Entertainment
Marvel And DC Are Having A War No One Is Talking About
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
For DC fans, it’s been a rough few years. The DCEU has its fans (Snyder Bros, are you still pretending Rebel Moon was good?), but that failed cinematic universe mostly got its teeth kicked in each and every year by the MCU. Still, fans of heroes like Batman and Superman could take solace in one thing when arguing with Marvel fanboys: that DC has always had better animation, from groundbreaking TV shows to consistently awesome cartoon movies. However, the war is shifting, and the quality of X-Men ‘97 as well as the buzz around Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man means Marvel may become the new king of cartoons.
How The Marvel DC Animation War Started
Arguably, the rivalry between Marvel and DC’s animation creators hit its stride back in the ‘90s. The two companies had produced some standout cartoons before (like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends for Marvel and Super Friends for DC), but the ‘90s gave us X-Men: The Animated Series, the legendary cartoon that eventually led to the excellent X-Men ‘97. This show and Spider-Man: The Animated Series would have helped Marvel’s animators dominate the entire decade if not for a little show called Batman: The Animated Series.
That Batman series built off the momentum of Tim Burton’s excellent live-action films and was popular enough that we got several spinoffs, including Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and Batman Beyond. These series all existed in the shared DC Animated Universe, and the DCAU ironically proved to be a much more successful cinematic universe than the later DCEU. While Marvel continued to produce some fun stuff over the next few years (including the fan-favorite X-Men: Evolution), DC kept its reputation as the undisputed masters of animation with shows like Teen Titans and Young Justice as well as a string of awesome direct-to-video animated movies.
How The Marvel DC Animation War Is Going
Considering that Marvel has spent decades getting its butt kicked by DC’s rival animation departments, why do we think that the house Stan Lee built is about to take this cartoon crown? For one thing, X-Men ‘97 was better than anyone ever hoped it could be, quickly establishing itself as the best-animated superhero show since Batman: The Animated Series. And while we’ve only seen a trailer so far, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man looks to continue Marvel’s animation domination by telling clever, modernized stories using an animation style that hearkens back to the Web-Head’s earliest designs.
Even as Marvel’s animators are starting to feel themselves, DC’s animation is failing to make the impact it once did. For example, the most recent “original” film was a two-part adaptation of Watchmen that didn’t resonate with fans, and even the movie’s biggest defenders will reluctantly admit that this is another meaningless adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic comic that fails to capture its original magic. The biggest misstep, however, may actually be Batman: Caped Crusader, an Amazon-exclusive show everyone thought would be a monster hit.
The show is created by Batman: The Animated Series creator Bruce Timm and set in the ‘30s, and it made a big splash with critics: on Rotten Tomatoes, Caped Crusader has a critical rating of 94 percent, with critics. Notably, though, the Popcornmeter shows audiences giving the show a much more dismal 55 percent, with some fans disliking the major changes the series makes to characters like Harley Quinn and even Bruce Wayne. Others took exception to the poor animation, and it’s hard to deny that this show isn’t nearly as great as Timm’s earlier work.
Meanwhile, Marvel’s X-Men ‘97 was a hit all the way across the board, sparking strong rumors of a new interconnected cartoon universe that threatens to completely leave DC’s modern animation efforts in the dust. Meanwhile, DC’s best animator came back to try to replicate the magic of Batman: The Animated Series and fell well short of the mark. This is the year that will determine if the live-action DCU will be a hit with movie lovers, but when it comes to cartoons, audiences already have an old rallying cry for a new year: “make mine Marvel.”
Entertainment
The DJI Mini 5 Pro drone is $500 off right now at Amazon — save on this content creator favorite
SAVE $500: The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $500 off the list price of $1,599.
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What’s going to happen to the drone market in 2026? Due to legislative pressure on DJI imports in the U.S., there is so much uncertainty at the moment. We expected stock issues by now, but we’re actually seeing strong discounts on some of the best drones in the DJI range.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $500 off and close to the record-low price.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro offers a huge 1-inch CMOS sensor, so whether you’re shooting 50MP stills or 4K/120fps slow-motion, the dynamic range more than delivers. The DJI Mini 5 Pro also makes use of forward-facing LiDAR that powers the new Nightscape Omnidirectional Sensing, meaning it can dodge branches, power lines, and buildings even when you don’t have eyes on your drone.
This popular drone offers 42GB of internal storage, meaning you can actually capture a full session of 4K footage without needing an external card as backup. That can have a massive impact for content creators.
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Save $500 on the DJI Mini 5 Pro this weekend.
Entertainment
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Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 2, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: A Pittsburgh Athlete
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Green: Seen on an MLB Scorebug
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Blue: Teams in the PWHL Playoffs
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Purple: Horse Racing Triple Crowns
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #585 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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A Pittsburgh Athlete: PANTHER, PENGUIN, PIRATE, STEELER
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Seen on an MLB Scorebug: COUNT, INNING, OUTS, SCORE
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Teams in the PWHL Playoffs: CHARGE, FLEET, FROST, VICTORIE
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Horse Racing Triple Crowns: AFFIRMED, CITATION, JUSTIFY, WHIRLAWAY
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Despite injuries, Toronto FC force draw with Quakes
Lawrence Ennali's late goal lifts Dynamo past Rapids
