Marvel Studios has just released the trailer to its animated What If…? series for Disney+, which features the last performance of the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman as King T’Challa.
For Marvel Comics fans, issues of What If…? broke with the usual narratives and saw characters swap storylines and powers — and that’s what the series will do.
The MCU’s cast members returned to play their animated alter-egos. Here, Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther will swap places with Chris Pratt‘s Star-Lord, buddying up with Michael Rooker‘s Ravager leader Yondu.
Similarly, Hayley Atwell‘s Peggy Carter swaps places with Steve Rogers in taking the super soldier serum, becoming Captain Carter, and Michael B. Jordan‘s Killmonger is shown rescuing Tony Stark from the Afghanistan ambush that opened Iron Man.
Acclaimed actor Jeffrey Wright voices the all-seeing The Watcher, whose divinity over time explores each story.
The series also features the voices of other MCU stars, including Josh Brolin again portraying the Mad Titan Thanos; Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury; Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones; and Dominic Cooper, who played Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger and the Agent Carter series.
At least according to the snippet, it seems Howard dons the “cave suit” that his son wore on the big screen in 2008’s Iron Man — Captain Carter is shown riding the iron giant’s shoulder as it flies through the air.
Back in 2019, ABC Audio broke the story that Cooper was working on What If…, and he explained, “[I]t was very exciting to play. And it’s very comical how those relationships which you’ve already established change if those ‘what ifs’ happened. And that’s what’s really exciting about that.”
Marilyn Manson posted bail after turning himself in on an arrest warrant over two counts of Class A misdemeanor Simple Assault, TMZ and Billboard report.
The warrant, which was reported in May, was issued by the Gilford Police Department in New Hampshire. In stems from an incident that took place during Manson’s show at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in 2019, during which the musician, born Brian Warner, allegedly spit on a videographer in the pit area.
At the time the news broke, Warner’s lawyer told Pitchfork that the claims were “ludicrous,” but assured that the rocker would “remain committed to cooperating with authorities.”
In June, Gilford PD announced that Warner had agreed to address the warrant by turning himself over to the Los Angeles Police Department. According to TMZ and Billboard, he did just that last Friday, and was released on personal-recognizance bail, the conditions of which included not committing any crimes, appearing at all necessary court proceedings, and refraining from contacting the alleged victim.
Warner, meanwhile, has been embroiled in personal and legal issues over the past few months after several women came forward accusing him of abuse and sexual assault, including ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood, who alleged that he had “horrifically abused [her] for years.”
Four different women — including actor Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline and Warner’s former assistant Ashley Walters — have filed lawsuits against him.
Warner has denied allegations as “horrible distortions of reality.”
(NEW YORK) — Not long ago, Michael Avenatti was a fixture on cable news, the bellicose nemesis of former President Donald Trump as lawyer to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He even briefly considered a run for president.
On Thursday, Avenatti dropped another few pegs on his descent into disrepute.
A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Avenatti to 30 months in prison for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike.
“Michael Avenatti used illegal and extortionate threats and betrayed one of his clients for the purpose of seeking to obtain millions of dollars for himself,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement about the sentencing. “Not only did Avenatti attempt to weaponize his law license and celebrity to seek to extort payments for himself, he also defrauded his own client. Avenatti will now serve substantial time in prison for his criminal conduct.”
Prosecutors said Avenatti deserved a substantial sentence after he “sought to enrich himself by weaponizing his public profile in an attempt to extort a publicly-traded company out of tens of millions of dollars.”
“While the defendant may have tried to hide behind legal terms and a suit and tie, the jury clearly saw the defendant’s scheme for what it was — an old-fashioned shakedown,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Geoffrey Berman said in a statement at the time of his conviction.
The sentence exceeded the six months the defense asked for, saying Avenatti had been “openly mocked” by Trump and suffered enough.
Avenatti was convicted by a federal jury in February 2020 after a two-week trial in New York City.
Trump once tweeted, sarcastically, “Such a fine guy! Presidential aspirations you know!” about Avenatti after his request for bail was denied in March 2020 as he awaited sentencing.
Avenatti attempted to extort at least $15 million from Nike or else he threatened to use his media influence to damage the brand, according to prosecutors.
He faces separate charges in New York for allegedly stealing a book advance from Daniels and in California for defrauding other clients.
Daniels, who praised the conviction last year, dumped Avenatti as her lawyer in early 2019.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
Can Ed Sheeran take the heat? The singer appears on the latest episode of First We Feast’s popular web series, Hot Ones, where he chows down on progressively spicier wings as he answers questions from host Sean Evans.
During the interview, Ed recounts his unique path to fame. He says at 17, he was playing acoustic shows around London without much success, but things changed when he played a poetry show in Los Angeles.
“I was British, the only white guy in the room, with a guitar, with like crazy hair and I was like, ‘F***, I don’t think today’s gonna go well,'” he recalls. “I stood up on stage and I played the songs and it was the best reaction I got from any show.”
He continues, “So from there, when I got back to England I was like, I’m not gonna do any more acoustic nights. I’m gonna do comedy nights, I’m gonna do rap nights, I’m gonna do jazz nights…And within a year, it like kicked off.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ed answers some questions from frequent collaborator Benny Blanco, discusses working with Eminem and 50 Cent and talks about the time he brought his pal Courteney Cox to his local Tesco supermarket.
In the end, he makes it through the hot wings lineup — but not without the help of some water and almond milk.
It’s been 25 years since LeAnn Rimes released her career-making debut album, Blue, when she was just 13 years old. Now, in a new conversation with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Hits, LeAnn says she stands behind who she was as an artist back then.
“When I was younger, people would say, ‘Oh, you’re really going to be able to sing amazing when you get older, because you’ll have this life experience to connect with it,’” she remembers, adding that the sentiment offended her at the time.
Now, she says, she can understand what they meant, but she’s still proud of the way she tapped into adult emotions as a young performer.
“I was able to really dig into emotion I didn’t know where to place as a kid, and act in a lot of ways,” LeAnn explains. “Then, as I grew, there was real truth to the power behind what I was singing.”
LeAnn goes on to say that only recently has she been able to fully appreciate who she was as a young artist.
“I really respect myself as a kid…I don’t think I’ve had the respect I have for her now until recently,” the singer reveals. “Because I was just in survival mode for 25 years and now being out of survival mode and being able to reflect…I’m kind of always looking to reconnect with what it was about her that was so clear and so powerful.”
Blue won LeAnn two Grammy Awards, including Best Female Country Performance for the title track, her version of the 1958 Bill Mack song “Blue.”
FX opened the lid Thursday on the twisted world of its upcoming spin-off series, American Horror Stories. Based on Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk‘s star-studded, Emmy-winning series American Horror Story, the new series will showcase a new creepy story every week, as opposed to the flagship show’s seasonal shifting setting.
American Horror Stories features a diverse cast, including AHS: Coven veteran Billie Lourd, Paris Jackson, Merrin Dungey, and Kaia Gerber, also known as the daughter of Cindy Crawford and entrepreneur and producer Rande Gerber.
The new anthology series premieres July 15, exclusively on FX on Hulu.
American Horror Story has earned 16 Emmys since it launched in 2011, including acting wins in the Limited Series or Movie category. James Cromwell earned the outstanding Supporting Actor trophy in 2013 for his work in AHS: Asylum, and Jessica Lange took the Outstanding Lead Actress and Kathy Bates the Outstanding Supporting Actress trophies for 2014’s American Horror Story: Coven.
The cast for Bachelor in Paradise season 7 has been revealed.
After skipping the 2020 season due to the pandemic, the popular Bachelor spin-off — which features fan favorites from both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette returning for another shot at love — is finally back, with 19 contestants ready to find romance at a beachside Mexican resort.
This season, the only two contestants to have previously competed on Bachelor in Paradise are Joe Amabile from Becca Kufrin‘s season of The Bachelorette, and Tahzjuan Hawkins from Colton Underwood‘s season of The Bachelor.
Fresh off competing for Katie Thurston‘s heart on the current Bachelorette season is Karl Smith. The rest of this season’s contestants all appeared in Bachelor or Bachelorette seasons featuring Peter Weber, Clare Crawley, Tayshia Adams or Matt James.
In addition to a new cast, ABC News previously confirmed that a series of celebrities would be taking over hosting duties on Bachelor in Paradise in the wake of longtime host Chris Harrison‘s departure from the franchise. They include NSYNC singer Lance Bass, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burgess, rapper Lil Jon and comedian David Spade.
Bachelor in Paradise season 7 premieres Monday, Aug. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Here are the contestants:
Abigail Heringer of The Bachelor 25 (Matt’s season)
Brendan Morais of The Bachelorette 16 (Clare and Tayshia’s season)
Deandra Kanu of The Bachelor 24 (Peter’s season)
Ivan Hall of The Bachelorette 16 (Clare and Tayshia)
Jessenia Cruz of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Joe Amabile of The Bachelorette 14 (Becca’s season)
Karl Smith of The Bachelorette 17 (Katie’s season)
Kelsey Weir of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Kenny Braasch of The Bachelorette 16 (Clare and Tayshia)
Mari Pepin-Solis of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Maurissa Gunn of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Natasha Parker of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Noah Erb of The Bachelorette 16 (Tayshia)
Serena Chew of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Serena Pitt of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Tahzjuan Hawkins of The Bachelor 23 (Colton’s season)
Tammy Ly of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Victoria Larson of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Victoria Paul of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Many are concerned about Wale after he shared that he was “extremely sick” on his Instagram Story Wednesday.
According to HotNewHipHop, the “Angles” rapper told his four million followers that he will be taking a social media hiatus to focus on his health and well being.
“I am out of commission. I been extremely sick since Saturday. I’ve missed many calls and texts,” Wale wrote. “Thank you to everybody who called wit[h] genuine concern. I ain’t sure how long I’ll be down but this…aint slight. Soon as I can come back strong, I’ll be back strong. As for now management will run my socials. Much love, see yall soon – Wale.”
Wale didn’t provide any details on his illness, but we wish him a speedy recovery so he can get back to sharing new music from his upcoming album, Folarin 2.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced Thursday the drawdown of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan will be completed by Aug. 31, as instability and violence ratchet up in the region.
“Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31. The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart,” he said.
“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of Afghan people, alone, to decide their future and how they want to run their country,” the president continued.
Biden said it was time to end the nation’s longest war, noting “2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded and untold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health,” adding, “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.”
Asked if a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is now inevitable, Biden said it isn’t because “the Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped, as well-equipped as any army in the world, and an air force, against something like 75,000 Taliban.”
Prior to delivering the speech, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris received a briefing on the drawdown from their national security team.
The White House has stood firm in defense of Biden’s decision to pull out, citing internal analysis concluding that a military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan is unlikely.
But the Taliban are continuing to gain ground, with an aggressive summer offensive through northern provinces in recent weeks that has seized control of dozens of districts.
Biden administration officials have also defended the military withdrawal by saying that U.S. intelligence indicated the threat to U.S. forces from Taliban militants would have significantly increased throughout summer.
“When he announced our drawdown, he made clear that the Taliban would have been shooting at U.S. troops again after May 1. And the withdrawal deadline negotiated by the previous administration kind of set that timeline,” Psaki said July 2, adding that an administration review of options to advance U.S. interests in Afghanistan “did not sugarcoat what the likely outcomes would be” with continued engagement in the region.
The withdrawal, which Biden had said would wrap up by Sept. 11, unfolded ahead of schedule. Bagram Air Base, the main hub of military operations in Afghanistan for the past two decades, was handed over to Afghan forces July 2. In a statement on Monday, U.S. Central Command indicated the withdrawal was about 90% complete. A small force of about 650 will remain in Afghanistan after the withdrawal to protect the U.S. Embassy and, for now, the Kabul airport.
“Our presence is small, both materially and physically,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Tuesday.
But since U.S. troops began pulling out of Afghanistan, security has rapidly deteriorated. Taliban militants have swept through dozens of districts, seizing control and either slaughtering Afghan troops or winning their surrender. Hundreds of Afghan forces also fled across the northern Afghan border into Tajikstan when faced with the growing Taliban threat, although they are now expected to return to the country. Some have already been flown back into Afghanistan.
Amid the recent clashes, the Biden administration is still emphasizing a negotiated settlement between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Those talks, hosted in Doha, Qatar, have been all but dead since they began last September and reached an agenda in November.
The two sides met again Wednesday in Tehran and agreed that “war is not the solution to Afghanistan’s problems,” according to the Taliban spokesperson in Doha.
In those districts retaken by the Taliban last month, militants have evicted families and looted and torched their homes, according to Human Rights Watch, allegedly in retaliation for working with the Afghan government.
There is also concern for the safety of thousands of translators, drivers and other Afghans who assisted U.S. forces and diplomats during the war and are now targets of Taliban militants. In his remarks Thursday, Biden spoke directly to that population to assure them of U.S. support.
“Starting this month…we’re going to begin relocation flights for Afghanistan SIV applicants and their families who choose to leave. We have a point-person in the White House and at the State Department-led task force coordinating all these efforts,” Biden said.
“Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States, if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us,” he added.
While the Biden administration has confirmed it is working to move some of the affected Afghans out of the country to safe locations to await special immigrant visas that would allow them to move to the U.S., the administration has not specified how many will be moved, how quickly or where.
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News on Friday that the group may be moved to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan — three of Afghanistan’s northern neighbors in Central Asia — but stressed the planning was still early and no decisions had been made. A second U.S. official confirmed Thursday the list also includes Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Biden hosted his Afghan counterpart, President Ashraf Ghani, and High Council for National Reconciliation Chairman Abdullah Abdullah at the White House June 25.
Sitting down with the pair of Afghan leaders, Biden shared an optimistic message.
“The partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is not ending. It’s going to be sustained. And, you know, our troops may be leaving, but support for Afghanistan is not ending, in terms of support and maintenance of their — helping maintain their military, as well as economic and political support,” Biden said.
But Biden grew visibly agitated Friday when reporters peppered him with questions about the future of Afghanistan.
“Look, we were in that war for 20 years, 20 years. And I think — I met with the Afghan government here in the White House, in the Oval. I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain the government. There are going to have to be, down the road, more negotiations, I suspect,” Biden said. “But I am — I am concerned that they deal with the internal issues that they have to be able to generate the kind of support they need nationwide to maintain the government.”
Prior to the Fourth of July weekend, Biden groused about continued questions on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
“I want to talk about happy things, man,” Biden said.
(CHICAGO) — A 28-year-old man accused of shooting three law enforcement officers on Chicago’s South Side has been arrested.
Eugene McLaurin, a Chicago resident, has been federally charged with one count of using a dangerous and deadly weapon to assault an ATF agent, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, in connection with the shooting, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
McLaurin was expected to appear in court later on Thursday.
Two ATF Chicago agents and one Chicago Police Department officer were shot Wednesday morning on the heels of a violent holiday weekend where shootings in the city reached triple digits.
The officers were driving in the Morgan Park neighborhood, near an on-ramp to Interstate 57, just before 6 a.m. when they were fired upon by another vehicle, Chicago Police Superintendent David O’Neal Brown told reporters Wednesday morning. The officers were undercover and in an unmarked car.
The officers were participating in a federal investigation when they noticed that a white Chevrolet Malibu was following them, according to the Justice Department. After the officer took note of the license plate, the driver in the Malibu pulled alongside the vehicle, rolled the windows down and opened fire, officials said.
The Malibu was later found parked on a street in Chicago, and McLaurin was taken into custody later on Wednesday, according to the justice department. The investigation into the shooting continues.
The officers’ injuries were not life-threatening. One of the ATF agents was struck in the hand, the other was hit on the side of the torso and the police officer was grazed in the back of the head, Brown said. They were taken to Christ Medical Center and were last reported in stable condition, said Tom Ahern, deputy director of the police department’s news affairs and communications,
One of the ATF agents is female, while the other two officers are male, and all three are senior officers, he added.
Brown declined to provide details on the case the officers were working to avoid compromising the investigation.
The attack marks brings the tally of officers shot in Chicago this year to 36, Brown said. The shooting comes after a deadly Fourth of July weekend in the city, when 100 people were shot, 18 of whom died, including a 15-year-old boy, ABC Chicago station WLS reported. Two Chicago Police officers and five children 13 and younger were among the injured.
Brown said Tuesday that Chicago officers were “performing at the highest level” and are “risking everything to protect the people of Chicago.”
“They are doing their part, and no one would do what these officers are doing right now,” Brown said. “This is a very challenging time to be in law enforcement right now. They are rising to the challenge, doing all they can. The work they do is extremely dangerous.”
Speaking from outside the hospital, Chicago Alderman Matt O’Shea urged President Joe Biden to come to Chicago and offer additional assistance to the city, saying that 100,000 armed gang members who “have absolutely no fear, no respect for life” are wreaking havoc on the city. Residents are scared to let their children play outside, he said.
“Our communities are under siege,” he said. “Our police officers are under siege. They’re outmanned and they’re outgunned.”
Biden was met by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot upon landing in Chicago Wednesday afternoon. During the greeting, Biden expressed his personal support for the law enforcement officers that were injured and reiterated his commitment to working with the city in the fight against gun violence, said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Biden was scheduled to visit Crystal Lake, a city about 45 miles northwest of Chicago, Wednesday afternoon.
ABC News’ Cheryl Gendron, Rachel Katz and Alex Perez contributed to this report.
