The Reacher universe is expanding rapidly, mainly because it’s becoming far too big to contain to just one (admittedly giant) man, and Prime Video used its San Diego Comic-Con panel to unveil new footage from both Reacher Season 4 and its first television spin-off, Neagley. But that wasn’t the only news they dropped for fans.
Neagley has long been one of Reacher’s most trusted allies, but Zero Margin will give her an adventure entirely of her own. Her role was expanded significantly from the novels due to the fact Reacher tends to do a lot of work in his own head, which wouldn’t be particularly appealing televisiually. It was thought a character who could help with exposition would be a good addition to the series, so Neagley emerged and proved to be so popular that she’s appeared in all three seasons so far, as well as her own series.
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
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🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
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01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
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02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
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03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
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05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
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06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
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08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
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Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
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The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
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You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
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You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
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You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
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Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
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You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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What Is ‘Neagley’ About?
The news arrived alongside the first teaser for Neagley, which showed the similarities and the differences between the two shows. Neagley is a bit… cooler, than Reacher, who tends to deal with things like a blunt object whereas Neagley is more akin to a Swiss army knife. The show follows her as she works as a private investigator in Chicago, launching her own dangerous investigation after a close friend is killed in dodgy circumstances.
The series stars Greyston Holt (The Night Agent), Adeline Rudolph (Hellboy: The Crooked Man), Jasper Jones (King Ivory), Matthew Del Negro (Mayor of Kingstown), Damon Herriman (Justified), Cassandra Freeman (Bel-Air) and Marshall Cook (All American).
The panel also confirmed that Reacher Season 5 will be based on Make Me, the 20th novel in Child’s series. Alan Ritchson (Fast X) revealed the news as production continues on the next instalment, even before Season 4 makes its debut. Talk about a busy guy.
All episodes of Neagley premiere September 16 on Prime Video.
San Diego Comic-Con’s Avengers: Doomsday exclusives didn’t end with the Hall H panel’s many reveals. Not only are attendees’ eyes attending to a rotating rainbow of Latverian witch costumes, but Iron Studios is unveiling new figures of Robert Downey Jr.‘s Doctor Doom, Patrick Stewart‘s Professor X, and Ian McKellen‘s Magneto in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Collider is pleased to give readers an exclusive advanced look at these figures, which provide food for thought on the Doom front and a new look at theX-Men storyline in the upcoming film.
The new take on Doom has been a major point of interest since Kevin Feige announced the film in 2024. The official poster that Marvel Studios debuted on Saturday, July 25, as well as all the merchandise we’ve seen so far from Doomsday, show the Fantastic Fourvillain wearing a curious yellow arm band. Iron Studios’ Legacy Replica and MiniCo figures feature this accessory as well. What does it mean? Every angle presents the opportunity for more theories about why Victor Von Doom is in the MCU and why he has Downey Jr.’s face under that mask. That said, the third Doctor Doom figurine in this exclusive collection has something else that Marvel theorists may want to pore over: runes, speaking of those Latverian witches. The Doctor Doom Throne Deluxe shows Victor seated, grasping one hand, on a chair covered with the mystical symbols. Doom runes!
As for the star-crossed X-Men mentors, we haven’t seen that much about what Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr’s roles are in Avengers: Doomsday yet. Iron Studios’ Professor Xavier figure is surrounded not by runes, but by ruins. He’s seated, in the middle of using his powers, amidst some rocky rubble and a broken stained-glass window. This is more or less in line with the official “The X-Men Will Return” trailer for Doomsday, in which Charles warns that “death comes for us all. That’s all I know for sure. The question isn’t ‘are you prepared to die,’ the question is ‘who will you be when you close your eyes?’” In that trailer, Charles is in a home library with similar windows playing chess with a cozy-looking Erik.
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Image via Iron Studios
Image via Iron Studios
Image via Iron Studios
However, Iron Studios’ Magneto figure is not playing chess in a cardigan. He’s wearing a red super suit and his signature helmet, levitating over a broken pillar with his arm outstretched. Watch out! Is this our first look at Magneto using his powers in Avengers: Doomsday? In fingerless gloves, no less? Is this him “destroying New Jersey,” as McKellan accidentally revealed in an interview? We cannot wait to find out. He also has the X-Men symbol on his belt buckle, by the way, in case there was any doubt whose side he’s on in Doomsday.
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Collider Exclusive · Marvel Personality Quiz Which MCU Hero Are You? Spider-Man · Daredevil · Iron Man · Punisher · Thor · Cap
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Six heroes. One destiny. Answer 10 questions to discover which Marvel Cinematic Universe hero shares your personality, values, and fighting spirit. Will you swing, fly, or thunder your way to glory?
🕷️Spider-Man
😈Daredevil
🤖Iron Man
💀Punisher
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⚡Thor
🛡️Cap
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01
What drives you to do what’s right? Choose the answer that feels most like you.
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02
It’s 2 AM. Where are you? Your answer says more about you than you’d think.
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03
How do you handle a villain who keeps escaping justice? Every hero has a method. What’s yours?
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04
How do you feel about keeping a secret identity? The mask — or the lack of one — says everything.
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05
You’ve lost someone important because of your heroism. How do you carry that? Every hero pays a price. The question is how they pay it.
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06
What’s your role when working with a team? Who you are under pressure is who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line between justice and revenge? The answer defines what kind of hero you really are.
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08
When you’re not saving the world, what does life look like? The person behind the mask is always the more interesting story.
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09
What keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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10
The battle is lost. You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and exhausted. What do you do? This is your tiebreaker — choose carefully.
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Your Hero Has Been Identified Your MCU Hero Is…
Based on your answers, the Marvel hero who matches your spirit, values, and instincts has been revealed.
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Queens, New York
🕷️ Spider-Man
You carry the weight of the world on shoulders that are younger than they should have to be — funny, loyal, and endlessly self-sacrificing.
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You do the right thing not because it’s easy, but because no one else will.
You understand that responsibility isn’t a burden you choose — it’s one that finds you.
Whether it’s a neighbourhood mugging or a multiverse crisis, you show up.
Peter Parker’s lesson — that great power demands great responsibility — isn’t a slogan to you. It’s the code you live by, even when it costs you everything.
Hell’s Kitchen, New York
😈 Daredevil
You fight in the shadows between law and chaos, guided by a fierce moral compass that refuses to let the guilty walk free.
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You use every tool available — your mind, your body, your faith — to protect those the system overlooks.
You’ve looked into the darkness and chosen not to become it, though the line has never been easy.
Matt Murdock’s duality — champion in the courtroom, devil in the alley — mirrors your own.
Relentless, conflicted, and unwilling to stop. That is exactly you.
Stark Industries, Malibu
🤖 Iron Man
Brilliant, driven, and occasionally insufferable — but always the person who solves the unsolvable problem.
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You lead with your mind and back it up with resources, innovation, and a stubbornness that borders on heroic.
You started out looking out for yourself, but somewhere along the way the world became your responsibility.
Tony Stark’s arc — from ego to sacrifice — is your arc too.
You build, you plan, and when the moment comes, you’re willing to give everything. Because in the end, you’re Iron Man.
New York City
💀 The Punisher
You’ve been through fire that would break most people — and it did change you, completely. What’s left is unyielding, relentless, and operating by a code forged in grief.
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You don’t ask for forgiveness, and you don’t expect gratitude.
You see a corrupt, broken world and you’ve decided to do something about it, consequences be damned.
Frank Castle’s war is born from love twisted by loss — and so is yours.
Uncompromising and unflinching — the world may not agree with your methods, but your conviction is absolute.
Asgard · Protector of the Nine Realms
⚡ Thor
Powerful, proud, and on a lifelong journey to become worthy of the legend you carry.
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You lead with strength but have learned — sometimes painfully — that true greatness comes from humility and growth.
You’re larger than life, yet more vulnerable than you let on.
Thor’s story is one of transformation: from arrogant prince to worthy king, from isolated warrior to beloved protector.
You bring the storm when it’s needed — and the warmth when it matters just as much.
Brooklyn, New York · The Avengers
🛡️ Captain America
You believe in something bigger than yourself — and you fight for it even when the world has moved on and nobody else will.
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You don’t bully the small guy, and you never stop when it gets hard.
Steve Rogers didn’t become a hero when he got the serum — he was always one. So were you.
Your strength isn’t in your fists; it’s in your refusal to compromise what’s right, no matter the cost.
In a world full of people taking the easy road, you’re the one who picks up the shield and stands up — every single time.
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When you think about how many characters we know will be in this film, and how many we still don’t know will be in this film, it can get a little overwhelming. Just on the X-Men side we have James Marsden as Cyclops, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Alan Cumming, as Nightcrawler, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and Channing Tatum as Gambit in addition to Stewart and McKellan. There’s also the Fantastic Four, played by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Add them to the legacy Avengers cast, the New Avengers (formerly known as the Thunderbolts*) and unmarred heroes like Simu Liu‘s Shang-Chi, and you’re gonna need to start clearing space for your collection. These five new figures include a MiniCo Doom, a 1/4 scale Doom, and three 1/10 scale figures: Doctor Doom, Professor X, and Magneto.
Avengers: Doomsday clocks into work in theaters on December 18. In the meantime, get an exclusive look at the new Iron Studios figures for the movie in the galleries above and stay tuned here at Collider throughout the weekend for more coverage from SDCC.
Scarlett Johansson has not-so-quietly become one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood, and this is largely due to her blockbuster role as Black Widow in the MCU movies. Johansson appears to be one of the few OG Avengers not set to return later this year in Avengers: Doomsday, but it’s possible that her role is being kept under wraps, and she has filmed scenes for the movie. Johansson is joining another side of the comic book genre, though, along with one of her long-time MCU co-stars, Sebastian Stan. The duo have been tapped to star in Matt Reeves’ long-awaited Batmansequel, which is now due in theaters in 2028 after being delayed once again. Details about their roles are being kept under wraps for now, but Reeves will surely announce more information when the time is right.
Over the years, even after she signed on to play Black Widow, Johansson has starred in plenty of famous non-MCU projects, like Lucy. The 2014 sci-fi thriller co-stars Morgan Freeman and Pilou Asbæk, and while it wasn’t exactly a critical darling, it found extraordinary success at the box office. On a modest budget of only $40 million, Lucy managed to gross $469 million at the global box office, meaning the film earned back its budget 11x more, making it one of the biggest financial successes of Johansson’s career. The sci-fi thriller has been streaming on Netflix for a few months now, but the streamer has officially announced that the last day to watch the film will be on July 31. Luc Besson wrote and directed the sci-fi thriller, which also stars Choi Min-sik and Amr Waked.
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
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Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
Advertisement
🚀Star Wars
Advertisement
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
Advertisement
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
Advertisement
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
Advertisement
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
Advertisement
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
Advertisement
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
Advertisement
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
Advertisement
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Advertisement
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
Advertisement
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
Advertisement
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Advertisement
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Advertisement
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
Advertisement
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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What Is ‘Lucy’ About?
The official synopsis for Lucy, which earned scores of 67% from critics and 47% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, reads as follows: “A woman (Scarlett Johansson) gets forced into smuggling a powerful synthetic drug, only for it to leak into her system and unlock extraordinary cognitive abilities beyond human limits. As she gains control over her mind and body, she races against time to evade a ruthless crime lord and uncover the secrets of human potential—before her own existence begins to unravel.” For Johansson, Lucy came in the same year that she reprised her role as Black Widow in the critically acclaimed MCU movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It was also one year after she starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Her.
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Check out Lucy before it’s removed from Netflix at the end of this month, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Scarlett Johansson’s future projects.
Matt Damon as Odysseus in The Odyssey (2026)Image via Universal Pictures
After smashing projections in its opening weekend, Christopher Nolan‘s latest epic, The Odyssey, is showing incredible resilience in its sophomore frame. The movie shattered the records of Nolan’s The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises to deliver the biggest second-weekend haul of his illustrious career. The Odyssey dropped by just 29% this weekend, retaining the number one spot on the box office charts. By comparison, Ryan Coogler‘s acclaimed horror film Sinners dropped by a mere 5% in its second weekend last year. Holds this strong are incredibly rare in this day and age; even Nolan’s Oppenheimer fell by 43% in its second weekend. Word on the street is that The Odyssey is tracking to overtake not only Oppenheimer’s $975 million lifetime global haul, but also those of Nolan’s second and third Batman movies.
What this means is that the epic adventure film will likely surpass the coveted $1 billion mark worldwide and will eventually become the biggest hit of Nolan’s career. Starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson, the movie is already enjoying some of the best reviews that a Nolan film has been met with. It now holds a “Certified Fresh” 94% critics’ score and a “Verified Hot” 97% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Reinvigorating an ancient adventure with majestic sweep and sterling work by its colossal ensemble, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey imbues myth with primal human feeling.”
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Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz Which Lord of the Rings Character Are You? One Quiz · Ten Questions · Your Fate Revealed
The road goes ever on. From the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Ten questions stand between you and the truth of who you are. Answer honestly — the One Ring has a way of revealing what we most want to hide.
💍Frodo
🌿Samwise
👑Aragorn
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🔥Gandalf
🏹Legolas
⚒️Gimli
👁️Sauron
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🪨Gollum
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01
You are handed a responsibility that could destroy you. What do you do? The weight of the world falls on unlikely shoulders.
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02
Your closest companion is heading into terrible danger. You: True loyalty is revealed not in comfort, but in crisis.
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03
Enormous power is within your reach. Your instinct is: Power corrupts — but only those who reach for it.
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04
What does “home” mean to you? Where we long to return reveals who we truly are.
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05
When a battle is upon you, your approach is: War reveals what we are made of — whether we like it or not.
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06
Someone comes to you for advice in their darkest hour. You: Wisdom is not knowing all the answers — it’s knowing which questions to ask.
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07
How do you see yourself, honestly? Self-knowledge is the most dangerous kind.
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08
Which of these best describes your relationship with the natural world? Middle-earth speaks to those who know how to listen.
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09
You encounter a wretched, pitiable creature who has done terrible things. You: How we treat the fallen reveals the height of our character.
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10
When the quest is over and the songs are sung, what do you hope they say about you? In the end, we are all just stories.
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The Fellowship Has Spoken Your Place in Middle-earth
The scores below reveal your true character. Your highest number is your match. Even a tie tells a story — the Fellowship was never made of simple people.
💍 Frodo
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🌿 Samwise
👑 Aragorn
🔥 Gandalf
🏹 Legolas
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⚒️ Gimli
👁️ Sauron
🪨 Gollum
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You carry something heavy — and you carry it alone, even when you don’t have to. You were not born for greatness, and that is precisely why greatness chose you. Your courage is not the roaring, sword-swinging kind; it is quiet, stubborn, and terrifying in its refusal to quit. The Ring weighs on you more than anyone can see, and still you walk toward the fire. That is not weakness. That is the rarest kind of strength there is.
You are, without question, the best of them. Not the most powerful, not the most celebrated — but the most essential. Your loyalty is not a trait; it is a force of nature. You would carry the person you love up the slopes of Mount Doom if it came to that, and we both know you’d do it without being asked. The world needs more people like you, and the world is lucky it has even one.
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You were born to lead, and you have spent years running from it. The crown is yours by right, but you know better than anyone that right means nothing without the will and the worthiness to back it up. You are tempered by loss, shaped by long roads, and defined by a code of honour you hold to even when no one is watching. When you finally step forward, the world shifts. Because it was always waiting for you.
You have seen more than you let on, and you say less than you know — which is exactly as it should be. You are a catalyst: you do not fight the battles yourself, you ignite the people who can. Your wisdom comes not from books but from an age of watching what happens when it is ignored. You arrive precisely when you mean to, and your presence alone changes what is possible. A wizard is never late.
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Graceful, perceptive, and almost preternaturally calm under pressure — you see things others miss and act before others react. You do not need to make a scene to be remarkable; your presence speaks for itself. You are loyal to those you choose to stand beside, and that choice is not made lightly. You have lived long enough to know that the most beautiful things in this world are also the most fragile, and that is why you fight to protect them.
You are loud, proud, and absolutely formidable — and beneath all of that is one of the most fiercely loyal hearts in Middle-earth. You don’t do anything by half measures. Your friendships are forged like iron, your grudges run as deep as mines, and your courage in battle is the kind that makes legends. You came into this fellowship suspicious of everyone and ended it willing to die for an elf. That is not a small thing. That is everything.
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You think in centuries and act in absolutes. Order, dominion, control — not because you are cruel by nature, but because you have decided that the world left to itself always falls apart, and you are the only one with the vision and the will to hold it together. You were not always this. Something was lost, or taken, or betrayed, and the version of you that stands now is the answer to that wound. The tragedy is that you’re not entirely wrong — just entirely too far gone to course-correct.
You are a study in contradiction — pitiable and dangerous, cunning and broken, capable of both cruelty and something that once resembled love. You are defined by loss: of innocence, of self, of the one thing that gave your existence meaning. Two voices war inside you constantly, and the tragedy is that the better one sometimes wins, just not often enough, and never at the right moment. You are a warning, yes — but also a mirror. We are all a little Gollum, given the right ring and enough time.
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Here’s How Much ‘The Odyssey’ Has Grossed Globally
This weekend, the film grossed a whopping $87 million domestically, taking its running haul to more than $285 million in just 10 days. Internationally, The Odyssey has generated $353 million, for a global total of $578 million. This puts the movie ahead of Ridley Scott‘s two most successful swords-and-sandals epics, Gladiator and Gladiator II. Released in 2000 and headlined by Russell Crowe, the first Gladiator movie grossed approximately $465 million worldwide against a reported budget of around $100 million. Gladiator II, starring Paul Mescal, was released in 2024. The movie grossed around $460 million globally against a reported budget of around $300 million. The Odyssey, which cost a reported $250 million to produce, has also overtaken Scott’s other historical epics: Napoleon, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Kingdom of Heaven, and The Last Duel— the latter also featured Damon in the lead. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
There are very few actors out there who can sell a movie by their name alone, but Glen Powellis quickly proving that he’s in an elite club. Thanks to his work in movies like Anyone But You, Top Gun: Maverick, and Twisters, Powell’s combination of charm and dedication to his roles has made him an actor to watch. It’s also led movie fans to slowly discover his earlier roles, including a Netflix series that puts a fresh spin on a long-running science fiction franchise. What’s more, Powell isn’t the only recognizable face in the cast, as Jenna Ortegahas a major role in the series as well.
The series in question? Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. As its name suggests, Camp Cretaceous is an offshoot of the Jurassic World movies, and follows six teenagers who’ve won a trip to Camp Cretaceous, a program that’s part of the Jurassic World theme park. However, once the events of the first Jurassic Worldkick off, the teens are stranded and have to learn to work together in order to survive the packs of wild dinosaurs and other threats on Isla Nublar. Running for five seasons, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous not only manages to replicate the danger and spectacle of the Jurassic World movies, but exceeds them in one key way.
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‘Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous’ Thrives Thanks to Its Characters
Image via Netflix
What makes Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous stand outis its focus on its human characters, particularly the six teens it follows. The differences between these teens are stark, as dinosaur fanatic Darius (Paul-Mikél Williams) initially butts heads with rich kid Kenji (Ryan Potter), while the athletic Yaz (Kasuar Mohammed) couldn’t be more different from vlogger Brooklynn (Ortega) or farm girl Sammy (Raini Rodriguez). As Camp Cretaceous progresses, the teens start to form a friendship and even put their skills to the test, whether it’s Darius’ dinosaur knowledge helping them survive or Yaz and Sammy forming a relationship. The character who changes the most is Ben (Sean Giambrone); once a shy and socially awkward teen, he grows into a more confident survivor and even forms a relationship with an Ankylosaurus he names “Bumpy.”
The same treatment is even given to Glen Powell’s character, Dave. Dave and his fellow camp counselor Roxie (Jameela Jamil) are polar opposites, with Roxie being hyper-focused on keeping strict schedules while Dave is more laid back. However, Dave does show flashes of humanity beyond his laid-back surfer boy persona, as he winds up saving Kenji and Darius early in the series; he and Roxie also try to save the teens in the back half of Season 1. The duo even reappears at the end of Camp Cretaceous to get the campers home, which gives the series a full circle moment and Powell a chance to flex his dramatic chops.
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
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Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
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🚀Star Wars
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01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
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02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
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03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
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04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
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05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
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06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
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07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
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08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
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Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
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The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
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The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
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Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
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Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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‘Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous’ Spawned A Sequel Series
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous became a major hit, scoring the highest ratings of any entry in the Jurassic World franchise and a dedicated fanbase. Netflix capitalized on this success by releasing a sequel series, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. While Chaos Theory still keeps the strong mix of characterization and spectacle that defines Camp Cretaceous, it takes a major leap forward in time and shows the characters six years later and how their experiences on Isla Nublar affected them. Showrunner Scott Kreamer said that the biggest draw of working on Chaos Theory was exploring the dynamic between man and dinosaur that was teased in Jurassic World: Dominion.
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“What’s great about Dominion is it tells this big story about what it looks like with dinosaurs in the world. Well, what does that look like for an everyday person?”
Those who watched Dominion know that the final result left a lot to be desired, but Jurassic World: Chaos Theory leaped at the chance to show how living among dinosaurs affects Darius and his friends. While Glen Powell didn’t return for Chaos Theory, his role in Camp Cretaceous shows that the trick to making a great Jurassic movie isn’t big dinosaurs and cutting edge effects but having actual characters the audience grows to care about.
The announcement comes just days after Ritchson revealed filming on Season 5 was already underway, despite the fourth season not yet having premiered, and now, fans know precisely where Reacher’s next investigation will take him.
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
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Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
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🔥Max Rockatansky
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01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
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02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
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03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
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04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
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05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
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06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
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07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
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08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
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Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
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Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
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USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
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The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
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The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
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The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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‘Reacher’ Season 5 Will Adapt ‘Make Me’
Prime Video confirmed during its panel that Reacher Season 5 will adapt Lee Child’s 2015 novel Make Me, the 12th book in the long-running Jack Reacher series. That also explains the earlier teaser image which was shared by the show’s social accounts — a railroad crossing — that made fans think either The Affair or Make Me would be next.
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The novel starts with Reacher getting off a train in the town of Mother’s Rest, just because he thinks the name is cool, which is the kind of thing he tends to do. Reacher tends to find trouble because he follows his gut, rather than doing things logically, after all. But then, as is always the case, his curiosity leads him to missing people, government conspiracies and baddies everywhere. As with every Reacher season, it’s a standalone so you can jump right in.
The announcement follows recent comments from Ritchson, who revealed that production on Season 5 had already begun. Speaking while promoting Motor City, Ritchson confirmed that the entire season had already been written before cameras rolled.
“Yeah, we know [which book we’re adapting]. The season’s been written. We’re ready to shoot. All the scripts are done. The last half of my year is going to be all Reacher Season 5.”
Meanwhile, Season 4 is set to adapt Child’s Gone Tomorrow, and stars Jay Baruchel (FUBAR) as Jacob Merrick, Sydelle Noel (GLOW) as Tamara Green, Agnez Mo (Pernikahan Dini) as Lila Hoth, Anggun (Levitating) as Amisha Hoth, Kevin Weisman (Alias) as Russell Plum, Marc Blucas (My Life with the Walter Boys) as John Samson and Kathleen Robertson (The Expanse) as Elsbeth Samson.
Reacher Season 4 premieres on Prime Video on August 20, with Neagley debuting the same day the fourth season concludes. Season 5 is now filming.
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Release Date
February 3, 2022
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Network
Prime Video
Showrunner
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Nick Santora
Directors
Omar Madha, Carol Banker, Julian Holmes, Lin Oeding, M.J. Bassett, Norberto Barba, Stephen Surjik, Thomas Vincent
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A pair of well-fitted wide-leg trousers will take you far in life — they’re effortlessly chic, always comfortable and look good in a variety of situations. But at 5’0, I’ve realized I need to buy petite-friendly sizes in order for these pants to appear polished. Anything else is either too baggy and mishappen or requires an immediate trip to the tailor.
After months of searching and trying on various options, I’ve finally come up with a list of my go-to wide-leg trousers that fit as-is, no tailoring required. The best part? They’re all from Amazon, where you’ll actually find an impressive amount of short inseam options if you do a little digging. Keep scrolling to find wide-leg trousers that work for any situation and fit perfectly.
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14 Wide-Leg Trousers For Petites From Amazon
1. My Favorite: These wide-leg pants are super soft, stretchy and lightweight, making them my favorite of any other option I’ve tried. They feel like sweats and can be worn when you’re lounging, yet are still elevated enough to dress up. I love how the inseam goes by height, which makes it so easy to order.
2. Runner-Up: These stretchy trousers have belt loops, a waistband and pleating in the front that make them look tailored and flattering. The fabric, however, is lightweight and stretchy, so they feel a lot more like sweats and give you the best of both worlds.
3. Lightweight and Luxe: With their drawstring waistband and relaxed fit, these yoga pants might look casual at first. However, they’re ideal for days when you want to feel comfy but appear more dressed up. Plus, sizing is ideal.
4. Sporty Chic:Track pants are still trending, and I love this option because it fits my frame perfectly — not too long or too short. They’re also lightweight and comfortable, and I get compliments every time I wear them.
Standing tall at 5’2″, Reese Witherspoon understands what it means to be petite. But she’s not settling for dragging hems and bunching waistbands. Witherspoon’s wide-leg denim style flatters short legs, and we found the look on sale on Amazon! In an Instagram post, the fun-size queen posed wearing a pink top (of course) and wide-leg […]
5. Casual and Cute: Perfect for a summer vacation, day by the beach or shopping with friends, these palazzo pants are casual-chic in the best way. They don’t come in petite sizing, but I find that their naturally cropped fit actually fits me perfectly.
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6. Versatile Pick: I love these wide-leg pants so much that I’ve actually bought them three times just so I always have a pair on hand. They are lightweight and breathable, come in the perfect length and are easy to dress up or down.
7. Office Friendly: With their tailored feel, these high-waisted trousers are a win for the office. They have a slightly more straight-leg fit, so they aren’t overwhelming on your frame. I also love the pockets.
8. Looks Expensive: These relaxed trousers are made of a modal blend that makes them buttery soft and perfectly stretchy. They feel exactly like sweats but have a wide waistband and pockets that make them seem more elevated.
9. Tailored Feel: A little bit of pleating and a good fit is the ultimate fashion-girl combo. These high-waisted trousers look and feel tailored, so they quickly make any outfit more polished.
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10. Flattering Fit: The pleating down the legs of these wide-leg trousers is what won me over. They have the most flattering fit, and the stretchy feel makes them extra comfy.
12. Effortlessly Chic: If you want to look like you just stepped out of a photoshoot, put on these extra wide-leg trousers. Usually this style is overwhelming on my frame, but because these come in petite sizing, they actually work – and they look so cool.
13. Linen Blend: Need something more breathable for hot summer days in the office? These palazzo pant trousers are made of a linen blend that makes them lightweight and cool, but still put-together.
14. For Your Day Off: With their stretchy waistband, these cropped trousers might be a little too casual for a workday, but they’re perfect for running errands or getting lunch. They look cute and put-together and fit a shorter frame just right.
Summer fashion can be hit or miss, especially when you want to stay cool without losing that grown‑woman polish. That’s exactly why stylish women over 40 keep reaching for wide‑leg pants that are breezy, flattering and endlessly elevated. Even better, there’s a flattering pair for every type of fashionista, from denim wide‑leg trousers and cropped […]
Welcome to summer with our biggest sale of the year. This summer’s chicest dresses, tops and swimsuits are all over 30% + free shipping. Inventory is limited so hurry before they’re gone.
The fun for horror fans isn’t stopping anytime soon in 2026, with The Odysseystar Anne Hathawaydelivering the thrilling dino-based survival flick The End of Oak Street next month, from It Follows director David Robert Mitchell. This comes following a couple of months dominated by one movie in particular, which made quite the splash with Gen Z audiences. Of course, that movie is Focus Features’ Obsession, directed by Curry Barker, which has become a viral phenomenon and broken many records along the way.
For example, the film is the first with a sub-million production budget to earn over $200 million this century, the highest-grossing non-animated original film of the past decade, and the only genre film in history to stay in the box office top ten for over 40 days in a row. More recently, Obsession became the highest-grossing original horror movie of this century, and is now an unstoppable force on the streaming charts. But it isn’t the only 2026 horror movie to earn the praise of Gen Z, who have now adopted a recent Prime Video arrival as their new must-watch horror.
The film in question is Do Not Enter, by prolific music video director Marc Klasfeld, which follows four social-media personalities as they break into and explore New Jersey’s abandoned Paragon Hotel for livestream fame. Looking to pull off their biggest stunt yet, and with $300 million rumored to be on the line, paranormal activity threatens to upend their challenge. Adeline Rudolph, who plays Kitana in Mortal Kombat II, leads the ensemble, which also includes Laurence O’Fuarain, Nicholas Hamilton, Jake Manley, Brennan Keel Cook, Catrina Shank, and Francesca Reale.
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Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
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🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
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01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
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02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
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03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
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04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
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05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
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06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
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07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
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08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
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Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
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Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
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He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
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But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
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You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
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The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
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You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
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‘Do Not Enter’ Is a Prime Video Hit
At the time of writing, Do Not Enter is one of the ten most-streamed movies on Prime Video in the U.S. This feat is made more impressive when considering the tough competition the horror flick faces, including the cozy murder mystery The Sheep Detectives, last summer’s superhero sensation Superman, the 2023 action movie Ruthless, and, the current chart topper, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller‘s sci-fi masterpiece Project Hail Mary.
Do Not Enter is one of the ten most-streamed movies on Prime Video in the U.S. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for more streaming stories.
Thriller movies and TV shows are great, but the genre is best experienced on the page. A visual medium can show the audience what is happening, but a book traps them inside the characters’ thoughts, fears, and paranoia. Thriller novels offer a sense of immersion that doesn’t need background music cues or lingering shots to offer the audience hints.
Instead, readers have to search for clues themselves, question every narrator, and essentially become a part of the mystery at hand. The tension here depends entirely on the author’s ability to control what the reader knows, and, more importantly, what they don’t. Given that, here is a list of the best thriller books of all time that continue to define the genreto this day.
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10
‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ (2005)
Image via Norstedts Förlag
Stieg Larsson’sThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first book in the Millennium series and serves as the perfect slow-burn thriller. The story follows disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, whom wealthy industrialist Henrik Vanger hires to investigate the four-decade-old disappearance of his great-niece, Harriet. Henrik is convinced that someone within the enormous, deeply dysfunctional Vanger family was responsible for the crime. This leads Mikael on a sprawling investigation that brings him to Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant hacker and private investigator whose ability to uncover other people’s secrets makes her uniquely suited to this case built around generations of lies.
Mikael and Lisbeth are initially treated as the leads of two separate stories that unfold simultaneously. However, once they finally cross paths, the book becomes impossible to put down thanks to their unique dynamic. Larsson also gives the mystery far more weight than a conventional cold case. The novel’s original Swedish title translates to Men Who Hate Women, which reveals the uglier subject hiding beneath its missing-person premise.
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9
‘The Day of the Jackal’ (1971)
Image via Penguin
Frederick Forsyth’s political thriller, The Day of the Jackal, begins in 1962, after repeated attempts by the far-right OAS to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle have ended in disaster. The organization is heavily infiltrated by French intelligence, so its leaders decide their only remaining option is to hire someone the authorities have never seen before. That’s when the Jackal enters the story as a nameless English assassin who accepts the contract and begins constructing an extraordinarily detailed plan to kill one of the most heavily protected men in the world. Meanwhile, quiet and methodical police commissioner Claude Lebel is given the seemingly impossible task of identifying and stopping a killer whose real name, appearance, and location are completely unknown.
The genius of the novel is that readers already know de Gaulle survived. Forsyth cannot create suspense by making anyone wonder whether history will be rewritten, so he builds it in how dangerously close the Jackal might come to it. The two men barely share the page, yet their battle of patience and intelligence makes the novel feel as fast-paced as ever. Obviously, Forsyth’s background as a journalist gives the book a frightening sense of authenticity. He blends the fictional plot with real political tensions and genuine events surrounding the OAS to fully immerse the reader in an operation of this scale. This documentary-like realism completely redefines what readers expected from political thrillers, and remains the benchmark for the genre to this day.
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8
‘The Silent Patient’ (2019)
Image via Celadon Books
Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient begins with an almost impossible mystery, which is what makes it such a compelling read. The story follows Alicia Berenson, a successful painter with a seemingly happy marriage. Things take a turn when one fateful evening, she shoots her husband Gabriel five times in the face. After the murder, she never speaks again, not even to defend herself or offer any kind of explanation. Her silence turns the case into a national obsession and eventually brings her to the Grove, a secure psychiatric facility. Years later, psychotherapist Theo Faber becomes determined to uncover the truth.
He believes that getting Alicia to speak will finally explain the murder, but his interest in her quickly becomes more personal than professional. Soon enough, Theo’s investigation leads him to believe that nearly everyone involved in the mystery is hiding something. The central question of the story is pretty simple. The readers constantly wonder why Alicia killed her husband, and every chapter of the novel keeps the pace moving to answer that question. The Silent Patient is best known for its final twist, but the reveal works because of how carefully the author builds everything that comes before it.
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7
‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ (1955)
Image via Coward-McCann
The Talented Mr. Ripleyis Patricia Highsmith’s brilliant psychological thriller that is still an important part of pop culture today. The story introduces readers to Tom Ripley, a struggling young con artist surviving through petty scams in New York. His fortunes change when wealthy businessman Herbert Greenleaf offers to send him to Italy to convince his son, Dickie, to return home and join the family business. Tom barely knows Dickie, but he happily exaggerates their friendship for the free trip. Once he reaches the beautiful seaside village of Mongibello, however, he becomes fascinated by Dickie’s money, confidence, and carefree lifestyle. The catch is that becoming Dickie’s friend isn’t enough.
Tom slowly begins to believe he deserves Dickie’s life more than Dickie does, and this obsession leads him into murder, identity theft, and an increasingly complicated web of lies. Highsmith traps readers inside Tom’s mind while he does all these unhinged, selfish things. As he switches between identities and attempts to stay ahead of the police, the tension comes from never knowing what he might do next, or how much further he is willing to go to protect a life he has stolen. The novel became the first of five books about Ripley, but the opening installment remains one of the most iconic crime stories ever told.
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6
‘The Bourne Identity’ (1980)
Image via Hachette/ Richard Marek
The Bourne Identity begins with a man being pulled from the Mediterranean Sea. His body is filled with bullets and his memory almost completely erased. He doesn’t even remember his name or where he comes from. All he knows is that his instincts tell him how to fight, escape surveillance, and recognize danger before anyone else does. The only clue is a Swiss bank-account number hidden beneath his skin. When he follows it to Zurich, he discovers millions of francs, the name Jason Bourne, and several armed men who seem very determined to stop him from learning anything else. That is the intriguing premise of Robert Ludlum’s genre-defining thriller novel, but the story is far from over here.
The author keeps complicating the central character’s identity every step of the way. The evidence suggests that he may be a professional assassin known as Cain, yet other clues point toward a much stronger covert operation involving the CIA. That forces Bourne to hunt for the truth while questioning whether the person he used to be is someone he should even want to remember. Unlike the considerably simpler film adaptation (which later turned into multiple rewatchable Bourne movies), the novel does not provide one easy answer and move on. It keeps peeling away layers until Bourne’s past becomes more morally complicated than the reader expects.
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Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
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Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
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🪆Chucky
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01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
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02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
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03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
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04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
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05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
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06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
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07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
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08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
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Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
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Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
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Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
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Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
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Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
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Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
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5
‘Rebecca’ (1938)
A grayscale photo of concrete stairs with the logo for Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.Image via William Morrow Paperbacks, 2006
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It’s easy to mistake Daphne du Maurier’sRebecca for a romance in the beginning, but it slowly reveals its much darker narrative. The story follows an unnamed narrator, a shy young woman working as a paid companion in Monte Carlo when she meets the wealthy and recently widowed Maxim de Winter. Their courtship moves quickly, and before long, she becomes the second Mrs. de Winter and returns with him to Manderley, his enormous estate on the Cornwall coast. However, instead of beginning a perfect new life, she finds herself living in the shadow of Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca, who drowned less than a year earlier.
The most fascinating part of the novel is how Rebecca dominates almost every page, even though she is dead. Her belongings remain untouched, the staff still compare everything to the way she once ran the house, and her former maid, Mrs. Danvers, makes it clear that the new Mrs. de Winter will never be considered a worthy replacement. It’s almost as if Rebecca is haunting the narrator, which gives the book a unique, unsettling quality. All of that slowly builds up to the mystery surrounding Rebecca’s final moments, but even after the truth surfaces, Rebecca never offers the readers a clear resolution, which becomes the novel’s greatest strength.
4
‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ (1963)
Image via Victor Gollancz
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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré strips away the glamor mainstream entertainment associated with espionage. The story follows worn-down British intelligence officer Alec Leamas, whose network in East Germany has been systematically destroyed by Hans-Dieter Mundt, a ruthless counterintelligence chief. After watching his final agent get shot while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall, Leamas returns to London expecting retirement. Instead, Control offers him one last operation to publicly destroy his own life, pose as a bitter former agent, and convince East German intelligence that Mundt has secretly been working for Britain. Leamas begins drinking heavily, loses his job, and allows himself to appear like a man who has been abandoned by the country he once served. The performance eventually attracts the attention of East German agents, who believe he may be willing to sell them British secrets.
Once they make contact, Leamas is pulled deeper into a dangerous intelligence operation where everyone has their own version of the truth. This uncertainty is what makes the novel so gripping, but its moral bleakness is what made it revolutionary. It’s important to remember that the story was published when James Bond was transforming the spy thriller genre. However, The Spy Who Came in from the Coldpresented spies as exhausted professionals working for institutions that treat them as expendable. The novel’s final stretch is devastating because its betrayals are not grand or theatrical, but cold and completely believable. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold did not simply make the spy novel darker. It exposed the uncomfortable possibility that, in the real world of espionage, the good side may not exist after all.
3
‘Gone Girl’ (2012)
Book cover for Gillian Flynn’s Gone GirlImage via Phoenix
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Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl begins on Nick and Amy Dunne’s 5th wedding anniversary, when Amy suddenly disappears from their home in North Carthage, Missouri. The living room shows signs of a struggle, and the police immediately begin asking difficult questions. What makes things worse, though, is that Nick doesn’t behave like a grieving husband. He avoids simple questions and repeatedly lies about his marriage, and soon enough, the public decides that he might be the person responsible for Amy’s disappearance. The novel unfolds through Nick’s account of the investigation and entries from Amy’s diary, which trace their relationship from an exciting New York romance to an increasingly unhappy marriage. At first, Amy’s memories appear to explain what Nick is hiding.
However, the details in their stories do not always match, and both narrators carefully control what they allow the reader to see. The result is a mystery where the reader doesn’t know who to trust, and their loyalties are always shifting. That’s what makes Gone Girl more than just a missing-person mystery. The book is a chilling examination of the institution of marriage and the pretenses people operate under when they are falling in love. The story is dark, funny, uncomfortable, and impossible to predict. Gone Girl turns a troubled marriage into psychological warfare in a way that still feels fresh.
2
‘Red Dragon’ (1981)
Image via Corgi Books
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Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon follows former FBI profiler Will Graham, who retired after nearly losing his life while capturing Hannibal Lecter. Graham has an unusual ability to understand how killers think, but that talent comes at a high cost. Entering their minds has left him physically scarred, mentally exhausted, and afraid of how easily he can recognize their impulses within himself. The premise picks up when two families are murdered in their homes under disturbingly similar circumstances, and FBI agent Jack Crawford asks Graham to return for one final investigation. The killer, nicknamed the Tooth Fairy by the press, appears to choose his victims at random and plans his attacks around the full moon. In a race against time, Graham begins studying crime scenes, home videos, and the smallest behavioral details in search of a pattern.
When the investigation stalls, he reluctantly turns to Lecter, while knowing that asking for his help also gives the imprisoned killer another opportunity to manipulate him. Lecter is not the novel’s main villain, though. That role belongs to Francis Dolarhyde, a deeply disturbed man who believes he is transforming into the Great Red Dragon depicted in a William Blake painting. Harris spends a surprising amount of time inside Dolarhyde’s mind to show how childhood abuse, shame, and violence shaped him. The author does not excuse his crimes, but turns him into a far more unsettling character than a faceless murderer. This psychological depth separates Red Dragon from a standard serial-killer thriller. The investigation is tense and carefully detailed, but the novel becomes truly frightening when it forces readers to examine the darkness humans hide within themselves.
1
‘And Then There Were None’ (1939)
Image via Collins Crime Club
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Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were Noneis a classic whodunit that brings ten strangers to an isolated mansion on Soldier Island. Each person has received a different invitation, yet none of them has actually met the mysterious host. Soon after their arrival, a recorded voice accuses every guest of being responsible for someone’s death. Before the group can understand what is happening, one of them suddenly dies. That’s not all, though. The guests soon realize that the deaths appear to be following the lines of a disturbing nursery rhyme displayed throughout the house. The bad weather cuts off their only route back to the mainland, and the group desperately begins searching the island for their absent host.
However, when they find no one else, they start to wonder whether the killer is one of them. That is where the story’s suspense comes from. The readers know that there is no detective coming to solve the case, and that no character can be fully trusted. Every new death reduces the number of suspects while also increasing the danger for everyone left alive. It’s easy to see how many modern books and films have borrowed this exact formula, but as they say, the first time is the charm.
When DC Studios first announced Lanterns, one comparison immediately dominated the conversation. The upcoming HBO series was pitched as “True Detective with Green Lanterns,” promising a grounded mystery centered on Hal Jordan and John Stewart that stood apart from the larger cosmic adventures typically associated with the Corps. That description has followed the show ever since, helping define expectations ahead of its August premiere.
According to co-creator Tom King, however, that comparison only tells part of the story. While Lanterns still delivers the detective drama he first envisioned alongside DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, the series ultimately grew into something much larger, embracing more of Green Lantern’s mythology than he ever expected.
During an interview at San Diego Comic-Con conducted by Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, King reflected on seeing footage from the series during the Hall H presentation. Looking back on the creative process, he said he was struck by how closely the finished show matched the pitch he first brought to Gunn and Safran.
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“I was just in Hall H watching the scenes, and it looked like the scenes that were exactly in my mind when I first was in a room with James Gunn and Peter Safran. It was like a True Detective, Training Day, but with Green Lanterns.”
Tom King Says ‘Lanterns’ Expanded Beyond His Original Vision
While that central concept remained unchanged, King revealed the series continued evolving throughout development in ways he never anticipated.
“Actually, believe it or not, it’s a little more cosmic than I thought it would be. It’s a little more Green Lanterns, a little more lore. There’s, like, six different twists that I didn’t think… I thought it would be more of a straight arrow. They just kept adding layers of both emotion and action as we went along, and I think that’s fantastic. They did episode elevation as they went.”
King’s comments suggest fans shouldn’t expect Lanterns to remain confined to a grounded detective story from beginning to end. The mystery may provide the foundation, but as the season progresses, viewers can apparently expect a deeper dive into Green Lantern lore, a broader cosmic scope, and plenty of surprises along the way. That’s welcome news for longtime Green Lantern fans who hoped the series would embrace the mythology beyond its crime-thriller premise. If King’s description is any indication, Lanterns won’t abandon the grounded tone that first sold audiences on the project. Instead, it appears to use that foundation as a launching point before expanding into a story that feels much more at home within the wider Green Lantern universe.
Lanterns premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 16. Check back with Collider for more San Diego Comic-Con news throughout the weekend.
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Image via Iron Studios
Image via Iron Studios
Image via Iron Studios
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