The first Disney-related character you see upon boarding the Disney Destiny and entering the grand hall is T’Challa, the Black Panther. Black, strong, magnificent in stature, and representative of the hopes and dreams of Black comic book and Marvel fans the world over. the statue speaks to the power of representation. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
PORT EVERGLADES, FL – The first Disney-related character you see upon boarding the Disney Destiny and entering the grand hall of the latest addition to the global entertainment company’s fleet of cruise ships, is Black, strong, magnificent in stature, and representative of the hopes and dreams of Black comic book and Marvel fans the world over.
T’Challa, the Black Panther, King of Wakanda. The statue looms large over any other character depictions on the ship. He is standing with his shoulders back, his fist balled up, ready for battle if necessary. At his feet is a panther in mid-stride, equally ready to pounce if that’s what the situation calls for. The statue is beautiful. It is also overwhelmingly brilliant.
The physical image of the Black Panther as the premier representative on a ship which features heroes and villains says so much more than any words can best describe. Representation matters, and for the children of all races and adults who board the Disney Destiny going forward, the Black Panther will be the representation that they see.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
There are other Disney heroes and villains represented on Destiny as well. Portraits of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Mulan, Hercules, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Frozone, can be found through the ship’s many hallways and stairways. All kinds of representations of heroes live on this ship.
On Deck 3, however, there is a set of small paintings that further set the tone of representation. There are six in total, and though colorful, their blackness shines through the brightest of all. The paintings are of African warrior tribes. Some of the warriors carry spears and wear masks. Others have people carrying small children in their arms. All are families bonding generations to one another.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
Near the concierge desk is another depiction of the Black Panther. He can be seen several times on the ship, including on the way to the restaurant, World of Marvel. In this landscape painting, the Black Panther stands atop a boulder; to his left and right are the Dora Milaje, the all-female royal corps of warriors. This portrait can be taken directly from the screens of the Black Panther films and pages of the modern comic books. It’s beautiful.
The Disney Destiny will provide guests with a top-notch cruise experience, and the quality service that Disney provides at its parks, hotel properties, and on cruise ships.
That said, destiny can also be described as destiny fulfilled. The level of representation on this ship speaks louder than any other I have witnessed in five years of covering the brand. It’s loud, proud, and at least in this instance, very Black and beautiful.
It’s never been a bad time to be a Lee Pace fan, but all of a sudden—some two decades into the tall, handsome, dramatic (yet quirky!) actor’s career—he is seemingly everywhere. With some high-profile projectson the horizon and an impressive list of films and TV already logged on his resume, we’re rounding up our favorites among his sci-fi, fantasy, and horror projects.
Across three seasons of the Apple TV+ Isaac Asimov adaptation, Pace has played Brother Day, filling the middle-aged spot in an ever-rotating trio of cloned rulers, all named Cleon. This means that we’ve seen Pace play multiple iterations of Brother Day, including an ambitious deceiver, a campy warmonger, and a lovelorn drug addict. It’s the same man in appearance only, and that allows Pace the chance to explore all the nuances (and hairstyles) that make Cleon such a complex character.
Season three’s shocking climax left Brother Day’s future uncertain, but Apple TV+ surely realizes Pace is a big reason why people tune into Foundation’s sci-fi dramatics, and we think Day will find a way to return.
Set during the early days of Hollywood, Tarsem’s lush 2006 fantasy imagines that a stuntman (Pace) befriends a young girl when they’re both hospitalized. He entertains her with the epic tale of a bandit (also played by Pace) fighting an evil ruler, with characters in the made-up story portrayed as exaggerated versions of people in their real lives.
Gorgeous locations and visuals are (rightfully) what everyone remembers about The Fall, but amid its celebration of storytelling is a bleaker plot about Pace’s depressed character encouraging the little girl to help him steal morphine. In the years after its release, The Fall has become a cult classic—a designation helped along by the fact that until a 2024 4K restoration by Mubi, it was notoriously difficult to track down in either streaming or physical form.
Ronan the Accuser, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel
Pace’s Marvel moment came playing Ronan the Accuser, a Kree warlord who menaces the Guardians of the Galaxy misfits and tries to claim one of Thanos’ Infinity Stones for his own use. That doesn’t go so well for him, but Pace’s performance was so memorable—he’s a villain, but he’s far from one-note—that it was a delight to see Ronan return (briefly) for a failed attempt at battling the Skrulls in 2019’s Captain Marvel, which takes place before the events of 2014’s Guardians.
This 2004 Todd Holland-Bryan Fuller creation only aired a handful of episodes before being cancelled, though its singular season eventually got a DVD release. Perhaps its premise—about Jaye, a Niagara Falls shop clerk (Caroline Dhavernas, who went on to co-star in Fuller’s Hannibal series) who tries to make the world a better place, urged on by the seemingly magical trinkets she sells—was simply too out-there for Fox audiences.
Pace had a supporting role as Jaye’s easygoing brother; his skepticism about her claims of having conversations with inanimate objects erodes over the course of the series and eventually makes him question his own beliefs about the cosmic order of things.
Pace re-teamed with Fuller for this cult-beloved ABC drama, which ran for two seasons from 2007 to 2009. Pace starred as Ned, a piemaker with the ability to revive the dead with his touch—and then send them back to the beyond with a second touch—who teams up with a private eye on murder cases. He also rediscovers his first love after her untimely murder, then must deal with the agony of never being able to touch her.
Pushing Daisies was equal parts sweet and macabre and favored a fantastical storybook palette in its production design—so it had a lot to love about it. But even with a fun supporting cast (including Kristen Chenoweth) and some memorable guest stars, Pace’s adorable character was really the big draw.
Thranduil, The Hobbit trilogy (An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, The Battle of the Five Armies)
Thranduil, the Elvenking, brings big drama to all three Hobbit movies (particularly the second and third, released in 2013 and 2014). Is he a true villain—or just an icy, elegantly haughty antagonist? Peter Jackson’s mainline Lord of the Rings movies are near-universally accepted as superior to his Hobbit trilogy for many reasons, but when fans tick off things they do like about his Hobbit movies, Lee Pace’s indelible turn as Thranduil is always right near the top.
The rare horror outing for Pace is technically a horror comedy, with emphasis on the comedy, about a group of catty friends whose drug-fueled “murder” bash turns unexpectedly bloody. Pace plays the older boyfriend of one of the partiers (played by Bottoms’ Rachel Sennott) and becomes an early suspect—though (spoiler!) he meets his own untimely end pretty early on.
We’d love to see Pace add more horror to his resume; he has a couple of supernatural-themed entries we never actually heard of until compiling this list (2017’s The Keeping Hours is one example), but his ability to seamlessly blend comedy and drama makes him an ideal anchor for any high-tension setting.
Garrett, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
Here’s your reminder that Pace did indeed pop up in the very last Twilight movie, released in 2012. He played an Alaska-based vampire so notably dreamy he attracted some fan notice. That’s no small feat in a movie that’s mostly about theatrically fraught vampire-on-vampire feuds as well as the very odd growth cycle of Edward and Bella’s freaky newborn daughter.
Does Marmaduke count as fantasy? The dogs talk to each other and have exciting off-leash adventures while the human characters (including Marmaduke’s owner, played by Pace) deal with boring life stuff. Marmaduke (voiced by Owen Wilson) and Phil do get involved in a high-stakes, raging-waters rescue at the end that ends up saving not just life and limb but also Phil’s job when a video of it goes viral.
Marmaduke was clearly a choice Pace made as an early career opportunity rather than a creative challenge, but who even remembers this movie? It’s silly, but at least it’s not embarrassing.
Pace fans, prepare to feast! Not only is he in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man as a masked hunter chasing after Glen Powell (in theaters November 14), but he also just joined the cast of the Prime Video animated superhero series Invincible, voicing Grand Regent Thragg in next year’s season four. He also has an as-yet mysterious role in the much-anticipated witchy sequel Practical Magic 2, due out in fall 2026.
It’s become a bit of a pastime for Marvel fans worldwide to daydream about how they would change, alter, or flesh out various narrative threads in the blockbuster franchise’s cinematic universe. While many of these musings tend to lean toward what-if scenarios not unlike Marvel’s aptly titled What If? Disney+ show, Guardians of the Galaxy actor Zoe Saldaña has come forward with her post-snap epiphany for the universe’s deadliest assassin, Gamora.
In a recent Variety YouTube video, where she was tested on her knowledge of lines from her extensive portfolio of popular films, Saldaña reflected on her role as Gamora and expressed a desire to delve deeper into her character. Specifically, Saldaña felt somewhat rudderless in how she was to portray Gamora in the later Avengers movies and wished she had explored more aspects of the character in Avengers: Endgame.
“I wish I could go back and reshoot what Gamora was going through in the Avengers movies,” Saldaña told Variety. “I don’t think I was quite understanding what the Russo Brothers [were doing].”
Saldaña’s confusion with Gamora’s character arc is completely understandable considering her character not only met her demise after being flung from a cliffside by her father, Thanos, but also continued to exist through an alternate timeline version of herself. This decision retroactively led director James Gunn to sort out the pieces with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 by ostensibly making do with her development being undone. Having had time away from the whole experience, Saldaña wishes she could reverse time and explore Gamora and Thanos’ tumultuous family ties.
“I wish that I could go back and redo it so that I can push a little harder, because it was such a great opportunity to play a daughter having issues with a dad,” she said. “And whether or not she’s having this opportunity to reconciliate or to heal or to repair or simply just walk away from this person—that would have been a great opportunity had I been a little more aware of it back then.”
She continued: “I wish I could go back in time and just try so many more things for her,” she said. “[Gamora] was a really fun character to play, but also a really deep character… I know it’s a Marvel movie and we don’t like to use words like ‘deep’ and ‘Marvel’ in the same sentence, but I like to and I take great pride in knowing that I was a part of great films that cater to a younger audience, that inspires a younger audience.”
Rather than harp on what could’ve been and hem and haw over where her character ended up at the culmination of Guardians 3, Saldaña expressed gratitude for her experience working with Gunn and transforming its characters from deep-cut Marvel mythos to household names.
“We were supposed to be these rejects that came with childhood traumas and disabilities and mental issues,” Saldaña said. “And he gave these characters space to be loved, to learn about self-love, to love each other, to find a family within their friendship. It was actually a really important film now that I look back at it.”
After taking on the MCU multiverse, Chris Pratt isn’t ruling out a jaunt to the DCU.
Following his recent visit with director James Gunn on the set of Superman: Legacy, the actor said “there’s always a chance” he could make the franchise leap, but he played coy when it came to naming a character he’d like to play.
“I just have to leave that to the fans and people like James to decide,” Pratt told TMZ. “I’m not exactly sure. I’m truly not sure.
When asked flat-out if he’d join the competing franchise, Pratt didn’t hesitate in declaring, “Yes, of course”
“If it could fit into my schedule and it made sense, I would love it,” he continued. “Of course I love playing Star-Lord, and hopefully there’s a chance that can come back. I just feel so blessed to be able to do any of it, to be considered for any of it. If it’s right and the fans would love it, I’d be more than happy to do it.”
His comments come after Gunn shared a photo of Pratt on the set of Superman: Legacy earlier this month. “Always nice to have friends visiting set,” he captioned the post.
Pratt previously made his MCU debut as Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which was directed by Gunn. They reunited for the sequels in 2017 and 2023, as well as Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Chris Pratt, Kurt Russell and Zoe Saldana in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). (Marvel Studios)
Disney
After confirming he’s open to casting MCU actors in his upcoming DCU work, Gunn told Empire that a crossover between the two comic book worlds is “more likely now that I’m in charge,” adding: “That’s many years away, though. I think we have to establish what we’re doing [at DC] first. I would be lying to say that we haven’t discussed it. But all discussions have been very, very light and fun.”
Gunn has since been in talks with Pratt’s Guardians co-star Pom Klementieff to play a “specific character” in the DCU, she recently confirmed.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” could have looked a lot different if things had gone another direction when it came to casting.
Recently, Adam Brody sat down for a chat with the “Just for Variety” podcast, and opened up about the time he read for the role of Peter Quill — a.k.a. Star-Lord — in James Gunn’s cosmic adventure installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I wanted that one,” Brody said of the role, which eventually went to Chris Pratt, whom the “O.C.” alum admitted was a “better fit” for the part, ultimately.
“He is bigger, stronger, but tonally, I really dug it,” Brody lamented.
Pratt starred as the space-faring smuggler and thief who stole fans’ hearts when the first film hit theaters in 2014.
He went on to reprise the role in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”, “Avengers: Infinity War”, “Avengers: End Game”, “Thor: Love and Thunder”, “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special”, and finally “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”, which came out earlier this year.
Before Pratt was cast in the role — which he was offered a chance to read for but initially declined — several other actors, apart from Brody, were considered for the smart-talking, handsome, affable space pirate with a heart of gold.
Joel Edgerton, Jack Houston, Eddie Redmayne, Michael Rosenbaum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zachary Levi, Glenn Howerton, Jim Sturgess, John Gallagher Jr. and even Lee Pace — who was later cast as the film’s primary antagonist, Ronan the Accuser — all read for the role.
However, once Gunn and Pratt met face to face, the future was sealed.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 punctuated the ending to arguably one of Marvel’s best trilogy films (don’t @ me) with an emotionally gratifying final needle drop that had its titular characters, the fans, and even the musician behind the song ugly-crying with happiness. Minor spoilers ahead.
The Week In Games: Return To Hyrule
On Monday, Florence Welch, the lead singer of the popular indie rock band Florence and the Machine, uploaded a TikTok video of herself reacting to her song “Dog Days Are Over”, which served as the final song in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. If you’ve already seen the film, which came out over the weekend, listening to the song likely had you grinning with glee through tear-filled eyes just like Welch, because it served as a spectacular send-off to the comic book heroes’ nine-year cinematic journey.
“So I cried all the way through this movie but whenThe Guardians of the Galaxy started dancing to ‘Dog Days’ I really lost it,” Welch wrote in her TikTok caption. “Thank you so much for all the love for this moment. The superhero-obsessed little girl in me can’t believe it happened.”
Each of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films packs an emotional gut-punch with its poignant plotlines and an undeniably feel-good bop in its Awesome Mixes. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, we saw how Star-Lord’s relationship with his late mother affected his devil-may-care outlook on the universe and his place in it. In Vol. 2, we got to see how Star-Lord’s estranged relationship with his all-powerful father Ego didn’t define the man he could become. The first two movies accentuated key emotional beats with The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son,” respectively.
In Guardians 3, the camera took its focus off of Star-Lord and instead sheds some much-needed light on the trash-talking Rocket Raccoon, revealing how he came to be the standoffish anti-hero he is today. We’ll spare you any spoilers, but be warned, the two-hour and 30-minute movie does depict gruesome scenes of violence against animals while revealing Rocket’s harrowing backstory. But if you can get past that, the happiness emanating from Guardians 3’s finale will hit you like a train on a track, as Welch’s song puts it.
Being an actor in a Marvel movie seems like a pretty sweet gig. You get to bring an iconic comic book character to life for millions of fans. And while the costume may not always be comfy — in fact, quite a few actors openly hated their ensembles — you sometimes get to take home a cool souvenir. Yes, that’s right. Some Marvel actors have been lucky enough to walk away from set with a piece of movie magic, whether it’s a prop, a wardrobe piece, or even a part of the set.
In some cases, these tokens are given to the actors as presents to thank them for a job well done. But Marvel isn’t always so keen on handing props over to actors to keep for good. For example, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu asked the producers if he could take home a pair of his character’s shoes, but his request was denied. That’s why some actors simply steal their desired prop and hope nobody notices. Many of them have even gotten away with it, too — until they confess to their stolen treasures in interviews. Of course, no Marvel actor has gotten in serious trouble from taking home a prop. After all, it’s quite hard to imagine an A-list actor such as Tom Holland or Ryan Reynolds getting in trouble for simply bringing home a bit of their character with them.
