NERD CULTURE MAG

LATEST ATTACK ON TITAN STILL NOT OVER Yet

CUNLETRUDREMAY2022

ALL STAR MANIA

A TOP TIER MANIA WEEKEND

TOP 10 COMIC STORES

FROM LONDON TO CHICAGO

JUJUTSU KAISEN REVIEW

SURPASSING EXPECTATIONS

MoonKnight
OSCAR ISAAC BACK IN THE COMIC BOOK GAME WITH MCU’S DARKEST
SERIES YET

Doctor
Strange 2

THEORIES GALORE

ALL THE LATEST THEORIES
ABOUT MULTIVERE OF
MADNESS

Eledtittoerrs

As a kid, I wasn’t the normal girl who was into I couldn’t see myself in these
Barbie and princesses etc. My mum was worlds. There were hardly any
the one who introduced me to what is now black people or women t o be
known as nerdy culture. She would watch
Star Trek, Star Wars, Xena the Warrior and I noticed t hat i n the
Princess, Doctor Who and Stargate and I’d sit with
her as she would tell me what was going on in the
movies and shows. Explaining in detail the plot and white men or just white charac -
the characters, her favourites and ones she didn’t ters overall and I knew there need-
like. It was strange because as someone with a ed t o be a change. That i s where
Nerd Culture comes into the fold, a
Nigerian background we are very super-
stitious when it comes to witchcraft and place f or a ll nerds r egardless of r ace,
outer world beings, but her enjoying these
things despite her background made gender, s exuality, s ize, o r religion. I t is
me enjoy them too. I expanded my love a place w here all people who consider
of science fiction into the realms of themselves nerdy are welcome. We cover
comic books and graphic novels after all aspects of nerdiness so w hatever your
seeing a Spider-Man comic next to particular niche is, anime, comics, gaming, sports

a Star Wars graphic novel in the safe and fun place for all nerds so you can get your
library. I was drawn into this world latest news, r eviews, t op tips and character s tudies.
of superheroes with harsh and I want Nerd Culture Mag to be that magazine people
emotional backstories being come to for all things nerdy, I want it to be shared global-
bestowed with powers beyond
my imagination and saving ly and without embarassment because no one should be
people with them. I grew
up continuing to immerse embarassed by what they are into. We might be nerds but
myself in these worlds we are still really cool people who just like what we like.

NERD CULURE | 1

feature

14 fear of
moonknight

WHY ISAAC WAS HESITANT TO COME
BACK TO DISNEY AFTER STARWARS

12 editors BIO
letter
18 FIST OF
WHY NERD CULTURE VENGENCE?
IS SO IMPORTANT
DETAILED BIOGRAPHY ABOUT THE CHARACTER
OF MARVEL’S BATMAN

NERD CULURE | 2



anime

34 AOT SEASON 4 bACK
FOR 2ND PART

ALL WE MIGHT EXPECT IN THE SECOND PART OF THE
FINALE TAKING PLACE NEXT YEAR

36 BEST QUEER ANIMES YOU SHOULD WATCH
37 How to Watch Anime Online: The top

Legal Anime Streaming Options

39 Celebrating Black Voices in Anime
with Funimation

40 The Legacy of Women in Anime with
Funimation

sports

42 ORTON’S 20TH
YEAR at wwe

LOOKING AT THE VIPERS 20 YEAR STINT
IN THE MOST POPULAR COMPANY

44AEW GAME OFFICIALLY CALLED ‘FIGHT
FOREVER’, 2 WRESTLERS CONFIRMED

45Return of the Jedis: Lightspeed
Saber League back in competition

46On a roll: Preserving Black
roller-skating history

48WHICH AVENGERS WOULD MAKE THE
BEST OLYMPIC ATHLETES

films CULTURE

32 MULTIVERSE 50 top 10 comic
of THEORIES book stores
A look at all the theories FANS HAVE COME UP
WITH SURROUNDING THE NEW DR STRANGE FILM FROM LONDON TO CHICAGO, THE TOP 10
BEST COMIC BOOK STORES YOU CAN VISIT
IN THE WORLD

54 May the fourth be with year -
45 years of star wars

55 Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic
Starcruiser part hotel & part LARP

NERD CULURE | 4

NERD CULURE | 5

FEAR

OF

Mo oN
KNigh t

Oscar Isaac Admits He Was Hesitant to Join MCU, Post-‘Star Wars

BY BRIAN DAVIDS

NERD CULURE | 6

NERD CULURE | 7 “ My initial t
‘No, I don’t w

back into

of machineOscar Isaac is no stranger to the Marvel Uni-

verse or the corporate Disney machine, having
appeared in the X-Men and Star Wars film fran-
chises. His experiences on both properties are
what gave him serious doubt when Kevin Feige
came knocking with an opportunity to play Ste-
ven Grant/Marc Spector in a Moon Knight TV se-
ries for Disney+.

It’s not hard to see why Isaac thought of turn-
ing it down: his portrayal as Apocalypse in the
follow-up to Days of Future Past failed to connect
with audiences while the Star Wars sequel trilogy
was a massive hit, but still left some fans wanting.

“My initial thing was, ‘No, I don’t want to go back
into that kind of machinery,’” the actor admitted
while speaking to Empire for the magazine’s April
2022 issue (now on sale). “I did that already. The
last thing I want is to be on a massive set, [think-
ing], ‘What am I doing here?’... Often on these big
movies, it can feel like you’re building the plane
on the runway. The idea of getting back to ‘hand-
made’ films, character studies... I was desperate
for that feeling.”

While Moon Knight was always going to feature
the grandiose comic book storytelling the MCU is
known for, Isaac saw an opportunity to sneak an

Oindie-sized story about a man struggling with his

own identity into the blockbuster proceedings.
“It felt ‘handmade,’” he explained. “And it’s the

first legitimate Marvel character study since Iron
Man. Plus...I thought, ‘Maybe I can hijack this
thing. Maybe this is the chance to do something
really f***ing nutty on a major stage.”

“He clearly likes this world — Star Wars and
X-Men — but we hadn’t found the right thing, nec-
essarily,” added Feige. “We started talking about
Moon Knight and he a couple of outside-the-box
ideas that were like, ‘Maybe this could work...’
And spoiler alert: they do.”

As the actor has stated before, the lack of box

thing was, PHOTOGRAPHY BY YOU ISHII

want to go NERD CULURE | 8

that kind

ery.office expectations allowed the show (which he

”helps executive produce) take some truly stagger-

ing creative risks. “How can we make this experi-
ential thing, so we’re inside the eyes of the char-
acter, living in his state of fear and the unknown?”
Isaac mused.

The show picks up in London where a nervous
wreck of a man, Steven Grant, suffers from black-
outs and terrifying visions. He can’t tell the differ-
ence between what’s real and what’s imagined.
That’s because Steven is one of two personalities
occupying the body of Marc Spector, a mercenary
who has the ability to call upon the powers of an
Egyptian moon god (reportedly voiced by Mythic
Quest’s F. Murray Abraham).

“What I love about this thing is that it’s an ex-
ploration of a mind that doesn’t know itself,”
Isaac added. “A human being that doesn’t know
his own brain. I found that really moving: what
the mind is capable of as far as survival. But the
workload was massive: the technical challenge of
embodying these different characters, physically,
the way I manifest my body... It required a lot of
energy.”

The easiest way to tell the difference between
Steven and Marc is their accents. Steven is British

Oand Marc is American. It’s not rocket science, but
“in the initial script, the difference between [them]
was in attitude,” revealed head writer and execu-
tive producer Jeremy Slater (Death Note, The Um-
brella Academy). “It was Oscar who said, ‘What
about an accent?’”
“He’s playing radically different people. That’s
scary, and a lot of actors could have phoned it in,”
Slater said. “But Oscar’s thing was, ‘This may be
a superhero show, but I’m going to approach it
like it’s Shakespeare. Ultimately, the key to letting
the audience know which persona is in charge of
Spector’s body at any given point came from an
Isaac-originated brainwave.”





Aa

MULTIVERS

NERD CULURE | 11

RS E

OF

THEORIES

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has endless possibilities
for fan theories that range from predictable to wild and weird.

BY KATHLEEN DENNY

NERD CULURE | 12

2 MUTANTS ARE INTRODUCED

This theory builds on the previous one. After Wanda opens addi-
tional rifts, a stowaway group of mutants from an alternate universe
emerges into the Earth 616 reality. This theory from @kon-el99 sug-
gests that “two Fox X-Men actors [are] rumored to return as X-Men
‘97 variants,” including Sophie Turner’s Phoenix and James McAvoy’s
Professor X.

In this theory, Pheonix fights with Wanda and then Professor X inter-
venes. Professor X locates Tommy and Billy and uses his telepathy
to calm Wanda down enough to restore each reality. The retconned
characters return to their original dimensions but Billy and Tommy
stay. The widespread use of Wanda’s chaos magic throughout the
movie creates new mutants in the 616 reality that begin to surface
in a later movie or a Disney+ series. This movie seems like the most
likely way to bring mutants into the MCU after so many hints in Wan-
daVision and has the potential to be a huge crowd-pleaser.

1 WANDA IS THE VILLAINStarting with the most realistic theory from @
Consistent_Coffee522, “I think Wanda will start off
as the villain and then switch sides.” Following
the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor
Strange continues to face the fallout of his spell
and seeks out Wanda Maximoff for her help closing

the rifts in reality.
This idea sees Wanda hearing the voices of her

children calling to her from an alternate universe.
Instead of closing the last few rifts, she begins fran-
tically opening new ones to find the boys. Doctor
Strange tries to stop her but Wanda is too powerful
and it leads to a fight before she ultimately does the
right thing.

NERD CULURE | 13

4 FANTASTIC FOUR AND
DR DOOM APPEAR

Reddit user @petros_ says, “I think it would be interest-
ing that if he learned magic, it would be from the sor-
cerers from the London Sanctum since that would be
closest to Latveria.” He could then encounter the Fan-
tastic Four as the multiverse is opened up. This would
lay the groundwork for the future Fantastic Four
franchise. Fans are really hoping to see John Krasinski
roll up as Reed Richards. Although this would be an
exciting storyline, it may be too big of a movie to cram
in such highly anticipated characters.

Image via Marvel Studios/Twitter

DR STRANGE IS A 5
SKRULL

A less likely theory proposed by @JhonC18 is that
Doctor Strange is secretly a Skrull. @JhonC18 re-
minds folks that “in the new comics Dr. Strange los-
es his magic and travels to a Skrull planet to forge
a new time stone.” Other fans have mentioned
that the Doctor Strange from Spider-Man: No Way
Home was somewhat off and have said the same
about his appearances in trailers.

This theory argues that a Skrull could be posing as
Strange to destabilize earth enough to invade. This
would set the MCU up for the upcoming Secret
Invasion series.

3 TOM CRUISE IS
IRON MAN

Although Tom Cruise has disproved the internet legend that he was
originally cast as Iron Man, fans are eager to see him in the role in
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This would be one of the
biggest cameos in Marvel history.

Redditor @Phunk87 suggests that “Tom Cruise will play a superior
Iron Man variant who will be an antagonist and part of the Illumina-
ti.” A fight between Iron Man and Doctor Strange would be an epic
toss-up as both characters have significant powers and intelligence.
If Tom Cruise does appear as Iron Man, he would need to be a signif-
icant departure from the great story arc and ending the MCU gave to
Robert Downey Junior’s character.

NERD CULURE | 14