Entertainment
This Forgotten Star Trek Episode Pits Captain America Against Captain Picard
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
If you didn’t already know, Star Trek has had some truly weird team-ups with Marvel over the years. In Star Trek/X-Men, we got a one-shot comic in which Charles Xavier’s band of merry mutants crossed through time and space to fight alongside (and sometimes with) Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew. In the later book Planet X, the X-Men had a similar encounter with Captain Picard and his Enterprise-D crew. Of course, these adventures are non-canonical, and we never really got to see any fun live-action crossovers (and no, having Patrick Stewart play Professor X doesn’t count!).
However, in a forgotten Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, we got the closest thing to a live-action crossover with Marvel. In “The Hunted,” the crew must match wits with Roga Danar, a former soldier and fugitive on the run. He ends up being a one-man wrecking machine who fights practically every officer on the entire Enterprise, singlehandedly. How did he pull off such a feat? It turns out that he was a biologically enhanced super-soldier, and this episode was Trek’s way of secretly giving us Captain Picard versus Captain America!
Captain America Comes To Star Trek
“The Hunted” begins with the Enterprise visiting Angosia III, a planet angling to join the Federation. The planet’s prime minister asks Captain Picard for help with a seemingly routine matter: apprehending an escaped fugitive. This proves easier said than done, and after the crew finally captures this man, Roga Danar, he reveals that the planetary government provided biological enhancements to turn him into a super-soldier. But they were also given psychological conditioning that made them unsuited for peacetime, so when the war was over, they were forcibly resettled. Eventually, Danar frees some fellow soldiers and attacks the capital, and Picard refuses to intervene, claiming this is an internal matter for the planet.
He only appears in Star Trek for a single episode, but Roga Danar is one of the coolest characters in the entire franchise. Once the Enterprise tries to catch him, the former soldier seems hopelessly outmatched. But with strength, speed, and cunning, he frequently foils the high-tech security measures of the Enterprise-D. By the time he’s captured, he goes down swinging: it takes no less than five of Worf’s best security officers to drag this man to the brig (plus, he successfully busts out later). As recorded in Captain’s Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Star Trek Voyages, even showrunner Michael Piller agreed that “the best soldier ever created bringing the Enterprise to its knees is a little hard to believe.”
Redshirts Versus Supersoldier
What made him so unstoppable? While Roga Danar is naturally brilliant and has extensive wartime experience, he also has an ace up his sleeve: he was biologically enhanced by the government of Angosia III to be one of their nearly unstoppable super soldiers. While it’s not name-checked in the episode, this seems like the kinds of Khan-esque genetic modifications that are completely banned in the Federation. That explains why the Enterprise D had trouble catching this guy. To them, he’s a one-of-a-kind soldier. In this way, he is arguably the closest thing that Star Trek has ever had to a Captain America, with this episode foreshadowing some of the Marvel hero’s later onscreen adventures.
What are the parallels between Roga Danar and Captain America? First, each one has been transformed into a super-soldier in order to win a war. Second, each has trouble integrating into society after the war. Danar is forcibly resettled to a different planet, and Cap is put on ice, only to awaken decades later into a very different world. Additionally, Danar discovers he was betrayed by the government. The same thing happens to Cap in the comics when he discovers the president is part of the evil Secret Empire, and in the MCU when he discovers Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D.
A Soldier On Ice
In the Civil War arc of both the comics and the MCU, Cap also has some Danar-esque clashes with otherwise good people because of disagreements about how the government treats enhanced beings like himself. In that regard, at least, Star Trek offers a more optimistic ending. While Cap’s onscreen Civil War struggle ended with his friends in jail and him on the run, The Next Generation showed how Captain Picard tacitly supported Danar’s revolution against his own corrupt government. Showrunner Michael Piller later admitted that some on the staff disagreed with this decision, but he thought adherence to the Prime Directive was “an important enough theme that I cannot explore enough.”
While Picard’s decision was quite surprising, it was arguably still in line with the franchise’s values of respect, diplomacy, and dignity for all living creatures. Captain Picard might have had to fight a thinly-veiled Captain America stand-in, but he managed to save the day by simply listening to what this supersoldier had to say. That showed remarkable restraint considering how many men Roga Danar beat up in his attempts to escape. As a lifelong fan of both Marvel and Star Trek, I’m left with one question: how far could Danar have made it if he had replicated himself a vibranium shield?!?
Entertainment
The big question LGBTQ daters are asking, according to Hinge
It’s Pride Month, and although LGBTQ daters are queer all year, the spotlight is on them this June. As such, Hinge just published its annual D.A.T.E. (Data, Advice, Trends, and Expertise) Report to lay out what dating is currently like for today’s queer singles.
The title of this year’s report is “Clarity Builds Chemistry,” and it discusses the uncertainty young LGBTQ daters feel. (Not surprising, considering the amount of uncertainty in the world at large right now, that it’d distill into individuals’ personal lives.)
In its Jan. 2026 survey of over 31,000 global respondents, Hinge found that more LGBTQ daters feel a lot or great uncertainty about the world than heterosexual daters (76 to 52 percent, respectively), but they can also find uncertainty helpful. Seventy-four percent of LGBTQ daters say uncertainty helps them understand what they’re looking for in relationships. Uncertainty contributes to these daters identifying dealbreakers, clarifying their preferences, and identifying what feels right vs. wrong.
Hookup apps for everyone
AdultFriendFinder
—
readers’ pick for casual connections
Tinder
—
top pick for finding hookups
Hinge
—
popular choice for regular meetups
Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
Community also helps LGBTQ daters. Hinge found that queer daters are asking, “Would I bring this persona around my friends?” rather than, “What are we?” This might be because of the importance of chosen family for young LGBTQ people.
As such, queer daters are 33 percent more likely than straight daters to say it matters that their friends like the person they’re dating (this rises to 37 percent for trans daters). They’re also 20 percent more likely to want to check whether a potential partner fits with their friend circle. In a world of uncertainty, having a solid support system is crucial.
Mashable Trend Report
Hinge found that consistency also puts LGBTQ daters at ease in their uncertain world: 86 percent said consistent communication from someone they’re starting to date makes them feel less anxious. Seventy-eight percent said making clear plans also makes them feel less anxious (compared to 56 percent of heterosexual daters).
PDA in an early relationship helps over half (65 percent) of LGBTQ daters feel more secure, but they’re 50 percent more likely than straight daters to hesitate to show affection on the first date because they feel unsafe in their surroundings. Hinge’s love and connection expert, Moe Ari Brown, wrote that, “You don’t have to share the same comfort level to have a great date: staying present and responsive turns a potential point of tension into a moment of real connection.”
“Asking one another what kinds of affection feel good in public — and which feel better in private — keeps PDA grounded in reassurance,” Brown continued.
And forget the timelines. More LGBTQ daters, especially bisexual daters (76 percent and 83 percent), focus on slowly building a connection with someone rather than moving on a certain timeline than straight daters (64 percent). Overall, LGBTQ daters are also more likely to say that settling down isn’t a step, but a mindset.
The findings are in contrast to Hinge’s Nov. 2025 D.A.T.E. report, which was all about communication and AI. Less than a year later, daters — especially LGBTQ ones — are more focused on clarity, whether that’s in public displays of affection, or private affirmations.
Entertainment
Netflix Just Added The Extremely R-Rated Crime Thriller Secretly Made By Film's Greatest Director
By TeeJay Small
| Published
If you’re a sucker for a good crime thriller, you’re probably already aware of the hit 1993 movie True Romance. This genre-defining film is packed to the gills with foul language, graphic violence, and some supernatural themes that make the whole thing feel like a fever dream lost in time.
Though it was considered a box office failure in its day, True Romance has since garnered a massive cult following. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen it, or you’ve streamed it, now is the right time. Netflix just added True Romance.
Long before True Romance was dancing across the silver screen and upsetting the prudes at the MPAA, the film was being penned by a young, up-and-coming Quentin Tarantino. This is the very first feature-length screenplay the Pulp Fiction filmmaker ever wrote. Portions of the first act and some of the pop culture-focused dialogue were lifted right out of Tarantino’s own unreleased short film, My Best Friend’s Birthday, which he made while working at a video rental store in Los Angeles.
Tarantino originally intended to direct True Romance himself, but by the time the script was gaining traction with producers, he had already moved on to a new project that would ultimately become Reservoir Dogs. So he sold the screenplay, used the money to finance his own debut, and let Top Gun director Tony Scott take the wheel.
This has become the subject of tons of debate among film nerds, as some fans believe True Romance is a shadow of what it could have been with Tarantino behind the wheel. Others, including Tarantino himself, have lauded Tony Scott for bringing the intense screenplay to life and offering a more saccharine ending than what was originally on the page.
The plot of True Romance centers on a young couple named Clarence and Alabama. They meet at a movie theater, quickly fall in love, and decide to skip town together after a whirlwind date. The only problem is, Alabama is a woman of the night, and her pimp Drexl Spivey doesn’t take kindly to the loss of revenue.
Prompted by the ghost of Elvis Presley, Clarence murders Spivey and snags a duffle bag of blow from his workplace, hoping he can sell it off to finance his new life. Predictably, the young couple’s troubles don’t end there, as they contend with gang members, police, and a world that seems to want to keep them apart.
The whole adventure feels like a very 90s take on the classic tale of Bonnie and Clyde, complete with some added racy elements. For many fans, True Romance represents the gold standard of crime thrillers.
Christian Slater gives a career-defining performance here, alongside top-tier showings from Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, and Christopher Walken. Several big-name actors appear in minor bit parts as well, including Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, and the late James Gandolfini, of The Sopranos fame.
Whether you’re a die-hard fan or you’re looking to catch it for the very first time, you can watch True Romance on Netflix today. Just prepare to hear some really outlandish stuff, especially if you’ve got any Sicilian ancestry.
TRUE ROMANCE REVIEW SCORE
Entertainment
Why wait for Prime Day? The Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro by Anker earbuds are $30 off right now at Amazon.
SAVE $30: As of June 3, the Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro by Anker earbuds are back to their lowest price yet at Amazon for $149.99. This is $30 off their full price of $179.99.
$149.99
at Amazon
$179.99
Save $30
The Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro is a pretty special pair of earbuds. Not only are they open earbuds, allowing for more awareness of your surroundings while listening, but they also have noise-canceling features. Mashable’s Bethany Allard said they’re “the answer for people who can’t decide between open and noise-canceling earbuds” in her review. If they’ve been on your radar, they’re actually on sale right now at Amazon.
As of June 3, every color of the Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro by Anker earbuds are discounted to $149.99 at Amazon. This saves you $30 off their full price of $179.99 and marks a return to their lowest price at the retailer so far. Ahead of Prime Day, this is a great deal to take advantage of.
Mashable Deals
Allard highlights in her review of the Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro that if you’re someone who’s “interested in open earbuds, not quite ready to give up ANC buds altogether, and can’t reasonably see themselves carrying around two pairs of earbuds, the Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pros are the best option available.” However, she does mention that “you make some concessions: the ANC won’t be the best, and you’re locked into an ear hook design.”
Alongside its dual listening modes, the Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pros offer a battery life that lasts up to seven hours on a charge in Open-Ear mode or five hours in ANC mode. That’s a good amount of time to work with, and it’ll last you through a workout or a commute for the day. Of course, those times can be pushed up further with the charging case as well (up to 34 hours in Open-Ear mode or 24 hours in ANC).
Mashable Deals
On top of all that, the Soundcore AeroFit 2 Pro by Anker earbuds have even landed on our list of the best open earbuds. So, why not scoop them up while they’re still on sale at Amazon?
Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.
Valkyries' record-setting 3-point output overwhelms Fire
Golden Knights pull out high-scoring win over Canes in finals opener
