title: Johnny Flynn

text: In 2014, Flynn played the lead role of Dylan in the rom-com television series "Scrotal Recall" which aired on Channel 4. After finding success on Netflix, the streaming network went on to commission a second series of 8 episodes, without Channel 4's involvement, which was made available globally on the streaming network in November 2016 under the new name "Lovesick". The show's third series arrived on Netflix on 1 January 2018.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: In 2015, he was one of the stars of the Comedy Central sitcom "Brotherhood". In it, he played one of two adult brothers who have to raise their younger brother when their mother unexpectedly dies. It was billed as the British version of the US sitcom "Two and a Half Men".


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Also in 2017, he played Pascal Renouf, a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders in director/writer Michael Pearce's debut dark thriller "Beast", which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the UK on 27 April 2018.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: In 2018, Flynn played William Dobbin in the ITV and Amazon Studios television serial adaptation of Vanity Fair. He also played Felix Tholomyès in the BBC miniseries adaptation of "Les Misérables".


title: Johnny Flynn

text: In 2019, he starred as David Bowie in the drama "Stardust", based on a screenplay by Christopher Bell and directed by Gabriel Range.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: In 2020, he starred in "Emma", Autumn de Wilde's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name, alongside Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Nighy, and Josh O'Connor. He wrote the song played over the ending credits, "Queen Bee," which was released as a single alongside the film. The next year, he co-starred in another British film "The Dig", which was released on Netflix on 29 January 2021. He plays the character of Rory Lomax.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: His upcoming projects include a heist musical starring Will Poulter and Naomi Ackie, titled "The Score". He has also been cast as Dickie Greenleaf for Showtime's new TV series of Ripley, to star Andrew Scott. The film "Operation Mincemeat", in which Flynn played author Ian Fleming, was released in 2021.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Flynn performed in Propeller's all-male Shakespeare troupe, playing Curtis ("The Taming of the Shrew") and Viola ("Twelfth Night") in the 2007 season. He has also performed in several other plays including Richard Bean's play "The Heretic" at the Royal Court Theatre (2011). Johnny Flynn was cast in the role of Lee in "Jerusalem", Jez Butterworth's hit play, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award for best supporting actor. In summer of 2012, Flynn appeared in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre's productions of "Richard III", as Lady Anne, opposite "Jerusalem" co-star Mark Rylance and then as Viola/Cesario in the Globe's production of "Twelfth Night" with Rylance as well. The productions transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End until February 2013. In March 2013 Flynn played the lead role in Bruce Norris' play "The Low Road" at the Royal Court. In September 2015 he played Mooney alongside David Morrissey and Reece Shearsmith also at the Royal Court in Martin McDonagh's new play "Hangmen".


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Flynn was longlisted in the Evening Standard Awards and the What's On Stage Awards for best Newcomer for his role in "The Heretic" in 2012. He was nominated for an Olivier Award for his role in "Jerusalem" the same year. He won a commendation in the 2012 Ian Charleson Awards for his role as Viola in "Twelfth Night" at the Globe Theatre.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Flynn has released several studio albums featuring folk revival songs of his own composition. He released his debut, "A Larum", in 2008, and received critical acclaim. His second album "Been Listening" featured a duet with fellow British folk musician Laura Marling on the track "The Water". This was followed by "Country Mile" in 2013 and "Sillion" in 2017. Aside from "Been Listening", each of Flynn's albums has charted in the top 100 in the UK. In May 2021, Flynn released "Lost in the Cedar Wood", a collaboration with nature writer Robert Macfarlane. The album was influenced by the ancient Mesopotamian poem the "Epic of Gilgamesh".


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Flynn has also written musical scores for films, television shows, and theatre productions. This includes writing the film score for the 2012 film "A Bag of Hammers", and the score and theme song of the BBC Four television series "Detectorists," which he performed in a cameo appearance in series one, episode 3. In 2015, he also composed the music (on period instruments) for the Globe Theatre's production of "As You Like It".


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Flynn's version of "Rambleaway" appeared on "Shirley Inspired...", a 2015 tribute album to British folk singer Shirley Collins.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: He co-wrote the song "Coins for Eyes" with Robert Macfarlane for the 9th series of the BBC archaeology programme Digging for Britain.


title: Johnny Flynn

text: Johnny married theatre designer Beatrice Minns in 2011, whom he had dated on-and-off since secondary school. They have three children together and live in east London.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Miyazaki was arrested in Hachiōji in July 1989 after being confronted while taking nude photographs of a young girl. He was diagnosed as having one or more personality disorders, but was determined by authorities to be sane and aware of his crimes and their consequences. Miyazaki was sentenced to death in 1997 and was executed by hanging in 2008.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Miyazaki was dubbed the "Otaku Murderer" due to his extensive collection of pornography and horror videotapes, which was misrepresented by the media as being primarily anime and manga. This triggered a widespread moral panic against "otaku" in Japan.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Tsutomu Miyazaki was born on 21 August 1962 in Itsukaichi, Tokyo, the eldest son of a wealthy family. He was born premature and had a rare birth defect that caused his hand joints to be fused together, preventing him from being able to bend his wrists upwards. Miyazaki's family operated a regional newspaper company and were well known in Itsukaichi, where his grandfather and great-grandfather had served on the town council. Due to his parents being busy, he was mainly raised by his grandfather and an intellectually disabled man the family hired as a nanny.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Miyazaki was ostracized when he attended elementary school due to his deformity, and consequently kept to himself. He attended Meidai Nakano High School in Nakano, a prestigious high school associated with Meiji University, and was a star student until his grades began to drop dramatically. He was ranked 40 out of 56 in his class and did not receive the customary admission to Meiji University for students of the school. Instead of studying English and becoming a teacher as he originally intended, Miyazaki attended a local junior college and studied to become a photography technician.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: In the mid-1980s, Miyazaki moved back into his parents' house in Itsukaichi, sharing a room with his elder sister. Although his family was highly influential in Itsukaichi, he expressed no desire to take over their business. After his arrest, Miyazaki would say that what he really craved was "being listened to about his problems" but believed that his parents, more worried about the material than the sentimental, "would have not heard [him]; [he] would've been ignored". In the same confession, he said that by this period in his life he had begun to consider suicide. Miyazaki felt he only received support from his grandfather, to whom he was close, and was rejected by his two younger sisters.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: In May 1988, Miyazaki's grandfather died, which served to deepen his depression and isolate him even further. In an attempt to "retain something from him", Miyazaki ate part of his grandfather's ashes. A few weeks later, one of Miyazaki's sisters caught him watching her while she was taking a shower; he attacked her when she told him to leave. When his mother learned of the incident and demanded that he spend more time working and less time with his videotapes, he attacked her as well.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Between August 1988 and June 1989, Miyazaki mutilated and murdered four girls between the ages of 4 and 7, and sexually molested their corpses. He drank the blood of one victim and ate a part of her hand. These crimes—which prior to Miyazaki's apprehension were named the "Little Girl Murders" and later the —shocked Saitama Prefecture, which had few crimes against children.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: On 22 August 1988, one day after Miyazaki's 26th birthday, Mari Konno, aged 4, vanished while playing at a friend's house. Miyazaki had led Konno into his black Nissan Langley, then drove westward of Tokyo and parked the car under a bridge in a wooded area. There, he sat alongside Konno for half an hour before murdering her and molesting her corpse. He dumped her body in the hills near his home, departing with her clothes, then allowed the body to decompose before returning to remove her hands and feet, which he kept in his closet. Miyazaki burned Konno's remaining bones in his furnace, ground them into powder, and sent them to her family in a box along with several of her teeth, photos of her clothes, and a postcard which read, 「真理さん、骨、火葬、調査して、証明して」 ("Mari. Bones. Cremated. Investigate. Prove.") Konno's hands and feet were found in Miyazaki's closet after his arrest almost a year later.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: On 3 October 1988, Miyazaki abducted Masami Yoshizawa, aged 7, after spotting her while driving along a rural road. He had offered Yoshizawa a ride, which she accepted, then drove her to the same place he had killed Konno. Miyazaki killed Yoshizawa, engaged in sexual acts with her corpse, and took her clothes with him when he departed. Two months later, on 12 December 1988, he abducted Erika Namba, aged 4, as she was returning home from a friend's house. Miyazaki forced her into his car and drove to a parking lot in Naguri, where he forced her to remove her clothes in the back seat and began to take pictures of her. He killed Namba, tied her hands and feet behind her back, covered her with a bedsheet, and placed her body in his car's trunk. He disposed of her clothes in a wooded area and left her body in the adjoining parking lot, where it was discovered three days later. On 20 December, Namba's family received a postcard sent by Miyazaki with a message assembled using words cut out of magazines: 「絵梨香、かぜ、せき、のど、楽、死 」 ("Erika. Cold. Cough. Throat. Rest. Death.")


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: On 6 June 1989, Miyazaki convinced Ayako Nomoto, aged 5, to allow him to take pictures of her. He then led Nomoto into his car and murdered her, covered her corpse with a bedsheet and placed her in his trunk. Miyazaki took the corpse into his apartment and spent the next two days engaging in sexual acts with it, taking photos and video of the remains in various positions. When Nomoto's corpse began to decompose, Miyazaki dismembered it, abandoning her torso in a cemetery and her head in the nearby hills. He kept her hands, drinking blood from and cannibalizing them. Fearing that the police would find Nomoto's body parts, Miyazaki returned to the cemetery and the hills two weeks later and carried the remains back to his apartment, where he hid them in his closet.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: On 23 July 1989, Miyazaki saw two sisters playing in a park in Hachiōji and managed to separate the younger of the sisters from the older one, who stayed behind. He was taking photographs of the younger daughter, whom he had convinced to strip nude, when he was caught by their father, who attacked Miyazaki but was unable to restrain him. After fleeing on foot, Miyazaki eventually returned to the park to retrieve his car, whereupon he was arrested by police responding to a call by the father. A search of his two-room bungalow produced 5,763 videotapes, some containing anime and slasher films (later used as reasoning for his crimes). Interspersed among them was video footage and photos of his victims. Miyazaki, who retained a perpetually calm and collected demeanor during his trial, appeared indifferent to his capture.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Japanese media dubbed Miyazaki the "Otaku Murderer", in reference to "otaku" culture. His killings caused a moral panic against "otaku", with speculation that anime and horror films had made him a murderer. Various newspapers claimed that Miyazaki had retreated into a fantasy world of manga as a result of his neglected upbringing.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: These reports were disputed. In Eiji Ōtsuka's book on Miyazaki's crimes, he argued that Miyazaki's collection of pornography was probably added or amended by a photographer in order to highlight his perversity. Another critic, Fumiya Ichihashi, suspected the released information played up to public stereotypes and fears about "otaku", as the police knew they would help cement a conviction. Sharon Kinsella asserts that large collections of manga and videos were typical in the rooms of youths living in the Tokyo area at the time.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Miyazaki's trial began on 30 March 1990. Often talking nonsensically, he blamed his actions on "Rat Man", an alter ego who he claimed forced him to kill; he spent time during the trial drawing "Rat Man" in cartoon form. Miyazaki's father refused to pay for his son's legal defense and died by suicide in 1994.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: The seven-year trial focused on Miyazaki's mental state at the time of the murders. Under Japanese law, people of unsound minds are not subject to punishment, and the feeble-minded are entitled to reduced sentences. Three teams of court-appointed expert psychiatrists came to differing conclusions about Miyazaki's ability to tell right from wrong. Two teams determined him to be feeble-minded—one team concluding that he was schizophrenic, the other that he had multiple personality disorder. A third team found that although Miyazaki had a personality disorder, he was still capable of taking responsibility for his actions.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: The Tokyo District Court judged Miyazaki aware of the magnitude and consequences of his crimes and therefore accountable. He was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997. His death sentence was upheld by both the Tokyo High Court, on June 28, 2001, and the Supreme Court of Justice on January 17, 2006.


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Miyazaki described his serial murders as an "act of benevolence". Child killer Kaoru Kobayashi described himself as "the next Tsutomu Miyazaki or Mamoru Takuma", to which Miyazaki stated, "I won't allow him to call himself 'the second Tsutomu Miyazaki' when he hasn't even undergone a psychiatric examination."


title: Tsutomu Miyazaki

text: Minister of Justice Kunio Hatoyama signed Miyazaki's death warrant on June 17, 2008, and he was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House that same day. Ryūzō Saki said, "His trial was long" and that he was "not willing to criticize Hatoyama".


title: Wild Wild West

text: Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk Western film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock alongside Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, from a story penned by brothers Jim and John Thomas. Loosely adapted from "The Wild Wild West", a 1960s television series created by Michael Garrison, it is the only production since the television film "More Wild Wild West" (1980) to feature the characters from the original series.


title: Wild Wild West

text: The film stars Will Smith (who previously collaborated with Sonnenfeld on "Men in Black" two years earlier) and Kevin Kline as two U.S. Secret Service agents who work together to protect U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (Kline, in a dual role) and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats during the American Old West. The film features a supporting cast consisting of Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, Ted Levine, and M. Emmet Walsh, as well as an orchestral film score by Western film score veteran Elmer Bernstein and extensive visual effects courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Released theatrically in the United States on June 30, 1999 by Warner Bros. and produced on a $170 million budget (making it one of the most expensive films ever made when adjusting for inflation at the time of its release), "Wild Wild West" was a commercial failure, grossing only $113.8 million domestically and $108.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $222.1 million. Receiving negative reviews from critics, the film was nominated for eight Razzies and won five at the 20th Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Original Song (for the song "Wild Wild West" by Smith).


title: Wild Wild West

text: In 1869, four years after the end of the American Civil War, U.S. Army Captain James T. "Jim" West and U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon hunt for ex-Confederate General "Bloodbath" McGrath, responsible for a massacre in New Liberty where West's parents were killed. President Ulysses S. Grant informs the two about the disappearances of America's key scientists and a treasonous plot by McGrath and gives them the task of finding the scientists.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Aboard their train "The Wanderer", West and Gordon examine the severed head of scientist Thaddeus Morton, finding a clue that leads them to Dr. Arliss Loveless, a legless ex-Confederate officer and engineering genius. Infiltrating Loveless' plantation during a party, the duo rescues a woman named Rita Escobar, who asks for their help in rescuing her father, Guillermo Escobar, one of the kidnapped scientists. Loveless holds a demonstration of his newest weapon, a steam-powered prototype tank, and angers McGrath by using his soldiers for target practice. Accusing McGrath of "betrayal" for surrendering at Appomattox Court House, Loveless shoots and leaves him for dead. Gordon, West, and Rita find the dying McGrath, who reveals he was framed by Loveless for the massacre, before succumbing to his gunshot wound. The three catch up with Loveless on The Wanderer. After a brief fight, Rita accidentally releases sleeping gas, which knocks out West, Gordon, and herself.


title: Wild Wild West

text: West and Gordon wake up as Loveless pulls away in The Wanderer, taking Rita hostage. Announcing his intention to capture President Grant at the golden spike ceremony, he leaves the duo in a deadly trap from which they narrowly escape. West and Gordon stumble across Loveless' private railroad, leading to his secret industrial complex at Spider Canyon where they witness Loveless' ultimate weapon, a gigantic mechanical spider armed with nitroglycerin cannons. Loveless uses his spider to capture Grant and Gordon at the ceremony while West is shot and left for dead by one of Loveless' henchwomen after being caught sneaking in the spider. At his complex, Loveless announces his plan to dissolve the United States, dividing the territory among Great Britain, France, Spain, Mexico, the Native American people, and Loveless himself - but Grant refuses to surrender, and Loveless orders Gordon to be executed. However, West – having survived being shot earlier – disguises himself as a belly dancer and distracts Loveless, allowing Gordon to free the captives.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Loveless then escapes on his spider, taking Grant with him. He again demands that Grant accept his terms of surrender, but Grant continues to reject his ultimatum, and Loveless retaliates by destroying a small town. Using an "Air Gordon" flying machine, Gordon and West catch up to the spider where West battles Loveless' henchmen before confronting Loveless himself, now on mechanical legs. After freeing Grant, Gordon shoots one of Loveless' metal legs, allowing West to gain the upper hand. As the mechanical spider approaches a cliff, Loveless shoots at West with the concealed gun he used to kill McGrath, but instead hits the spider's machinery, halting it abruptly at the canyon's edge. Both West and Loveless fall from the spider, but West survives by catching a chain dangling from the machinery. Grant promotes Gordon and West as the first agents of his new United States Secret Service. After Grant departs on The Wanderer, West and Gordon reunite with Rita, whom they both attempt to court, but she announces that Professor Escobar is her husband. Gordon and West ride into the sunset on the spider.


title: Wild Wild West

text: "Variety" first reported in January 1992 that Warner Bros. had optioned the film rights to Michael Garrison's television show "The Wild Wild West", and hired Richard Donner to direct a film adaptation from a screenplay by Shane Black that would have starred Mel Gibson as Jim West (Donner coincidentally directed three episodes of the original series). However, Donner and Gibson left the project to work on a film adaptation of "Maverick" in 1994. Nonetheless, the project continued in the development stage with Tom Cruise rumored for the lead in 1995. Cruise instead starred in "" the following year.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Discussions with Will Smith and director Barry Sonnenfeld began in February 1997. Warner Bros. pursued George Clooney to co-star as Artemus Gordon, with Kevin Kline, Matthew McConaughey, and Johnny Depp also in contention for the role while screenwriters S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock (best known for writing the "Short Circuit" and "Tremors" films) were hired by the studio to script the film in April and May 1997. Clooney signed on the following August after dropping out of "Jack Frost" while the Wilson-Maddock script was rewritten by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman (of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Doc Hollywood" fame). Principal photography was expected to begin in January 1998, but was pushed to April 22, 1998. In December 1997, Clooney dropped out after an argument with Sonnenfeld: "Ultimately, we all decided that rather than damage this project trying to retrofit the role for me, it was better to step aside and let them get someone else."


title: Wild Wild West

text: The film featured several significant changes from the television series. For example, Dr. Loveless – as portrayed by Kenneth Branagh in the film – went from a dwarf to a man without legs who uses a steam-powered wheelchair (similar to that employed by the villain in the episode "The Night of the Brain"); his first name was also changed from Miguelito to Arliss and was given the motive of a Southerner who sought the defeat of the North after the Civil War. Kevin Kline plays Gordon, whose character was similar to the original version portrayed by Ross Martin except that he was much more competitive with Jim West, besides being much more egotistical. The film's script had Kline's Gordon create more ridiculous, humorous, and implausible inventions than those created by Martin's Gordon in the television series, as well as having an aggressive rivalry with West, whereas in the television series, West and he had a very close friendship and trusted each other with their lives. While Gordon did indeed impersonate Grant in the series ("The Night of the Steel Assassin", "The Night of the Colonel's Ghost", and "The Night of the Big Blackmail"), they were not played by the same actor. Additionally, on the TV series, West was portrayed by Robert Conrad, a Caucasian rather than an African American – which serves a critical plot point as West's parents were among the victims of Loveless's massacre at New Liberty.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Jon Peters produced the film alongside director Sonnenfeld. In a 2002 Q&A event that appears on "An Evening with Kevin Smith", filmmaker Kevin Smith talked about working with Peters on a fifth potential "Superman" film in 1997, revealing that Peters had three demands for the script. The first demand was that Superman not wear the suit, the second was that Superman not fly, and the third was to have Superman fight a giant spider in the third act. After Tim Burton came on board, Smith's script was scrapped and the film was never produced due to further complications. A year later, he noted that "Wild Wild West", with Peters on board as producer, was released with the inclusion of a giant mechanical spider in the final act. Neil Gaiman also said that Peters insisted that a giant mechanical spider be included in a proposed film adaptation of "The Sandman".


title: Wild Wild West

text: Filming began in 1998. The sequences on both Artemus Gordon and Dr. Loveless's trains interiors were shot on sets at Warner Bros. Burbank Studios, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California. The train exteriors were shot in Idaho on the Camas Prairie Railroad. "The Wanderer" is portrayed by the Baltimore & Ohio 4–4–0 No. 25, one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S. Built in 1856 at the Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Massachusetts, it was later renamed The "William Mason" in honor of its manufacturer. During preproduction, the engine was sent to the steam shops at the Strasburg Rail Road for restoration and repainting. The locomotive is brought out for the B&O Train Museum in Baltimore's "Steam Days". The "William Mason" and the "Inyo" (which was the locomotive used in the original television series) both appeared in the 1956 Disney film "The Great Locomotive Chase".


title: Wild Wild West

text: Much of the Wild West footage was shot around Santa Fe, New Mexico, particularly at the western town film set at the Cook Movie Ranch (now Cerro Pelon Ranch). During the shooting of a sequence involving stunts and pyrotechnics, a planned building fire grew out of control and quickly overwhelmed the local fire crews that were standing by. Much of the town was destroyed before the fire was contained.


title: Wild Wild West

text: The film's orchestral score, including its main theme, was composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein, a veteran of many Western film scores such as "The Magnificent Seven". The score mainly follows the Western genre's symphonic tradition, while at times also acknowledging the film's anachronistic playfulness by employing a more contemporary music style with notable rock percussion and electronic organ. The score also briefly incorporates Richard Markowitz's theme from the television series in one cue (uncredited in the film and not included on the album); ironically, this was one of the few elements to be faithful to the original television series, which also did not credit Markowitz for the theme. Additional parts of the score were composed by Bernstein's son Peter, while his daughter Emilie served as one of the orchestrators and producers.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Like most of his films during this period, Will Smith recorded a hip hop song based on the film's plot, also titled "Wild Wild West". "Wild Wild West" was a number-one hit on the U.S. pop charts, but it also won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song. It was produced by Rob Fusari, who lifted a sample from Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit "I Wish". The song also features guest vocals from R&B group Dru Hill, and was a star-making vehicle for Dru Hill lead singer Sisqó. Old-school rapper Kool Moe Dee had recorded a "Wild Wild West" single of his own in 1987, to which he re-performs the chorus from his old "Wild Wild West" as the chorus of this new "Wild Wild West". A performance of the song by Smith, Dee, Dru Hill, and Sisqo at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards included Wonder performing a reprise of the chorus on piano.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Upon release on June 30, 1999, alongside Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures' R-rated animated film "", several news reports arose stating that adolescent moviegoers purchased tickets into seeing the PG-13-rated "Wild Wild West" in theaters, but instead went to see "South Park". This was a result of a film industry crackdown that made sneaking into R-rated films tougher for children, as proposed by U.S. President Bill Clinton at the time in response to the moral panic generated by the Columbine High School massacre, which had occurred two months before the release of both films.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Warner Bros. heavily promoted "Wild Wild West" as an anticipated summer blockbuster instead of Brad Bird's animated film "The Iron Giant", which was released two months after "Wild Wild West". This sparked controversy as "The Iron Giant" was becoming more critically successful than the critically panned "Wild Wild West" upon release, despite eventually underperforming at the box office due to the studio deciding to spend their money on marketing for "Wild Wild West" among other films.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Warner Home Video released "Wild Wild West" on VHS and DVD on November 30, 1999, on LaserDisc on December 28, 1999, and on Blu-ray on May 29, 2011.


title: Wild Wild West

text: "Wild Wild West" grossed $27,687,484 during its opening weekend, ranking first at the North American box office, with a total of $40,957,789 for the Independence Day weekend. The film closed on October 10, 1999, after five months, having grossed $113,804,681 domestically and $108,300,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $222,104,681 against a production budget of $170 million, making it commercially unsuccessful.


title: Wild Wild West

text: "Wild Wild West" was met with generally negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 16% based on reviews from 131 critics, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Bombastic, manic, and largely laugh-free, "Wild Wild West" is a bizarre misfire in which greater care was lavished upon the special effects than on the script." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 38 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Roger Ebert of "The Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film one star out of four, stating, ""Wild Wild West" is a comedy dead zone. You stare in disbelief as scenes flop and die. The movie is all concept and no content; the elaborate special effects are like watching money burn on the screen." Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" gave the film a negative review, saying the film "leaves reality so far behind that its storytelling would be arbitrary even by comic-book standards, and its characters share no common ground or emotional connection."


title: Wild Wild West

text: "Wild Wild West" later ranked in the listed bottom 20 of the Stinkers' "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" list (which noted the 100 worst films of the 20th century) at #2, but lost to "Battlefield Earth".


title: Wild Wild West

text: A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on June 15, 1999, by Interscope Records and Overbrook Music. It peaked at number four on both the "Billboard" 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.


title: Wild Wild West

text: An action-adventure video game titled "" was developed and released by SouthPeak Interactive on December 7, 1999, five months following the film's release.


title: Wild Wild West

text: In 1997, writer Gilbert Ralston sued Warner Bros. over the upcoming feature film based on the series. Ralston helped create the original television series "The Wild Wild West" and scripted the pilot episode "The Night of the Inferno". In a deposition, Ralston explained that in 1964, he had been approached by producer Michael Garrison, who "said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a Western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show". Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the script that were the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for a bumbling President Grant.


title: Wild Wild West

text: Ralston's experience brought to light a common Hollywood practice of the 1950s and 1960s when television writers who helped create popular series allowed producers or studios to take credit for a show, thus cheating the writers out of millions of dollars in royalties. However, Ralston died in 1999 before his suit was settled, resulting in Warner Bros. paying his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: WrestleMania 35 was the 35th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event took place on April 7, 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It included the first-ever women's main event match in WrestleMania history. It was also the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 2000 to not feature The Undertaker. It was also the final WrestleMania to be held as a one-night event; the following year, WrestleMania was expanded to two nights.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The card comprised sixteen matches, including four on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Becky Lynch defeated Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair in a Winner Takes All triple threat match to win both championships. In a main match from SmackDown, Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to win his first WWE Championship, and in the opening bout, which was a main match from Raw, Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win his first Universal Championship. The event also saw the final matches of two veteran wrestlers: Kurt Angle lost his farewell match against Baron Corbin, and Batista lost a No Holds Barred match against Triple H and retired after the event. Additionally, this was the final WrestleMania to feature Triple H as an in-ring competitor as he retired in 2022 due to a cardiac event.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, having first been held in 1985. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". WrestleMania is ranked the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: WrestleMania 35 was scheduled to be held on April 7, 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It was the fourth WrestleMania to be held in the state of New Jersey (after IV, V, and 29) and the sixth in the New York metropolitan area (after I, 2, X, XX, and 29).


title: WrestleMania 35

text: There were two official theme songs for the event: "Love Runs Out" by OneRepublic, which served as the main theme, and "Work" by Chris Classic, which served as a secondary theme. There was also a theme song for the main event, "White Flag" by Bishop Briggs. On November 5, 2018, traveling packages for the event were sold while tickets went on sale on November 16, 2018. On the March 11 episode of "Raw", current wrestler Alexa Bliss was revealed as the host of WrestleMania 35. On the following episode, Elias announced that he would have a musical performance at the event.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Multiple celebrities took part in the event. On the March 4 episode of "Raw", Colin Jost and Michael Che of "Saturday Night Live" were introduced as special correspondents for the event, and were later entered into the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Joan Jett performed her song "Bad Reputation" live for Ronda Rousey's ring entrance. Gospel music star and syndicated radio host Yolanda Adams performed "America the Beautiful" to begin the main show.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The event comprised sixteen matches, including four on the Kickoff pre-show. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, in which wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, with storylines produced on their weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw", "SmackDown Live", and the cruiserweight-exclusive "205 Live".


title: WrestleMania 35

text: At SummerSlam, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair were involved in a triple threat match for the SmackDown Women's Championship against defending champion Carmella, which Flair won. Afterwards, Lynch attacked Flair, ending their friendship. Lynch defeated Flair for the championship at Hell in a Cell and successfully defended her title against Flair in a Last Woman Standing Match at the inaugural all women's pay-per-view Evolution. At Survivor Series, Lynch was originally scheduled to face Raw's Ronda Rousey in a non-title match, but was replaced by Flair due to a legit injury; during the match, Flair brutally attacked Rousey with weapons. Rousey then interfered in a tables, ladders, and chairs championship match between Lynch, Flair, and Asuka at the , costing both Lynch and Flair the match. Lynch failed to regain the title at the Royal Rumble, but won the women's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Flair, despite injuring her own knee, and chose to face Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Lynch was then suspended for refusing a medical examination on her knee. After getting medically cleared, however, Vince McMahon suspended her again and introduced Flair as Rousey's WrestleMania opponent. Over the following weeks, Lynch continued to violate her suspension and attacked both Rousey and Flair until the suspension was lifted. At Fastlane, Lynch defeated Flair by disqualification when Rousey attacked Lynch. Per the stipulation, Lynch was added back into the championship match at WrestleMania to make it a triple threat match. After Flair defeated Asuka for the SmackDown Women's Championship, the WrestleMania match was made Winner Takes All with both titles on the line. The match was also confirmed as the first-ever women's match to main event WrestleMania.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: At the Royal Rumble, Raw's Seth Rollins won the men's Royal Rumble match, earning a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania. The next night on "Raw", Universal Champion Brock Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman tried to discourage Rollins from challenging Lesnar, leading to a brawl between Rollins and Lesnar. Subsequently, Rollins chose to challenge Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On the February 12 episode of "SmackDown", Kofi Kingston replaced an injured Mustafa Ali in a gauntlet match to determine who would enter last in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber; during the match, Kingston pinned WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in the first match of the gauntlet. At the event, Bryan retained the title by last eliminating Kingston. On the following "SmackDown", Kingston was granted a WWE Championship match at Fastlane after pinning Bryan in a six-man tag team match, however, Vince McMahon replaced Kingston with the returning Kevin Owens. On the "SmackDown" following Fastlane, The New Day (Big E, Kingston, and Xavier Woods) confronted Mr. McMahon for tricking Kingston into believing that he was added back into the title match at Fastlane. Mr. McMahon decided that if Kingston won a gauntlet match, he would receive a WWE Championship match against Bryan at WrestleMania. Kingston subsequently won the gauntlet match, however, Mr. McMahon added one more opponent, which was the WWE Champion himself, who defeated Kingston. On the March 26 episode, The New Day teased leaving WWE and once again confronted Mr. McMahon, who decided that Kingston would in fact receive the championship match if Big E and Woods won a tag team gauntlet match, which they subsequently did.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On "SmackDown 1000" on October 16, 2018, Batista, who had last wrestled in WWE in 2014, took part in an Evolution reunion. He praised fellow Evolution member Triple H for having done everything in the wrestling business except defeat him. Batista then attacked fellow Evolution member Ric Flair before the latter's 70th birthday celebration on the February 25, 2019 episode of "Raw", seeking Triple H's attention. Batista demanded a final match against Triple H at WrestleMania; Triple H accepted and made the stipulation a No Holds Barred match. Batista accused Triple H of always having kept him down, and demanded that Triple H put his career on the line and Triple H agreed.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On the March 11 episode of "Raw", WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle began his farewell tour, culminating with his farewell match at WrestleMania. The following week, Angle chose Baron Corbin as his final opponent as Corbin had caused Angle many problems during the latter's tenure as Raw General Manager (2017–2018) and eventually supplanted him, temporarily becoming Acting Raw General Manager.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: At Crown Jewel, Shane McMahon won the WWE World Cup, replacing The Miz in the finals, who was unable to compete after a pre-match brawl. Following this, The Miz and Shane formed a tag team. They won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the Royal Rumble, however, they lost the title at Elimination Chamber After failing to recapture the titles at Fastlane, Shane attacked Miz and Miz's father, who was seated in the front row. On "SmackDown", Shane accused Miz of using him and he wanted to beat him up again, and challenged Miz to a match at WrestleMania. Miz challenged Shane to make their match falls count anywhere and Shane agreed.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After weeks of disparaging comments about one another, Randy Orton eliminated AJ Styles in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. At Fastlane, Orton attacked Elias from behind only for Styles to attack him. On the following "SmackDown", Orton took umbrage with Styles referring to SmackDown as "the house that AJ Styles built," as Orton began his WWE career on SmackDown in 2002, whereas Styles spent most of that time on the independent circuit until his WWE debut in 2016. Styles responded that Orton had everything handed to him while Styles had to actually work for it. He challenged Orton to a match at WrestleMania and Orton accepted.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Roman Reigns, who had been on hiatus due to leukemia since October 2018, returned on the February 25, 2019 episode of "Raw" and stated that his leukemia was in remission. After Fastlane, Drew McIntyre attacked Reigns, defeated fellow Shield member Dean Ambrose in a Falls Count Anywhere match, defeated fellow Shield member Seth Rollins, and then challenged Reigns to a match at WrestleMania. McIntyre claimed that he destroyed The Shield and brought up Reigns' leukemia and family, prompting Reigns to accept the challenge.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After becoming the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Champions at Elimination Chamber, The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) stated that they would defend the titles across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. They retained their championships against Raw's Nia Jax and Tamina at Fastlane, and were then called out by SmackDown's The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce). On the March 18 episode of "Raw", WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix came out of retirement to reform her tag team with Natalya and challenge for the championship at WrestleMania. The next night on "SmackDown", The IIconics defeated The Boss 'n' Hug Connection in a non-title match. The champions were then scheduled to defend the titles against Jax and Tamina, Phoenix and Natalya, and The IIconics in a fatal four-way tag team match at WrestleMania.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: At Elimination Chamber, Finn Bálor defeated Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush in a handicap match to win Lashley's Intercontinental Championship. Lashley regained the title on the March 11 episode of "Raw" thanks to assistance from Rush. On the March 25 episode, Bálor earned another title match at WrestleMania by defeating Lashley and Jinder Mahal in another handicap match, and Bálor warned Lashley that he would be facing his alternate persona, "The Demon".


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On the April 2 episode of "SmackDown", WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss informed The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) that while forfeiting their gauntlet match against The New Day the previous week was honorable, there would be repercussions. She then scheduled them to defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania in a fatal four-way tag team match against The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus), Aleister Black and Ricochet, and Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On the February 19 episode of "205 Live", General Manager Drake Maverick scheduled an eight-man tournament with the winner facing Buddy Murphy for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the WrestleMania 35 Kickoff pre-show. Over the next few weeks, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Oney Lorcan, Cedric Alexander, Kalisto, The Brian Kendrick, Humberto Carrillo, and Akira Tozawa competed in the tournament, which was won by Nese.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On the March 4 episode of "Raw", Braun Strowman was confronted backstage by "Saturday Night Live" Colin Jost and Michael Che; Jost questioned the legitimacy of professional wrestling, resulting in Strowman choke lifting him. The following week, Che and Jost apologized and gifted a brand new car to Strowman only for Strowman to dismantle the car. On the March 25 episode, Strowman challenged Jost to join him in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Che agreed on Jost's behalf, who in turn agreed that Che would also participate.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Four matches were contested on the two-hour WrestleMania 35 Kickoff pre-show. In the first match, Buddy Murphy defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Tony Nese. In the end, Nese performed a "Running Kneese" on Murphy, who was seated in the corner, to win the title.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal took place next. In the end, Sarah Logan seemingly last eliminated Asuka, but Carmella, who had not actually been eliminated, re-entered the ring and eliminated Logan with a superkick to win the match and the trophy then hugged her father in celebration.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After that, The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) defended the Raw Tag Team Championship against Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. In the end, Dawson performed a brainbuster on Hawkins outside the ring, then rolled him back into the ring. Hawkins feigned unconsciousness and then rolled up Dawson to win the title and end his 269-match losing streak.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The last pre-show match was the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. During the majority of the match, WrestleMania correspondents Colin Jost and Michael Che hid under the ring. In the end, as The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) were trying to eliminate Braun Strowman, Che and Jost entered the ring in an attempt to help The Hardy Boyz, however, Strowman overpowered the four and eliminated The Hardy Boyz. Jost attempted to work things out with Strowman by inviting his therapist in the ring, however, Strowman attacked the therapist and then eliminated Che. Strowman then picked Jost up and threw him outside of the ring on top of other wrestlers (participants who also competed in the match and were already eliminated) to win the match and the trophy.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The actual pay-per-view opened with WrestleMania host Alexa Bliss welcoming the crowd. She then brought out Hulk Hogan to hype the crowd for the event. Paul Heyman interrupted the two and marched to the ring. He declared that if Brock Lesnar was not fighting in the main event, he would not wait the entire show for his Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins and then proceeded to introduce Lesnar. As Rollins approached the ring, he was immediately attacked by Lesnar. After the match officially started, Lesnar delivered several German suplexes to Rollins. Rollins countered an "F-5" attempt and shoved Lesnar into the referee. While the referee was incapacitated, Rollins attacked Lesnar with a low blow followed by a superkick and three "Curb Stomps" to win the title.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Next, AJ Styles faced Randy Orton. During the match, Orton attempted an "RKO", only for Styles to counter several times. Orton eventually performed an "RKO" for a near-fall. In the end, Styles performed a "Phenomenal Forearm" on Orton outside the ring and again in the ring to win the match.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After that, The Usos defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus), Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura, and Aleister Black & Ricochet in a fatal four-way tag team match. During the match, Cesaro performed the "Cesaro Swing" on Ricochet for a full minute while Sheamus performed the "Beats of the Bodhrán" on four opponents. A superplex attempt by The Bar developed into a top-rope maneuver involving seven wrestlers. In the end, The Usos delivered a double "Superfly Splash" on Sheamus to retain the title.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: In the following match, The Miz faced Shane McMahon in a falls count anywhere match. During the match, Shane dominated Miz which prompted Miz's dad, who was sitting in the front row, to come into the ring and attempt to fight Shane, however, Shane attacked him. Miz and Shane then fought out into the crowd. In the end, Miz performed a Skull Crushing-Finale on Shane for a near-fall, then Miz performed a superplex on Shane off of a 15-foot camera stage to a lower platform just above the floor. As Shane landed on top of Miz, the referee counted a pinfall, giving the win to Shane.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Next, The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) defended the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Nia Jax & Tamina, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), and Beth Phoenix & Natalya in a fatal four-way tag team match. In the end, Phoenix performed a "Glam Slam" on Bayley off the top rope. Royce threw Phoenix out of the ring, while Kay, who had tagged Phoenix, pinned Bayley to win the title.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After that, Daniel Bryan (accompanied by Rowan) defended the WWE Championship against The New Day's Kofi Kingston (accompanied by his teammates Big E and Xavier Woods). During the match, Rowan prevented Kingston from attacking Bryan outside the ring which prompted Big E and Woods to incapacitate Rowan. This allowed Kingston to get Bryan back in the ring. Bryan performed the running knee for a near-fall. Bryan applied the "LeBell Lock", however, Kingston escaped. In the climax, Kingston performed a "Trouble in Paradise" on Bryan to win his first WWE Championship, also becoming WWE's 30th Triple Crown Champion, 20th Grand Slam Champion, and the first African-born WWE Champion. Kingston celebrated with his sons while Big E and Woods discarded Bryan's custom eco-friendly championship belt and presented Kingston with the standard leather and gold-plated WWE Championship belt.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Next, Samoa Joe defended the United States Championship against Rey Mysterio. Mysterio started with a "619" on Joe. As Mysterio went to capitalize, he was caught by Joe in the "Coquina Clutch" and passed out. Joe retained the title in a one-minute match.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: In the following match, Drew McIntyre faced Roman Reigns. McIntyre dominated Reigns most of the match. In the end, as McIntyre attacked Reigns with a "Glasgow Kiss", Reigns bounced off the ropes and performed a superman punch and a spear on McIntyre to win the match.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After that, Elias started his WrestleMania concert. He performed on the guitar while an edited video showing him performing on piano and drum set played simultaneously. He was then interrupted by a Babe Ruth video, followed by John Cena, who came out in his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick (circa 2002–2004) and sporting a New York Yankees jersey. Cena insulted Elias and then attacked him with an "F-U" (the original name for Cena's "Attitude Adjustment" during his Thuganomics gimmick).


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Next, Triple H put his career on the line in a No Holds Barred match against Batista. Early in the match, Triple H pulled out Batista's nose ring with pliers. Later, Batista attempted a "Batista Bomb" on Triple H on a broadcast table, only for Triple H to counter and execute a spear on Batista. Back in the ring, Batista performed a spear and a "Batista Bomb" on Triple H, both resulting in near-falls. Triple H executed a powerbomb on Batista on the ring stairs and a "Pedigree" for another near-fall. The end came when Ric Flair appeared and handed Triple H his signature sledgehammer. Triple H struck Batista with the sledgehammer and followed it up with a second "Pedigree" to win the match. Triple H kept his in-ring career intact while Batista announced his retirement from professional wrestling shortly after the event.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After that, Baron Corbin faced Kurt Angle in Angle's farewell match. In the end, Corbin performed the "End of Days" on Angle to win the match. Following the match, Angle delivered a short retirement speech, thanking the fans.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: In the penultimate match, Bobby Lashley (accompanied by Lio Rush) defended the Intercontinental Championship against Finn Bálor in his "Demon" persona. Lashley performed a spear on Bálor through the ropes and then again in the ring for a near-fall. In the climax, Bálor performed a powerbomb and the "Coup de Grâce" on Lashley to regain the title for a second time.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The main event was the first women's main event match in WrestleMania history; Becky Lynch faced Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair in a Winner Takes All triple threat match for both titles. In the end, Flair locked in the "Figure-Eight Leglock" on Rousey. Lynch broke up the hold and, together with Rousey, put Flair through a table. Rousey performed the "Piper's Pit" on Lynch, who countered into a crucifix – Rousey's first pinfall loss – to win both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships — her first Raw Women's Championship and record-tying third SmackDown Women's Championship. The match began after midnight Eastern Time, thus Lynch won the match on April 8.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The event received fairly positive reviews from critics and viewers alike. Much criticism, however, was drawn towards the overall runtime of the event. Including the pre-show, the event clocked in at 7.5 hours, making it the longest pay-per-view the company has ever produced. The Becky Lynch–Ronda Rousey–Charlotte Flair and Kofi Kingston–Daniel Bryan storylines were also criticized in general for being too similar to Daniel Bryan's storyline for WrestleMania XXX against The Authority, although Lynch's and Kingston's rises were seen as a positive and largely supported by the fanbase.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Brian Campbell of CBS Sports directed praise towards the WWE Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston, saying "After 11 long years, there is no trouble at all for Kingston, only paradise. The WWE veteran and one-third of The New Day pulled off an inspiring victory for the ages to cap off an amazing bit of storytelling following an unlikely and organic bid. Crowning Kingston as just the second male African-American WWE champion in the promotion's history certainly wasn't on the books as recently as two months ago but the combination of Kingston's in-ring performances and the undying support of the crowd made it the right thing to do." He also directed praise towards the Falls Count Anywhere match between Shane McMahon and The Miz, saying "As far as car wrecks go, this one was an artistic masterpiece. Not only did The Miz bring enough hatred and aggression to match the angle of protecting his father from McMahon, the creative use of the stadium for the match stipulation turned out to be brilliant."


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Dave Meltzer of the "Wrestling Observer" stated that the main event was "good", but the controversial way the match ended lead him to believe "that Rousey will be back for at least another show because Corey Graves was pointing out how this wasn't the way he'd want WrestleMania to end." He noted that the Styles-Orton match wasn't "as good as you'd expect from these two", calling it a "slow deliberate match" that "never reached a fever pitch." However, Meltzer loved the Kingston-Bryan match, calling it a great match stating, "this blew away everything" at that point. He also liked the Rollins-Lesnar match stating that, despite its short length, "this tore down the house with the quick all big moves match like a Lesnar-Goldberg style." Meltzer felt the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match "could have been a classic if given more time", praising the Cesaro Swing to Ricochet, the tower of doom superplex spot and the Double Superfly splash in the end. Meltzer also felt the Reigns-McIntyre match "wasn't much" and that it was McIntyre doing most of the heavy work. He also stated that "Reigns looked tons better at Fastlane."


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Joshua Needelman of "The Washington Post" said the fans "got the result they wanted" for the main event match, but stated that the ending "felt anticlimactic. It was Rousey’s first time being pinned in WWE, yes, but it was hardly a definitive pin." Needleman noted in the Kingston-Bryan match that the crowd "exploded, bouncing up and down in their seats, as Big E and Xavier Woods...stormed the ring to celebrate." He also felt that Ric Flair's interference in the Triple H-Batista match felt "poetic, given the beef started when Batista beat up Flair on the legend’s 70th birthday." Needelman praised the superplex spot at the end of the Miz-McMahon match stating it "was a shocking moment, one made for highlight reels." He gave special praise to Ricochet in the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match stating that "Ricochet provided an array of jaw-dropping moves in the short match." He stated that the Styles-Orton match was "a true clash of wrestling personalities" and that both men "delivered an entertaining match that was slow early but picked up as the action wore on."


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Wade Keller of "Pro Wrestling Torch" called the main event "a hell of a match" claiming it had "great pacing throughout" and was "non-stop drama." He stated the Universal Championship match was "not much of a match at all, which is always disappointing." He also stated that the crowd cheered, not really for the match, but rather for the "end of the Universal Title being around the waist of someone who they have been swayed to believe doesn’t want to be there." Keller felt that the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match had "lots of action", but concluded that with that many wrestlers, "it’s more about the spots than telling a usual story." Keller also loved the Kingston-Bryan match calling it "straight forward, with the heel getting a sustained beatdown and eventually the babyface scoring a clean win with a finishing move." Keller noted that there was a lot of indifference from the crowd during Reigns-McIntyre match and that it was "paced in a way that reenforced that indifference". He concluded that the match "did nothing to get fans who weren’t really excited about Roman any more excited that this is some new chapter for him."


title: WrestleMania 35

text: The following night on "Raw", new Raw and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch thanked the fans for their support and warned Ronda Rousey that she would be waiting for a rematch when Rousey returned from her post-WrestleMania hiatus. Lynch was subsequently attacked by Lacey Evans, who was drafted to Raw during the Superstar Shake-up and defeated Natalya to become the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship at Money in the Bank. Charlotte Flair also earned a rematch for the SmackDown Women's Championship at the same event by defeating new SmackDown draftee Bayley.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: New Universal Champion Seth Rollins proclaimed that, unlike Brock Lesnar, he would be a fighting champion. He was then interrupted by The New Day; new WWE Champion Kofi Kingston challenged Rollins to a "Winner Takes All" match that Rollins accepted, but the match ended in disqualification when The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) attacked Kingston. New Raw draftee AJ Styles then earned a Universal Championship match against Rollins at Money in the Bank, while Kevin Owens began a feud with Kingston, leading to a WWE Championship match at the same event. Before Money in the Bank, former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan received a rematch for the title on the May 6 episode of "Raw", but was unsuccessful in regaining the title–although the two were SmackDown wrestlers, Vince McMahon introduced a "wild card rule" allowing up to four wrestlers to appear on the opposing brand's show by invitation going forward.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Baron Corbin boasted about defeating Kurt Angle, who interrupted him. Angle feigned to wish Corbin luck and then performed the Angle Slam and an Ankle Lock on Corbin. NXT's Lars Sullivan then made his main roster debut and attacked Angle. Corbin was later entered into the Money in the Bank ladder match to represent Raw, along with Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman, and new draftee Ricochet, though Sami Zayn replaced Strowman after defeating the latter. SmackDown's Ali (formerly Mustafa Ali), Andrade, Randy Orton, and new draftee Finn Bálor were also entered into the ladder match.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Elias tried to continue his concert on "Raw". He insulted John Cena and warned that the next to interrupt him would be "a dead man". The Undertaker then appeared and delivered a "Tombstone Piledriver" to Elias. Notably, WrestleMania 35 was the first WrestleMania in 19 years without The Undertaker's involvement, and the first in 29 years The Undertaker (then with WCW) missed a WrestleMania without being injured. Elias was then transferred to SmackDown in the Superstar Shake-up, along with Roman Reigns, and the two began a feud leading to a match at Money in the Bank. Before Money in the Bank, Reigns appeared on the May 6 episode of "Raw" where he had a WrestleMania rematch with Drew McIntyre, who again lost to Reigns, this time by disqualification.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: In the tag team division, The Revival lost their rematch for the Raw Tag Team Championship against Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. On "SmackDown", The Usos lost their SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz. The Usos were then drafted to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up and began a feud with The Revival, but also tried to regain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship after The Hardys relinquished them due to Jeff's injury, but lost to Daniel Bryan and Rowan.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: WrestleMania 35 host Alexa Bliss taunted The Boss 'n' Hug Connection for losing their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and claimed she could defeat either of them and proceeded to defeat Bayley on "Raw". The next night on "SmackDown", new champions The IIconics vowed to be fighting champions and then retained in a match against local competitors, The Brooklyn Belles. Paige, who was watching backstage, revealed that she would be bringing a new tag team to SmackDown to manage and go after the titles; revealed to be Asuka and NXT call-up Kairi Sane who would later be known as The Kabuki Warriors. On "Raw" during the Superstar Shake-up, as Sasha Banks was absent, Bayley teamed with new Raw draftee Naomi and defeated the champions in a non-title match. Bliss, Naomi, Natalya, Dana Brooke, Bayley, Mandy Rose, new SmackDown draftee Ember Moon, and Carmella were later confirmed for the women's Money in the Bank ladder match; due to medical reasons, Bliss was replaced by new draftee Nikki Cross.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On the following episode of "SmackDown", Carmella celebrated her winning the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal with R-Truth only for United States Champion Samoa Joe to interrupt and attack Truth. Joe then boasted that he could beat any challenger quicker than he defeated Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania and then got into a brawl with André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner Braun Strowman. Joe and Mysterio were then moved to Raw during the Superstar Shake-up and continued their feud, leading to a title rematch at Money in the Bank.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: Following his drafting to the Raw brand in the Superstar Shake-up the following week, The Miz attacked Shane McMahon, seeking retribution. Shane then attacked Miz during a match with Bobby Lashley on the April 29 episode of "Raw" and Miz later challenged Shane to a steel cage match at Money in the Bank that Shane accepted.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: On "205 Live", Tony Nese defeated Buddy Murphy in a rematch to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Murphy was then transferred to SmackDown during the Superstar Shake-up.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: After the event, many fans who had taken NJ Transit to Meadowlands Rail Line and planned to return that way had to wait in the rain for hours. The transit agency had expected that WWE would end the event at 10:30 p.m., as it had told them they expected it to, and planned its staffing needs around that. When the event ran two hours longer, most of those staff had exceeded the limits of their daily work hours as permitted by Federal Railroad Administration regulations, and had gone home, leaving train crews shorthanded. At some points fans threatened to riot if trains did not come; their attempts to get alternative transportation through Uber were also mostly unsuccessful. NJ Transit had expected from 8,000 to 13,000 riders; instead 33,000 headed for the trains after the event.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: NJ Transit officials blamed WWE for not telling them until the event had run later than scheduled that it would end after 10:30; some fans agreed with the railroad, recalling that WrestleMania 29 (the last WrestleMania held at MetLife Stadium) had ended around 10p.m. and there were no problems with the trains. WWE officials responded that they do not plan specific ending times. The failure drew comparisons to similar rail delays that accompanied Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in 2014, which had attracted almost the same number of fans to the Meadowlands.


title: WrestleMania 35

text: New Jersey elected officials dismissed the transit agency's response. Upon hearing that NJ Transit had not adequately explained the reason for the delays to the waiting fans, Governor Phil Murphy, who has made a priority of reforming the agency, called that "completely, utterly, dog-ate-my-homework unacceptable." State senator Paul Sarlo of nearby Wood-Ridge, who chairs that body's Budget and Appropriations committee, said the delays hurt the state's reputation. "It sends a bad message that imperils our ability to attract and retain the sports and entertainment events that deliver economic benefits." He suggested that the state could alleviate these problems in the future by completing the loop intended to take event attendees from Secaucus Junction to the Meadowlands; currently trains that take the spur from the Pascack Valley Line to the Meadowlands station must back out of it since the line ends there, causing delays when passenger volume is high.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Destiny is an online-only multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and previously published by Activision. "Destiny" is now self-published by Bungie after separating from Activision in 2019. It was released worldwide on September 9, 2014, for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles. "Destiny" marked Bungie's first new console franchise since the "Halo" series, and it was the first game in a ten-year agreement between Bungie and Activision. Set in a "mythic science fiction" world, the game features a multiplayer "shared-world" environment with elements of role-playing games. Activities in "Destiny" are divided among player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) game types. In addition to normal story missions, PvE features three-player "strikes" and six-player raids. A free roam patrol mode is also available for each destination which feature public events. PvP features objective-based modes, as well as traditional deathmatch game modes.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Players take on the role of a Guardian, protectors of Earth's last safe city as they wield a power called Light to protect the City from different alien races. Guardians are tasked with reviving a celestial being called the Traveler, while journeying to different planets to investigate and destroy the alien threats before humanity is completely wiped out. Bungie released four DLC’s, furthering the story, and adding new content, missions, and new PvP modes. Year One of "Destiny" featured two small expansions, "The Dark Below" in December 2014 and "House of Wolves" in May 2015. A third, larger expansion, "", was released in September 2015 and marked the beginning of Year Two, changing much of the core gameplay. The base game and the first three expansions were packaged into "Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition". Another large expansion called "" was released in September 2016, beginning Year Three. "Rise of Iron" was only released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 clients subsequently stopped receiving content updates. The base game and all four expansions were packaged into "Destiny: The Collection". A sequel, "Destiny 2", released in September 2017.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Upon its release, "Destiny" received generally positive reviews, with praise for its gameplay, graphics, and for maintaining lineage from the "Halo" franchise, particularly in regard to its competitive experiences. Criticism centered mostly around the game's storyline, post-campaign content and emphasis on grinding. Despite this, it has become influential and has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. It sold over US$325 million at retail in its first five days, making it the biggest new franchise launch of all time. It was GamesRadar's 2014 Game of the Year and it received the BAFTA Award for Best Game at the 2014 British Academy Video Games Awards.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: "Destiny"s style has been described as a first-person shooter that incorporates role-playing and MMO elements, but Bungie has avoided describing "Destiny" as a traditional MMO game. Instead, the game has been referred to as a "shared-world shooter", as it lacks many of the characteristics of a traditional MMO game. For instance, rather than players being able to communicate with all other players in the game or on a particular server — as is the case in many conventional MMO games — "Destiny" includes on-the-fly matchmaking that allows players to communicate only with other players with whom they are "matched" by the game. To communicate with other players in the game world, players must use their respective console's messaging system. Time-limited events and modes are also occasionally added or featured in-game. Activities in "Destiny" are divided among player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) game types across the Cosmodrome and the Plaguelands (added with "Rise of Iron") on Earth, the Moon, Venus, and Mars. The Iron Banner is another PvP event that allows guardians to get high tier loot from playing these competitive multiplayer matches only available during exclusive windows of time and completing bounties. There are also PvP maps for Mars's moon Phobos and the planet Mercury. A social space on Mercury was added with the "House of Wolves" expansion, but requires players to go undefeated in the Trials of Osiris Crucible mode in order to access it. Another PvE area, a massive ship called the Dreadnaught that is situated in the rings of Saturn, and two PvE missions on Phobos were added with "The Taken King" expansion.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Players are able to improve their characters, referred to as Guardians, by gaining experience points (XP) — when a set number of experience points are accumulated, the player's character will "level up" and gain improved statistics which further enhance performance in battle. Quests, including the "main scenario" quest line, are specific tasks given to the player by non-player characters which reward items and XP. Completing main scenario quests progresses the overarching plot of the game.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: "Destiny" features three character classes. Each class has their own specific upgrades, perks, special abilities, and three sub-classes that allow the player to finely tune their individual characters to provide a different play style. After choosing a class, players select one of three species for their character: Human, Awoken (bluish-gray-skinned descendants of Humans), or Exo (human consciousness in a machine). They can then customize their character, such as changing its gender or skin color. A character's species is only cosmetic and does not affect gameplay. Players can create two more characters to have a character of each class. "The Taken King" added a third sub-class for each class, but requires the purchase of the DLC to access the new sub-classes.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Upon reaching the character level cap, character progression shifts to improving their "Light" level by acquiring new and better equipment. This equipment can be gained through a variety of sources, including "strikes", raids, and in-game events. Prior to "The Taken King", all legendary and exotic armor, and some rare, contained an attribute called Light. Once players reached level 20, they no longer earned experience to level up; XP earned after level 20 went towards upgrading weapons and armor, and creating Motes of Light, an in-game currency. Players could only go beyond level 20 by obtaining armor with Light, and these levels were referred to as Light levels. The initial Light level cap was 30, which increased to 32 with "The Dark Below" and 34 with the "House of Wolves". Update patch 2.0, released in preparation for "The Taken King", made the character's experience level and Light level separate: level 34 is now the experience level cap for all players; level 40 for players who own "The Taken King" and "Rise of Iron". A higher character level allows for better equipment to be equipped. A character's Light level is now an average of the attack and defense of all equipped gear. For example, if all equipped gear has 170 Light each, the character's Light level will be 170. A higher Light level improves damage output and defense. The highest obtainable Light level was 320 for players who owned "The Taken King";<ref name="BWU10/15/15"></ref> the expansion's increased it to 335. "Rise of Iron" increased the highest obtainable Light level to 400.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Players' equipment includes weapons and armor. Legendary and exotic items are the best items for players' characters, and only one exotic weapon and one exotic armor (excluding exotic class items) can be equipped at one time. There are several different classes of weapons that are categorized as either a primary, special (secondary), or heavy weapon. Several weapons have an elemental damage type. There is Arc (blue), Solar (orange), and Void (purple). All damage types will deplete enemy shields of that type faster, and the weapon will also do extra damage to enemies if the gameplay modifiers 'Arc Burn', 'Solar Burn' or 'Void Burn' are active. The original maximum attack damage for legendary and exotic weapons was 300. This increased to 331 with "The Dark Below" and 365 with the "House of Wolves". Because of the change to the Light level system, "The Taken King" numerically changed weapons of 365 damage to 170, but with no loss in damage output (365 damage of Year 1 equals 170 damage of Year 2). As with armor, weapons' attack damage contributes to the Light level and all gear can be infused to increase their numbers.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: There are six armor slots: helmet, gauntlets, chest, legs, class item, and artifact (artifacts were added with "The Taken King"). Each class has armor specific to them with exotic armor that complement a character's sub-class. Each piece of armor increases overall defense. Before "The Taken King", class items were only cosmetic (such as the Hunter's cloak) and did not have any stat or defense boosts. With "The Taken King" update, class items were given defense that contributes to players' Light level. Players' Ghost companion was also given defense with "The Taken King" update that contributes to their Light level. In addition to earning gear from loot drops by playing missions and other activities, players can purchase gear from faction vendors. Players can pledge their allegiance to one of three factions — Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, or New Monarchy — and earning enough reputation with a faction allows players to earn and purchase that faction's legendary items. Players also earn reputation with other vendors, such as the Vanguard and Crucible, by doing playlists or bounties for that vendor, which also have their own set of legendary items.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Player versus environment game types makes up the majority of the game. PvE story missions can be played either solo or as part of a "fireteam" of up to three players. Initially, although there was an order to the story missions, they could be played in any order as more missions became available. For example, after completing Earth's second story mission, three more became available, but did not have to be played in story order. The questing system introduced in "House of Wolves" and refined in "The Taken King" requires story missions to be played in order due to quest step progression. Every day, a random story mission is featured as the Daily Heroic Story Mission, featuring bonus rewards. Each playable area offers an open world "Patrol" mode, where players can travel freely around the area and perform small tasks gathered from beacons, and they can collect materials that are used for upgrading weapons and armor. Players travel around the areas on foot or with their vehicles called Sparrows (very similar to the speeder bikes of "Star Wars"). Public events happen periodically and any player in the same location can participate. These location-specific events include eliminating a target, defeating incoming waves of enemies, and defending a Warsat (a crashed satellite).


title: Destiny (video game)

text: "Strikes" are cooperative missions played with a party of three players that culminate with a boss; most strikes are side missions that are not part of the main plot. Players can play much harder versions of the strikes in what are called the SIVA Crisis Strike (formerly Vanguard Heroic Playlist) and the Weekly Nightfall Strike, which grant bonus rewards. While the SIVA Crisis is a playlist of strikes from "The Taken King" and "Rise of Iron" (as well as older strikes updated with Taken and SIVA-infected enemies), the Weekly Nightfall Strike, which is harder than heroic, is only one strike that changes every week with a chance for greater rewards. The Daily Heroic Story Mission, SIVA Crisis Strike, and Weekly Nightfall Strike each feature game modifiers that increase difficulty. Game modifiers can be positive or negative for the player. For example, a positive modifier would be "Small Arms", where damage for the player's primary weapons are doubled, but a negative modifier would be "Chaff", where the player's radar is disabled. Raids are advanced cooperative missions designed to be played by a team of six players — the only PvE game type that allows more than three players in a fireteam. Raids culminate with the elimination of a major boss that relates to the story. With the release of "Rise of Iron", there are four raids in "Destiny".


title: Destiny (video game)

text: From social spaces (the Tower on Earth, the Vestian Outpost added with "House of Wolves", and the Iron Temple added with "Rise of Iron"), players can redeem "engrams" into items, buy items, and collect challenges known as bounties to complete during activities to earn experience, build their reputation among factions, and sometimes earn items. Beyond armor and weapons, items that players can obtain include ships that represent themselves during travel cutscenes, shaders for customizing the color scheme of their armor, emblems which are banners for players' names, emotes such as a dance or gesture, and shells for their Ghost companion.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: In addition to these player versus environment challenges, player versus player combat exists in what is called the Crucible. The Crucible, which can have a maximum of twelve players depending on game type, contains playlists of PvP modes, including "Control", "Clash", "Rumble", and "Skirmish". Control is six-versus-six where teams try to capture and maintain control of zones. Clash is a classic six-versus-six team deathmatch. Rumble is a six-player free-for-all deathmatch. Skirmish is a three-versus-three deathmatch where players can revive allies. New modes have been added via expansions, including "Elimination" ("House of Wolves"), a similar mode to Skirmish except divided into nine rounds in which the team must kill all three of their opponents at once, "Rift" ("The Taken King"), a six-versus-six capture the flag-like mode where players must deliver a "Spark" to the opposing team's base, killing enemies in its radius, and "Supremacy" ("Rise of Iron"), a six-versus-six mode where players drop crests when killed and points are scored by picking up crests dropped by the enemy team.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Other modes are available occasionally during time-limited periods, such as "Salvage", a three-versus-three king of the hill game type, "Combined Arms", where the Control and Clash modes are on maps with vehicles and turrets, "Inferno" ("The Dark Below"), a modifier on multiple game modes where points are solely scored on kills and the player's radar is disabled, "Doubles" ("The Dark Below"), a two-versus-two version of Skirmish, "Mayhem" ("The Taken King"), a modifier on Clash and Rumble where cooldown times for all abilities are greatly reduced, and "Zone Control" ("The Taken King"), a modified version of Control where points are only scored for maintaining control of zones, and not by kills or point captures. A random mode is featured as the Daily and Weekly Crucible mode with bonus rewards. As of September 2015, players who do not own "The Taken King" or "Rise of Iron" expansions only have access to three-versus-three and six-versus-six Crucible playlists on previous maps with assorted modes, and no longer have access to playlists for individual modes.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: In Crucible modes, player statistics (such as weapon power and defense) are balanced between players. The periodic events Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris are offered, which disable balancing. These events have their own set of bounties and allows players the chance to earn exclusive items. Iron Banner became available shortly after the launch of "Destiny" and originally only used the Control game mode; with the release of "Rise of Iron", it rotates between Control, Clash, Rift, and Supremacy. It is available during the last week of each month. Trials of Osiris was added with the "House of Wolves" expansion and uses the Elimination mode. It is available every weekend from Friday until the weekly reset on Tuesday. Players who go undefeated in this mode gain access to an exclusive social space on Mercury called The Lighthouse.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: A week prior to the launch of the "Rise of Iron" expansion, the option to make private matches was added; this option is available to all players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, regardless if they purchase "Rise of Iron". Private matches allow players to set up their own custom matches. Customization options include game mode, map, score and time limits, enabling Light level, and time of day. Players can choose the number of players for the match, including beginning a match by themselves.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Bungie described the setting of "Destiny" as a "mythic science-fiction" world. The setting, about 700 years in the future, follows a prosperous period of exploration, peace, and technological advancement known as the Golden Age. In a universe where humans have spread out and colonized planets in the Solar System, an event known as "the Collapse" saw the mysterious dissolution of these colonies, the end of the Golden Age, and mankind teetering on the brink of extinction. The only known survivors of the Collapse are those living on Earth, who were saved by "the Traveler", a white, spherical celestial body whose appearance centuries before had enabled humans to reach the stars. The Collapse was caused by a mysterious force called the Darkness, an ancient enemy of the Traveler that plagues the galaxy. The Traveler now hovers above the last safe city on Earth, simply called The Last City, which is surrounded by a massive Wall, and its presence allows the Guardians — the defenders of the City — the ability to wield an unknown power, only referred to as "Light". The player takes on the role of a Guardian, and is tasked with reviving the Traveler while investigating and destroying alien threats before humanity is completely wiped out.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Upon mankind's first attempt to repopulate and reconstruct after the Collapse, it is discovered that hostile alien races have occupied mankind's former colonies and civilizations, and are now encroaching upon the City. Throughout the game, players have to combat aggressive aliens who have occupied the Solar System. Just like the Light for the Guardians, the Darkness lends powers to these alien threats. There are five separate races in the game, each occupying different planets. Over the course of "Destiny", "Destiny 2" and their expansions, more about these races and their connection to the Traveler and the Darkness is discovered.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Every race utilizes different tactics and weapons in combat. The Fallen possess cloaking and short-range teleportation technologies to increase their mobility. The Hive use superior numbers to overwhelm their opponents in close quarters while more elite units attack from a distance. The Vex utilize hard-light shields and teleport units of infantry into the battlefield en-masse. The Cabal rely on heavy armor, ballistic shields, and jump packs to combat players. The Taken, in addition to all the other races specialties, use high mobility and plenty of long-range attacks to out-maneuver the player. The Devil Splicers, in addition to the other Fallen's tactics and weapons, use multiple, unpredictable, lightning-like shots to surprise the player and hit them even while strafing. All of these races are hostile towards each other (with the exception of the Hive and the Taken), as they can often be observed attacking one another in-game for territorial dominance. The majority of the game's lore, detailing backstory on characters, weapons, the alien races, planets, etc., was found in Grimoire cards collected throughout the game but could only be accessed through Bungie's website and the "Destiny" app.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: In addition to the player's Guardian, "Destiny" has many non-playable characters (NPCs) that aide the Guardians either in story missions, or by selling gear, weapons, or materials. The main NPCs in "Destiny" are Ghost (originally Peter Dinklage, replaced by Nolan North), a robot artificial intelligence that accompanies the Guardians; The Speaker (Bill Nighy), the representative of The Traveler; the Exo Stranger (Lauren Cohan), a mysterious female Exo who is interested in the Guardian's activities, but is not a Guardian herself; Mara Sov (Kirsten Potter), the Queen of the Reef and the Awoken, and the Kell (leader) of the Fallen House of Wolves; Prince Uldren Sov (Brandon O'Neill), the Queen's brother; Ikora Rey (Gina Torres), the Warlock Vanguard; Commander Zavala (Lance Reddick), the Titan Vanguard; Cayde-6 (Nathan Fillion), the Hunter Vanguard; and Master Rahool (Erick Avari), the Tower's Cryptarch who decodes engrams and buys curiosities from Guardians. The player's Guardian is voiced by one of six people, depending on which species and gender the player selects when creating their character: Matthew Mercer and Susan Eisenberg as the male and female Human guardians, Crispin Freeman and Grey Griffin as the male and female Awoken Guardians, and Peter Jessop and Cree Summer as the male and female Exo Guardians.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Other notable NPCs include Lord Shaxx (Lennie James), the Crucible Handler; Lakshmi-2 (Shohreh Aghdashloo), representative of Future War Cult; Arach Jalaal (Peter Stormare), representative of Dead Orbit; Executor Hideo (James Remar), representative of New Monarchy; Tess Everis (Claudia Black), Eververse Trading Company (microtransaction vendor that primarily sells emotes); Banshee-44 (John DiMaggio), the Gunsmith; Amanda Holliday (Courtenay Taylor), ship and sparrow merchant; Lord Saladin (Keith Ferguson), former Iron Banner vendor who became the main NPC of ""; Xûr (Fred Tatasciore), an Agent of the Nine and exotic items vendor; and Eva Levante (Nika Futterman), the Guardian Outfitter (vendor that sells emblems and armor shaders who later became the vendor for seasonal events, such as Festival of the Lost and The Dawning).


title: Destiny (video game)

text: Several characters were introduced in the expansions and events of "Destiny". These include Petra Venj (April Stewart), the Queen's Emissary who was introduced with the Queen's Wrath event and returned as a main NPC in "House of Wolves"; Eris Morn (Morla Gorrondona), Crota's Bane vendor that was introduced as the main NPC of "The Dark Below" as well as a main NPC of "The Taken King"; Variks the Loyal (Dee Bradley Baker), House of Judgment vendor who was introduced as a main NPC of the "House of Wolves" and is a Fallen Vandal loyal to the Queen; Master Ives (Gideon Emery), the Vestian Outpost's Cryptarch; Brother Vance (Bob O'Donnell), a Disciple of Osiris and the Trials of Osiris vendor — Osiris is a character in the lore of "Destiny"; Tyra Karn, an archivist in the Iron Temple added with "Rise of Iron" who is also a Cryptarch; Shiro-4, a scout and Vanguard vendor in the Iron Temple; and Lady Efrideet (Riva Di Paola), a former Iron Lord discovered to still be alive who took command of the Iron Banner in Saladin's place, as Saladin became focused on the SIVA Crisis.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: When the game begins, Ghost is searching among the detritus of Old Russia until it finds and resurrects the player's Guardian, who had been killed in an ancient battle—upon resurrection, Guardians have no memories of their past. Ghost then guides the Guardian to a jump ship and they take it to the Tower. There, they meet the Speaker, who briefs them about the Darkness. The Guardian is then tasked to probe the nearby Cosmodrome, where humanity used to launch its forays into outer space, fending off Fallen enemies and eventually the Hive, who were thought to have been confined to the Moon. The Guardian discovers that an old Russian Warmind called Rasputin, an AI built to defend Earth, is still alive and acting with unknown intent. The Guardian also tracks down codes to raise an ancient Array to connect it to long-lost colonies throughout the Solar System, and finds that Rasputin is controlling the Array. They then set off to the Moon in search of a lost Guardian who was looking for a way into the Hive fortress. After locating his corpse and dead Ghost, the player's Guardian's Ghost discovers that the Hive are raising an army and plan to invade Earth. The Guardian quickly sets about disrupting their efforts, including shutting down a ritual that the Hive were using to drain power from the Traveler, destroying a powerful weapon called the Sword of Crota, and severing their long-distance communications. Around this time, the Guardian is contacted by the Exo Stranger, a mysterious woman who summons them to Venus to face a new enemy, the Vex.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: When the Guardian arrives on Venus, the Exo Stranger describes the Vex as an evil so dark it despises other evil. She tells them about the Black Garden, a city where the Vex are born, and implores the Guardian to find it and rip out its heart, as it is the only way the Traveler will begin to heal. Ghost says that they need to speak to the Awoken, who lurk out in the Reef (the asteroid belt) and refuse to take sides in the galaxy's wars. The Exo Stranger then leaves, as she did not have time to explain things further. Once the Guardian arrives at the Reef, they meet the Queen of the Reef, Mara Sov, and her brother, Prince Uldren Sov, who tells the Guardian that they will help them locate the Black Garden if they bring them the head of a Vex Gate Lord. The Guardian travels back to Venus, where they uncover the Archive, which reveals secrets about the Vex, including the location of a place called the Vault of Glass, and pathways across the galaxy. After defeating Draksis, a Fallen Kell of the House of Winter, the Guardian confronts the Vex Gate Lord, claims its head, and returns to the Queen, who tells them to take its eye to the Meridian Bay on Mars, where it can be used to enter the Black Garden.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: After arriving on Mars in the Meridian Bay, Ghost informs the Guardian of its inhabitants. The Cabal have been trying to break the encryption on the Vex Gate with only limited success, but they do control many of the places that the Guardian needs to visit on Mars thanks to their Exclusion Zone, which nobody had ever penetrated. The player's Guardian becomes the first to penetrate the Exclusion Zone and heads to the Garden's Spire, which charges the Gate Lord's eye. They also travel to the Buried City, the birthplace of many technological wonders where they discover an AI that used to be linked to the Warmind of Mars, but is now controlled by Rasputin. With the Vex now present on Mars, the Guardian finds out what they are doing; they are returning to their home, the Black Garden.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: The Guardian then sets off to the Black Garden. After going through a teleporter, they find themselves in a place that is not on any map of known space and time. After several battles, the Guardian reaches the heart of the Black Garden, which the Vex appear to be worshipping. The heart summons three Sol Progeny— a group of Vex units called Eschaton Mind, Imminent Mind, and Primeval Mind. After defeating the three Sol Progeny, the heart is destroyed, returning the Guardian to Mars and lifting the shroud of Darkness from the Traveler back on Earth. At the Tower, the Speaker addresses gathered Guardians in a celebratory speech. Over in the nearby hangar, though, the player's Guardian converses with the Exo Stranger, who says that the fight is far from over.


title: Destiny (video game)

text: The heart of the Black Garden may have been destroyed, but beneath Venus, evil stirs. A team of Guardians decide to investigate the mysterious Vault of Glass ("Vault of Glass" raid), described as the "Vex underworld" by the Ishtar Collective. The Vault is a realm where the Vex can control reality, and even erase people from existence. This power is used by the most powerful denizens within the vault: a Vex sub-race called the Gorgons, a powerful Vex mind called the Templar, and Atheon, Time's Conflux. Both Atheon and the Templar utilize machines called Oracles to do so. While these powers do not extend to outside the Vault, its enigmatic nature has lured countless Guardians to their doom— the most infamous being the ill-fated fireteam of Kabr, the Legionless, which consisted of himself, Future War Cult Warlock Praedyth, and well-known hunter Pahanin. Pahanin was the only member to make it out alive; Praedyth was forever lost in the dark corners of time, and Kabr drank the radiolaria of the Oracles, and was turned into a Vex. However, in Kabr's last moments, he used his Light to leave behind an artifact, the Aegis, to help any other Guardians daring enough to follow in his footsteps. The new fireteam of Guardians make their descent, and attempt to succeed where Kabr and his fireteam failed. Using the Aegis, the Guardians manage to defeat the Templar and its Oracles. They then successfully traverse the Gorgon's labyrinth undetected before finally reaching Atheon, Time's Conflux. A central figure of the Vex Conflux network, Atheon is able to send Guardians into the distant past or future at will, and summons versions of Vex from the past and future to aid him. The Vex mind is also capable of summoning Oracles like the Templar, and attempts to erase the new Fireteam from existence. However, despite the astronomical odds, the Guardians fight their way through time, destroy the Oracles, and defeat Atheon, eliminating a major Vex threat.