• Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen are two of the stars of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives."
• They began dating in 2022, a few months after Taylor split from her ex-husband amid a swinging scandal.
• Warning: Spoilers ahead for "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" season two.

"The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" season two confirms that Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen are no longer together.

The fan-favorite couple are core cast members of the hit reality show, which follows the lives of Taylor and seven other influencers, known collectively as the Mormon MomTokers.

The show, which gives a glimpse into their unique lives, was the most-watched premiere of any unscripted show on Hulu in 2024, The Wrap reported.

After the first season ended, the drama spilled online as the cast argued and rumors spread that Taylor and Dakota had split.

In the first episode of season two, which aired on Hulu on Thursday, Dakota and Taylor take a break from their relationship and permanently separate in episode nine.

Here's what to know about their relationship.

May 2022: Taylor says that she and her ex-husband are divorcing.

Taylor announced in a May 2022 TikTok that she and her husband at the time, Tate Paul, were divorcing.

"In my twenties, getting divorced, started therapy, living on my own for the first time ever along with two little kids," she wrote in the text overlay of the video.

Shortly after, Taylor said in an Instagram live video that she and Tate had been "soft swinging" with friends. The incident sparked a viral scandal and eventually led to the creation of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives."

July 2022: Taylor and Dakota go public with their relationship

Taylor posted a TikTok video with Dakota two months later, introducing him as her new partner.

"I will not be sharing this one," she wrote in the caption, tagging him.

November 2022: Taylor opens up her ectopic pregnancy

In a November 2022 TikTok, Taylor revealed that she had been pregnant with Dakota's child, but was told it was ectopic. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg attaches outside the uterus, and the fetus isn't able to survive.

After the diagnosis, Taylor said in the video that she "was treated" and was no longer pregnant.

February 2023: Taylor is arrested over domestic violence

Taylor was arrested in connection with a domestic violence incident on February 17, 2023, the Herriman City Police Department said.

The series premiere of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" shows footage from the incident involving Taylor and Dakota, and her arrest.

A police officer from the department said in a written testimony included in court documents that the video shows Taylor throwing metal stools at Dakota, one of which hits her daughter, Indy, and stikes Dakota, E! News reported.

Taylor said on the Viall Files podcast in September 2024 that while the police report says that one of the chairs hit her daughter, "it might have not hit her at all." Police said that a detective was informed the child had a "goose-egg" injury on her head, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Dakota told the Daily Mail on February 23, 2023, that Taylor would never "hurt anyone intentionally."

"She's a good mom, she's going through a lot in her life right now. Taylor's been struggling, it's been a hard year for her. She is racked with guilt on her cheating scandal that cost her her marriage," he said.

In March of that year, Taylor was charged with two felony counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, one felony count of aggravated assault, and one misdemeanor count of child abuse and criminal mischief.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported in August 2023 that Taylor entered a plea in abeyance to the aggravated assault felony charge, while the other charges were dismissed.

Under the terms of her plea agreement, Taylor was given a three-year probation.

June 2023: Taylor confirms that she and Dakota are still together

Taylor posted a TikTok in June 2023, confirming that she and Dakota were still dating.

Sometime that summer, Taylor became pregnant with her and Dakota's first child.

March 2024: Taylor gives birth to her and Dakota's son

Taylor announced in April 2024 that she and Dakota had welcomed a son together.

"Ever True was born March 19th, 6lbs 15oz a week early and we've had the best two weeks with him. We all love you so much, thank you for blending our family," she wrote in the post's caption.

"Dakota, he was such a good partner in the process and very supportive," Taylor said in a "Mormon Wives" confessional about her birth. "I'm like, on cloud nine, and this is like the first time I've been so confident in us, in a future. I just — I hope that I can trust him."

September 2024: Taylor and Dakota share their relationship problems on 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives'

The first season of the show, which premiered in September 2024 but was filmed from 2022 to 2024, focuses heavily on Taylor and Dakota's relationship, particularly in the late stages of her pregnancy.

That season, Dakota wants to get married, but Taylor is reluctant, citing a lack of trust. He is also unhappy that Taylor goes to a Chippendales show in Las Vegas.

The other source of conflict for the couple is fellow Mormon Momtoker Mayci Neeley, who is skeptical of Dakota in season one. She says an anonymous woman on Instagram told her she was with Dakota while he and Taylor were dating, but didn't know about the relationship.

In the season one finale, Taylor meets the woman, named Jenna, to learn the truth.

September 4, 2024: Taylor says she's upset with Dakota for hooking up with Jenna behind her back

On September 4, 2024, Taylor appeared on "The Viall Files" and said she was insecure about her relationship with Dakota because he had canceled plans with her to hook up with Jenna.

"It's not about Jenna. It's not. It's about me feeling insecure," she said.

Taylor said Dakota apologized, but she "cannot let it go" and was getting therapy to work through her insecurity.

"He's a good man, and I do want to marry him. That's the goal, but I feel like I just need some self-work before," Taylor said.

September — February 2024: Rumors spread that Dakota and Taylor have split

Some fans began to speculate that the couple had broken up a little over two weeks after the show premiered on Hulu.

"Not me slowly morphing into 2022 me," Taylor wrote in the on-screen caption of a TikTok video posted on September 21, 2024, that showed her dancing and appearing to cry.

Other "Mormon Wives" cast members provided their support in the comments.

Dakota commented beneath a TikTok video that said the couple had split with: "Stay tuned…"

Taylor told Us Weekly in an interview held before the breakup rumors and published on September 23, 2024, that she and Dakota were working on their relationship. Taylor added that Dakota wasn't happy with how the show presented him.

"We are not fully together, but not fully done. I don't know what the future holds with him and I," Taylor said.

In October and November 2024, Taylor and Dakota shared videos of each other, implying they had made amends. But by December 2024, they went back to posting cryptic videos alluding to a split, including Dakota sharing a video about moving to a new house alone.

May 2025: Season two of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" shows the pair have separated

In February, Taylor began posting that she was a single mom, seemingly confirming that she and Dakota had broken up.

Season two of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives," which seemed to have been filmed between October 2024 and January 2025, delves into the breakup. In the first episode, Taylor says she was considering marrying Dakota until she found out about the cheating rumors from Mayci.

Later that episode, Taylor meets with Jenna and sees texts that suggest Dakota lied about when he hung out with her and how far they took their relationship. Jenna says Dakota also downplayed his relationship with Taylor, which he said he used to boost his social media presence.

After learning this, Taylor says she wants to separate from Dakota temporarily, and he moves out.

In later episodes, they try couples therapy and talk with family and friends. Taylor struggles to move past the hurt, and says it brought up past trauma related to her biological father not wanting a relationship with her.

The couple continues to have sex until episode seven, when Dakota gives Taylor an ultimatum to commit to their relationship or split. By episode nine, Taylor decides to break up for the sake of her children.

"I do feel peace in that decision," Taylor says. "I do not see me ever getting back with Dakota."

It appears they are still over, as Taylor posted a TikTok on Monday stating that she will be the first ex of Dakota who won't try to get back with him.

Dakota later shared a TikTok with the on-screen caption that Taylor hits him up every night and plays "constant mind games" with him.

A representative for Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Cassie Ventura testified for more than 20 hours at Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial.
• Her testimony revealed big settlements, "freak off" details, and a Playboy Mansion overdose.
• Here are 8 of the biggest revelations to have come out of the trial so far.

The R&B singer Cassie Ventura — Sean "Diddy" Combs' ex-girlfriend and the catalyst for his public downfall — testified at his criminal trial last week about humiliating sexual violence she says she endured throughout their 11-year relationship.

Ventura spent more than 20 hours on the witness stand over the course of four days, at times giving tearful testimony, in a packed Manhattan federal courtroom as Combs sat opposite her at the defense table.

The singer, while eight months pregnant, played a central role in Combs' ongoing sex-trafficking and racketeering trial as the prosecution's star witness. During the trial's opening statements, a prosecutor told jurors that Combs used "lies, drugs, threats, and violence to force and coerce" Ventura and later an anonymous Jane Doe into dayslong sex performances that the hip-hop mogul called "freak offs."

Combs was arrested in September on federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution — the culmination of months of lawsuits and public accusations of sexual assault and other misconduct.

It was Ventura's November 2023 lawsuit that began this avalanche of accusations. Filed about 10 months before the criminal charges, it accused Combs of rape, physical abuse, and controlling her during their relationship. The lawsuit was settled a day later for what Ventura testified was $20 million.

Combs has denied all wrongdoing. The music tycoon is arguing through his defense team that all sexual encounters were consensual, including the drug-fueled freak offs. The defense also argues that any violence fell far short of sex trafficking and that his accusers have a financial motive to implicate him.

Here are some of the most striking moments from the trial so far.

Dawn Richard's testimony highlighted a brutal beating, an alleged death threat, and flowers

Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard was the fifth prosecution witness, and her testimony on May 16 alleged that in 2009, Combs brutally beat Ventura after she took too long to cook him dinner.

"Where's my fucking egg?" Richard recounted Combs shouting in 2009, as he stormed into the kitchen of his rented Los Angeles mansion.

"He took the skillet with the eggs in it and tried to hit her in the head, and she fell to the ground," Richard testified.

Ventura cowered on the floor "in a fetal position" as Combs punched her and kicked her, she said. Then he dragged her upstairs by her hair, she said, adding that she then heard the sound of screaming and breaking glass from the third floor.

The next day, Combs called Ventura and Richard into the mansion's first-floor recording studio, she said.

"He said that what we saw was passion, and it was what lovers in a relationship do," Richard said.

She said Combs told the two women that "he was trying to take us to the top, and that, where he comes from, people go missing if they say things like that, like, if people talk. And then he gave us flowers."

While back on the stand on May 19, Richard re-emphasized that she felt this was a threat to her life.

The details in the testimony came as a surprise to Combs' lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, who called it prejudicial and "just a drop dead lie."

"It didn't happen," the lawyer complained to the judge. "And the reason we know it didn't happen is that Ms. Ventura didn't talk about it" during her four days on the witness stand.

On cross-examination on May 19, Richard agreed that she only recalled the alleged death threat in speaking with prosecutors earlier this month. It had gone unmentioned, she agreed, during a half-dozen prior interviews with prosecutors.

Combs attacked Ventura over bathroom use, prosecutor and ex-bestie say

Ventura was beaten by Combs for the most minor of perceived infractions, including taking too long in the bathroom, prosecutor Emily Johnson said in her opening statement.

"He beat her when she didn't answer the phone when he called. He beat her when she left a freak off without his permission," Johnson said.

Ventura's ex-best friend, Kerry Morgan, was called to the witness stand on May 19 and told jurors about two attacks on Ventura she witnessed, including one while on vacation in Jamaica in 2013.

Morgan said Ventura at one point went to the bathroom at the residence where they were staying, and Combs said, "She's taking too long."

"A few minutes later, I heard her screaming — like guttural. Terrifying," Morgan said. "He was dragging her by her hair on the floor."

Morgan told jurors that she saw Combs push Ventura to the ground, causing her to hit her head on the paving bricks.

"She didn't move. She fell on her side," Morgan said, adding, "I thought she was knocked out."

Ventura, too, had testified that arguments with Combs would regularly result in physical abuse.

Ventura —who dated Combs on and off from 2007 to 2018 — described six separate times when Combs' attacks left her with injuries, with the most severe beating occurring in Los Angeles in 2009 following a party Combs had hosted at a club called Ace of Diamonds.

Ventura said she punched Combs in the face after he called her a "slut or a bitch" for talking to a record producer. Combs retaliated in the back seat of a chauffeured luxury vehicle by punching and kicking Ventura throughout a ten-minute ride to the rapper's rented mansion, she said.

She said she hid under the back seat to escape the attack. Combs demanded she stay hidden in a hotel for a week so her bruises could heal, she said.

The surprising things Combs kept in his luxury NYC hotel room while waiting to be arrested

The prosecution's fourth witness took the witness stand briefly on May 16 to detail what she and other Homeland Security investigators say they found inside Combs' suite at Manhattan's Park Hyatt New York after his September arrest.

Combs had checked into the luxury Midtown hotel, his lawyers have said, in case federal prosecutors in Manhattan had asked him to surrender voluntarily.

Special Agent Yasin Binda told the Combs jury she photographed what her colleagues found inside the room.

Those items included a clear plastic bag of baby oil bottles found inside a duffle bag. There were three more bottles of baby oil in his bathtub, alongside two bottles of personal lubricant.

Two more bottles of lubricant were recovered from a nightstand drawer, next to a prescription pill bottle she said held two small baggies containing a pink powder.

On the living room floor was a large blue party light of the kind Ventura testified were used to illuminate freak offs.

Similar bags of pink powder have previously been seized from Combs and tested positive for ecstasy and other drugs, a prosecutor had said in court the day after Combs was arrested.

Ventura's big settlements after her lawsuit and that infamous hallway-beatdown video

In some of her final moments on the witness stand, Ventura was asked by the defense about a legal settlement that she said she is on the verge of receiving from the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles.

"I think it was $10 million," Ventura said of the settlement, hesitating when asked for the total amount agreed to.

The InterContinental is where security cameras captured Combs beating Ventura in a hallway in 2016, as she tried to flee what prosecutors say was one of Combs' freak offs.

The jury was shown the infamous footage at the beginning of the trial.

Johnson, the prosecutor, said in her opening statements that at the time of the attack, Combs paid a security guard at the hotel $100,000 in a brown paper envelope in exchange for the footage.

Combs apologized for his actions in the video after CNN published the footage last year.

It was the second big-money settlement revealed in Ventura's testimony.

Earlier in her testimony, Ventura told jurors that Combs paid her $20 million to settle her civil suit against him in 2023.

Britney Spears and Michael B. Jordan became the biggest celebrity mentions of the trial

Pop icon Britney Spears and actor Michael B. Jordan were both name-dropped on May 15, on Ventura's third day of testimony.

During a cross-examination, Ventura was asked to tell the jury about the 21st birthday party Combs threw for her in 2007, at a club in Las Vegas.

The party was a significant moment in the Combs-Ventura story. Ventura testified that Combs, who recently signed her to his record label, gave her an uninvited kiss in a bathroom, sparking their relationship.

"I believe there were other celebrities there in attendance?" defense attorney Anna Estevao asked Ventura, who answered yes, there were.

"Sean was there, and he brought Dallas Austin, he brought Britney Spears," Ventura said, referring to the "Oops!… I Did It Again" singer and the record producer. "I think those were the two people that stand out to me," Ventura added.

Asked how a 21-year-old of limited fame was able to attract such big names to her party, Ventura credited Combs, saying, "That was all him."

Jordan's name came up as the cross-examination focused on 2015, when Combs became suspicious that she was having an affair with the actor.

"Is Michael B. Jordan a celebrity?" Estevao asked.

"I would say so," Ventura answered, sounding surprised.

Combs overdosed on opioids at the Playboy Mansion, Ventura said

Both Combs and Ventura were heavy opioid users, the R&B singer testified — and on one late night in February 2012, the pills he took made the rapper seriously ill, she said.

"Was that around the time that Whitney Houston died?" Estevao, Combs' defense attorney, asked about the timing.

"Yes," Ventura said.

That evening, the pair went to a sex club in San Bernardino, California, and then she went home, and Combs went to a party at the Playboy Mansion, Ventura told jurors.

"Well, from what he told me, he took a very strong opiate that night, but we didn't know what was happening, so we took him to the hospital," Ventura testified.

There, she said, she learned that he had overdosed on whatever painkillers he had taken, she said.

Combs was said to be enraged over Ventura's romance with Kid Cudi

Ventura told jurors that she briefly dated rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, in 2011 and that it sent Combs into a violent rage.

Combs discovered the relationship during a freak off in Los Angeles when he went through Ventura's phone, she testified.

"I just remember him putting like a wine bottle opener between his fingers and, like, lunging at me," Ventura said, adding that Combs' "eyes blacked out, super angry."

"And I just had to get out of there," she said. "It was actually another time I was able to get out of a freak off."

When Ventura saw Combs at his home later that day she said he was "irate" and threatened to release freak off videos of her and "hurt Scott and I."

On her way out, Ventura said Combs kicked her in the back so hard that she fell to the floor.

Ventura, whose lawsuit first suggested that Combs was responsible for blowing up a car that belonged to Kid Cudi in 2012, told jurors that Combs said Kid Cudi's car "would be blown up" when they were out of the country.

"Sean wanted Scott's friends to be there to see the car get blown up in the driveway," she testified.

Prosecutors alleged in court papers that Combs ordered his underlings to torch a vehicle "by slicing open the car's convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside the interior."

Ventura said she first joined Diddy's freak offs out of love

Ventura testified on May 13 that she was initially nervous, but felt a sense of responsibility to participate in Combs' freak offs.

"I was just in love and wanted to make him happy," Ventura told the jury.

Ventura testified that in 2007, Combs first proposed "this sexual encounter that he called voyeurism, where he would watch me have a sexual encounter with a third man, specifically another man."

"I didn't want to upset him if I said it scared me or if I said anything aside from, 'OK, let's try it,'" she said.

Johnson said in her opening statements that Combs eventually made it Ventura's job to find and book escorts to participate in the sex encounters.

While on the stand, Ventura described in detail what went on during freak offs. Prosecutors say Combs arranged, directed, and often electronically recorded the sex performances.

Ventura testified that Combs would urinate and ask escorts to urinate on her during the freak offs.

"It was disgusting. It was too much. It was overwhelming," she said. "I choked."

• Lyle and Erik Menéndez have been resentenced to 50 years to life in prison with parole.
• The resentencing came months after Netflix released a hit true crime drama about the brothers' '90s trial.
• Here's what has happened with their case since.

Erik Menéndez and Lyle Menéndez could be one step close to being released from prison after they were resentenced to 50 years to life with parole on Tuesday.

The brothers were sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for murdering their parents, José Menéndez and Kitty Menéndez, in 1989.

Their story resurfaced in the public discourse after Netflix released a documentary and a true crime drama series about the case last year.

The drama, "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story," became an instant hit and stayed at the top of Netflix's most-watched chart for two weeks, while the documentary, "The Menéndez Brothers," which came out days later, featured new interviews with the siblings.

A title card at the end of the documentary briefly mentions that the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in May 2023 to vacate their murder convictions. But both Netflix projects leave out most details about the brothers' attempts to appeal their sentences.

Lyle Menéndez and Erik Menéndez's attorneys said new evidence could prove their father abused them

The brothers admitted to killing their parents before their first trial, so the jury was tasked with understanding why.

While the prosecution argued the pair wanted their parents' money, the brothers said that they acted in self-defense because their father physically and sexually abused them, enabled by their mother. They said they feared their father would eventually kill them.

The brothers' first trial ended in 1994 with a hung jury. In the second trial, Judge Stanley M. Weisberg limited testimonies related to the brothers' abuse claims and removed the jury's option of voting on a manslaughter charge. The jury chose that the brothers were guilty of murder in the second trial.

The brothers petitioned an appeal in 2023, which journalist Robert Rand, who has reported on their case since the '90s, shared on X. The petition included a letter Erik Menéndez sent to his cousin Andy Cano a year before the murders, where he writes that he is avoiding his father and alludes to being afraid of him.

The petition also includes a declaration from Roy Roselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who was signed to the record label where José Menéndez was an executive. He said José Menéndez drugged and raped him when he was a teenager, and made him perform sexual acts on two other occasions.

The brothers' attorney hoped this would prove they were defending themselves against abuse to get the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The creators of "Monsters" and "The Menéndez Brothers" said they didn't want to get involved in the case

This new evidence was released partway through the production of "Monsters" and "The Menéndez Brothers," which may explain why it wasn't included.

"The Menéndez Brothers" producers Ross Dinerstein and Rebecca Evans told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2024 that they worked on the documentary for four years and wrapped shooting in 2023.

Evans said: "The habeas was filed in 2023, and so for us, when we were making the documentary, we felt like, we're not here to litigate a case. We're not here to present evidence, or new evidence in that way, alongside the attorneys. Our feeling was that this was a story that took place then, and this was all of our research on it."

"Monsters" was also likely written before May 2023, even though the production was delayed due to the writers' and actors' strike in 2023.

"Monsters" co-creator Ryan Murphy told Variety in September 2024: "I believe in justice, but I don't believe in being a part of that machine. That's not my job. My job as an artist was to tell a perspective in a particular story."

He added that the series was "the best thing that has happened to the Menéndez brothers in 30 years" because it rekindled public interest in their case.

But Laurie L. Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told Business Insider in October 2024 that a true crime series must present solid evidence to make a difference in a courtroom.

"In terms of it being the best thing that ever happened, only if it leads to evidence to actually overturn the case, which I still think is a real upward battle," she said.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney started the process of resentencing the brothers in late 2024.

On October 3, 2024, George Gascón, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, told a press conference that his office was reviewing the brothers' case.

Later that month, the LA County District Attorney's office told Business Insider in an email that the "process was already underway" before "Monsters" premiered, and a hearing was set for November 29.

On October 24, 2024, Gascón told a press conference that he had moved the decision date because his office was "flooded with requests for information" after "Monsters" premiered.

"I decided to move this forward because, quite frankly, we did not have enough resources to handle all their requests, and one of the things that I thrive to do in this office is to be very transparent in everything that we do," he said.

Gascón said that he would recommend the brothers be sentenced to 50 years to life and be eligible for parole immediately.

"I came to a place where I believe that under the law, resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that to a court tomorrow," Gascon said.

Gascón said it was right that the brothers were convicted of murder, but that he believed they had been rehabilitated in prison.

In a resentencing memo filed on October 24, 2024, deputies in the DA office's resentencing unit wrote that the Menéndez brothers "have demonstrated they no longer present a public safety risk" and that their "current sentence is no longer in furtherance of justice."

The resentencing is separate from the brothers' petition to vacate their sentences, meaning they'd still have to appear before a parole board to argue their case before being freed.

The same day, Gascón told CNN that he disagreed with the petition's argument and thought resentencing was more appropriate.

"I think that the conviction was appropriate given what was there," Gascón said.

In October 2024, Gascón also supported the Menéndez brothers' petition to Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, for clemency, which was separate from the court hearings. Newsom has full power to reduce their sentence or grant a pardon, which means the brothers now have three paths to freedom.

The new District Attorney opposed the Menéndez brothers' request for freedom.

Gascón wasn't re-elected and the resentencing hearing was pushed back to allow the new DA, Nathan Hochman, to review the evidence.

In February, Hochman told a press conference that his office asked the court to deny the Menéndez brothers' habeas corpus petition. He said he believed the evidence they presented wasn't new, wasn't relevant to their self-defense claims, and did not meet the legal standards for petitioning.

The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, an initiative that includes the brothers' family members and is advocating for their release, told ABC News at the time that Hochman's comments dismissed the brothers' abuse.

"We are profoundly disappointed by his remarks, in which he effectively tore up new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced," the coalition said. "To say it played no role in Erik and Lyle's action is to ignore decades of psychological research and basic human understanding."

In March, Hochman told a press conference that his office was motioning to oppose the brothers' resentencing, saying they had not fully accepted responsibility for their crimes because they continued to say they acted in self-defense. Hochman also said the brothers have made 20 lies before and during their trial and only admitted to four of them.

The judge, Michael Jesic, denied the motion, so the court continued the resentencing hearings.

Amid the drama, Newsom also requested the brothers' parole board in February to carry out a "comprehensive risk assessment" investigation into whether the brothers pose "an unreasonable risk to the public" if they are released.

Judge Michael Jesic resentenced the Menéndez brothers to 50 years to life with parole.

A hearing was held on May 9 to discuss the parole board's risk assessment. ABC News reported that the assessment found that the brothers pose a moderate risk to the community if released because they broke multiple rules in prison.

But on Tuesday, Jesic approved the brothers' resentencing, meaning they can now appeal to a parole board to be released. This process can take years, but the brothers continue to pursue the petition and clemency cases, which could speed up their release.

ABC News reported that the brothers' hearing for the clemency case is on June 13.

• Robert De Niro criticized Donald Trump's tariffs at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday.
• The actor called Trump a "philistine president" while accepting a lifetime achievment Palme d'Or award.
• Here's a timeline of their 14-year feud.

Robert De Niro told the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday that America is fighting for "the democracy we once took for granted," in his latest swipe at Donald Trump amid a 14-year feud.

Since 2011, De Niro has criticized Trump's politics and behavior in interviews, award speeches, and political campaign videos.

Here's a timeline of De Niro and Trump's feud.

April 2011: De Niro criticizes Trump for commenting on former president Barack Obama's citizenship.

Trump and De Niro first exchanged verbal blows in April 2011 after Trump questioned the citizenship status of then-president, Barack Obama.

Trump was one of many celebrity and political figures who began demanding to see Obama's birth certificate at the time because they wrongly believed he was born in the US.

During an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams at the Tribeca Film Festival, De Niro criticized those who made this claim.

"A lot of these guys, they're intentions are not even good. They're just playing the game. And they're playing with people's lives," De Niro said in 2011 (per The Hollywood Reporter). "It's crazy. They're making statements about people that they don't even back up. Go get the facts before you start saying things about people."

De Niro confirmed later in the interview that Trump was among the people he was referring to.

Trump hit back a few days on "Fox & Friends," where he said De Niro was "not the brightest bulb on the planet."

"I have been watching over the years, and I like his acting, but in terms of when I watch him doing interviews and various other things, we are not dealing with Albert Einstein," Trump added before doubling down on his demand for Obama to show his birth certificate.

August 2016: De Niro calls Trump "nuts."

De Niro and Trump's beef cooled off until Trump became the Republican Party's candidate for the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking at an event for the 40th anniversary of "Taxi Driver" in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in August 2016, De Niro brought up Trump's campaign and said the businessman was "totally nuts."

"It's crazy that people like Donald Trump, he shouldn't even be where he is, so God help us," De Niro said. "What he's been saying is really totally crazy, ridiculous stuff."

Fall 2016: De Niro joins the Democrats' campaign and says he wants to "punch" Trump.

De Niro was one of the many celebrities who supported Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency in the run-up to the 2016 election.

In October of that year, De Niro participated in a video for the #VoteYourFuture campaign to get young people involved but spent most of the video slinging insults at Trump.

"I mean he's so blatantly stupid. He's a punk, he's a dog, he's a pig, he's a con, a bullshit artist, a mutt who doesn't know what he's talking about, doesn't do his homework, doesn't care, thinks he's gaming society, doesn't pay his taxes. He's an idiot," he said.

De Niro added: "He talks about how he wants to punch people in the face. Well, I'd like to punch him in the face."

De Niro later told "The View" that the "punch" threat was symbolic and he didn't actually want to hit Trump.

"I said that because he said that about somebody that he would like to punch them in the face. How dare he say that to the crowd?" De Niro said of Trump.

In the following weeks, De Niro argued publicly with actors Jon Voight and Arnold Schwarzenegger over their support for Trump and spoke out against Trump during a speech at the Hollywood Film Awards.

When Trump was elected in November 2016, De Niro told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt "like I did after 9/11."

De Niro also told "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" that he won't punch the president.

"I can't do that now; he's the president. I have to respect the position, though we all know what…," he said, trailing off as a joke. "We have to see what he's gonna do, and how he's really gonna follow through on certain things."

Their feud then cooled off for the remainder of 2016.

2017: De Niro criticizes Trump in speeches and interviews.

In 2017, De Niro took almost every opportunity to fire more shots at Trump.

In January 2017, De Niro appeared in a "United We Stand" rally against Trump, where he joked about the president's social media rants and criticized his stance on immigration.

"He's a bad example of this country," De Niro said of Trump. "We're all rooting for the new administration, of course, to abandon the divisive, racist, misogynist, ignorant plans it's trumpeting and lead us with intelligence and compassion."

In the same month, he told "Today" that calls to boycott Trump's presidential inauguration were justified.

"I think that whatever people do, they should do it fully because there's a lot of crazy stuff happening now," De Niro said.

In May 2017, De Niro used a speech at Brown University as he accepted an honorary doctorate of fine arts to mock Trump.

"When you started school, the country was an inspiring, uplifting drama. You are graduating into a tragic, dumbass comedy," he said.

During another speech at the Annual Hudson River Park Gala, De Niro called Trump a "motherfucker," New York Daily News reported.

2018: Trump finally responds to De Niro after further insults.

In March 2018, De Niro called Trump an "idiot" in a speech for an event to celebrate the Fulfillment Fund for promoting higher education.

"He lacks any sense of humanity or compassion," De Niro said per Variety. "Now I'm not trying to turn this non-political event into a political one, but as long as our country's leadership is so appalling and so corrupt, I'll be speaking out at every venue."

He added: "To be silent in the face of such villainy is to be complicit, and it's especially appropriate tonight because Trump treats education as a con, a way to make a profit at the expense of the suckers."

Continuing the sentiment about speaking up against Trump, in June 2018, De Niro said "fuck Trump" while hosting the Tony Awards, and received a standing ovation.

This comment finally garnered a response from Trump.

"Robert De Niro, a very Low IQ individual, has received too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. I watched him last night and truly believe he may be 'punch-drunk,'" Trump wrote on X two days after the Tony's.

Robert De Niro, a very Low IQ individual, has received too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. I watched him last night and truly believe he may be “punch-drunk.” I guess he doesn’t...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018

"I guess he doesn't realize the economy is the best it's ever been with employment being at an all time high, and many companies pouring back into our country. Wake up Punchy!" he continued.

De Niro was also one of several Trump critics who were mailed bombs in October 2018, though police never linked these incidents to the former US president.

De Niro was unfazed and instead responded by encouraging people to vote in the midterm elections.

"There's something more powerful than bombs and that's your vote. People MUST vote!" De Niro told Sky News. "I thank God no one's been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us."

In 2018, "Saturday Night Live" began featuring regular sketches mocking Trump, with Alec Baldwin portraying the president. De Niro joined these sketches in April, making frequent cameo appearances as Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing an investigation into Trump's election campaign and Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US elections.

2019: De Niro says Trump's "impeachment and imprisonment" would make America great again.

In March 2019, Mueller released a report on his investigation into the US 2016 election. The report found that Russian agents "interfered in the presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion" but said there was not enough evidence to accuse Trump's team of being involved.

However, the evidence within the report kickstarted a campaign to impeach Trump.

De Niro also joined calls for Trump's impeachment. During a speech at the American Icons Awards in late March, De Niro said Trump's "impeachment and imprisonment" would make America great again.

In May, De Niro wrote an open letter to Mueller in The New York Times to encourage him to testify against Trump in Congress.

In October, De Niro also told The Guardian at the London Film Festival that he wanted to see Trump jailed after his impeachment inquiry.

"Oh, I can't wait to see him in jail. I don't want him to die, I want him to go to jail," De Niro said.

Trump was impeached in 2019, but for a different investigation, and the president was later acquitted by the Senate.

Throughout 2019, De Niro also threw further insults at Trump, including calling him "too stupid to even know he's evil," a "total loser," a "white supremacist" and a "nasty little bitch."

2020: De Niro criticizes Trump's response to the COVID pandemic.

During Trump's last year in office, the world was hit by the COVID pandemic.

In May 2020, De Niro criticized Trump's response to the pandemic on BBC Newsnight, saying that the president did not care how many people had died.

"It's Shakespearean, the whole thing, you've got a lunatic saying things that people are trying to dance around," De Niro said. "They're doing it in the hearings a little more, trying to say tactfully that this is what will happen, Fauci is doing that."

“It’s like Shakespearean the whole thing” – actor Robert de Niro on how the coronavirus outbreak is being handled in the US#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/k64t3Mhcl9

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) May 12, 2020

De Niro added, referring to Trump: "It's appalling. He wants to be re-elected. He doesn't even care how many people die."

Trump being voted out of office in November 2020 didn't mean De Niro was done criticizing him.

De Niro told MSNBC in November, after the 2020 election, that he though there would be another "Trump-like" candidate who would be smart enough to trick the public.

"It's the same playbook as Mussolini, as Hitler, as wannabe dictators," De Niro said. "It's all appealing to the worst prejudices, the worst weaknesses of the public and instead of leading them and guiding them and being someone that they can look up to."

2023: De Niro reignites the feud during the press "Killers of a Flower Moon" press tour.

Ahead of the 2024 election, Variety reported that De Niro compared Trump to the "evil" men in "Killers of a Flower Moon" during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for the film.

"There are people who still think he can do a good job. Imagine how insane that is," De Niro said, referring to Trump.

In October, De Niro missed the Stop Trump Summit in New York City after contracting COVID but said in a video statement: "When I look at him, I don't see a bad man. Truly. I see an evil one.

"The man who was supposed to protect this country put it in peril, because of his recklessness and impulsiveness. It was like an abusive father ruling the family by fear and violent behavior."

At the Gotham Film Awards, he brought up Trump again but stalled during his speech and accused Apple, the producer of the movie, of editing what he wanted to say.

"I just want to say one thing. The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out. I didn't know about it. And I want to read it," De Niro said before bringing out his phone to read the original speech.

"The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years … in office, and he's keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution," De Niro said, referring to Trump. "But with all his lies, he can't hide his soul."

De Niro told Rolling Stone that he found out after the event that Apple had tried to ask him to tone down the speech, but he had missed the memo.

Trump fired back at De Niro's comments in a post on Truth Social.

"Robert De Niro, whose acting talents have greatly diminished, with his reputation now shot, must even use a teleprompter for his foul and disgusting language, so disrespectful to our Country," Trump wrote.

"De Niro should focus on his life, which is a mess, rather than the lives of others. He has become a total loser, as the World watches, waits, and laughs!" he added.

March 2024: De Niro fires back at Trump's social media posts.

On "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in March, Kimmel asked De Niro about Trump's social media posts about him.

"He's so fucking stupid," De Niro responded. "Look at the lame, inane things that he said. He's so stupid he can't even say anything clever. He's a fucking moron."

"He is a malignant narcissist. He's a socio-psychopath," he added. "It's so frightening and scary, and he's dangerous. We got to get rid of him."

May 28 2024: De Niro appears in another Democrat campaign video and news conference.

On May 22, De Niro lent his voice to a video for Biden's presidential campaign.

"Now, he's running again, this time threatening to be a 'dictator,' to terminate the constitution," De Niro said. "Trump wants revenge, and he'll stop at nothing to get it."

On May 28, De Niro appeared at a news conference for Biden's presidential campaign outside Trump's hush money trial. At the conference, he said he had joined Biden's campaign.

"When Trump ran in 2016, it was like a joke. 'This buffoon running for president? No, never could happen,'" De Niro said. "We'd forgotten the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren't taken seriously until they became vicious dictators."

De Niro said the new Biden-Harris ad was created to show how Trump uses "violence" against people who stand in his way.

"But it's a coward's violence," he added.

In another interview with the press outside the courthouse, De Niro said: "He's a monster. He cannot be president of the United States again. Never ever."

Trump mocked De Niro on Truth Social in response.

"I never knew how small, both mentally and physically, Wacko Former Actor Robert De Niro was," Trump wrote on Wednesday. "Today, De Niro, who suffers from an incurable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, commonly known in the medical community as TDS, was met, outside the Courthouse, with a force far greater than the Radical Left - MAGA."

He added that De Niro looked "so pathetic and sad" and the actor's brand has "gone WAY DOWN IN VALUE" since he started supporting Biden.

May 30, 2024: De Niro supports New York jury's decision to convict Trump.

On May 30, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, after he was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Trump maintains his innocence.

"It's as it should be. Justice has been served. That's it," De Niro told PageSix, adding that the public must stop Trump from being elected in November.

De Niro told Variety at the time: "This never should have gotten to this stage. I don't want to be talking, but I am so upset by it. I have to say something. This is my country. This guy wants to destroy it. Period. He's crazy.

"People are fed up, they're going to fight back. That's not what we're about in this country."

May 13, 2025: De Niro calls Trump a 'philistine president' at the Cannes Film Festival.

De Niro appeared at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival to accept a Palme d'Or lifetime achievement award.

He used his acceptance speech to criticize Trump, and said: "Art looks for truth. Art embraces diversity. That's why art is a threat."

Referring to Trump becoming head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in February, De Niro continued: "That's why we are a threat to autocrats and fascists. America's philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of our premier cultural institutions. He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities, and education."

The actor also criticized Trump's recent move to put tariffs on movies made outside the US.

He added: "You can't put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it. Of course, this is unacceptable. All of these attacks are unacceptable. And this isn't just an American problem, it's a global one.

"Like a film, we can't just all sit back and watch. We have to act, and we have to act now."

Trump's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Doechii fans are divided after a video emerged of the rapper shouting at her team before the Met Gala.
• She responded by sharing a video where she joked about the incident, and some fans disapproved.
• It's the latest example of a pop-star standing up to fans.

Doechii fans are divided after a video emerged showing the rapper shouting at her staff before she appeared at the Met Gala.

And instead of apologizing, she thanked her team but said the event was "overstimulating."

Doechii is the latest female artists whose star is rising not to apologize after a fan backlash, but to instead highlight her own needs. Last year, Chappell Roan was criticized for not taking photos with fans and shouting at a photographer at the 2024 VMAs. She also spoke out about how fame and fan interactions had a negative effect on her mental health.

On Monday, a TikTok account called theviketwins published the video of paparazzi spotting Doechii at the Mark Hotel in New York, where celebrities often get dressed before appearing on the Met Gala red carpet.

Celebrities typically hide their outfits before the big reveal on the red carpet, so Doechii's team quickly tried to cover her with a wardrobe screen and umbrellas.

As the team tried to find more umbrellas, Doechii could be heard saying in a raised voice, "Give me another umbrella. I need more fucking umbrellas."

Some fans criticized Doechii for raising her voice and using a swear word while speaking to her team.

On Wednesday, Doechii responded to the drama by sharing a TikTok video captioned: "God forbid a girl needs more umbrellas."

"All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn't trade it for the world! This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside)," she wrote beneath the video.

Doechii also reshared the post on her Instagram story. In a subsequent post she said she was proud of her glam and fashion teams, and that she had dreamed of attending the Met Gala for a long time.

Any big red carpet event can be a place to shine for celebrities. But a first appearance on the prestigious Met Gala red carpet, as was the case for Doechii, can be a career-defining moment and a sign that a person is on their way to becoming an A-lister.

Some fans, including rapper JT, praised Doechii's response. She commented on Doechii's TikTok that she understood it was a stressful night.

Doechii was also part of the committee for this year's gala.

"That was anxietyyyyyyy🖤! Big night! Your debut! Getty was there, I get it! You ate!" JT wrote.

Other fans criticized Doechii for not taking responsibility for her actions or apologizing publicly.

A representative for Doechii did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Marvel has been struggling with superhero fatigue — or fans being bored of the genre — for years.
• Marvel changed up its marketing for its latest film, "Thunderbolts*" to appeal to cinephiles.
• It's kept up its quirky new marketing strategy for its upcoming films, too.

Marvel Studios has a new strategy for combating superhero fatigue: appeal to cinephiles.

Although Marvel is still the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, it has struggled to maintain its popularity over the past four years.

A trend of diminishing box office returns and fans and critics complaining that Marvel projects are declining in quality has resulted in the narrative that audiences are tired of superhero movies.

While the billion-dollar-grossing 2024 movie "Deadpool & Wolverine" indicated fans were still willing to turn up for Marvel event movies, this year's "Captain America: Brave New World" grossed $414 million — mediocre compared to the studio's other releases.

By marketing its latest blockbuster, "Thunderbolts*," in a way that emulates the industry darling A24 and other huge franchises like "Mission Impossible," Marvel Studios seems to be aware it needs to take a new direction if it is to survive.

It's too early to tell if the gamble paid off at the box office — "Thunderbolts*" grossed less domestically and internationally in its opening weekend than "Brave New World," which came out in February. But "Thunderbolts*" earned an 88% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest for a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie since 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Fans are saying that Marvel is "so back."

Referencing A24 in a 'Thunderbolts*' trailer signals to fans it's a good movie

When Marvel first announced "Thunderbolts*" — a film about a ragtag group of antiheroes who form an unlikely alliance — in 2022, it marketed it like past movies. The only difference was an unexplained asterisk at the end of the title when production began in 2024.

But after "Brave New World" received disappointing reviews and meager box office results, Marvel took a gamble with "Thunderbolts*."

Florence Pugh, who reprises her role as Yelena Belova in the film, described "Thunderbolts*" as a "quite badass indie, A24-feeling assassin movie with Marvel superheroes" in a March interview with Empire, referring to the studio that has earned a reputation as the "cool kid" on the block.

Marvel jumped on this and the next day dropped an A24-esque trailer for "Thunderbolts*" titled "Absolute Cinema," which showcased the cast and crew, including Pugh, who have been part of projects produced or distributed by the indie studio.

The trailer title could also have been a nod to a popular meme of the director Martin Scorsese with his hands raised up and accompanied by the phrase "absolute cinema." Scorsese famously called Marvel movies "not cinema" in a 2019 interview, while other legendary directors such as Quentin Tarantino have also criticized the quality of Marvel and superhero films.

"Thunderbolts*" director Jake Schreier recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the A24 trailer idea was a joke between himself and an assistant, but the Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige liked it and asked the marketing department to make it.

To Paul Hardart, a professor at New York University Stern School of Business, the trailer signals to fans: "this isn't your father's Marvel, this is a Marvel film for today. They're saying this is a high-quality film from a cinema standpoint."

Then in April, Marvel released a featurette that gave a behind-the-scenes look at how Pugh executed jumping from the world's second-tallest building, the 2,227 feet-high Merdeka 118 tower in Malaysia. This gestured to Marvel relying less on CGI and harking back to stunt-heavy blockbusters like "Mission: Impossible."

A representative for Marvel Studios did not immediately respond to a comment request from BI.

Finola Kerrigan, a professor of marketing and deputy dean of the University of Birmingham's business school, UK, told BI she believes the A24-style trailer that highlights the cast and crew's quality work is part of an attempt to attract new audiences to the MCU, while trying to lure back dissatisfied fans.

"We can't be cynical about the film audience, so you have to keep delighting them and challenging them," Kerrigan said.

Marvel did then revert to its traditional style of marketing, but is still using quirky tactics now "Thunderbolts*" is out, by rebranding it as "The New Avengers," which is the group's name at the end of the movie, on social media and select posters.

Marvel is using quirky marketing for 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' and 'Avengers: Doomsday'

After Marvel's previous failed attempts at appealing to film fans with 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and 2021's "Eternals," both directed by auteurs but seen as disappointments, "Thunderbolts*" may mark a watershed moment.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told BI that after "Captain America" saw a 68% drop in ticket sales between its opening weekends after a "lukewarm critical and audience reaction," the second weekend of "Thunderbolts*" will more clearly indicate whether it has been a success.

But Marvel is already adopting its new strategy for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," out on July 25, and "Avengers: Doomsday," billed for May 2026.

For the latter, Marvel has generated buzz by announcing part of the cast during a five-and-a-half hour livestream.

Meanwhile, since February, the "Fantastic Four" X account has shared the same clip of Pedro Pascal's character, Reed Richards, at 7 p.m. on Sundays, when his family has dinner — then seemingly forgetting to on April 14.

At 7:44 p.m. that day, the X account released a new clip of Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) telling Reed and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) that they're late for dinner, teasing a new trailer for the movie.

Hardart said Marvel should adopt the "fun" and "creative" elements of these marketing strategies for "Avengers: Doomsday," the next "Avengers" film.

But clever marketing can only do so much. Ticket prices aren't cheap, and fans want to know that they're watching movies that are worth their time, money, and attention.

"I think at the end of the day, they recognize there's no proxy for quality," Hardart said, referring to Marvel Studios. "So if the next 'Avengers' movie is really good, people are going to want to see it."

• "Thunderbolts*" is Marvel's new movie about a group of assassins who team up to save the day.
• The film includes many callbacks and references to previous and future films in the MCU.
• John Walker recites a famous Marvel phrase, and a familiar tune plays in a key scene at the end.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Thunderbolts*."

Marvel's latest movie,"Thunderbolts*," assembles an unlikely crew of assassins.

"Thunderbolts*," directed by Jake Schreier, follows antiheroes Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) as they fall prey to a trap set by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

After escaping, the group, with the help of Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), embarks on a mission to rescue a mysterious new character named Bob (Lewis Pullman) while facing their own inner demons along the way.

Here are all the callbacks, Easter eggs, and nods to the Marvel Cinematic Universe you might have missed.

The opening Marvel title card teases the reveal of Sentry and the Void.

Every Marvel movie starts with a studio title card showing comic panels flipping across the screen.

For "Thunderbolts*," all of these panels are related to the comic book character Robert "Bob" Reynolds, also known as Sentry.

It's a teaser that Pullman's Bob will become Sentry later in the film.

As the animation continues, darkness trickles over the comic pages until it completely covers the Marvel logo. This foreshadows the Void, the dark side of Sentry, who takes over Bob's mind in the film's final act.

There are other moments that foreshadow the Void's appearance in the film. For instance, Yelena describes her depression and loneliness as a void in the opening scene.

Yelena's first fight sequence is purposely shadowy to lean into the film's premise.

"Thunderbolts*" opens with Yelena, a Russian assassin, completing an assignment for her employer, Val, at a lab in Malaysia.

To infiltrate the lab, Yelena expertly fights several armed guards in a sequence reminiscent of the corridor fight scene in "Oldboy."

"Thunderbolts*" director Jake Schreier hasn't said if he drew inspiration from the 2003 Park Chan-wook movie. However, other Marvel creatives have previously said they were influenced by the iconic fighting sequence.

The fight scene's visuals also feel like a nod to the Void's power to spread darkness that turns people into shadows.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's OXE group is run by a clone of Valentina in the comics.

"Thunderbolts*" introduces a new secret organization within the MCU known as the OXE group, which Valentina founded with the aim of creating a superhero who can protect the world.

A similar group also exists in the Marvel comics, but it was coincidentally first introduced in a 2023 "Thunderbolts" comic series months after the cast for the movie had been announced.

Valentina also heads up the OXE group in the comics. However, a robot clone of Valentina takes charge of the organization and uses it to help a new Thunderbolts team.

John Walker uses Steve Rogers' signature "on your left" catchphrase.

Early in the film, when Yelena, John, and Ava are trying to escape Val's trap, they locate an independent power source blocking Ava's ability to move through solid objects.

"On your left," John tells Yelena as he reaches the power source and smashes it with his shield.

The phrase dates back to "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." It was used by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) every time he passed Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) while running in Washington, DC.

Sam memorably said the line back to Steve in "Avengers: Endgame," when he and all the heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe arrived through portals to help defeat Thanos and his army.

The final act of "Thunderbolts*" takes place in the same location as the showdown in the first "Avengers" movie.

Many aspects of "Thunderbolts*" mirror the 2012 movie "The Avengers."

Both films are about a group of misfits brought together by a spy boss who try to kill each other before deciding to work together to save New York from a major threat.

The destination of the final showdown in "Thunderbolts*" also calls back to the ending of "The Avengers."

The Thunderbolts confront the main villains, Val and Sentry, in the Watchtower, which is the same place Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) confronted then-antagonist Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

The Thunderbolts also work together to save civilians outside Grand Central Terminal, where the original Avengers previously fought the Chitauri in "The Avengers."

But the final fight in "Thunderbolts*" contrasts with its predecessor. In "The Avengers," the titular heroes face off against an alien invasion, while in "Thunderbolts*," the villain is a man-made experiment gone wrong.

A familiar Marvel melody starts playing during the New Avengers press conference.

At the end of "Thunderbolts*," Val tricks the team into appearing at a press conference where she introduces them as the New Avengers.

After the New Avengers moniker is name-dropped, composer Alan Silvestri's iconic "Avengers" theme discreetly starts playing.

The credits pay homage to well-known pieces of pop culture history.

The first part of the credits shows multiple magazine covers featuring the New Avengers.

Many of these covers recreate iconic posters and images, including the "We Can Do It!" poster produced by J. Howard Miller during World War II, featuring Yelena, instead of Rosie the Riveter. Another recreates the "Washington Crossing the Delaware" painting by Emanuel Leutze. In another, the team poses as the band Queen in the style of the cover of their second studio album, "Queen II."

This is intended to show the extent of the Thunderbolts' newfound fame following their formal introduction as the New Avengers.

The logo for the New Avengers is inspired by the comics.

After the main credits, the "Thunderbolts*" logo switches to "The New Avengers" in a bright yellow bolded font.

It's the same logo seen in the Marvel comics, right down to the crossbar in the capital "A" doubling as a right-pointing arrow.

The second end-credits scene introduces the Fantastic Four team.

"Thunderbolts*" has two end-credits scenes. The first one is inconsequential, but the second teases Marvel's next movie, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," which is set to be released in theaters on July 25.

In the scene, the New Avengers are interrupted by an alert about an extradimensional ship entering the atmosphere.

That spacecraft turns out to be one belonging to the Fantastic Four, as indicated by the retro style number 4 on the exterior. Michael Giacchino's theme music for the upcoming "Fantastic Four" reboot plays in the background as the ship soars through space.

The second post-credits scene was filmed on the "Avengers: Doomsday" set.

Jake Schreier, the director of "Thunderbolts*," told Comicbook.com in a video published on Thursday that he did not film the second end credits scene.

Schreier said the specifics of the second end credits scene were decided "quite late," and it was filmed only recently.

"I was there when it was filmed and I can say that it comes from the set of a production that might be starting production right around now," Shreier said, seemingly referring to "Avengers Doomsday," which began production in March.

• The asterisk in the title of Marvel's "Thunderbolts*" is explained at the end of the movie.
• As fans theorized, the symbol indicates that the moniker was only a placeholder name for the group.
• Here's what to know about the ending of "Thunderbolts*," which reveals the team's official name.

Warning: spoilers ahead for "Thunderbolts*."

"Thunderbolts*" has an asterisk in the title because it was never the official name for the group of misfits.

The new Marvel movie, which was released on Friday, follows a team of antiheroes and assassins set up to kill each other.

When production for "Thunderbolts*" was announced in March 2024, Marvel added an asterisk to its title. It wasn't a typo, and in the lead up to the release, Marvel used the mystery around the asterisk to lure in audiences.

When asked about the asterisk at ComicCon last year, Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, said: "We won't talk more about that until after the movie comes out."

Many fans theorized it showed Thunderbolts was a temporary name for the group — and they were right.

Thunderbolts were renamed The New Avengers

In the movie, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the director of the CIA, is on a mission to find a replacement for the Avengers, who have been on hiatus since "Avengers: Endgame."

But when the government discovers she has been experimenting on humans, Valentina tries to destroy the evidence and kill people who work for her.

She sends Yelena (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), to kill each other in an abandoned facility. After Ghost kills Taskmaster, the others realize they have been set up and try to escape the facility with a civilian called Bob (Lewis Pullman),one of the people Valentina had experimented on.

As they attempt to escape the facility designed to kill them the characters argue about who should lead the group, John Walker, a former Captain America, assumes leadership, citing his experience in the US Army.

Yelena, a Russian super spy, tells him that's no more relevant than her once being part of a children's soccer team.

Later, Walker jokes that they should name themselves the Thunderbolts after the soccer team, when the Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena's adoptive father, encourages them to become a superhero team. Red Guardian loves and adopts the name for the group, but everyone else rejects it.

This differs to how Thunderbolts got its name in the comics. Marvel's website states that the character Baron Zemo, who leads the team in the comic but does not appear in the movie, came up with the name after being "inspired by his fond memories of Nazi Germany."

The team — which at the end of the movie includes Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and the Red Guardian — go to New York to stop Valentina and Bob, who has lost control of his powers.The team eventually manage to stop Bob and save New York.

While arresting Valentina, she tricks them into appearing at a press conference where she introduces the triumphant team as the New Avengers.

Again, this differs to what happens in the comics. The New Avengers formed in the comics after the original Avengers disbanded following an incident with the Scarlet Witch that killed Thor and destroyed Asgard and the Avengers' mansion.

The New Avengers have a rival team in the comics

The post-credit scene in "Thunderbolts*" takes place 14 months later after the events of the movie. The New Avengers, suited up in a new team uniform, argue about how to respond to Captain America (Anthony Mackie), who has formed his own Avengers team and is trying to make the New Avengers relinquish their name.

This may be imitating the New Avengers story arc in the comics. In the comic crossover event "Civil War," the New Avengers split up and half side with Iron Man while the others support Captain America and become fugitives.

Then, after the Skrulls invade Earth, Norman Osborn and a group of villains take over as the Dark Avengers, while the New Avengers continue saving the day without getting arrested.

Eventually, Osborn's team is defeated, and the New Avengers become an official team again, alongside other Avengers teams.

The post-credit scene suggests "Avengers: Doomsday" may be the first movie franchise featuring rival Avengers groups.

• "Thunderbolts*" features a superhero team made up of characters from previous Marvel movies.
• The trailer suggests the team is led by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh).
• Here's what to know about the characters who make up the Thunderbolts team.

"Thunderbolts*" features a new superhero team made up of characters who have mostly existed on the sidelines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film, which is out on Friday, follows the titular group of assassins who work together to escape a deadly trap and save New York. They appear to be taking over from the Avengers, as that superhero team has been on hiatus since "Avengers: Endgame."

The "Thunderbolts*" team features Yelena Belova, John Walker, and other characters who joined the MCU in recent years.

Here's what to know about all the major characters in "Thunderbolts*" and details to remember about their past appearances in the MCU.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

In "Thunderbolts*," Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is the director of the CIA, who sets up the trap that brings the team of superheroes together.

Valentina appeared in "Black Widow" and "Falcon and the Winter Soldier," where she recruited John Walker and Yelena Belova. In "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" she spied on the Wakandans. So, it is unclear where her loyalties lie.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, an Emmy-winning actor known for starring in "Seinfeld" and "Veep," plays Valentina.

Florence Pugh plays Yelena Belova

Yelena Belova is the adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), one of the original Avengers. In 2021's "Black Widow," a Soviet spy agency placed the two in a fake family and sent them to America on an undercover mission as children.

After the mission was completed, the family was separated and Yelena and Natasha became Russian superspies known as Black Widows. By the end of the movie, Yelena and her adopted family had shut down the Black Widow program.

In the series "Hawkeye," audiences learned that Yelena was among the many who vanished when Thanos erased half of all living things in the universe in "Avengers: Infinity War." Natasha died in "Avengers: Endgame" before the Avengers could bring Yelena back to life.

Yelena attempted to kill Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) to avenge Natasha, but she eventually forgave him.

In "Thunderbolts*," Yelena tries to find another way to move past her grief and trauma.

Florence Pugh, an Oscar-nominated actor whose previous movies include "Oppenheimer," "Midsommar," and 2019's "Little Women," plays Yelena.

Sebastian Stan plays Bucky Barnes

Bucky Barnes is a childhood friend of Steve Rogers, the first Captain America.

After a near-death experience in "Captain America: The First Avenger," Bucky became the Winter Soldier, a brainwashed super-assassin. Steve saved Bucky and the Wakandans freed him of the brainwashing.

In "Thunderbolts*," audiences learn that Bucky has become a congressman.

Sebastian Stan, who got his first Oscar nomination for playing Donald Trump in the 2024 film "The Apprentice," stars as Bucky.

David Harbour plays the Red Guardian

Alexei Shostakov, also known as the Red Guardian, first appeared in "Black Widow" as a Soviet super-soldier. After he was cast aside by Russian forces, he worked with his adoptive daughters, Yelena and Natasha, to shut down the Black Widow program.

In "Thunderbolts*," the Red Guardian is still trying to prove that he can be a great hero.

David Harbour, best known for his role in "Stranger Things," plays the Red Guardian.

Wyatt Russell plays John Walker

John Walker is a former army captain who was appointed the new Captain America in "Falcon and the Winter Soldier."

Walker later took a super soldier serum so he could live up to the Captain America status, but the US government stripped Walker of the Captain America title after he brutally killed a surrendering Flag Smasher in retaliation for his partner's death.

Valentina recruited Walker at the end of the series and gave him the new mantle of US Agent.

Wyatt Russell, the son of actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, plays John Walker.

Hannah John-Kamen plays Ghost

Ava Starr, introduced in the 2018 movie "Ant-Man and the Wasp," has the ability to move through solid objects.

After a quantum tunnel exploded, killing her parents and giving her unstable powers, Ava was discovered by SHIELD, a spy organization in the Marvel universe, and turned into an espionage operative known as Ghost. Ghost's powers were killing her until Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Williams) transferred quantum energy to Ghost to stabilize her in the "Ant-Man" sequel.

Hannah John-Kamen, who starred in "Killjoys" and "Ready Player One," plays Ghost.

Olga Kurylenko plays Taskmaster

Antonia Dreykov is the daughter of General Dreykov, an antagonist who appeared in "Black Widow."

In the 2021 film, her father turned her into Taskmaster, a brainwashed assassin who can copy people's fighting techniques. At the end of the movie, Natasha freed Taskmaster from her brainwashing.

However, it appears she is still an assassin in "Thunderbolts*."

Olga Kurylenko, who starred in "Quantum of Solace," plays Taskmaster.

Lewis Pullman plays Bob

Bob is a new character whom Yelena, Ghost, and Walker come across while trying to kill each other.

The character is based on the comic book character Sentry, a man who signed up for a government experiment to recreate Steve Rogers' super soldier serum. As a result, Bob gained various powers, including super strength, speed, and flight.

In the comic books, the experiment also created a dark entity inside Sentry, known as the Void, which wants to take over his body and destroy the world.

Lewis Pullman, known for his Emmy-nominated role in "Lessons in Chemistry" and "Top Gun: Maverick," plays Bob.

Geraldine Viswanathan plays Mel

Mel is another new character in the main cast of "Thunderbolts*" and she is Valentina's assistant.

Fans have theorized that the character could be based on Songbird, who is a member of the comic book version of the Thunderbolts team. Songbird can create solid constructs out of sound and hypnotize people with her voice.

Geraldine Viswanathan, who starred in "Blockers" and "Drive-Away Dolls," plays Mel.

• "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" is the third film in the heist franchise.
• Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher are returning alongside new actors, who will play young magicians.
• Here's what to know about the film, which is scheduled for November.

The "Now You See Me" franchise is back nine years after the second film was released.

"Now You See Me, Now You Don't" continues the story of a secret organization of magicians, called the Four Horsemen, who pull off seemingly impossible heists and take down criminals.

The two previous films did reasonably well for a studio movie at the box office, each making over $300 million worldwide. The first film, released in 2013, performed better than its 2016 sequel.

Jon Feltheimer, the CEO of Lionsgate, which produces and distributes the "Now You See Me" franchise, told analysts on a conference call about quarterly earning in 2015 that a third film was in the works, Variety reported.

The project did not pick up steam until last year, following a trend of major studios relying more on remakes or sequels to attract audiences to theaters.

"Now You See Me, Now You Don't" will be released in theaters on November 14, a week before the highly anticipated "Wicked" sequel, which could impact the heist film's box office performance.

Isla Fisher returns to the 'Now You See Me' franchise, alongside new actors

Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco starred in the first film as four talented magicians — J. Daniel Atlas, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, and Jack Wilder — who join a mysterious organization called the Eye and form the Four Horsemen.

Fisher wasn't in "Now You See Me 2" — she was pregnant when it was filmed — but she is back for the third film, alongside Harrelson, Eisenberg, Franco, and Morgan Freeman, who plays Thaddeus Bradley, the leader of the Eye.

Lizzy Caplan, who played Lulu in "Now You See Me 2" and replaced Fisher's character Henley as the fourth Horseman, has not been cast in the third film.

Mark Ruffalo, who played the Four Horsemen's mastermind, Dylan Rhodes, is also notably absent from the third movie's cast.

Rosamund Pike has joined the franchise to play Veronika Vanderberg, the head of a global criminal network. Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and Ariana Greenblatt play a new group of magicians who Eisenberg's character recruits to the Eye.

The trailer for 'Now You See Me, Now You Don't' hints that the old guard and the new magicians will work together

A trailer, released on Tuesday, gives the first hints at the plot of the third film.

Daniel recruits three magicians to take down Veronika's criminal empire. He tells the magicians he doesn't want to work with the other Horsemen because they are "dead" to him, but Henley, Jack, and Meritt show up to help anyway.

Thaddeus appears to be leading the Eye despite handing over the reins of the organization to Dylan in the final scene of "Now You See Me 2."

Variety reported that Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate's motion picture group chair, said at CinemaCon in April that a fourth "Now You See Me" movie is in development. The third film may end with a tease for the next installment in the franchise.

Ruben Fleischer directed the third film and will direct the fourth, too.

• Jenna Ortega said she misses being anonymous.
• Ortega became a breakout star after playing the titular character of Netflix's "Wednesday."
• Ortega said she enjoyed the hustle of being an up-and-coming actor.

Jenna Ortega is one of Hollywood's biggest new actors, but she said she misses being anonymous and loved the hustle of trying to make it.

Ortega rose to fame in 2022 as the lead character in the first season of "Wednesday," Netflix's second-most-watched TV season of all time. Last year, she cemented her Hollywood star status after appearing in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."

Next, Ortega will star alongside The Weeknd in "Hurry Up Tomorrow," a psychological musical that is a side-project of his sixth and final album of the same name. The film is out in theatres on May 16th.

In an interview for V Magazine published on Monday, The Weeknd asked Ortega if she ever misses the anonymity she once had.

"Oh, most definitely," she replied. She added she was grateful that "Wednesday" was a success, but she used to feel under "way less pressure."

"I love the hustle," Ortega said. "There's something about the actor's come-up and struggle that I really enjoyed. Sleeping in the cars, driving all around LA for auditions, and waiting for weeks, feeling sick to my stomach that I wasn't going to get the job I really wanted. The adrenaline rush of it all was so exciting."

Ortega added that her newfound fame has made her feel like she's in a perpetual "loop of anxiety."

"I hold so much more pressure and weight in my body than I ever did, and I think it's just kind of the expectation of it all," she said.

Follow the success of "Wednesday," Ortega has been vocal about her struggles dealing with her newfound fame.

In 2023, five months after "Wednesday" premiered, Ortega described being famous as "really stressful" during a junket for "Scream VI," which was shared by the Associated Press on TikTok.

"Anything that you say can be twisted in to this way or suddenly people are making assumptions about you or they're over-sexualizing you," Ortega said. "It's just like a really scary place to be because you feel like you're thrown to the wolves."

In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2024, she described her experience in the spotlight as "very dissociative and alien and out-of-body."

"When people mention my name, it's almost like my name has been taken from me. Now I just feel like I'm floating and…I'm up for interpretation," she said.

Ortega will be back in the spotlight when "Wednesday" season two premieres in August.

• Ben Affleck is back as an autistic assassin in "The Accountant 2."
• The sequel comes almost 10 years after the first film, asurprise hit for Warner Bros, was released.
• Here are three things to keep in mind before going to see "The Accountant" sequel.

"The Accountant" franchise returns to theaters after a nine-year gap between films with most of the original cast in tow.

The first film, released in 2016, followed Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), an accountant who has autism and works for the criminal underworld. Christian is also a vigilante, killing criminals or exposing them to the authorities when they cross a line in his moral code.

The movie was a surprise hit with audiences grossing $155 million on a $44 million budget.

While it seemed like a one-off story, "The Accountant"'s director Gavin O'Connor and screewriter Bill Dubuque have teamed up again to for the sequel.

Anna Kendrick starred in the first film as Dana Cummings an accountant Christian saves, but will not return in the sequel. However other stars like Jon Bernthal, who plays Christian's brother Braxton, J.K. Simmons who plays head of the finance crime squad Ray King, and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, playing federal agent Marybeth Medina, appear to have larger roles.

In the sequel, Christian is searching for a missing woman and her son after someone close to him dies while trying to carry out the investigation. Here's what audiences should know before heading into "The Accountant 2."

Christian reunites with his brother during a mission in the first film.

In "The Accountant," Christian Wolff is hired to audit Living Robotics, a medical tech company about to go public, after an in-house accountant notices money missing from their bottom line.

The simple job turns lethal when Christian finds that millions of dollars have been stolen. Hitmen start killing Living Robotics's board members and target Christian and the other accountant, Dana (Kendrick).

After saving himself and Dana from the assassins, Christian discovers Living Robotics CEO (John Lithgow) is behind the embezzled funds and attacks. Christian tracks the executive to his mansion, where he discovers his estranged brother Braxton (Bernthal) is the leader of the CEO's hitman guards.

The brothers have been separated since Christian escaped from prison and disappeared years prior. They fight, then bury the hatchet, and Christian shoots the CEO in the head to bring the attacks to an end.

Before they depart, Christian promises Braxton a reunion.

The trailers for "The Accountant 2" show the pair working together on a new mission. It's likely audiences will see the brothers rebuild their relationship on-screen.

Christian helps the US Financial Crime Enforcement Network catch criminals.

Christian is usually using his accountancy skills to help criminals evade the law.

However, we learn in the first film that he also works as a vigilante, reporting criminals to the US government who cross a line in his moral code — where that line is remains murky.

The second storyline of "The Accountant" involves Ray King (Simmons), the head of the US Treasury's Financial Crime Enforcement Network, and Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson), a federal agent with a dark past.

Christian has been secretly tracking down criminals and sending tips to King to shut down their operations.

King forces Medina to take on the assignment of tracking down Christian, but she only succeeds in finding his house. Late, King tells Medina the assignment was a test.

King sees Medina as his replacement when he retires, but felt she needed to know Christian's full story before accepting his help.

Medina initially disagrees, believing they shouldn't be working with a criminal, but by the end of the film, she accepts the role and Christian's help to expose Living Robotics.

In the trailer for the sequel, King appears to have been assassinated, forcing Medina to work face-to-face with Christian for the first time. This could be difficult for Medina since she's already uncomfortable working with a known criminal.

Christian's partner in crime has been recast.

In the first film, Christian has a secret partner, who helps him carry out his vigilante missions and contacts King on Christian's behalf.

At the end of the film, the partner is revealed to be Justine, played by Alison Wright, a non-verbal autistic woman living at Harbor Neuroscience — the treatment center Christian attended as a child.

Earlier in the film, a young Christian first attends Harbor Neuroscience and meets Justine, so the reveal implies their relationship continued even after Christian's departure.

In the first film, Wright played adult Justine, but the role has been recast. Wright is still the voice of the text-to-speech generator Justine uses to communicate, but Allison Robertson will portray Justine onscreen.

• "The Accountant 2" director Gavin O'Connor has already begun teasing plans for a third film.
• But the second movie has no plot holes or hints that indicate what the next one could be about.
• Here's what to know about "The Accountant 2" ending, and the director's comments on a third film.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "The Accountant 2."

"The Accountant 2" has no teasers for another sequel, but the creators and cast are keen on making a third film.

"The Accountant," a 2016 action crime drama that followed an autistic accountant for the criminal underworld who was also a highly trained vigilante, was a surprise box office hit, despite receiving largely negative critic reviews.

A sequel was not expected as the first film did not leave any cliff-hangers, and a second movie was not announced for several years.

On Friday, "The Accountant 2" was released in theaters, with most of the main cast from the first film reprising their roles. Gavin O'Connor and Bill Dubuque, the director and screenwriter of the first film, also returned.

While a third movie has not yet been announced, O'Connor told Collider in March that the franchise is meant to be a trilogy.

O'Connor said he and Dubuque began discussing "The Accountant" becoming a trilogy while editing the first movie, and they are starting to come up with ideas for the third movie's plot.

Ben Affleck told Fandango earlier this month that he would love to return for another sequel, believing the franchise has a big audience.

"This is a movie that I've noticed over the intervening years, like so often people will come up to me and the movie that they bring up is the first 'Accountant,'" Affleck said. "I was like, wow, people really have an affinity for this."

Christian and Braxton are on a road trip together at the end of "The Accountant 2."

In the sequel, Ray King (J.K. Simmons), the retired head of the US Financial Crime Enforcement Network, is killed while trying to search for a missing woman and her son.

The new boss, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), can't solve the mystery, so she calls Christian Wolff (Affleck), the accountant/vigilante, who has been secretly working with Medina and King to track criminals.

Medina doesn't like Wolff's violent methods, causing friction between the pair, and she eventually cuts ties after he ropes in his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), a professional hitman.

The brothers also have a strained relationship after Christian disappeared for many years, and he struggles to show Braxton the emotional support he craves.

The pair eventually find the missing woman (Daniella Pineda), who is now an assassin with amnesia, with her kid located in a prison camp for children of immigrants used to blackmail their parents into human trafficking.

At the end of the movie, Christian and Braxton go to Mexico to save the children at the camp and kill the bad guys. The female assassin learns her identity, and kills the man behind the human trafficking.

The final scene shows Christian and Braxton driving the missing child to Harbor Neuroscience, a treatment center for children with autism, which Christian attended as a child.

Christian believes the child is also autistic, so he would benefit from living with people like him.

Gavin O'Connor said the third film could be a road trip movie

While the first movie was a gritty crime drama, the second felt like a buddy cop movie.

O'Connor told Indiewire this week that he wants the third film to be a road trip movie with Christian, Braxton, and Dana Cummings (played by Anna Kendrick in the first film).

"For the third one, I was telling Ben this morning, 'I'm going to put you two, and maybe Anna Kendrick, in a pickup truck together and do a road picture and no plot at all," he said.

Cummings, who did not feature in the sequel, was an accountant for a tech company whom Wolff befriends and protects after she discovers that her employers are embezzling millions of dollars.

O'Connor said Kendrick was keen to return for the third film.

"We need Christian to find love finally, you know?" he said. "And I think I can mine a lot because Anna is so funny — I think we can have a lot of fun with the three of them."

• Miles Caton is the breakout star of Hollywood's hot new film, "Sinners."
• The film is Caton's debut in the acting world.
• Here's what to know about the young actor's singing career and upbringing.

"Sinners" has been the breakout project for 20-year-old singer-turned-actor Miles Caton.

The new film, directed by Ryan Coogler, topped the box office last week. "Sinners" is the only horror film to receive an "A" rating on CinemaScore in the notable ratings site's history.

While audiences may have gone for marquee actors like Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld, many are leaving the theaters praising Caton's stellar performance as Sammie, the film's third lead character.

Here's what to know about the rising star.

Caton is the son of a gospel singer

Like his character Sammie, Caton's family is very involved in church.

Caton's grandfather Archbishop Eric Figueroa Sr. is a working pastor in the Pentecostal church, and his mother and aunt are both gospel singers.

Caton told Variety in April that he has been singing since he was 3 years old.

Caton appeared in a short film by Jay-Z

Caton has been building his career in music from a young age.

In 2017, a video of 11-year-old Caton singing Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" went viral. Jay-Z later included a clip of the video at the start of his music video for "4:44," the titular single of his 13th album.

A year later, at 12, Caton appeared on the third season of NBC's "Little Big Shots," a children's talent show.

In 2019, the pre-teen sang during a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King on "The View" with Grammy-winning singer Yolanda Adams.

Caton supported H.E.R. on her recent tour

While still in high school, Caton joined H.E.R. as a background singer on her "Back of My Mind" tour in 2022. He also joined the singer while she supported Coldplay on their "Music of the Spheres" world tour.

As part of the show, Caton would perform H.E.R.'s "Best Part" single as a duet with the Grammy-winning singer. The newcomer told Variety this put him on the "Sinners" casting team's radar.

"We got close — she became like a big sister to me — and she called me one day after we got back from tour, and she was like, 'Bro, somebody was in the crowd watching you, and they want you to audition for this role. I think you'll be dope,' Caton said, referring to H.E.R.

After the tour, Caton returned to high school and graduated at 18 in 2023.

Caton learned how to play guitar in two months for "Sinners"

"Sinners" director Coogler told Variety they picked Caton after seeing audition tapes from around the world because of his "once in a lifetime voice."

"He was just in the dark — like he didn't turn his lights on. Something about that was, like, so intriguing," the filmmaker said.

After getting the role, Caton had to learn how to play guitar, since his character Sammie is both a vocalist and a guitarist.

Caton told Vanity Fair he spent two months learning the instrument's fundamentals before filming began. He received lessons from Randy Bowland, a Philadelphia-based guitarist who has worked with legendary artists like Sting and Luther Vandross.

Caton has his sights set on music and acting

Caton is building his career in film and music simultaneously.

He released a single "This Ain't It" in 2023. He also cowrote an original song for "Sinners," titled "Last Time (I Seen the Sun)," with Alice Smith and the film's composer Ludwig Göransson.

"Before, my main thing was music and just being an artist. But now, having this under my belt, I feel like I don't have to limit myself to just one thing. I feel like I can accomplish whatever I want to. So, I'm looking to get into some more acting roles."

In the interview with Variety, Caton suggested he'd love to be cast in a Marvel film. Coogler also directed "Black Panther," a standout film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

• Penn Badgley told "Call Her Daddy" host Alex Cooper that he considered quitting acting at 20.
• The "Gossip Girl" star said he initially turned down the role because he felt tired and dried up.
• Badgley ultimately joined the cast because he was "close to broke" and unsure of his future.

Penn Badgley said he almost quit acting at 20 because he had become tired of Hollywood having already spent eight years in the industry as a child actor.

Appearing on an episode of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast on Wednesday, Badgley said he began his professional acting career at the age of 12 and became financially independent at 15.

He said when he was offered the role of Dan Humphrey in "Gossip Girl," he didn't want to go back into television.

"By the time I was 20, I was feeling real disillusioned and dried up and tired of being in Hollywood and acting," Badgley said. "When you're 20 years old and you've been doing something professionally since you were 12, that's your life."

"I had a tiredness about me at 20 that I think is not typical for a 20-year-old because I've been working for so long," he added later.

Badgley told the podcast, "I wasn't always the breadwinner, but I've always needed to and wanted to provide support for my parents."

The average worker has been experiencing symptoms of burnout earlier and earlier. However, the entertainment industry is one of the only careers where children can start working from a very young age.

Badgley, who started his career as a child star "The Young and The Restless," said he considered pivoting to music, but eventually decided to take the "Gossip Girl" role due to financial reasons.

"I was close to broke, although I was looking forward to figuring that out," Badgley said. "I was enjoying my way of life, but the future was real unknown, and it's not like I could go live with my parents. The stakes were high."

"Gossip Girl" was an instant success and became one of the most popular teen dramas of the 2000s, launching Badgley and his costars to fame.

Since then, Badgley has appeared in multiple movies and series, including "You," one of Netflix's major shows, which debuts its final season on Thursday.

Badgley, who is now 38, said on the podcast that he feels he is "finally coming of age as an actor."

• In 2017, "Star Wars" fans sent racist, misogynistic, and body-shaming comments to Kelly Marie Tran.
• Tran said she had to go through years of therapy to learn how to celebrate her identity.
• After years of therapy, the actor told BI she can now enjoy her "Star Wars" experience.

Kelly Marie Tran said she's ready to celebrate "all parts of herself," years after facing a toxic hate campaign from "Star Wars" fans.

The film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, released in 2017, was supposed to be Tran's big break in Hollywood. She was the first Asian-American cast in a lead role in a "Star Wars" movie.

However, some fans disliked the movie and Tran's character and sent racist, misogynistic, and body-shaming comments and death threats on social media. The hate continued for months, with several castmates coming to Tran's defense against the online trolls.

Tran later deleted all her Instagram posts and left social media. Her character's role was markedly reduced in the following "Star Wars" movie. The productions had different directors, and the reduction in Tran's screen time was reportedly for technical reasons. However, critics have argued that this excuse felt flimsy.

Tran told Business Insider that after speaking to mental health professionals for years, she can now see the joy of her "Star Wars" experience.

"I still hold that experience with such fondness in my heart because there was so much creativity, professionalism, and artistry on those sets," Tran said. "It allowed me into these audition rooms I never would've been in a million years if I hadn't done that job."

Tran said that the online criticism made her realize her own internalized racism, misogyny, and shame about her body. She said the experience opened a door for her to go down "the scary path of figuring out how to heal."

"I wouldn't be who I am today without it," she added. "Going through the therapy and counseling got me to a point where now I get to make art, celebrating the parts of myself that I was taught to be ashamed of. That I was persecuted for."

Fan groups harassing actors, especially women of color, for appearing in their favorite franchises has been a worrying trend in Hollywood. Rachel Zegler, Moses Ingram, and Amandla Stenberg have also received similar vitriol in recent years.

Tran said her new film, 'The Wedding Banquet,' celebrates her identity

The actor said her new film, "The Wedding Banquet," released on April 18, is part of her new goal to star in films celebrating her identity.

The film is a remake of Ang Lee's 1993 romantic drama with the same name. In it, Tran plays Angela, a lesbian who marries her best friend's boyfriend (played by Han Gi-chan) so he can get a green card to stay in the US and hide his sexuality from his homophobic grandparents.

Tran told BI that the film is something she needed 10 years ago.

"It's so Asian, it's so queer, so honest with its ability to authentically represent what it is to be a child of immigrants," Tran said.

The actor, who came out in a Vanity Fair article about her sexuality, told BI that the magazine gave her a few months to consider her decision to discuss her sexuality before publishing the article.

Tran said she was grateful to the outlet for giving her time to reflect on the article.

"Looking back, I'm like, wow, I really couldn't have thought of a more perfect way to celebrate this part of myself, and I'm very grateful that it happened that way."

• Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" has the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of all his films.
• The new vampire movie has received high praise from critics.
• Here's all his films ranked and where you can watch them.

Ryan Coogler's fifth film, "Sinners," was released on Friday, and has the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of the director's career at 97%.

The new movie is Coogler's first original story since his directorial debut in 2013.

Since 2015, Coogler has directed three franchise spin-offs that have been loved by critics and audiences and earned award recognition too. Coogler's "Black Panther" was the first Marvel movie to get an Academy Award best picture nomination, and is the sixth highest-grossing superhero film.

Here are Coogler's films ranked from worst to best, according to critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

Critic Score: 84%

Audience Score: 94%

After the success of "Black Panther," Coogler directed the 2023 sequel that featured the fictional nation of Wakanda fighting its rival, Atlantis.

T'Challa, the original lead character of the franchise, dies early in the film as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman. The actor died in 2020 due to complications from colon cancer.

The sequel follows T'Challa's sister Shuri, his mother Ramonda, and his closes advisors as they try to govern and protect Wakanda while processing their grief.

Critics praised the emotional handling of Boseman's tribute and the film's beautiful score, costumes, and visuals. The inclusion of Ironheart in the story received mixed reviews.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is the one instance where the audience score is higher than the critic score for Coogler's films.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is available to stream on Disney+.

"Fruitvale Station"

Critic Score: 94%

Audience Score: 87%

Coogler's directorial debut was "Fruitvale Station," a biographical film about Oscar Grant, a young man who was shot and killed by a cop during his arrest in Oakland, California, in 2009. After a trial a year later, the officer, Johannes Mehserle, was sentenced to two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

The film depicts Grant's day leading up to his death, with Michael B. Jordan, who has appeared in all of Coogler's films, playing Grant.

This film immediately launched Coogler on critics' radar, especially after it won the best first-film prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.

"Fruitvale Station" is available to rent on Apple TV+ and Amazon Video.

"Creed"

Critic Score: 95%

Audience Score: 89%

2015's "Creed" was the first "Rocky" spin-off movie since the original series ended in 2006.

The film starred Jordan as Adonis Creed, son of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) from the original "Rocky" films, who wants to become a boxing champion. He seeks out his father's former rival, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), to be his mentor.

Stallone's performance is a standout in this film, and fans praised Coogler for reinvigorating the "Rocky" franchise.

"Creed" is available to stream on Prime Video.

"Black Panther"

Critic Score: 96%

Audience Score: 79%

"Black Panther" is Coogler's most successful film, grossing $1.3 billion and gaining his first best picture nomination.

The film follows T'Challa, the new king of Wakanda, who tries to adapt his country's traditions to the new world landscape. Meanwhile, T'Challa's cousin, Killmonger (Jordan), seeks to usurp the throne as part of his revenge plan.

Critics said "Black Panther" stood out from the rest of the Marvel universe due to its imaginative, detailed, and culturally respectful world-building, which created a fictional country that felt real.

"Black Panther" is available to stream on Disney+.

"Sinners"

Critic Score: 99%

Set in 1930s Mississippi, "Sinners" follows a group of Black and Chinese citizens at the opening night of a new juke joint, launched by a pair of criminal twins, played by Jordan. The event turns into a nightmare when a vampire arrives, converting the patrons into zombie-like vampires.

The film has received high praise from critics for its score, engrossing story, and terrific performances from the cast. David Ehrlich, the head film critic for Indiewire, also said it is the best movie of Coogler's career.

"Sinners" is showing in theaters.

• "Sinners" has a mid-credit and a post-credit scene.
• The new film, starring Michael B. Jordan, is Ryan Coogler's first original film in over a decade.
• The "Sinners" mid-credit scene has a twist that hints at a sequel, but one hasn't been confirmed.

Warning: spoilers ahead for "Sinners."

Fans who have waited a decade for a new original movie directed by Ryan Coogler after his blockbuster hits "Black Panther" and "Creed" will be excited to know that the movie's two credit scenes may open the door for a sequel (although one hasn't been confirmed).

The highly anticipated movie stars Michael B. Jordan, who has appeared in all of Coogler's movies, as Smoke and Stack: a pair of shady twins who want to open a juke joint in 1930s Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Miles Caton, an R&B singer who makes his acting debut in "Sinners," plays the third protagonist, Sammie Moore, the son of a preacher who aspires to be a musician and leave his small town.

Ignoring his father's request to give up music, Sammie joins his older cousins, Smoke and Stack, to perform at the opening night of the juke joint, using the guitar they gave him.

But Sammie accidentally summons a vampire, Remmick (Jack O'Connell), who wants his ability to spiritually connect with people from the past and future with his music.

Remmick picks off the patrons and workers of the juke joint one by one, including Stack and his former flame Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), converting them into zombie-like vampires who are telepathically connected to him.

Things take a turn for the worse when one of the workers allows the vampires to enter the juke joint to slaughter the remaining survivors.

The "Sinners" mid-credit scene reveals that Sammie isn't the only survivor.

Sammie and Smoke are seemingly the only survivors that night, and vanquish Remmick and his cult of vampires with the sunrise.

But the fight isn't over, because Remmick warned Smoke that a group of KKK clansmen were coming in the morning to kill everyone in the juke joint.

Smoke sends Sammie home, telling him to bury the guitar, which is now broken, to avoid summoning more monsters.

Smoke ambushes the Klansmen, killing them, but he dies from his injuries, allowing him to join his lover and daughter in the afterlife.

Meanwhile, Sammie goes to his church, where his father begs him to drop the guitar and quit music. Sammie jumps in a car with the broken guitar and flees his hometown.

The film ends 60 years in the future, with an older Sammie (played by Buddy Guy, a Grammy-winning blues guitarist) performing as a blues musician in Chicago, the city Sammie said he wanted to visit earlier in the movie to follow in his cousin's footsteps.

Visuals of this performance continue through the first set of credits before the first bonus scene.

This scene shows Sammie at the bar after his performance, when a bouncer tells him he has a visitor.

Without thinking, Sammie says they can enter, and in walk Mary and Stack, who have not aged.

An earlier scene showed Smoke about to kill Stack. But Stack explains that Smoke let him live as long as he stayed away from Sammie.

Stack and Mary somehow survived the sunrise that killed the other vampires and have stayed in the shadows ever since, listening to Sammie's music. Stack offers to turn Sammie into a vampire, but he declines, saying he has seen enough of the world.

When Stack says he prefers Sammie's older music, he performs using his old guitar from earlier in the film, which has been mended.

They reminisce over the time before the vampire attack, then Stack and Mary leave and the scene ends.

This emotional bonus scene opens the door for a sequel. Another film could explore the missing 60 years of Stack and Mary's story, or explore their journey after 1992.

It's also plausible that more vampires could have survived the sunrise like Stack and Mary.

Alternatively, a sequel could explore another mystical monster as the world of "Sinners" is established as one filled with the supernatural.

Coogler told Ebony magazine on Tuesday that he didn't think about the film becoming a franchise while making the movie.

"I never think about that," he said.

It would be Coogler's decision to continue the story because he owns the rights to "Sinners," rather than Warner Bros., which produced and distributed the movie. Coogler told Business Insider earlier this month that he asked for the rights because he wanted to own his film about Black ownership.

Fans may be disappointed by the second credit scene

There's a brief flashback in the film of Sammie playing his guitar at his church.

The post-credit scene shows that flashback in totality, with Sammie playing and singing "This Little Light of Mine."

This scene doesn't add much to the story and may have been included as another opportunity to display Caton's singing talents.

Though Caton has been performing since he was a teenager, the singer has only officially released one single and has under 300 listeners on Spotify, which means "Sinners" could become his breakout moment.

• Florence Pugh told Fandango that Marvel Studios didn't want her to do a major stunt for "Thunderbolts*."
• Pugh said she emailed the studios' boss until they let her jump from the world's second-tallest building.
• After getting home from the jump, Pugh said she went into a "three-hour coma."

Marvel Studios nearly pulled the plug on the plan to let Florence Pugh jump off the world's second-tallest building for the "Thunderbolts*" movie, the actor said.

One of the scenes in the "Thunderbolts*" trailers shows Pugh's character, Yelena, jumping off Merdeka 118 tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while on a mission.

Pugh told Fandango on Monday that this was part of the script, but as the shoot day approached, the production team became hesitant about Pugh participating in the jump.

"They said they don't think it's going to happen because it's a crazy insurance ordeal, and obviously, we're not going to throw FP off the second-tallest building in the world," Pugh said. "I was like, what the fuck? Of course, we are!"

Pugh said she began emailing Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, like a "sassy Karen," saying her participation in the stunt would "do wonders for the press tour."

"We're going to have three women break three different Guinness World Records," Pugh said without clarifying which records.

Marvel eventually relented and used behind-the-scenes footage of Pugh's jump to promote "Thunderbolts*" last week. The clip has gone viral on X, with fans praising Pugh's dedication to film to pull off the impressive stunt.

Highlighting stunts seem more common for a "Mission: Impossible" press tour than a Marvel one. But the studio appears to be trialing new ways to promote "Thunderbolts*" to win back audiences after "Captain America: Brave New World" underperformed in February.

Last month, Marvel shared a trailer for "Thunderbolts*" in the style of A24 trailers, highlighting the cast and crew who had worked on the film and had previously worked on an A24 project. A24 has become Hollywood's cool kid independent studio after producing several Oscar-winning hits, including "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and "The Brutalist."

Florence Pugh said she fell into a three-hour coma after the stunt

Pugh told Fandango that she was not afraid of jumping off the building, but after the stunt, she became scared of the "level of control" over her brain.

"That is something that your body should not in any way want to do," Pugh said. "But when I did it, and we did it probably like nine times, I remember going home and thinking, 'Oh, I allowed myself to do that. That was so stupid.'"

Pugh added that she had to take a three-hour nap to recover after the stunt.

"Weirdly, when we did the jump after I came back up, I was always unbelievably zen-like in a very, very creepy way," Pugh said. "I stepped off, and then I fell, and I was so calm. And then, when I got home, I went into what I can only say is like a three-hour coma, like just deep, deep sleep."

She added, "My brain was obviously trying to focus and process everything."

• Aimee Lou Wood's teeth and accent were mocked in the latest episode of "Saturday Night Live."
• Wood called the joke "mean and unfunny" on Instagram, and celebrities including Jameela Jamil defended her.
• Her co-star Walton Goggins called the sketch as a whole amazing on Instagram.

Celebrities rallied around "The White Lotus" breakout star Aimee Lou Wood after "Saturday Night Live" mocked her teeth gap and accent.

In a sketch titled "The White Potus," spoof versions of Donald Trump, his family, and other politicians portrayed the main characters of "The White Lotus" season three.

Some fans complained about a scene in which Jon Hamm plays Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and says he wants to remove all fluoride from drinking water before asking what that would do to people's teeth.

The screen then cuts to Sarah Sherman imitating Wood's "The White Lotus" character, Chelsea, in a brown wig, fake teeth resembling Wood's tooth gap, and speaking with a generic British accent.

The scene implied that a lack of fluoride could give people teeth like Wood.

On Sunday, Wood hit back in an Instagram story where she called the joke "mean and unfunny" and said that SNL could have devised a "cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap" joke.

Later, Wood shared DMs from fans who agreed with her and noted that Sherman could have done a better job imitating her accent.

Jameela Jamil was among those to defend Wood.

Marisha Wallace, Cara Delevingne, and Georgia May Jagger, Mick Jagger's fashion model daughter, who also has a big teeth gap, reshared Wood's post and praised the actor's beauty.

"Blows my mind that in 2025 @aimeelouwood is THAT talented and THAT beautiful and still having to school grown ups on misogyny and bullying," Tori Allen-Martin, a British actor, wrote. "It is crazy that after relentlessly sublime performances in EVERYTHING she touches there is even a conversation about anything to do with her (magnificent, but regardless…) appearance EVER."

Jameela Jamil said Wood's appearance is the least "interesting or memorable" thing about her and said the actor is the next Olivia Colman.

"We make fun of the assimilation of women, and then mercilessly obsess over anyone with any slightly alternative features from whatever bullshit AI standard we have allowed, as women, to take hold of this world," Jamil added.

Wood said on her Instagram story on Sunday that "SNL" apologized privately to her, and that she didn't want anyone sending hate to Sherman.

"Last thing I'll say on the matter. I am not thin skinned. I actually love being taken the piss out of when it's clever and in good spirits," Wood wrote. "But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth not bad teeth."

Wood added: "I don't mind caricature — I understand that's what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on… Okay end of."

A representative for "SNL" did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider.

Aside from Wood and Walton Goggins, "The White Lotus" cast haven't commented on the sketch

Some fans, however, praised the sketch as one of the show's best.

And Walton Goggins, Wood's "White Lotus" costar, wrote in the comment section of the "SNL" Instagram post of the sketch: "Amazzzingggg."

Page six reported on Monday that Goggins also reshared the post on his Instagram story. He wrote: "SMASHING Jon... I knew I was miscast," referring to Hamm, who played a parody of Kennedy in the guise of Goggins' character, Rick.

Business Insider was unable to verify the post.

Other members of the season three cast of "The White Lotus" haven't publicly commented on the sketch.

Wood said she doesn't like that people are talking about her teeth

As she has become more famous over the past month, Wood has been open about the journey she has been on to like her teeth.

She told GQ last week that she wasn't didn't like the public talking about her teeth, even if what they were saying could be regarded as positive.

"The whole conversation is just about my teeth, and it makes me a bit sad because I'm not getting to talk about my work," Wood said. "They think it's nice because they're not criticizing."