Packing on the poundage? Sorry, suckers: We can’t use middle age as our excuse for that spread anymore!
A revelatory new study has determined that metabolism, long thought by most of humankind to decline progressively during adulthood, is actually stabilized between the ages of 20 and 60 — when it actually starts tanking.
An international team of killjoy researchers, whose work was published Friday in the journal Science, discovered that metabolism is at its highest in infants — naturally — who burn calories about 50% faster than adults. That rate declines yearly by about 3% until they reach the age of 20 or so, when metabolism plateaus through middle adulthood. At 60, the slump returns at a depressing rate of about 1% more per year until we drop dead.
A new study has determined that metabolism is actually stabilized between the ages of 20 and 60 — when it actually starts waning. What this means: We can no longer blame middle age as the reason for packing on new pounds.Getty Images/iStockphoto
What this means: We can no longer blame middle age as the primary reason for amassing newfound weight. For accuracy, researchers accounted for metabolic differences in volunteers, such as body size muscle to fat composition.
“Metabolic rate is really stable all through adult life, 20 to 60 years old,” said study author Herman Pontzer, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, who spoke to NBC News on Thursday about the research.
Pontzer went on to pontificate about new data that’s likely to send a shiver down the lucrative wellness industry’s collective spine:
“There’s no effect of menopause that we can see, for example. And you know, people will say, ‘Well when I hit 30 years old, my metabolism fell apart.’ We don’t see any evidence for that, actually,” said Pontzer. His new book, “Burn” (Avery) is about new frontiers in bariatric health.
At 60, the metabolic rate slumps full-force — about 1% more per year until death. Also, “there’s no effect of menopause that we can see, for example,” study author Herman Pontzer said. “You know people will say, ‘Well when I hit 30 years old, my metabolism fell apart.’ We don’t see any evidence for that, actually.”Getty Images
As part of a global experiment, 6,400 participants, aged 8 days to 95 years were asked to perform “doubly labeled water” test, in which some of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms were replaced with their isotopes, making their pathway easily traced through urine samples.
“By calculating how much hydrogen you lose per day, and how much oxygen you lose per day, we can calculate how much carbon dioxide your body produces every day,” Pontzer explained to NBC News. “And that’s a very precise measurement of how many calories you burn every day, because you can’t burn calories without making carbon dioxide.”
The findings, said Pontzer, were a long time coming as scientists now have access to such a large test group.
Pontzer also said, “This was the first time that we had the ability to do this with a really big data set that would allow us to pull apart the effects of body size and age and gender and all these things on our energy expenditures over the day.”
The study is shedding new light on how our cells age, indicating that our metabolism has less to do with physical activity and more with our biology.
“People thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s because you’re less active, or maybe it’s because people tend to lose muscle mass as they get into their 60s, 70s and older,’ ” said Pontzer. “But we can correct for all those things. We can say, ‘No, no, no, it’s more than that.’ It’s that our cells are actually changing.”
In an editorial published in tandem with the study, University of Wisconsin geriatrics researchers Timothy Rhoads and Rozalyn Anderson suggest that the study results point to a link with age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, often appearing around 60.
“The [health] decline from age 60 is thought to reflect a change in tissue-specific metabolism, the energy expended on maintenance,” they wrote, according to NBC News. “It cannot be a coincidence that the increase in incidence of noncommunicable diseases and disorders begins in this same time frame.”
Video caught the moment passengers on an EasyJet flight out of London came together to protest the removal of two Black men from the flight.
The incident occurred on Thursday as a flight was taxiing and preparing for takeoff from London Gatwick Airport to Malaga in Spain. According to passenger Luke Gayle, flight attendants alerted police and had the plane return to the gate to remove two Black men from the flight for “huffing at a member of the crew” when they were asked to put their shoes back on until after takeoff.
@easyJet attempting to remove 2 black boys from the flight for huffing at a member of the crew ! Absolutely disgusting. We’ve been delayed 2 hours and counting! Police on board @Gatwick_Airport #gatwick #lgw @SurreyPolice @TheSun #Easyjet pic.twitter.com/hkC3Aa4rb4
— LG (@LPGLDN) August 5, 2021
As the police came aboard to remove the two men, passengers can be heard protesting on the video, telling the men, “no, don’t get off,” as well as “sit down.”
Following the protests of passengers, the men were permitted to stay on the flight and the flight crew was replaced. However, in a statement to the Daily Mail, EasyJet said the crew was replaced due to them exceeding time limits on their shifts and not because of complaints from the incident.
America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.
“EasyJet does not discriminate against any individual. Safety is our highest priority and there is nothing to suggest that discrimination played any part in the issue onboard,” the statement read, adding, “Our crew must ensure that safety requirements are followed by all passengers and as part of their role must check prior to take-off that everyone is compliant with these.”
EasyJet said it will be investigating the incident.
READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA
UN CALLS FOR US, OTHERS TO END ‘IMPUNITY’ FOR POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE
RACIAL CONTROVERSY ERUPTS AROUND ROYALS AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
PRINCIPAL ESCORTED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION AFTER DELIVERING FIERY SPEECH
CARL NASSIB IS THE FIRST ACTIVE NFL PLAYER TO COME OUT AS GAY
BURGER KING DECLARES WAR ON CHICK-FIL-A OVER LGBTQ+ RIGHTS AND CHICKEN SANDWICHES
Video footage of the incident shows a man, dressed as Spider-Man, kicking a female Asda employee in the throat. @ca99832245/Twitter
Police were called to a supermarket in south London after a violent brawl broke out.
Videos from the brawl show a man, dressed as Spider-Man, attacking a female Asda employee.
A woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries, and 5 people were arrested.
Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A man dressed as Spider-Man knocked out a female employee at a British supermarket during a violent brawl, video footage shared by ITV News shows.
Police were called to Asda in the Lavender Hill area of Clapham, south London after reports of a group of people involved in a “disturbance” on Thursday night, the Metropolitan Police said.
Video footage of the incident shows a man, dressed as the Marvel superhero, kicking a female employee in the throat and shouting abuse at her before landing a punch and knocking her to the floor.
“Oh my god,” a shocked onlooker can be heard shouting towards the end of the clip.
Read more: Fast-food workers are gaining millions of TikTok followers with on-the-job videos, but the trend has muddied the relationship between brands, creators, and consumers
It is unclear what started the fight.
Related video: Taiwanese parliament broke into chair-throwing brawl
Other videos from the incident show a man dressed as Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character and a woman in a Bavarian dirndl dress fighting employees and onlookers in the supermarket’s stockroom. Even a man in a wheelchair is seen throwing punches.
A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, affray, and violent disorder, according to ITV News.
Two men, aged 35 and 37, and two women, aged 17 and 18, were also arrested, the media outlet reported.
All five remain in custody, according to The Sun.
A woman in her 20s was taken to hospital with minor injuries and, according to ITV News, five others were treated at the scene.
An Asda spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident which occurred at our Clapham Junction store late last night.
“We do not tolerate any form of violence or abuse towards colleagues or customers and we are working closely with the police in their inquiries.”
A juvenile suspect was reportedly arrested Saturday afternoon following a manhunt connected to the fatal shooting of a Virginia middle school student.
Lucia Bremer was shot multiple times on Friday, forcing a nearby high school in Henrico County, Va., to be placed on a temporary lockdown.
The eighth-grader was taken to a hospital where she died of her wounds, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. The suspect was reportedly last seen fleeing the shooting before the manhunt began.
The suspect, who has not been identified because of his age, was taken into custody at a home about a half-mile from where the shooting happened, according to the Henrico Citizen.
The suspect has been charged with second-degree murder, reports said.
VIRGINIA TEEN GIRL DEAD AFTER SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES NEAR HIGH SCHOOL; SUSPECT AT LARGE, REPORTS SAY
“Detectives worked tirelessly throughout the night to follow up on leads provided by our community partners,” Henrico police said while announcing the arrest Saturday.
Bremer’s family confirmed her death in a statement posted to Facebook on Saturday, writing they were “saddened to report that our beloved daughter and joyful farmer, Lucia Whalen Bremer, was killed in a senseless act of gun violence on March 26,” the Times-Dispatch reported. “Thank you for keeping our family in your thoughts as we navigate the next few weeks.”
Melanie Phipps, principal of Bremer’s Quioccasin Middle School in Richmond, described Lucia as “funny” and ‘wise,” adding that she was “heartbroken and devastated” over her killing.
She said students and staff were planning a virtual gathering for Sunday to grieve Bremer’s loss and the school plans to have an increased police presence Monday so everyone feels safe on a “most difficult day,” according to the Citizen.
David Whitehouse, Bremer’s English teacher said, “In a year of difficult days and weeks, this will be the most difficult of my entire career.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Police have called the shooting victim a teenager but have not disclosed her name or age – despite the girl being identified on social media by her family – because she was a minor.
The founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm, has warned that the government could “impose prohibitions against capital movements” into assets such as bitcoin. He added that regulators may also impose changes in taxes that “could be more shocking than expected.”
Ray Dalio Warns About Government Prohibitions and Taxes
Ray Dalio, founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, wrote a post on Linkedin last week entitled: “Why in the World Would You Own Bonds When…”
He pointed out that the bond markets currently offer “ridiculously low yields,” which “do not meet these asset holders’ funding needs.” The executive wrote, “There is now over $75 trillion of US debt assets of varying maturities,” adding that their holders will at some point want to sell them to get cash to buy goods and services with.
However, Bridgewater’s chief investment officer estimates that “at current valuations, there is way too much money in these financial assets for it to be a realistic expectation that any significant percentage of that bond money can be turned into cash and exchanged for goods and services.” He elaborated: “It has to be accommodated … via printing a lot of money and devaluing it, and restructuring a lot of debt and government finances, usually including large increases in taxes.”
Dalio explained: “Based both on how things have worked historically and what is happening now, I am confident that tax changes will also play an important role in driving capital flows to different investment assets and different locations, and those movements will influence market movements.”
The billionaire fund manager emphasized that “If history and logic are to be a guide, policymakers who are short of money will raise taxes and won’t like these capital movements out of debt assets and into other storehold of wealth assets and other tax domains,” warning:
They could very well impose prohibitions against capital movements to other assets (e.g., gold, bitcoin, etc.) and other locations. These tax changes could be more shocking than expected.
The Bridgewater Associates founder used Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax as an example, stating that it “is of an unprecedented size.” Citing his study of “wealth taxes in other countries at other times,” he expects this proposal “will most likely lead to more capital outflows and other moves to evade these taxes.”
Consequently, “The United States could become perceived as a place that is inhospitable to capitalism and capitalists,” Dalio opined, emphasizing that “the chances of a sizable wealth tax bill passing over the next few years are significant.” In conclusion, the Bridgewater executive cautioned:
One should be mindful of tax changes and the possibility of capital controls.
Dalio has been studying bitcoin over the recent months. In November last year, he admitted that he may be wrong about bitcoin but was nonetheless worried about governments outlawing cryptocurrency. In December, he said bitcoin could “serve as a diversifier to gold and other such storehold of wealth assets.” Then, in January this year, he said that “bitcoin is one hell of an invention,” revealing that his firm looking closely at the cryptocurrency.
What do you think about Ray Dalio’s warning? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
Enlarge / A staff member of the N’zerekore hospital lifts his shirt sleeve as he prepares to get his anti-ebola vaccination in N’zerekore on February 24, 2021. Nzerekore Hospital was where the first cases of Ebola were found at the end of January 2021.
The Ebola viruses behind a new outbreak in Guinea are stunningly similar to viruses identified during the massive West Africa outbreak that spanned 2013 to 2016, according to a new genetic analysis. The finding suggests that virus may have silently persisted in a survivor for at least five years and that the current outbreak was sparked by that unlucky person, rather than a spillover from an animal reservoir.
In the genetic analysis posted online Friday, a group of international researchers report that Ebola viruses collected from the current outbreak in Guinea have only a dozen or so genetic differences from Ebola variants collected from the same area of Guinea in 2014. Based on what researchers know about the pace at which Ebola collects such genetic substitutions—its evolutionary rate—that number of accumulated differences should have totaled over 110 in that timespan, not 12.
“This number of substitutions is far less than what would be expected during sustained human-to-human transmission,” they researchers write in their analysis. Instead, they note such a sluggish evolutionary rate is a “hallmark of persistent infections.”
“Therefore, the index case of the 2021 Guinea cluster was likely infected from a persistent source, such as via sexual transmission from an [Ebola] survivor,” they conclude.
The Ebola virus is known to persist in some survivors, particularly in places where it can lay low from the immune system, such as the testicles or eyeballs. A 2016 study reported resurgence of the virus in a survivor’s seminal fluid more than 500 days after the initial infection.
Still, the more than five-year span was “shocking” to many virologists and public health experts. And it raises a variety of concerns for the many survivors of past outbreaks, some of whom may have had mild cases of Ebola without realizing it. In particular, many people known to have survived Ebola face stigmatization, and the possibility of years-long persistence is likely to amplify that problem.
In the 2013-2016 West Africa outbreak, more than 28,000 people were infected with the virus, and over 11,000 died. It is the largest Ebola outbreak in history. Most of the cases and deaths were in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The outbreak began with a case reported in an 18-month old boy in December 2013; the boy is believed to have caught the virus from bats.
The current outbreak, which was declared February 14, has sickened at least 18 and killed nine. Vaccination efforts are now underway to stop the spread of the virus.
We’d say the last time something like this happened was when John Tortorella benched Marian Gaborik in the third period of Game 5 of the Rangers’ 2012 conference finals against the Devils, except doing such a thing was pretty much standard operating procedure for the coach.
Hence, no shock value there.
This, though, on Thursday night in Newark was different. This was different with David Quinn, who for the first time in his three seasons behind the bench brought down the hammer on one of the Rangers’ marquee players by dramatically reducing Mika Zibanejad’s ice time in the first period before sitting him for the first 10:46 of the second.
Finally, after weeks of giving Zibanejad the benefit of the doubt he had earned not only down the stretch last season, but through the entirety of the center’s work under Quinn, the coach had seen enough, following another period in which The Swede was a cipher on the ice.
And so he sat him. Sat him after a team-wide desultory opening 20 minutes, in which the Devils only could build a 1-0 lead thanks to Igor Shesterkin’s exceptional play in nets, and sat him through the midpoint of the second, by which time the Blueshirts had tied it 1-1 on Chris Kreider’s power-play goal.
Shock value here, all right.
Mika Zibanejad (r.), who was benched most of the game, celebrates with Chris Kreider during Thursday night’s win over the Devils.Getty Images
“I didn’t love his game, I didn’t love what we were seeing — I didn’t love a lot about our first period — but obviously he’s had a tough start to the season and maybe sitting him for a while would give him a little jolt and give our team a little jolt,” Quinn said after the Blueshirts stormed back for a 6-1 victory. “I did like what I saw when he came back out.
“I was just going to see how he was playing, how he was competing, how he was skating. If I thought I saw an uptick in his play, I was going to continue to play him and if not, he was going to continue to sit. That’s really what it came down to.”
This was a headline-packed game. Kreider, off on one of his patented Did. You. See. Chris! streaks, recorded his second hat trick within five games, giving him nine goals in the past six matches. Shesterkin, who has elevated his game over the fortnight, was forced to leave with 5:52 remaining after sustaining an apparent right-leg injury that could force him to miss a spell of time. If so, it will have significant ramifications for this 9-9-3 team that has gone 5-2 in the last seven.
But the benching of Zibanejad will reverberate. You never know how a player as prideful as Zibanejad will react to something like this. You also don’t know how his teammates and best buds will react. Let’s not forget. He was one of the best players in the world last season. He was one of the best centers in the league the year before that. And he was benched.
“I think he’s letting the stats and all the pressure slow him down a little bit,” Quinn said. “I think it’s getting to him.
“This is a guy who has been a fearless player, he’s been a courageous player and he still is a guy who gets in the battle but something is just missing. We certainly continued to try and let him play his way through it, he certainly earned that opportunity, but right now we’ve got to continue to play the guys who are playing well.”
Zibanejad played with purpose through his final 13 shifts and 9:05 of ice, continuing to excel on the penalty-kill unit that went 4-for-4 in this one. He was involved, jumped on a free puck to set up Alexis Lafreniere for the dart that made it 6-1 at 18:27 of the third for the freshman’s sixth point (3-3) in the past six games.
(And, whoa boy, Quinn has suddenly gotten so much better at developing youngsters, correct?)
Zibanejad’s decline has been cloaked in mystery. Its long-range, big-picture ramifications are stark. But the small-picture ramifications of this benching will be stark, too. There is no question his mates have his back, with Kreider issuing an unsolicited captain-like testimonial in support of his beleaguered friend and colleague. You could almost hear Mark Messier standing up for Brian Leetch. Almost.
This was a night of significance for the Rangers and for Quinn, who benched a star and whose team responded with 40 dominant minutes in its wake.
“I think anytime you sit one of your top players that certainly gives everybody a bit of a wake-up call and I just thought we got better as the game went on,” the coach said. “If that had something to do with it, I don’t know.”
The Rangers and Quinn had been waiting on Zibanejad for 20 games. The coach didn’t wait for 21. Now we all wait to see how the alternate captain responds to this.
As Vision and others inside Westview start to question the reality they find themselves in, an ill-advised attempt to reach Wanda from outside leads to a tense stand-off at the border.
If last week’s perspective-altering episode of “WandaVision” brought Marvel fans back into the fold, the closing minutes of this week’s breathless episode must have them hyperventilating with a surprise guest star that permanently alters the MCU forever.
Before we get to that, though, we should say that we appreciate the hybrid structure this episode explored, with perspective shifting form the now-1980s sitcom world inside Westview to the work being done outside the Maximoff Anomaly.
Disney+/Everett Collection
Which Major Character Will Appear on WandaVision? Breaking Down the Fan Theories
View Story
It’s particularly important we keep this dual perspective at this point because it looks like the slight degrading of the perfect sitcom reality Wanda’s created that began in the 1970s is nearly collapsing in on itself.
Once again, this week answered several of our key questions, further solidifying just who is in control of things in Westview right now — though we still have questions about how it started and just what Agnes’ role is — and exactly what this Vision is.
We also got a definitive timeline for how long this has been going on, as well as a sense of just how powerful Wanda is. We thought there was something to the fact that Monica came out wearing those ’70s digs when Wanda booted her from the simulation.
After seeing the drone turned into a helicopter, a hazmat suit into a beekeeper’s suit and even a cable into a jump rope, we had a feeling these were permanent physical alterations, which would indicate reality-altering abilities that are off the scale.
So just how powerful is Wanda? That answer may be absolutely terrifying. While we agree that Heyward is a dick, Darcy, we’re not entirely sure he’s wrong to think of Wanda as a terrorist. After all, we also learned that there are literally thousands of people trapped in Westview.
Getty/Everett Collection
WandaVision’s Emma Caulfield on Fans’ Dottie Theories and Buffy Connections (Exclusive)
View Story
Citizens of Westview
We don’t know how Darcy’s email made its way into the simulated world, or why the entire office staff “read” it out loud, but it has us wondering if it will become harder and harder for Wanda to control everything in this reality as she moves forward and the technology inside Westview moves closer in line with that outside.
It’s particularly dangerous for her because Vision is technology. We saw that in action this week, as he was able to temporarily disrupt her control over Norm in that same scene. It was heartbreaking finding that he has a family, he’s in pain under Wanda’s control and he’s terrified.
And yet, when Vision confronted Wanda about it, she tried to deny everything. We kind of loved the conceit of Wanda trying to end his confrontation by trying to end the episode, even triggering the closing credits.
But it was Vision who was able to disrupt and even stop those by fighting back and resisting her. Wanda doesn’t have as much control over this reality as she might want, or perhaps it’s just Vision she doesn’t have control. What’s interesting is that he seems to have some control.
We still don’t know exactly what’s going on with Vision, but he may be more tied into the VR aspect of this surreality than we first suspected. That means that if he regains some sense of who he is and what’s going on here, he might be able to stop it or at least influence the reality like Wanda does.
Disney+
WandaVision’s Huge Twist, Steps Outside Sitcom World and Firmly Into the MCU
View Story
Whose Vision Is This?
From the outside, we saw that Wanda stormed the S.W.O.R.D. facility holding Vision’s body nine days ago and somehow resurrected him. So it would seem this is the real Vision we’re seeing in Westview. That would fit the brief shot of him we saw with the caved in head.
Or would it? If she can permanently change reality, why would she not be able to permanently fix that damage? Or what that an illusion, and the Vision we’re usually seeing here is what he actually looks like?
We also learn within the sitcom world that for all Vision is figuring out that Wanda is in control and things aren’t what they seem, he has no recollection of a life before Westview. He has no idea what lies outside the town, and he’s bristling to fill in those gaps.
It may be that this is a rebooted Vision, but he clearly has no access to his prior memories. So is this the same Vision, or some new entity that exists inside his husk. As we also learned that she resurrected him against his living will, she might be suppressing his past identity to keep him from knowing she violated his wishes in her grief.
Disney+
Debra Jo Rupp Says ‘Nothing Is As It Seems’ on WandaVision (Exclusive)
View Story
What Are the Twins?
Darcy made it pretty clear that she believes the twins are truly Wanda’s babies, though what they really are has to be in question. After all, in a sitcom trope, they aged up (twice!) in this episode alone to the point they’re now ten years old.
Even more telling, they did so intentionally at one point, after being told they wouldn’t be old enough to have a dog until they were ten, and considered doing it again after that same dog died later in the episode.
That moment triggered a conversation about grief and loss and having to know when to let go and say goodbye. But the twins seemed to know that Wanda could circumvent death, which obviously leads one to think of Vision.
At another point, they questioned the way time works in their reality, wondering how Vision is at work if it’s Saturday. Wanda tried to say it was now Monday (sitcom logic allows jumps like this, but the boys aren’t sensing them properly) before changing her story.
How much do they know of her powers? If they are pieces of her in a more literal sense than actual children, perhaps they know everything that’s going on. Now that we know Vision was brought in and the other citizens are trapped there, overwritten by Wanda, the only entities in Westview we have no explanation for at all are the twins (and Agnes, but more on her in a second).
So what are they? What do they know? And what other powers do they have? If they can do even a fraction of what Wanda can do, aside from aging themselves up, they could be a real danger to her power here.
Disney+
How WandaVision Is Unlike Anything Else In The MCU So Far
View Story
Take It From the Top?
We still don’t know exactly what Agnes is, but we’re starting to wonder if maybe she isn’t an in-game ally to Wanda. Not quite an NPC, as she seems to have some autonomy, but another individual who may be fully aware of what’s going on.
At the same time, Wanda seemed genuinely confused when Agnes asked about taking it “from the top” when she failed to deliver her line. Suddenly, Agnes was an actress looking to her director for how to proceed. But Vision picked up on all the oddities of the moment.
We couldn’t tell if Wanda was truly confused by Agnes seeking to reshoot the scene, or if she was bristling at Agnes being so upfront about it in front of Vision. Is it possible that in previous episodes and decades they were able to do this, but it’s proving more challenging now?
If Agnes is an in-game ally, then who is the true architect of Westview? Perhaps Wanda is in control of it, but did someone else set it up as a sanctuary for her and Vision in some kind of deal with Wanda? Maybe there’s an even more powerful entity that’s controlling the overall broadcast, allowing Wanda directorial power.
She did say at one point that she doesn’t know how all of this started. We’re still on the fence about just how immersed Wanda is in this reality, whether she’s playing a role or at least somewhat under its spell, as well.
She even told Vision at the end, when he was really pushing against her control, that she’s not in control of absolutely everything. That quickly became clear.
Getty
Paul Bettany Says His Father’s Struggles with Sexuality Impacted His Own Approach to Fatherhood
View Story
Special X-Star
In what is easily one of the most shocking moments across the entire MCU, Wanda found herself faced with a mind-blowing family reunion at the end of the episode, and she seemed genuinely stunned. She as much as told Vision she did not have their doorbell ring at that moment in their fight.
And yet, somehow, she did recognize her brother standing there. So did Marvel fans, even though he’s never before been seen in the MCU. That’s because it wasn’t Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who portrayed Pietro before his death in the MCU) but Evan Peters standing there.
That’s right, the Fox X-Men Universe just came crashing right into the MCU with, as Darcy brilliantly put it,” a “recast” of Pietro Maximoff. This has huge ramifications for the MCU going forward if it really is him and not some projection.
Suddenly, the entire X-Men universe of characters could be involved in the Maximoff Anomaly. Certainly Wanda and Pietro have a long and storied history with the X-Men in Marvel’s comic book universe.
But another huge thing to notice is that even though Wanda did somehow recognize Evan Peters as her long-lost brother, Darcy recognized that this was not the Quicksilver of the MCU. So if this is the Fox X-Men Universe converging in some way, it’s not going to be just a seamless merger.
On top of that, Wanda seems to have no idea how he got there, which raises the question … how did he get there? Is the Fox X-Men Universe currently a parallel universe to the MCU and he somehow crossed over? After all, Pietro in the MCU is still dead, so no matter who’s playign him, he shouldn’t be alive.
On top of that, no matter how he got into the MCU, how did he manage to get into Wanda’s Westview construct? Is he immune to her powers because of their blood relationship? That could perhaps explain why her boys seem to be as well.
If Pietro were a construct created by Wanda, he would look like the brother she knew, right? So this can’t be that. This has to be the real Pietro from the Fox X-Men Universe. So what does his involvement mean for this show and the future of the MCU?
Could more familiar faces from the Fox X-Men films be on their way? How quickly will they infiltrate the MCU and how will they do it? Phase 4 already seems to be playing with alternate universes, and this appearance really does feel like that.
If last week’s episode didn’t hook fans of Marvel into the potential and importance of this series to the bigger picture, this episode should be bringing every single one of them into the fold. This may prove to be the single most important series of the MCU yet.
Everett Collection
Chris Evans Returning to MCU as Captain America? He Says …
View Story
A Very Special Episode
It was so appropriate that Wanda reunited with her brother and we even saw serious trouble in her marriage to Vision, as well as rapidly aging children this week as the sitcom world shifted into the 1980s.
This was the era of the “very special episode,” with sitcoms taking carefully promoted time to talk about serious issues, like grief and loss by having a puppy die from eating azalea bushes.
We also have to give a nod to the “Family Ties”-inspired opening credits and song filled with lots of clues. There are lines about not being able to control kids, and we have a feeling these kids are going to be a big part of this reality’s undoing.
We also appreciated the “we’re making it up as we go along” moment, revealing that Wanda may technically be in control, but in many ways she’s flying by the seat of her pants here and barely hanging on by a thread.
We saw that with an incredible sequence where Heyward actually flew an ’80s-era drone into Westview and actually tried to shoot a missile at Wanda (Monica didn’t know about the missile). In an incredible sequence, Wanda herself came out of the anomaly to fearlessly confront Heyward and all his men, hurling their missile back at them, useless.
As she stepped out, unlike Monica, her look did revert back to modern day, emphasizing she is in absolute control (even if we’re not so sure about that). We also heard her native Sokovian accent return.
This was a cold, sinister and quite frankly, terrifying Wanda who told everyone in no uncertain terms that this would be their only warning. She then returned to the anomaly, changing the border to a red color. We suspect she just upped its security.
The problem is that there are thousands of people in there. We get that she is grieving Vision’s loss and seems to have lost herself a bit along the way, but that is a lot of people kidnapped and being psychologically tortured (remember Norm’s pain).
There’s another tantalizing clue after they did what appeared to be a brain scan on Monica only to have it come back completely blank. What could that mean? Monica seems to be fully in her right mind, but a blank scan might indicate she isn’t … or maybe she isn’t even Monica? Or maybe the damage Wanda did to her brain permanently altered it into something else.
Is Wanda fully aware of what she’s doing to people? We’ve seen moments in the sitcom world where she seemed immersed in her character. We’re just not sure if she’s acting it out, as Agnes appears to be, or if she has in a way rewritten her own brain to fully live in this world in the same blissful ignorance she thinks she’s giving Vision (and maybe everyone else).
“WandaVision” just blew our minds again. What does it have in store for us next Thursday on Disney+?
A California sheriff’s deputy was arrested and charged after the district attorney’s office said he staged a “shocking ambush.”
Deputy Sukhdeep Gill, with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, was taken into custody on Friday and charged with felony vandalism and misdemeanor falsely reporting a crime.
The incident happened last January when just after 10:30 p.m. Gill used the emergency broadcast button on his police radio to report that shots had been fired, according to a release by the district attorney.
Officers from multiple sheriff’s departments responded and a manhunt began for the alleged shooter.
Gill told an officer at the scene that he had parked on the shoulder of a dirt road in Morgan Hill to urinate and as he was walking back to his car, he was shot by a person in a vehicle that had turned its lights off.
Gill said he fired two shots at the vehicle but the car drove away.
The district attorney’s office said that Gill had no serious injuries.
“It appeared he had been shot only once, and in a miraculous spot — his body-worn camera, which was destroyed,” the release stated.
During the investigation into the alleged shooting, Gill’s “story fell apart,” the agency said. Other evidence, including ballistics, also “exposed serious discrepancies in the deputy’s account.”
“This case is bewildering and deeply disappointing,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Deputy Gill’s actions abused the trust of his fellow officers and diverted public safety resources away from protecting the community to investigate a made-up crime.”
Gill, 27, could not be reached for comment on Saturday. His attorney, Nicole Pifari, said, “I can tell you we look forward to getting a look at the investigation and the related evidence to understand why these charges are being pursued.”
The deputy has been with the sheriff’s office since 2016. He was placed on administrative leave pending the criminal and administrative investigations.
The Santa Clara County Sherrif’s Office said in a press release that if the allegations against Gill are true, his actions “are not representative of the upstanding men and women of the Sheriff’s Office, who risk their lives every day to serve and protect our community with honesty and integrity.”
Minyvonne Burke
Minyvonne Burke is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
