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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.
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Demolition Man (Dennis Dunphy), also known as D-Man, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily in association with Captain America.
Dennis Dunphy first appeared in The Thing #28 (October 1985) and was created by Mike Carlin and Ron Wilson. He first appeared as Demolition-Man in Captain America #328 (April 1987). Captain America writer Mark Gruenwald explained his decision to make Demolition-Man (or D-Man, as he was usually referred as at the time) Captain America's newest partner: "All of Cap's past partners - Bucky, Rick Jones, the Falcon and Nomad – have been less powerful than he is, so he was naturally the dominant figure in the partnership. But this new guy can lift ten tons, so he's no slouch in the power department and he's half a head taller than C.A., so there's a different kind of relationship with D-Man, as he's called."
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Sidewinder is the name of three different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original Sidewinder was Seth Voelker. A second Sidewinder appeared in 1998 but was killed during his attempt to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. A third Sidewinder, Gregory Bryan, was given powers similar to the original Sidewinder by the Brand Corporation.
Seth Voelker started out as an Economics professor before Roxxon Oil Company chemically mutated him and gave him the power to teleport, starting his criminal career as Sidewinder. He initially worked as hired henchman alongside Anaconda, Death Adder and Black Mamba. He later organized the Serpent Society, a group of snake-themed criminals for hire, with the Serpent Society working like a trade union. At one point, Sidewinder was deposed as leader by Viper as several members of the Serpent Society had infiltrated the group to help Viper from within. While Viper was defeated, Sidewinder chose to leave the Serpent Society with King Cobra taking control of the Serpent Society. He later retires from being a criminal.
Gregory Bryan was given his powers by the Brand Corporation and became a member of the Serpent Society later on. He later became a member of Serpent Solutions when the Serpent Society was reorganized.
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Linda Denise Blair (born January 22, 1959) is an American actress and activist. Her portrayal of Regan MacNeil in the horror film The Exorcist (1973) established her in popular culture and as a scream queen, earning her a Golden Globe Award, as well as an Academy Award nomination. She reprised the role in two sequels: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and The Exorcist: Believer (2023).
Blair has starred in several television films, including Born Innocent (1974), Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975), and Stranger in Our House (1978). She has also starred in exploitation films, including Hell Night (1981), Chained Heat (1983), and Savage Streets (1984). Her role in the musical film Roller Boogie (1979) brought her a reputation as a sex symbol. Blair was the host of the Fox Family reality series Scariest Places on Earth (2000–2006) and had regular appearances on the Animal Planet series Pit Boss (2010–2012).
Blair is an activist for the animal rights movement. In 2004, she founded the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves to rehabilitate and adopt rescue animals.
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Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American character actor. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as Escape from Alcatraz, The Right Stuff, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors and Tremors 2: Aftershocks, The Player, Short Cuts, Miami Blues, and 30 Minutes or Less.
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The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 American buddy action comedy film directed by Tony Scott from a screenplay by Shane Black, and produced by Joel Silver. It stars Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans, with Noble Willingham, Chelsea Field, Taylor Negron, and Danielle Harris. The film follows a washed-up private investigator (Willis) who teams up with a scandalized former football star (Wayans) to uncover a political conspiracy involving their former employers.
The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on December 13, 1991, to mixed reviews and a smaller than expected box office. Retrospective reviews have been more positive, and the film has developed a cult following.
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Donald Pierce is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a cyborg and is commonly an enemy of the X-Men.
Donald Pierce appears in the 2017 film Logan, portrayed by Boyd Holbrook.
Donald Pierce first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #132 April 1980, and was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Pierce's name and appearance were modeled by Byrne upon Donald Sutherland. The character's last name comes from Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Sutherland's character in the 1970 film M*A*S*H.
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Mission: Impossible is an American espionage television series, financed and produced by Desilu Productions, that aired on CBS for 7 seasons from September 17, 1966 to March 30, 1973. It was revived in 1988 for two seasons on ABC, and later inspired the series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise beginning in 1996.
Created and initially produced by Bruce Geller, the show chronicled the exploits of a small team of covert government agents, known as the Impossible Missions Force, and their sophisticated methods of deceiving, manipulating and thwarting, amongst others, hostile Iron Curtain governments, third-world dictators, corrupt industrialists, and crime lords.
In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs (played by Steven Hill); Jim Phelps (played by Peter Graves) takes charge for the six remaining seasons. Briggs and Phelps usually assemble the same core team of agents, all of whom have careers and some degree of celebrity outside of espionage. The team is occasionally supplemented by other specialists.
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Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known for playing police officer Banck in the 1997–1998 Martin Beck TV series and for his leading role in the 2002 film Grabben i graven bredvid. He was internationally recognized for his role as Mikael Blomkvist in the acclaimed Millennium series and as the lead villains in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (as Kurt Hendricks) and John Wick (as Viggo Tarasov). In 2004, he played the leading role in As It Is in Heaven which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.
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Parasyte: The Grey (Korean: 기생수: 더 그레이) is a 2024 South Korean science fiction horror body snatcher television series directed and co-written by Yeon Sang-ho. The series is a live-action spin-off of the manga series Parasyte by the Japanese artist Hitoshi Iwaaki and depicts a confrontation with unidentified parasitic creatures that live on humans and have the urge to kill humans. It stars Jeon So-nee, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Lee Jung-hyun. It was released on Netflix on April 5, 2024, and received generally positive reviews.
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Arkon is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Avengers #75 (April 1970). He is the warlord and ruler of the extra-dimensional world of Polemachus.
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James McAvoy broke his knuckle while filming the movie Split on location in Philadelphia. He continued to film for three days before letting on that he was injured and finally sought attention at a local UrgentCare. As a result, he was forced to work with an injury on the set of Atomic Blonde (2017), as well.
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In pipeline transportation, pigging is the practice of using pipeline inspection gauges or gadgets, devices generally referred to as pigs or scrapers, to perform various maintenance operations. This is done without stopping the flow of the product in the pipeline.
These operations include but are not limited to cleaning and inspecting the pipeline. This is accomplished by inserting the pig into a "pig launcher" (or "launching station")—an oversized section in the pipeline, reducing to the normal diameter. The launching station is then closed and the pressure-driven flow of the product in the pipeline is used to push the pig along the pipe until it reaches the receiving trap—the "pig catcher" (or "receiving station").
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The High Evolutionary (Herbert Edgar Wyndham) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is depicted as a scientist who seeks to evolve different life forms such as the New Men. The High Evolutionary's goals have often put him at odds with different superheroes.
Originally introduced as an antagonist in the Thor comics, the High Evolutionary would go on to feature prominently in storylines involving the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. His backstory was later connected to the X-Men villain Mister Sinister, while the High Evolutonary became integral to the origin stories of the Avengers heroes Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Spider-Woman.
Chukwudi Iwuji portrays the High Evolutionary in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Additionally, Richard Newman, Jonathan Frakes, Corey Burton, and Nolan North have voiced the character in animation.
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In pipeline transportation, pigging is the practice of using pipeline inspection gauges or gadgets, devices generally referred to as pigs or scrapers, to perform various maintenance operations. This is done without stopping the flow of the product in the pipeline.
These operations include but are not limited to cleaning and inspecting the pipeline. This is accomplished by inserting the pig into a "pig launcher" (or "launching station")—an oversized section in the pipeline, reducing to the normal diameter. The launching station is then closed and the pressure-driven flow of the product in the pipeline is used to push the pig along the pipe until it reaches the receiving trap—the "pig catcher" (or "receiving station").
The phrase "pig launcher" conjures up some interesting images.
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Firehawk is the name of two characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
Lorraine Reilly, created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick, first appeared in The Fury of Firestorm #1 (June 1982). She is the daughter of United States Senator Walter Reilly who was kidnapped by Multiplex and subjected to experiments designed to recreate the accident that created him and Firestorm. Dubbed Firehawk, she is used as a pawn against Firestorm before eventually befriending him. Later stories have her retiring from superheroics, then entering politics and becoming a U.S. Senator. The Raymonds and Firestorm re-enter her life when Ronnie's father Ed asks her to investigate Jason Rusch, the new Firestorm, during which she temporarily becomes his partner in the Firestorm matrix.
A second version of Firehawk later appears as the Firestorm of France.
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Clarkson's Farm is a British television documentary series about Jeremy Clarkson and his farm in the Cotswolds. The series documents Clarkson's attempts at running a 1,000-acre (400 ha) farm near Chipping Norton in West Oxfordshire. Described by Clarkson as "genuine reality television", the series has received positive reviews and has been praised for raising public awareness of the British farming industry on the international stage. The first series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 11 June 2021.
In July 2021, it was renewed for a second series, which premiered on 10 February 2023 and became the most-watched Prime Video original series in the UK. In October 2022, it was renewed for a third series which was released in two parts, with part one premiering on 3 May 2024 and part two on 10 May 2024. In November 2023, it was renewed for a fourth series that premiered on 23 May 2025. In November 2024, it was renewed for a fifth and potentially final series.
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Tower of Shadows is a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by the American company Marvel Comics under this and a subsequent name from 1969 to 1975. It featured work by writer-artists Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Johnny Craig, and Wally Wood, writer-editor Stan Lee, and artists John Buscema, Gene Colan, Tom Sutton, Barry Windsor-Smith (as Barry Smith), and Bernie Wrightson.
The stories were generally hosted by Digger, a gravedigger; Headstone P. Gravely, in undertaker garb; or one of the artists or writers.
After the 10th issue, the title was changed to Creatures on the Loose, publishing a mixture of sword and sorcery features, horror/fantasy reprints, and the science-fiction werewolf feature "Man-Wolf".
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Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The character is a founding member and the leader of the Fantastic Four. Richards has a mastery of mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering, chemistry, all levels of physics, and human and alien biology. BusinessWeek listed Mister Fantastic as one of the top ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics. He is the inventor of the spacecraft that was bombarded by cosmic radiation on its maiden voyage, granting the Fantastic Four their powers. Richards gained the ability to stretch his body into any shape he desires.
Mister Fantastic acts as the leader and father figure of the Fantastic Four, and although his cosmic ray powers are primarily stretching abilities, his presence on the team is defined by his scientific acumen, as he is officially acknowledged as the smartest man in the Marvel Universe. This is particularly a point of tragedy in regards to his best friend, Ben Grimm, who he has constantly tried to turn back into his human form but who typically remains in a large, rocky form and is called the Thing. Richards is the husband of Susan Storm, father of Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards, and mentor to his brother-in-law, Johnny Storm.
The character was portrayed by actors Alex Hyde-White in the 1994 The Fantastic Four film, Ioan Gruffudd in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Miles Teller in the 2015 film Fantastic Four. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, John Krasinski portrayed Richards in the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Pedro Pascal will portray him in the 2025 film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the 2026 film Avengers: Doomsday, and the 2027 film Avengers: Secret Wars.
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Aspen HYSYS (or simply HYSYS) is a chemical process simulator currently developed by AspenTech used to mathematically model chemical processes, from unit operations to full chemical plants and refineries. HYSYS is able to perform many of the core calculations of chemical engineering, including those concerned with mass balance, energy balance, vapor-liquid equilibrium, heat transfer, mass transfer, chemical kinetics, fractionation, and pressure drop. HYSYS is used extensively in industry and academia for steady-state and dynamic simulation, process design, performance modeling, and optimization.
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Sicario is a 2015 American action crime thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve, written by Taylor Sheridan in his screenwriting debut and starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin. The film follows a principled FBI special agent who is enlisted by a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel. Sicario was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It began a limited release in the United States on September 18, 2015, followed by a nationwide release on October 2, 2015.
Sicario received praise for its cast performances, writing, direction, musical score and cinematography. The film was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Editing at the 88th Academy Awards. It also earned BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Music. Its sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, directed by Stefano Sollima, was released on June 29, 2018. A third film, titled Sicario: Capos, is in development.
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Taskmaster (Anthony "Tony" Masters) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer David Michelinie and artist George Pérez, the character made his debut in The Avengers #195 (May 1980). Possessing photographic reflexes that allow him to mimic any fighting style at the cost of his long and short-term memory, he has served as an adversary of Marvel Universe superheroes such as Captain America, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man. He is usually depicted as a mercenary hired by criminal organizations to act as a training instructor. He is the biological father of Finesse.
The character has been adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including several animated television series and video games.
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James Arthur Madrox, also called the Multiple Man, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Len Wein, he first appeared in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 (February 1975).
A mutant with the ability to create instant duplicates of himself, Madrox was mainly a minor or supporting character until his appearance in the 1987 miniseries Fallen Angels. The character underwent greater development under writer Peter David through his appearance in David's run of the monthly series X-Factor (vol. 1) in the 1990s, and in David's second and ongoing run of the title (vol. 3) in the 2000s.
The character has appeared in multiple television, film and video game adaptations, most notably in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand, in which he was portrayed by Eric Dane.
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Midnight Mass is an American gothic supernatural horror television miniseries created and directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kristin Lehman, and Henry Thomas. The plot centers on a devout and impoverished island community that experiences supernatural events after the arrival of a mysterious priest. It was released on Netflix on September 24, 2021, and received positive reviews.
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Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010), Andrew Keanelly in The Crazy Ones (2013–2014), and Clark Debussy in Legion (2017–2019). He is the son of dramatic vocal trainer Kristin Linklater.
In 2021, he starred as Father Paul in the horror miniseries Midnight Mass, for which he received high critical acclaim.
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Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James May. From 2016 to 2024, the trio presented Amazon Prime Video's The Grand Tour.
Hammond has also presented entertainment documentary series Brainiac: Science Abuse (2003–2008), the game show Total Wipeout (2009–2012) and nature documentary series Planet Earth Live (2012). In 2016, along with Clarkson and May, Hammond launched the automotive social media website DriveTribe, which is a popular motoring channel on Youtube.
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The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality created by intelligent machines. Believing computer hacker Neo to be "the One" prophesied to defeat them, Morpheus recruits him into a rebellion against the machines.
Following the success of Bound (1996), Warner Bros. gave the go-ahead for The Matrix after the Wachowskis sent an edit of the film's opening minutes. Action scenes were influenced by anime and martial arts films, (particularly fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema). Other influences include Plato's cave and 1990s Telnet hacker communities. The film popularized terms such as the red pill, and popularized a visual effect known as "bullet time", in which a character's heightened perception is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed.
The Matrix opened in theaters in the United States on March 31, 1999, to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its innovative visual effects, action sequences, cinematography and entertainment value. The film was a box office success, grossing over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the fourth-highest-grossing film of that year. The film received nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing, winning all four categories. The film was also the recipient of numerous other accolades, including Best Sound and Best Special Visual Effects at the 53rd British Academy Film Awards, and the Wachowskis were awarded Best Director and Best Science Fiction Film at the 26th Saturn Awards. The Matrix is considered to be among the greatest science fiction films of all time, and in 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant".
The film's success led to two sequels by the Wachowskis, both released in 2003, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The Matrix franchise was further expanded through the production of comic books, video games and an animated anthology film, The Animatrix, with which the Wachowskis were heavily involved. The franchise has also inspired books and theories expanding on some of the religious and philosophical ideas alluded to in the films.