Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home. This week, there’s a packed lineup of VOD options for viewers looking to enjoy their Fourth of July weekend from the comfort of their air conditioned homes. After years of lackluster films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets back to basics with...

It’s hard to reinvent the wheel when the wheel opens the way to success in a billion-dollar industry. But even with well-established, successful genres like shonen anime, some creators aren’t afraid to get creative. Enter Gachiakuta, an anime series that follows the shonen formula, but frames it with a fresh setting that becomes an immediate hook. Based on the manga by Kei Urana, the anime adaptation by Bones Film will...

“I sure hope something makes sense soon,” Batman’s son and sidekick Damian Wayne (Yuki Kaji/Bryson Baugus) says while taking a seat in the Batmobile to respond to a report of a “yakuza hurricane” hitting Gotham City in the first minutes of the anime film Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, now streaming on Max. It’s the first of many meta acknowledgements that nothing will make sense in the sequel to Batman...

Neil Gaiman’s comic book series The Sandman alternates between focusing on Morpheus, the immortal Lord of Dreams, and on humans who encounter him or his immortal siblings. The first season of Netflix’s highly faithful adaptation kept that format — but The Sandman showrunner Allan Heinberg found the structure didn’t resonate with TV viewers the way it did with comics readers. “The audience wants a main character to invest in and...

Co-creator of The Last of Us Neil Druckmann announced Wednesday that he’s stepping away from the HBO series ahead of season 3. In a statement posted to Naughty Dog’s Instagram account, Druckmann said, “I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO. With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the...

In retrospect, the 2020 Netflix action movie The Old Guard gave itself away with its very premise. Millennia-old warrior Andy (Charlize Theron) leads a group of near-immortals who attempt to protect and preserve humanity. They can heal from fatal wounds, reminiscent of fellow comic book character Wolverine. But at some point, their healing abilities falter, and they become mortal again. Typically, it takes takes hundreds of years for their powers...

At its core, Ironheart explores how far people will go to make up for their past failings — and how those efforts can go wrong. Even a noble goal can lead someone down a dark path, the show suggests, once personal desire starts clouding their plans. The MCU has consistently explored how the road to hell is paved with good intentions, starting with Tony Stark’s redemption in 2008’s Iron Man, and...

Our long national Cat in the Hat-related nightmare is nearly over. For decades, the classic Dr. Seuss character from the 1957 picture book of the same name was a quaint, urbane charmer who created chaos and weathered it with equal aplomb. From the direct sequel book to the 1971 animated TV special and its spinoffs to the endless brand activation that followed, he was a pretty chill character — goofy and...

Marvel Animation’s upcoming Black Panther anthology series Eyes of Wakanda, from showrunner and director Todd Harris and executive producer Ryan Coogler, just premiered its first-look teaser trailer, and announced a new release date: August 27. The four-episode animated series explores the life and times of brave Wakandan warriors through the ages. Heroes of Wakanda’s Hatut Zaraze from each era will be shown on dangerous missions to retrieve vibranium artifacts from...

Leviathan, Netflix’s anime adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s World War I alt-history trilogy, offers a wild new twist on the dawn of industrialized warfare. Writing about an era when humans began killing each other at a scale that was previously unimaginable, Westerfeld imagines the Allied Powers using genetically engineered animals as their primary weapons and modes of military transport, while the Central Powers use steampunk mechs. But while that premise offers...