No Strings On Me

Angry robot fella Scourge, from 2023's Transformers 7: Let There Be Gorillas:

Angry robot fella Ultron, from 2015's Avengers 2: Avenge Harder:

Hm.

Cadet Zenith

Cadet Marvel, a teen sidekick for Captain Marvel, from 2023:

Zenith, 2000AD's pop star superhero, from 1987:

Hm.

Who Lives In a House Like This?

Does new Doctor Who companion Belinda Chandra live in old Doctor Who companion Donna Noble's house? It certainly looks like it!

This is Donna's house from 2023's "The Star Beast":

This is Belinda's house from 2025's "The Robot Revolution":

So no, it's not the same house. I've seen some fans speculating that it's the same set, redressed, which is possible.

It does have a very similar layout though, right down to the same "alien back door".

Carrier-er

I've just read the collection of Blood Hunt, Marvel's recent vampire crossover event thing. It's not bad, although it seems to lose interest in itself about two thirds of the way through in favour of setting up the next crossover. It starts well though, and in pace and scale feels a lot like the first couple of years of The Authority, before that comic went a bit bad.

Not least because the Avengers have -- since 2023 -- been zipping about in this:

That's the Impossible City, a huge, um, city-sized space ship from another dimension. Possibly sapient, but with its memory and history erased, and with a distinctive teleportation ability, with which it opens "doors" to locations the Avengers need to access to do Avengering.

That's the Carrier, a huge city-sized space ship from another dimension. Possibly sapient, but with its memory and history erased, and with a distinctive teleportation ability, with which it opens "doors" to locations the Authority needs to access to do cynical posturing and widescreen property damage.

Hm.

The Judge Who Laughs

The Batman Who Laughs, an evil version of Batman from an alternate universe, introduced in 2017:

Judge Death, an evil counterpart of Judge Dredd, from an alternate universe, introduced in 1980:

Hm.

(And yes, I know I'm years late on this.)

"Whoniverse" Is Probably the Pun I Would Have Gone For Anyway

The Whoniverse launched today. It's the BBC's term for the larger Doctor Who "cinematic" universe, which has (almost) all been added to the iPlayer service, to celebrate the programme's 60th anniversary year. And it has an ident!



Hang on...



Wait a minute...



Hmmmm...

I wonder, does this go even earlier than 2016?

I've Seen That Bethor

Thor: Ragnarok (2017):

No, in fact this is from Paul Pope's 2013 graphic novel Battling Boy. There's a clear Thor influence in this part of the comic, so perhaps there's an ur-example that Pope and Taika Waititi are both referencing, but the similarities with the opening sequence of the best Thor film are striking.

(Battling Boy is quite good, by the way, but alas it finishes just as it's getting going and there was never a proper second volume.)

Greater Spotted Beakie

Cyberdyne Warrior, Commodore 64, 1989.

Scale creep was always a problem, apparently, even back in 1989. Look at the size of that Beakie in comparison to the player sprite at the top!

See the game in action below, and perhaps note that the chunky marine isn't the only bit of IP borrowing going on.

That ending music sounds quite familiar too...

Votann Boys, Roll Out!

The squats are back in Warhammer 40,000! Although we're not calling them squats any more.

Now they are the LEAGUES OF VOTANN:

Hang on, that sigil looks familiar...

I still quite like the new squats anyway.

The Girl Who Loved Coincidences

The Hybrid Technologies building from the Transformers episode "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide" (1985):

The Stark/Avengers Tower from Marvel Avengers Assemble (2012), and later films:

(Yes, that's what it's called here, probably because of the other Avengers.)

One of these buildings is the headquarters of a high-tech corporation under attack by aliens in a Marvel production, and the other is, um...

You Must Gather Your Godzilla Before Venturing Forth

2000:



2014:



All of which is to say that I've played far too much Baldur's Gate II in my time and that I'm very excited about the new Godzilla.

Blake's Harrier

1985:



1978: