Entertainment
The Ultimate Big Bad In The X-Files Wasn’t Aliens, It Was Literally Satan
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Pop quiz, true believers: who’s the real Big Bad of The X-Files? It’s tempting to say “aliens,” although the show waffled between portraying them as good, evil, and nonexistent. It’s also tempting to say “the government;” after all, Mulder and Scully are stymied at every turn by creepy forces like the Cigarette Smoking Man who don’t have humanity’s best interest at heart. But would you believe that, lurking deep within the show, is the greatest, most hidden evil of them all? That’s right, folks, I’m talking about Satan himself.
For a show about aliens, monsters, and conspiracies, The X-Files had a surprisingly deep religious streak. The show often emphasized Scully’s Christian faith, something she clung to in the face of the greatest adversity. Everyone remembers Scully rocking a cross and turning to faith when she was dealing with cancer. What you might not remember, though, are all the times that our plucky FBI agents grappled with demons. Those demons had the scariest boss of all: Satan, whom Mulder and Scully ran into in three separate episodes!
Could It Be…Satan?
Why do so few fans remember Mulder and Scully tangling with the literal devil? For one thing, they never encountered a really stereotypical Satan (red skin, horns, you know the drill). Instead, they encountered the Devil taking the form of other people. In “Die Hand Die Verletzt,” a town is terrorized by Phyllis Paddock, a substitute teacher with demonic powers that nobody can remember actually hiring. She escapes Mulder and Scully and is implied to be Satan, sent to punish devil-worshiping PTA members for not properly observing worship rites. The episode title is in German; notably, the title of this episode in Germany is simply “Satan.”
The next time Mulder and Scully encounter the Devil is the explicitly religious episode “All Souls.” He comes in the form of a social worker named Aaron Starkey who is assigned to work with Paula Kaklos, who is one of four deformed quadruplets. As it turns out, the girls were Nephilim (half-human, half-angel), and Starkey was an incarnation of Satan trying to kill them. Once the final girl was rescued by an angel (with an assist from Scully, no less), Starkey vanished.
The Devil Tips The Scales
The third and final time Mulder and Scully run into the devil is in the episode appropriately titled “Signs and Wonders.” In this story, a reverend named Samuel Mackey is actually the Devil in disguise, and he is doing his best to destroy the Church of God With Signs & Wonders. As part of his sacrilegious plan, he impregnates a young woman with snakes and even uses a snake to attack Mulder. Because of this and other signs, Mulder openly speculates that Mackey was secretly Satan. Incredibly, the episode seemingly confirms this with a final shot of a snake coming out of the man’s mouth to devour a mouse.
Believe it or not, this is only a rundown of Mulder and Scully’s direct encounters with Satan. On at least one occasion, they run into a lesser demon (Donnie Pfaster) who is likely working on the Devil’s behalf. There are also five other characters who are implied to be demons, including Jack Franklyn, Mauriceand Lyda, Wayne Weinsider, Betsy Monroe, and Ellen Adderly. Throw in the possibility that all of these are minions of Satan (someone that John Doggett also runs into on one occasion), and it’s clear that the ultimate Big Bad of The X-Files is, weirdly enough, also the ultimate Big Bad of Christianity!
Obviously, it’s crazy to think that Mulder and Scully were regularly running into Lucifer when they weren’t tangling with aliens or uncovering freaky conspiracies. But let’s be honest: this isn’t that much sillier than anything else in the 90s’ absolutely strangest show. Considering how generally agnostic the show is, it’s a bit surprising how much Christian theology affected the writing of The X-Files. But this, too, isn’t all that shocking. After all, the show’s most famous quote is something that every religious person says right before they convert: “I want to believe.”
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 24, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you’re talkative.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. 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 today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of 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 until the game ends.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
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.
Mashable Top Stories
Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
-
Yellow: Blabbermouth
-
Green: Baseball
-
Blue: To remember
-
Purple: Holy titles
Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
-
Yellow: Talk at length
-
Green: Outcomes for a batter
-
Blue: Bring to mind, as a memory
-
Purple: Homophones of religious roles
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 #1139 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
-
Talk at length: BABBLE, DRONE, RAMBLE, YAK
-
Outcomes for a batter: HOME RUN, SINGLE, STRIKEOUT, WALK
-
Bring to mind, as a memory: JOG, PROMPT, REFRESH, SPARK
-
Homophones of religious roles: CANTER, FRYER, LLAMA, NONE
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
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 yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
Gillian Anderson Reveals Offical X-Files LEGO Set
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
LEGO has been making incredible licensed playsets for years, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, both Marvel and DC, and, you know, any other nerd franchise you can think of. Thanks to Brent Waller, an inventive Australian fan who happens to work as a 3-D artist, The X-Files made it through the LEGO Ideas process and will soon become a reality. To celebrate, LEGO brought back Gillian Anderson as Agent Scully for a fun sneak peek trailer:
Recreate Mulder’s Office In Your Office
The X-Files LEGO set clocks in at 1,478 pieces, and includes eight minifigs: Mulder and Scully, Skinner, The Cigarette Smoking Man (or Carl Busch to get around the whole “Smoking” thing), Mr. X, Agent Krycek, a Gray Alien, and best of all, The Flukeman. It’s a two-layered set with the FBI office on the bottom, and then a forest up top complete with a hovering UFO. As evidence that this was designed by a fan, Mulder’s office includes pencils sticking out of the ceiling and sunflower seeds. There are also new tiles that show the “I Want To Believe” poster and “The Truth Is Out There.”
Waller explained in interviews that he first put together Mulder’s office back in 2014 while watching the show. Trying to capture The X-Files in a single LEGO diorama is impossible, but when you think about it, the office and a UFO encounter do hit the high points. The minifigs changed from the original LEGO Ideas submission, and there’s no Tooms trapped in a vent, but it looks fantastic.
The LEGO Ideas Program Is Filled With 90’s Nostalgia
The X-Files set went through the LEGO Ideas program, where fans upload their designs, and if they earn over 10,000 votes, LEGO designers will take a look at it and see if it can become an official set. Also in the works from the program are the Griswolds’ House from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and the Megazord from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, while past sets were made including E.T., Jaws, Seinfeld, and Friends. To say that the LEGO Ideas program has been a hit would be an understatement.
Anyone who buys The X-Files set from August 4th through the 10th will also receive a bonus gift: Scully’s Lab from the FBI Academy. It’s significantly smaller, only 221 pieces, but can combine with the main set to add to the diorama. As for the price, The X-Files set will be available for $199.99, proving that, again, nostalgia comes with a price.
It’s great to see Gillian Anderson back as Dana Scully, even if it’s only for a commercial, but then again, The X-Files revival series wasn’t exactly beloved by fans of the original run. A new, updated take on the series is in the works by Black Panther writer/director Ryan Coogler. Recent rumors point towards it being a movie rather than an ongoing series. Until we know for sure, fans can finally enjoy putting together their favorite FBI field agents in LEGO form, and who knows, if the set does well enough, maybe we’ll get a LEGO version of the Peacock’s house from “Home!”
You can buy The X-Files set directly on LEGO.com.
Entertainment
New Trailer Reveals Perfect Adaptation Of The Most Iconic Batman Story
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Riddle me this, Bat-fans: what is the most iconic story to ever feature the Caped Crusader? There are many more obscure tales that might be the best Batman story (personally, I’m partial to Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth), but those aren’t the ones that completely changed this character’s trajectory. For my money (which admittedly doesn’t go nearly as far as Bruce Wayne’s), the most iconic story featuring the Dark Knight is Knightfall, which pitted this character against familiar foes and someone relatively new: Bane, a genius whose one and only goal is to break the Batman.
This was a comic that put Batman through the wringer and gave the center stage to Bane, who became such a prominent villain that he’d later headline Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. While that film captured some of the coolness of Knightfall, it only had surface-level similarities to the original comic. Eventually, many fans like myself despaired that we’d never see a faithful, onscreen adaptation of this iconic ‘90s tale. Fortunately, DC is here to prove us wrong: an animated Batman: Knightfall movie is dropping on August 25, and judging by the trailer, this is one film no Dark Knight fan will want to miss.
He Is The Knight
The premise of Knightfall is that a juiced-up genius, Bane, learns that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne. He becomes obsessed with breaking the vigilante, but he decides to soften the Dark Knight up first by releasing almost all of his rogues’ gallery from Arkham. Batman is forced to fight a gauntlet of his worst foes, and waiting at the end of this gauntlet is the seemingly unstoppable Bane. The villain actually defeats our hero, leaving him broken. Bruce appoints an unstable new guy, Jean Paul Valley, to be the new Batman while he recovers. When Bruce returns, though, he discovers his replacement has become far scarier than any of the villains he fights.
In the original DC Comics, this story was split into three parts: Knightfall (showing how Bane breaks Batman), Knightsquest (showing Bruce recovering while Jean Paul learns to be Gotham’s hero), and KnightsEnd (where Bruce returns to claim the mantle of the Bat from his crazy replacement). That’s why this movie’s full name is Batman: Knightfall, Part I: the studio will be releasing two more movies that will presumably fill out the rest of the story. This first film will be focusing entirely on the earliest arc, where Batman must fight all the escaped Arkham villains and then fight, guano a gunao, with Bane.
The Bane Of Batman’s Existence
Judging from the trailer, it looks like the upcoming film will translate this arc very faithfully. It should be a real crowdpleaser, too, because the story is filled with one showdown after another between Batman and his most famous foes. As such, the original comic didn’t have that much of a story, and what little we got was primarily meant to give context to all the nonstop fighting. Still, Knightfall is notable for illustrating the toll that Batman’s endless crusade is having on his body and mind, and the trailer emphasizes the damage our hero has endured and how much his friends and family worry about him.
The trailer is filled with cool character moments and action sequences, and the animation looks beautiful (none of the stilted movement that ruined The Killing Joke). To me, what stood out the most was the voice work. Anson Mount (most famous for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) is doing his best as Batman to channel the late, great Kevin Conroy (of Batman: The Animated Series fame). In his brief appearance, Pablo Schreiber does a great, broody job as Jean-Paul Valley. Unfortunately, Michael Mando’s Bane is pretty “meh:” his voice is neither deep nor goofy, and he sounds like a D&D DM doing a poor attempt at a creepy voice.
Bad Bane voice acting aside, the trailer for Batman: Knightfall, Part I looks very solid. Fans of the original comic can look forward to finally getting a faithful adaptation, and everyone else can get a stylish new introduction to this iconic story. Will this film successfully scratch the itch for fans as we wait for updates about DCU’s upcoming Batman film? We’ll find out together when Batman: Knightfall, Part I releases on digital on August 25.
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 24, 2026
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Entertainment
The Ultimate Big Bad In The X-Files Wasn’t Aliens, It Was Literally Satan
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Pop quiz, true believers: who’s the real Big Bad of The X-Files? It’s tempting to say “aliens,” although the show waffled between portraying them as good, evil, and nonexistent. It’s also tempting to say “the government;” after all, Mulder and Scully are stymied at every turn by creepy forces like the Cigarette Smoking Man who don’t have humanity’s best interest at heart. But would you believe that, lurking deep within the show, is the greatest, most hidden evil of them all? That’s right, folks, I’m talking about Satan himself.
For a show about aliens, monsters, and conspiracies, The X-Files had a surprisingly deep religious streak. The show often emphasized Scully’s Christian faith, something she clung to in the face of the greatest adversity. Everyone remembers Scully rocking a cross and turning to faith when she was dealing with cancer. What you might not remember, though, are all the times that our plucky FBI agents grappled with demons. Those demons had the scariest boss of all: Satan, whom Mulder and Scully ran into in three separate episodes!
Could It Be…Satan?
Why do so few fans remember Mulder and Scully tangling with the literal devil? For one thing, they never encountered a really stereotypical Satan (red skin, horns, you know the drill). Instead, they encountered the Devil taking the form of other people. In “Die Hand Die Verletzt,” a town is terrorized by Phyllis Paddock, a substitute teacher with demonic powers that nobody can remember actually hiring. She escapes Mulder and Scully and is implied to be Satan, sent to punish devil-worshiping PTA members for not properly observing worship rites. The episode title is in German; notably, the title of this episode in Germany is simply “Satan.”
The next time Mulder and Scully encounter the Devil is the explicitly religious episode “All Souls.” He comes in the form of a social worker named Aaron Starkey who is assigned to work with Paula Kaklos, who is one of four deformed quadruplets. As it turns out, the girls were Nephilim (half-human, half-angel), and Starkey was an incarnation of Satan trying to kill them. Once the final girl was rescued by an angel (with an assist from Scully, no less), Starkey vanished.
The Devil Tips The Scales
The third and final time Mulder and Scully run into the devil is in the episode appropriately titled “Signs and Wonders.” In this story, a reverend named Samuel Mackey is actually the Devil in disguise, and he is doing his best to destroy the Church of God With Signs & Wonders. As part of his sacrilegious plan, he impregnates a young woman with snakes and even uses a snake to attack Mulder. Because of this and other signs, Mulder openly speculates that Mackey was secretly Satan. Incredibly, the episode seemingly confirms this with a final shot of a snake coming out of the man’s mouth to devour a mouse.
Believe it or not, this is only a rundown of Mulder and Scully’s direct encounters with Satan. On at least one occasion, they run into a lesser demon (Donnie Pfaster) who is likely working on the Devil’s behalf. There are also five other characters who are implied to be demons, including Jack Franklyn, Mauriceand Lyda, Wayne Weinsider, Betsy Monroe, and Ellen Adderly. Throw in the possibility that all of these are minions of Satan (someone that John Doggett also runs into on one occasion), and it’s clear that the ultimate Big Bad of The X-Files is, weirdly enough, also the ultimate Big Bad of Christianity!
Obviously, it’s crazy to think that Mulder and Scully were regularly running into Lucifer when they weren’t tangling with aliens or uncovering freaky conspiracies. But let’s be honest: this isn’t that much sillier than anything else in the 90s’ absolutely strangest show. Considering how generally agnostic the show is, it’s a bit surprising how much Christian theology affected the writing of The X-Files. But this, too, isn’t all that shocking. After all, the show’s most famous quote is something that every religious person says right before they convert: “I want to believe.”
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 24, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you’re talkative.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. 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 today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of 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 until the game ends.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
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.
Mashable Top Stories
Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
-
Yellow: Blabbermouth
-
Green: Baseball
-
Blue: To remember
-
Purple: Holy titles
Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
-
Yellow: Talk at length
-
Green: Outcomes for a batter
-
Blue: Bring to mind, as a memory
-
Purple: Homophones of religious roles
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 #1139 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
-
Talk at length: BABBLE, DRONE, RAMBLE, YAK
-
Outcomes for a batter: HOME RUN, SINGLE, STRIKEOUT, WALK
-
Bring to mind, as a memory: JOG, PROMPT, REFRESH, SPARK
-
Homophones of religious roles: CANTER, FRYER, LLAMA, NONE
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
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 yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
Gillian Anderson Reveals Offical X-Files LEGO Set
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
LEGO has been making incredible licensed playsets for years, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, both Marvel and DC, and, you know, any other nerd franchise you can think of. Thanks to Brent Waller, an inventive Australian fan who happens to work as a 3-D artist, The X-Files made it through the LEGO Ideas process and will soon become a reality. To celebrate, LEGO brought back Gillian Anderson as Agent Scully for a fun sneak peek trailer:
Recreate Mulder’s Office In Your Office
The X-Files LEGO set clocks in at 1,478 pieces, and includes eight minifigs: Mulder and Scully, Skinner, The Cigarette Smoking Man (or Carl Busch to get around the whole “Smoking” thing), Mr. X, Agent Krycek, a Gray Alien, and best of all, The Flukeman. It’s a two-layered set with the FBI office on the bottom, and then a forest up top complete with a hovering UFO. As evidence that this was designed by a fan, Mulder’s office includes pencils sticking out of the ceiling and sunflower seeds. There are also new tiles that show the “I Want To Believe” poster and “The Truth Is Out There.”
Waller explained in interviews that he first put together Mulder’s office back in 2014 while watching the show. Trying to capture The X-Files in a single LEGO diorama is impossible, but when you think about it, the office and a UFO encounter do hit the high points. The minifigs changed from the original LEGO Ideas submission, and there’s no Tooms trapped in a vent, but it looks fantastic.
The LEGO Ideas Program Is Filled With 90’s Nostalgia
The X-Files set went through the LEGO Ideas program, where fans upload their designs, and if they earn over 10,000 votes, LEGO designers will take a look at it and see if it can become an official set. Also in the works from the program are the Griswolds’ House from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and the Megazord from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, while past sets were made including E.T., Jaws, Seinfeld, and Friends. To say that the LEGO Ideas program has been a hit would be an understatement.
Anyone who buys The X-Files set from August 4th through the 10th will also receive a bonus gift: Scully’s Lab from the FBI Academy. It’s significantly smaller, only 221 pieces, but can combine with the main set to add to the diorama. As for the price, The X-Files set will be available for $199.99, proving that, again, nostalgia comes with a price.
It’s great to see Gillian Anderson back as Dana Scully, even if it’s only for a commercial, but then again, The X-Files revival series wasn’t exactly beloved by fans of the original run. A new, updated take on the series is in the works by Black Panther writer/director Ryan Coogler. Recent rumors point towards it being a movie rather than an ongoing series. Until we know for sure, fans can finally enjoy putting together their favorite FBI field agents in LEGO form, and who knows, if the set does well enough, maybe we’ll get a LEGO version of the Peacock’s house from “Home!”
You can buy The X-Files set directly on LEGO.com.
Entertainment
New Trailer Reveals Perfect Adaptation Of The Most Iconic Batman Story
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Riddle me this, Bat-fans: what is the most iconic story to ever feature the Caped Crusader? There are many more obscure tales that might be the best Batman story (personally, I’m partial to Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth), but those aren’t the ones that completely changed this character’s trajectory. For my money (which admittedly doesn’t go nearly as far as Bruce Wayne’s), the most iconic story featuring the Dark Knight is Knightfall, which pitted this character against familiar foes and someone relatively new: Bane, a genius whose one and only goal is to break the Batman.
This was a comic that put Batman through the wringer and gave the center stage to Bane, who became such a prominent villain that he’d later headline Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. While that film captured some of the coolness of Knightfall, it only had surface-level similarities to the original comic. Eventually, many fans like myself despaired that we’d never see a faithful, onscreen adaptation of this iconic ‘90s tale. Fortunately, DC is here to prove us wrong: an animated Batman: Knightfall movie is dropping on August 25, and judging by the trailer, this is one film no Dark Knight fan will want to miss.
He Is The Knight
The premise of Knightfall is that a juiced-up genius, Bane, learns that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne. He becomes obsessed with breaking the vigilante, but he decides to soften the Dark Knight up first by releasing almost all of his rogues’ gallery from Arkham. Batman is forced to fight a gauntlet of his worst foes, and waiting at the end of this gauntlet is the seemingly unstoppable Bane. The villain actually defeats our hero, leaving him broken. Bruce appoints an unstable new guy, Jean Paul Valley, to be the new Batman while he recovers. When Bruce returns, though, he discovers his replacement has become far scarier than any of the villains he fights.
In the original DC Comics, this story was split into three parts: Knightfall (showing how Bane breaks Batman), Knightsquest (showing Bruce recovering while Jean Paul learns to be Gotham’s hero), and KnightsEnd (where Bruce returns to claim the mantle of the Bat from his crazy replacement). That’s why this movie’s full name is Batman: Knightfall, Part I: the studio will be releasing two more movies that will presumably fill out the rest of the story. This first film will be focusing entirely on the earliest arc, where Batman must fight all the escaped Arkham villains and then fight, guano a gunao, with Bane.
The Bane Of Batman’s Existence
Judging from the trailer, it looks like the upcoming film will translate this arc very faithfully. It should be a real crowdpleaser, too, because the story is filled with one showdown after another between Batman and his most famous foes. As such, the original comic didn’t have that much of a story, and what little we got was primarily meant to give context to all the nonstop fighting. Still, Knightfall is notable for illustrating the toll that Batman’s endless crusade is having on his body and mind, and the trailer emphasizes the damage our hero has endured and how much his friends and family worry about him.
The trailer is filled with cool character moments and action sequences, and the animation looks beautiful (none of the stilted movement that ruined The Killing Joke). To me, what stood out the most was the voice work. Anson Mount (most famous for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) is doing his best as Batman to channel the late, great Kevin Conroy (of Batman: The Animated Series fame). In his brief appearance, Pablo Schreiber does a great, broody job as Jean-Paul Valley. Unfortunately, Michael Mando’s Bane is pretty “meh:” his voice is neither deep nor goofy, and he sounds like a D&D DM doing a poor attempt at a creepy voice.
Bad Bane voice acting aside, the trailer for Batman: Knightfall, Part I looks very solid. Fans of the original comic can look forward to finally getting a faithful adaptation, and everyone else can get a stylish new introduction to this iconic story. Will this film successfully scratch the itch for fans as we wait for updates about DCU’s upcoming Batman film? We’ll find out together when Batman: Knightfall, Part I releases on digital on August 25.
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