The future of the MCU — and all of pop culture

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Video games and tech culture have long been haunted by “generations”. We mark milestones with new dashboards or numbers on iPhone. It’s a useful way to measure progress that’s always moving at an unpredictable rate.

Once a year, Polygon expands this format across generations to discover the next generation of everything.

This is one of our favorite annual projects, because it benefits from procrastination. We wait until about a month before publication to be able to tell stories about how pop culture’s primal currents can become raging rivers, diverting global entertainment. This is not fictional speculation about a period of time 50 years from now; it is a hint of the trend of the world for the next month or year.

These are just a few stories that we think you’ll enjoy, but you should check them all out!

This week on YouTube | The Super Mario Bros. movies are notoriously bad – so bad that it kills hopes of any good video game adaptations in YEAR. Or … so they say. But if Super Mario Bros. really not that bad? Jenna Stoeber delves into the history of Super Mario Bros. film and get an answer as to why it is so deprecated. And why, just maybe, you should see it for yourself.

Six stories to read

Image: Marvel Studios

The future of the MCU lies in the people it has overlooked before: teenage girls | “The future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe lies in Disney’s ability to earn the allegiance of the most progressive and skeptical generation ever, and only a ‘safe’ new axis of diversity for Marvel Studios is about: women.”

TikTok and Instagram tags are changing the way people cook | Four chefs and cookbook authors on how tagging influences recipe development.

The MCU Broke Up With Natalie Portman, But Taika Waititi Got Her Back | Disney has released the first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder, and we get our first look at Natalie Portman as a superhero. This is how her character, Jane Foster, has her divine power.

A new wave of animators are ‘fighting the computer’ to make wilder, weirder movies | Director of Bad guy explains how animators combat “boring” CGI.

Moon Knight is finally happy | It takes a beat, but Moonlight Knight finding its groove. The MCU series is full of Tomb Raider in its best episode. But is the show ready to get weirder?

A great week for D&D | It’s been a big week for the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, which hosted its first Nintendo-style streaming event called D&D Direct on Thursday. Two favorite installations – Spelljammer and Dragonlance – are making a comeback. Cherry on top? Wizards of the Coast tapped the designers of Pandemic Legacy and HeroQuest to team up for a D&D themed board game.

Six things to see

Photo: Aidan Monaghan / Focus Features

Northerner In the theater | Boys! Gore galore! Here’s how they do the great “spear shot” in all the trailers.

The unbearable weight of mass talent In the theater | 2021 is going to be an even wilder year than usual for Nicolas Cage. He won’t let that stop him from trying even harder in 2022.

Small Maman In the theater | The sweetest, most delicate sci-fi movie in years.

Bad guys In the theater | A lively mashup of Zootopia, Muscled manand decades of crime movies.

We’re all going to the world’s fair In the theater | Creepypasta fans are finally getting the exact movie they need.

Marvelous and the Black Hole In the theater | We spoke with director Kate Tsang about her time Steven Universe: The Future and Adventure Time: Far Away announced her live-action debut.

More, everything new to stream: 16 funny movies! 16 great horror movies!

Three games to play

Image: GameTomo

Sumire | At Uppercut Crit, Monti Velez reviewed SumireA beautifully illustrated game of choice and grief. Available on Windows PC, iOS and Switch.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands | Many of us have reached the end of the Borderlands spin-off. Diving into the shooter, we discovered what makes it so interesting: It could easily become the fantasy of John Wick’s powers. Available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC.

Playdate | We previewed Playdate last summer and were pretty hooked on the novel handheld with a crank, although we wonder how the game will perform on the final model. Luckily, the one-of-a-kind Christian Donlan at Eurogamer wrote an excellent review to celebrate Playdate’s official release alongside a bundle of exclusive indie titles. At Polygon, be sure to read Ben Bertoli’s behind-the-scenes report on Playdate’s eight-year journey into reality. Available at Play.date.

Free game of the week

Image: Friction game

Amnesia: Reincarnation | The sequel to the hugely popular movie Amnesia: The Dark Descent was a bit lost on its October 2020 release. Blaming the hype about the new video game console’s launch or the series’ reputation is downright scary. Either way, the horror film hopes to find new fans with its free week on EGS. Available for free on the Epic Games Store until April 28, 2022.

The best of the rest

Image: Pixar