Entertainment
Why I Hate A Single Frame In The Spider-Man: Brand New Day Trailer With The Fury Of A Thousand Suns
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
There’s a lot for fans to love about the first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, more villains, more Spider-Man, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker aging into the lovably downtrodden mess fans love from the comics, and despite the ending of No Way Home, Ned and MJ are back. Zendaya’s MJ is at the center of the one shot from the trailer that I can’t get out of my head. She’s at a party with a guy she’s obviously in a relationship with, played by Ashoka’s Eman Esfandi.
To those who have not read the comics in recent years, it’s a harmless sign that MJ has moved after she forgot about Peter. To me, it was a warning sign that Kevin Feige may be about to pull the ultimate troll move. Eman Esfandi could be playing the greatest villain in Peter Parker’s life: Paul.
Potential Paul Sighting Sends Fans Into A Panic
Paul doesn’t sound like the name of a villain. He’s not as fearsome-sounding as Green Goblin, Venom, Morlun, or Tombstone. He doesn’t even have a cool costume. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is packed with villains fans have waited years to see, including Boomerang and Scorpion, but none are as pure evil as Paul.
Brand New Day teasing MJ’s new love interest isn’t a rehash of Tobey Maguire and Kristen Dunst from Spider-Man 2. When Sam Raimi’s film aired, Peter and Mary Jane were happily married in the comics, but today, the pair’s marriage has been shattered for 20 years, and they have been on and off again. Like many Spider-Man fans, I prefer the couple together. Paul’s complete lack of importance as a character, except to be “the guy Mary Jane dates instead of Peter,” made it very difficult to read Amazing Spider-Man for years. He’s a complete nothing of a character.
Marvel’s Worst Character
If it’s revealed that Eman Esfandi’s character from that one, single shot in the Brand New Day trailer is Paul, then Marvel is purposely trolling every comic book reader who spent years complaining loudly about Paul. Zeb Wells, the talented writer behind the excellent Hellions series, was also the man who forced Paul onto readers. Given his past successes, though, it’s clear that Paul, like the original “Brand New Day” storyline, was a mandate by Marvel editorial to keep Peter Parker in the same place for years. Denied the chance to grow and develop as a character, Peter and the readers were stuck in the equivalent of a One Piece filler arc for years.
Paul can not join the MCU. We just got rid of him in the comics. MJ is too smart and too well-written a character to waste time with the black hole of charisma that is Paul. Mary Jane is too interesting a character to be burdened by an undeveloped sentient manbun (that’s his one identifying feature). He even let slip her secret identity as the new host of Venom. Paul is the worst.
Brand New Day is bringing the sad sack perennial put upon version of Peter Parker to the MCU after three movies of Tom Holland playing closer to the first Ultimate Spider-Man version of the character. I have no doubt that the movie is going to be spectacular, and it’ll be another billion-dollar box office hit for the Spider-Man franchise, but if the name “Paul” is uttered by MJ at any moment, I am going to throw my popcorn at the screen. No one, not the paying audience, not comic readers, not Peter and MJ, not even Zeb Wells, should be punished by Marvel editorial’s bizarre decree that Peter can never be happy.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for March 25, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
A woven hairstyle.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
BRAID
Hurdle Word 2 hint
An excursion.
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Hurdle Word 2 Answer
JAUNT
Hurdle Word 3 hint
Shine.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
GLEAM
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Not height.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
WIDTH
Final Hurdle hint
Moon-related.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
LUNAR
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 25, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is for people who like sneakers.
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. 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 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.
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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:
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 #548 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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Games Played on a Table – AIR HOCKEY, FOOSBALL, POOL, SNOOKER
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Nike Shoes – AIR FORCE 1, BLAZER, PEGASUS, SHOX
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Giants Greats – BONDS, MAYS, OTT, POSEY
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NBA___ – ALL-STAR, CUP, DRAFT, FINALS
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 yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for March 25, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.
Number (14): Everything in this space must add up to 14. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally.
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Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 5-6, placed horizontally; 5-3, placed vertically.
Equal (1): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 1. The answer is 6-1, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 1-2, placed horizontally.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 0-6, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.
Less than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 6-5, placed vertically; 6-4, placed horizontally.
Greater than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is -3, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically; 4-2, placed vertically.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Hurdle hints and answers for March 25, 2026
Bucks waive Cam Thomas to convert Pete Nance's contract
