CBR - Feed

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for BNA: Brand New Animal, now streaming on Netflix.

The crew at TRIGGER frequently returns to the same tropes time and time again, and BNA: Brand New Animal is no exception. BNA's director Yoh Yoshinari is best known as the creator of Little Witch Academia, and its head screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima's credits include Gurren Lagann and the movie Promare. If you're familiar with any of the three aforementioned anime, you'll easily recognize elements of each in some of BNA's major plot elements.

This isn't so much a "twist" that Little Witch Academia and BNA share so much as a distinct lack of a twist. From the get-go, it's obvious to any Little Witch Academia viewer that the professor Ursula Callistis is Shiny Chariot, the performing witch who inspired Akko to get into magic in the first place. If anything, BNA makes it even more obvious to the audience that Shirou Ogami is the legendary Silver Wolf, the protector god Michiru's friend Nazuna has been impersonating.

What's obvious to the viewers, however, is in both cases unknown by the protagonists until towards the end of both series. Michiru isn't as comedically scatterbrained in her obliviousness as Akko, but it's clear that Yoshinari enjoys making his protagonists unaware of certain secret identities that aren't secret at all to the audience.

A little over halfway through Gurren Lagann, it seems as if the heroes have won: the Spiral King is defeated, and humanity is free to live on the surface. After a seven year time-skip, it turns out the Spiral King was trying to protect humanity all along from an even worse enemy: the Anti-Spirals. Kamina City has become a thriving metropolis, but one its population hits one million, the Anti-Spirals attack, ready to wipe out humanity in fear they will destroy the universe itself.

Anima City in BNA (the name even sounds similar to Kamina City...) is also a ticking population time bomb. The bigger the city grows, the more likely the beastmen will grow over-stressed and succomb to Nirvasyl Syndrome, turning them into rampaging monsters. Fortunately both Kamina and Anima City are able to defeat the threats of the Anti-Spirals and Nirvasyl Syndrome respectively without having to punish their booming populations.

This is perhaps one of the most complicated and potentially problematic tropes in Kazuka Nakushima's writing, but it's an interesting one nonetheless. Both Promare and BNA feature a group of superpowered but systemically oppressed people: the fire-starting Burnish in Promare and the animal-like beastmen in BNA. The final twists in both anime end up revealing that the human villain leading the oppression of these groups (Kray Foresight in Promare and Alan Sylvasta in BNA) have secretly been members of said groups all along.

In Kray's case, he's motivated by a classic case of self-hatred which causes him to hurt others like him. This isn't without some real world parallels (look at how many homophobic politicians end up being exposed as closet cases), but overemphasizing cases of minorities oppressing other members of the same minority can have the troubling effect of letting the majority off the hook for oppressive systems. In all honesty, however, the usage of this trope in Promare probably has less to do with a specific message than it does the simple fact that it's more exciting to watch superpowered characters fight other superpowered characters than it is to watch them fight ordinary humans.

BNA handles this twist differently, in a way that has less potential unfortunate implications but could have been set up better on a narrative level. Alan is not a self-hating beastman; on the contrary, he loves being a "pure blood" beastman, and his genocidal plot is meant to target "half-blood" beastmen. It's an interesting layer of narrative complexity, showing that beastmen face racism not just from humans but from other types of beastmen as well, but it's also introduced rather suddenly in the last episode, and could perhaps have been even more impactful if the show had more episodes to explore it.

KEEP READING: Why Every Shonen Anime Has a Krillin

The series is also beautifully animated, and it takes pains to be truly stand-out and to not look like any other anime out there. The experimental animation and storytelling techniques are one of the things the series is mostly highly praised for, and there are endless examples of scenes that are elevated because of the risks the series takes.

10 Senjougahara Saving Araragi From Nadeko

In this scene, Araragi is not doing well in a fight against Nadeko, but that’s actually pretty par for the course for him. Right as Nadeko is about to murder him (his heart is literally exposed), his phone rings, and Senjougahara is on the other end, telling Nadeko she can’t kill him. The way this conversation happens, with Araragi’s hand holding the phone up, a static image in an otherwise frenetic scene is a great way to show how she’s slowed down the chaos by calling.

9 Hachikuji Biting Araragi’s Finger

While much of the experimentation that happens in Monogatari does so in intense scenes or moments of real trauma or introspection for the characters, it is also sometimes used in funny moments to heighten the humor. Hachikuji and Araragi have a relationship in which they often sneak up on each other when they see each other on the street; if Araragi is sneaking up on Hachikuji, she often responds pretty violently. In this case, she bites his hand, and the image is shown in x-ray, to show the damage done to his finger.

8 Araragi And Shinobu Meeting Hachikuji

Much of this scene, as with many scenes in Monogatari, is shown with a metaphorical representation of what’s happening; in this case, Araragi climbing up a sheer cliff.

This alone is pretty experimental, with the use of silhouette and the way the screen sometimes fades to black. But especially interesting is the way that he’s shown as a 3D model as he climbs, not completely animated in CGI but just enough to make it seem off-kilter from the rest of the scene.

7 The Park Scene

One of Monogatari’s major features is that there are rarely more than two or three characters in a scene at a time. For the most part, the characters talk one on one, often in remote settings. One of the most interesting examples is Senjougahara and Araragi’s conversation in a park. The use of geometric shapes and patterns, with its primary color palette, sets it apart from so much of the rest of the series, which often looks off-kilter and exists in pastels and neon colors. This is a fairly quiet scene by comparison, and it does a lot to show that.

6 Kanbaru And Araragi Talking

There are a whole lot of conversations in Monogatari. Though the series deals with supernatural issues and has a lot of fight sequences, it’s actually a pretty quiet show that focuses mostly on the relationships between the characters. But the series refuses to let viewers get caught up just watching two people sit and talk. This scene of Kanbaru and Araragi having a conversation is a perfect example. Never do viewers see the characters themselves, just various images of places in their town and the silhouettes of each of them through screens.

5 Araragi Vs Hanekawa

Araragi’s fight against Hanekawa takes place against a gray, brown, and black color palette, giving it an almost sepia-toned look. It makes Araragi’s blood stand out in bright red against the background, making it look very sharp and violent.

But it also means that the warm color palettes of Araragi thinking about the girls who are important to him stand out even more, making sure that viewers understand the importance of him having these thoughts.

4 Araragi Bringing Hachikuji Back From Hell

Araragi is often rescuing or looking after the girls he’s become friends with, and Hachikuji is especially important to him, as she’s kind of like a younger sister that he’s very protective of. When he goes to hell to bring her back, the setting is incredibly interesting. It’s not a necessarily traditional depiction of what the underworld would look like. The palette is very blue, and sometimes, it’s as if Araragi is underwater. Instead of drama, it’s a mellow and muted place (even Araragi himself is mostly shown in shadow), where someone could easily give up.

3 Kaiki Deishu’s Soliloquy

This is experimental right off the bat because of its meta nature. Kaiki Deishu acknowledges that he’s about to begin a soliloquy, which breaks the fourth wall by acknowledging that there’s an audience that he’ll be speaking to. On top of that, the room he’s in appears to exist solely in geometric shapes, mostly rectangles, with only a small amount of color, and copies of him sometimes appear to answer the questions that he poses to himself. It’s never clear whether these things are really happening.

2 Araragi Losing Faith In Righteousness

Araragi and Oshino have a conversation in their classroom, talking about Oikura and her problems and how it has negatively affected Araragi’s view of the world. The interesting thing is the setting in this scene. While the characters are certainly in a classroom, dressed in school uniforms and sitting at desks, the walls, ceiling, and floor are green and white, as if they’re in a Matrix-style computer simulation. It seems reflective of the monotone, robotic way Araragi speaks here about his feelings of lost hope.

1 Araragi Vs Kanbaru

The fight sequences in the series are never straightforward, and they’re always visually stunning. Possibly the most incredible to watch is the fight between Araragi and Kanbaru, with its use of color and chaotic animation. They fight in a classroom, but like many fight scenes in Monogatari, the details of the room have disappeared. It’s a white space with brightly colored desks that change colors throughout the course of the battle. Araragi’s blood also matches the desks and is rarely actually the color blood would be, though the violence with which it splatters around the room makes sure that no viewers mistake it for something else. It’s an energetic and thrilling sequence, mostly due to its animation and color choices.

Next: Monogatari: The 5 Best & 5 Worst Characters From The Whole Franchise, Ranked

Josuke Higashikata is the protagonist of Diamond Is Unbreakable. He's the son of Joseph Joestar. Josuke grew up in the town of Morioh, but he was unaware of the dangerous people who lived in the town. After Jotaro arrived in Morioh, Josuke slowly came to know about the situation on Morioh.

On his endeavor to rid Morioh of the criminals, Josuke's stand— Crazy Diamond played a very crucial role. Josuke had to face hordes of stand users, who were looking for opportunities to bring him down.

10 TOUGH: KIRA YOSHIKAGE

Kira Yoshikage is the main antagonist of Diamond Is Unbreakable. He possesses Killer Queen, which is a really powerful stand. The stand could turn anyone into a bomb, and it also has a long-range attack in Sheer Heart Attack. Josuke needed to put in a lot of work to put to get the better of Kira, but he got there in the end. However, Josuke didn't kill him because that was against his principles.

9 TOO EASY: NIJIMURA OKUYASU

When Okuyasu made his first appearance in the series, he seemed like a very powerful character, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. Despite possessing one of the strongest stands in Part 4, Okuyasu was too dense to utilize the stand to its fullest potential. On the other hand, Josuke was more than capable of using Crazy Diamond to the fullest.

8 TOUGH: ANGELO

Angelo was a mindless killer who was running amock in Morioh. He received his stand from Nijimura Keicho. Angelo's Aqua Necklace is very lethal as it could enter the body of a person and shred their innards. Angelo gave a lot of trouble to Josuke and he even killed his grandfather.

It took Josuke a lot of planning to get rid of Angelo and his stand.

7 TOO EASY: YUYA FUNGAMI

Yuya Fungami was one of the many stand users created by Kira's father. Fungami's stand, Highway Star, was capable of chasing its target to the Earth's end. Highway Star chased Josuke and it only stopped after Yuya Fungami was beaten up. Josuke figured out the stand's abilities in a short period of time. In comparison to Josuke's other, this one was easier.

6 TOUGH: OTOISHI AKIRA

Otoishi Akira received his stand because of Nijimura Keicho. After being pierced by the Stand Arrow, Akira got his stand Red Hot Chili Pepper. Red Hot Chili Pepper's power is dependent on the amount of electricity it can get. Akira dominated Josuke for most of the fight and he would have killed Josuke if he hadn't become too overconfident.

5 TOO EASY: KISHIBE ROHAN

Kishibe Rohan was originally an antagonist in Part 4. He had captured Koichi and used his Heaven's Door to get ahold of Koichi's memories. Rohan used the memories to write his manga.

At one point, it seemed that Josuke would have a tough time while dealing with him, but the moment Rohan insulted his hairstyle, it was over. Josuke was overcome by rage and Heaven's Door's ability wouldn't work on him anymore. Thus, he was able to save Koichi.

4 TOUGH: NIJIMURA KEICHO

Nijimura Keicho was the elder brother of Okuyasu. Unlike Okuyasu, Keicho was a shrewd man, who calculated his every move. Keicho's Bad Company was a unique stand and he was able to use his stand to the fullest. Keicho had Josuke on the back foot for the most part and it wasn't until the very end of the fight that an idea hit Josuke to beat Keicho. The plan worked, but Josuke suffered some serious damage as well.

3 TOO EASY: BUG-EATEN

Bug-Eaten is Jotaro's worst nightmare. The mouse who had been struck by the arrow awakened a stand named Ratt. Josuke had to tag along with Jotaro, who found about the rats, who were struck by the Stand Arrow. The first rat died quite easily, but the second one put up a decent fight. For Josuke, the fight was pretty easy as he just had to hit Bug-Eaten with a ball bearing. Jotaro was acting as the bait, and Josuke dispatched the rat without any problems.

2 TOUGH: SHIGECHI

At first glance, Shigechi looked like a very easy opponent, however, Josuke and Okuyasu soon realized that wasn't the case. Shigechi's stand, Harvest, is one of the few colony stands in the series. Shigechi's Harvest allowed him to several things at once. The stand was able to overwhelm both Josuke and Okuyasu at once. It took the two of them a lot of effort to best Shigechi and get back the cheque from the bank.

1 TOO EASY: SUPERFLY

Superfly is an independent stand, which means it doesn't have a user. The stand operates in the form of a tower. Anyone who enters the vicinity cannot leave the tower or they will be covered with steel. If the person doesn't pull themself back in time, they will be absorbed into the tower itself. Since there was no stand user, Josuke just had to beat the person living inside the tower.

NEXT: Hirohiko Araki's 10 Best Works That Aren't JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Ranked

One Piece can come across as a pretty bizarre series. All of the characters are kind of weird, and they definitely don’t all act or look like traditional pirates. Plus, it’s harder to tell where and when the series takes place, and if it means to actually take any cues from real-life places or if it’s just going for its own thing.

But there are also definitely elements of the series that have clearly taken cues from traditional pirate fiction, both literary and in films and TV. The combination of the two approaches to the story make One Piece the interesting series that it is.

10 Differs: Fantasy Setting

There’s a lot of weirdness to the setting of One Piece. While in a lot of ways, it’s got a lot in common with pirate fiction settings, like taking place primarily on and around islands, featuring the poor or put-upon citizens of island villages that are constantly putting up with pirates, the series is also a fantasy. There are a lot of things about the abilities that people have and the ways people communicate (like using snails as telephones for instance) that wouldn’t exist in traditional pirate lore.

9 The Same: The Way They Fight

While some of the characters in the series do have special powers, discussed more below, a lot of them actually just fight the way pirates would fight in any traditional pirate fiction: with swords, cannons, and guns. Even members of the Straw Hat Crew are often seen in combat wielding a cutlass or manning a cannon against their enemies.

8 Differs: Heroic Pirates

Even pirate fiction that features pirates as the main characters usually positions those pirates as not being great people. Even Treasure Island, which sees the main pirate trying to befriend the hero, with actual feelings of affection, ultimately sees a betrayal there too, since pirates aren’t good people.

But One Piece’s cast is almost all pirates, and many of them are good people trying to do right by others while also getting their share of the treasure.

7 The Same: Looking For Treasure

The series is named after a mythical treasure which a famous pirate hid. Before he died, he said that the entirety of his vast wealth existed as one piece, as opposed to a chest of gold or jewels. As the most legendary pirate, he is believed by all of the other pirates to have left an incredible amount of treasure, and much of the series revolves around the attempts to find this treasure.

6 Differs: Talking Animals

Chopper is the doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates, and he’s also a reindeer. There’s no real explanation for this; it’s just the way that it is. While pirate fiction probably has a talking animal or two, it’s probably a parrot mimicking somebody else, not a walking, talking animal capable of administering medicine to an injured or ill patient.

5 The Same: They’re On Boats

The most important element of a pirate narrative is the fact that the stories take place primarily on a ship. Sure, they stop off in various ports, they land on deserted islands to dig for buried treasure, but for the most part, the intrigue and excitement happens while they’re at sea. One Piece is no different, and the Straw Hat Crew mostly travels on a ship and gets into it with other pirates who are also on ships.

4 Differs: Devil Fruits

It’s important to recognize the biggest way that One Piece is different from traditional pirate fiction and which is also one of the major elements of the series. Many of the characters eat Devil Fruits, which are magical fruits that give them physical abilities that people don’t normally have.

Luffy, for instance, is able to stretch his limbs out to unnatural lengths. While there are sometimes magical elements in traditional pirate fiction, most often they’re straightforward adventure stories.

3 The Same: Putting Together A Crew

Part of the fun of pirate adventure stories is seeing what kinds of strange characters might end up on the ship with the captain to go off and find treasure. One Piece is no different in this regard. As the series goes on, Luffy slowly gathers friends and teammates who join him to become a part of the Straw Hat Crew, and they travel together in search of treasure and adventure.

2 Differs: Non-Traditional Pirate Stops

Pirates often stop at various ports in order to get supplies or generally cause a ruckus, but One Piece often sees the Straw Hat Pirates go to non-traditional places too. For example, the team has visited an island in the sky, which wouldn’t normally appear in traditional pirate stories, since they mostly stick to areas in the Caribbean or on islands off of major mainland areas.

1 The Same: Stopping At Ports

As mentioned above, the Straw Hat Pirates, as well as the other pirate crews that appear in One Piece, often make stops at ports. This is a part of traditional pirate storytelling, and here it also works toward some shonen storytelling tropes. Stopping at ports gives the pirates a chance to learn new information, meet new people, and cause mischief. It also lets Luffy and his Crew potentially add people to the group for their adventure.

Next: One Piece: 10 Things About Boa Hancock That Make No Sense

Over the years, Marvel's Spider-Man has encountered all sorts of incredibly dangerous foes. He has one of the better rogues galleries in all of comics. Though some are clearly far more powerful and dangerous than others, Spider-Man almost always manages to end the fight with few casualties.

However, showing restraint towards some villains hasn't always been the easiest task for the Wall-Crawler. He's come close several times. Looking at some of his more trying villains, her is our list of 10 foes Spider-Man nearly killed, but didn't.

10 The Sinister Six

Though there have been several iterations of The Sinister Six over the years, there was a time when Spider-Man nearly took all of them out in a matter of moments. In the miniseries, Spider-Man: Reign, a much older version of Peter Parker is forced out of retirement, eventually causing the government to send the Six after him once again.

Near the finale of the miniseries though, Spider-Man makes some surprisingly swift work of the villains, nearly killing some in the process. Though the finale leaves the fate of some members in question, Spider-Man still showed the restraint he needed to when facing the villains one-on-one.

9 Venom

As one of the biggest Spider-Man villains around, it makes sense for Spidey to have nearly killed the foe on occasion. However, Venom has arguably come far closer to killing the Web-Head at times than Spider-Man himself has, but Peter has still gotten some pretty good blows in.

Especially in regards to the symbiote itself, there are plenty of times where Peter could have put a permanent end to one of his deadliest adversaries. Though he has yet to take things too far with this character, he has still come frighteningly close to killing Venom.

8 Carnage

Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage is more than just a timeless story about the spawn of Venom. In fact, the series actually offers a great look at Spider-Man's morality, calling various things into question about the hero in general.

Throughout the series, Peter is given several opportunities to actually kill one of the worst serial killers in the Marvel universe. However, by the end of the day, he shows restraint and ultimately settles on a much better way to defeat the villain, making this both one of his best, albeit darkest stories in history.

7 Black Cat

Despite his incredibly complex relationship with Felicia Hardy, there was actually a time where Spider-Man came dangerously close to killing her. Granted, it was Doctor Octopus masquerading as Peter Parker and Spider-Man, but he was still the main version of the hero at the time.

With Otto completely unaware of the relationship between the two, he ends up attacking Black Cat and completely humiliating her. Though Felicia managed to come back with a vengeance, this isn't exactly the most romantic moment the two have shared together. With morals as questionable as Otto's as well, Felicia is very lucky to have survived this encounter.

6 Morlun

Since making his debut, Morlun has been one of the deadliest and most powerful villains Spider-Man has ever fought. Though there was a time when he technically managed to kill Spider-Man himself, Peter nearly killed Morlun a bit sooner.

After injecting himself with radiation and making himself a target for Morlun, Peter's blood began to poison the deadly villain. Though Peter himself didn't deliver the finishing blow, he certainly thought about it, making for one of the character's more complex moments in his vast history.

5 Scorpion

Though he may not always seem like much, Scorpion has proven time and again to be one of the biggest Spider-Man villains around. Likewise, no matter how much he may upgrade his armor, Mac Gargan has lost to the Web-Head at almost every turn.

At one point, the battle between the two was so intense, that the only weakness Spider-Man could exploit was in Scorpion's jaw. After taking it off completely, the villain finally went down, marking one of the more gruesome victories Spider-Man has yet to achieve.

4 Kingpin

Given his intelligence, it can be easy to forget just how strong Kingpin really is. However, readers were certainly reminded when he ended up in a fighting ring with Spider-Man himself. Of course, Spidey manages to come out on top, but not before getting incredibly dark throughout the fight.

By the end of it, Peter actually threatens to web Kingpin's respiratory system closed, killing him in a matter of seconds. Though Wilson Fisk would survive this encounter, he was certainly at the mercy of one very angry Spider-Man.

3 Kraven

For years, Kraven the Hunter has been a very underrated villain in Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Though the character still has his shining moments, he is often dismissed or glossed over by many others.

However, especially in stories like "Kraven's Last Hunt," Spider-Man could have very easily killed the character after everything he'd done. When Peter finally emerges from his own grave, he sets his sights on the man who put him there. Fortunately, Peter actually comes to have a conversation with Kraven making it easy to see why the story is still celebrated by so many Spider-Man fans today.

2 Doc Ock

Especially when gearing up for The Superior Spider-Man series, Peter came very close to killing Doctor Octopus. After Otto had managed to swap the minds of him and Peter, Spider-Man went in a desperate attempt to reclaim his own body.

The ensuing battle to switch back would have certainly killed Otto, and also been a direct result of Peter's own actions. However, Peter failed to switch minds once again, ultimately causing him to die in Otto's body instead. While this could have gone much better for Peter, it is still a moment in his history where he nearly killed one of his greatest villains.

1 Green Goblin

Of course, few other villains have managed to torture Spider-Man in the ways that Green Goblin has over the years. In several instances, Norman Osborn has gone to some very extreme lengths to make Peter's life as miserable as possible.

While any number of his actions have nearly pushed Peter over the edge, the hero has always managed to show some restraint. Though Norman has been presumed dead quite often, Peter can at least say that he is not the reason for those random disappearances.

NEXT: 10 Crushing Deaths That Affected Spider-Man The Most

My Hero Academia has come out in an age when superheroes are on just about everyone’s minds all the time. Between DC television series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, pop culture is currently drenched in the superhero mythos and storytelling; it’s very hard to avoid it.

My Hero Academia balances leaning into the genre and exploring its various tropes and cliches while also building its own universe around a different set of superhero rules. The series acknowledges the ways that superhero stories function while also toying with and deconstructing many of the tropes that the superhero story is built on.

10 Deconstructs: Heroism Isn’t Innate

Most superheroes in Western comics get their powers and then start taking villains to the task right away. Sure, in cases like Spider-Man, there might be a bit of a learning curve, but for the most part, they immediately seem to know how to fight, how to strategize, and how to know if they’re making the right call.

My Hero Academia is all about actual teenagers with superpowers learning how to use those powers, not just physically, but also in ways that put the least amount of people in danger and in ways that cause the least amount of death and destruction. And they often fail, which is also an important reminder of what learning is actually like.

9 Elevates: The Fighting Action

Superhero stories are meant to be exciting. While a lot of them are also thoughtful and philosophical, often the most exciting scenes on the page are the ones where a good guy is punching a bad guy.

My Hero Academia leans into this pretty hard, and the fight sequences in the series are some of the best fight sequences in the superhero medium, animated or otherwise.

8 Deconstructs: The Hero/Villain Dichotomy

Heroes and villains, while not always cut and dry, usually fall pretty simply on one side of the track or the other in typical superhero narratives. But My Hero Academia toys a lot with that idea. The heroes aren’t always pleasant and eager to help, with some being downright rude and angry most of the time.

The villains do seem to have some very real bones to pick with the way society has treated them, forcing fans to think about whether or not they might actually have something of a point with their issues.

7 Elevates: Underdog Story

A lot of the best superhero comics are about people who were previously weak becoming strong: Captain America, Spider-Man, and the Hulk are just a few of many examples. They’re stories about underdogs that gain a power that makes them more capable and able to help people.

Deku’s story in My Hero Academia follows this trope exactly. In fact, there’s a lot about Deku’s beginning that mirrors Captain America’s, down to the fact that someone sees his determination to become a hero and to be able to help people and gives him the physical abilities he would need to do that.

6 Deconstructs: People With Silly Powers

In American comics, if someone has a weird or stupid power, they are endlessly mocked for it on the page. While this sometimes leads to them getting to prove their worth, it often makes them side characters or comic relief, or even pretty weak villains that get embarrassingly trounced by the heroes.

That’s not the case in My Hero Academia. While some of the students learning to be heroes have weird powers, like Minoru Mineta, whose Quirk is the ability to produce sticky balls from his body, they’re rarely treated as being any less able to be a hero than anyone else.

5 Elevates: Superhero Team-Ups

Everyone loves a good superhero team-up. It’s why the Avengers movies are so exciting; all of the great characters fans have gotten to know are now going to interact and combine their powers to defeat the bad guys. My Hero Academia creates endless opportunities for team-ups.

The fact that there are so many characters creates a lot of situations in which different characters are able to work together, which allows for a lot of different possibilities for how a fight might go.

4 Deconstructs: Not Everyone Is A Superhero

In Western superhero comics, if a person has a superpower, that person becomes a superhero (or a supervillain). But that’s not actually the case in My Hero Academia. Almost everyone has some kind of Quirk, and most of them aren’t actually suited to superhero work.

A lot of them are pretty mundane. Jiro’s parents, for instance, have the same Quirk that she does, but instead of using it for heroics, they’re just musicians.

3 Elevates: Emotional Impact

In a lot of ways, My Hero Academia is a sports anime, but with superpowers. While yes, the students do all participate in fights against actual bad guys, much of the series is about them learning how to use their powers, Avengers Academy-style.

So for the most part, they’re participating in tournaments and relay races to hone their skills and learn to work together. This takes what can sometimes be missing in Western comics, the desire to root for the characters on a personal level as opposed to just wanting to see the good guys win, and amplifies it.

2 Deconstructs: A World Saturated With Superpowers

The thing about most superhero stories is that there are usually only a few people who have superpowers. Almost everyone else just lives normal lives in a world in which there are also people who have super strength, can fly, or can shoot lasers out of their eyes (or can do all of the above all at once).

But in My Hero Academia, almost everyone has some kind of superpower. While most are fairly mundane, the series has to deal with what a world might look like if most people were special in this way, instead of a select few being magically chosen.

1 Elevates: Great Power, Great Responsibility, Etc.

The theme of Spider-Man comics is that great quote that everyone uses everywhere all the time: “With great power comes great responsibility.” That’s also the theme of My Hero Academia.

Deku isn’t naturally gifted with a Quirk, but he wants to be a superhero and to have the ability to help people so badly that he is ultimately found worthy of being gifted one by All Might. This forces him to reconsider exactly what it means to be a hero and to focus on actually using those powers responsibly.

NEXT: My Hero Academia: 5 Pokémon Fumukage Tokoyami Could Defeat (& 5 He Would Lose To)

The isekai genre is extremely popular in anime. There are a bunch of different ways that the various series approach the genre. Isekai translates into English as “another world.” It’s essentially a genre in which a character accidentally travels from one world to another and has to deal with whatever they find here.

Oftentimes, they travel back in time to another time period in Japan or to a fantasy world or into a video game virtual reality, and they have to do what they can to survive and find their way home. With so many different kinds of isekai stories, there has to be an option for each person, based on their Myers-Briggs personality type.

16 Architect (INTJ): No Game, No Life

In No Game, No Life, a pair of siblings who are also hardcore gamers find themselves transported into a gaming world where no one is allowed to physically battle and must settle their differences via various games. These siblings decide to use the games to set themselves up as the rulers of the land.

15 Logician (INTP): Ascendance Of A Bookworm

Ascendance of a Bookworm is literally about a girl who considers herself a bookworm. She yearns to be taken to a world where she has no responsibilities and can read all day. When she dies, she is reincarnated as a little girl in a world where books are scarce and not distributed to the elite.

14 Commander (ENTJ): The Rising Of The Shield Hero

The Rising of the Shield Hero is a fantasy isekai series which sees a young man brought to a fantasy world in which he must take up the mantle of Shield Hero, one of four Legendary Heroes who defend the land.

It’s also a harem anime, and he meets several girls who become his companions and whom he protects.

13 Debater (ENTP): .Hack//Sign

.hack//Sign is a series in which the main character is trapped inside of a game. It’s something of a mystery, both how he ended up in the game, and what he needs to do in order to get out of it. As the series goes on, new information is revealed, like a puzzle slowly coming together.

12 Advocate (INFJ): The Familiar Of Zero

The Familiar of Zero is a fantasy series in which a girl living in a magical world is pretty bad at using magic. When she tries to summon a familiar, she ends up summoning a middle-school boy from Japan instead of an animal. The series follows them as they learn to work together and protect each other.

11 Mediator (INFP): The Vision Of Escaflowne

The Vision of Escaflowne follows a teenage girl, who has psychic abilities, as she’s suddenly transported into a world called Gaea, where there are conflicts and battles taking place, and in which she gets embroiled because of her powers.

10 Protagonist (ENFJ): Dog Days

Dog Days sees a teenage boy get transported into a world where everyone has animal ears and tails. He has to figure out how to get home while also fighting to protect the land of Biscotti, in a conflict that is fought not through warfare but through a series of competitions with no casualties.

9 Campaigner (ENFP): Battle Girls: Time Paradox

This is both a fantasy series and a series in which the character is thrown back in time. Battle Girls sees a teenage girl transported to the feudal era of Japan, except that there are no men at all in the era.

Even the famous feudal lords of the time turn out to be women as well.

8 Logistician (ISTJ): Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet

Gargantia is actually a pretty unique series. It follows a young man who travels back in time from the future on a distant planet, and he finds himself on Earth, albeit an Earth that is still set in the future from current times. He has to fight on a battleship in a world he finds primitive and deal with the differences in the culture in which he finds himself.

7 Defender (ISFJ): Now And Then, Here And There

Now and Then, Here and There is a pretty harrowing story in which a teenage boy finds himself in an awful totalitarian land where the boys are sold as slaves and child soldiers to fight in a war and the girls are kidnapped for breeding purposes. It’s a solemn story about the evils of war and the responsibilities that each person has to stop it.

6 Executive (ESTJ): Overlord

Overlord is another isekai story in which a character finds himself inside of a virtual reality world, having been transported into a video game which he loves to play. Here, he is one of the most powerful creatures in the land, with people serving under him, as he tries to both survive in the world and figure out how to get home.

5 Consul (ESFJ): Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They?

Like No Game, No Life, Problem Children is a series about a game-based world in which communities compete for wealth and prestige by winning games using supernatural powers. The three children transported there also have psychic abilities and decide to use them to help a fallen community regain their prestige.

4 Virtuoso (ISTP): Inuyasha

Inuyasha is possibly the most famous of all isekai anime. In it, a teenage girl named Kagome is transported to feudal Japan through a magical well that sits at the shrine on the property her family owns. She meets a half-dog demon/half-human named Inuyasha, and the two adventure together and slowly fall in love.

3 Adventurer (ISFP): Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is a series about wanting to escape the pains of the real world and creating a new space in which things go better. The characters find themselves transported through a series of “otaku” worlds which represent different genres and interests, and they have to find a way out and back to their home life.

2 Entrepreneur (ESTP): Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online is another incredibly popular isekai series. This is another series in which the characters are transported into and trapped in a multi-player fantasy computer game. If they die in the game, they also die in real life, which means they need to work together to stay alive.

1 Entertainer (ESFP): Fushigi Yugi

In a lot of ways, Fushigi Yugi is like Inuyasha. It features a special young girl named Miaka who is transported back in time to ancient China, where she has to help the residents in their war against another nation, using powers gifted to her by a local god.

Next: Fushigi Yuugi: 5 Reasons Miaka Is The Best '90s Magical Girl Protagonist (And 5 Reasons It's Usagi From Sailor Moon)

There have been a few different characters who have used the name Scarlet Spider over the years, and each one of them has put their own spin on the costume, or at least stolen it from someone who did, though not all of the costumes have turned out to be winners over the years.

And yet, whether it was Ben Reilly, Kaine Parker, or even one of the Michael Van Patrick clones under the mask, each Scarlet Spider suit had its own share of secrets that ties into the larger Spider-Man mythology.

10 ASSEMBLED IN A HURRY

When Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly first arrived back in New York City, he was quickly pulled back into superheroics by the city he had spent years swinging through as Spider-Man, though he no longer had a costume.

Inspired by an earlier visit to the Museum of Natural History, Ben purchased a blue hoodie and quickly assembled the rest of his costume, which included an old pair of web-shooters he had kept with him for the five years that he had been away.

9 FEATURES SPECIALTY TECH

Reilly's first mission as the Scarlet Spider brought him up against Eddie Brock/Venom, though their first encounter didn't go all that well for Reilly, who was almost gutted by the powerful symbiotic anti-hero.

Knowing he needed to increase his arsenal of weapons to match the new threat levels of villains like Venom, he created a new type of rapidly expanding webbing along with a paralytic dart that could be fired as a projectile from his web-shooters that he called impact webbing and stingers, respectively.

8 REPLICATED BY VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGY

Carolyn Trainer took over as Doctor Octopus after the death of Otto Octavius during the Clone Saga, and she appeared shortly after Reilly became the only web-slinger in New York City as Scarlet Spider, and the two quickly became enemies.

Scarlet Spider interfered with her plans one too many times, and she used a captured FBI agent named Joe Wade to frame the costumed hero by replicating his appearance using a hard-light holographic recreation. When the technology malfunctioned, Wade was physically transformed into an evil, silver Scarlet Spider.

7 STOLEN FROM A COSPLAYER

While Reilly died at the end of the Clone Saga, he was gone for years until it was revealed he had been recloned by the Jackal and then driven insane after he was used as a test subject and killed and recloned repeatedly.

After Reilly's brief villainous exploits as a new Jackal, he moved to Las Vegas and reclaimed the identity of the Scarlet Spider with a brand spanking new costume that he claimed to have stolen from a cosplayer that was almost immediately and universally hated by fans.

6 STOLEN AGAIN FROM THIEVES

Reilly wore this new costume for the first couple of issues of his new solo series that spun out of the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy event, though it wasn't long before the costume was shredded and he found himself in need of a replacement.

Thankfully a group of Spider-Man fanatics known as the Web Spinners were attempting to hold up a casino, and Reilly was forced to saved them from near death. Once they were safe, they proceeded to mock his new costume's similarities to the clone known as Spidercide before Reilly stole his classic costume from them.

5 MODIFIED IRON SPIDER ARMOR

Long after Ben Reilly's death and shortly after the superhero Civil War, The Initiative was a government program that was launched with the goal of better training new heroes, one of whom was Michael Van Patrick/MVP.

MVP was unfortunately killed in a training exercise, but he was cloned multiple times, and the MVP clones were given modified versions of the Iron Spider armor that was created for Spider-Man by Tony Stark. The suits included four waldoes instead of three and gave the MVP clones enhanced abilities and weaponry that was built within the suit.

4 CREATED BY PETER PARKER

During Spider-Man's "Big Time" era, Peter Parker was finally able to use his scientific genius while working for Horizon Labs, a well-funded think tank that provided a number of resources to Peter in his role as Spider-Man.

He was forced to create a Stealth Suit during his time at Horizon Labs that he later gave to Kaine Parker to use during the "Spider-Island" event, though Kaine ended up stealing the costume to wear as the second Scarlet Spider.

3 CAN TURN SILENT AND INVISIBLE

Since Kaine wears Parker's former Stealth Suit, it features highly advanced technology that makes it capable of doing things that the former Scarlet Spider suit, or even the regular Spider-Man suit for that matter, could never have accomplished.

Kaine's Scarlet Spider suit was able to turn completely invisible while also masking any sounds made due to the suit's unique design which allows it to bend and warp light around it while sonic dampeners remove the sound, which is one of the only forms of technology used by Kaine as Scarlet Spider since he has organic webbing.

2 ALTERED BY MADAME WEB

After the death of the original Madame Web during the "Grim Hunt" storyline, her precognitive powers along with her blindness was passed on to Julia Carpenter, the second Spider-Woman who would also become the second Madame Web.

After Kaine helped save Manhattan during the "Spider-Island" event, she shared a prophetic vision with the new Scarlet Spider and irreversibly altered the stolen Spider-Man Stealth Suit into Kaine's red and black costume, though it still retained its stealth abilities.

1 RECREATED BY THE MASTER WEAVER

Kaine's time as Scarlet Spider also coincided with his time as The Other, a powerful spider-totem that gave him additional abilities that included organic webbing, the ability to talk to spiders, and retractable stingers in his forearms.

Unfortunately, it also transformed him into a giant spider-monster during the Spider-Verse event that tore through his Scarlet Spider outfit and seemingly killed Kaine. However, he survived and had a replica costume created for him by the Master Weaver that maintains the multiversal Web of Life and Destiny.

NEXT: Savage Six: The 10 Most Powerful Members, Ranked

BakugoBakugo Katsuki is one of the main characters of Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia. He's a childhood friend of Izuku Midoriya and also his biggest rival. Just like Midoriya, Bakugo aims to become the greatest Hero ever and in doing so, surpass even the likes of All Might and the chosen one.

Over time, Bakugo has excelled as a fighter and his skills have improved quite a lot. He's already left a lot of pro Heroes in dust and is gunning for more. Here are 5 characters that Bakugo Katsuki has already surpassed and 5 that he never will.

10 Surpassed: Fumikage Tokoyami

Tokoyami is one of the classmates of Katsuki Bakugo and a powerful Hero student at U.A. He possesses the powers of a Quirk called Dark Shadow which lets him control a dark beastly entity.

Although Tokoyami is quite powerful, his Quirk is next to useless when faced by fire or explosions. Bakugo, a master of explosions, had surpassed Tokoyami quite a long time ago.

9 Never Will: All Might

Known as the Symbol of Peace, All Might was the greatest Hero in the world of My Hero Academia the likes of which has never been matched. As the strongest Hero, All Might was the only reason why the crime rate in Japan was as low as it was.

His strength, along with everything else about him, was unparalleled during his time as Number One. While Bakugo might reach the same level as All Might, going beyond that mark is rather hard to achieve.

8 Surpassed: Setsuna Tokage

Setsuna Tokage is said to be Class 1-B's brightest student. Her abilities are known to be exceptional, especially among the Class 1-B students. During the Joint Training arc, she was confident of defeating Bakugo in battle.

Unfortunately for her, Bakugo had already surpassed her level by quite a decent margin. When the two fought, the difference in skill between the two was painfully apparent. It goes without saying that Bakugo is stronger than her at the moment.

7 Never Will: All For One

All For One is known to be the worst criminal in the history of Japan and the only one capable of taking on All Might in a fight. Thanks to the All For One Quirk, his powers were immeasurable, as seen during his fight against All Might.

Strong as Bakugo is, he is no match for All For One right now. In the future, he might be around the same level as him but surpassing All For One is an arduous task that probably nobody can achieve.

6 Surpassed: Eijiro Kirishima

Kirishima is one of Bakugo's best friends and a fellow student of Class 1-A. He's quite a powerful character whose continuous hardwork has made him a dependable fighter.

Kirishima is extremely skilled as a melee fighter, especially when he enters his Unbreakable mode. However, Bakugo's blistering progression has seen him leave Kirishima behind quite some time ago.

5 Never Will: Izuku Midoriya

Izuku Midoriya is the current wielder of the One For All Quirk and the one who All Might chose to become the next Symbol of Peace after him.

Both Midoriya and Bakugo have progressed together which is why the two will likely be equal at the end of the series as well. For Bakugo, pulling ahead of Midoriya is going to be an impossible task, especially since he's just as competitive as Bakugo himself.

4 Surpassed: Toga

Toga is one of the members of the League of Villains, now known as the Paranormal Liberation Front. She possesses a Quirk known as Transform that lets her copy the appearance and Quirk of anyone whose blood she ingests.

Toga is quite powerful, however, Bakugo has pulled ahead of her quite some time ago. After having been trained by Endeavor, Bakugo has reached new levels that Toga will take some time to achieve.

3 Never Will: Shoto Todoroki

Shoto Todoroki is the son of the current Number One Hero, Endeavor. He's quite a powerful character who is said to hold the potential to surpass even All Might as a Hero.

Shoto progresses alongside Midoriya and Bakugo and it is highly likely that the three will be equally powerful once My Hero Academia reaches its conclusion.

2 Surpassed: Spinner

Spinner is one of the members of the Paranormal Liberation Front, just like Toga. It is quite apparent that he's the weak link in the group. Unlike the rest, his Quirk isn't anything special and his fighting ability is fairly average.

Bakugo, on the other side, is getting stronger with each passing day. After the events of the Deika City arc, Bakugo has surpassed Spinner as a fighter.

1 Never Will: Shigaraki Tomura

Shigaraki Tomura is the successor of All For One and the current leader of the Villains in the series. He's also the strongest known Villain right now whose powers can't be matched by anyone.

Tomura wields the powers of multiple Quirks, which also includes All For One. For Bakugo, taking down Tomura is going to be an impossible task without Midoriya's help. He won't get to surpass All For One's successor anytime soon.

NEXT: My Hero Academia: 5 Couples That Are Perfect Together (& 5 That Make No Sense)

Deadpool, the brainchild of comic book writers Rob Leifield and Febian Nicieza, has been tantalizing comic book readers with his acerbic wit and ribald humor since his debut in issue 98 of the New Mutants back in 1991. Before the first movie hit theaters, fans had mixed feelings about Ryan Reynolds starring in another superhero movie (DC's Green Lantern was panned by critics). Reynolds took the necessary steps to ensure this movie was faithful to the source material. He and T.J. Miller also made sure to turn up their improvisation skills to an eleven, providing us with the most hilarious quips and innuendos. The movies have grossed over 1.5 billion dollars at the box office! This kind of success was unprecedented in the R-rated superhero genre.

A small number of people around the world consider Deadpool movies to be mindless entertainment. However, many comic book aficionados and moviegoers alike fell in love with the Merc with a mouth's intensity and loose-tongued humor. This quickly placed Deadpool on the top ten list of highest-grossing R-rated movies of all time, coming second after The Passion Of The Christ. Of all the quirky jabs and jokes the immortal anti-hero, some were packed with extremely obvious raunchy innuendoes and witticisms. This piece is going to focus on the more subtle jokes from both Deadpool movies.

10 Deadpool Always Makes It Hard According To Colossus

Deadpool, being the person that he is, refused the X-Men's hospitality after blowing himself up (not the smartest move, Wade). That attitude landed him on the wrong side of Colossus' temper who states that friends are there when things get hard and that Deadpool always makes it hard.

Wade casually looks at the camera with a grin on his face as if to say "you know it, folks!"

9 Wade Wilson Is Not Exactly Sharon Stone, But He Showed He Had Basic Instinct

The most paused video on the internet is the interrogation scene in Basic Instincts where Sharon Stone gave her audience a very generous sneak peek that changed her life completely (her words).

Wade Wilson took the opportunity to take a shot at the iconic moment when his legs were still growing after being ripped apart by Juggernaut.

8 Cable Is On Top Of Domino... Wait, What?

During a high-speed chase in the middle of the street, Cable was making his way to his target Russell (aka Firefists) who was held by the DMC. After taking over the truck transporting the inmates, Domino asks Deadpool (who was in a hilarious pink scooter) about the whereabouts of Cable.

Her question was met by a series of witty double entendres: "he's on top of you, he's tearing you open, he's going in through the back, OH GOD! He's inside"

7 When Deadpool Touches Colossus This Way It Remind Him Of His Dad

Back in the first movie, Deadpool was fighting an entire convoy of Ajax's goons to eventually catch his nemesis to find a way to fix his deformed body. Before inflicting a world of pain upon Francis, Colossus intervenes and Wade's punch lands on the man of steel's privates.

After realizing what the merc with a mouth is touching, he looks up at Colossus asking "dad?" right before getting thrown into a car.

6 Last Saturday Night, Ajax Did Not Have A Fist Fight

The final battle between Deadpool and Ajax was action-packed with lots of jokes that were pretty obvious, but when the merc with a mouth disarms his opponent, the latter says "fists, then" to which Wade answers "sounds like your last Saturday night" implying Ajax had a very freaky night.

5 Deadpool's Been Inside Russel... His Shoes!

At the end of Deadpool 2 Wade, in an attempt to connect with Firefist, states that he has been inside him, which sounds freaky at the least (Russel is considered a child after all).

Then Deadpool quickly tries to correct himself by making things worse exclaiming "Shoes! I've been in your shoes. Which is also off-putting", pointing at the failed analogy.

4 Deadpool's Off Switch Is NOT Right Next To His Prostate

After Deadpool broke both his wrists and his foot trying to hit Colossus (good thing he has crazy regenerative powers right?), the latter asks the merc with a mouth if he has an off switch.

Wade Wilson is known for throwing explicit jokes all the time so his answer was a bit off-putting, he casually answers "Yeah! It's right next to the prostate or is that the "on" switch?" hinting to his G-spot. Classic Deadpool!

3 Wade Crossed The Bromance Line, But He Felt At Home

After being taken to the X-Mansion, Colossus talked some sense into Wade by telling him that the X-Men might not be the family he wants, but the one he needs at the moment.

Feeling the heat of the moment, Deadpool hugs the man of steel and touches his behind saying "I feel like I'm in the right place". Being pansexual is working out for Wade, isn't it?

2 Wade's Low Fat Dessert Was Not Frozen Yogurt

During Wade and Vanessa's first encounter, the soon to be anti-hero asks her what his money and a discount card for a low-fat dessert can get him. Vanessa's answer was very direct claiming that they can do whatever they want for 43 minutes.

Wilson chooses a very weird way to spend his time with the former escort: playing skeeball. After their time ends, things get spicy for the rest of the year. Best low-fat dessert ever!

1 Swallowing A Car Lighter Is Not A Fun Activity, Which Is Why Deadpool Said Not To For The First Time

While it is true that this joke was obvious and misses subtlety, it still deserves a spot on this list because the punch-line is just too sweet to let go.

In the convoy scene where Deadpool wreaks havoc on Ajax's goons, he sticks a car lighter in an enemy's mouth and tells him not to swallow.

Next: Marvel Comics: The 10 Most Useless Heroes, Ranked

Trunks is consistently one of the highlights of Dragon Ball, from his back story to how awesome his entrance was (who didn't love him chopping Frieza in half?). His arcs tend to be pretty enjoyable, and he's one of the few who seems to have any lasting impact from being defeated. It just leads to him being a good all-around character.

With that type of character comes both strong, and somewhat questionable decisions by Trunks. In some situations, he's shown to be smarter than even his father is. In others, you're wondering if he inherited Goku's intelligence instead.

10 Wrong: Trying To Fight The Androids By Himself

While he'd certainly grown more powerful thanks to his new Super Sayian status, Trunks had to know he was never going to be strong enough to deal with the androids on his own. If his mentor Gohan couldn't pull it off, what hope did he have? The answer to that was none, androids soundly defeating him and forcing him to consider some other means to defeat these terrors of the world. It's a good thing too, or the future he lived in would still be bleak (even if it never seems like it will get better).

9 Smarter: Going Back In Time

Time travel can be a sticky situation as you can never be too sure that your actions will actually help the future. For all you know, you could be making things worse in the end. It was worth the risk in Trunk's case, however. The world had become post-apocalyptic and the only way to help it was to eliminate the androids by any means necessary. That said, it would have been nice if he'd figured out where the lab they were born in was, taking them out before they could even be born. Then he could just use the data he found to help his timeline.

8 Wrong: Trusting Goku

Trusting Goku on the surface isn't a bad thing, he's one of the strongest fighters in the universe after all. Leaving him in charge of dealing with the androids isn't the dumbest decision that you could make, especially when he was stronger than Trunks was at the time.

The issue was trusting him to take the heart medication. For all his strength, Goku is not the smartest man around. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Goku stops taking the pills because he feels nothing wrong.

7 Smarter: Stepping In Against Frieza And King Cold

While Goku could have saved the day if he needed to, Trunks was still smart to intervene here. Knowing Goku, he'd of waited until many of the Z fighters were at or near death before showing up. Trunks helped keep them fresh by showing up when he did, dispatching of Frieza and his father with little effort. It may have added a new wrinkle to the timeline, but him giving Goku the pills would have done the very same thing. No matter what Trunks did, he was always going to be altering the timeline in both large and small ways.

6 Wrong: Super Sayian Third Grade

The form has more raw power than any up to this point in the series, haymakers being thunderous and durability growing higher. The downside to it is that you give up speed in favor of strength, making you a brutish powerhouse, but one that is too slow to deal any true damage to your foe. All the strength is thus a waste, muscles being there for show rather than having any real practical reason to them. It's a factor Trunks should have noticed in his training, but he was too focused on growing more powerful, blinding him to that fact.

5 Smarter: Trying To Stop His Father's Arrogance

In a show filled with plenty of ego-driven characters, Vegeta is easily at the top of the heap. He always wants to keep pushing himself to prove he's the best, even if it means making immensely stupid decisions.

None dumber than him willingly letting Cell transform into his perfect form. Trunks thankfully wasn't that big of an idiot and tried to stop his father, realizing what a mistake it was. Sadly, he wasn't successful as Cell managed to absorb Android 18 thanks to a well time Solar Flare.

4 Wrong: Fighting Black and Zamasu Alone

Blame it on his Sayian blood or overconfidence in his newfound abilities, but Trunks deciding to take on both Black and Zamasu on his own was not a smart choice. Admittedly, it did buy Goku, Vegeta and Bulma time, however, that doesn't change what a silly decision it was. If Goku and Vegeta couldn't handle them in a 1 on 1 situation, how was Trunks ever supposed to do it by himself? Even with the rage form, he possessed at the time.

3 Smarter: Not Attacking Android 18

Given their history together, it makes sense why trunks was on edge. Android 18, along with her brother, had been the bane of his existence for so long. It made the scene both tense and humorous at the same time when Android 18 playfully nudged in the arm, even teasing him about getting revenge for her future counterpart. This scene, along with his time with Gohan really helped establish what it was that Trunks was fighting for.

2 Wrong: Not Admitting He Likes Mai

This goes both ways as the feelings are very much mutual, shown by the fact they both blush whenever them being in a relationship is mentioned. Given Trunk's overall shy and well-mannered nature, it makes sense that he wouldn't come out with it right away. That said, they've been part of the resistance together for a while and have saved each other lives on several occasions. You'd think he'd of just come out with it already, especially since they have more chemistry than Goku and Chi-Chi do.

1 Smarter: Lulling Vegeta Into A False Sense of Security

This was part of a filler episode in the anime but served as such a nice reminder of the difference between future Trunks and his father, Vegeta. They are having a sparring session in the forests with Vegeta mocking how weak Trunks is, saying that his transformations are outdated and useless now. Trunks smartly uses Vegetas overconfidence against him on two separate occasions, once by going to grade 3 Super Sayian and by powering down so Vegeta would lower his guard enough to give Trunks the chance to headbutt him.

NEXT: Dragon Ball Z: All Of Future Trunks' Fights, Ranked

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) follows Moritz Zimmermann, a high school outsider skilled at computers, as he builds a highly lucrative online store for ecstasy. The Netflix comedy series, set in Rinseln, Germany, serves as both a cautionary tale and a coming-of-age story that shows just how quickly a group of kids can get in over their heads.

So, with the trailer for Season 2 showing how Moritz is being lauded as a genius by his classmates while gangsters hellbent on revenge look for him, it's time to take a look back at the main events of Season 1 to figure out how he got here.

Moritz gets dumped by his girlfriend, Lisa Novak, who's just returned from studying abroad in America where she developed a taste for ecstasy. He also sees her flirting with Daniel Riffert, a jock at their school, and hacks her Facebook. He discovers she's throwing a house party that Dan will supply with ecstasy. Wanting to steal Dan's glory, Moritz anonymously reports Dan to the police, and asks his best friend, Lenny Sander, for help getting ecstasy. They locate Dan's dealer, Buba, and Moritz buys a bag of ecstasy on partial credit. He pays for the rest with money he took from a joint account set up for MyTems, the duo's online gaming store.

Quickly after his arrest, Dan is released on a possession charge. Moritz then sees him at the party and instigates a fight, which Dan wins. On the way home, Lenny and Moritz have a falling out over the money. In order to pay off his debt, Moritz decides to sell the ecstasy online and changes MyTems to MyDrugs. After a heartfelt apology, he convinces Lenny they can get their money back by selling on the Darknet. Buba shows up to collect his loan and ends up becoming a partner in MyDrugs.

The product, however, gets bad reviews, so they decide to find a better supplier. Moritz and Lenny start getting products from their new supplier, Purplerain, and their sales improve but not enough, so they decide to start selling on the clear web. Shortly thereafter, Moritz's dad, Jens Zimmermann, who is a policeman, nabs Buba after Dan snitches on him. Jens asks Moritz for help hacking Buba's laptop for more information, but it might have evidence incriminating Moritz. So, after some quick thinking, Moritz hacks Buba's computer and deletes the hard drive.

After their small victory, Lenny and Moritz complete building the clear webshop and celebrate at a restaurant, but they get into another fight because Moritz has been rearranging operations and getting another supplier in Rotterdam without telling Lenny. Lenny sees this more as a short-term project while Moritz is pursuing it like a business, so the two have a falling out. Lenny then heads home where he makes a 3D-printed gun because he knows Buba is going to be out of prison soon and will want to figure out who turned him in.

Later that night, Lisa's friend, Gerda, overdoses on ecstasy. Moritz sees Gerda's name on their customer list and begins rationalizing that it's okay to sell drugs because people are responsible for themselves. Meanwhile, Buba, who thinks Moritz and Lenny ratted him out, shows up at Lenny's place and abducts him. Moritz gets Dan to help him rescue Lenny by threatening to tell Buba who really snitched on him. While attempting to save Lenny, however, they are caught by Buba who ties them all up. Lenny pulls out his 3D-printed gun and tries to shoot Buba but it jams. Buba, thinking the weapon is a toy, aims it at himself and pulls the trigger, killing himself.

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) stars Maximilian Mundt, Anna Lena Klenke, Danilo Kamperidis, Damian Hardung, Luna Baptiste Schaller, Leonie Wesselow and Bjarne Mädel. Season 2 premieres July 21, 2020.

KEEP READING: Netflix's The Politician: What You Need to Know for Season 2

There are nearly countless permutations of the Justice League and its villains across the multiverse. This allows for certain characters to interact with other versions of themselves, who have gone through a different life and become radically different as a result. In some cases, DC's heroes become the kind of villains they usually fight, the despotic Justice Lords.

First introduced in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League, the Justice Lords eventually made the leap to the comics, where they exist on Earth-50 opposite the DCAU- inspired Earth-12 and its heroes, including the Batman Beyond future. Now, we're taking a closer look at who are the Justice Lords and what happened to them in the DC Multiverse when their adventures continued in Kyle Higgins, Thony Silas, and Dexter Soy's 2014 story in Batman Beyond Universe.

The Justice Lords first appeared in the Justice League animated series in the "A Better World" two-parter. In this world, Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States. Among his many crimes, President Luthor was personally responsible for the death of the Flash. Enraged, Superman led Batman and Wonder Woman on an attack against the White House. While attempting to arrest Luthor, the villain mocked Superman for allowing his morality to always allow Luthor another chance at world domination. This finally breaks Superman's spirit, who decides being a hero isn't worth the cost. Superman then casually executes Luthor with his heat vision, allowing the Justice League to transform into the Justice Lords, the uncontested rulers of their world.

Within two years, the Justice Lords (all of whom had lost their faith in humanity) had created a peaceful police state. While there were protests and dissatisfaction with their rule, the Justice Lords' cruel and cold tactics ensured the world's compliance. Minor offenses led to immediate arrests and particularly dangerous individuals -- such as the Batman rogues gallery -- were lobotomized to ensure obedience. Eventually encountering another reality similar to their own -- the world of Justice League -- the group decided to "save" it. They captured the League and tried to instill control over this new reality. But after convincing Lord Batman to reembrace his humanity, the Justice League returned to their Earth and defeated the Justice Lords with the help of their Lex Luthor, even briefly stealing the Justice Lords powers.

The DCAU continuity currently exists in the DC Universe as Earth-12. Moving at a faster pace than most realities, it is now in the near-future with Terry McGinnes serving as Batman alongside a new Justice League. However, they are forced to confront the Justice Lords once again when Wonder Woman returns from Earth-50 to Earth-12. This in fact the Earth-12 Wonder Woman, who explains how years ago, the Justice League was forced once to try and help Earth-50. While Lord Batman was fully convinced to give up his tyrannical ways and the trio of Lord Martian Manhunter, Lord Green Lantern, and Lady Hawkgirl decided to leave Earth behind, Lord Superman and Lady Wonder Woman tried to ensure their rule. Finding love in their shared desires, they went to war against Lord Batman.

The Justice League came to aid Lord Batman and saw a genuine superpowered World War break out across Earth-50. The Justice League was eventually called back to their own world, but the Earth-12 Wonder Woman elected to stay behind. She wanted to ensure that the world could in fact be saved - and also fell in love with Lord Batman, beginning the relationship with him that she and the Earth-12 Batman had always flirted with but never consummated. The pair shut off the gate to Earth-12 to prevent the war from spreading across the multiverse and did their best to contend with the Justice Lords. But the battles grew so destructive that the Earth-50 Aquaman (who never made peace with the surface) threatened to destroy all land-based life with rising sea levels if peace could not be achieved.

Lord Superman and Lady Wonder Woman enacted one final plan to kill Lord Batman and Wonder Woman, while Lord Batman developed synthetic kryptonite and advanced Bat-Suit that could contend with Lord Superman. Wonder Woman was lured into a battle while Lady Wonder Woman - posing as the Earth-12 Wonder Woman - was able to trick Lord Batman into lowering his guard long enough for her to snap his neck. Wonder Woman returned and quickly unleashed her fury against Lady Wonder Woman, eventually choking her to death using her Lasso of Truth. This caused the lasso to crumble to ash, as Diana was no longer worthy of it. A heart-broken Lord Superman and Wonder Woman agreed to a tense peace, even becoming "married" to solidify their joint rule and save the world.

Together, Earth-50 became a divided, if largely safe, world. Limited democracy returned, and the population became politically split, with one side supporting the Justice Lords and their police state, while the other resisting their continued rule. Lord Superman and Wonder Woman genetically-engineered a son in an attempt to settle their dispute once and for all, reasoning that by raising him together he could ultimately make the choice to decide the future of his world. But their son was kidnapped by Brainiac, and he eventually ended up raised by the Earth-12 version of the Kryptonian criminal Jax-Ur. Raised as Zod, he eventually ended up on Earth-12 and in the custody of the Justice League, who quickly accepted him as one of their own without ever realizing his true origins.

Fearing that the returned Wonder Woman might actually be Lady Wonder Woman, Terry is sent to Earth-50 to investigate her story. He was quickly overwhelmed by the changes that had come over Gotham City, especially the fate of his Earth-50 counterpart: on this world, Terry became a street punk estranged from his family and working alongside the Jokerz Gang. The two are forced to work together to avoid Lord Superman before he and his new Justice Lords (twisted versions of the current Justice League) make their way to Earth-12. However, Terry is able to find the suit Lord Batman had been working on when he died and uses it to great effect. Working with the Earth-50 Dick Grayson and Terry, Earth-12 Batman returns in time to help bring down Lord Superman once and for all.

However, the Justice League still resists the temptation to kill Lord Superman. Instead, they trap him in the Phantom Zone - meaning this despotic version of Superman still exists in some form within that realm, biding his time and planning alongside Jax-Ur. Zod learns the truth of his parentage and resists attempts by Wonder Woman to bond - although it's implied he may eventually come to terms with her. Meanwhile, many of the Justice Lords return to their world uncontested. They had been chosen by their public, and would instead return to rule their world as so chosen by the public. Wonder Woman is forced to stay on Earth-12 and rejoins the Justice League, also trying to deal with the emotional ramifications of her time on Earth-50.

KEEP READING: Batman Beyond Theory: Blame Joker For The Future's 'Low-Tech' Cellphones

There's a huge incongruity between the way NXT wrestlers are booked on the black and gold brand and what often happens to them when they get called up to the main roster. NXT stars being buried after their call up has become such a common occurrence that it's now referred to as the "Call Up Curse." Somehow, Rhea Ripley has managed to be hit by it even without actually being called up to the main roster.

Once NXT got up and running under Triple H, it became the must watch brand of WWE. Stars like Samoa Joe, Finn Bálor, Shinsuke Nakamura and the Four Horsewomen had epic matches that are still talked about years later. But in many cases, their main roster call ups did not reflect the success they achieved in NXT -- particularly in the cases of Joe, Bálor and Nakamura. The Four Horsewomen, on the other hand, have done pretty well for themselves.

In NXT, both Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura were dominant and incredibly popular champions. Once on the main roster, they experienced limited success, only to be booked further and further away from the championship scene. In Joe's case, injuries and a Wellness Policy violation didn't help may have ended his in-ring career too soon. Bálor won the Universal Championship, but had to surrender it the next day due to injury. He's never found his way back to the hunt for that title, though now that he's back in NXT he's nowhere near that title, either.

Somehow, these three still had better runs than most. Bobby Roode, another NXT Champion, has been booked so poorly on the main roster that fans often have to be reminded that he still works there. Kenta, known in WWE as Hideo Itami, had a bad run of injuries and nothing close to a push from WWE when he was healthy. Now that he's back in Japan, Kenta is reminding the world why he was such an incredible signing for NXT in the first place. And it's easier to not get started on how badly WWE wasted EC3's talent.

The list goes on and on. It seems like for every Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, aka Jon Moxley, who were able to break through, there are ten other superstars WWE buried for each of the three Shield members that succeeded. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason for who retains a push on the main roster other than Vince McMahon deciding you've got what it takes -- though he seems to be missing the boat a lot lately.

Biana Belair's arrival on Raw should have been a huge deal given her athleticism, skill and popularity. Instead, she almost immediately disappeared from TV screens after her post-WrestleMania call up. Shayna Baszler has had it even worse, going from wrestling Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 36 to riding the pine in catering in a matter of weeks. Somehow, Rhea Ripley's career now seems to be on a similar trajectory without ever being called up to the main roster.

RELATED: WWE Acquires Evolve Wrestling

After becoming the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion, Ripley returned to the US to unseat Shayna Baszler and become the NXT Women's Champion. Ripley became the first, and so far only, woman to hold both championships. Then, WWE used Charlotte Flair's Royal Rumble win to set up a match between Ripley and Flair for the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36. Fans wanted the match, but what they didn't want was what came next.

The general expectation was that Ripley would win at WrestleMania, cementing her as a main event player for years to come. Instead, Flair won and became the new NXT Women's Champion. There were rumors that Ripley had to drop the title due to visa issues, but she has rebuffed those claims. But without the visa issues, sacrificing her career to grow Charlotte's legend makes little to no sense from outside the WWE.

Much like Asuka before her, Ripley went into a WrestleMania match against "The Queen" with all the momentum in the world behind her -- and was handed a loss she never should have had. Despite winning several titles and accolades since then, WWE is still struggling to book Asuka correctly. Now, the exact same thing seems to be happening with Rhea Ripley, only without her having to leave NXT.

After being off TV for awhile post-WrestleMania 36, Ripley finally returned and ended up in an epic three way match against Io Shirai and the still-NXT Women's Champion Charlotte Flair at NXT: In Your House. It was an outstanding bout that saw Io Shirai finally crowned as the champion. Charlotte returned to Raw to feud with Asuka, and is now on a leave of absence to deal with surgery that will keep her out of the ring until at least SummerSlam.

Ripley, on the other hand, has now been left feuding with Robert Stone and his new client, Aliyah. While Stone's recent run has been cartoonish and comical, adding Ripley into the mix was not. She just had a terrible handicap match against the duo on the first night of The Great American Bash, which all of Ripley's fans are hoping is not a sign of things to come for the Aussie.

Just a few months ago, Ripley was a juggernaut of a superstar who could do no wrong. Now, she's feuding with a comedy act in NXT's midcard when she should be on Raw, feuding with Asuka over the Women's Championship or on SmackDown beating the crap out of Bayley. That being said, at least Ripley is still wrestling. If she had been called up to Raw, recent history suggests she would probably have just ended up cooling her heels in catering with Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler.

KEEP READING: WWE RUMOR: Orton Trolled Twitter to Get the Match He REALLY Wants

Stan Lee’s cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which showed him conversing with cosmic Watchers, echoed speculation among some fans about the nature of Lee's character. It turns out that the scene was a direct byproduct of director James Gunn listening to those theories.

Gunn revealed this in response to a tweet about how canon should verified whenever it sounds cool and makes sense. The director noted that this works sometimes, writing, "For instance, Stan Lee's connection to the Watchers in Vol. 2 was definitely inspired by fan theories."

Gunn is specifically referring to a scene in which Rocket, Yondu and Kraglin’s ship zooms by a planetoid while taking a dangerous shortcut. They interrupt a conversation between a group of Watchers and a spacesuit-wearing Lee, who then continues a tale about a time he "was a Federal Express man," a direct callback to his cameo from Captain America: Civil War.

In the movie’s final post-credit scene, the Watchers walk away from their informant without giving him a lift home, despite his protesting, "I’ve still got so many stories to tell." Vol. 2 credits him as a 'Watcher Informant.'

Stan Lee’s film cameos gained steam during the early 2000s, becoming a running gag in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eventually, fans jokingly began to speculate that these appearances, which extended to other countries and even far-off galaxies, were actually a single character keeping tabs on the events of the MCU.

Lee's last big Marvel cameos before his death in 2018 included a train passenger in Captain Marvel, reading the script for Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, which featured one of Lee’s first notable pre-Marvel movie speaking cameos.

Gunn directed and co-wrote both Guardians of the Galaxy films and will return for the franchise's third installment. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 currently has no release date, but production is set to begin in February 2021.

KEEP READING: Kevin Smith Promises Stan Lee Will Be Part of Mallrats 2

Tales of Monkey Island is finally back after taking a two-year hiatus away from Steam, just in time for the platform's summer sale. This is the first time players can enjoy the entire, five-part episodic adventure since the game's original developer, Telltale Games, went under in 2018.

The Monkey Island series is considered one of the pioneers of the adventure game genre. The Lucas Arts classic is a brainchild of the legendary game designer Tim Schafer, who created other amazing adventure games such as Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle. It made its debut in 1990 and took the video game community by storm.

Monkey Island's deep storyline and fantastic sense of humor made it a hit among PC gamers. Players couldn’t get enough of the lovable pirate Guybrush Threewood as he sailed the open seas seeking adventure and fighting his undead arch-nemesis, LeChuck.

Tales of Monkey Island is the most recent entry in the long-running series. The game debuted back in 2009 and was the first Monkey Island game to come out in nearly 10 years. Tales of Monkey Island also brought the series into 3-D for the first time. This was a huge jump for the franchise, since its 2-D artwork had become a staple.

Telltale Games developed Tales of Monkey Island alongside Lucas Arts. The game sold reasonably well and received mostly positive reviews. Unfortunately, after Telltale Games' closure, nearly every one of its games were taken off digital platforms. It looked like the Monkey Island series was heading to an abrupt end after more than 30 years.

Tales of Monkey Island was in video game limbo until LCG Entertainment bought Telltale in 2019. LCG brought back a handful of Telltale games, including Tales of Monkey Island. The company decided to return the adventure series to Steam in a bundle that included every episode.

Although Telltale Games isn't what it used to be, at least fans can still play some of the company’s games thanks to LCG Entertainment. It would be devastating if all the Telltale’s games had to walk the plank due to its closure. Thankfully, Tales of Monkey Island escaped its watery grave and is able to sail the open seas of Steam once again.

The future of the Monkey Island series is unclear, but many loyal fans hope to see a new entry in the franchise sometime soon.

KEEP READING: Where the Wolfenstein Series Should Go Next

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Ecclesiasticus 26:11" the second episode of Warrior Nun, now streaming on Netflix.

Given its theological premise and the epic, biblical scope of its central conflict, the expectation for Warrior Nun is that the Netflix original series will lean heavily into millennia of its secret, holy war between the forces of Heaven and Hell. And while this ancient battle does serve as the overarching conflict to the series, the sophomore episode of the comic book adaptation features a decidedly modern twist on the premise; the biggest threat to the eponymous order of warrior sisters isn't necessarily religion but technology itself.

The second episode of the series introduces Jillian Salvius, an entrepreneur that specializes in cutting edge technology. After her associates uncover an ancient breastplate deep within the Moroccan desert, Salvius incorporates the relic into a laser-sighted piece of advanced equipment back at her corporate headquarters in Spain. During a major presentation, Salvius reveals that the laser is used to open a portal to a different dimension for a limited time, claiming that she has been able to use it to open a portal to Heaven itself. Among the observing crowd is Cardinal Duretti, an unscrupulous priest visibly interested in using the new technology for his own mysterious agenda.

And while Salvius claims to have invented a portal to Heaven, there is the very real possibility that, instead, she has created a portal to Hell. Given the corporation's nefarious image as Ava and her newfound friends infiltrate the presentation, it's a safe bet that Salvius may have made a literal deal with the devil to acquire her wealth and power, with the new technology a way for demons to carry out their sinister agenda directly on Earth to gain more leverage against agents of Heaven, including the order of warriors nuns.

And even though Duretti appears to be a high-ranking figure within the Catholic Church, his very presence at a private technology presentation in it of itself is suspect. The cardinal's agenda remains unknown but he certainly appears to be less altruistic than Father Vincent, the priest in charge of the secret order of nuns. And with Ava and her team of wayward youths detected by Salvius' private security, the girl has quickly found herself on this new villain's radar, even more intrigued by a similar ancient relic implanted in her spine that gave her a second lease on life, completely restored her mobility and granted her incredible powers and abilities wielded by order historical sisters in the order.

For centuries, Heaven and Hell have fought against one another at a standstill, steering the cause of humanity as part of a secret war to either cause Armageddon or prevent it. And while the warrior nuns mourn the loss of one of their own, with an untested young woman resurrected as her successor, the forces of evil have gained their own devious edge with new technology that may allow them to summon demonic reinforcements directly from Hell and stage an invasion of Earth to tilt the balance of power in their fiery favor. With desperation making strange bedfellows, Hell has a new corporate sponsor providing them with technology linking them to Heaven and everything in between.

Based on the comic book series by Ben Dunn, Warrior Nun was developed for television by Simon Barry and stars Alba Baptista and Tristan Ulloa. The series is available to stream now on Netflix.

KEEP READING: Cursed: Netflix Debuts Synopsis, Photos for Frank Miller Project

Amanda Waller of the Suicide Squad has proven herself time and time again as one of the most resolute and strong-willed characters in the DC Universe. She's confronted plenty of threats head-on -- even famously staring down Batman at one point. But that doesn't mean she isn't above practical jokes -- especially if she can use them to crush the spirit of one of the criminals she leads.

In Suicide Squad #20 by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, Robert Lewis, Todd Klein and Carl Gafford, Amanda Waller trolls Captain Boomerang with a horde of fake zombies to make a point.

Captain Boomerang, aka George "Digger" Harkness, was among the roster of the original Suicide Squad and conscripted into completing missions for the United States for the promise of a clean slate. But in his off-time, the villain also threw himself right back into crime. To hide his identity and avoid detection from Amanda Waller, Digger used the alias of his fellow Flash Rogue, Mirror Master. However, one-night Manhunter is able to get the drop on "Mirror Master" and capture him.

Digger is brought to Belle Reve, the prison base of the Squad, and Waller inducts "Mirror Master" into Task Force X. It turns out there's a mission to be completed that requires them fighting the voodoo criminal group Loa and their leader, Bocor. Manhunter refuses to battle Loa out of fear of what they supposedly can do -- including controlling the dead as zombies -- but "Mirror Master" has no other choice to go, otherwise his identity will be revealed and Waller will have more ammunition to use against Digger going forward.

In an attempt to get out of the mission, Digger fakes a broken arm. But Waller still forces him into going, leaving Digger stuck pulling a Mrs. Doubtfire during the mission and having to quickly change costumes and personas on the fly so as not to draw suspicion while on the cemetery mission. It seems to be working at first, although Boomerang's inability to be in two places at once means the team is without its planned cover. But when in the guise of Mirror Master, he approaches Nemesis and finds that his teammate has been transformed into a zombie.

Flying into a panic, Digger tries to escape the chaos. But very quickly, the rest of the present Squad members are seemingly killed and corrupted into zombies as well. Only Digger appears to survive, catching the full attention of Bocor. Flailing and failing to fully get out of his Mirror Master costume so as to reach his boomerangs, Digger ends up begging for mercy. That's when it's revealed Waller is behind the entire escapade. Everyone -- all the zombies, Bocor, even his teammates -- were aware of the farce, which was meant to catch Captain Boomerang in the act of posing as someone else. Apparently every single employee of Belle Reve volunteered their services to the prank, the ultimate revenge on the generally unpleasant Digger.

Digger initially yells at Waller, but he shuts up when Waller reminds him that if she wanted, she could just turn him over to the proper authorities and see him arrested. Rather than spend the rest of his life in prison, Digger agrees to cease all activities as Mirror Master. She also confiscates all the money he'd stolen in recent months and forces him to live at Belle Reve full time to keep an eye on him. The Squad leaves the cemetery and returns to Belle Reve to await its next mission -- unaware that the Loa do exist and had been watching the entire incident.

The fact that Waller was not only able to use zombies to troll Captain Boomerang but successfully break him down afterward is a testament to her force of will. She turned an extended prank that involved a lot of different moving parts into a resolve-breaking moment for Digger. It's a wonderfully constructed and impressibly completed prank, and suggests that Amanda Waller might just be the best troll in the DC Universe.

KEEP READING: Batman: Is the Dark Knight Finally Losing His Edge?

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 of The Politician, now streaming on Netflix.

Season 2 of Netflix's The Politician finds Payton (Ben Platt) running for New York State Senate against incumbent Dede (Judith Light). However, he quickly discovers it's not anything like his high-school campaigns; it's much dirtier because people aren't out to ruin teenage reputations, they're out to destroy livelihoods.

As a result, he toughens up, but what ensues is a series of moles being planted in Dede's camp. However, there's also some double agent behavior along the way as Payton realizes he has to take the gloves off to win.

Astrid was Payton's rival from high-school but she dropped out due to personal issues. Ironically, she actually won the ballot count but by that time, Payton was already taking office. Season 2 finds them reconciled on Payton's slate. Unfortunately, Astrid's kept to the background often, despite her bringing the info to the table that Dede's in a "throuple" with her husband, Marcus, and their lover, William.

However, Astrid's poached by Bette Midler's Hadassah to provide information for Dede as she makes it clear Astrid is too important to be on the bench. Astrid's big leak is how she, her ex River (who killed himself as he was confused with his LGBT exploration) and Payton were in a relationship as well, but it never amounted to anything more than foreplay. Hadassah kicked her to the curb but Payton and his girlfriend, Alice, actually bring Astrid into their own throuple so they could keep her on a leash.

Andrew's one of the show's weirdest characters because, for someone who has cerebral palsy, he's just so conniving. He hasn't changed since high school and plants himself in Dede's team, playing the handicap angle. He then forces Payton to hire him as he's bugged Dede and Hadassah's offices to get all the dirt. It's all in exchange for Payton getting him a date with Infinity, the girl whose cancer was faked in the first season.

Andrew actually uncovers a lot of grimy strategies as Hadassah starts to take the youngsters seriously, but it goes to hell when Infinity berates him for his toxic masculinity. She also condemns Payton for pimping her out like that, and to make it worse, the batteries in the devices die leaving Andrew without much more information after a few weeks. He's later sold out by another one of Payton's key people who decides to cross the floor.

McAfee is Payton's main strategist alongside James, but she's been struggling with her love life since moving to NYC. He fired her in Season 1 because she didn't stick to his plan, but got rehired, and this season follows that up with a twist. McAfee leaks photos of Payton in a Native Indian Halloween costume to tank the campaign so they could focus on the future, and when he fires her, she goes to work for Hadassah.

She gains trust by outing Andrew and doing what she wanted to do last season when she first left Dede's team: work with a winner. Back then, McAfee saw Dede's campaign as archaic so she was the one that rallied the troops to back Payton. Now, Hadassah knows McAfee is a genius and lets her help out with their slate, granting her inside info. But it turns out this was all a last-ditch Hail Mary play by Payton. They were already behind by over a dozen points so he sent McAfee in as a spy for info that throws them back in the race.

Dede disobeys Hadassah and reveals to the public that her "throuple" is progressive, which shockingly wins support. William, though, while he's hiding out with Hadassah to avoid the public eye, actually falls for Hadassah. But Dede instructs them the triad has to resume or else it'll look like she's lying. She forces William and Hadassah to part ways but William then becomes a mole, seeking out Payton's team.

He divulges the truth about the love affair and gives Payton the ammunition needed to personally get Dede to back off on certain aspects of the campaign. William's the last mole you'd ever expect but he's one of the show's most crucial, all because he wants a fair shot at someone who would put him over their career.

Ryan Murphy's The Politician stars Ben Platt, Zoey Deutch, Lucy Boynton, Bob Balaban, David Corenswet, Julia Schlaepfer, Laura Dreyfuss, Theo Germaine, Rahne Jones, Benjamin Barrett, Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow. Season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.

KEEP READING: Netflix's Dark: How the 'Origin' Completes Jonas and Martha's Journey

Vampires are a common fantasy trope, and in Magic: The Gathering's multiverse, these bloodsuckers absolutely dominate the Gothic horror world of Innistrad.

The vampires of this plane are arguably the most powerful race. But curiously, they are not actually native to this plane. Vampires come from the likes of Dominaria, Zendikar, Ulgrotha and even Kaladesh, but the vampires of Innistrad were artificially created many years ago by a certain Edgar Markov, grandfather of the famed vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov. The newly born vampire race was the solution to a problem.

Many centuries ago, the humans of Innistrad faced a serious problem, on top of regular werewolf and zombie attacks, there was a famine. This dreadful famine gripped the entire plane, and there was no clear solution in sight. Until, that is, Edgar Markov turned to the demons in desperation with a creative solution in mind. He was enchanted with powerful dark magic, which turned him into an immortal being, one that feeds on humans rather than on crops and livestock. He became Innistrad's first vampire, and many more followed, including his grandson, Sorin.

The idea was that vampires would thin out the population of humans, ensuring that there would be enough food for the survivors. If crops couldn't be increased, then the number of mouths to feed would be dropped, and that's where the vampires would come in. And, of course, each human who became a vampire would no longer put any strain on the food supply, because the people themselves would become the food supply. This solution proved a success, and the human race recovered. However this meant humanity had a new monster race to contend with in the darkest of nights.

The vampires of Innistrad boast not only the superhuman strength and speed of other vampire races, but also a variety of unique magics. Over time, the vampire diaspora spread across Innistrad's four provinces, but the strongest ones remained in their native province of Stensia. Four major vampire families towered above the rest: Falkenrath, Markov, Voldaren and Stromkirk, each with particular abilities.

Most of these vampires, like bloodsuckers in other works of fiction, can use seduction magic to entice any human target into liking them and thus lowering their guard. Additionally, the vampires of the misty Nephalia province can convert their bodies into mist to safely travel undetected, even sneaking into people's homes this way. Many of Stensia's vampires can turn themselves into bats or similar animals, and the Falkenrath and Voldaren vampires can fly even without turning into bats first.

The vampire population is the result of discretion; that is, they do not reproduce the way people do. New vampires are chosen, and existing ones can pick and choose "worthy" humans to convert into new vampires. In this way, vampires loosely represent "survival of the fittest," and a vampire can consciously bite a human target to convert them rather than feed on them. With the exception of Edgar Markov, all vampires have bite marks on them leftover from where their "parent" vampire bit them to begin the conversion process. These bites are usually done on discreet parts of the body.

Vampires also have a few vulnerabilities, and are always looking for ways to avoid them. Stakes made of fresh, living wood are highly effective against them, so the vampires of Nephalia encourage constant shipbuilding to use up all the local wood. Vampires are also susceptible to moonlight reflected on running water, and fire and silver. And, of course, the magic and symbols of the Church of Avacyn are effective against them. Vampires meet their match when they face the Church's strongest inquisitors and cathars (holy warriors).

Vampires were born out of desperation to save the human race, and now both races are locking in an eternal, deadly dance to keep the other in check across Innistrad.

KEEP READING: Magic: Cats and Dogs Are Core Set 2021's Adorable But Deadly Mascots