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A Life Model Decoy (frequently known by the abbreviation LMD) is a fictional android appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. LMDs duplicate all outward aspects of a real living person with such authenticity that they can easily impersonate a specific person without casual detection. LMDs first appeared in "The Man For the Job!", a short story by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby that ran in the anthology book Strange Tales #135 (August 1965), in which the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. created LMDs of agent Nick Fury to use as decoys for an attack by the terrorist organization Hydra.
LMDs have been used in numerous Marvel Comics storylines since their first appearance and have also been adapted into other media based on Marvel, including films, television series, animation and video games.
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Alice in Borderland is a Japanese science fiction thriller drama television series based on the manga of the same name by Haro Aso. The series is directed by Shinsuke Sato. It stars Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya as allies trapped in an empty, parallel version of Tokyo, forced to compete as players in dangerous, sadistic games. The type and difficulty of each game is represented by playing cards based on French suites and the games are used to extend their "visas" that, if expired, result in the player's execution by lasers shot from the sky.
The series' first season was announced in July 2019 and filmed from August to December 2019. Set locations included Shibuya districts and a green screen studio replica of Shibuya Crossing. The show's visual effects were produced in an international collaboration between Japan's Digital Frontier and teams from Singapore, the United States, and India. The musical score was composed by Yutaka Yamada, who had collaborated with Sato.
The first season premiered on the Netflix streaming service on December 10, 2020, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences, direction, and acting. They compared the show to many entries in the survival genre, including the films Battle Royale (2000) and Cube (1997). The first season's strong performance and high viewership in many countries resulted in Netflix renewing the series two weeks after its premiere; the second season was released on December 22, 2022. On September 27, 2023, it was renewed for a third season, set to premiere in September 2025.
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Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is one of the most experienced members of Nick Fury's team, known for his marksmanship with rifles and trademark bowler hat.
Neal McDonough appeared as the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Dum Dum Dugan first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
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Squid Game (Korean: 오징어 게임) is a South Korean dystopian survival thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion (US$39.86 million) prize. The series' title draws from ojingeo ("squid"), a Korean children's game. Lee Jung-jae, who portrays series protagonist Seong Gi-hun, leads an ensemble cast.
Hwang conceived the idea based on his own economic struggles, as well as the class disparity in South Korea and capitalism. Although he wrote the story in 2009, Hwang could not find a production company to fund the idea until Netflix took an interest around 2019 as part of a drive to expand their foreign programming offerings.
The first season of Squid Game was released worldwide on September 17, 2021, to critical acclaim and international attention. It became Netflix's most-watched series and received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe. Production for the second season began in July 2023, and was released on December 26, 2024. The third and final season was filmed back-to-back with the second season and is scheduled to be released on June 27, 2025.
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Lee Byung-hun (Korean: 이병헌; born July 12, 1970) is a South Korean actor. He has received acclaim for his work in a wide range of genres, most notably Joint Security Area (2000); A Bittersweet Life (2005); The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008); I Saw the Devil (2010); Masquerade (2012); and the television series All In (2003), Iris (2009), and Mr. Sunshine (2018). His other notable South Korean films include Inside Men (2015), Master (2016), Ashfall (2019), and The Man Standing Next (2020).
In the United States, he is known for portraying Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and its sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), and starring alongside Bruce Willis in Red 2 (2013). He portrayed T-1000 in Terminator Genisys (2015), and Billy Rocks in The Magnificent Seven (2016). He appeared in a recurring role as the Front Man in season 1, and as part of the main cast of season 2 of the Netflix hit survival series Squid Game.
Lee has been named Gallup Korea's Film Actor of the Year in 2012 and Gallup Korea's Television Actor of the Year in 2018. He was also the first South Korean actor to present an Oscar at the annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Lee and Ahn Sung-ki were the first South Korean actors to imprint their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
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Im Na-yeon (Korean: 임나연; born September 22, 1995), known mononymously as Nayeon, is a South Korean singer. She rose to prominence as a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, created by JYP Entertainment through the reality television show Sixteen (2015).
Nayeon released her eponymous debut extended play (EP), Im Nayeon, in June 2022. It peaked at number one on South Korea's Circle Album Chart and number seven on the US Billboard 200, making her the first South Korean soloist in history to enter the latter chart's top 10. The lead single, "Pop!", reached number two on the Circle Digital Chart in South Korea and the top ten in six countries. In 2024, Nayeon earned her second number-one entry on the Circle Album Chart and top-ten entry on the US Billboard 200 with her second extended play Na.
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Jackson "Butch" Guice (June 27, 1961 – May 1, 2025) was an American comics artist who worked in the comics industry beginning in the 1980s.
Guice's cover for Doctor Strange #15 (March 1990) used Christian music singer Amy Grant's likeness without her permission, leading to her management filing a complaint against Marvel Comics, saying the cover gave the appearance she was associating with witchcraft. A US District Court sealed an out-of-court settlement between Grant and Marvel in early 1991, with a consent decree that Marvel did not admit to any liability or wrongdoing.
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Georges Batroc the Leaper is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #75, 1966. He is a mercenary and a master of the French form of kick-boxing known as savate, commonly depicted as an adversary of Captain America, and a mentor of Gwen Poole. Batroc's name derives from the word batrachia, a classification of amphibians that includes frogs, which also plays on the stereotype of calling French people frogs.
Georges St-Pierre portrays Batroc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
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The Scourge of the Underworld is the name of a series of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Writer/editor Mark Gruenwald originally created the Scourge in 1985 as a plot device intended to thin the criminal population of the Marvel Universe, in particular eliminating those supervillain characters he deemed to be too minor, redundant, or ill-conceived. Numerous other characters have used the name, often with differing motives and loyalties.
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Nomad is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Nomad name and costume were created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Sal Buscema as an alternate identity for the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, in Captain America #180 (December 1974).
The identity was revived by writer J. M. DeMatteis for a minor character named Edward Ferbel in Captain America #261–263 (September–November 1981). The same writer later gave the title to its best known claimant Jack Monroe in Captain America #282 (June 1983). Other claimants of the code name are Rikki Barnes and Steve Rogers's adopted son Ian Rogers.
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Nomad is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Nomad name and costume were created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Sal Buscema as an alternate identity for the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, in Captain America #180 (December 1974).
The identity was revived by writer J. M. DeMatteis for a minor character named Edward Ferbel in Captain America #261–263 (September–November 1981). The same writer later gave the title to its best known claimant Jack Monroe in Captain America #282 (June 1983). Other claimants of the code name are Rikki Barnes and Steve Rogers's adopted son Ian Rogers.
STERILIZE! STERILIZE!
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Armadillo (Antonio Rodriguez) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary, the character made his first appearance in Captain America #308 (August 1985).
Gruenwald recounted that Armadillo "is just a silly monster I wanted to throw in as kind of a joke on the old Marvel armadillo thing in the letters page".
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The Flag-Smasher is the name used by different anti-nationalist supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics: Karl Morgenthau and Guy Thierrault. The original version was most often a foe of Captain America while other adversaries include the Punisher, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, the Runaways, the Liberteens and Deadpool.
Mark Gruenwald created Flag-Smasher as a character in the tradition of the Red Skull: a villain with a symbolic aspect that would make him a nemesis specifically intended for Captain America. Whereas the Red Skull symbolizes Nazism, Flag-Smasher symbolizes anti-patriotism. The character first appeared in Captain America #312 (Dec. 1985)
I remember reading about the Flag-Smasher in my friend's copy of Captain America #312...
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Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia, with Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner in supporting roles. Die Hard follows a New York City police detective, John McClane (Willis), who becomes entangled in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife during a Christmas Eve party.
Stuart was hired by 20th Century Fox to adapt Thorp's novel in 1987. His first draft was greenlit immediately, as the studio was eager for a summer blockbuster the following year. The role of McClane was turned down by a host of the decade's most popular actors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Known mainly for work on television, Willis was paid $5 million for his involvement, placing him among Hollywood's highest-paid actors. The deal was seen as a poor investment by industry professionals and attracted significant controversy towards the film prior to its release. Filming took place between November 1987 and March 1988, on a $25 million to $35 million budget and almost entirely on location in and around Fox Plaza in Los Angeles.
Expectations for Die Hard were low; some marketing materials omitted Willis's image, ostensibly because the publicity team determined that the setting was as important as McClane. Upon its release in July 1988, initial reviews were mixed: criticism focused on its violence, plot, and Willis's performance, while McTiernan's direction and Rickman's charismatic portrayal of the villain Hans Gruber were praised. Defying predictions, Die Hard grossed approximately $140 million, becoming the year's tenth-highest-grossing film and the highest-grossing action film. Receiving four Academy Award nominations, it elevated Willis to leading-man status and made Rickman a celebrity.
Die Hard has been critically re-evaluated and is now considered one of the greatest action films of all time. It is considered to have revitalized the action genre, largely due to its depiction of McClane as a vulnerable and fallible protagonist, in contrast to the muscle-bound and invincible heroes of other films of the period. Retrospective commentators also identified and analyzed its themes of vengeance, masculinity, gender roles, and American anxieties over foreign influences. Due to its Christmas setting, Die Hard is often named one of the best Christmas films of all time, although its status as a Christmas film is disputed.
The film produced a host of imitators; the term "Die Hard" became a shorthand for plots featuring overwhelming odds in a restricted environment, such as "Die Hard on a bus" in relation to Speed. It created a franchise comprising the sequels Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), plus video games, comics, and other merchandise. Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, Die Hard was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2017.
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Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (1997–2004), and as Rita Bennett on Dexter (2006–2010), for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress and the 2009 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Benz has also starred in the television series Roswell (1999–2000), Desperate Housewives (2010), No Ordinary Family (2010–2011), A Gifted Man (2011–2012), Defiance (2013–2015), Hawaii Five-0 (2015–2017), Training Day (2017) and Love, Victor (2021).
Her film credits include Jawbreaker (1999), The Brothers (2001), Rambo (2008), Saw V (2008), Punisher: War Zone (2008), and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009).
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A tulpa is a materialized being or thought-form, typically in human form, that is created through spiritual practice and intense concentration. The term is borrowed from Tibetan Buddhism. Modern practitioners, who call themselves "tulpamancers", use the term to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend whom practitioners consider sentient and relatively independent. Modern practitioners predominantly consider tulpas a psychological rather than a paranormal phenomenon. The idea became an important belief in Theosophy.
The 2020 film The Empty Man, written and directed by David Prior, is based on the theory of tulpas.