Apes, Capes, and Banned Blueys Defined Our Week in Pop Culture News

May the 4th be with you! But if you’d like to read some things that aren’t about Star Wars this Star Wars Day, our most-read stories of the week have you covered, from Captain America merchandise to critical reflections (and not quite so critical ones) behind the scenes of Marvel, our continued look back at the Planet of the Apes revival, and so much more. Check it out! —James Whitbrook

Since time immemorial, the machine of movie merchandising has revealed plot details—or at the very least got people to wildly and often incorrectly speculate about them—well before a movie’s release. So it’s perhaps fitting then, that the most we’ve seen of Captain America: Brave New World so far is not in a trailer, or a carefully curated press reveal, but a fast food tie-in nearly a year before release. - James Whitbrook Read More

Even as Marvel Studios finds success on the small screen right now with X-Men ‘97 lighting fans up every week on Disney+, it’s not undiplomatic to say at this point that its star has faded a touch when it comes to its big screen tentpole releases. Is it the output itself, lacking a strong coherent thread compared to the Infinity Saga? Is it there just being so much of it now, between film and TV, that it feels like homework just to make sense of one story to the next? Is it the spectre of “superhero fatigue” made real? - James Whitbrook Read More

Director Matt Reeves was not messing around when he made Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He wipes out most of the human race before the title card, then unfurls a powerful story of two opposing societies destined for war despite having every possible opportunity at peace. It’s bleak. It’s bold. It’s bloody fantastic. - Germain Lussier Read More

May has a little bit of everything for genre fans spread across its dozens of new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror book releases: space operas, doomsday cults, apocalyptic mysteries, fantastical romances, haunted mansions, dimensionally displaced vampires, badass wasteland motorcycle couriers, and more! - Cheryl Eddy Read More

Absurd as it is as there’s anyone to particularly take “blame” for a popcorn superhero blockbuster that raked in $761 million during its theatrical run—few studios would see that, critical drubbing or otherwise, as something to find blame in—Chris Hemsworth seemingly cannot help but take on a lot of the audience reaction to Marvel’s last Thor movie, Love and Thunder. - James Whitbrook Read More

A Bluey episode originally released in 2020 everywhere except the United States finally gets the green light to be seen—with a catch: it’s only online (for now). - Sabina Graves Read More

Chucky star and scream queen Jennifer Tilly talks to io9 about the killer dolls’ relationship. Chucky airs on USA and SYFY, and also streams on Peacock.

Scream Queen Jennifer Tilly chats with io9 about collaborating with Chucky creator Don Mancini. Chucky airs on USA Network and SYFY Wednesdays at 10pm EST.