determining second and third for everyone else.

Every player who stepped on the floor for the United States scored, with Wilson’s 24 points leading the way along with 13 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks. Stewart had 22 points and eight boards, while Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, and Kelsey Plum each scored 11 off the bench. As a team, the U.S. had 34 assists on 42 made field goals — Gray had 13 of them — while they managed to out-rebound Japan, 56-27, with 19 of those coming on the offensive glass. And the scariest part may just be that they have plenty of room to improve, as Team USA turned the ball over 12 times and only shot 4-for-20 from deep, with three of those makes coming from Ionescu in the fourth quarter.

Next up for the United States is a matchup with Belgium on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. The Belgians played Germany in their group play opener earlier in the day on Monday and fell, 83-69.

Spoilers for the Presumed Innocent novel and Apple TV+ series will be found below.

The Jake Gyllenhaal-starring Presumed Innocent was intended as a limited series for Apple TV+. However, limited series tend to turn into ongoing series when streaming numbers are too successful (and this quickly became the streaming service’s “most watched drama” in the five years since launch) to resist going back for more.

Actually, that move was publicized by the tech giant’s streaming service a few weeks before the first season came to a conclusion, so viewers couldn’t yet guess whether the finale would match up to the book or head into a different twist, which it did. And that twist, apparently, was written when nobody knew that this series would continue.

To briefly recap (because if you are reading this, then you have surely seen the finale), bad prosecutor Rusty (Gyllenhaal) was acquitted in both the book and the TV show. Yet the series changed the book’s ending, which involved Rusty’s wife, Barbara, killing Carolyn and staging the murder to look like the crime scene of a case that Rusty and Carolyn had worked on together. In contrast, the series saw the murder committed by Jaden (daughter of Rusty and Barbara), with the crime scene staging (involving bondage) being done by Rusty, who thought he was covering for Barbara’s actions.

The modus operandi for Jaden was that, for whatever reason, Carolyn had confessed that she was pregnant with Rusty’s child. And without evaluating whether any of this makes sense — the Scott Turow novel saw Rusty decide to keep Barbara’s guilt a secret, and Carolyn’s murder was never officially solved in the eyes of the law — the bigger question is this:

What Do We Know About A Potential Season 2 Of Presumed Innocent?

We know that a second season will happen, and that J.J., Abrams, David E. Kelley, and Jake Gyllenhaal will produce. We do not know if Gyllenhaal will appear again, or if the second season will be based upon another Turow novel. If that is the case, then there is another book, Innocent, which takes place 20 years later on the Rusty/Barbara timeline and involves her death. In the alternative, producers could choose to adapt another Turow book that includes characters from this book, but Apple TV+’s press release (on the renewal) only vaguely refers to a “brand new case” for the next season.

Abrams did provide some insight to Deadline while declining to clarify the second season plan:

“We discussed the possibility of a second season during production, but then Apple brought it up to us in post. Nothing was ever shot to set up a second season. Our focus was telling the story of Carolyn’s murder and Rusty’s trial, and wrapping that up at the end of the first season.”

In other words, hang tight, and hopefully, more information shall follow.

With Maryland artist Tommy Richman experiencing a massive breakout thanks to his new singles, “Million Dollar Baby” and “Devil Is A Lie,” and with his debut album, Coyote, dropping this fall, there’s no better time for him to announce a tour to promote those projects. The Before The Desert tour announcement sees Richman taking the recently resurgent “mini-tour” route, announcing three shows in major cities, including Los Angeles, New York, and a hometown show in Washington, DC.

The burgeoning star, who is signed to Brent Faiyaz’s ISO Supremacy imprint, will launch the mini-tour in September, and depending on the turnout, will likely add dates or join a bigger artist on tour after the release of his album. Although fans outside those areas might feel left out, this is a smart strategy for the new star; although breakout artists have generated impressive streaming numbers in recent years, using those numbers to justify booking too many shows at bigger venues has backfired on many artists lately. It looks like we might be going back to the slow-cooked method of building artists’ buzz, which will probably prove more sustainable in the long term.

Pre-sale for the three shows will begin Thursday, August 1st at 10 am local time, while general sale starts Friday, August 2nd. You can find more info here.

09/10 — Union Stage @ Washington, D.C.
09/11 — Baby’s All Right @ New York, NY
09/18 — The Roxy @ Los Angeles, CA

There was a major shake-up within Big Thief earlier this month, when the group announced the departure of founding member Max Oleartchik, citing “interpersonal reasons” as the cause of the lineup change but not getting more specific than that.

The big question this news left was what Big Thief would look like going forward. Well, the band just offered a glimpse of their future at Portland’s Project Pabst festival this past weekend.

As Stereogum reports, it was the band’s first show in almost a year, and it saw them playing a whopping ten new songs. Also notable is that the band had a five-person lineup: Post-Oleartchik, Big Thief is down to three official members: Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia. But, for Pabst, they added a second drummer and a bassist that Lenker introduced as “Justin.” It’s not clear if these performers are now permanent members of Big Thief.

Check out Big Thief’s Project Pabst setlist below (via setlist.fm).

Big Thief Setlist: Project Pabst 2024

1. “Los Angeles”
2. “All Night All Day”
3. “How Could I Have Known”
4. “Words”
5. “More Than Anything”
6. “Grandmother”
7. “No Fear”
8. “Terrifying”
9. “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You”
10. “Incomprehensible”
11. “Masterpiece”
12. “Muscle Memory”
13. “Not”
14. “Space And Time”

Let’s face it: There’s a lot going on during the Olympics. For those of us who love to spend all day watching sports, it’s great, but it can be really hard to keep tabs on everything throughout the day, as there always seems to be 10 different sports happening at one.

Someone at NBC, the American network that has the broadcast rights for the Games, had the brilliant idea to borrow the NFL Network’s RedZone idea. Gold Zone, as it is known, has been an invaluable resource during the Paris Olympics, as it bounces from event to event and keeps fans aware of what’s going on. And to really lean into the RedZone influence, Scott Hanson is on the roster of hosts for the channel.

Hanson is a pretty enthusiastic guy, and unfortunately, this got the better of him on Monday. At one point, Hanson got a little too fired up while rooting for the United States, to the point that he pounded on the desk so hard that he cut his hand and started bleeding.

It’s unclear which team or event got Hanson going like this — my guess would be men’s gymnastics, where the Americans picked up its first team medal in 16 years (a bronze) thanks to this:

It’s also possible that Hanson got cut during the men’s 200m freestyle, which, once again, rocked.

In fairness to Hanson (if this was what caused it, of course), I was pretty fired up watching both of these, too.

After a fan challenged Lil Yachty’s assertion that he’s “richer than your favorite rapper” on his new song “Hate Me,” Yachty made another bold claim, arguing that he’s not only among the richest rappers, but that he also made his supposed net worth according to Google (a notoriously iffy source for that sort of thing) in the first year of his career.

Posting a screenshot of the Genius.com lyrics from “Hate Me,” one fan asked, “What possessed him to put this on his mom?” Another noted, “he willingly jumped on that crack both feet,” sharing screenshots of searches of a few of their favorite rappers’ net worth. One for Playboi Carti says $20 million, while Kendrick Lamar’s reads $90 million (what a marvel, the duality of man), compared to Lil Yachty’s, which read $8 million.

However, as with previous incidents of fans looking up rappers’ net worth on Google (seriously, a fool’s errand, guys, unless it’s been publicized, it’s probably not accurate), the clap back came quickly. “i made 8 million in my first 8 months of rappin in 2016 on god,” Yachty sneered. “yall be letting this internet guide yall. in real life sh*t is different i’m tellin u.” Truer words were never spoken.

Clearly, Glen Powell has a packed schedule. Not only is the Anyone But You star and Twisters charmer/Brisket dad (allegedly) preparing for his date with Top Gun 3, several other projects sit on his more immediate horizon. Those include a Family Man guest appearance and a starring role in Edgar Wright’s remake of Stephen King’s The Running Man. He’s got even more titles in the works, and that includes, somehow, a comedy series for Hulu.

This won’t be Powell’s first TV comedy rodeo. He previously chewed scenery for Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens, in which he made this face in a comedy-horror context. He will also soon star in Chad Powers, which sounds like a superhero parody about a male “Karen.” However, this is a project that found its inspiration in a Ted Lasso sort of way (with Jason Sudeikis previously inventing the character for NBC Olympics coverage before the Apple TV+ series), only not. What will Chad Powers bring the world?

Plot

College football fans will already know (and those of us who are simply fascinated with Powell’s movie star rise are catching up) that Eli Manning previously filmed an ESPN+ docuseries, in which he attempted to make the Penn State football team while going undercover as “Chad Powers,” complete with a wig and prosthetics.

The series adaptation of this oddball stunt will film in Atlanta from August to October of this year, according to Hulu. In doing so, Powell will “disguise himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers.” Well, there are only a few certainties here, which is that Glen Powell excels while wearing disguises, and he’s not afraid to take on offbeat adaptations.

On a promising note, Loki and Rick and Morty producer Michael Waldron has co-created along with Powell, and they will both executive produce this series. Deadline has a statement of their joint enthusiasm:

“We’re both diehard college football fans. When we saw Eli as Chad Powers, we knew that was the way into a big, fun story about this world. We’re excited to be part of this team, and can’t wait to get Chad in the game. Think fast, run fast.”

Cast

Along with Powell, the series will star Steve Zahn as head football coach Jake Hudson, whose career might just be saved by “talented oddball Chad Powers.” This is going to be strange, so get ready.

Release Date

Hulu hasn’t revealed a release date yet, but Chad Powers will finish filming in October, so a 2025 rollout is probable.

Trailer

Since filming has yet to being, no trailer could possibly exist, but fortunately, Manning’s Chad Powers tour still lives on YouTube:

In the world of dramatic TV crossover events, Dick Wolf has it down to a science. But wouldn’t we like to go back to the good ol’ days of sitcom crossovers? You know, like when those Full House kids ran into the Family Matters bunch for an hour of mayhem. Those were the days. And Quinta Brunson is ready to take on that challenge.

While at San Diego Comic-Con, Brunson confirmed that the upcoming season of Abbott Elementary will have an “interesting” crossover event. They’ve already had Gritty, so this should be huge. “We will be doing an interesting crossover this season.” I’m not gonna tell you with who, or with what, or where, or when, but it’s really exciting and I think it’ll change television as we know it,” Brunson revealed, to which co-star Lisa Ann Walter joked that it would be House of the Dragon.

But why a crossover? Simply because they are fun as heck and allow different fans to see other shows they might not have watched. “Those things are what reinvigorate TV viewers, TV watchers, and I think it’s always fun to find ways to reinvigorate our audiences,” Brunson explained. “What’s important with Abbott is we protect the show. Because it’s a ‘mockumentary’ we have to protect what we’re doing, but to find a way for it to still be possible to do something cool like that. It makes me really, really happy. It’s just like an ode to the medium.”

Abbott airs on ABC, meaning that, in theory, anyone from an ABC series could pop by. This includes Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1, or maybe Mr. Johnson can try out for The Golden Bachelor.

We don’t know for certain, so, obviously, fans took to social media to guess what this crossover event would be like.

There’s also the possibility of some more cameos…

But eagle-eyed fans recall when It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Rob McElhenney expressed interest in a crossover earlier this year. This seems to be the most chaotic and plausible of them all.

Abbott Elementary season 4 returns to ABC on October 9.