X-men's Gambit And Rogue Join The Battle Royale

X-Men's most star-crossed lovers, the card-slinging Gambit and the white-haired Rogue, have joined the Fortnite universe as the latest item shop skins. The pair are also joined by a bevy of new X-Men-themed cosmetics. It's a little late for Valentine's Day, but we don't mind when love (and explosive cards) are in the air.

Below, we've got a guide to all the cosmetics included with Gambit and Rogue and how to get them. Gambit's classic trenchcoat and facemask are on full display, but he's also got some classic X-Men trinkets to bring onto the battlefield.

    LeBeau's Bo Pickaxe: For the unfamiliar, Gambit's real name is Remy Etienne LeBeau, and one of his most iconic tools is his telescoping staff. Handy for dealing damage and the occasional dance number.
    Kinetic Cards back bling: Of course, it wouldn't be Gambit without exploding playing cards, and this fiery back bling lets you flaunt the mutant power without worrying about blowing yourself up.
    Suit Surfer glider: One of Fortnite's rare gliders that you can actually surf on, it's basically a giant fiery card.
    Deal 'Em Out emote (seen below)

For movie fans, Rogue might be one of the most familiar X-Men. Originally played by Anna Paquin in 2000's X-Men, Rogue's a bit of a tragic tale, what with her mutant power to sap the lifeforce and powers from anyone she meets. Fortunately, in the decades since her introduction, she's figured out how to manage her powers and make a physical connection with her husband Gambit. Now she's beating up dudes in Fortnite. Here's what's included with Rogue.

    Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters back bling: A big green X on your back might make you a bigger target, but at least you'll look cool while being shot at.
    Holo X-Axe: A new pickaxe that's one part energy sword and other part X-Men branding.
    Blackbird glider: Easily the star of the cosmetics show, you can finally swoop in on the X-Jet.
    Hands Off emote (seen above)

Gambit and Rogue should stay in the Fortnite item shop for a couple of days, but they've already been in there for a little while, so don't wait if you're absolutely dying to play as one of the superhero lovebirds.

You can buy Rogue and Gambit as a bundle for 2,100 V-bucks, but be warned that Epic has split up the cosmetics a bit unusually this time. If you want to get any of the pickaxes or gliders, you'll have to buy those separately or in a different bundle.

When you're done with the mutants, check out our Fortnite guides page for more info on the newest skins and challenge walkthroughs.

Breaking Down Spider-Man: No Way Home

Our latest look at Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is here, and Peter Parker’s got new mentors, new foes, and a whole new multiverse of mess to deal with in his latest superhero movie. Let’s break down the new trailer and see what secrets we can speculate about for our latest trip into the Spider-Verse. The trailer opens with a rain-soaked, bloodied Peter Parker (Tom Holland, although we hear other Peters Parker are available). “Ever since I got bit by that spider,” Peter says, as we cut back to the fallout of the climax of Far From Home J. Jonah Jameson (the returning J.K. Simmons) exposes Peter’s identity publicly “I’ve only had one week where my life was normal.” “That was when you found out,” Peter continues, as we see that this conversation is part of a phone call with MJ (Zendaya) previously seen in the first trailer, where she asked him if it was better the world knew he was Spider-Man.

But, Pete, man: that week you had to fight your replacement father figure and stop London being blown up by killer drones with guns? How was that normal? Anyway, a few more shots of Peter and MJ’s swing around NYC later, we fade back into new material of Peter visiting the Sanctum Sanctorum. But this time we get to see the fallout of the meeting with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) we saw in the last trailer. For a man that was very excited to do some dangerous memory-altering magic, he’s very quick to blame a teenager for a magical whoopsie. “When you botched that spell where you wanted everyone to forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, we started getting some visitors,” Strange chides, as we once again see the fallout of the spell seen in the first trailer. What kind of visitors? Well, bad ones, mostly the kind who don’t bring a housewarming gift when they step into a new reality unless it’s an incendiary device. Case in point: another extended glimpse of a shot from the last trailer, of one of the Green Goblin’s (another returning face, Willem Dafoe, but as we’ll see later... there could be more) pumpkin bombs rolling along the highway we previously saw Peter fighting another old foe on. “From every universe,” Strange emphasizes. As long as that universe is contractually obligated by deals between Sony Pictures and Marvel studios, that is. We cut to a nighttime battle, as Peter flips away from a bolt of lightning churning up the earth. This is, of course, returning villain Electro (played by The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Jamie Foxx), but it should also be noted that Peter (presumably) is in a new suit as well. Primarily black with gold webbing, previous merchandise for the movie named this suit simply as the “Black and Gold” suit and as we’ll see a bit later in the trailer, it appears to have been in part a gift from Doctor Strange.

Doctor Strange 2 Writer Talks Post-Endgame Thrills

Back in 2018, news broke that Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson was to stay aboard for Marvel Studios’ planned sequel to its 2016 blockbuster, with Benedict Cumberbatch also reprising his role as the Sorcerer Supreme. Entitled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the project was touted as the MCU’s first horror movie, which seemed about right because Derrickson had originally come into the fold with a background in genre filmmaking. He’d already helmed the likes of Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, so he could likely balance the craft of unsettling audiences whilst maintaining a firm grasp on the Master of the Mystic Arts’ ongoing evolution. Except it didn’t work out. Derrickson left the sequel in January, 2020 citing “creative differences” along with his writing partner C. Robert Cargill. A month later, Loki scribe Michael Waldron was brought in to write on the film, and he was also hand-picked to work on Kevin Feige’s upcoming Star Wars film around the same time. The sequence of events has given franchise fans the impression that Waldron has absolutely killed it behind the scenes very quickly, and this has been explored in a new interview with Vanity Fair where Waldron has opened up about how he tackled Doctor Strange 2 with Derrickson’s replacement, Sam Raimi. “I got to spend my 2020 on Zooms with Sam Raimi. Not too bad,” recalled Waldron, who had to keep one hand “on the wheel of Loki” simultaneously while exploring the cultural landscape outside of Marvel Comics for inspiration when writing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

“I gravitated toward [travel documentarian and chef] Anthony Bourdain,” he explained. “Strange is an elitist as a neurosurgeon and a sorcerer. Anthony Bourdain was a man of the people, but there was that intense intellect. You always felt like he could eviscerate anybody with his words at any time. But yet, Anthony Bourdain never really punched down. That was the first ingredient in the stew for Doctor Strange.” Waldron posits that Strange and Bourdain, who died in 2018, may have also reached similar crossroads in their lives. “Anthony Bourdain had been everywhere, seen everything,” he said. “What surprises you at this point? I think for all of the heroes in the MCU, in a post-Endgame world, how do you rally yourself to fight the stand-alone movie villains after you fought Thanos?” The Rick & Morty writer also seemed to back Kevin Feige’s hopes that Doctor Strange 2 would end up with an Indiana Jones vibe. “[Strange is] Indiana Jones in a cloak to me. He’s a hero who can take a punch. That’s what made those Harrison Ford heroes so great. Those guys get their asses kicked. Look at Stephen Strange in the first movie. He’s really getting beat up but he’s very capable and everything.” As you’re probably aware by now, Marvel tends to only reveal secrets about its upcoming films on its own terms, but Waldron was ready with some hype. “I can tell you that it’s a ride…very Sam Raimi. The film is incredibly visually thrilling. John Mathieson, our D.P., who shot Gladiator and Logan—I think the look of it is going to be unlike anything you’ve seen in the MCU before.” Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released on March 25, 2022.

Marvel’s Loki TV Series and MCU Timeline Explained

This article contains Marvel Cinematic Universe spoilers. It’s been well over two years since the events of Avengers: Endgame, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting exactly what went down during the climax of the Infinity Saga and some of the entries that led to it. There were plenty of Easter eggs and nods to other parts of the MCU in both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame – some of them edging on “blink and you’ll miss it” territory as Marvel Studios sought to wrap up a decade and change of storytelling. Ahead of Loki’s release on Disney+ we’ve been revisiting the God of Mischief’s journey to the small screen and pondering all the reasons that this new TV version of Loki will be different to the one we now know and love, despite our better judgement. In many ways this is a tale of two Lokis: the one we’ve already seen evolve – albeit gradually – throughout the Thor trilogy and the Avengers films, and the one we’re about to see reckon with a new fate in Loki thanks to an accidental temporal intervention. First, let’s take stock of all the ways both of these Lokis are the same. Prime Loki When we first met Loki (the excessively charismatic Tom Hiddleston) in Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 franchise-starter Thor, he was a sly and manipulative prince but still loyal to the realm of Asgard. As he prepared to witness his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) become king and take over from their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Loki decided to throw a spanner in the works by arranging a visit from the Frost Giants – a race beaten by Odin and left in ruins in the realm of Jotunheim long ago – in the middle of Thor’s coronation. Though Loki initially sabotaged Thor’s big day as a lark, he unwittingly started a chain of events that would lead to a devastating personal discovery: that he himself was a Frost Giant, rescued as a baby from the Jotunheim battlefield by Odin in the hope that he would forge peace between the two realms one day. Loki, who always felt like Odin’s least favored son, was overwhelmed by the trauma of what he retrospectively viewed as a life filled with lies and betrayal, so when Thor was banished to Earth for kickstarting yet another battle with the Frost Giants Loki saw an opportunity to take the throne of Asgard as Odin fell into a deep sleep. It didn’t go as well as he hoped. For a while he was able to rule Asgard, but when the Warriors Three and Sif travelled to Earth against Loki’s wishes to retrieve Thor, things fell apart. Loki intervened and attacked Thor and the gang to prevent them from destabilizing his newfound power, but Thor stopped him and returned to Asgard. The two brothers fought and Odin woke from his slumber. Odin’s obvious dismay at his son’s actions left Loki bereft. He let himself fall from the broken Bifrost Bridge into a wormhole in space rather than make amends for what he’d done or accept any punishment that might be forthcoming. Thor assumed Loki died that day, but Loki was very much alive. On the other side of that wormhole was Sanctuary, an asteroid field inhabited by a violent race called the Chitauri. Also installed on Sanctuary was The Other, Thanos’ personal servant, who gave Loki both a powerful Scepter that contained the Mind Stone and command over the Chitauri army to invade Earth. In exchange, Loki was to snatch the Tesseract – a cosmic cube housing the Space Stone – and bring it back to Thanos. Fearing Thanos’ retribution and feeling he had no choice but to comply, Loki travelled to Earth in 2012’s The Avengers via the wormhole-opening Tesseract and took the cube from SHIELD, eventually opening a larger wormhole over New York and beginning the Chitauri invasion. Ultimately beaten by the Avengers in the Battle of New York, Loki was set to be brought back to Asgard as a prisoner along with the Tesseract and condemned to a cell in the dungeons. This brings us to a fork in Loki’s road and the MCU timeline itself. Dead Loki: Infinity War Timeline Post Avengers, Loki languished in the Asgardian Dungeons until his mother Frigga (Rene Russo) was killed by the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World. Released by Thor, the duo attempted to defeat the Dark Elves’ leader. Naturally, Loki faked his own death during the fight, hopped back to Asgard, and ousted Odin. He then ruled over Asgard for years in Odin’s guise. Thor eventually discovered Loki’s deception upon his return to Asgard following the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The two embarked on a journey to Earth to find the real Odin, who revealed they had an older sister called Hela (Cate Blanchett) who would try to lead Asgard into war against the Nine Realms. Odin suddenly popped his clogs, leaving a confused Thor and Loki to face Hela. They were no match for her, and both ended up stranded on the artificial trash planet Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok until Loki reluctantly joined forces with Thor, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to try and take Hela out of the equation. They were able to do this by summoning the fire demon Surtur, beginning the all-cleansing process of Ragnarök. This course of action came at a terrible price: the complete destruction of Asgard, during which Loki once again stole the Tesseract while no one was looking. As promised in The Avengers, Thanos came looking for the Tesseract during Infinity War after Loki failed to deliver it to him. The surviving Asgardians were attacked by Thanos aboard their escape ship the Statesman and half of them were killed. A showdown with Thanos left Hulk unconscious and Thor trapped by the Black Order. In a moment of unexpected redemption Loki tried to deceive Thanos by offering up the Tesseract, and made a failed attempt on the Mad Titan’s life. Thanos killed Loki for his insolence by snapping his neck. Variant Loki: TV Series Timeline With Loki dead, half the universe snapped out of existence, and Asgard reduced to a tiny population on Earth, Thor fell into a deep depression during Avengers: Endgame. But there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon when the team put together a plan to go back in time and retrieve the Infinity Stones, reversing Thanos’ snap. This “time heist” placed Tony Stark, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner, and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) back at The Avengers’ Battle of New York in 2012, and their plan to grab the stones went smoothly at first. Steve acquired the Mind Stone in the form of Loki’s Scepter and Bruce convinced The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) to hand over the Time Stone, while Tony and Scott hit Stark Tower to lift the Tesseract. Unfortunately, Tony forgot that he made the Hulk take the stairs instead of the elevator when the Avengers originally accompanied an imprisoned Loki down to the lobby. As Hulk smashed through the lobby door he sent Tony and the Tesseract flying. Loki saw an opportunity and didn’t hesitate: he picked up the Tesseract and jumped through a wormhole.

This is the version of Loki we join as the character’s Marvel spinoff series gets underway. Not the Loki who saw the fall of Asgard and perhaps got to make amends for some of his previous crimes by supporting Thor in the aftermath, but the Loki who just led a deadly invasion of Earth. “With Loki taking the Tesseract, fans will see exactly what that action means and what a bigger ripple he’s made in time doing that,” Loki director Kate Herron explained. “It causes him to be more reflective about his actions and why he’s done what he’s done.” Responsible for many human deaths – including Agent Phil Coulson on a SHIELD helicarrier before the Battle of New York had even begun – this Loki is still full of rage following the exposure of Odin’s lies about his origin. He is, by all accounts, a total butthole. Thanks to marketing materials for the upcoming series we already know that following his Battle of New York escape Loki will be apprehended by the Time Variance Authority – a bureaucratic organization which monitors the state of the MCU’s timeline. It’s unclear if the show will fully redeem the God of Mischief from a post-Battle of New York state of trauma and vindictiveness, but the show has apparently found a different way to do so than we’ve already witnessed, which is a good thing – as charming as Tom Hiddleston absolutely is, we need to see Loki nudged further away from 2012-era villain territory for all this to work long term. Loki writer Michael Waldron has described the show as a “struggle with identity, who you are” and “who you want to be” so it’s definitely a possibility that Loki will become a better version of himself than we’ve ever seen before. “Loki is a character that’s always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be,” Waldron explained. The TVA will recruit the God of Mischief to help clean up the temporal mess he made when he grabbed the Tesseract and skedaddled – it seems The Ancient One was quite right when she said that any major disruption to the flow of time would create branch timelines where things have gone badly wrong. Could Loki really become a valued TVA asset, righting wrongs and setting things straight? Maybe, but as we know, Loki is gonna Loki, and he probably won’t enjoy being told what to do by anyone. “I love this idea [of] Loki’s chaotic energy somehow being something we need,” Hiddleston told EW. “Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don’t know whether you can trust him. You don’t know whether he’s going to betray you. You don’t why he’s doing what he’s doing. If he’s shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it.” Hiddleston added “[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he’s completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out.” Perhaps if Loki actually met Loki he’d have a fresh perspective on whether anger and spite are worth clinging on to? Lokis All the Way Down Even as the show intends to explore Loki’s struggle with his own identity, it seems set to introduce other Lokis from different timelines and realities, which leaves the storytelling door very much open. Not just in terms of new angles on previous MCU tales and major cameos, but to inspiration from the pages of Marvel Comics as well. “Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular,” confirmed Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige. The comics are certainly ripe with possibilities. There’s Kid Loki – a vessel for the trickster reborn after he manipulated Hela into taking his name out of the Book of Hel. Then there’s Old Loki – a real bastard who makes the current Loki seem like a Care Bear in comparison. Loki even found himself inside a body intended for Lady Sif at one stage, becoming Lady Loki (later incorporated into Loki’s fairly casual gender fluidity). Loki: Agent of Asgard Interestingly, Waldron has also said that the show will explore whether Loki could ever make a friend, which is the focus of Al Ewing’s 2014 Agent of Asgard run. In these comics, Loki meets a woman called Verity Willis who can see through any lie, making her the perfect person for Loki to have an open and honest friendship with. It was around this time that the Loki of Marvel Comics also had an epiphany: that a lie is just a story and a story can be rewritten. This allowed him to turn over a new leaf, redefining his character from the God of Lies to the God of Stories. Thinking back to Hiddleston’s first official comment when Loki was announced, this could be just one way that Marvel has approached further seasons of the show and Loki’s continuing journey through time and space. “Loki,” Hiddleston wrote. “More stories to tell. More mischief to make. More to come.” Marvel’s Loki will be streaming on Disney+ from June 9.

Will Loki Meet Other Lokis in Loki?

What’s cooler than one Loki? Like…a bunch of Lokis. Or at least that’s what Marvel fans think. Loki, the next MCU Disney+ effort, isn’t set to premiere for another week, but many online observers can’t help but entertain the possibilities that the show’s time traveling plot represents. In the comics, there are many iterations of the God of Mischief, from the traditional adult Asgardian version to Kid Loki, Lady Loki, and more. Since the MCU’s version of the character (played by Tom Hiddleston) is now in the clutches of the Time Variance Authority, what’s stopping him from meeting other versions of himself? Only a writer’s imagination, really. Thankfully, in a new interview with Vanity Fair, Loki head writer Michael Waldron intimates that his imagination is more than up to that task. In speaking abstractly about the possibilities that time travel stories present, Waldron harkens back to a classic of the genre, saying:

“You can literally hold up a mirror to your characters. Perhaps they can encounter other versions of themselves at different points in their lives. In the case of Back to the Future’s Marty McFly, he can encounter versions of his parents and then he understands himself better.” While Back to the Future is the consummate time travel movie, Waldron needn’t have remembered back that far. Marvel’s own Avengers: Endgame features characters both meeting their parents (Tony Stark meeting father Howard in the ‘60s) and themselves (Steve Rogers kicking his own perfect ass in 2012). When pressed as to whether Loki meeting himself could be similarly literalized, Waldron told Vanity Fair: “It certainly could. What being is more chaotic than Loki? What do you have to learn from any version of yourself?” The piece goes on to clarify that Marvel is steadfastly refusing to answer whether other versions of Loki will pop up in the Disney+ series, as is their right since that would be a fairly fun surprise. But it does still seem pretty clear that that’s a viable and exciting direction for the story to go in. The show has a dynamic character in Loki, an endlessly charming actor to play him in Tom Hiddleston, and the storytelling mechanics to produce more of him. It would be malpractice not to. Fans online have also noted that actor Richard E. Grant does not currently have a character confirmed for Loki. Not only that, but he just also happens to resemble an older version of Tom Hiddleston. Curious indeed… It also must be noted that Loki is set to feature an alternate version of Loki to begin with. The Loki that survived through the events of Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War is dead. This version is straight from 2012’s Avengers and has not gone through the same character arc as his primary timeline partner. Loki will already present us with a new Loki of sorts. What’s a few more?

Marvel’s Loki Charms Cereal is Real…Here’s How You Can Get Some

It almost writes itself, doesn’t it? General Mills’ Lucky Charms cereal has always been known for its green-clad mascot, a mischievous fellow who is always determined to keep the “magically delicious” cereal of pink hearts, yellow stars, purple horseshoes, green clovers, blue moons, red balloons, unicorns, and rainbows away from whichever meddling animated brats are hoping to get enough sugar for breakfast to power a medium-sized city. So why wouldn’t another green-clad mischief maker, whose name just so happens to line up almost exactly with the beloved breakfast cereal be able to slip right into his place and get some delicious, Saturday-morning breakfast for himself, right?

That’s where Loki Charms becomes a reality. General Mills will produce a limited supply of 3,500 boxes of Loki Charms cereal, and they’ll be available exclusively on MischievouslyDelicious.com for $8 a box (including shipping) beginning at 11 am EDT on June 9. Hey, what a coincidence, that’s the same day that Marvel’s Loki TV series with Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson premieres on Disney+. And you know what ELSE premieres that day? The first episode of Marvel Standom, the new weekly Den of Geek talk show where we’ll be breaking down all the secrets and weirdness of Loki.

What do these two things have to do with each other? Reader, I’m glad you asked! Do you want to get yourself a delicious box of Loki Charms so that you can enjoy its sugary delights while watching the new series, or maybe some old Marvel cartoons? And do you want it absolutely FREE? Subscribe to our YouTube page and we’ll announce details of how to enter to win a box of Loki Charms during our first episode of Marvel Standom. More details on the contest as well as winners will be announced in subsequent episodes. And just to complete the picture, there’s even an appropriate animated commercial, which depicts some kind of mysterious disruption in reality in which Lucky the Leprechaun disappears and is replaced by Loki himself. Wait…are the marshmallows in this cereal basically Infinity Stones for leprechauns? This opens up an entire host of questions that I’m not sure any of us are truly ready for Sing it with us (because we know you all know the jingle): “Frosted Loki Charms, they’re mischievously delicious!” Want the inside scoop on all things Marvel’s Loki? Subscribe here for our weekly post-show!

And here’s a look at the box. They really went all in for this…

Marvel's Avengers Reveals New Thor Skin

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix's have revealed a new Marvel's Avengers Thor skin, offering up a brand new look at the hero who will be playable this September via the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia alongside Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Hulk, and Black Widow. More specifically, the game's official Twitter account shared a new image of the game featuring Thor in his casual outfit, which apparently every hero will have.

As you can see in the image below, while Thor still wields his mighty hammer, the skin transforms from the superhero into your run-of-the-mill, super-jacked Scandinavian. Meanwhile, the screenshot also shows off some robotic looking enemies, who are presumably some type of AIM henchmen, plus a big machine that looks like it could be a level boss.

Unfortunately, this is all the Twitter account revealed, though it did take the opportunity to once again remind fans that a new slab of the game will be revealed on June 24.

Marvel's Avengers is set to release worldwide on September 4, 2020, and it will be available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia at launch. At the moment of publishing, there's been no word of a Nintendo Switch port, or PS5 and Xbox Series X ports.

"Marvel’s Avengers begins at A-Day, where Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor are unveiling a hi-tech Avengers Headquarters in San Francisco — including the reveal of their own helicarrier powered by an experimental energy source," reads an official description of the game. "The celebration turns deadly when a catastrophic accident results in massive devastation. Blamed for the tragedy, the Avengers disband. Five years later, with all Super Heroes outlawed and the world in peril, the only hope is to reassemble Earth’s Mightiest Heroes."