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Even with much of the industry still shuttered, James Gunn is one of the busiest people working in Hollywood right now. The upside, if you will, of him being temporarily removed from the third Guardians of the Galaxy over a controversy that blew over is that he got the job funning up the sequel to Suicide Squad — on top of returning for that third Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s had a lot of time to prep both of these monsters, and on Saturday he teased that with the darker of the two, he’s really going to go for broke.

The filmmaker quote-tweeted a fan and podcaster who enthusiastically tweeted out the huge and mostly new cast of the semi-confusingly titled The Suicide Squad on the cover of Empire. And he had some surprising words in store: “What two characters do you think are most likely to survive #TheSuicideSquad?”

He elaborated in another tweet. “No character was protected by DC,” he wrote. “They gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted. That was one of the things we agreed to before I came to work for them. I wasn’t looking for shock value but I wanted the audience to know anything could happen.”

Of course, it’s unlikely that Gunn will kill off all but two of the two dozen or so characters. (And one of them, John Cena’s Peacemaker, is already getting his own TV spin-off, so he probably won’t eat it.) But he could still be pretty ruthless. So look out, new cast members like Idris Elba, Pete Davidson, Taika Waititi, Peter Capaldi, and Michael Rooker — as well as returning vets like Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, and Jai Courtney: Your character could meet a grisly death at the hands of a guy who cut his teeth working at Troma.

(Via Deadline)

Recent exposés by The New York Times have confirmed what many have long ago suspected: that president Donald Trump isn’t quite the business genius he claims to be — essentially that he tries to play one on TV. The same goes for his tough guy image. He likes to talk the talk and even make videos that portray him as strong. Well, actual tough guy Dave Bautista isn’t buying it. And in a new video, in which he endorses Trump’s presidential rival, Joe Biden, he calls bull.

The wrestler-turned-actor — and, as nice guy hulk Drax the Destroyer, arguably the most fun member of the Guardians of the Galaxy team — took to Instagram to implore people to not only vote, but to vote against the man who be a lot tougher if he actually took the pandemic seriously.

“We talk about the differences between being tough and someone who portrays himself as a tough guy,” Bautista said. He continued:

“It’s easy to lie to people. It’s easy to bully people. That does not make you a tough guy. It’s easy to tell someone what they want to hear. It’s not easy to tell someone what they need to hear. We’re not in good shape, but this is where we’re gonna get out of it. That is being tough. This country, more than anything right now, needs someone who’s going to have a plan so we can get back on track. A leader is someone who can unite people, who takes responsibility. That’s toughness. That is Joe Biden.”

Bautista is one of many MCU actors who’ve come out in support of Biden — although not everyone has joined in the fun. But hey, if you can get Drax and Bruce Banner to team up to defeat a foe who’s let a ton of people die on his watch, you know we’re in good hands.

(Via ComicBook.com)

The Bengals defense played very well for one quarter against the Cleveland Browns, holding them to 0 points, picking off Baker Mayfield once, and making him go 0-for-5 on passes. From there, however, they did not stop the Browns again as Cleveland scored 37 points, Mayfield threw five touchdowns on 22-for-23 passing, and, despite Joe Burrow’s best efforts in throwing for over 400 yards, the Bengals lost 37-34.

Veteran defensive end Carlos Dunlap has been pretty vocal with his displeasure of both his role in the Bengals defense and just generally being on the squad that continues to lose even as the offense shows some promise under Burrow. Prior to the Browns game, Dunlap posted a picture of the Bengals defensive line depth chart and called out the coaching staff on Instagram, as he looks for a way out of town.

During the game, after the Browns game-winning touchdown, Dunlap was visibly upset and yelling at the coaching staff on the sidelines.

After the loss, Dunlap was at it again, this time posting to Twitter in an effort to sell his 6,000 square foot condo and asking for “serious inquiries only” on his city view abode in Cincinnati.

I’m not sure Twitter is the right place to find a buyer for your condo, especially with this little in the way of details on your place, but the message is loud and clear here: Dunlap wants out and wants the world to know he wants out. The Bengals have a couple of weeks to oblige to Dunlap’s attempts at being traded as the deadline approaches, and if he lasts another week in Cincinnati, I look forward to what his next stunt will be to try and get out of there.

The future of Ohio professional football was on display on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati as Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield had quite the quarterbacking duel in what ended up being a thrilling 37-34 Browns win to move Cleveland, somewhat improbably, to 5-2 on the season.

The rookie Burrow was sensational, completing 35-of-47 passes for 406 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception — on the opening drive in the end zone. His finest work came on the Bengals final drive, as he picked apart the Browns secondary to march Cincy to a touchdown and a 34-31 lead, using his legs and his arm, culminating in a touchdown pass on fourth and inches inside the five.

On the opposite side, Mayfield got off to a rather hideous start, going 0-for-5 in the first quarter with an interception on his first pass of the game, but once he settled in he really locked in, going 22-for-23 the rest of the way for 297 yards and five touchdowns. Like Burrow, his finest hour came on Cleveland’s last drive as he was able to answer the rookie with a dime to Rashard Higgins to set them up in field goal range with a chance to tie, and then found Donovan Peoples-Jones for a remarkable touchdown pass with 11 seconds to play to give Cleveland the win.

Mayfield has faced plenty of questions this season even as the Browns win games and while there is rightful criticism of some of his decision-making, he quieted panic with his play in the final three quarters against the Bengals. Now, that comes with the caveat of it being against Cincinnati, but it’s the kind of confidence Browns fans have missed seeing from him pushing the ball down the field — and that confidence was certainly back in the locker room celebration after the win.

https://twitter.com/MoreForYou_CLE/status/132046137292956057

Friends, I regret to inform you that the Atlanta Falcons are at it once again.

The franchise that exists solely to torture its fans somehow managed to overcome its greatest challenge in doing so yet this season: facing the Detroit Lions, who also exist exclusively to cause pain to its fan base. Neither team seemed all that intent on winning the football game on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta. The Lions took a 16-14 late in the fourth quarter on their second attempt at a field goal to take the lead — having missed the first a possession before — after the Falcons fumbled the ball back to them near midfield.

Atlanta then marched down the field and, like Penn State last night, should have set themselves up for a chip shot field goal or, at minimum, worked the clock more before going in the end zone. Instead, Todd Gurley — who has a history of falling down before the goal line in these situations — accidentally scored a touchdown with 1:04 to play and the Lions being without any timeouts.

Matthew Stafford then proceeded to march the Lions down the field and inside the 10 thanks to a ridiculous throw and catch to Kenny Golladay that was reviewed and upheld. The Lions had rushed down the field to snap the ball and spike it with three seconds left, and the review allowed them to not just set up for another spike attempt but also get some planning done for their final play of the game needing a touchdown to take the lead.

That play saw Stafford buy some time and hit T.J. Hockenson for the game-tying touchdown as time expired, as the Atlanta Falcons once again did the near impossible.

There was still some drama with the extra point, as Prater was backed up an extra 15 yards for an unsportsmanlike penalty after the touchdown by Detroit as they celebrated, but this is the Falcons we are talking about so naturally he drilled it even as Atlanta lined up illegally. The result is a Falcons team that is now 1-6 with three of the worst losses you will ever see, having blown massive fourth quarter leads to the Cowboys and Bears in back-to-back weeks earlier this season and now…this monstrosity to the lowly Lions.

With the November election just a little over a week ago, 50 Cent seemed to be on the fence about who he’d vote for in the upcoming election. Last week, he alluded to possibly changing his vote to Donald Trump after expressing frustration with Joe Biden’s proposed tax plan, one that would potentially raise income taxes on those making $400,000 or more.

“WHAT THE F*CK! (VOTE ForTRUMP) IM OUT, F*CK NEW YORK The KNICKS never win anyway,” 50 said in an Instagram post. “I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people 62% are you out of ya f*cking mind.” Soon after, his ex-girlfriend Chelsea Handler said she would pay his taxes as long as he came to his “senses.” After catching wind of additional comments, which she made on a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 50 offered a response, one that falls in line with Handler’s request.

On the late-night show, Handler doubled down on her initial comments. “I had to remind him that he’s a Black person so he can’t vote for Donald Trump and he shouldn’t be influencing an entire swath of people who may listen to him because he’s worried about his own personal pocketbook.”

In response, 50 took to Instagram once again and said, “A what, another spin. F*ck Donald Trump, I never liked him.” He added, “For all I know, he had me set up and had my friend Angel Fernandez killed but that’s history. LOL.” Handler’s offer may have been enticing enough for Trump to change his stance or it was just an overall joke from the start.

You can see 50’s response in the video above.

When Andy Dalton signed with the Cowboys as the backup behind Dak Prescott he probably didn’t expect to be thrown into the starting lineup the way he did. Every quarterback wants to take the starting job because of their ability not because of injury, but when Prescott went down it was up to Dalton to lead the Cowboys for the rest of the season.

The results so far haven’t been what the Cowboys were hoping for. Dalton struggled mightily in his first outing as the new starter and was struggling all Sunday against the Washington Football Team. Midway through the third quarter, down big, Dalton tried to make a play with his legs. He scrambled away from pressure and slid down, but Jon Bostic tried to meet him down on the ground and hit Dalton straight in the head with his own head. Dalton immediately went down.

Thankfully Dalton would eventually recover enough to receive help walking off the field, but Bostic was ejected from the game. Dalton, clearly not able to play, was walked off the field leaving the Cowboys with no choice but to put the game in the hands of rookie quarterback Ben DiNucci out of James Madison.

DiNucci entered the game and on his first play, he did a pitch out to Ezekiel Elliot that was fumbled and recovered by Elliot. His next play was an impressive deep throw to Amari Cooper. Unfortunately for the rookie, his next two plays were a sack and then a sack plus a fumble.

Saturday Night Live is leaning heavily into politics in Season 46, running six straight episodes on consecutive weeks around the November 3 election. Every cold open the show has had this year has featured politics in some way, and on Saturday the show also ran an ad that imagined what America looks like if Donald Trump isn’t in office anymore.

The ad is a narrative done by various members of the SNL cast, playing concerned voters discussing the election between Trump and Joe Biden.

“Everyone knows this could be the most important election in our nation’s history. And the two choices couldn’t be more different,” the cast said. “Do we want four more years of Donald Trump? Or a fresh start with Joe Biden?”

The commercial asks if America can “survive” another four years of Trump, but then the tenor of the commercial changes.

“Because if Donald Trump isn’t president, then what are we going to talk about?” the cast members ask.

The commercial frames the election as an important decision, but also a question of whether it’s worth getting rid of Trump despite some of the funny things he’s done and said over the last four years. Some say their entire personality is “hating” Trump, and wonder what will happen to them if he leaves office.

The conclusion, however, is that Trump will only say more wild and inflammatory things once he leaves office.

“Even if Trump loses, he isn’t going away,” Kenan Thompson says. Which is probably true, though it might not be an ad that actually makes anyone feel any better in the end.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have had a tough start to the season as many anticipated after moving on from a number of their veteran players this offseason. However, one of the players expected to take on a larger role this year has not played and is not expected to play this season due to continued complications from battling COVID-19.

Running back Ryquell Armstead was set to fill some of the void left behind by Leonard Fournette this season, but was among those on the Jaguars that tested positive earlier this season for the virus. While most players in the league that have tested positive have been able to recover fairly quickly, Armstead has been facing a serious battle that has twice caused him to be hospitalized and, per Adam Schefter of ESPN, Armstead is not expected to return to the field this season.

Armstead has been hospitalized twice and has suffered from a variety of complications connected to the virus, including significant respiratory issues, and has been hit harder than some expected.

It is the scary reality of the pandemic that even those who are among the world’s best athletes can be hit extremely hard by COVID-19, even if the majority of those who contract it face lesser symptoms or remain asymptomatic. It’s why there was so much discussion about how they could proceed with a regular season and why some college football conferences initially opted out of playing as they wrestled with the complications that can arise, from respiratory issues like Armstead is apparently dealing with to heart conditions like myocarditis.

Schefter’s report offers optimism for Armstead to recover and return to the field next season, but it seems hard to even speculate on that given the length of his battle with the virus and the respiratory issues he’s reportedly dealing with. For now, we can simply wish him the best in his recovery and hope that it can be a full one, without lingering problems for some time.

It’s been a while since the world received a solo track from JID. The Atlanta native has spent the last year and change sharing his talents in the form of collaborative works with his Dreamville label and, on a more recent note, his Spillage Village collective.

In 2019, JID appeared on a number of tracks for Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III which included “Down Bad,” “Costa Rica,” and “Still Dreamin,” which his contributions to Spillage Village’s Spillagion release could be found on tracks like “Judas,” “Baptize,” and “End Of Daze.” While this is all well and good, a solo project form the Atlanta native would be very much appreciated and it appears he’s back to work on it thanks to a new freestyle.

Surprising fans with a new freestyle Saturday night, JID released the “Cludder Freestyle.” The track is produced by Nice Rec and his longtime producer Christo and comes equipped with JID’s rapid-fire bars and lyricism that his fans have come to love and appreciated from him. The new track also arrives after the DiCaprio 2 rapper took to Instagram Live in August to preview some new tracks with fans and build up excitement for his upcoming project.

Sharing three songs that were each unique in their own ways, the tracks showed plenty of promise and potential for what JID has in store for his third album. The previews even got some praise from Dreamville co-founder, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, who tweeted, “My n**** @JIDsv just built different with that pen.”

You can listen to “Cludder Freestyle” in the video above.