Out of all the modern consoles available on the market, Nintendo Switch easily has the most diverse lineup of games available on the system. Nintendo itself has published over 130 games on the platform since it first launched, with thousands from third-party developers also available. Depending on whether or not you buy games physically or digitally, it can be challenging to search for where to overall best place to buy Nintendo Switch games is at any given time.

If you're new to the console and don't know where to find games, we've put together the ultimate guide on everything you need to know regarding where to buy Switch games online or in stores. And if you're wondering whether your Switch games will work on the Switch 2: The new console's official announcement confirmed it will be "mostly" backward-compatible and continue to support both physical and digital games. Take a look below and add something new to your collection!

Where to Buy Switch Games Online

There are multiple ways to purchase Nintendo Switch games for your console. Purchasing them online tends to be the easiest way to buy any of the most popular Nintendo Switch games, as you can purchase digital or physical versions. Since you don't need to drive to pick up a game, you can either ship a physical copy to your home or purchase a digital key to start playing immediately. Take a look below to discover the best way to score deals on Nintendo Switch games.

Best Places to Buy Digital Switch Games Online

As the best place to buy physical Switch games, we recommend Amazon. With a Prime membership, it's incredibly easy to purchase a physical Switch game and receive lighting fast shipping. Most of the time, you can get in stock Switch games within 24 hours. Plus, Amazon doesn't charge your card for pre-orders of upcoming Switch games, as the company waits until the item is in stock.

There's also other solid options like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Though, for the latter, you'll want to be careful when purchasing, as sometimes Walmart has listings for European Switch games. These will work on your system fine, but some players do prefer to own North Amercian, ESRB-rated copies.

Beyond these picks, you can also find rare or limited Nintendo Switch physical copies at retailers like Limited Run Games and Video Games Plus. Since these games are either reprints or limited print runs, you won't be able to find these at retailers like Amazon or Best Buy.

Beyond traditional retailers, you can even buy physical Switch games directly from Nintendo! Nintendo's store has almost every Switch game published by the company available, and often, you'll find discounted titles throughout random periods of the year.

Where Can You Still Find Switch Games in Stores

With the physical market slowly shrinking over the last few years, sometimes it can be difficult to find Switch games in store. Luckily, there are still dozens of stores that carry all sorts of Nintendo Switch games on their shelves. Although the company removed its collection of Blu-rays, Best Buy still offers plenty of Nintendo Switch games. It's easy to walk into any store and browse the collection of 50+ physical games available, with most of Nintendo's first-party offerings available.

Additionally, GameStop is a solid option. While we don't necessarily recommend purchasing online from the retailer, it's still easy to walk into any GameStop storefront and find a wide variety of Switch games available. In addition, other major retailers like Target and Walmart still offer physical games, but the offerings can vary depending on the store.

When Is the Best Time to Find Discounts on Switch Games

Collecting and purchasing Nintendo Switch games is not a cheap hobby, but you can offset some of that by buying when games are the cheapest during the year. There are many great times to buy video games, but we recommend holding off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. By far, this is usually the best time to score discounts on Nintendo Switch games, both physically and digitally. Nintendo will discount many of its own titles, and you can score on hundreds of third party releases from major publishers.

While the best options for physical games are limited, it's another story with digital games. The Nintendo eShop hosts countless sales events throughout the year, and it's easy to find great deals. Our advice is to pay close attention to the news posts on the Nintendo Switch home page, as those will mention any new eShop sales on the horizon.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.

The Google Pixel line has seen its fair share of discounts so far in 2025. Amazon and Best Buy have been dropping prices on the standard Pixel 9, Pro, and XL versions of this phone pretty much every month so far this year. Now Target has decided to get in on the action by dropping the price of the Pixel 9 Pro down to just $699. The last discount we saw on this phone was at Amazon back in February, so this is a great deal to take advantage of if you've been looking to upgrade.

I purchased a Pixel 8 during Prime Day last year when it went on sale and have loved the phone so far. It's a great alternative to the iPhone with an excellent camera and a pretty good battery life. The Pixel 9 series is the latest in the Pixel phone line, so it's the newest model you can buy.

The Best Google Pixel 9 Pro Deal Today

After years as a working actor, comedian, and musician (as one half of righteous comedy-metal duo Tenacious D), Jack Black broke out huge at the top of this century, landing roles in big-time blockbusters, breathtaking animation, and even his own starring vehicles.

With a wicked wit, dulcet tones, and a lovable demeanor, Jack Black has found a home in action flicks, family adventures, the occasional drama, and -- of course -- memorable comedies. So, we've looked over Jack Black's vast film catalog and pulled out 14 of our favorite movies.

From awesome animated sagas to rowdy music-making to the truly odd and offbeat, these are the 14 best Jack Black movies of all time.

14. King Kong (2005)

With its online services allowing players to enjoy iconic games from previous console generations and access several expansions for some of its biggest releases, Nintendo bundles a lot into its pair of Nintendo Switch Online membership plans. For those hopping onto the Nintendo Store in search of some new Switch games to play, you can find a ton of added extras with the right subscription.

Now that Nintendo has confirmed that NSO will carry over to the Switch 2, we know for sure that these memberships will continue to provide the same perks, including retro game libraries, on the new console. But which membership plan is right for you? With two plans available, it’s worth deciding which benefits you’re looking for from a Nintendo Switch Online membership and the best offers you can take advantage of when signing up.

Whether you’re looking to play classic games like Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64, or just want to hop into some Mario Kart online with friends, below we’ll run through Nintendo Switch Online’s full list of membership plans so you can make the right decision for you.

Does Nintendo Switch Online Have a Free Trial?

Given the potential release of GTA VI and the possibilities presented by Nintendo's Switch 2 launch lineup, 2025 could go down as the decade's most memorable year in gaming. Even without those juggernauts, games like Monster Hunter Wilds and Assassin's Creed Shadows have already set the tone for what should be another great year for new games.

Through the first quarter of the year, 18 games have earned a spot on this list, which compiles every game and expansion released in 2025 that received a review score of 8 or higher from IGN. These are IGN's best video games of 2025.

This list will be updated as new releases receive qualifying review scores.

Review Score: 8 (“Great”)

These games leave us with something outstanding to remember them by, usually novel gameplay ideas for single-player or multiplayer, clever characters and writing, noteworthy graphics and sound, or some combination thereof. If we have major complaints, there are more than enough excellent qualities to cancel them out.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

From our review: Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a flashing blade to the series’ established norms, trimming them to a more precise form in lieu of chopping them down outright. Combat is aggressive and requires more intentional parrying and skill management than in the past, and exploring the gorgeous provinces of Sengoku-period Japan is encouraged thanks to the revamped map that deemphasizes collecting icons and checking off lists. Naoe and Yasuke are well-realized and memorable protagonists, even though most of the story they drive follows pretty predictable paths. Both have unique playstyles that bolster each other’s weaknesses, but they are ultimately imbalanced by the fact that you can make use of the stealth and exploration skills of the master shinobi far more than the superhuman strength of the samurai. This isn’t the Assassin’s Creed that will change the minds of folks that never connected with the series before, but for those of us with lots of hours logged in the Animus, the sum of Shadows’ parts provide a refreshing realignment of the series that you should not skip. – Jarrett Green

Atomfall

From our review: Atomfall is a gripping survival-action adventure that takes some of the best elements of Fallout and Elden Ring, and synthesises them into its own fresh mutation. It presents a picturesque chunk of English countryside littered with alluring structures to pique and reward your curiosity, eccentric locals to meet, and absorbing mysteries to unravel, and uses classic iconography from British sci-fi and horror to consistently unsettling effect. In spite of some enemy behaviours that are occasionally less stable than a reactor in meltdown, Atomfall is a compelling, post-apocalyptic survival story that satisfyingly bends to your choices and discoveries no matter which direction you take. – Tristan Ogilvie

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

From our review: Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector does not stray too far from what made the first one a cult hit, but it doesn’t need to. It tells a rich and poignant story about the complex nature of control on one’s self when that self is a machine that can be rebooted and hacked, finding and enriching community in the face of overwhelming odds, and expressing personhood both to oneself and to others. It’s visual novel-like presentation is heavy on reading and dice rolling, so its not exactly pulse-pounding, but the retooled character classes and stats, new crew missions, and stress mechanics provide just enough feedback and create a sense of precarity throughout that it stays engaging. – Jarrett Green

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

From our review: Somehow, Donkey Kong Country Returns returned (again), but Nintendo’s third full release of this 2010 Wii platformer is almost as fresh and fun today as it was 15 years ago. DK’s satisfying, weighty movement paves the way for a challenging, momentum-based platformer that demands more skill and precision than the average Nintendo game. But it stays fun rather than frustrating thanks to incredibly impressive level design that explores every clever idea to the fullest and a ton of hidden collectibles worth tracking down. As a remaster specifically, it’s no more than a passable update, with graphics that can only really be described as “good enough” and some outdated elements that could have used more modern touches, like a lack of checkpoints during boss fights and a few obnoxious sections full of one-hit kill obstacles. But Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is still a competent update and easily the best way to play one of the greatest 2D platformers Nintendo has released this century. – Logan Plant

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

From our review: Propelled by a breezy and often completely bananas treasure-hunting tale, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a delightful spin-off that seamlessly shifts between street thuggery and skulduggery. Majima’s Sea Dog stance is one of the most fun and flexible fighting styles I’ve enjoyed in the series to date – at least in its classic, combo-based form – and I welcomed the challenge of carefully balancing my crew lineup in order to survive the many turbulent naval battles. While its overworld maps feel a little padded out with recycled island settings, Honolulu itself is jammed with unpredictable substories and overhauled activities that meant every moment of shore leave was full of surprises. Absolutely heaving with buried treasures and varied pleasures, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a consistently captivating voyage that kept my timbers shivering whether on land or at sea. – Tristan Ogilvie

Monster Hunter Wilds

From our review: Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the traditionally rough edges of the series in smart ways, reducing as much friction as possible that could get in the way of you grabbing any of its exceptionally fun weapons and planting them firmly in a monster’s hide. But in that quest to make Monster Hunter more approachable, Wilds has carved a little too close to the bone in some places, trimming its challenge back so much that I barely needed to dig into its in-depth equipment system at all this time to become an apex predator. Its more flexible combat is some of the most fun I’ve had with the series, but like the blustering lighting storms of its gorgeous desert, it'll burns brightly but briefly until Capcom unleashes some real endgame beasts to challenge us. – Tom Marks

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black

From our review: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is neither Ninja Gaiden 2 nor Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, but instead a secret third thing that mixes both versions together to create something that is wholly unique and by far the most beautiful version of this excellent action game yet. While I have a hard time calling it the definitive release because I prefer the original’s “more dudes who are more aggressive but die faster” approach, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is a definite improvement over the Sigma 2 release, fixes several long-standing issues, and unlike the original, isn’t trapped on the Xbox 360. It isn't the version I was hoping for (get on it, modders), but it is still an incredible game and I'm happy it exists. If this really is it for Ninja Gaiden 2, it will at least go out on a high note. This trip through time reminded me that while you can't go home again, and nothing will ever truly be like it was, that doesn't mean something can't still be beautiful. Ninja Gaiden 2 is remarkable, even with its flaws, and it's good to finally have it back in Black. – Will Borger

PGA Tour 2K25

From our review: With substantial changes to how it looks and plays, PGA Tour 2K25 feels like a different game from its predecessor. The new swing mechanics, paired with the significantly improved graphics, makes for a much more realistic ambiance, even with a lethargic performance by the announcing team. The highly customizable MyCareer campaign mode shines as one of the most enjoyable parts even though it has a tacked-on personality system, occasional unnecessary connectivity issues, and of course microtransactions. PGA Tour 2K25 is still a few strokes behind EA Sports PGA Tour as the best golfing simulator around, but if it continues to improve like this with each new iteration, we may see it close that gap relatively soon. – Andrew McMahon

Rift of the NecroDancer

From our review: I could wear out my keyboard slapping arrow keys to the beat and jamming in my seat to Rift of the NecroDancer’s excellent soundtrack, fervently chasing down a perfect run of a song for hours. Whether I was fighting stuffy puppet masters, rhythmically ridding the world of monsters, or just waddling around in a silly mole costume, it provides many excellent flavors of arcade-style rhythm action. Even though this “Greatest Hits” anthology isn’t as focused or Earth-shattering as Brace Yourself Games’ genre-bending debut album, it still continually surprised and delighted me by providing clever twists on time-tested mechanics. – Charlie Wacholz

Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Early Access)

From our review: Tokyo Xtreme Racer is an infectiously addictive time capsule of a racing game that needs little more than a bit of menu refinement and some major aggression injected into its sound to really soup it up and prep it for even more classic Japanese cars to race in and against. In fact, it’s already well worth its early access asking price. It’s narrow in scope, but its highway battle hook makes it hard to put down, and its total lack of modern baggage like microtransactions and tacked-on multiplayer is outright refreshing. – Luke Reilly

WWE 2K25

From our review: A couple of microtransaction-fueled missteps aside, WWE 2K25 is really the best wrestling game since… WWE 2K24, which was also pretty great. It looks fantastic, still feels good, and there’s a lot of it, including small but welcome updates like intergender matches or bigger updates like the new MyRise and Showcase modes. It’s an upscale wrestling buffet, if you will: It’s pretty scrumptious, there's a wide selection of dishes on the table, and you could spend an awful lot of time in the squared circle if you’re not careful. Speaking of, I need to get back to it. I have some more Showcase things to unlock, Universe is calling my name, and… well, you get the idea. – Will Borger

Review Score: 9 (“Amazing”)

We enthusiastically recommend that you add these games to your to-play list. If we call a game Amazing, that means something about it seriously impressed us, whether it’s an inspired new idea or an exceptional take on an old one. We expect to look back at it as one of the highlights of its time and genre.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins

From our review: If Dynasty Warriors: Origins is meant to be a new beginning, it’s one that gets off to a masterful start. It doesn’t just have the largest amount of enemies the series has thrown on screen at once, it also deepens its combat, improves its storytelling without getting in the way of the action, and provides a healthy amount of replayability and postgame content – all while looking better than ever. Your amnesiac hero is a bit too much of a blank slate at times, but the impressive ensemble cast made this story sing as I grew to care about the characters around him, big and small. Origins is both a great entry point for newcomers and a triumphant return for veterans like me who felt the last few entries had become stale or missed the mark. It feels like the series I once loved is finally back. – Jada Griffin

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

From our review: In many ways, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 feels like it’s picked up and run with the reactive first-person RPG torch that Bethesda left lying in the mud years ago in pursuit of a broader audience. And it has excellent melee combat, which The Elder Scrolls never came close to even at its peak. Sometimes it's not sure if it wants to be a cinematic tale about a specific guy going on a specific adventure or a truly dynamic open-world sandbox packed with interesting and varied side quests, and that can lead to a few immersion-shattering conflicts. But most of the time, leaning into one doesn't get in the way of the other, and you’re free to go on any of its many optional adventures along the way to a thought-provoking and rousing finale for the main plot. I was delighted to get lost in its world, and it will be a long time before I forget its exceptional story. – Leana Hafer

MLB The Show 25

From our review: MLB The Show remains one of the best sports series around. The new upgrade system and the amateur portion of your player’s journey have reinvigorated Road To The Show, while the shift away from Sets and Seasons has righted Diamond Dynasty’s biggest wrong. While it’s a bit of a bummer that the Storylines feature isn’t living up to its full potential, it remains a worthwhile and important inclusion that has reach beyond the game of baseball. All the small touches, such as updated infielder reactions and new quick time events like the swim move, have the on-field action in a great place, too. It’s not always easy for an annual franchise to justify the move to a new entry, but in the case of MLB The Show 25, it does more than enough to make me glad it has arrived. – Justin Koreis

Split Fiction

From our review: An expertly crafted and absorbing co-op adventure that pinballs from one genre extreme to another, Split Fiction is a rollercoaster of gameplay ideas and styles that are usually discarded as quickly as they’re introduced. This keeps it fabulously fresh for its full, 14-hour duration. With no idea sticking around long enough to get stale before making way for the next, it’s a victory of imagination and restraint in equal measure. Hazelight may have been rewriting the co-op rule book for a decade now, but Split Fiction is a new chapter that you (and a partner) cannot miss. – Luke Reilly

Two Point Museum

From our review: Two Point Museum is a rewarding, deep, challenging, and highly entertaining tycoon game that demonstrates Two Point Studios has really hit its groove with this third iteration of the idea. The variety of different exhibits to unlock and level up, the thrill of discovering new expedition maps, and the array of clever and easy-to-use management tools make designing and running a museum joyful and consistently rewarding. I've sunk more than 40 hours into it already and I could easily see doubling that without running out of stuff to do. Call the curator. They're really going to want to take a look at this. – Leana Hafer

Wanderstop

From our review: Every inch of Wanderstop pushes the conventions you’d expect of similarly wholesome games. Its vibrant colors, quirky characters, and enchanting music are used to tell a compelling story that forces you to grapple with both its lead character's insecurities as well as your own. It’s a powerful adventure not just about burn out, but about how deeply painful it is to free ourselves from coping mechanisms that may have previously kept us secure. At the same time, Wanderstop’s simple but satisfying tea brewing experimentation serves as a safe and entertaining space to do that deep digging. There aren’t many games like Wanderstop out there currently, but for all our sakes, I hope there will be soon. – Shailyn Cotten

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

From our review: Xenoblade Chronicles X was already one of the Wii U’s best games, and this Definitive Edition has escaped the destruction of its old home like the White Whale and settled down nicely on Switch. The quality-of-life improvements here are enough to justify another trip to Mira alone for veteran players, and it’s the perfect opportunity for newcomers to explore its beautiful landscapes for themselves. Its combat systems are deep and engaging, and the massive open world never got old to run, jump, or fly across. Its main story may not quite live up to the standards of the series, but a likable cast of characters and plenty of compelling side missions mean Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is still an adventure worth writing back home about. – George Yang

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.

Sometimes, even the best gaming chairs don’t offer sufficient room, support, or comfort if you’re bigger or taller. That means you need to find chairs designed with your size in mind, like the Secretlab Titan Evo Nanogen XL. It’s a premium choice ready for gamers up to 6' 9" and 395lbs. Whether you’re on a budget, want an extra wide seat, or like the breathability of a mesh option, we’ve found great "oversized" gaming chairs for you to try out.

TL;DR – The Best Big and Tall Gaming Chairs:

A great seat is one of the best gaming accessories you can invest in, but the wealth of available gaming chairs is overwhelming, and many aren’t suited for larger-than-average gamers. You want to seek out wider seats, taller backs, higher load capacities, and solid ergonomics that ensure your ultimate comfort so you can focus on what matters: the game.

To help in the search, I’ve thoroughly tested and researched a range of seats that won’t come up short (literally!) no matter how long you’re gaming. Take a look at our favorite bigger chair options – and also see which XL gaming chairs are available now in the UK.

Additional contributions by Danielle Abraham

1. Secretlab Titan Evo Nanogen XL

Best Big and Tall Gaming Chair

2. AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL

Best Budget Big and Tall Gaming Chair

The Anthros chair doesn't look like a chair for big and tall gamers, but make no mistake, its unique approach to back support centered on the pelvis means that it's able to cater to gamers and computer users of all sizes. It's well made and super comfortable once you get used to its unique method of support. It looks a little alien, but in my forthcoming review, I found that after a couple days of use, it's hard to go back to a normal lumbar-based desk chair.

Anthros got its start in the wheelchair business. The company is composed of a small team of health experts in designing chairs that people would be sitting in perpetuity. It developed a unique breadth of experience and insight into chair design that actually meets the needs of the human body.

In a meeting ahead of the review, one of the representatives, a practicing physical therapist, revealed to me that they had trialed virtually all of the leading office chairs and found that just about all of them missed the mark on what is actually required to support positive posture and relieve back pain generated by a wide range of causes. By centering the design of the Anthros chair on the actual mechanics of the human body and leveraging their deep understanding of its interconnected nature, the Anthros chair was born.

What makes this chair special is that instead of focusing on lumbar support and thoracic support like the majority of other ergonomic chairs, it instead focuses on pelvic support right at the base of your sit bones. This positions your spine forward, naturally supporting the curvature of the spine.

At first, it does feel a little strange. But once it's properly set up for your body and you've become acclimated to sitting with proper posture, it can feel downright refreshing to return to the Anthros after a traditional ergonomic chair, and especially a gaming chair. It also features one of the best seats I've ever used. It's wide, thickly padded, and has internal cutouts to relieve tension on your sit bones, enhancing your comfort without even realizing that it's doing anything differently in the moment.

There's something magic about this chair, but don't get confused. You should still be trying to stand regularly throughout the day. Even Anthros will say that no chair is a magic bullet. However, this is one that really does approach seating differently, and though very expensive, it clearly succeeds in its goals for postural support and all-day comfort.

If you're tall tall, then you already know how difficult it can be to find a chair that's big enough to match your body. Whether that height comes from your legs or your back, the Razer Iskur XL is your best bet and will elevate your PC gaming setup with one of the most recognizable backrests out there.

In our review of the original Razer Iskur (the non-XL version), we found it to be exceptionally comfortable, and all of that holds true with the XL version. It's bigger, taller, wider, and able to hold significantly more than the standard Iskur, which means that a few extra inches won't hold you back from the comfort and support you desire. It's made for users up to 399lbs and up to 6'10", so no matter how big you are, it’s probably going to work well for you.

Razer has also earned significant acclaim for its unique backrest trimmed in a snakeskin-like pattern. The lumbar is pronounced, working on a tension system to ensure it always matches the position of your back. It's true that some users have found it to be too pronounced, but most people find that they adapt and very much come to like that added support after giving it enough time for their body to acclimate. Once you do, you'll find you can sit for extended gaming sessions completely pain-free.

While its aesthetics won't be for everyone, I find that it delivers where it counts. For any gamer on the tall side, it's definitely worth a closer look.

The Razer Fujin Pro has it all: style, substance, and comfort. With its mesh design, you can happily sink into this chair day or night. While it doesn’t necessarily look the usual part you’d expect from Razer – ditching the big branding and heavy gamer style – you'll still get your money's worth with breathable mesh that will serve you well in all seasons, a comfortable waterfall seat edge, adjustable lumbar support, and overall ergonomic comfort.

If you spend a lot of time at your desk, the investment is definitely worthwhile. It offers a wide range of ergonomic adjustments to ensure that it will properly support your body through long gaming sessions. It’s an outstanding gaming chair that offers plenty of luxury across its understated frame, providing the support you need whenever you’re sitting.

When I reviewed the Razer Fujin Pro, I described it as "Razer, all grown up" and it's true. Razer describes this as a chair for gamers that may want something that will fit just as easily into an office as their gaming space but don't want to sacrifice ergonomics along the way. We definitely think it achieved its goal, and in doing so delivered a competitor to legendary ergonomic chairs like the Herman-Miller Aeron. It will serve you well for years to come, thanks to its unique balance between a productivity and gaming chair.

Where to Get the Best Big and Tall Gaming Chairs in the UK

One Piece as a franchise has been getting a lot of extra attention lately. There's the live-action version of the show on Netflix, some highly anticipated LEGO One Piece sets, and even a recent collaboration with the NBA. Whether you're new to the series or have been around since the very beginning, there's never been a better time to be all-in on One Piece, especially with new episodes arriving next week as the anime returns from its six-month hiatus.

While the series seemingly has an endless amount of episodes – more than 1,000 to be more precise – One Piece has no shortage of movies either. The latest film in the franchise, One Piece: Red, was released back in 2022, but Amazon has only recently dropped the price of the 4K steelbook to a reasonable price. You can also find the same deal at the Crunchyroll store right now.

The Best One Piece Movie Deal at Amazon Today

It’s been a while since we saw a new preorder item this big go live. Nintendo is planning to unveil the Switch 2 in a super-sized 60-minute Nintendo Direct tomorrow, April 2. We expect to learn all about the next-gen console’s new features, along with its launch lineup of games, and maybe even new accessories and peripherals. We also expect to learn when you can preorder the Nintendo Switch 2.

Whether preorders go live tomorrow or at some point in the future, you’ll want to be ready when they do. Here are some pro tips from the IGN commerce team on how to prepare to preorder the Nintendo Switch 2.

Follow IGN Deals

• IGN Deals on X
• IGN Deals on Bluesky

When a major piece of gaming hardware goes up for preorder at a retailer, there’s no telling how long it will be available. We’ve seen sought-after hardware sell out in seconds. The best and most reliable way to know when a listing goes live is to follow IGN Deals on Twitter/X or Bluesky and keep an eye on those accounts in real time. Wario64 and CAG are also reliable sources of links the moment they become available.

During and after the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct (which starts April 2, 2025 at 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST), we’ll be in the trenches, posting links the moment they become available.

Log Into Your Retailer Accounts

There’s no point in clicking a live preorder link early if you’re not logged in. The precious seconds it takes to enter your login name and password could make the difference between you getting a Nintendo Switch 2 at launch and not. The retailers below are all likely to have Switch 2 preorders, so create an account if you have to, and make sure you’re logged in tomorrow morning, in case Switch 2 preorders go live.

• Amazon
• Walmart
• Target
• Best Buy
• GameStop

Have Your Credit Card Saved in Your Account

The next step is to make sure your credit card info is entered in at the above retailers so you don’t have to type numbers with your excited fingers as everyone else on the planet buys a Switch 2 before you can.

Don't Despair if You Miss Out at a Retailer

With big ticket items like the Switch 2, the preorder links rarely go live at the same time across all the retailers. Often, Best Buy's link goes up first, followed a few minutes later by GameStop and Walmart. Amazon is usually the wild card of the bunch, sometimes going live hours (or even days) later. So if you miss the chance to preorder from one retailer, stay tuned to see if others will have Switch 2 preorders in stock a little later.

There's even a chance a given retailer will get additional preorders after its initial stock has run out. And even if you miss out preordering at all of the retailers, local brick-and-mortar stores may get stock on launch day. And failing that, even if stock is scarce at launch, Nintendo will catch up with demand at some point, so remain steadfast.

Avoid Switch 2 Scams and Resellers

Anytime a hard-to-buy piece of gaming hardware goes up for preorder, out come the opportunists. You can bet shady sites and resellers on eBay will be primed and ready to capitalize on this moment. Some sites will make their original Switch stock seem like Switch 2 stock. Others will take their actual Switch 2 preorders, crank the price sky high, and re-sell them at a massive profit. If you fail to secure a Switch 2 preorder at a legit retailer when they go live, please don’t pay large sums of money to these people looking to make an easy buck. It’s almost always better to wait until more stock becomes available at a site you trust.

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

The Dark Knight and LEGO are the sort of odd couple pairing that shouldn't work on paper, but are brilliant in practice. The moodiness and psychological torment of the source material, and the blocky medium through which it's translated, creates a humorous juxtapostion. The Joker, terrifying though he is, looks adorable as a LEGO Minifigure.

LEGO Batman sets tend to cycle very quickly, from the time that they're launched to the time they're retired. The designers have a near endless well of Batman media to draw from – from comic books, to TV shows, to Hollywood blockbusters.

One of their most recent designs, inspired by the 1966 classic television show starring Adam West, is an 1822-piece homage to the show's Batmobile.

LEGO recently retired the bulk of its Batman sets, including the Batcave Shadow Box, at the end of 2024. Here are the best LEGO Batman sets that you can buy in 2025.

LEGO Batman Best Sets in 2025

LEGO Batman: The Classic TV Series Batmobile

Batman Tumbler vs. Two-Face & The Joker

LEGO Batman: The Animated Series Gotham City

Batman Construction Figure and the Bat-Pod Bike

If you're looking for a larger capacity power bank at an affordable price, then check out this new deal from Amazon. Right now you can get the Iniu 20,000mAh 22.5W Power Bank for only $11.99 after you clip the 50% off coupon on the product page and apply coupon code "OORHFI4M". A 20,000mAh power bank at this price is uncommon, especially one that can also deliver up to 22.5W of power over USB Type-C (enough to fast charge a Nintendo Switch). Iniu power banks have solid reviews and are less expensive than equivalent Anker models.

Iniu 20,000mAh Power Bank for $11.99

Ever since LEGO's slow pivot to adult-targeted sets, the separation between traditional LEGO bricks and LEGO Technic – the rods, beams, pins, and gears that builders use to create simple machines – has become increasingly blurred. Nowadays, one is often an accompaniment to the other. Technic creates a sturdy skeleton, and the bricks form a decorative shell around it, which gives the model its form and outward appearance.

Featured in this article

It's a product of LEGO's ambition – that the builds got so massive that the designers needed an underlying structure to stabilize them. It also eased many LEGO fans into a whole new sub-genre of building techniques, and if you're one of those fans, you might want to check out a proper LEGO Technic set, which do away with the bricks almost entirely.

Here are the best LEGO Technic sets that you can purchase in 2025.

LEGO Technic Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

LEGO Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator

LEGO Technic Liebherr Crawler Crane LR 13000

LEGO Technic McLaren Formula 1 Race Car

LEGO Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance

LEGO Technic 2022 Ford GT

LEGO Technic BMW M 1000 RR

LEGO Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line

LEGO Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37

LEGO Technic Mars Crew Exploration Rover

If you're thinking of jumping on the AMD bandwagon for your next upgrade, now is certainly the right time to do so. Alongside the Ryzen 7 9800X3D which debuted earlier this year, AMD has just released its two higher-end Ryzen 9 siblings in the Zen 5 "X3D" stack: the 9950X3D is available for $699 and the 9900X3D is available for $599. Collectively, these processors represent the best gaming chips across both Intel and AMD. Pure gamers should go with the 9800X3D and allocate their funds elsewhere; creators with deeper pockets and a penchant for gaming will benefit from the immense performance uplift on the new Ryzen 9 processors thanks to their increased core count and cache.

Note: Processors are going in and out of stock (mostly out of stock, unfortunately).

The Creator's Choice: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU

Big news for Now You See Me fans: not only is Now You See Me 3 officially titled Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, but Now You See Me 4 is in the works.

The announcement was made on-stage during CinemaCon by Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, who also confirmed that Now You See Me 3’s previously announced release date of November 14, 2025 remains on-track.

Director Ruben Fleischer has signed a deal with Lionsgate to develop and direct a fourth installment of the action-heist franchise, which has made $700 million at the global box office so far.

The first two films starred Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Morgan Freeman, among others, with Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and Ariana Greenblatt joining as a new generation of illusionists and Rosamund Pike also starring in the franchise’s third installment, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t reunites Fleischer with Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, who were also the stars of Fleischer’s debut film Zombieland. His most recent film is Uncharted, which took in over $400 million worldwide, and he directed Venom, which grossed over $850 million globally.

Bobby Cohen, who originally developed and has produced all the films in the series, will return to produce the new installment alongside Alex Kurtzman of Secret Hideout. Meredith Wieck will oversee the project for Lionsgate.

Fogelson commented: “Ruben has delivered all of the twists and turns and sleight-of-hand that audiences expect from this franchise while upping the stakes and scale in every way. We can’t wait for audiences to discover what he’s done with the third film and thrilled he’ll be making even more magic with us.”

Fleischer added: “Directing Now You See Me: Now You Don’t was as much fun as making any movie in my career. It combines two of my favorite things — heist movies and magic — and working with this incredible cast was truly magical. Of course I want to keep it going.”

IGN’s Now You See Me review gave it 6.3/10 and said: “Now You See Me seemed so promising, but it squanders its cool cast and nifty premise on smarmy, shallow characters and a flimsy, nonsensical plot.”

IGN's Now You See Me 2 review returned a 6.2. We said: "Now You See Me 2 isn't the worst magic act in town, but it's all flash and no substance."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The John Wick anime prequel film finally has a confirmed setting.

Announced during CinemaCon, the animated movie will see Keanu Reeves return to voice his character. This is in addition to Reeves’ just-confirmed return to the role in live-action form for John Wick 5.

The animated film prequel will tell the story of John Wick’s legendary ‘Impossible Task,’ which is referenced in the movies as helping to create the mythos — and dread — surrounding Wick’s character.

Here’s the official blurb:

The animated film will go back in time to tell the story of John Wick before the first film, as he completes the Impossible Task — the killing of all of his rivals in one night — in order to free himself from his obligation to the High Table and earn the right to be with the love of his life, Helen.

Like the live-action feature films, the animated movie will deliver the highly stylized and defined action that John Wick fans expect and will be aimed at more mature audiences.

It will be produced by the John Wick producing team of Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, 87Eleven Entertainment’s Chad Stahelski, and Keanu Reeves. 87Eleven Entertainment’s Alex Young and Jason Spitz will executive produce.

The film will be directed by Shannon Tindle, an animation veteran who most recently co-wrote and directed the Annie-nominated Netflix film Ultraman: Rising. Tindle also created the double Oscar nominee Kubo and the Two Strings and served as executive producer/showrunner on the Emmy-winning series Lost Ollie. The film will be written by Vanessa Taylor, writer and co-executive producer of Game of Thrones, writer of Divergent, and an Oscar nominee for her work with Guillermo del Toro on the Best Picture winner The Shape of Water.

Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said: “In both animation and the world of John Wick, the possibilities are endless. And there is no John Wick story fans are clamoring for more than the Impossible Task. Shannon’s take on that story is an incredible one, and we are beyond excited to see what John Wick can do in animation.”

Stahelski added: “I’ve always been fascinated with anime. It has always been a huge influence on me, especially with the John Wick series. To have the opportunity to develop a John Wick anime seems to be the perfect progression for the John Wick world. I feel John Wick is the perfect property for this medium — anime holds the potential to expand our world, our characters, and our action in ways unimaginable before.”

It’s a massively busy time for the billion dollar John Wick franchise. In addition to the already released four mainline films and the just-announced John Wick 5, the John Wick Universe includes two spinoff films (Ballerina, to be released June 6, and a spinoff directed by and starring Donnie Yen reprising his Caine character, set to start production this summer).

In addition, Lionsgate Television produced The Continental: From the World of John Wick for Peacock and Amazon Prime, and Lionsgate confirmed it’s developing the series John Wick: Under the High Table, which Stahelski and Keanu Reeves are executive producing.

Outside TV and films, Lionsgate recently opened an immersive John Wick experience in Las Vegas and has a John Wick AAA video game in the works.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

John Wick 5 is official, with Lionsgate confirming the 60-year-old Keanu Reeves is set to return to the role.

The announcement was made on-stage during CinemaCon by Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. Development on John Wick: Chapter 5 has begun, with Thunder Road producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, franchise director and producer Chad Stahelski, and star and producer Keanu Reeves all on-board. No release window was offered.

While it makes sense that yet another mainline John Wick movie would be green lit, given John Wick: Chapter 4 took in over $440 million at the worldwide box office and each of the first four films accomplishing the rare feat of outperforming its predecessor, it perhaps does not make much sense when you consider the ending of John Wick: Chapter 4.

Warning! Spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 follow.

John Wick appears to die at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4 after, once again, defeating the bad guys. We even get to see John Wick’s gravestone, with Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) saying their farewells. But, crucially, we only see John Wick collapse from his injuries and appear to die. I don't remember getting a look at the death certificate, let's put it that way.

So, how can Reeves continue as Wick? We don’t have story details yet, but we do have quotes from some of the people putting the movie together that confirm this is a continuation of John Wick’s story.

Fogelson said: “Keanu, Chad, Basil, and Erica would not return unless they had something truly phenomenal and fresh to say with these characters and this world. We can’t wait for audiences to see where the journey takes us next.”

Iwanyk and Lee added: “It’s so important to get this story right and give John’s story the proper next step. It’s exciting to take the first step on that road.”

As for what a John Wick 5 might entail, check out our breakdown of (spoilers) John Wick: Chapter 4's ending and what it may mean for the future of the franchise. You can also check out IGN's 10/10 John Wick: Chapter 4 review.

It’s a busy time for the billion dollar John Wick franchise. In addition to the four mainline films, the John Wick Universe, as it’s called, includes two spinoff films (Ballerina, to be released June 6, and a spinoff directed by and starring Donnie Yen reprising his Caine character, set to start production this summer).

In addition, Lionsgate Television produced The Continental: From the World of John Wick for Peacock and Amazon Prime, and Lionsgate confirmed it’s developing the series John Wick: Under the High Table, which Stahelski and Keanu Reeves are executive producing.

Outside TV and films, Lionsgate recently opened an immersive John Wick experience in Las Vegas and has a John Wick AAA video game in the works.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The story behind the Metal Gear Solid Board Game is nearly as wild as the plot of a Metal Gear game, featuring a mix of delays and licensing issues, with odds stacked against it ever seeing the light of day before being rescued (much like Solid Snake rescuing Gray Fox) by CMON Games. But at long last, this cardboard adaptation of the Hideo Kojima masterpiece has finally reached the masses. From sneaking around in cardboard boxes to dynamic and exciting boss fights, the game’s tactical stealth gameplay has successfully made the jump from video games to board games. However, the whole package isn’t without its faults, leaving me feeling both satisfied and let down at the same time.

Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game is a campaign-style board game that retells the story of the first Metal Gear Solid game, originally released on the PlayStation in 1998. Designed for one to four players (at least according to the box; more on that below), the game has players move plastic miniature versions of series favorites like Meryl, Otacon, Cyborg Ninja Gray Fox, and Solid Snake himself through 14 scenarios featuring iconic moments from the game, such as the confrontation with Ocelot, changing the PAL Keycard, and, of course, taking out REX.

Unfortunately, there is one significant omission that didn’t make the cut: the final confrontations between Solid and Liquid are not recreated as playable scenarios. It’s a bummer that neither the barehanded fight on top of REX nor the Jeep escape is included. Perhaps the developers couldn’t find a way to balance or explain a 4v1 battle on REX or figure out how the escape would work with all present characters. Instead, they've opted to end on the high note of a dramatic and memorable team-up against Metal Gear REX. But in the meantime, the fan community around this game has you covered. Over on BoardGameGeek, user @Geoff907 and their wife devised and published their own unique Stage 15 for this game for you to try out, if you just absolutely need to get some of that shirtless fist-fight action into your game.

If you opt for the more expensive “Integral Edition,” the rest of the story bits that aren't told through gameplay are instead presented in a striking 109-page graphic novel with art by comic artist Kenneth Loh. It's reminiscent of the scenes in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or the Digital Graphic Novels on PSP. But MGS wouldn’t be MGS without its CODEC calls. These little burst transmissions between Snake and his support team have been faithfully adapted to this new format, with prompts directing players to specific calls in the included Codec Book, as well as pre and post-scenario briefings. I particularly appreciate the care the developers have taken to make them just as campy yet informative as those in the video game. For example, Snake refers to how many actions he can take or offers tips on beating Psycho Mantis involving “Player 2”-like trickery. Even as a game made of cardboard and dice, this still feels distinctly Metal Gear.

Players unlock new equipment, from Snake’s favorite sidearm, the Socom, to the iconic cardboard box.

Regarding gameplay, players take up to four actions per turn, chosen from those listed on their character’s unique player boards. As scenarios progress, players unlock new equipment, from Snake’s favorite sidearm, the Socom, to the iconic cardboard box, which can be used in future scenarios. This equipment expands each character’s skill pool, effectively replicating the video game’s “procure on-site” philosophy. Once players take their actions, it’s time for the enemies to act. Both generic guards and bosses have action cards that dictate their movements and behaviors, which can change depending on whether they’ve spotted the player. Guards also have a separate reaction deck used in various situations, such as spotting a knocked-out guard or investigating a noise.

Boss encounters pose their own unique challenges, forcing you out of your comfort cardboard box and requiring you to think on your feet. Each boss fight feels distinct, from Revolver Ocelot darting around while bouncing bullets off walls to the Hind D having multiple target areas to damage. Thanks to the game’s tile-based nature, each boss fight takes place on a unique, large board with special elements affecting the encounter. For example, in Ocelot’s arena, the injured Kenneth Baker can be hit and killed, adding a new way to trigger a game over. These special tweaks only enhance the excitement and tension of the encounters, as they are rarely designed to favor the players.

This element of randomness kept me on my toes, never knowing exactly how far guards would move or which way they’d turn. The added dice rolls for checking if my actions made noise or if enemy shots would hit me resulted in an experience that balanced strategy with luck. There were multiple moments where I held my breath as I pulled a guard movement card, waiting to see if I’d be spotted. I never felt the game was unfair, but I also never expected it to be kind. Metal Gear does a superb job balancing strategy and luck.

While the box suggests the game can be played with up to four players, at least for the campaign mode, I wouldn’t recommend going beyond two players. Personally, I found playing it as a solo board game offered the best experience. Each scenario specifies which of the four playable characters can be used, with the first two scenarios playable only by Snake. Only five scenarios in the entire campaign allow for four players (with no missions designed for three players), and the first four-player mission doesn’t appear until the ninth scenario.

From a narrative standpoint, this makes sense. It wouldn’t be logical for Snake to infiltrate Shadow Moses with Gray Fox at his side or for Otacon to tackle Vulcan Raven alone. But from a board game perspective, this limitation significantly impacts the experience, making it hard to convince my MGS-loving friends to play when only one of them could participate in most of the game, while the others had to wait for the last few missions. I would have loved to see optional modifiers allowing additional characters in two-player scenarios or “What if?” scenarios offering alternate viewpoints and player counts.

To the game’s credit, the developers addressed this issue by allowing up to four players in the “VR Missions” mode. This additional mode, which includes its own set of special unlockable equipment cards,

has its own caveat: a lack of content. The included VR Missions book features six mission types – Recon, Escape, and Sabotage, among others – but each type has only one associated map layout. While some tokens and traps may change between sessions, and you can swap in a boss model for extra challenge, the guard layouts and objectives remain the same. With the map never changing, once you know what to do, the mode quickly loses its luster. I hope that CMON or the community releases creative and fun new maps and missions to keep things fresh.

Where to Buy

• Get it at Amazon

More Board Games Based on Video Games

You can also check out our recent reviews of board games based on Dead Cells, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and Elden Ring.

While supplies last, Gamestop is offering the excellent Super Mario RPG remake for Nintendo Switch for only $19.99. You can get free shipping on orders over $79 or choose in-store pickup, otherwise pay a $6.99 shipping fee. This game is a brand new and sealed physical copy so you can sell or trade it off when you're done with it.

Super Mario RPG for $19.99

Arzopa is offering an excellent deal on this 16" 1080p USB Type-C portable monitor. The Arzoa Z1C is normally listed at $129.99, but you can get it for $79.99 after you clip a $10 off coupon on the product page. This is an excellent way to boost your productivity by adding on a secondary display with minimal hassle and at an affordable price. It also works well as a portable standalone display for your Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck.

Arzopa Z1C 16" 1080p USB-C Portable Monitor for $79.99

The Nintendo today! app has updated with a new Switch 2 video that shows the mysterious C button up close, as well as new music and a sound effect for when it’s pressed.

The news app updated for those who have now crossed over into April 2, the day Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct will be released, and so there is a corresponding update in the app showing the fun begins “Today!”

The C button is the focus this time. We hear new music and a sound effect for when the button is pressed. This seemingly innocuous, short clip has already sent Nintendo fans into speculation mode, with some saying the music could be the Switch 2 menu music, and the sound effect could be the sound effect users will hear when they press the C button itself.

And some are now speculating that this jingle sounds like the kind of noise you’d hear if you were activating a microphone for voice chat.

Nintendo has teased Switch 2's new C button ahead of the Direct tomorrow https://t.co/4SyXfifn56 pic.twitter.com/DAKZXPJnGC

— Nintendo Everything (@NinEverything) April 1, 2025

Here's a really fun piece of speculation based on the video. Redditor 'get_homebrewed' thinks the music in the video is similar to the music that played in the Wii U chat. And, well, yeah, it sort of matches! Check out the comparison below.

There’s a lot of Switch 2 speculation at the moment, as you’d expect given the interest in the next-gen console and how close we are to its full reveal. Earlier today, a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing potentially pointed to an upgrade for the unannounced Switch 2 Pro Controller.

The C button remains one of the top unanswered questions about Switch 2, but we also don’t know how powerful the console is, or what its new ports are used for.

The Nintendo Direct will also, hopefully, give us the full Switch 2 launch lineup of games as well as a release date, which is expected to be at some point between June and September 2025. Fingers crossed Nintendo announces the Switch 2 price, which analysts predict will be $400.

We are starting to build a picture of what to expect on Switch 2 in terms of games. There is a long list of rumored third-party titles coming to the console, and in an interview with IGN, Civilization 7 developer Firaxis called Switch 2’s apparent Joy-Con mouse mode "definitely intriguing.” French video game and accessories maker Nacon, publisher of the likes of Greedfall 2, Test Drive Unlimited, and RoboCop: Rogue City, has said it has Switch 2 games ready to go. The long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong is also rumored to be set for Switch 2. EA has said Madden, FC, and The Sims would all be a great fit for Switch 2.

Last week’s Nintendo Direct announcement of a new Virtual Game Cards feature for sharing games between systems also raised some questions, most notably one about the Nintendo Switch 2, thanks to a fine print footnote on an official Nintendo webpage.

The Switch 2 Direct airs tomorrow at 6am PT / 9am ET, and we now know it’ll last around 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, Nintendo confirmed a Nintendo Treehouse: Live | Nintendo Switch 2 presentation featuring hands-on gameplay of Nintendo Switch 2 games on April 3 and April 4 at 7am PT each day.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

We're just entering Q2 of 2025, but the year is already shaping up to be a big year for excellent video games. An increasing list of big games is set to release this year for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. In April, we'll see the new Microsoft-published turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, along with Microsoft putting Forza Horizon 5 on PS5, plust a lot more. Below, you'll find release dates for all the biggest games and expansions that have been announced for the rest of the year and beyond. Let's get right down to it.

If you're someone who likes to preorder your games, you can click the links on the platform of your choice to make sure it arrives on launch day.

April 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

April is a big month for remasters, re-platforms, and re-releases. First, The Last of Us Part II Remastered is hitting PC on April 3. The first-person puzzle game The Talos Principle: Reawakened is out a week later. The Microsoft-published Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5 are hitting PS5 this month. The JRPG series Lunar is getting remastered, as is the zombie apocalypse game Days Gone. Aside from all that, Xbox and PC owners will get the awesome-looking turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on April 24. The only platform that's not getting a major new release is Switch, but we are getting the info dump on the Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2, so at least there's that.

• Koira - April 1 - (PS5, PC)
• Nif Nif - April 1 - (Switch, PC)
• Elroy and the Aliens - April 2 - (PC)
• Steel Hunters - April 2 - (PC)
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered - April 3 - (PC)
• Roman Triumph: Survival City Builder - April 3 - (PC)
• Sand - April 3 - (PC)
• Ekoh Beach - April 4 - (PC)
• The Renovator: Origins - April 4 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch)
• Peppered: An Existential Platformer - April 7 - (PC)
• Battlefield Waltz - April 8 - (Switch)
• South of Midnight - April 8 - (Xbox, PC)
• Tiny Garden - April 8 - (PC)
• All In Abyss: Judge the Fake - April 9 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Commandos: Origins - April 9 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Descenders Next - April 9 - (Xbox, PC)
• Driveloop: Survivors - April 9 - (PC)
• Blue Prince - April 10 - (PC)
• Monster Energy Supercross 25 - April 10 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Promise Mascot Agency - April 10 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Star Overdrive - April 10 - (Switch)
• The Talos Principle: Reawakened - April 10 - (PC)
• Willow Guard - April 10 - (PC)
• Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy - April 11 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC)
• Dive the Depths - April 15 - (PC)
• Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Tape 2 - April 15 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Lushfoil Photography Sim - April 15 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Monument Valley - April 15 - (Switch)
• Monument Valley 2 - April 15 - (Switch)
• Kitchen Wars - April 16 - (PC)
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - April 17 - (PS5)
• Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree - April 17 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC)
• Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate - April 17 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Rusty Rabbit - April 17 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Wizdom Academy - April 17 - (PC)
• Lunar Remastered Collection - April 18 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Maliki Poison of the Past - April 22 - (Switch, PC)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - April 24 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves - April 24 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy - April 24 - (Switch, PC)
• Sunseed Island - April 24 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch)
• Tempest Rising - April 24 - (PC)
• Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade - April 24 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC)
• Days Gone Remastered - April 25 - (PS5)
• Badlands Crew - April 28 - (PC)
• Forza Horizon 5 - April 29 - (PS5)
• MotoGP 25 - April 30 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC)
• Conquest Dark - April 30 - (PC)
• Skin Deep - April 30 - (PC)

May 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

• High on Life - May 6 - (Switch)
• Metal Eden - May 6 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• The Midnight Walk - May 8 - (PS5, PC)
• Doom: The Dark Ages - May 15 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Capcom Fighting Collection 2 - May 16 - (PS4, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Dune: Awakening - May 20 - (PC)
• Fantasy Life i: the Girl Who Steals Time - May 21 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Onimusa 2: Samurai's Destiny - May 23 - (PS4, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• To a T - May 28 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Elden Ring: Nightreign - May 30 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Lost Soul Aside - May 30 - (PS5, PC)
• Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma - May 30 - (Switch, PC)

June 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

• Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic - June 13 - (PS5)
• Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army - June 19 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - June 26 - (PS5)
• Tamagotchi Plaza - June 27 - (Switch)

July 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

• Patapon 1+2 Replay - July 11 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 - July 11 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Shadow Labyrinth - July 18 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• No Sleep for Kaname Date - July 25 - (Switch, PC)
• Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game - July 29 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)

August 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

• Gradius Origins - August 7 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar - August 27 - (Switch, PC)
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater - August 28 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance - August 29 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)

September 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

• Hell Is Us - September 4 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Terminator 2D: No Fate - September 5 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC)
• Borderlands 4 - September 23 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)

October 2025 - Video Game Release Dates

• Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game - October 2 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Double Dragon Revive - October 23 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)

Upcoming Video Games - Release Date TBA

• 33 Immortals - 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Spring 2025 - (PS5)
• The Alters - 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Anno 117: Pax Romana - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Arc Raiders - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• ArcheAge Chronicles - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Ark 2 - TBA - (PC)
• Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian - 2025 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Ballad of Antara - 2025 - (PS5)
• Blackfrost: The Long Dark II - TBA
• Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Clockwork Revolution - TBA - (Xbox, PC)
• Coffee Talk Tokyo - 2025 - (Switch)
• Contraband - TBA - (Xbox, PC)
• Crimson Desert - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game - 2025 - (PS5)
• Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (PS5, Switch, Xbox)
• Dreams of Another - 2025 - (PS5)
• Dune: Awakening - TBA - (PS5, Xbox)
• Dying Light: The Beast - Summer 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• The Eternal Life of Goldman - Holiday 2025 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Everwild - TBA - (Xbox, PC)
• Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots - 2025 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Fable - 2026 - (Xbox, PC)
• Front Mission 3 Remake - TBA - (Switch)
• Game of Thrones: Kingsroad - 2025
• Gears of War: E-Day - TBA - (Xbox, PC)
• Gex Trilogy - Summer 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC)
• Ghost of Yotei - 2025 - (PS5)
• Grand Theft Auto 6 - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox)
• Hail Macbeth - Q1 2026 - (PC)
• Hello Kitty: Island Adventure - 2025 - (Switch)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong - TBA - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy - Early 2025 - (Switch)
• Hyper Light Breaker - Early Access Early 2025 - (PC)
• Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet - TBA - (PS5)
• John Carpenter's Toxic Commando - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Judas - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Jurassic Park: Survival - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)

• Killing Floor 3 - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter - Fall 2025 - (PS5, Switch, PC)
• Lies of P: Overture (DLC) - Summer 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Little Devil Inside - TBA - (PS5, Switch, Xbox)
• Little Nightmares 3 - 2025 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Mafia: The Old Country - Summer 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Marathon - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Marvel Cosmic Invasion - 2025 - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)
• Marvel's Blade - TBA - (Xbox, PC)
• Mecha Break - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - 2025 - (Switch)
• MindsEye - Summer 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Mio: Memories in Orbit - 2025 - (Switch)
• Mixtape - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Monument Valley 3 - Summer 2025 - (Switch)
• Moth Kubit - Spring 2025 - (Switch)
• Ninja Gaiden 4 - Fall 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• OD - TBA - (Xbox)
• Okami 2 - TBA
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword - 2026 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• The Outer Worlds 2 - 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Perfect Dark - TBA - (Xbox, PC)
• Phantom Blade 0 - TBA - (PS5)
• Phantom Hellcat - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero - 2025 - (Switch)
• Pokemon Champions - TBA - (Switch, mobile)
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A - Late 2025 - (Switch)
• PowerWash Simulator 2 - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• The Precinct - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake - 2026 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Prison Architect 2 - TBA (Xbox, PC)
• Professor Layton and the New World of Steam - 2025 - (Switch)
• Replaced - 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Rhythm Heaven Groove - 2026 - (Switch)
• Rift of the Necrodancer - 2025 - (Switch)
• Saros - 2026 - (PS5)
• Screamer - 2026 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX - 2025 - (Switch)
• The Sinking City 2 - 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Slay the Spire 2 - early access in 2025 - (PC)
• Sleight of Hand - 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Sonic Racing CrossWorlds - TBA - (PS5, Switch, Xbox, PC)

• Star Overdrive - 2025 - (Switch)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake - TBA - (PS5)
• State of Decay 3 - TBA (Xbox, PC)
• Styx: Blades of Greed - Fall 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Terminator: Survivors - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Tides of Annihilation - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream - 2026 - (Switch)
• Turok Origins - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 - H1 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Venus Vacation Prism - early 2025 - (PS5, PC)
• Winter Burrow - Early 2025 - (Xbox, PC)
• Witchbrook Winter - 2025 - (Switch, Xbox, PC)
• The Witcher 4 - TBA
• The Wolf Among Us 2 - TBA - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Wolverine - TBA - (PS5)
• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers - 2025 - (PS5, Xbox, PC)
• Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall - TBA - (Switch, Xbox, PC)

For more release date fun, check out our ongoing list of 4K UHD and Blu-ray release dates.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on (long inhale) Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and the social network formerly known as Twitter.

As announced by Sony Pictures at CinemaCon 2025, the fourth MCU Spider-Man film will officially be titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The latest adventure for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is directed by Daniel Destin Cretton of Shang-Chi fame, and swings into theaters on July 31, 2026. Anticipation for this new film is at a fever pitch, especially since Spider-Man: No Way Home was a smash hit with critics and audiences. No new details were given about the film at Sony’s panel, but the title gives us plenty to chew on since, unlike the previous MCU Spider-Man film titles, this one is a direct reference to a story from the comics.

Brand New Day is one of the more famous Spider-Man stories because of its connection to the notorious One More Day storyline, and the use of this title may give big hints for Spider-Man’s future in the MCU. Let’s take a look at what Brand New Day may mean for Peter Parker’s upcoming film.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Explained

To properly explain Brand New Day, we first have to go over the events that led into it. During the Civil War crossover event, Peter Parker shocked everyone by revealing his secret identity to the world. He did this because he was part of Iron Man’s pro-registration side of the war, which required superheroes to register their identities with the government. However, the reveal of Peter’s identity led the Kingpin to order his assassination, only for the shooter to miss Peter and hit Aunt May instead. With May in the hospital, Peter looks for any help he can get to save her… which he receives in the form of Mephisto, who offers to save May’s life in exchange for undoing his marriage to Mary Jane.

To say that this story was controversial would be a severe understatement. Spider-Man making a deal with the Devil out of editorial mandate is well known as one of the most hated comic stories of all time. But what’s done is done, and that led to Brand New Day, starting with Amazing Spider-Man #546.

Brand New Day was a reset of Spidey’s status quo, and is less of an individual story in its own right than a branding exercise over a series of smaller arcs that ran all the way until Amazing #564. The overall story is about establishing what’s happened to the timeline after the Mephisto deal takes place, with the big ticket items including the world forgetting Spider-Man’s secret identity, Peter and Mary Jane having never been married, and the return of Harry Osborn. (He’d been dead for a while. Oh, and this one turned out to be a clone.)

Peter and MJ’s history was altered so they’d only been in a long-term relationship that was already over. New supporting cast and villains were introduced during this period, such as forensic scientist and future Spidey love interest Carlie Cooper, police officer Vincent Gonzalez, redheaded superhero Jackpot, Martin Li aka Mr. Negative, the Goblin-esque villain Menace (later revealed to be Harry Osborn love interest Lily Hollister), and the bane of every Insomniac Spider-Man player’s existence, Screwball. Brand New Day tried to rejuvenate the Spider-Man franchise by relaunching it, and although fan reception was mixed to say the least, the era was a pivotal moment in the history of Spider-Man comics.

What Does Brand New Day Mean for the MCU?

If you remember the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home, you may recognize that some elements of that film already resemble aspects of One More Day and Brand New Day. Doctor Strange’s spell that Peter botches was supposed to erase the world’s knowledge of his secret identity, and in the end Strange needs to cast a new spell that results in everyone in the world forgetting who Peter is. This includes his love interest Michelle “MJ” Jones and best pal Ned Leeds, as well as all of Peter’s superhero friends. Peter receiving supernatural interference that results in the world forgetting that he’s Spider-Man and removing the Peter/MJ romance from the equation means that No Way Home is now effectively a loose adaptation of One More Day.

With Brand New Day starting a new era for Tom Holland’s Spidey franchise, we might now have some clues as to what characters will be included. Peter ran into Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin in No Way Home via the power of the multiverse, but could the MCU’s take on the Osborns finally make their debut? Harry being Peter’s new bestie would make a lot of sense with Ned no longer knowing him. As well, Stranger Things alum Sadie Sink has already been cast, with the two biggest theories as to her role being either an officially named Mary Jane Watson or longtime X-Men member Jean Grey. However, now that we know the title is Brand New Day, an outside the box choice could be her playing Carlie Cooper as a new love interest for Peter.

As for bad guys, could Mr. Negative be in the running for Spidey’s new nemesis? Fans of the comics and the Insomniac Spider-Man games know that Martin Li is associated with charity organization F.E.A.S.T. (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training), which actually made a blink and you’ll miss it cameo in No Way Home as the place where Aunt May works. The Darkforce wielding crime lord and his gang the Inner Demons are some of the most prominent Spider-Man foes to never appear in a live-action film. We doubt that Lily Hollister/Menace will be the new villain, but she could still appear in some capacity if the film decides to lay groundwork for the MCU’s Osborns.

Of course, we can’t discount the possibility that the movie is only using the title Brand New Day and will chart its own course. The MCU has a history of doing that, with films like Age of Ultron and Infinity War not having much at all to do with their comic counterparts. Perhaps Brand New Day is merely a signifier that this is a new direction for the Spider-Man franchise after the Home trilogy.

It is also entirely possible that Brand New Day will avoid these newer characters and undo the spell cast at the end of No Way Home, allowing Peter’s old friends to return to the series. However, that would be a missed opportunity to not use No Way Home’s ending to tell a more grounded, street level Spider-Man story. Although with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars on the way, we’d be surprised if Peter doesn’t wind up in some more multiversal mischief sooner or later. We’ll all find out when the film arrives next July.

What do you think will happen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Let us know in the comments!

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

Sonos doesn't discount its popular speakers very often, so it's a wise investment to jump on a good sale whenever you see one. Right now, both Sonos direct and Amazon are offering one of Sonos' best speakers – the Sonos Arc soundbar – for only $599 after a hefty $300 off instant discount. This is the lowest price we've seen for the Sonos Arc and beats out last year's Black Friday deal by $100. In fact, this is currently less expensive than a refurbished Sonos Arc SL which isn't even equipped with a microphone for voice assistant functionality.

Sonos Arc Soundbar for $599 ($300 Off)

Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have revealed another Nightfarer making their way into Elden Ring Nightreign. The bow-wielding Ironeye will be one of the playable characters in the co-op action game, and they're bringing some pretty hefty weaponry to Limveld.

The core of Ironeye's kit is, as you might expect, dealing damage from afar with ranged attacks. The Ironeye starts with a bow and specializes in Dexterity-based weaponry, so they're able to add some extra damage to any team that needs some long-range support.

Bows are especially useful in Elden Ring Nightreign, as they offer the ability to revive a downed party member from a distance rather than up-close. Given some of the up-close combat footage we see in today's trailer, below, it seems like skilled Ironeye players won't have an issue with getting within arm's reach either.

Of course, you'll still be able to loot and utilize whatever weaponry you can scavenge while running throughout Limveld in Elden Ring Nightreign. Picking the Ironeye won't limit you to just bows or anything. But hey, playing to your strengths will probably help when it comes to surviving the night in Nightreign.

FromSoft's survival action co-op game Elden Ring Nightreign isn't far off now, with a May 30, 2025 release date looming just off in the distance. The studio has already confirmed Nightreign will continue to receive more bosses and characters, even via DLC per a store page listing.

So even if Ironeye isn't your cup of tea, perhaps another adventurer would be. Though, if you want to help your team, lobbing arrows from the backline to thin out the horde certainly isn't a bad way to go about it. Especially if they're absolutely massive arrows.

While you wait, be sure to check out our own hands-on impressions with Elden Ring Nightreign here.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

It’s April, and as we all know, a new month can only mean one single solitary thing: new LEGO sets. This month only has a handful of new LEGO releases, but most of them are big and awesome. That includes a huge Beauty and the Beast Castle, a new take on The Shire from The Lord of the Rings, and more. Let’s dive in and see all the coolest new LEGO sets coming in April 2025.

LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Shire

LEGO Beauty and the Beast Castle

LEGO Ideas River Steamboat

LEGO Icons Tudor Corner Is Available at Amazon

More New LEGO Releases

• LEGO Marvel Iron Man’s Laboratory: Hall of Armor - $54.99
• LEGO Marvel The Hulk Truck vs. Thanos - $34.99
• LEGO Yellow Travel Suitcase - $14.99

These are literally the only other sets releasing this month. It’s a slow month! But when you have three bangers like the Shire, the Beauty and the Beast Castle, and the River Steamboat, you can drop the mic and walk off the stage as far as I’m concerned. It’s a good month.

LEGO Gift With Purchase

The current Gift with Purchase is Easter Bunny Surprise. This is a set you get for free from the LEGO Store when you make a purchase of $75 or more. It’s a cute li’l guy with seasonal significance, and LEGO says it’s worth $19.99. Who are we to argue?

LEGO April Fools: Minifigures with Hair

LEGO’s April Fools 2025 prank is a fun one. LEGO is unveiling a (hopefully) fake project in the 1970s in which it briefly considered putting real hair on minifigures. Truly horrifying stuff.

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

Hulu has been around for a while and, for our money, it's one of the absolute best streaming services available. From great movies like Anatomy of a Fall and Prey to excellent television series like the Golden Globe-winning Shogun, Abbott Elementary, and The Bear there is always something awesome to watch. Oscar Best Picture winner Anora is also now available to stream on the service, so there's no better time than now to get set up with a plan.

Below, we've detailed all of the best Hulu deals and bundles so you can get started on your streaming adventures with its library right away. This includes the Hulu, Disney+, and Max streaming bundle, which starts at just $16.99/month and is currently the best value available for the streaming services following the Disney Plus and Hulu price hikes. To see even more streaming deals, make sure to check out our roundups of the best Disney Plus deals and the best Max deals.

How to Get The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle

The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle can be purchased on any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across all three platforms. If you're looking to cut down on streaming costs and currently own all three of these, this is an excellent bundle to invest in. It'll save you quite a bit compared to what you'd pay for the three of them separately per month - 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.

Hulu deal for students — Get Hulu (With Ads) for just $1.99/month

If you're a student enrolled in a university (a US Title IV accredited college or university, per Hulu's website), you can sign up for Hulu (With Ads) for $1.99 a month. That's an excellent deal if you're a student, saving you $8 on the usual monthly price.

Hulu subscription tiers

Hulu: Bundle to Best

If you want a more affordable option when it comes to a Hulu subscription, you can't go wrong with a bundle, and Hulu has several to choose from:

• Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) — Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) is $82.99/month and includes Disney+ and ESPN+. It also gives you access to more than 75 channels with live TV and unlimited DVR functionality. The Hulu + Live TV plan also has a three-day free trial to test out the service.
• Hulu + Live TV (Ad-Free) — The ad-free version of Hulu+Live TV is $95.99/month and comes with ad-free versions of Hulu and Disney Plus, although ESPN still shows ads.
• Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic — This is the most economic bundle. It will set you back $10.99/month and comes with subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu. It lets you stream on multiple devices at once and comes with ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Basic — This bundle adds ESPN+ into the mix alongside Disney+ and Hulu, bumping up the price to $16.99/month. You can also download and watch select content on ESPN+ at this level.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium — This bundle is $26.99/month and comes with ESPN+ (with ads) and ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu. You can also download select content across all three streaming services.

What can you watch on Hulu?

There is a bonkers amount of shows and movies you can watch on Hulu. Let's start at the top and simply talk about the verticals on offer with the base subscription, because if we also talk about what is available via Disney+, ESPN+, or live TV, we'll be here forever. (You can also sync up Hulu with Max to gain access to things like Succession and House of the Dragon.)

Here's what you get:

• Network and Hulu Original television shows (AMC, Adult Swim, ABC, A&E, FX, etc.)
• Movies (HBO, Hulu Originals, anime films, etc.)
• Sports (NHL, Soccer, MLB, Auto Racing, NFL, College Football, PGA, Tennis, etc.)
• News (ABC News Live, Good Morning America, World News Tonight, 20/20, The View, etc.)

Hulu television

Hulu has some amazing shows, both those that are finished and many which are ongoing. For comedy, there are plenty of options to choose from, including New Girl, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, What We Do In The Shadows, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Broad City, Abbott Elementary, and so much more.

There are also some big Hulu originals to watch, including The Bear, The Old Man, The Handmaid's Tale, and Only Murders In The Building.

As far as animated fare, there are modern adult classics like Rick and Morty and Bob's Burgers, as well as Futurama, Family Guy, and King of the Hill. Anime staples like Cowboy Bebop are also available. And if you want to bring more youth-friendly fun, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and Curious George are just a small sample of what Hulu has available.

The future of Hulu

Hulu isn't going anywhere. As a matter of fact, beyond it being awarded the best streaming service by us and receiving a 9/10 in our updated Hulu review, it was bought in full by Disney in November 2023 and the House of Mouse has created a one-app experience for those bundling Hulu and Disney+. With an FX partnership, Hulu is also home to those shows, including the latest drama miniseries, Shogun.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Original story from Brian Barnett.

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has been sharing quite a few insights on the games industry since his departure from Sony. Among them, he says it might be time for Sony to reconsider its adherence to cutting-edge graphics.

In an interview with AVWatch (translated via Genki_JPN), Yoshida said it's time for PlayStation to reconsider its focus.

"Up until now, PlayStation's DNA has been driven by values such as 'cutting-edge graphics' that have continued since [Ken Kutaragi]'s time," Yoshida said. "Users have also expected that from PlayStation games. However, it's about time we have to reconsider that.

"Of course, I think it's necessary to provide the very best (in terms of graphics quality) to those who want it," Yoshida continued. "But, in order to continue to be popular with users in a broad sense, we naturally have to change our way of thinking."

There's little doubt that games like Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part 2, or other major Sony exclusives have put a lot of focus into graphical fidelity. Yet Yoshida's comments indicate it might be time to reconsider approach.

Whether that's a focus on relatively smaller experiences like Astro Bot, or a complete pivot to lo-fi or stylized graphics, it's not suggested. But with the price of making a big, AAA game like those in Sony's stable seemingly only going up, fresh approaches might be welcome.

This isn't the only insight Yoshida has shared in his interview rounds. The former PlayStation exec also discussed NieR: Automata's impact on the games industry, especially in Japan. Whether that's the blueprint for a renewed approach to games or not, I certainly wouldn't complain about more games like NieR: Automata going around.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

It honestly shocks me that there aren’t more heist games, because I can think of few experiences more awesome than carrying out my boyhood lawbreaking fantasies with the lads. Thankfully, after more than a decade away from the glamor and gunpowder of criminal activity, a group of familiar faces behind Payday: The Heist and Payday 2 have taken a break from making the insanely difficult co-op shooter GTFO to go back to what they do best. And that is, make games where you and your friends work together to break the law by pulling off a series of elaborate and high-risk burglaries for no other reason than to satisfy your wanton greed. But where the Payday series was and continues to be a fairly standard game about robbing banks, the upcoming Den of Wolves adds a compelling sci-fi world with a gritty, cyberpunk flair, multi-phase planning and execution of break-ins where you can decide exactly how you want to pull it off, and most importantly: the ability to dive into the minds of others to steal the valuable secrets hidden within their brains. If that doesn’t get your blood pumping, I don’t know what will!

Den of Wolves takes place in the extremely dark near future where the world’s technology ecosystem imploded due to hackers, and corporations were given free rein to do whatever they pleased to combat the crisis, including but not limited to human experimentation, and building dangerous and unpredictable technologies (y’know, your basic cyberpunk hellscape stuff) so long as they kept their activities contained to the newly minted libertarian dystopia and Andrew Ryan’s wet dream: Midway City. Naturally this leads to corporations storing their data straight inside totally unhackable human brains, transforming the host to all that delicious data into a wonderful little flesh battery, from the looks of it. But we’re hardened criminals, guys. Are we really gonna let a super creepy meat computer locked away in a bank vault get in the way of us pulling off heists? I think not!

To that end, Den of Wolves has you and three friends planning and carrying out a series of felonies in Midway City, where you’ll overcome those pesky brain-based security systems by mind-melding with victims to rip off their secrets and make off with the loot. My demo focused on a single operation where my crew and I planned and executed a high-stakes assault on a bank currently under new management by a very aggressive street gang with power and tech enough to rival world governments – pretty nasty stuff. In this particular case, our plan of attack was to use a swarm of drones acquired from a previous robbery to ambush a number of these gang members to gain entrance into the reinforced stronghold, then go loud as possible, shooting up the place with reckless abandon until we found what we were looking for. In this instance, the big prize was the data inside someone’s head who was locked safely away inside a vault and scarcely resembled a human anymore; truly just straight nightmare fuel, if I’m being honest.

Much of this caper went off in a way any Payday fan will immediately recognize: we used a variety of automatic weapons to smash and grab everything in sight while holding off waves of folks who were quite mad about being ripped off, deploying and repairing drills that break every couple seconds even in a sci-fi future, apparently. Naturally, cooperation was critical to our success, as we laid down cover fire for one another, revived downed teammates who got caught in a bad spot, and called out to one another as we heaved bags full of loot across the ruined fortress. There really wasn’t a whole lot new about the foundation of this heist game, aside from maybe the consumable equipment abilities that let my squad do things like throw down a temporary barrier that provided some limited cover in the middle of a fight.

But all that changed when the bank vault doors slid open, revealing the prize we were chasing after: a caterpillar-like human lump locked away to contain valuable secrets. After a little bit of hacking, we lept from the physical plane and into the mind of this person to hack open their brain and make off with their secrets. Now, I don’t know what exactly is going on in the mind of this clearly and understandably disturbed individual, but what we found waiting for us inside his dome was an unsettling and surreal series of landscapes that we had to leap between to gain access to their thoughts. And since we were on a timer, we couldn’t afford to take our time or slip up, lest we get booted back out to the real world and have to continue to hold out against enemies before getting another crack at it.

This was the only brain I dove into in my limited time with Den of Wolves, but I was told that every mind would present unique challenges to play against, not just the high-stakes platforming of our current mission. And while it remains to be seen just how interesting or how much variety these will have, this section completely shook up an otherwise familiar formula in a seriously cool way. I love shooting at rival criminal gangs and robo cops as much as the next convicted felon, but it was really neat to jump back and forth between reality-based FPS combat and completely bizarre cooperative platforming in a geometrically impossible world of imagination. That really helps to set this one apart from what I worried might just be a Payday sequel with a cyberpunk skin plastered over it. Instead, it seems Den of Wolves plans on taking some real risks and trying stuff that makes it weird and interesting, and I’m absolutely down for that.

In between trips into our poor, troubled victim’s mind, we were yanked right back out to where we left off, only milliseconds apparently having elapsed in meat space while we went parading around in someone’s noggin. After jumping back into his skull for a few additional servings of deeply uncomfortable jumping puzzles, we got what we came for and made our exit by blowing up some windows with high explosives and diving out to what I can only hope was some Assassin's Creed-style hay piles waiting conveniently placed just below.

Though Den of Wolves borrows quite a bit from Payday and other crime games, the setting, elaborate planning mechanics, and especially its surreal mind-hacking mechanics all made me feel pretty confident that developer 10 chambers’ return to the wonderful world of heisting has a good chance of being another stunning success. Here’s hoping they can pull off the score of a lifetime when this thing eventually makes its way into early access on PC.

Here's your best opportunity to sign up for an Audible membership at a stellar price. Starting now and running through April 30, you can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. Premium Plus is Audible's highest tier plan and normally costs $14.95/mo. As a additional subscription perk, you get a free audiobook of your choice for each of those three months and you get to keep them indefinitely.

Both new and currently expired Audible customers are eligible

Anyone who doesn't currently have an active Audible membership should be eligible. That includes new subscribers as well as existing members whose subscriptions have since expired. There's always a small your-mileage-may-vary disclaimer with these types of promotions, but fortunately it's easy to check if you qualify: log into your account, and if you see the $0.99/mo banner right on Amazon's Audible page then you're eligible for this promotion.

3 Months of Audible Premium Plus for $0.99 per Month

Sony Pictures has announced a Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc release date that will see the anime film tear into US theaters October 29, 2025.

Sony announced the news during its CinemaCon presentation last night, revealing it had acquired worldwide theatrical rights (excluding Japan) to bring the adaptation of creator Tatsuki Fujimoto’s work to audiences this fall. It’s an update that will see US viewers tuning in come late October, with 80+ other countries set to see its release date arrive September 24, 2025. Toho will oversee its release in Japan September 19, 2025.

Sony Pictures and MAPPA are bringing Chainsaw Man: The Movie to theatres October 29! #ChainsawManMovie pic.twitter.com/Crh5auT3jw

— Chainsaw Man EN (@Chainsaw_EN) April 1, 2025

The Chainsaw Man movie was announced in December 2023 and is a direct sequel to the MAPPA-produced anime adaptation that revved up in 2022. It follows Denji, a boy who gets a second shot at life after he makes a deal with a Chainsaw Devil dog named Pochita. The power to continue forward gives him the ability to sprout chainsaws from his arms, head, and more as he grows to become more than a simple Chainsaw Man.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc will introduce new character Reze, a major name from the original manga the anime is based on. It's directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara and written by Hiroshi Seko. The entire Chainsaw Man voice cast has been brought back to reprise their roles in the film.

Like so many others, IGN fell in love with Chainsaw Man’s first season, awarding it a 9/10 in our review. For more on how Denji’s chainsaw abilities are already cutting into viewers’ minds, click here.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Considering what it offers, Disney Plus is one of the best streaming services on the block. From classic Disney animated films to the latest Marvel shows and Star Wars movies, excellent kids' programming like Bluey, and so much more, Disney Plus puts an incredible range of high-quality viewing options at your fingertips. And with so much to check out, including season 2 of Andor on April 22, you'll want to find a plan that best suits you. We're here to help.

At the moment, one of the best Disney Plus bundle deals available is the massive Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle. This starts at $16.99/month to get you all three streaming services with ads. It's one of the best bundles available at the moment, but we've included more Disney Plus bundle deals worth exploring below. If you're looking for more streaming deals from other services, check out the best Hulu deals and bundles and the best Max deals.

How to Get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle

The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle can be purchased through any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across the three platforms.

If you currently own all three and want to cut down on costs, this is a great way to bundle them together and save big on what you'd pay for them separately per month – 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.

What Is the New Paid Sharing Plan on Disney Plus?

In an effort to crack down on password sharing, Disney has unveiled a paid sharing plan for individuals outside of your household. Basically, anyone using your account that's not within your household will have to be added as an "Extra Member" to your account. This costs an additional $6.99/month for the ad-supported Basic subscription and $9.99/month for the Premium ad-free plan, and only one Extra Member slot is available per account. You can learn more from Disney's paid sharing explainer here.

What Are the Different Disney+ Subscription Tiers?

Disney+ is available in a couple of different tiers. You can get the least expensive option (called Disney+ Basic) for $9.99/month, which gives you access to everything except the ability to download select shows to watch on the go. This tier is ad supported. If you want to get rid of ads and be able to download certain shows, you can spring for the $15.99/month or $159.99/year Disney+ Premium package.

What Are the Different Disney+ Bundles?

Want a way to save on your Disney+ membership? Bundles are a great, affordable way to go. As far as bundles go, there are two ad-supported bundles and two ad-free bundles. Here's the breakdown:

• Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic is $10.99/month and comes with subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu. This plan lets you stream on multiple devices at once and comes with ad-supported versions of both services.
• Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium is $19.99/month and comes with Hulu and Disney+ with no ads. It also includes Disney+ Premium features like the ability to download shows to watch on the go.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Basic adds ESPN+ (With Ads) to the mix alongside Disney+ (With Ads) and Hulu (With Ads), bumping up the price to $16.99/month. You can also download and watch select content on ESPN+ at this level.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium is $26.99/month and comes with ESPN+ (With Ads) and ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu. You can also download select content across all three streaming services.

Disney+ Gift Cards

If you want to help someone out and give them a gift that will keep on giving, gifting a one-year Disney+ card is a great way to go. It provides all the great things Disney+ offers and it costs a fraction of what it would take to buy even a small sampling of those movies physically.

What Can You Watch on Disney+?

There is a bonkers array of shows and movies you can watch on Disney+. Let's start at the top and simply talk about the verticals on offer here with the base subscription.

Here's what you get:

• Disney
• Pixar
• Marvel
• Star Wars
• National Geographic

Disney on Disney+

On the Disney front, you have awesome classic movies like The Sword In The Stone, Robin Hood, 101 Dalmations, Hercules, and Sleeping Beauty, modern classics like The Princess & The Frog, Tangled, and Frozen, and a wide range of animated shows, including Phineas & Ferb.

You also gain access to a ton of vintage content like Escape to Witch Mountain, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Love Bug, and a whole lot more. The Disney Junior section is home to absolutely top tier animated shows like Bluey (which, for my money, is worth the price of admission on its own).

There's way more on offer, too, including a ton of Muppet movies, new live-action films and adaptions, nature programs, documentaries, Pirates of the Caribbean, and musical programs featuring Taylor Swift (like her wildly popular The Eras Tour), Elton John, Ed Sheeran, and more.

Pixar on Disney+

When it comes to computer generated films, Pixar stands alone. Kicking off the revolution with Toy Story, Pixar has consistently put out fantastic films, and they are all here. From the Toy Story series to Finding Nemo, Cars, and more recent hits like Inside Out 2, there is a ton to love.

Beyond even that, there are incredible shorts like Bao and Party Central, as well as a wide range of originals and series based on major films, such as Dory's Reef Cam, Forky Asks A Question, Cars On The Road, and more.

Marvel on Disney+

The MCU has become a true juggernaut, and there are many viewers who subscribe to Disney+ purely for access to nearly the entire MCU lineup of films and shows.

Whether you are a fan of the blockbuster action films, you are an appreciator of the classic 90s runs of "Saturday morning" cartoons like X-Men, or you are currently vibing to the funky theme of the 1981 Spider-Man series, there is a ton of Marvel to enjoy on Disney+. And with new movies and shows being added to the MCU all the time, including most recently Deadpool & Wolverine and Your Friendly Neigborhood Spider-Man, there is always more coming.

Star Wars on Disney+

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a film that changed everything. The original Star Wars is a seminal sci-fi fantasy work that inspired generations of creators, but there is still nothing quite like that far away galaxy. Disney+ grants access to all things Star Wars, including the remastered versions of the original trilogy (hopefully some day they'll add the theatrical cuts, too), as well as the prequels and sequels.

You can also stay up-to-date on all the latest shows, including The Mandalorian and the critically-lauded Andor, which some viewers say is "the best Star Wars has ever been." There are also fantastic short series like Star Wars Visions, and longer-form series like The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, Young Jedi Adventures, and a whole lot more.

Take a look at our list of Disney+ alernatives for additional streaming services. To play while you watch, see our roundup of the best LEGO Disney sets. For more deals, dive into our Daily Deals page.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
Original story from Brian Barnett.

Whether you're looking to save on games, storage, or accessories, there are plenty of Nintendo Switch deals to check out right now. We've gathered up some of the best Switch deals currently available, including Super Mario RPG down to $20 at GameStop. You can see this deal and even more of our favorites at the moment below. For more updates on the latest discounts, follow @IGNDeals on Twitter/X.

When Is the Nintendo Switch 2 Expected?

At long last, the Nintendo Switch 2 has been revealed. While we don't know when this console will officially be released, we do know that there'll be a Nintendo Switch 2 Direct on April 2, 2025 at 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST that'll hopefully end with some preorder information. If you simply can't wait for that day, though, we have good news: you can register your interest at Best Buy. This is a smart idea so you can stay up to date on preorders via email. For more information on preorders and what to expect from the Nintendo Switch 2 this year, check out our Nintendo Switch 2 buying guide.

Nintendo Switch OLED with Super Mario Bros Wonder Bundle

Best Nintendo Switch Game Deals

While Woot's Spring Sale is still going strong - with great deals on Sonic X Shadow Generations, Princess Peach: Showtime, and more - one of our favorite deals at the moment is on Super Mario RPG at GameStop. This game has gotten a massive 67% discount to $19.99, so if you've had it on your radar now is the time to get it. You can see that deal and many more of our favorites above.

Nintendo Switch Console Deals

Preorder the LEGO Mario Kart Set

Best Switch Micro SD Card Deals

The best Switch SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, especially with the Switch successor on the horizon. Therefore, you're going to want to opt for the latest in SD card tech, which is a micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 memory card. That's a lot of random letters, so to save you a bit of time we've left our top suggestions and deals below for your convenience.

Best Switch Power Bank Deals

Looking for a new power bank to keep your Switch charged up? At Amazon, this INIU power bank has gotten a great discount down to just $15.99 and the Anker 737 has dropped down to $99.99 after clipping the $10 coupon on the store page. The former is a limited time deal as well, so you'll want to be quick to scoop it up at this price.

Best Nintendo Switch Accessory Deals

Whether you're looking for a new controller or case for your Switch, there are quite a few different accessory deals that are worth checking out. Here, we've listed just a few of our favorite discounts at the moment, including a deal on the PDP gaming bundle (which comes with an AIRLITE wired headset and REMATCH wired pro controller) and a Princess Peach carrying case.

More Accessory Deals:

• PowerA Joy Con Comfort Grips for Nintendo Switch - Black for $9.88
• PowerA Enhanced Nintendo Switch Controller Wireless - Black for $34.99

When Should You Buy a Nintendo Switch?

The short answer is that you should buy a Nintendo Switch whenever there’s any kind of sale, regardless of the time of year. Amazon will likely offer the same console bundles on any other sale as it will on Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day, so there’s no real reason to wait if you’re in need of a Nintendo Switch.

That being said, there are sometimes some unique bundles and promotions during Black Friday that you won’t find any other time of the year. They usually include additional games (like the famous Mario Kart 8 bundle) or Switch accessories for free, but quantities tend to be limited. As always, do your research into the seller before you make a purchase and keep in mind that the Nintendo Switch 2 is on the horizon.

Where to Buy a Nintendo Switch in 2025

• Nintendo Switch Console for $299.00
• Nintendo Switch Lite Console for $199.00

With how expensive gaming is getting in 2025, we're trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We've got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as PlayStation and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand-new offers. If you're trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Marvel Rivals’ Venom twerk emote is finally here, and to no one’s surprise, it has resulted in a swarm of twerking Venoms in nearly every Marvel Rivals match.

Load up NetEase Games’ hero shooter today, April 1, and you’ll no doubt be met by at least a few Venoms throwing it back. It’s a calculated release meant to coincide with all of the other gags polluting the internet today. The emote is also completely free to obtain, so the low barrier to entry, coupled with April Fools’ Day, has Marvel Rivals fans acting up, to say the least.

Atomfall looks like a hit, with 1.5 million players reached and, ahem, 300,000 cups of tea drank.

Rebellion’s brand new IP set in the north of England is the company’s most successful launch in its 32-year history, it said. Rebellion is the developer behind the popular Sniper Elite series of games, as well as the spin-off Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army entries.

Here's the official blurb:

A UK-based post-apocalyptic survival-action game, Atomfall is inspired by the real life Windscale nuclear incident in the 1950s. Players will embark on a fictionalized adventure meeting a cast of weird and wonderful characters as they try to uncover the mystery and escape the quarantine zone.

“We are delighted that so many players are enjoying Atomfall,” said Jason Kingsley CBE, CEO and co-founder of Rebellion.

“To have surpassed the 1 million players in such a short space of time speaks volumes for the creativity and dedication of the entire team here at Rebellion. Our size and stability mean that we can take risks to create something as different as Atomfall. Happily, that risk is paying off.

“We are a British company, and the game is a true reflection of that. Not only is it set in the lush, beautiful countryside but Atomfall also draws inspiration from so many classic British books, films and TV series.

“We hope that players continue to enjoy exploring the world of Atomfall and are looking forward to future content for the game.”

While Atomfall launched simultaneously across PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Series X and S and Xbox One, it also released on Game Pass as a day-one title, which will have significantly boosted player numbers.

Rebellion did not say how many copies of the game were sold, however, preferring, like Assassin’s Creed Shadows maker Ubisoft, to go down the player number route. But it did provide some fun stats to back up it announcement.

Over 316,000 Atomfall players, for example, have killed the scientist at the very beginning of the game. In total there have been over 3.7 million kills using the cricket bat, while over 4 million pasties and 300,000 cups of tea have been consumed.

IGN's Atomfall review returned an 8/10. We said: "Atomfall is a compelling, post-apocalyptic survival story that satisfyingly bends to your choices and discoveries no matter which direction you take."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo's next Direct will take place on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 and will focus on the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo has confirmed the broadcast will be roughly 60 minutes long, and IGN will have a live watch-party, along with a live-reaction NVC post-show where fans can tune-in for a deep dive of what is revealed.

How to Watch the Nintendo Direct for April 2025

The upcoming Nintendo Direct will take place on Wednesday, April 2 at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BST. IGN will be doing a live watch-along party on IGN platforms with our very own Nintendo Voice Chat crew, followed a post-show by a breakdown of everything we learn in the Direct, immediately following the broadcast.

Below, you can find all the places to watch IGN's Live Watch Party and NVC Post Show:

• IGN.com (homepage)
• IGN’s YouTube Channel
• IGN's Twitch Channel
• IGN's Facebook Channel
• IGN’s Twitter

What to Expect From the Nintendo Direct for April 2025

The successor to the Nintendo Switch was announced in January, with a reveal trailer that showed off the new handheld console visually while sharing some details, but did not dive into many specifics. We're expecting to find out hardware details, including (hopefully) how powerful the Switch 2 will be, what the Joy-Con "C" button is used for, and everything else from screen resolution to what all the ports do on the console.

We're also hoping to hear about confirmed games for the Nintendo Switch 2, as lists of games that will reportedly be releasing on the console have been circulating. And lastly, we're hoping for a release date or any preorder news, as last week according to a Best Buy Canada listing, preorders will go live on the same day as the Direct on April 2.

What would you like to see revealed in the Nintendo Direct for Switch 2? Let us know in the comments!

This article contains SPOILERS for the original “USS Callister” episode.

“From the very start, I thought I'd like to keep this story going,” Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker recently told IGN about his acclaimed series’ first-ever sequel episode, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”, which premieres with the entire seventh season on Netflix on April 10th.

“USS Callister” was the first episode of Black Mirror, Season 4 back in 2017. In it, twisted video game creator Robert Daly (sublimely played by Jesse Plemons) subjected sentient digital clones of his coworkers to his personal brand of terror within Infinity, the hugely popular MMO he programmed.

Within his game, which is modeled after Daly’s favorite TV show, Space Fleet (itself a riff on Star Trek), Daly is the captain of the starship USS Callister and his colleagues are the bridge crew who must do his bidding and placate his monstrous ego no matter what. Cristin Milioti played Nanette Cole, a meek programmer who inadvertently found herself on Daly’s bad side and, in both the game and real life, helps engineer his downfall. The real and virtual Daly is left for dead at the end of that episode, with the digital Nanette taking command of the Callister.

Milioti returns for “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” with both the real and digital Nanette front and center this time around. “When we last saw Nanette, she had discovered that actually, she was more than capable of rising to the occasion and that she could be her best self in the virtual game world. She was the captain, the leader, she stood up to their oppressor and defeated him,” Milioti said.

“Now she's found that she's not the captain she thought she was, she is failing both the crew and herself and has run out of ideas as to how to get them out of an infinite, dangerous, and extremely boring existence. She's dealing with some of the same let-downs she would have to deal with in the real world, in fact. She's at her wits’ end, and once again, desperate to escape her situation.”

Also reprising their roles for the sequel are Jimmi Simpson (as Walton), Billy Magnussen (Karl Valdack), Milanka Brooks (Elena Tulaska), Osy Ikhile (Nate Packer), and Paul G. Raymond (Kabir Dudani). (Michaela Coel, who played Shania Lowry, was unable to return due to scheduling issues, according to Brooker.) Toby Haynes is back in the director’s chair, while Brooker and “USS Callister” co-writer William Bridges penned the sequel with Bisha K. Ali and Bekka Bowling.

“I remember thinking I like these characters, which is not something you can always say about Black Mirror and people in general. Quite often, we feature quite unpleasant characters or deeply flawed characters, but I was very fond of the crew of the Callister. And obviously at the end of the first one, they find themselves flying out of the frying pan and into the fire in many ways in that they are in a massively multiplayer, procedurally generated universe and kind of threatened by casual gamers,” Brooker recalled.

Scroll through the gallery below for four exclusive new images from "USS Callister: Into Infinity":

Development on the sequel ended up taking years, prolonged by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the entertainment industry’s dual labor strikes as well as the busy schedules of its cast. While Brooker said there were writers’ rooms held for the seventh season during the pandemic, cracking the code for what would become “USS Callister: Into Infinity” presented its own unique set of challenges for him and his fellow writers.

“It's kind of like doing two different Rubik's Cubes at the same time because you've got the dynamics going on in the real world and the logic of that, and then you've got the logic of what's going on in the game world and the ramifications of that,” Brooker explained.

“You want quite a lot of interaction between the two sides. And so working out how that will work and how the flow of that [goes], it was quite a headache. And also trying to do that within 90 minutes as well. Sort of doing it within 90 minutes and making it coherent is also a challenge.”

The sequel also had to tackle an issue the original “USS Callister” episode didn’t have the bandwidth to fully explore: the mortality of digital clones and what constitutes a sentient life form. While gamers in the show's real world can have their in-game avatar eliminated, they can regenerate. Digital clones, however, cannot.

“[In the first "USS Callister"] they can't even die, basically. They're sort of at the behest of Robert Daly,” Brooker said of the clones in the original episode. “He's a tyrant ruling the roost, and he decides whether they live or die. As soon as they fly off his computer and go through the wormhole, and the 1960s Space Fleet skin is stripped away, and they're in the game, they are very mortal.

“They can't respawn [in "Into Infinity"]. If somebody shoots them, they're not going to respawn. That immediately became the problem.”

The Callister crew resorts to unorthodox methods in order to find ways to stay alive. “They're sort of talking about how everything has gone a bit micro-transaction-y in the game. That's one of the problems they're up against is that not only are they very, very mortal in this world, and no one else seems to realize they are, but everything costs money,” Brooker explained. “They're sort of virtual people. They're not real people. They don't have access to money, so they're having to scramble around and steal in order to move about in the universe.”

“Into Infinity” will see the in-game clones interact with people from the real world, particularly the actual Nanette, who remains largely in the dark about what exactly went down in the original episode where she aided the clones in escaping from Daly’s hold over them.

“You've got an interesting situation where the in-game version of Nanette is strong and assured and has proven herself and has become a more confident, capable individual,” Brooker said. “And then the version of her in the real world is still asking questions. She has no idea, really, what happened [in the game]. She just knows she was roped into something by person or persons unknown [in the original]. There were a lot of spinning plates, basically, that we wanted to keep spinning [in the sequel].”

Like its predecessor, “USS Callister: Into Infinity” draws narrative, design and costume influences from an array of sci-fi films, TV shows and video games, including No Man’s Sky, Fortnite, Borderlands and Fallout.

“If the first one was Star Trek, this is Star Wars,” Brooker revealed. “We've got a bit more sort of space battle action going on. We've got more planets that they go and explore and so on. And also, it's a little bit Battlestar Galactica. … They're in a world in which, if a player shoots you, you're dead. If you shoot them, they can respawn and come back, which is a little Cylonesque.”

While the original “USS Callister” took aim at fandom, Brooker maintains “we weren't taking the piss out of Star Trek” and that “Daly was misinterpreting or warping” the meaning of the then-progressive TV series Space Fleet. And while gamers play a crucial role in both the real and virtual worlds of “Into Infinity,” Brooker made it clear the episode is not knocking them.

“Within this we show people playing and they're just engaging in it like they would in a Fortnite game effectively, that they're just going in and shooting people. I certainly wouldn't like to infer anything about gamers because it bugs me as a gamer when people make sweeping generalizations about video games [or] all the people who play them,” Brooker said.

“The players in this are unaware of the stakes for the real characters. And if they were, they'd definitely be treating them very differently. Because they're in a playground and that's where they think they are, is in a playground, playing a game. I think they'd be absolutely mortified if they thought they were absolutely actually injuring or killing real people. Certainly it's not the intention to say that gaming is violent or all of that sort of crap that tends to get pushed around in the media.”

Brooker, a former video game industry journalist who told IGN he’s still a big gamer, put it bluntly:

“I trust people who play games a lot more than people who watch sports.”

All six episodes of Black Mirror, Season 7, including “USS Callister: Into Infinity,” launch on Netflix on April 10.

Editors’ note: Our interview with Charlie Brooker has been edited for clarity.

It's the day before the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, with less than 24 hours to go until Nintendo reveals its plans for its next console. A new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing could, potentially, point to some of those plans, at least when it comes to its Switch 2 controller lineup.

As spotted on Famiboards and picked up by Nintendo-centric sites like GoNintendo, an FCC filing emerged yesterday, March 31, from Nintendo. Under product code "BEE-008," it looks to be a registration for a new game controller. Some fans believe this to be the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

It bears mentioning that this is speculaton, as Nintendo hasn't confirmed plans for a Switch 2 Pro Controller yet. However, a few features do seem to indicate this would be a Pro Controller, like Bluetooth and NFC capability.

The big thing to note about this filing, if this is the Switch 2 Pro Controller, is that it could include a headphone jack. The original Switch 1 Pro Controller didn't have a headphone jack of any kind, while controllers like the DualSense and Xbox Series controllers do feature a port.

This would be a nice quality-of-life feature, if this holds true for the Switch 2 Pro Controller. Past Nintendo filings have given us a glimpse of the company's plans in advance, so there's some reason to entertain speculation about this controller. We've yet to see it though, so barring any more leaks between now and tomorrow, we'll likely have confirmation once Nintendo announces its full plans for the Switch 2.

The Switch 2 Direct airs tomorrow at 6am PT / 9am ET on Nintendo's channels. We'll be getting a "closer look" at the Switch 2, after its initial reveal earlier this year, and hopefully a lot of solid information leading up to a potential release date.

Nintendo has confirmed the Switch 2 Direct will run for an hour. Two Nintendo Treehouse: Live | Nintendo Switch 2 presentations with hands-on gameplay have been scheduled for April 3 and April 4 as well, starting at 7am PT each day.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Spider-Man is one of the most iconic superheroes of all time, but he didn’t swing onto the big screen until director Sam Raimi helped bring 2002’s Spider-Man to life. Since then, Spider-Man has also been one of the most profitable superheroes and his films have taken the box office by storm each time.

While it may be easy to watch the films in release order, there are those of us who love watching stories in chronological order to experience these stories in a whole new way. Luckily, the release order and chronological order of the Spider-Man movies and spin-offs are the exact same, so it really just comes down to how you want to watch all the films that tell the complete story of the Spider-Verse (pun intended!).

This guide will help you in your quest to watch all the Spider-Man movies and their spin-offs. Whether you want to watch just the main movies with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland, or you want to have the complete picture and future-proof your Spidey knowledge with various spin-offs, we have you covered.

Below, you can find a mostly spoiler-free look at how to watch all the Spider-Man movies and their spin-offs in chronological order. You'll also see a few lists on Spider-Man movies in release order or with a particular actor. And if you want to just find out how to watch the Spider-Man spin-offs like Venom and Kraven and the like, check out Sony's Spider-Man Universe in Chronological Order.

Jump to:

• How to watch in chronological order
• How to watch by release order

How Many Spider-Man Movies Are There?

While the wider Spider-Man Universe includes over a dozen movies, there are ten total films led by Spider-Man himself. Eight of those movies are live-action — three led by Tobey Maguire, two by Andrew Garfield, and three by Tom Holland — and two are animated, featuring a variety of Spideys. That animated film, Into the Spider-Verse and the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by Beyond the Spider-Verse. Amazon announced a series adapted from the Silk comics, although it is now reported to be looking for a new home, and Sony continues to expand their own version of the Spider-Verse.

For a full list of how to stream all of the films, take a look at our guide on where to watch the Spider-Man movies in 2025.

Spider-Man Movies in Chronological Order

1. Spider-Man (2002)

2002’s Spider-Man is the one that brought Peter Parker into the world of live-action on the big screen. Starring Tobey Maguire as everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane, this film gave us many memorable moments, including the upside-down kiss that may still be one of the most iconic kisses of all time.

Oh, and it features Willem Dafoe and his fantastic first performance as Harry Osborne/Green Goblin and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, roles they would both reprise in future films beyond the Maguire-era.

Read our review of Spider-Man.

2. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Tobey Maguire’s journey as Spider-Man continues in 2004’s Spider-Man 2, and this time he must face off against Alfred Molina’s Doctor Otto Octavius when a tragic lab accident turns the Doctor into a supervillain. This second film in the Maguire era took place two years after the first and gave us the legendary scene featuring Spider-Man saving a runaway train with nothing but his spider-strength and web-slinging prowess.

Read our review of Spider-Man 2.

3. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3 is the last film of Sam Raimi’s trilogy and the final entry starring Tobey Maguire as the titular hero. Whereas the first two films focused on one main villain, this third entry packed three baddies into its runtime, including Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Venom (Topher Grace), and a new Green Goblin (James Franco). This movie, which takes place about a year after Spider-Man 2, is probably the most polarizing of the first three films, but it did give us Spider-Man’s Black Suit and that must give it some points, right?!

Read our review of Spider-Man 3.

4. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man saw Marc Webb swing into the director’s chair, and was the first to star Andrew Garfield as the web-slinging hero opposite Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy. The Amazing Spider-Man is another take on Spidey’s origin story and features some history about Peter’s parents. The big bad in this movie is Rhys Ifans’ Lizard, a mutated scientist who once worked with Peter’s father.

Read our review of The Amazing Spider-Man.

5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the second and last film in the Garfield era and, much like the last film in the original Spider-Man trilogy, it featured a trio of villains. like. Taking place two years after the original, this sequel introduced Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Paul Giamatti’s Rhino, and Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin, and was supposed to set up future entries in the franchise featuring Venom and the Sinister Six. Unfortunately, the film’s mixed review and lower box office performance contributed to all of those plans being scrapped.

Read our review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

6. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

While Captain America: Civil War is obviously not a Spider-Man movie, it did introduce the world to Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) recruits Holland’s Peter Parker after he has already become Spider-Man, and we get to see him facing off against or teaming up with many of the MCU’s greatest heroes.

Read our review of Captain America: Civil War.

7. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland’s first solo film as Spider-Man, arrived in 2017 with Jon Watts at the helm. It takes place after the events of Captain America: Civil War, and tells the story of Peter Parker handling the twin challenges of high school and proving to Tony Stark that he’s ready to join the Avengers. Despite that, he still takes it upon himself to improve his skills and stop crimes as Spider-Man alongside hanging out with his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon). Homecoming also introduces us to Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes/Vulture, a villain who will appear again down the line.

Read our review of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

8. Venom (2018)

While there is no Spider-Man in 2018’s Venom, Tom Hardy’s version of the iconic Spidey villain does have a role to play in Holland’s Spider-Man story as future films will see their paths almost cross. It remains to be seen if Holland’s Spider-Man will ever actually run into Hardy’s Venom, but this character will undoubtedly have an important part to play in the future of the web-slinger, one way or another.

Read our review of Venom.

9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is another Spider-Man story separate from the mainline films, but it is one well worth a watch. The story centers around Shameik Moore’s Miles Morales, but Spider-People from many different multiverses quickly enter the picture and build a cast of characters, including Hailee Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen, Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker, John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham, Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man Noir, and more.

Read our review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

10. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War features a large cast of the MCU’s greatest heroes, and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is one of them. He plays an important role in Infinity War and his growing friendship with Tony Stark is one of the highlights.

Read our review of Avengers: Infinity War.

11. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

While certain plot reasons keep Tom Holland’s Spider-Man out of Avengers: Endgame for much of the movie, he still makes his presence felt in key moments of this film’s story. Also, it is the culmination of 21 MCU films before it and deserves a spot on the watch list.

Read our review of Avengers: Endgame.

12. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Taking place after the events of Avengers: Endgame and dealing with much of what happened in that film, Spider-Man: Far From Home begins in New York City before taking Holland’s Peter Parker to Europe for a school trip. He wants to take a trip undisturbed from the world of superheroes, but the universe has other plans for him. Throughout Far From Home, Holland crosses paths with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), and Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who claims to be a hero from a different universe. Make sure to stick around for the post-credits scene here!

Read our review of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

13. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

Much like the first Venom film, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is very much adjacent to the Spider-Man films rather than directly tied in. However, this film builds up the world of Tom Hardy’s Venom, and includes a post-credits scene that brings these two worlds closer together than ever.

Read our review of Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

14. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up right after the post-credits of Spider-Man: Far From Home and is the most recent mainline Spider-Man film to be released. After Peter and his friends’ lives are turned upside down, he goes to Doctor Strange and asks him to make things right by making everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

However, things go awry and the multiverse opens up, bringing many familiar faces from previous films into the MCU. No Way Home is as much the next chapter in Holland’s story as it is a continuation of the Maguire and Garfield eras, and the fan service is just so wonderful, especially if you have seen the previous films.

Read our review of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

15. Morbius (2022)

Morbius, much like Venom, has very little in the way of Spider-Man specifically, but it helps build out the wider universe. We know Morbius takes place in the same universe as Venom as there are certain nods like a reference to the events “in San Francisco,” but the connection to Spider-Man is a bit more unknown. Morbius is a Spider-Man villain, and the film also sees the return of Michael Keaton’s Vulture, who looks to have a bigger role to play in the future of Spider-Man, hinting that Morbius could take place in the MCU or Sony or even a bit of both.

Read our review of Morbius.

16. Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (2023)

Across the Spider-Verse is another animated film that seemingly sits outside of the MCU. That being said, it dives deep into the multiverse and could eventually be pulled into the rest of the Spider-Man universe similar to how the other films were brought into the fold with No-Way Home. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a direct sequel to Into the Spider-Verse, taking place about a year after the last film ended.

The film is largely centered around Miles Morales getting pulled further into the multiverse to join Gwen Stacy and a team of Spider-People to take on a powerful new threat.

Read our review of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

17. Madame Web (2024)

While the Spider-Man spin-off Madame Web is connected to our favorite web-slinging hero, the events of the film don't feature him. Sure, there may be some spoilery links we won't ruin here, but this is a mostly standalone story in the Spidey-verse that you can watch at any time.

This film stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb and tells her origin story. We follow her as a paramedic in Manhattan who begins to develop powers to see the future and and tries to come to grips with trying to change what's to come. She is joined by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O'Connor, who are all "bound for powerful destinies... if they can all survive a deadly present."

Read our review of Madame Web.

18. Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

Tom Hardy had his last go-round as Eddie Brock, as well as Venom, in 2024's Venom: The Last Dance. Our review said "Venom: The Last Dance trips over its own tendrils and lets a boring, generic plot, and bad action distract from the surprisingly resilient central relationship between Eddie Brock and his symbiote bestie."

Read our review of Venom: The Last Dance.

19. Kraven the Hunter

The Aaron Taylor-Johnson-starring Kraven the Hunter didn't fare well with critics, and appears to be the last live-action movie for now in the Sony/Marvel universe. And just think, none of these guys ever even got to meet Spider-Man!

Read our review of Kraven the Hunter.

Spider-Man Movies in Order of Release

• Spider-Man (2002)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
• Captain America: Civil War (2016)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
• Venom (2018)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Avengers: Endgame (2019)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
• Morbius (2022)
• Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (2023)
• Madame Web (2024)
• Venom: The Last Stand (2024)
• Kraven the Hunter (2024)

Tobey Maguire Spider-Man Movies in Order of Release

• Spider-Man (2002)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Andrew Garfield Spider-Man Movies in Order of Release

• The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Tom Holland Spider-Man Movies in Order of Release

• Captain America: Civil War (2016)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Avengers: Endgame (2019)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Upcoming Spider-Man Movies

Following the release of Kraven the Hunter, Sony's Spider-Man Universe appears to be on hold, at least in terms of live-action movies not starring Tom Holland as Spidey. But still, there are more projects on the way...

Beyond the Spider-Verse

The third Spider-Verse movie, Beyond the Spiderverse, is in development. While originally slated to release in 2024, we got official confirmation at CinemaCon that the new release date is June 4, 2027.

Nic Cage will also be continuing in his Spider-Verse role as Spider Man Noir for a live action Amazon series from producers Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Orien Uziel.

MCU Spider-Man

Tom Holland's Spider-Man will continue in the MCU with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It's scheduled to release on July 31, 2026, with Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi) on board as director. Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) recently joined the cast; she'll reportedly play either X-Men character Jean Grey or Mary Jane Watson.

For more info, check out our full list of upcoming Spider-Man movies and shows.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Switch 2 Nintendo Direct will last around 60 minutes, Nintendo has confirmed.

That’s a long time for a Nintendo Direct, and suggests Nintendo has a great deal to run through in this most-anticipated of showcases.

The Switch 2 Nintendo Direct start time is set for April 2, 2025 at 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 2pm BST. Nintendo has said it will use this Nintendo Direct to share a “closer look” at Switch 2, following its drive-by reveal of the console earlier in the year.

That reveal offered a look at the Switch 2 form factor, a glimpse at what looks like Mario Kart 9, and teased a potential ‘mouse’ mode for the new Joy-Con.

But there are still a number of unanswered questions about Switch 2, including what the mysterious new Joy-Con ‘C’ button does, how powerful the console is, and what its new ports might be used for.

The Nintendo Direct will also, hopefully, give us the full Switch 2 launch lineup of games as well as a release date, which is expected to be at some point between June and September 2025. Fingers crossed Nintendo announces the Switch 2 price, which analysts predict will be $400.

We are starting to build a picture of what to expect on Switch 2 in terms of games. There is a long list of rumored third-party titles coming to the console, and in an interview with IGN, Civilization 7 developer Firaxis called Switch 2’s apparent Joy-Con mouse mode "definitely intriguing.” French video game and accessories maker Nacon, publisher of the likes of Greedfall 2, Test Drive Unlimited, and RoboCop: Rogue City, has said it has Switch 2 games ready to go. The long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong is also rumored to be set for Switch 2. EA has said Madden, FC, and The Sims would all be a great fit for Switch 2.

Last week’s Nintendo Direct announcement of a new Virtual Game Cards feature for sharing games between systems also raised some questions, most notably one about the Nintendo Switch 2, thanks to a fine print footnote on an official Nintendo webpage.

Meanwhile, Nintendo confirmed a Nintendo Treehouse: Live | Nintendo Switch 2 presentation featuring hands-on gameplay of Nintendo Switch 2 games on April 3 and April 4 at 7am PT each day.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

One of the reasons the MCU has been so successful over the years is that this shared universe leans heavily on the comic book source material. These movies aren’t usually direct adaptations of any one comic, but they always draw on iconic storylines and runs and make that classic material accessible to a wider audience. Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will be no exceptions. These upcoming movies are inspired by both the original 1984 crossover Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars and 2015’s Secret Wars.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Now that we know the main cast of Avengers: Doomsday, we’re getting a clearer picture of which Marvel Comics storylines are inspiring this epic MCU adventure. From epic crossovers like Avengers vs. X-Men to the debut of the Illuminati to two different versions of Secret Wars, these are the 75 Marvel comics that give us a better idea of what Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are about.

Time Runs Out for the Avengers

As seen in: The Avengers Vol. 5 #35-44, New Avengers Vol. 3 #24-33 (2015)

Again, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are heavily inspired by the two Secret Wars comics. This much we know from Kevin Feige and the Russo Bros. themselves, who are coming back to Marvel direct the films. But while we’ll get to Secret Wars itself in a bit, it’s worth starting out by focusing on the long, dramatic buildup to the 2015 comics version. That storyline, Avengers: Time Runs Out, will probably end up informing the plot of Doomsday as much as anything else.

From the beginning, Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers titles deal with the concept of Incursions, that phenomenon where two parallel versions of Earth begin to collide and threaten to annihilate both universes unless one of the Earths is destroyed. The Incursions are revealed to be a symptom of a larger disease in the Marvel multiverse, one that seems destined to end in the complete obliteration of all existence.

Time Runs Out takes place in a particularly dire period for the Marvel Universe. Incursions are occurring more and more frequently, making the fight to stop them and save Earth-616 truly an existential crisis. Unfortunately, Time Runs Out also occurs in a period when the Avengers are more divided than they’ve been since the events of 2006’s Civil War. Once again, there are basically two opposing factions in this ideological battle. One law-abiding team of Avengers serves under S.H.I.E.L.D., while another group follows the Illuminati and their more pragmatic approach to survival.

Of course, Time Runs Out is more than just an Avengers story. Members of the X-Men and Fantastic Four also play key roles. And then there’s Doctor Doom. Doom is revealed to be a pivotal player in the conflict, as he takes on a new identity as Rabum Alal and attracts a cabal of fanatical followers. Doom’s war with the extra-dimensional entities known as The Beyonders is the source of the multiverse’s impending collapse. He sees himself as the savior of existence. Others might disagree.

We’ve already seen some plot threads inspired by Time Runs Out crop up during the Multiverse Saga. Thanks to the post-credits scene in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we know Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange has joined forces with Charlize Theron’s Clea to investigate the Incursion problem. And an Incursion forms the crux of the climax of 2023’s The Marvels, resulting in Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau becoming stranded on Earth-10005, a world where Kelsey Grammer’s Beast and the rest of the X-Men are making their own stand against Incursions.

If Avengers: Doomsday is an adaptation of any one Marvel story, it’s definitely going to be Time Runs Out. We’re sure to see the Incursion problem reach critical mass, prompting a desperate race to stave off the end of all things. Like in the comic, we may see the Avengers split down the middle in how they deal with this threat. Though in this case, we suspect we’ll see one team rally around Anthony Mackie’s Captain America and another around Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom. And again, we’ll see the Fantastic Four and the X-Men drawn into the fray as everyone races to save their respective world. But if Doomsday is anything like the comic, it’s all going to be for naught in the end.

Meet the Illuminati

As seen in: New Avengers - The Illuminati #1-5 (2006)

In the buildup to Marvel’s Civil War crossover, readers first met the Illuminati, a shadowy group that included Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic, Namor, Black Bolt, and Professor X. It was revealed that this group has been quietly manipulating events in the Marvel Universe for years, always in the name of protecting Earth from threats both within and without. Marvel’s New Avengers: The Illuminati miniseries explores the group’s actions in much greater depth.

Though they eventually disbanded, the Illuminati were reformed in Hickman’s Avengers run. The slightly revamped roster included new members like Black Panther, Beast, and Hulk (who was going through an unusually intelligent phase at the time). The Illuminati are also prominent players in Time Runs Out, resorting to questionable measures to protect Earth-616 from Incursions.

We already met one version of the Illuminati in the MCU in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a group based on Earth-838. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t survive their run-in with Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch.

But could we meet the Earth-616 version of the Illuminati in Avengers: Doomsday? It’s hard not to come to that conclusion based solely on the cast list. What happens when you get Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards, Tenoch Huerta Mejía’s Namor, and Letitia Wright’s Black Panther in the same room? We even have to wonder if Downey’s Doom could take the place of Tony Stark here. As in the comic, we may see the Illuminati stoop to any and all measures to save their universe, even if it means damning themselves in the process.

The Avengers vs. the X-Men

As seen in: Avengers vs. X-Men #1-12 (2012)

Normally, the Avengers and X-Men are allies in the never-ending fight to defend the Marvel Universe. But the two teams became bitter enemies in 2012’s Avengers vs. X-Men storyline.

AvX comes at the tail end of a long period where the X-Men are fighting a losing battle to protect the mutant race from extinction. When it becomes apparent that the Phoenix Force is back and making a beeline for Earth, the X-Men see it as their last, best hope to restore the mutant population. The Avengers, however, see the Phoenix Force as a clear and present threat to everyone on Earth. That’s when the two teams come to blows.

We’ve already done a deep dive into Avengers vs. X-Men and the ways in which it could inspire Avengers: Doomsday, but the gist is that we could see a very different take in the MCU on the concept of the two teams going to war. We’re not expecting a close adaptation of the comic book crossover, as the X-Men haven’t even been properly established in the MCU yet.

Instead, we think Doomsday’s AvX conflict would involve the multiverse. It stands to reason that Grammer is reprising the same version of Beast we saw in The Marvels’ post-credits scene, and that all the other X-Men confirmed for the film are residents of that same world, which we’re assuming is Earth-10005, a.k.a. the Fox X-Men movie universe. Eventually, Earth-616 and Earth-10005 will be linked together by an Incursion, forcing the MCU’s Avengers to battle the Fox universe’s X-Men for the fate of their respective worlds.

In that sense, the Avengers vs. X-Men conflict in Doomsday will probably be less inspired by the AvX crossover than it will the first chapter of 2015’s Secret Wars comic. In Secret Wars #1, the Marvel multiverse is reduced to just two remaining universes, the classic Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe. The Avengers and Ultimates go to war as the final Incursion breaks out, only for both worlds to be annihilated in the end. Doomsday may very well end in a similar battle between the Avengers and X-Men. Instead of working together to save the multiverse, they’ll be too busy fighting each other. And that’s where Secret Wars comes in.

The Secret Wars Begin

As seen in: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12 (1984), Secret Wars #1-9 (2015)

At this point, we might as well talk about Secret Wars proper and how it’s likely to influence both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. As we mentioned earlier, Marvel has published two separate but not entirely unconnected Secret Wars comics, the first in 1984 and the second in 2015. The Russos have confirmed that both comics are an influence on their upcoming Avengers movies, though we’re definitely sensing more of the latter Secret Wars so far.

In the original Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, a who’s who lineup of Marvel heroes and villains are abducted by a godlike being known as The Beyonder. He whisks them away to an artificial planet called Battleworld to fight for his amusement. In the end, Doom steals The Beyonder’s power for himself, temporarily achieving the strength to match his boundless ego. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars is also notable for introducing Spider-Man’s black costume and paving the way for Venom.

2015’s Secret Wars, meanwhile, serves as the climax of Hickman’s sprawling Avengers run. We’ve already covered how the first issue features a desperate, doomed battle between two teams of heroes as the multiverse collapses around them. But the real meat of Secret Wars is in what happens next.

Even as the multiverse itself dies, Doom and his ally Molecule Man (a key player in the original Secret Wars crossover) make their final stand against The Beyonders. Doom steals their power and becomes omnipotent. He uses his newfound power to form a new Battleworld out of the broken fragments of dozens of dead universes. Doom then crowns himself God Emperor of Battleworld, with each realm controlled by a different Baron. It’s sort of the Marvel version of Dune or Game of Thrones.

As Secret Wars unfolds, Doom fights to hold his new kingdom together while a group of refugees from Earth-616 seeks a way to restore the multiverse. Fittingly, it all comes down to a final confrontation between God Emperor Doom and his greatest rival, Reed Richards. Even as a god, Doom can’t move past his hatred for Reed and his own self-loathing.

We don’t know how much, if at all, we’re going to see the two Secret Wars storylines adapted in Doomsday, but Avengers: Secret Wars is shaping up to be a fairly close adaptation of those comics. Once again, we’re expecting to see Downey’s Doom achieve ultimate power and form Battleworld out of the ashes of the multiverse. We’ll probably see a great many realms inspired by both the comics and various Marvel movies of years past. We’ll almost certainly see a motley team of heroes band together to restore the multiverse, including both MCU mainstays and iconic movie favorites like Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man. If you’re wondering how Marvel could ever top the fanboy glee of the portals sequence from Endgame, that’s how.

All Hail Emperor Doom

As seen in: Marvel Graphic Novel #27 - Emperor Doom (1987)

While the MCU is definitely drawing a lot of inspiration from Hickman’s Avengers run and Secret Wars for its portrayal of Doctor Doom, it’s worth taking a look at a much older story that also revolves around Doom crowning himself emperor. That story is 1987’s Emperor Doom graphic novel.

Emperor Doom shows us what happens when Doom finally grows tired of ruling one measly country and sets his sights on the entire planet. After harnessing the mind-controlling powers of Purple Man, Doom brainwashes the nations of the world into accepting him as their monarch. With no one to oppose him, Doom ushers in a new era of peace and prosperity. Life under Emperor Doom is actually pretty swell, so long as you don’t mind the total lack of free will. It falls on Wonder Man to free the Avengers and mount a resistance against Emperor Doom.

Marvel is also currently exploring a similar concept in the One World Under Doom crossover, which again sees Doom crown himself Emperor of a surprisingly docile and grateful planet.

Could we see elements of Emperor Doom when it comes to Downey’s version of the iconic villain? It’s definitely possible. The Russos have made it clear that Doom is someone who sees himself as the hero of his own story. He thinks he’s doing what has to be done to save the Marvel multiverse. Maybe we’ll see him crown himself emperor in Avengers: Doomsday, rallying the entire world to his cause. We suspect a great many people in the MCU would be only too happy to pledge their life to a guy with Tony Stark’s face.

Doctor Doom as Iron Man

As seen in: Infamous Iron Man #1-12 (2016)

To be honest, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around the surprise reveal that Downey has been cast as Doctor Doom. Why bring back the most recognizable MCU actor to play a completely different character? What’s the significance of the fact that Doom looks like Tony Stark? Is he a version of Tony from another universe where things worked out differently, or is he merely using Tony’s face to further his own agenda?

Those are all questions we probably won’t see answered until Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters. But it certainly can’t hurt to look at one of the comics that explores the Iron Man/Doctor Doom relationship in greater depth.

For that, we recommend looking at 2016’s Infamous Iron Man, part of Brian Michael Bendis' larger Invincible Iron Man run. This series is set after the events of 2015’s Secret Wars. No longer a God Emperor, Victor von Doom has been healed in body and soul. He’s determined to prove himself a hero worthy of the mantle of Iron Man. And because Tony Stark himself is comatose at this point, there’s no one to actually stop Doom from giving it an honest go.

Will Infamous Iron Man have a direct influence on Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars? It’s hard to say. Though, if nothing else, we wouldn’t be surprised if the MCU draws on Doom’s character design in this series as it introduces a Tony Stark-ified version of Doctor Doom. Downey’s character may look less like the traditional Doom than he does this version that wears a silver and green Iron Man armor.

But again, we know that Downey’s character is someone who sees himself as being in the right. Doom firmly believes he’s the hero. There may be elements of Infamous Iron Man that work their way into that portrayal of Doom. He’s a character who needs to win hearts and minds if he’s going to carry out his plan of saving the multiverse.

Invisible Woman and Namor’s Sexual Tension

As seen in: Fantastic Four - 1 2 3 4 (2002)

With all the spectacle and cosmic stakes going on in these next two Avengers movies, it’s all the more important they find time to focus on the smaller character moments. They need to be perfectly balanced enough to satisfy even Thanos himself. Avengers: Infinity War accomplished that task by giving us moments of levity between Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Doctor Strange and zeroing in on the doomed romance between Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany’s Vision. Endgame was basically one long fat joke at the expense of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.

How will Avengers: Doomsday lighten the mood? We suspect that’s going to fall on Namor’s brawny shoulders. Anyone who’s read a Fantastic Four comic featuring Namor will know that the King of Atlantis has the hots for Susan Storm. Heck, he makes Wolverine’s deep infatuation with Jean Grey seem normal by comparison. Sue, for her part, has never really reciprocated Namor’s love over the years, but that’s never stopped his incessant flirtation. Hey, he’s a fish king. He’s not used to being told no.

Given that Doomsday is the first MCU movie to include both Vanessa Kirby’s Sue and Tenoch Huerta Mejía’s Namor, we can only assume we’re going to see this sexual tension play out on the big screen. Expect some of the movie’s more comedic moments to come as Namor woos Sue and she rebuffs his advances. As for Pedro Pascal’s Reed? If he’s anything like the comic book version, he may be too oblivious to notice. Sue may wind up leading Namor on just to get a rise out of her single-minded science dork of a husband.

Again, there are any number of comics the movie could draw from in this area. Namor’s unrequited love for Sue goes back a long time. But if Doomsday pulls from any one FF comic, we’d guess it would be 2002’s Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4. That book, which is unusually dark for an FF story, may be the closest Sue has ever come to actually responding to Namor’s advances. 1 2 3 4 is also a very Doom-centric story, so that makes it all the more likely the screenwriters might have consulted this hidden gem of a Marvel comic.

And there you have it. If you want to do your homework before Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in May 2026, you know what to read. But what Marvel storylines do you most want to see adapted in these next two Avengers movies? Let us know in the comments.

Actor Jason Momoa has confirmed a big spoiler for Dune 3, which is set to start filming later in 2025.

Warning! Spoilers for Dune 3 / Dune: Messiah follow.

Speaking to TODAY’s Craig Melvin to promote A Minecraft Movie, Momoa confirmed he is set to appear in the third installment of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movie series.

In 2021’s Dune, Momoa played Duncan Idaho, swordmaster and mentor to Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. His character dies following the Harkonnen invasion of Arrakis, and does not appear in Dune: Part Two.

However, in the Dune novels by Frank Herbert, specifically 1969's Dune Messiah, Duncan Idaho returns in clone form (a ghola) as a gift to Paul, now the Emperor. Dune Messiah is the basis of Villeneuve’s Dune 3, so it makes sense that Momoa would return to play the character.

“Well, I’m not sure if I’m going to get in trouble or not, but it’s the same thing like Game of Thrones, you know what I mean?” Momoa said in the interview. “If you didn’t read the books it’s not my fault, right?"

“I’m going to be coming back,” he added. “I’m making a comeback. You heard it first, right here with you, baby.”

Momoa then turned to, presumably, his publicist, before realization set in. “He’s got me in trouble!” he said. “It was in the books, man! If you didn’t read it, it’s not my fault!”

As Melvin pointed out, it’s unlikely Momoa will be booted out of Dune 3, despite the spoiler. “I don’t think so,” Momoa said at the end of the chat.

Dune 3 is set to take place 12 years after the events of Dune 2, with Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, and Anya Taylor-Joy all returning. It’s set to launch at some point in 2026. For more, check out IGN's feature, Dune: Part 3 - What to Expect From the Next Sequel Movie.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.