Celebrities stepped onto the 2026 American Music Awards red carpet in show-stopping looks for one of the hottest events of the year.

A-listers dazzled as they gave Us some serious fashion inspo under the bright Las Vegas lights on Monday, May 25, in honor of the star-studded ceremony held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Nevada.

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Sparkle, shimmer and suave style took over Sin City as stars hit the AMAs red carpet in full glam. Aside from the sartorial statements, fans are in for a treat as the show will be hosted by none other than Queen Latifah.

Plus, there will be some tough competition at the event, as frontrunner Taylor Swift leads with an impressive eight nods, while Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Dean, sombr and Morgan Wallen trail right behind her with seven nods. Alex Warren and Lady Gaga may also win big, as they both earned six nominations each.

Keep scrolling to see the AMA 2026 red carpet looks:

Fans are debating a viral courtside moment involving Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce after the NFL star was seen chugging a beer during a recent NBA game.

The clip sparked mixed reactions online, from criticism of Kelce’s behavior to fans defending the couple’s dynamic and the singer’s reactions.

As speculation about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship intensifies, ongoing rumors of a possible July wedding have also fueled concerns about guests and security.

Fans are raising eyebrows over Taylor Swift’s reaction to Travis Kelce after the NFL star’s courtside beer-chugging moment went viral online.

On Saturday, May 23, the couple attended Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, where the Cleveland Cavaliers took on the New York Knicks.

During a timeout, Kelce jumped to his feet and quickly chugged a beer while cameras captured the moment, and the crowd cheered loudly around him.

After finishing the drink, the Chiefs star threw his arms in the air and soaked in the reaction from fans. But online attention quickly shifted to Swift, who appeared to bury her face in her hands while laughing from her seat beside him.

Moments later, she looked back up, smiling and clapping along with the arena crowd.

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The clip sparked a flood of reactions across social media, with some viewers criticizing Kelce’s behavior and speculating about the couple’s future.

“Red flag right here. It’s not too late to run, Tay Tay!” one user wrote, per Parade, while another joked that Swift “is marrying a 36-year-old frat boy.”

Others went even further, suggesting that “Taylor won’t be clapping when Kelce’s alcohol abuse becomes a bigger problem.”

Fans Defend Viral Travis Kelce Beer-Chug Moment

Still, many fans defended the interaction, arguing that Kelce was simply enjoying himself and that Swift clearly found the moment funny rather than embarrassing.

“A woman that lets her man do him!! They’ll be together for a while,” one supporter commented.

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Another person said, “He’s just like any other guy! Let them be and have their fun as [a] couple out on the town, out at a basketball game! lol”

Kelce, who grew up in nearby Cleveland Heights, appeared especially excited throughout the game and spent much of the night energizing Cavaliers fans alongside Swift.

Despite the celebrity-filled atmosphere and support, the Cavaliers ultimately fell to the Knicks 121-108.

Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce’s Upcoming Wedding Sparks Heavy Speculation

Meanwhile, rumors surrounding the couple’s relationship continue to swirl. Earlier reports claimed their wedding had been set for July 3 in New York City, though neither Swift nor Kelce has publicly confirmed the speculation.

Adding to the ongoing chatter, fresh reports suggest some guests have raised concerns about the arrangements.

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According to the Daily Mail, one unnamed guest reportedly complained about not being allowed to bring a plus-one, saying it would be awkward to attend alone and noting they didn’t know many other attendees.

“My invite did not let me bring a plus-one,” the unnamed guest reportedly shared. “I mean, what am I supposed to do? Go alone? That is so awkward.”

They continued, “I don’t think I am going to attend because I don’t want to go by myself, and I am not sure I will know too many people there. I mean, sorry, I am not friends with Gigi and Bella Hadid!”

Guest Complaints And Venue Secrecy Add To Buzz Around Swift-Kelce Wedding Rumors

The alleged guest also suggested some attendees were being treated differently, pointing to reports that Selena Gomez would allegedly attend with fiancé Benny Blanco, while single guests were not given the same option.

“I get it, the venue can probably allow for only so many people, but it’s not the best feeling,” the source reportedly said, “It’s the wedding of the year, but I may sit this one out because I am shy.”

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The same report claimed the wedding venue will remain undisclosed until the morning of the ceremony due to security concerns, fueling speculation over where the event might be held. One rumored location mentioned was the Waldorf Astoria New York, known for its privacy and high-level security.

As speculation surrounding the rumored July 3 wedding between Swift and Kelce continues to grow, the alleged event has reportedly even become a topic of discussion among New York lawmakers.

NY Budget Debate Fuels Speculation About Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce’s Wedding

According to reports, Assembly Democrats recently debated including a $250,000 allocation in the state’s delayed budget to help cover security costs tied to the celebrity wedding.

The proposal would reportedly have involved the use of state troopers to assist with protection during the event in New York City.

However, insiders told the New York Post the idea was quickly removed from discussions after concerns were raised over the political backlash such funding could create, especially given the couple’s immense wealth and ability to privately fund their own security.

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Martha Stewart is and always will be that girl. Anyone who has followed her career, even without doing a full deep dive (although the Martha documentary can and will change your life), knows that this businesswoman and homemaker is one of the best dressed women around. So when the 84-year-old stepped out at the world premiere of Dutton Ranch earlier this month, we once again found ourselves ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ over her outfit, zoning in on her espadrille platform shoe style and wondering where we could get them.

Unsurprisingly, the woman who owns a 153-acre estate scored her stylish shoes from Hermès. Although we’d love to add Stewart’s denim Elda espadrille to our carts, the $1,150 price is giving Us some pause. Instead, we’ll take a rain check and opt for a $30 option on Amazon, which has a similar vibe without putting our bank account in the red.

Get the Bctex Coll Espadrille Wedge Sandals for $30 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

Espadrille sandals are one of those trends that never truly die, but for summer 2026, the shoe style seems to be even more popular, with so many iterations popping up at every major retailer. This $30 pick is a twist on the classic wedge, featuring a chunky yet supportive block heel and a rubber sole for added stability. Like Stewart’s pricey version, the design is sleek and simple, and an ankle strap ensures they stay put, saving you from having a Cinderella moment as you commute to work or head out to dinner.

Related: Martha Stewart Wore This Gold Sandals Style at Least 2 Times in a Week

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Sandals season is in full swing, and if you’re anywhere near New York City, you’ll see gold everywhere. Rich moms wear gold sandals nonstop, and Martha Stewart is part of the fandom. The A-lister probably has endless shoe options, and yet she reaches for the same sandals nonstop. We’re following suit, especially since Stewart’s classy […]

Of course, the espadrille’s woven rope design steals the spotlight, but one detail you can’t see with the Bctex Coll pick is the memory foam cushioning, which will keep your feet from throbbing at the end of the night.

“These were the first pair of shoes that I wore to a wedding that I never once took off, even to dance!” said one Amazon reviewer, while another shopper called them “very comfortable and stylish.”

“Wore this during my vacation to PR, did a lot of walking and my feet felt fine,” they added, noting that this pair can be dressed “up or down.”

Many who have purchased the Amazon sandals also said they’d like to buy other colors, and in that case, they’re in luck. If Stewart’s darker shoes aren’t quite your style, the same alternative pair comes in nude (beige) and brown, both of which are extremely versatile.

Stewart gave Us plenty of fashion inspiration with her easy yet elevated look, pairing her sandals with an asymmetrical blazer and slim-fit jeans, letting them serve as a statement piece. However, the best thing about this timeless footwear choice is that it works with just about any summer outfit, complementing sundresses, shorts, linen pants and even a swimsuit at the beach (which is where you’ll be extra grateful you bought the lookalike instead of the splurge).

We may never have Stewart’s green thumb, hosting skills or a taxidermy rabbit to display at Easter, but her chic sense of style is something we strive toward every day. With these espadrille sandals, we’ll be one step closer!

Get the Bctex Coll Espadrille Wedge Sandals for $30 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

Looking for something else? Explore more espadrilles here and don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!

Related: Martha Stewart’s Surprisingly Cute Crocs Sandals Belong in Everyone’s Closet

As spring calendars fill with garden parties, travel plans and long afternoons spent outdoors, finding sandals that actually balance comfort and style can feel surprisingly difficult. Too often, warm-weather shoes look chic but leave your feet begging for relief by lunchtime. Martha Stewart’s latest outfit, however, proved that comfy spring sandals really can deliver both. […]

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 16 seconds ago

Right now, the James Bond franchise has been put on temporary hold while Amazon tries to find the perfect new actor to cast as 007. Most fans have been waiting for this announcement with bated breath, eager to learn who will headline the next decade or more of killer spy movies. Instead of looking forward, though, I find myself increasingly looking to the past. Not just at old Bond movies (though From Russia With Love is the gold standard of the franchise, and I’ll die on this hill), but at the game that made me into a super-fan of the franchise: GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64.

I was an ‘80s kid who hadn’t really gotten into James Bond in my early childhood, beyond seeing occasional glimpses of the character on cable TV. But as a teenager, I was the perfect age to enjoy GoldenEye, the 1995 movie that was basically a soft reboot of the franchise. As a gamer, I couldn’t get enough of the GoldenEye game on N64. The campaign was absolutely perfect, and the four-player splitscreen multiplayer was to die for. To this day, many players fondly remember this title for being the pinnacle of ‘90s console gaming, but most don’t realize how far this game’s influence extended. Simply put, we wouldn’t have the Halo or Call of Duty franchises without GoldenEye 007!

Bond. Games Bond

How did GoldenEye influence Halo, exactly? As you may or may not know, Halo wasn’t originally designed as a first-person shooter. Bungie, the studio behind the Halo franchise, considered many different iterations of the game, including a vehicular combat game and, later, a real-time strategy game. It was later imagined as a third-person shooter and finally became an FPS when the title was chosen as a launch game for the Xbox. Bungie struggled to make the multiplayer work, and they even ended up recoding the whole thing from scratch only four months before the game came out. The new design was great, and the game’s popular multiplayer turned Halo: Combat Evolved into one of the most popular games ever made.

Why was console multiplayer so important, though? While Bungie has never officially confirmed the earlier game’s influence, it seems obvious they wanted to try to one-up GoldenEye. As Stacey Henley wrote for The Gamer, the N64 Bond title “introduced the idea of single and multiplayer modes existing in the same game, on a home console, in a title that people actually enjoyed playing.” She noted how “multiplayer deathmatch” (a staple of Halo) “exists because of GoldenEye,” a game which also normalized things like headshots and scoped sniper rifles. Fortunately, Bungie’s effort paid off, and gaming magazines like Edge declared that Halo had dethroned GoldenEye as “the standard for multiplayer console combat.”

Bond Finishes The Fight

Halo: Combat Evolved felt like the inheritor of many GoldenEye staples, including free-roaming, 3D environments, cinematic cutscenes, story-driven set pieces, and so on. In turn, Halo ended up influencing another major FPS franchise: Call of Duty. The COD games followed the same dual-stick controller layout made popular by Halo, effectively normalizing this for all console FPS games. COD also borrowed Halo’s popular two-weapon limit, forcing players to be strategic about what they carried into battle. Most Call of Duty games also feature regenerating health, a major Halo staple. Later, Infinity Ward art director Joel Emslie even admitted that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was designed as a sci-fi flavored “Halo Killer.”

Without the success of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, Halo would not have become the new gold standard of competitive console multiplayer. Without Halo’s influence, Call of Duty wouldn’t have become arguably the most popular FPS franchise in the entire world. Both of these newer franchises are great in their own way (I’m more of a Halo guy, myself), but they owe their very existence to a humble 1997 Nintendo game that left the entire world both shaken and stirred.

By Jonathan Klotz and Joshua Tyler | Updated 13 seconds ago

There was a time when watching sci-fi on television meant keeping things PG-13, and only in movies could you see content that went to the edge. That began to change with the introduction of pay cable, and that line was obliterated in the early 2000s by peak TV.  Now, some of the most graphic, most extreme, crazy, gory, and messed-up things ever displayed on a screen can be found in science fiction television.

If you’re looking for TV shows that go hard, we’ve got you covered. These are the most graphic sci-fi TV shows of all time, ranked in order by which show is the MOST extreme.

18. Fringe 

I can see the comments now: Fringe? That aired on Fox? How is that graphic? 

Did you watch Fringe? The show pushed the boundaries of how dark a show can get on Fox. One episode has a man turning solid while halfway through a bank vault. Another has a man cut into little pieces to achieve the critical mass needed to travel to another dimension. The first two seasons of Fringe are all a prologue, filled with monster-of-the-week episodes that are worth watching today, to the real plot of the series: a battle for survival between two warring dimensions. 

There’s body horror, there’s cold-blooded murder, there are noble sacrifices. Fringe even kills off its main cast multiple times. It’s an absolutely wild series, and did I mention the body horror? Walter Bishop, the role John Noble was born to play, is a mad scientist working for the good guys, but he’s still a mad scientist, and it’s amazing how many problems can be solved by injecting the right chemicals into the human brain. 

17. Black Mirror 

Often described as a modern-day version of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror doesn’t have volumes of blood and gore, but when it gets violent, it’s gut-wrenching and leaves you an emotional wreck. 

Season 7’s “Common People” is a standout, showing how technology can save lives, but there’s always a price, a literal one in this case. It’s also the same hook from Marvel’s Infamous Iron Man, but with the rise of subscription services in the last few years, the 2025 episode’s dystopian future is disturbingly close to reality. 

The hardest episode to watch remains the series debut, “National Anthem,” the infamous episode about the British Prime Minister having sex with a pig. It’s enough to make you wish for more episodes like “Men Against Fire,” where a military tool tricks soldiers with augmented reality to commit heinous crimes against humanity, or Arkangel’s swarm of killer bee drones.

There’s something to be said for Black Mirror’s habit of building all episodes to one, singular outburst of violent emotion. It stands out among the other shows on this list for its restraint and its ability to emotionally manipulate the audience into a near-nervous breakdown. Black Mirror’s greatest act of violence isn’t on screen; it’s the scream you let out at the end of “Beyond the Sea.” 

16. Raised By Wolves

Raised by Wolves was a 2020 HBO sci-fi series set on a hostile alien world where two androids, Mother and Father, are tasked with rebuilding humanity by raising human children after Earth is destroyed by a war between atheists and religious zealots. 

The premise sounds controlled, but the execution isn’t. The show leans hard into body horror, religious extremism, and sudden, brutal violence. 

Mother isn’t just a caretaker; she’s a weapon capable of tearing people apart in seconds, often on screen. The series repeatedly escalates into imagery most sci-fi avoids: mutilation, forced births, psychological breakdowns, and violence involving children. It doesn’t cut away, and it doesn’t soften the impact. 

The result is a show that uses its sci-fi setting to push into territory that feels closer to horror, making it one of the most graphic and extreme entries in modern television.

15. Kingdom

Netflix’s other hit South Korean series, Kingdom brings zombies to 17th-century Korea. Zombies make everything better, including historical costume dramas. It’s also filled with decapitations, burning flesh, and gruesome zombie transformations.

Crown Prince Ju Jio-hoon is torn between investigating the origins of the zombie outbreak and uncovering a political conspiracy that threatens to destroy his family. Old allies turn into enemies long before their flesh is diseased. And if only it were the dead eating human flesh, life in the Kingdom would be much easier. 

Dealing with zombies without the benefit of modern technology presents an interesting problem, but then again, there are castles. Like zombies, castles are awesome. So are swords. By the time you finish both seasons of Kingdom on Netflix, you’ll wonder why more studios don’t try a historical zombie apocalypse.

Imagine the Roman Legion marching against the undead, or a Renaissance invasion where Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions turn the tide. For now, we have Kingdom, a wild ride if you can handle the whole flesh-eating thing.

14. Alien: Earth

The Alien movies featured prominently on our list of the most graphic sci-fi movies, so it makes sense that the franchise’s TV show version would end up here. Alien: Earth doesn’t go as hard as the movies, but where there’s a Xenomorph, there’s bound to be plenty of horrific, blood-soaked deaths. 

It begins with an alien ship carrying a Xenomorph crash-landing on Earth. That kicks off a plot involving the technology and corporations of the Alien universe alongside an exploration of human consciousness.

13. Fallout 

Like the game series, Fallout isn’t violent or graphic. Most of the time. Then the Deathclaws arrive, and that changes real fast. Season 2 introduced the dangerous Wasteland mutants, and all of a sudden, Fallout became a horror series for a moment. Then again, depending on how you feel about the heavily mutated ghouls, every episode is pure horror. 

Walton Goggins Ghoul is an incredible character. Mutated by radiation exposure into his current, melted form, he left behind his past to become a bounty hunter. The Ghoul is a legend in the Wasteland, though he does have a taste for ass jerky. It’s not cannibalism if you have to survive. 

Fallout is so good; it’s changed what a video game series can be. It’s partly because of the great writing, the fantastic performances, and the way it doesn’t shy away from depicting violence. Cannibalism, large claws ripping humans limb from limb, and every other way they can arterial spray to hit Lucy, Fallout expertly times moments of graphic violence for a 100% hit rate. 

12. Alice in Borderland 

Alice in Borderland is a Japanese take on the classic death game concept. Based on the best-selling manga, Alice in Borderland has quietly been one of Netflix’s best shows for years. Combining the puzzle box of Lost with Squid Game, it’s a one-of-a-kind experience. 

With no explanation, a group of Japanese teens finds themselves in a desolate version of Tokyo, where they have to play games to survive, or they will be killed by giant lasers from space. 

This isn’t Squid Game. The games here start as tag, the most tragic version of hide-and-seek ever, and then they progress to a Witch Hunt, Kick the Can with exploding cans, climbing Tokyo Tower, and Runaway Train, in which they run through an abandoned train filled with nerve gas. 

Over the course of three seasons, the total death count sits at 493. Not every death comes from the strange death games, though; the competition to earn cards and, hopefully, escape leads to a bloody back-alley fight against one of the Kings. It’s brutal, and it’s one of the show’s best moments.

Alice in Borderland walks a fine line between gruesome character deaths and its high-brow sci-fi backstory. Best of all, the three seasons on Netflix tell a complete story, which, unlike Lost, includes an ending. 

11. Westworld 

The 1973 movie Westworld, directed by author Michael Crichton, is violent for its time thanks to Yul Brenner’s performance as the killer Gunslinger robot and the whole robot uprising thing. HBO’s 2016 Westworld series starts off with the same basic premise: the robotic attractions at an amusement park turn against their human creators. Human visitors could engage in every violent and sexual impulse they had, and every night, the robotic Hosts would forget what happened. Until they started remembering. 

Every Delos corporate board member is murdered, park guests are brutally killed, and humanity comes face to face with extinction. The Season 1 finale is an incredible payoff to one of the finest sci-fi seasons of all time, but the show kept airing. It’s hard to reach that type of height again, and Westworld wisely pivots to a more surreal, slow-burn storyline involving the dangers of AI and corporate control. 

Honestly, the story wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if it weren’t for the violent outbursts. Westworld is a perfect example of violence used to further the story, and not simply violence for violence’s sake. Fans of the original novel and movie even get to enjoy a modern update on the Gunslinger’s murder spree as a reward for Anthony Hopkins‘ philosophical musings on the nature of consciousness. 

10. The Last of Us 

The Last of Us is another zombie apocalypse, except this time the zombies are the result of a deadly fungal infection that makes them fast-moving, aggressive, rage-filled. Since it’s adapting the best-selling video games, you might think you know what’s going to happen in The Last of Us, but you’re wrong. 

Except for THAT moment. It was the Red Wedding all over again; fans fell in love with Pedro Pascal as Joel, blissfully unaware of what was going to happen. Joel’s murder is dragged out, brutal, and emotionally devastating. Unless you played the 2020 game and saw how brutal it was on the PlayStation 4. The show held back. 

That’s the ongoing issue with HBO’s The Last of Us: It holds back constantly. This is a brutal, post-apocalyptic world on the brink of being overrun by fungal zombies any day; humans are slaughtering each other over scarce resources, and it never feels like the blood and guts go far enough. It’s there, and the series constantly teases violence, but even when the story calls for it, it goes halfway and then stops. The series is good, not great, and a pale shadow of what it could have been. 

9. Helix 

After Battlestar Galactica, creator Ronald Moore turned his attention to a high-tech Arctic research station after a mysterious viral outbreak. Helix is the type of slow-burn high-concept sci-fi we rarely get to see on television. That and it’s filled with bleeding eyeballs, bleeding ears, government conspiracies, cults, and more genetic technobabble than any other sci-fi show, ever. 

There are also familiar faces in the cast: Star Trek Voyager’s Seven of Nine, Jeri Ryan, is a high-powered corporate CEO, while the star of the show is Billy Campbell. Don’t recognize his name? How about The Rocketeer? 

Airing for two seasons, Helix decides to go batshit crazy in its second season. It’s as if the writers knew SyFy would eventually remember the show existed and swiftly cancel it. Which is exactly what happened, as the show started hemorrhaging viewers, with fewer than half a million tuned in for the Season 2 finale. Obviously, they needed most of the best part of Season 1: people slowly going insane while their flesh melts off in quarantine. 

8. Swamp Thing 

Airing on the DC Universe app, Swamp Thing quickly became a fan-favorite series from the very first episode. Dark, moody, disturbing body horror, interesting characters, this was everything fans of Alan Moore’s incredible 80s run had ever wanted. Filmed on location in an actual swamp, practical effects all over the place, and it embraced the horror side of the DC Universe? We were robbed with only one season. 

The plant effects, the multiple characters drowning in dark swamp water, Swamp Thing isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. Unlike other superheroes, Swamp Thing has no code against killing. Wander into his swamp with evil intentions, and you’re a dead man walking. 

Swamp Thing looks incredible, the story is pure comic pulp, and it doesn’t insult your intelligence. It only failed because Warner Bros. didn’t get the filming tax credit they expected, putting the series budget at over a million per episode, well out of reach for the DC Universe app. 

7. Love, Death, & Robots 

David Fincher wanted to make a new Heavy Metal. The director of Fight Club, Aliens 3, Panic Room, and Se7en, wanted to update the legendary 80s adult animated masterpiece. Working with Tim Miller, the director of Deadpool, the result is Netflix’s Love, Death, & Robots. The anthology series is filled with striking animation and original sci-fi stories that will remind you why you fell in love with the genre. 

A few are fun short films, including the early episode, “Witness,” which is one long chase sequence, but others, such as Season 2’s “Bad Traveling,” use a violent alien to make philosophical points about humanity. What do you do when a killer alien has set up in the hold of your ship and demands to be let off on a populated planet? After you tricked the crewmember you hate into being eaten, of course. 

There are even bits of traditional horror, including a subterranean adventure gone wrong when an ancient evil is unleashed, and a later episode, In “Vaulted Halls Untombed,” that’s one of the best modern cosmic horror stories, and as is the case with most of those stories, it ends on a horrifying final shot that will linger long after the credits end. 

No episode of Love, Death, & Robots overstays its welcome, some are as short as six minutes, some seventeen minutes, and one, that’s entirely a Red Hot Chili Peppers video, might as well have a runtime of zero minutes. Why would I watch that when I can watch rats in a death match with an advanced cybernetic killing machine? 

6. From 

Take Under the Dome. Make it good. That’s From, a horror sci-fi series airing on MGM+, about a small town that acts like a roach motel: people can enter, but they can’t leave. It’s another sci-fi mystery box series, but this time, there are strange, nightmarish monsters, a society that’s rapidly unraveling, and Lost’s Harold Perrineau gets to do more as Boyd in two episodes than he did in two seasons as Michael. 

As the sheriff and mayor of the town, Boyd tries to keep everyone together and working to uncover the mystery, even as each discovery raises more questions. A hidden mineshaft? That’s weird. A man chained inside the mineshaft? Even stranger. A music box that plays itself? A series of numbers with no discernible pattern? The mystery goes deep in From. 

The problem for the town’s residents is that on top of the mystery is the pressure that all of them are doomed to die there with no hope of getting out. How would you react? Would be a Boyd, and attempt to hold onto your sanity? Or would it become The Purge? From has a few inventive murders alongside the intriguing mystery, and it’s the best dark sci-fi series of the last decade. 

5. Blade: The Series 

Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe existed, Wesley Snipes’ Blade showed the world Marvel superheroes could be cool. Two years before Iron Man, rapper Sticky Fingaz brought Blade to the small screen. Airing on Spike, Blade: The Series was ahead of its time. Violent and bloody, the series was able to get away with swearing and nudity on Spike, and against the odds, it was successful. 

It was also expensive, which is what led to the cancellation, despite name-dropping other Marvel superheroes, including Moon Knight and Doctor Strange, setting up the larger Marvel universe for future seasons. Blade: The Series had begun to focus less on Blade and more on Krista Starr, a former soldier-turned-vampire out for revenge. Sticky Fingaz had the look, but he was no Wesley Snipes. 

Blade: The Series pushed the boundaries of what was allowed on television at the time; Spike TV was a cable channel, but not premium cable. There was more sex and violence than any other show at 10 PM. Except for the local news out of Peoria. 

4. Aeon Flux

Before MTV became the Ridiculousness channel, it pioneered adult animation through Liquid Television, a groundbreaking block of shows that included the debut of Beavis and Butt-Head, but also the silent shorts of Aeon Flux. The first run of the series features animation that’s mind-blowing today, never mind in 1991, but also in every single episode, Aeon dies. 

Her neck is snapped, she’s shot, eaten by an alien, trapped in paralyzing fluid and set adrift at sea. Her end is frequently brutal, swift, and decisive. Then in the next episode, she’s back, working against the Breen and sabotaging her arch-enemy, also her lover, Trevor. For a series of experimental, silent shorts and than a more traditional half-hour show, Aeon Flux is surprisingly complicated. 

To say the series became a hit is an understatement. Over 30 years later, Aeon Flux is still creative, subversive, and very, very violent. 

3. The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is one of the most graphic shows in history. You can debate a lot about it, from whether it was ever actually any good to whether the show aired for far too long, and whether it was worth A&E building an entire network around one show. What you can’t debate is that the series brought a level of violence never before seen on cable television. 

One moment in particular stands out as so graphic, so violent, that it caused half the audience to go away and never come back again. The debut of Negan and his bat, Lucille. Glenn’s head splattering across the ground with each swing of the bat was the height of the show’s popularity and its apex of violence. Afterward, it dialed back, but by then, the audience had left, unable to recover from what they saw. 

Not every death on The Walking Dead was a brutal display of violence, but every season had at least one or two standout moments. You also have to credit the series for not holding back and showing children turned into Walkers, bloody car seats, and the pharmacy sink, just to name a few of the dozens of examples. 

It’s a shame that The Walking Dead turned into a slog by the end, as the detail in the worldbuilding and the willingness to show a zombie apocalypse where no one is safe were a breath of fresh, undead air. 

2. Rick and Morty

If Rick and Morty weren’t animated, it would be number one on this list. Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty leave a trail of broken bodies, ruined civilizations, and bodily fluids as they journey through all the universes. From the Cronenberg dimension to Rick’s ship keeping Summer safe, the Purge planet, Dimensional TV, and, well, any one of Rick’s various guns, even the tamest Rick and Morty episode is going to include some guts. 

Trying to pick out the bloodiest, most graphic moment is impossible: Is it Birdman’s brutal murder at his wedding? Is it the Vindicators falling for his elaborate death trap? The destruction of the Citadel by Evil Morty? Alright, that one resulted in the deaths of thousands of Mortys, and as we’ve learned, those don’t count. 

Though it’s fallen from the heights of previous seasons, Rick and Morty set a new standard in adult animation through the sheer density of its gags, absurd nihilistic humor, and willingness to show the most vile, disgusting things that haunt the dreams of caffeine-powered animators. 

1. Blood Drive 

After he was Chad, before he was Reacher, Alan Ritchson starred in Syfy’s forgotten series, Blood Drive, as Arthur Bailey, a cop forced to participate in a brutal death race across America using cars powered by blood. Blood Drive is complete trash. I say that with love, because this bizarre combination of 70s grindhouse western, horror, sci-fi, and a little bit of Lovecraft is unlike anything else. 

Cars eat people, people stab and shoot each other, they beat each other to death; the writers made it their mission to come up with the strangest, most original death in each episode. It’s secretly an anthology series, with Arthur and his homicidal partner Grace coming across a different small town, truck stop, or other haven for weirdos and freaks, resolving whatever issue the area has (usually through murder), and then they keep driving. 

Now that Twisted Metal is a hit, it’s easy to dismiss Blood Drive as an early attempt to copy the video game series, but give the show 5 minutes. You’ll see why it’s different, why it’s awesome, and why it might be the bloodiest show to ever air on Syfy.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 12 seconds ago

Born in the early ‘80s, I quickly became a video game junkie. That made me the perfect age to fall in love with Mortal Kombat, the bloodier, edgelord alternative to fighting games like Street Fighter II. For an embarrassingly long time, I kept up with the early games’ lore, which was adapted into a shockingly good PG-13 movie in the ‘90s. When I heard that we would be getting a new, R-rated Mortal Kombat movie, my hopes were high. Filled with boring fight scenes and flat characters, the first of these newer movies couldn’t escape its digital roots, and the whole thing looked and felt like a video game cutscene.  

Still, the early previews for Mortal Kombat II made it seem like the producers had learned from the failures of the 2021 film. Trailers promised better characters, better fights, and a more interesting story. Oh, and a secret weapon in the form of The Boys star Karl Urban as audience surrogate Jonny Cage. Unfortunately, the final result isn’t quite what the filmmakers were hoping for. Mortal Kombat II is better than the previous movie in the sense that a polished turd is better than an unpolished one. But that’s still bad news for discerning audiences hoping that they might get something other than complete sh*t for their money. 

All Style, No Substance

The premise of Mortal Kombat II is that the titular Mortal Kombat tournament is on the horizon, and if Earth loses, it will be invaded and conquered by the reigning Outworld bad guy, Shao Kahn. Our heroes assemble a team to defend the planet, which includes washed-up action movie star, Johnny Cage. But they faced some pretty big hurdles. Not only is Kahn able to resurrect the dead and turn old allies into enemies, but he has an amulet that makes him functionally immortal. Unless they can defeat the godlike Shao Kahn and win the tournament, all of humanity will be destroyed by the forces of death and darkness.

That sounds pretty engaging, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, for a movie that’s all about fatalities, Mortal Kombat II is really bad when it comes to executing its ambitious plot. It doesn’t help that Shao Kahn has no real personality other than “scary masked guy.” Seriously, he looks and acts like the generic villains you’d find in the worst horror movies of the ‘80s. Such a one-dimensional character works in video games because nobody is worried about the guy’s backstory when they’re frantically mashing buttons. But when you sit in the theater for nearly two hours, you expect (in vain, as it turns out) something more substantial from this new guy we’re supposed to care about.

Get Over Here

Speaking of new guys that we’re supposed to care about, Karl Urban is supposed to be the big draw of Mortal Kombat II. After all, he’s a charismatic character actor who plays the perfect audience surrogate role in this new film. Unfortunately, this never works even half as well as the filmmakers wanted because the script is just that bad. Urban does the best he can with the material, but he spends almost the entire runtime either gawking at Outworld weirdness or busting out tired one-liners. In-universe, Cage achieved fame by starring in a bunch of action schlock films. In an ironic and unintended twist, his dialogue never rises above that level of forgotten B-movie crapitude.

For longtime Mortal Kombat fans, there are a few things to enjoy about this movie. Adeline Rudolph is all deadly grace as Kitana, the perfect embodiment of sex and violence. Kano is resurrected, giving Josh Lawson more chances to steal every scene he’s in. There are fun callbacks to the original games, including hearing Ed Boon (who also makes a small cameo as a bartender) doing Scorpion’s iconic “get over here!” line. Plus, the fatalities are pretty solid, including a final execution that’s one of the most metal moments ever captured onscreen. These things, plus the inexorable force of nostalgia, may be enough to please the most hardcore Mortal Kombat players out there.

Shock And Awful

Unfortunately, the movie is a disappointment to pretty much everyone else. Aside from the awful writing and the slipshod plot, the biggest reason for this is that the fights are just absolutely awful. Every punch and kick lacks the visceral weight of even the simplest martial arts movies (seriously, Karate Kid has more intense fighting than this!), and the special moves are just bland CGI. The awful battles are basically the final failure of Mortal Kombat II. As an adaptation of a fighting game, the fights are woefully bad. As a character-driven genre story, the characters are one-dimensional. As a starring vehicle for Karl Urban, this is the worst thing he’s been in since Shortland Street.   

Mortal Kombat II isn’t the worst thing in theaters right now, but it’s a disappointment on every level. There’s not enough fan service to really please the franchise’s base, and there’s not enough substance to please anyone else. It’s flat, boring, and everything is covered in a grey tint that makes the film look like a cutscene from an early PS3 video game. Mortal Kombat II spends its last few minutes blatantly setting up a sequel, which is ironic because this awful film just performed a fatality on the franchise. It didn’t do the same to me, which is unfortunate; after all, I’d rather be dead than endure this low-effort crapfest ever again.

By Zack Zagranis
| Published 5 seconds ago

With all the talk of Marvel in decline, it’s easy to forget that the studio already hit its low point in 2023, and everything since has been an incremental improvement. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was Marvel’s biggest disappointment since the Spider-Man Clone Saga in the 90s (that’s a deep cut for all you old-school comic nerds out there) and had fans questioning if the House that Stark built was beginning to crumble.

The third Ant-Man movie was again helmed by Bring It On! director Peyton Reed based on a screenplay by Jeff Loveness. Reed teased that a third film in the Marvel franchise would explore the quantum realm during press for 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. Both of the previous films had shown glimpses of the realm but only hinted at its true potential as a sci-fi action movie setting.

Shrinking Ant-Man To Nothing

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania follows superhero duo and romantic pairing Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne (played byPaul Rudd and Lost star Evangeline Lilly, respectively) as they get sucked into the quantum realm by Kang the Conqueror, played masterfully by Jonathan Majors. Along for the ride are Scott’s daughter Cassie, played by Kathryn Newton, and Hope’s parents, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (former Catwoman Michelle Pfeiffer).

Throughout their adventures in the quantum realm, a sort of Marvel version of the Star Wars galaxy that can only be reached by shrinking to sub-atomic size, the quintet comes across several interesting characters, including Bill Murray’s Lord Krylar and Corey Stoll’s M.O.D.O.K. Stoll, as many may remember, played Darren Cross (AKA Yellowjacket) in the first Ant-Man film.

Cross, thought to be destroyed at the end of the first movie, was instead transported to the quantum realm and transformed by Kang into a Mechanized Organism Designed Only For Killing. M.O.D.O.K. is essentially a giant head with a tiny body, forced to wear a hover helmet/chair in order to have any mobility.

Why Quantumania Failed

It all sounds like a fun, sci-fi romp on paper, but somehow didn’t translate well to the screen. Part of the blame can be placed on the shooting restrictions that came with the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to push things around and reschedule shootings. Meanwhile, the movie’s visual effects suffered thanks to another Marvel film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which stole most of the VFX workers that were supposed to be working on Ant-Man.

This led to substantial edits having to be made to Quantaumania so that scenes with unfinished VFX shots could be cut entirely. On top of that, the film made heavy use of Industrial Light & Magic’s StageCraft virtual production technology, the same equipment used in The Mandalorian and Thor: Love and Thunder. While the tech works fine with The Mandalorian, both Marvel movies ended up looking like a bunch of actors thrown into a PS4 game.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania cost an estimated $200 million to make and only grossed $476 million worldwide. While that seems like a pretty good haul (who doesn’t want to make double their budget?) it’s not as good as it looks. When the cost of advertising is factored in, along with the 50 percent of the profits that go to the theaters themselves, any profit Ant-Man 3 made was a pittance compared to some of the other Marvel blockbusters.

The Critical Destruction Of A Marvel Tentpole

If we’re being honest, however, the damage Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania did to Marvel’s reputation, their pride, and possibly even their future outweighs the money the film did or didn’t lose. The critical response to the film was largely negative, as evidenced by Quantumania‘s abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score of 47 percent. Audiences were slightly kinder, giving the movie a “B” on CinemaScore’s A+ to F scale.

The movie was the centerpiece of the first really serious think pieces about superhero fatigue, Marvel fatigue, and the just plain fatigue felt by the entire movie industry post-pandemic. Does the movie deserve all the crap it gets? The best way to answer that is to see for yourself. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is currently streaming on Disney+

Late NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and his wife, Samantha Busch, helped welcome more than 100 babies, conceived through IVF, as part of their Bundle of Joy Fund.

Kyle, who died on Thursday, May 21 at age 41, and Samantha, 39, started the fund in 2015, inspired by their own fertility journey. The couple welcomed son Brexton via IVF that same year, and later daughter Lennix in 2022.

The Bundle of Joy Fund touts on its website that it has “awarded over 150 grants valued at more than $2 million, helping bring over 100 beautiful babies into the world.”

Kyle died unexpectedly after being found unresponsive in a racing simulator and rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, May 20.

“The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” his family said in a statement on Saturday, May 23. “The Family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time.”

Kyle’s death came less than a year after Samantha opened up about the struggle that the couple went through after Brexton was born and they desperately tried to have a second baby. That included what she called a “very sudden miscarriage” that put a strain on their marriage.

“We had a lot of marital struggles because we had never dealt with something so heavy and we didn’t understand how each other were grieving and we didn’t understand what each other needed in that time and place, so it was a struggle,” she explained in a July 2025 episode of the “Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley” podcast. “So we worked on it. We worked really hard. We went to marriage counseling.”

She continued, “I just had this immense guilt and I was so mad at myself for it. Kyle, on the other hand, he was like, ‘You know, I’m not trying to sound cold, but it’s done. There’s nothing that you can do to change this outcome. We have to keep moving forward.’”

Related: Kyle Busch’s Wife Samantha Breaks Down in Tears Ahead of Moment of Silence

Samantha Busch (née Sarcinella) was brought to tears ahead of a moment of silence at the Indy 500 that honored her late husband, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Clutching the shoulder of son Brexton, Samantha, 39, was overcome with emotion while one of the event’s announcers paid tribute to the Busch family at the Indianapolis Motor […]

After Brexton was born, Samantha said, the couple tried to conceive again via IVF. When that didn’t work, they considered using the help of a gestational carrier. But after considering several candidates, including a stranger that approached Samantha on social media, that option fell through as well. She and Kyle again turned to IVF, and Samantha found herself pregnant with twin girls.

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“We went back two weeks later and both of them were gone,” Samantha said. “Unfortunately, my body thought I was still pregnant and wouldn’t miscarry, so my body was growing two empty sacs. I let that go for a bit until, unfortunately, I had to have a D&C two days before Mother’s Day.”

In one last attempt to have another baby, they went back to one of their potential carriers and Lennix arrived in May 2022.

Brexton and Lennix were both on-hand at the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 24, where their dad was supposed to race. He was honored before the event started with a moment of silence and the Amazon Prime broadcast went silent on the eighth lap, matching Kyle’s now-retired number with Richard Childress Racing.