Marvel has unveiled a collection of 'Infinity Stones' comprised of actual precious gems with a combined value of more than $25 million – and their very own Infinity Gauntlet.
Revealed at Marvel's San Diego Comic-Con 2022 booth, the entertainment company is collaborating with East Continental Gems to release the Infinity Collection of Gemstones, made up of of six real-life precious stones representing the Time, Space, Reality, Power, Soul, and Mind Stones from the comics and several films, including Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. The six stones come in at a combined 150 carats.
The $25 million valuation makes this collection one of the most valuable bits of comic-book paraphernalia in the world, and the stones obviously hold their own value as precious gems anyway. They will be housed in an specially designed Infinity Gauntlet designed by collectibles company Gentle Giant.
As for their real-life classifications, the Time Stone is a Colombian emerald, the Space Stone is a sapphire from Madagascar, the Reality Stone is an oval-shaped natural ruby from Mozambique, the Power Stone is an oval-shaped natural amethyst, the Soul Stone is a cushion-shaped Spessartite, and the Mind Stone is a brilliant cut yellow diamond.
Marvel and East Continental Gems aren't satisfied with just one multi-million dollar collection, however, as a limited edition Reality Stone will also be issued in September as part of a future collection, but no further details on this one were shared.
There's tons of news for all your favorite shows, films, games, and more coming out of San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and we've got the full schedule to guide you through the weekend of panels, announcements, trailers, and surprises.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
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Marvel held a 90-minute long animation panel at SDCC 2022 today, focusing on the future of its animated franchises. The panel gave way to five major announcements for I Am Groot, X-Men '97, Spider-Man: Freshman Year, Marvel Zombies, and Marvel's What If… ?.
Here's all of the news from today's Marvel Studios Animation Panel.
I Am Groot Trailer Reveals the First Look at the Adorable Guardians of the Galaxy Spin-Off
Marvel revealed the first trailer for I Am Groot, which is slated to release on August 10. The Guardians of the Galaxy spinoff is comprised of five animated shorts that focus on none other than Groot, who is seen getting into some alien-related trouble in his adorable Baby Groot form in the trailer.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year Arrives on Disney+ in 2024, Will Feature Charlie Cox's Daredevil
While no trailer was shown at the panel, fans received more news about Spider-Man: Freshman Year, the show announced last year that focuses on Spider-Man's first year in high school. The series is now set to arrive on Disney+ in 2024, and it'll also feature Charlie Cox as Daredevil. It'll also receive a second season, fittingly called Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.
Marvel's What If…? Season 2 Announced for Early 2023 Alongside Season 3 Confirmation
What If…?, the Marvel show that imagines alternate timelines for some of Marvel's most iconic characters, has at least two more seasons on the way. At today's panel, Marvel Studios announced that Season 2 will be out in early 2023 for Disney+ subscribers. The show is also confirmed to return for a third season.
Marvel Zombies on Disney+ to Have the 'Gore and Splatter You Want From a Zombie Show'
While the series still doesn't have a release date, more details about Marvel Zombies were revealed today. It'll feature zombified versions of characters like Captain America and Scarlet Witch fighting against heroes like Kamala Khan and Yelena. As revealed during the panel, it'll be pretty gory for a Marvel series.
X-Men '97 to Premiere on Disney+ in Fall 2023
X-Men '97, a reboot of the fan favorite series, received a release window during the Marvel Animation Panel. The upcoming show, which revives the iconic '90s timeline of the X-Men, is now slated to premiere on Disney+ next fall.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
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The Comic-Con news keeps rolling and with it exciting new reveals of our favorite shows. Today, Prime Video wowed the Hall H crowd with a brand new The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power trailer, and we caught a couple glimpses of some very exciting new participants in the series. No new cast members were announced — their ensemble is already huge. No, instead, we got a look at a Balrog! And, if the framing of his introduction is to be believed and our timelines are correct, this bad boy is going to play a major role in the upcoming Rings of Power series.
Why is that notable? Well, outside of the fact that it’s a breed of giant fire monster that successfully “killed” Gandalf — who, again, we probably won’t be seeing in Rings of Power — the introduction of the creature is curious because there’s not any mention of the Balrog in Tolkien’s Second Age. Durin’s Bane (that’s the bad boy that took out Gandalf) doesn’t awake until the Third Age. So, is Prime Video playing fast and loose with their timelines, or are we about to meet a brand new member of the small but mighty Balrog family?
Join us as we speculate wildly!
The History of the Balrog
First, it seems worthwhile to break down a quickie history of these creatures. Before they became the Balrog, they were the Maiar. In the Valaquenta, Tolkien wrote that the Maiar were “spirits whose being also began before the world, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree."
Most Maiar were unnamed, aside from the Chiefs. However, it was those of the lesser Maiar that were to be corrupted by Melkor and turned into the Balrogs. They would help their master until Melkor was captured by the Valar. They then remained in hiding until Melkor returned to Middle-earth under the new moniker of Morgoth. If that name sounds more familiar, it’s because he was the first Dark Lord of Middle-earth, and the same dude who created the Orcs. This guy just really likes corrupting things.
There have been a couple different versions of the Balrog in Tolkien’s works. In early writing, the creatures could be defeated by the likes of Elves and men. However, by the time The Lord of the Rings trilogy came around, only the likes of Gandalf or Saruman could destroy the creatures. Fly, you fools, indeed!
But, the story of the Balrog extends much further than their battles with Wizards. Let’s talk about the two key Balrogs named in Tolkien’s works.
Gothmog
Gothmog, the Lord of the Balrogs, was not the first of his kind but was one ofthe first to get a proper name. It's the one responsible for mortally wounding Fëanor, creator of the three Simarils. It's also the murderer of Fingon, High King of the Noldor. Gothmog left quite a trail of bodies in his service to Morgoth, but its rein of terror ended when he fought Ecthelion of the Fountain. The two would kill each other in combat.
Durin’s Bane
Perhaps the most famous of the Balrog to most fans, Durin’s Bane is that big guy we meet in the Mines of Moria before Gandalf the Grey falls and becomes Gandalf the White. But it had a whole life before The Fellowship crossed paths with it.
The War of Wrath took place at the end of the First Age. Many of Morgoth’s Balrogs and Orcs were lost in the war, with the latter thought to be extinct by the rest of Middle-earth. Durin’s Bane, as one of the battle’s few survivors, fled underneath the Misty Mountains to hide. The creature would remain sleeping until the Third Age when the Dwarves would become too greedy in their quest for Mithril and dig too deep in the Mountains of Moria. Their greed would result in the death of their king, Durin VI, which is how the nasty bugger earned his name.
What Does the Introduction of the Balrog Mean for Rings of Power?
Tricky question, that! Could Durin’s Bane have awoken sometime during the Second Age and there was simply no record of its ascension? And, perhaps most importantly, who does the hand dropping the leaf to rouse the Balrog belong to? As far as we know, Morgoth was defeated in the War of Wrath, closing out the First Age. So, in theory, we won’t be seeing the Balrogs’ creator awakening them from their sleep. We’re going to assume that ol’ blue eyes wasn’t Sauron (though we’ve technically never seen him armorless) so it seems unlikely that it was him, and Sarumon has certainly never been any younger than hundreds of years old (and isn't even on the planet yet)!
What other evils await in Middle-earth? Guess we’ll have to tune in on September 2nd when The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres to see!
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Today at San Diego Comic Con we got our first proper, full-length trailer for Tales of the Walking Dead, a new Walking Dead anthology series premiering next month.
— The Walking Dead on AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) July 22, 2022
The trailer gives a look at all six protagonists, and includes narration by Alpha – a known Walking Dead character who is the leader of a group of survivors called the Whisperers in the comic and television series. Tales of the Walking Dead will show her prior to her story as we know it, when she used to be called Dee. She is still played by Samantha Morton.
"I was so gutted when Alpha died," Morton said on the SDCC panel. "It was the role of a lifetime. All things must pass and I was like ‘Okay,’ but when I got the call that this was going to happen, potentially, I was over the moon. I’m 45 years old so as an actress the roles change, and you’re either making tea, or you’re the wife, and they can be kind of rubbish.
"This is interesting because this is Dee’s perspective. Dee is who she was before she was Alpha. She’s always been Alpha though, it’s always been there. It’s under the skin. There are a lot of things about gender and identity and who they are so it’s interesting to play someone surprising who they are and then blossom.
Tales of the Walking Dead is an anthology spin-off series of the original The Walking Dead set to premiere on August 14 on AMC+. Instead of telling a single, linear story, Tales of the Walking Dead consists of six, one-hour-long standalone episodes, each containing a mixture of new and established characters from the universe. Its cast is set to include Olivia Munn, Samantha Morton, Terry Crews, Parker Posey, Anthony Edwards, Poppy Liu, Jillian Bell, Loan Chabanol, Embeth Davidtz, Jessie T. Usher, Daniella Pineda, and Danny Ramierez.
There's tons of news for all your favorite shows, films, games, and more coming out of San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and we've got the full schedule to guide you through the weekend of panels, announcements, trailers, and surprises.
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Marvel Zombies on Disney+ will not only feature undead versions of Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Ghost, Abomination, Captain Marvel, and Okoye, but it will also have all the "gore and splatter you want from a Zombie show."
Revealed during Marvel's animation panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the team wanted to see "what happens next" after that cliffhanger of an ending in the What If… ? zombies episode.
Alongside zombified versions of our favorite characters, we will also have heroes who have yet to turn that are trying to save what is left of their world. These heroes include Yelena, Kate Bishop, Red Guardian, Jimmy Woo, Death Dealer, Shang-Chi, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel.
Eternals' Ikaris also appears to be half-zombie/half-human. Being an Eternal, he may not be able to become full zombie, but something is definitely off about him.
There also appears to be a team of Widows and a biker gang of Skrulls that look to be living in this zombie apocalypse with attire to match.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
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