NEO: The World Ends With You is set to release July 27 for Nintendo Switch and PS4. It will also arrive on PC via the Epic Games Store at some point this summer. You can preorder the game now--and it's even on sale for $49.94 atGameStop.
A sequel to the Nintendo DS original from 2007, this new installment stars a new cast of high schoolers who run amok in Shibuya and are forced to compete in the "Reapers' Game." Sounds spooky. Read on for more preorder info.
Preorder NEO: The World Ends With You at the PlayStation Store, and you'll receive a free avatar set. You'll also get the Legendary Threads Set, which is described like this: "This gear set contains five equippable items once used by the legendary Neku. These items are normally unavailable until you proceed considerably far in the story, so they will give you a leg up in the early days of the Game, and provide you with powerful unlockable abilities that will serve you well until the very end!"
NEO: The World Ends With You is a full-on sequel to the 2007 original, a well-received JRPG that debuted on the Nintendo DS and has since been released on mobile and as an enhanced port for Nintendo Switch.
This new game follows Rindo, a high schooler who gets caught up in the mysterious "Reapers' Game," a life-and-death battle you're forced to play. Rindo is joined by new characters Fret and Nagi, as well as Minamimoto, who appeared in the original game. This group of heroes is known collectively as the Wicked Twisters. They'll have to face off against numerous rival teams in "a week-long battle for your lives!"
As you play, you collect "threads" which are not only fashionable, but also impart stat boosts to your characters. You also collect pins that let you unleash "psych" abilities in battle. You control multiple party members at once, but each one can only equip one pin. Your job is to press buttons to deploy psychs in order to defeat your enemies. Over 300 pins are available to find, so you can mix and match to create effective combos.
This installment represents the first time the series has come to PlayStation.
Loki Season 1 did what its predecessors WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier avoided, serving up the big reveal that comics fans had basically been expecting -- and that the show had been hinting at throughout its six episodes: Jonathan Majors made his MCU debut as classic Marvel time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror, or at least a Variant of the character known as He Who Remains.
The series also ended this first season by shattering the "Sacred Timeline," which sets up the upcoming events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and probably a bunch of other Marvel projects as well.
[caption]Kang from the comics, and a very Kang-ish version of He Who Remains from Loki.[/caption]
If you're not familiar with Kang or why he has the potential to be the next Thanos-level threat to the MCU, we're here to shed light on this powerful villain and also explain the finale of Loki. These are the topics we'll be covering here:
Loki Season Finale Explained
Who Is He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror?
Kang's Origin
Kang's Powers and Abilities
Kang's Many Identities
Kang and the Young Avengers
Kang the Conqueror Actor Jonathan Majors and Marvel Universe Connections
In the Season 1 finale of Loki, Loki and Sylvie finally make it to the end of time (should that be capitalized?) to confront the mysterious figure behind the TVA. No, not the Time Keepers, who we learned a couple of episodes back were fakes, but the actual figure who has been overseeing the pruning of the Sacred Timeline: He Who Remains.
Majors plays the character as a fun figure, one who perhaps has gone a little bonkers living forever at the end of all time, knowing everything that is going to happen.
Well, to a point. As the episode proceeds, He Who Remains explains his backstory, but also that they are now reaching a moment in the timeline where he will no longer know how things are going to play out -- a juncture that will finally free him of the self-imposed prison he has been living in as master of the timeline. And it's up to Sylvie and Loki to decide what comes next.
But first, about that backstory: He Who Remains explains that it all began with a Variant of himself, a scientist from the 31st century, who discovered that other timelines/realities exist. At first things were friendly as other versions, or Variants of this scientist, began to meet up across different timelines. But then some Variants turned to conquering, and the Multiverse War we learned about in Episode 1 began. In the end, He Who Remains... well, remained. As the winner of the war, he created the TVA to keep other timelines from coming into existence in order to avoid another multiversal conflict.
[caption]The last words of He Who Remains: "I'll see you soon."[/caption]
And so now He Who Remains wants out, and Loki and Sylvie have a choice: Become the new masters of the Sacred Timeline, or kill He Who Remains, which will bring about the multiverse once again and, inevitably, the return of an untold number of He Who Remains/Kangs who will wind up re-starting the war. Loki wants to take over, if only to avoid the inevitable conflict that will result from killing He Who Remains. But Sylvie wants to kill He Who Remains, choosing the chaos of a multiverse -- and free will -- over all else. After fighting Loki, she kisses him -- and then pushes him back through time to the TVA before stabbing He Who Remains, who doesn't even fight back. We last see Sylvie at the end of time, contemplating her decision as the timeline splinters into an infinite amount of variations -- a multiverse.
The finale ends with Loki landing back at the TVA, but he soon realizes that it's a TVA from a different timeline, because Mobius and Hunter B-15 have no idea who he is. And then he sees it -- a statue of He Who Remains, who now looks a lot like Kang from the comics. Is Kang the Conqueror now the master of time (and the TVA)? We'll surely find out in Season 2, which was revealed in post-credits tease that simply shows TVA paperwork being stamped with the words "Loki will return for Season 2."
Who Is He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror?
It's not easy recapping the convoluted history of Kang the Conqueror. He's a villain who's gone by many names and many different motivations in his countless clashes with the Avengers and Fantastic Four. But through it all the basics have stayed the same. Kang is a man who sees himself as the rightful master of the world. Using the power of time travel and the most sophisticated weaponry his future world has to offer, Kang has repeatedly sought to rewrite history to his own whims and ensure his own rise to power.
Kang's love of time travel is exactly what makes him such a dangerous and seemingly never-ending thorn in humanity's side. No matter how often he's defeated, banished or even destroyed utterly, some version of him is always out there, waiting and plotting. In the Loki Season 1 finale, He Who Remains is clearly a Kang Variant, but apparently a more benevolent one than the Kang (or Kangs) we'll likely get moving forward in the MCU.
While the first appearance of Kang the Conqueror is featured in 1964's The Avengers #8, the character technically debuted a year earlier in Fantastic Four #19. We'll try to summarize Kang's confusing origin story as simply as possible.
Kang's real name is Nathaniel Richards. Originally a historical scholar from the 31st century (and possibly a distant descendant of either Reed Richards or Victor von Doom), Nathaniel discovers Doctor Doom's ancient time travel tech and uses it to travel back to the era of ancient Egypt. Crowning himself "Rama-Tut," he lords over his new subjects and uses his futuristic tech to make himself seem like a god. That is, until the Fantastic Four show up to end his reign.
After escaping to the 20th century, Rama-Tut meets Doctor Doom and uses Doom's distinctive armor as inspiration for his next supervillain identity, the Scarlet Centurion. However, he's again defeated by Earth's heroes and attempts to return to his own timeline.
This is where Kang the Conqueror is born. Richards accidentally travels forward too far in time, arriving in an era when human civilization has collapsed. As the only person left who understands the advanced but forgotten technology of the 40th century, the newly minted Kang is able to quickly conquer his new timeline and even extend his new empire beyond Earth's borders. Not content to be ruler of a futuristic empire, Kang begins a recurring game of toying with time and attempting to rewrite history to suit his own whims.
Kang's Powers and Abilities
As an ordinary human from the 31st century, Kang has no innate superhuman powers. However, he's a gifted physicist and historian, using his knowledge of science and history to manipulate the timeline and accumulate power. His distinctive green and purple suit of armor (inspired by Doom's own armor) both enhances Kang's strength and allows him to survive in whatever inhospitable environments he may find. Kang has a time-ship that allows him to freely travel through the time-stream, and he's also assembled a vast army comprised of the best warriors from throughout history.
Kang also sometimes wields a ray gun that can sap a person's strength and willpower, along with various doomsday weapons only a 40th century tyrant could dream of.
Kang also seems to be functionally immortal. Because he's so fond of abusing the timeline for his own selfish ends, there are countless variations of Nathaniel Richards in existence. No matter how many times Kang is defeated, there's always another incarnation of the Conqueror ready to continue his crusade.
Kang is every bit as convoluted a character as one would expect from a man whose favorite hobby is manipulating time. But part of what makes Kang such a confusing character is that he's had so many different names and identities over the years. It doesn't help that these various characters weren't all originally conceived as being the same person, so a lot of these connections have been forged after the fact. If you're familiar with the comic book storytelling term "retcon," Kang is basically its living embodiment.
As we've already covered, Nathaniel Richards uses names like Rama-Tut and the Scarlet Centurion early on in his career as a time-travelling tyrant. But taking up the mantle of Kang isn't his last identity shake-up.
At some point in his long life, Kang gives up his name and his empire to instead forge an alliance with an advanced alien race known as the Time-Keepers. In exchange for true immortality, Kang agrees to preserve the timeline and ensure the Time-Keepers' rise to power. At that point he becomes Immortus. Ironically, his younger selves are responsible for much of the damage Immortus is tasked with undoing.
Kang has held other cover identities while masquerading as a 21st century human, including a small-town mayor named Victor Timely and a business tycoon named Mr. Gryphon.
If all this isn't complicated enough, thanks to time travel these various incarnations of Kang basically coexist alongside each other and sometimes collude or wage war against one another. There's even an entire team of Kangs known as the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. Picture the Citadel of Ricks in Rick and Morty, but with less alcohol and self-loathing.
[caption] The many versions of Kang the Conqueror.[/caption]
Kang and the Young Avengers
There's another notable incarnation of Kang who may well factor into the MCU at some point. The 2005 series Young Avengers introduces a team of teen heroes modeled after classic Avengers but with very different backgrounds and origin stories. The team's founder, Iron Lad, isn't a descendant of Tony Stark, but is actually a teen version of Nathaniel Richards from a splinter timeline. Kang attempted to travel back in time and rescue his younger self from a group of bullies who had left him hospitalized for months. Kang saves himself and gives the young Nathaniel an advanced suit of armor in the hope of hurrying along his transformation from ordinary man to Kang. But instead, young Nathaniel is horrified by his older self and travels back in time to form a new team of Avengers.
Ultimately, this version of Kang is killed and Iron Lad is forced to wipe his own memories and return to the future, restoring the proper timeline. But he leaves behind a copy of his consciousness inside his armor, which fuses with the broken remnants of Vision to form a new version of that iconic Avenger.
Kang the Conqueror Actor Jonathan Majors and Marvel Universe Connections
We know Jonathan Majors will be back as Kang in Ant-Man 3, but Kang's love of time travel and perpetual habit of returning to threaten the Avengers all over again make him perfectly suited to become a recurring antagonist across the MCU. It doesn't hurt that he has deep connections to so many different Marvel characters and teams. Will he also play some kind of a role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or the reportedly multiverse-focused Spider-Man: No Way Home? Nothing is confirmed yet, but it would seem likely.
As mentioned before, Kang may well be a descendant of Mister Fantastic or Doctor Doom. Both characters have certainly played a key role in his development as a villain. He also has connections to major characters on the cosmic side of the MCU. In the comics, Kang once competed with the Grandmaster for a chance at godlike power, and he attempted to claim the so-called "Celestial Madonna" (better known as Mantis) as his bride.
Decades after it was originally published, Marvel added more layers to the events of Fantastic Four #19 by revealing Nathaniel's true motivations for travelling back in time and becoming Rama-Tut. He was actually seeking out a young En Sabah Nur, the mutant destined to become Apocalypse, to crown him as his heir. He never succeeded, though Apocalypse turned out to be a chip off the old block in terms of harnessing futuristic technology and seeking to dominate the world.
With Kang now firmly linked to the Fantastic Four, Avengers and X-Men, Marvel forged yet another connection in the 2015 series Uncanny Inhumans. There, Black Bolt gives his son Ahura to be fostered by Kang, seeing the time travelling tyrant as the only safe haven in a world growing steadily more hostile toward the Inhumans.
TV: Given his status as one of the greatest Avengers and Fantastic Four villains, it should come as no surprise Kang has enjoyed a healthy career outside of Marvel's comics. His first animated TV appearance came way back in 1967's Fantastic Four animated series, with the episode "Rama-Tut" adapting the events of Fantastic Four #19. Whether as Kang or Rama-Tut, the villain has appeared in numerous other Marvel cartoons like X-Men Evolution and Avengers: United They Stand. He even had a brief cameo as Immortus in an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series. But Kang's most significant animated appearances have come more recently. He played a recurring role in both Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (voiced by Jonathan Adams) and Avengers Assemble (voiced by Steve Blum). He made his live-action debut in Loki.
Games: Kang has appeared in F2P games like Marvel: Avengers Alliance and Marvel: Contest of Champions, but his most notable video game appearance so far has been in 2017's LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2. Kang (voiced by MCU veteran Peter Serafinowicz) serves as the main villain of the game and is also available as a playable character.
Marvel Studios' Black Widow movie is finally here. And with it comes the Taskmaster, a classic Marvel villain who is finally joining the MCU to face off against Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanov in the film.
But just who is Taskmaster, and what makes him capable of going toe-to-toe with one of the greatest super-spies in the Marvel Universe? Read on to learn more about this dangerous yet tragic mercenary villain.
Who Is Taskmaster?
Taskmaster is widely feared as one of the most dangerous mercenaries in the Marvel Universe. That's because his photographic reflexes allow him to mimic the fighting style of anyone he studies. Taskmaster briefly turned to a life of crime, but he quickly realized that his skills are better used training other villains how to fight. Taskmaster will lend his knowledge and experience to any organization that can meet his price, be it Hydra, SHIELD, AIM or the Thunderbolts. Deep down he's not such a bad guy, but Taskmaster will never let his morals get in the way of a paycheck.
For a quick breakdown of all characters in the Black Widow movie, watch the video below!
Taskmaster was injected with an offshoot of the super-soldier serum that unlocked the full potential of his mind's memory processes. Because of this, he has photographic reflexes. He can recreate the movements and fighting styles of anyone he observes, and he can also predict their movements in battle with near-perfect accuracy. That effectively makes him as talented a martial artist as heroes like Shang-Chi and Daredevil and as expert a marksman as Hawkeye and Bullseye. Taskmaster carries a wide arsenal of weapons that further help him replicate the moves of other heroes and villains. He wields a shield similar to Captain America's, a sword similar to that of Swordsman and Black Knight and various other projectile weapons.
In addition to making him one of the deadliest fighters in the Marvel Universe, this unique talent has made Taskmaster a very in-demand martial arts instructor. He often makes his living training soldiers in the arts of self-defense and battlefield combat.
Taskmaster's abilities do come with certain drawbacks. For one thing, he can be caught off-guard when battling unfamiliar opponents or someone like Deadpool, whose fighting style is chaotic and unpredictable. And his photographic reflexes come at a heavy cost. The more he relies on his abilities, the more Taskmaster's brain literally overwrites old memories. Because of this, he remembers very little about his past and family.
Taskmaster: Origin and Background
Taskmaster first debuted in cameo form in 1980's The Avengers #195, before making his first full appearance in the following issue. These early stories established a basic origin story and modus operandi for the villain. They also showed him capable of battling powerful Avengers like Captain America and Iron Man to a standstill, though ultimately his unfamiliarity with the relatively recent recruit Jocasta proved to be his undoing.
Taskmaster was once rumored to appear in Marvel's Most Wanted, a planned Marvel's Agents of SHIELD spinoff, but that project was eventually canceled. Instead, he now makes his debut in the MCU in the Black Widow movie, where he'll be ripping off Captain America's most iconic move. As for who is playing him, or what his (or her?) true identity is in the film, only time will tell. Some fans have speculated that it's actually going to be a female behind the mask -- possibly one of Nat's allies, like Rachel Weisz's Melina Vostokoff or Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova. Or perhaps it will just be a faceless henchman in the role... but, nah, who are we kidding? Taskmaster's identity must be an important part of the film!
From the iterations on the Wii to the various versions of the DS, Nintendo is no stranger to redesigning both its home and handheld consoles. In the wake of the announcement of the Switch (OLED model), which will feature a larger 7-inch OLED screen (but the size of the console is unchanged from the base Switch model), a wider, adjustable base stand, enhanced audio, 64GB of internal storage, and a wired LAN port in the dock, it's a good time to revisit just how radical - or not! - some of Nintendo's design jumps have been over the years.
Here's the history of Nintendo's console and handheld redesigns, from NES to Nintendo Switch.
What would you want a subsequent Switch redesign to look like? Which of these older models are your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
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Logan Plant is a writer for IGN, and the Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN's weekly Nintendo show. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.
