“All the vials were empty of liquid save one, which was nearly depleted. Kylo peered closer. He’d seen this apparatus before, too, when he’d studied the Clone Wars as a boy. The liquid flowing into the living nightmare before him was fighting a losing battle to sustain the Emperor’s putrid flesh.”
“What could you give me?” Kylo asked. Emperor Palpatine lived, after a fashion, and Kylo could feel in his very bones that this clone body sheltered the Emperor’s actual spirit. It was an imperfect vessel, though, unable to contain his immense power. It couldn’t last much longer.”
It would appear that Palpatine’s spirit, his essence, was now housed in a clone body – one that wasn’t strong enough to maintain the Emperor’s power. It isn’t clear, however, if the galaxy’s most dominant Sith Lord had gone through many clone bodies over the decades, using them until they basically disintegrated completely, or if he’d just resided in this single one – and was just now losing control of it.
This clone method of brining Palpatine back is similar to how 1991’s Star Wars: Dark Empire comic series had him return.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Marvel Comics is already home to many of the most iconic superhero characters in the world, and they’re about to add another huge name to their ranks. Marvel has revealed a new ongoing series featuring Japanese hero Ultraman to debut later in 2020.
As revealed at the Marvel Comics: Next Big Thing panel at C2E2, the new Ultraman series is titled The Rise of Ultraman and will be co-written by Kyle Higgins (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) and Mat Groom (Self/Made), with art by Francesco Manna (The Avengers). The comic appears to be a full reboot of the Ultra Series, one aimed at introducing a new generation of Western readers to Ultraman and the Japanese Tokusatsu genre, as well as exploring how the character’s heroic ideals hold up in the uncertain world of 2020.
(Image Credit: Marvel Comics)
“A few years ago, thanks to my time on Power Rangers, I was able to discover and learn more about Tokusatsu. With its wildly different conventions and inspirations, Tokusatsu — and Ultraman in particular — has been a huge source of joy for me,” said Higgins in Marvel’s press release. “It’s a genre so ripe with possibilities, even down to what we conceive of in the structure of super hero storytelling. It’s both an honor and a privilege to bring Ultraman to Marvel.”
“Monsters in fiction have been embodying all that is dark and scary in our world for as long as we’ve been telling stories. But I don’t think anybody understood the immense scale of our most pressing problems quite like [Ultra Series creator] Eiji Tsuburaya,” teased Groom. “He imagined the darkness looming overhead as tall as skyscrapers— alien and unknowable and ANGRY. But he also imagined us being able to stand up to those monsters, by rising above our worst impulses and embracing a nobler way of being. He imagined ULTRAMAN. What does that mean in this complex, contradictory world of lies? We’re going to find out…”
Marvel hasn’t yet revealed a release date for The Rise of Ultraman #1, but they are teasing more announcements in the near future. Let us know if you’re excited for this Ultraman re-imagining in the comments below.
Sure, PAX East 2020 is loaded with video games, but the convention is also a chance for cosplayers to flex their creative muscles and parade around as some of their favorite characters from video games, tabletop gaming, and even children’s TV shows. Here are the best costumes we saw during the show on Saturday, from tabletop classics like Warhammer 40K to much-anticipated Nintendo Switch exclusives like Animal Cross: New Horizons.
A prototype of the lost “Ark of the Covenant” from the first Indiana Jones film recently found itself on an episode of PBS’ long-running Antiques Roadshow, evidently escaping from its former confines in a secret government warehouse. The prop was professionally valued at anywhere from $80,000 to $250,000.
Image Credit: PBS’ Antiques Roadshow
An unnamed man brought the Ark prop to the Antiques Roadshow, saying it previously belonged to his father, who he said was an employee for VFX studio Industrial Light & Magic, working on Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and even Star Trek. The owner said his father worked for ILM as a pyrotechnician.
The owner said his family stored blankets inside, though he did enjoy getting to tell friends he owned the Ark.
Appraiser James Supp rightly notes that the man’s version of the Ark is different from what audiences saw in the final version of Indiana Jones.
“I know that this was a prototype used to size the pyro,” the owner said. “I know that the Ark that they used was significantly smaller, the details are different. This is one of the prototypes, maybe the first prototype for pyro [effects].”
The infamous Ark of the Covenant was the magical item/MacGuffin that spurred Indiana Jones and his friends to adventure across Egypt, Nepal, and the Aegean Sea. Fabled to house the Ten Commandments, Nazi forces pursue the Ark in the film, believing it could grant them invincibility. Ultimately, the legends turn out to have a dark twist, with the angels of death emerging from the Ark to explode, liquefy, and generally murder every single Nazi in the vicinity.
Supp points out that the prototype is definitely cobbled together from various junk and crafts you might find at any prop studio. The two winged angels on the top are made from trophies, the lid is made from a picture frame, and the seemingly ornate “carvings” on the side are just squiggles from a hot glue gun painted gold.
“That original prop is somewhere in the LucasFilm archives at Skywalker Ranch,” Supp said. “People who want to replicate props have scoured every scene to copy all the little details on it. This is the closest anybody in the private market can get to owning the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Supp said that while his conservative estimate would put the Ark prop between $80,000 to $120,000, he admits he could see the prop earning a price tag “in the quarter-million-dollar range.”
If hearing all this news about a famous Indiana Jones prop has you excited for more adventures, you won’t have to wait too long. Indiana Jones 5 is currently in development. Here’s everything we know about Indiana Jones 5, including director options, cast and crew, release date, and more. Last we heard from Harrison Ford (who will be returning in his iconic role as Indy), filming begins shooting in April, although a recent director change may have shifted that.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/golden idol for IGN.
