Debate

via Marvel Studios People are debating whether the Asgardians in Marvel Comics and the MCU believe in gods above themselves. Redditor abdulaziz_bature spurred the discussion in r/marvelstudios by writing, “In a trailer scene when valkyrie says, ‘Oh God….’ whom was she referring to ? ‘Cause we know she hated Odin, which begs the question; do Asgardians worship the royal family in marvel ? Or are they atheists ?” Those questions triggered a wide range of responses, some of which cover obscure Marvel lore. For…

Guns are central to how Americans talk about the "Wild West." Credit: Greg Dickinson The United States has struggled with a spate of horrific mass shootings. As is often the case, people try to make sense of the violence by talking about what happened. …

Work-life balance or integration? Remote, hybrid, or return to office? In the past few years, tech companies have tried to redefine the best approach to work. But as groundbreaking as some of these new ideas are, many still miss the point: there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in a post-COVID working world. Work-life debaters generally fall into two main camps: the separators (or balancers) and the integrators. Separators tend to want strong boundaries between work and life, like keeping set…

via Lucasfilm Some Star Wars fans want out with the old and in with the new — at least when it comes to characters. This brave stand was taken today by Redditor DrTrilogy, who wrote, “Star Wars needs to move away from content surrounding the OT characters. “Don’t get it twisted,” the Redditor pre-empted before disclosing his OT fandom. “I love Star Wars, I really do . . . but really needs to step away from the characters we know and love in favor of new ones.” The Redditor presented The Mandalorian as an…

Screengrab via Disney Plus If there is one thing Star Wars fans love, it is a good debate. Star Wars fan spaces are always full of fascinating discussions, and these discussions have only got more interesting with the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi. And right now, fans are discussing who wields the franchise’s signature weapon, the lightsaber, the best.  This discussion started on Reddit’s Star Wars subreddit when user GOTGMUSIC posted a thread titled “Change my mind: This is the best stance in all Star Wars movies.”…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The world governing body for swimming, FINA, have announced their eligibility policy for trans athletes and 46 XY DSD athletes. Following extensive consultation with athletes, scientists and lawmakers, they have voted to prohibit those gender diverse athletes from competing in the female category if they have experienced any part of male puberty. The policy states that those who are…

Screengrab via YouTube Once upon a time, one of the big attractions of the MCU was that it presented an easily understandable comic book universe. All you had to do was turn up to see two or three movies a year, and you could follow it. Now things have changed: viewers not only have to tune in to multiple Disney Plus TV shows, but the very fabric of the universe has gotten a lot more complicated with the introduction of the multiverse. Teased in Loki and What If…? the multiverse made its full leap to the big…

Image via Lucasfilm Forget all the lightsaber duels you’ve seen in the Skywalker Saga so far. Star Wars fans are pitting two characters against each other whose fight could shake the very foundation of the living Force. The history of the galaxy far, far away is full of exciting fights that chill us to the core of our nerd hearts. We’ve had Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul, Yoda vs. Count Dooku, Yoda vs. Sheev Palpatine, and last but not least, Obi-Wan vs. Anakin Skywalker. One thing…

Big Pharma loves political gridlock. In fact, shares of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies tend to outperform the broader market when Congress is divided. With Republicans poised to flip control of the House in the midterm elections and President Biden’s “Build Back Better”—which included drug pricing reform—on life support, it seemed Big Pharma would soon be in the clear on tough action coming out of Washington.…

Star Wars fans are debating the theory that the films originally intended to have a political underpinning critiquing the Vietnam War. The fact that the movies are an updated take on the classic hero’s journey formula — something that has stretched back to humanity’s earliest examples of recorded literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf — is widely known by now. But the matter of whether Star Wars has political undertones is still debatable, partially due to the fact that the films take place “a long…