title: Darick Robertson

text: In response to this project DC/Wildstorm offered Darick an exclusive contract which would also see him working on Batman and the re-launch of The Authority. However, after six issues under the DC/Wildstorm imprint the publisher elected to cancel the book despite critical acclaim and fan buzz. Robertson stated "it became obvious that DC was not the right home for The Boys," though he thanked Scott Dunbier and Ben Abernathy at Wildstorm for their support. After DC released the rights for the book back to the creators, Robertson was granted an exception to his exclusivity deal so he could continue working on projects for DC, Wildstorm and Vertigo while "The Boys" found a new publisher.


title: Darick Robertson

text: "The Boys" did not lack a home long as it was soon after picked up by Dynamite Entertainment in February 2007. In 2008 "The Boys" was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series as well as a GLAAD Media Award, and is now under development through Kickstart Entertainment and Original Film for Columbia Pictures. Subsequently, Columbia put The Boys into turnaround and it was picked up by Paramount Pictures Darick left the monthly art chores on "The Boys" with issue 43. Darick focused his attention on the six issue origin story "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" that focused on the BOYS central character Billy Butcher. The collected 6 issues made the New York Times bestseller list in April 2012.


title: Darick Robertson

text: Robertson wrote and drew "The Weight of the Crown", a Conan the Barbarian one-shot for Dark Horse comics, released in January 2010, as well as a 16-page prequel to the story, originally published by Dark Horse Presents entitled "The Mad King Of Gaul".


title: Darick Robertson

text: Annual 2010, The CBLDF Presents: Liberty Comics (2008), Annual 2010 (Conan Variant), Malibu Signature Series (1993)


title: Darick Robertson

text: The New Warriors (1990) Annual 03 & Annual 04, Power Rangers (1995), Ripfire (1995) #0 - 'Genesis', Rune (1994) #3 - 'The Spoils of War', Space Beaver (1986) #1 - #11, Spider-Man (1990) Super Special 1, Spider-Man Team-Up (1995) #5, Spiderman/New Warriors: Fuerzas de la Oscuridad (1994)#4, - 'La Insoportable Oscuridad del Ser', Ultraverse Premiere (1993).


title: Darick Robertson

text: In 2012 Image Comics released the four issue mini-series "HAPPY!" co-created with Eisner Award-winning writer Grant Morrison. Critically acclaimed and best selling, "HAPPY!" marks the first collaboration of Image Comics, Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson. The story centered around a beat down New York Detective turned hitman, Nick Sax, who awakes from a heart attack to a conversation with a perpetually upbeat "Unipixisus" (as named by Robertson's son), who calls himself "Happy The Horse" and takes the shape of a little blue flying donkey with a Unicorn horn. The creature is a little girl's imaginary friend and she is in danger. Only Nick Sax can save her as only Nick can see or hear Happy. It's an unusual buddy story and caught the attention of The RZA and Producer Reginald Hudlin who have expressed their desire to adapt the comic into a film. Harry Knowles' "Ain't It Cool News" announced Darick Robertson as one of their BEST ARTIST picks for their 9th Annual AICN COMICS @$$IE AWARDS, citing his work on "HAPPY!".


title: Darick Robertson

text: In 2013 Robertson launched the 5-issue series "Ballistic", "a psychedelic, transreal, hard sci-fi adventure" with co-creator and writer Adam Egypt Mortimer, from Black Mask Studios.


title: Darick Robertson

text: The series was well reviewed but struggled to find an audience on its initial release. A collection is due in 2015.


title: Darick Robertson

text: "Oliver" is a steampunk-inspired reinterpretation of the classic "Oliver Twist", set in a post-apocalyptic London. It was co-created with writer Gary Whitta based on a screenplay he wrote in 2001. "Oliver" was published as a four-issue series by Image Comics in 2015.


title: Darick Robertson

text: On September 9, 2020, Grasshopper Manufacture's official Twitter page confirmed that Darick Robertson would contribute to No More Heroes III's promotional material by providing several illustrations and designed the game's cover art. Darick is one of the few western guest artists to join the development team of the game.


title: Darick Robertson

text: In 2021, Darick Robertson drew the series Space Bastards written by Eric Peterson and Joe Aubrey with additional art by Simon Bisley. The series was collected in two volumes


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Fatima Bhutto (; , born 29 May 1982) is a Pakistani writer and columnist. Born in Kabul, she is the daughter of politician Murtaza Bhutto, sister of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr, niece of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and granddaughter of former Prime Minister and President of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. She was raised in Syria and Karachi, and received her bachelor's degree from Barnard College, followed by a master's degree from the SOAS University of London.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Bhutto is a critic of her aunt Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, whom she accused of being involved in her father's murder. Her non-fiction book, "Songs Of Blood And Sword" (2010), is about her family. Bhutto has written for "The News" and "The Guardian" among other publications.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Bhutto was born on 29 May 1982 to Murtaza Bhutto and an Afghan mother, Fauzia Fasihudin Bhutto, the daughter of Afghanistan's former foreign affairs official in Kabul. Her father was in exile during the military regime of general Zia-ul-Haq. Her parents divorced when she was three years old and her father took Bhutto with him moving from country to country and she grew up effectively stateless. Her father met Ghinwa Bhutto, a Lebanese ballet teacher in 1989 during his exile in Syria and they married. Bhutto considers Ghinwa as her real mother. Her half-brother Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr. is an artist based in San Francisco.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Bhutto is the granddaughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Nusrat Bhutto, an Iranian Kurd, niece of Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, and Shahnawaz Bhutto. Her father was killed by the police in 1996 in Karachi during the premiership of his sister, Benazir Bhutto. Her biological mother Fauzia Fasihudin unsuccessfully tried to gain parental custody of Bhutto. She lives with her stepmother in Old Clifton, Karachi.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Bhutto received her secondary education at the Karachi American School. She received B.A. degree "summa cum laude", majoring in Middle Eastern and Asian languages and cultures from Barnard College, an affiliated women's liberal arts college of Columbia University, in New York, U.S. in 2004. She received her M.A. in South Asian Studies from the SOAS, University of London in 2005, there she wrote her dissertation on the resistance movement in Pakistan.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: In 1998, at the age of 15, Bhutto published her first book named "Whispers of The Desert". Her second book "8.50 a.m. 8 October 2005" marks the moment of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake; it records accounts of those affected.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Bhutto's family memoir "Songs of Blood and Sword" was published in 2010. In the book Bhutto accuses her aunt Benazir and her husband Asif Zardari for killing her father Murtaza. The book got mixed to negative review from critics for being biased on history of her family. Several family members have accused her of falsifying information.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: In November 2013, her first fictional novel "The Shadow Of The Crescent Moon" published. The book had long-listed in 2014 for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. In 2015 Bhutto's short story titled "Democracy", an e-book, under Penguin Books was released.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: In 2019, her second novel,"The Runaways" was published. The book explore three young Muslim men's journey to radicalization. The novel received critical acclaim for its subject. In October of the same year , "New Kings of the World: Dispatches from Bollywood, Dizi and K-Pop" was published. Tash Aw in the "Financial Times" described it as a "razor-sharp, intriguing introduction to the various pop phenomena emerging from Asia."


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: Following the assassination of her aunt, Benazir Bhutto in 2007, there was speculation over her entrance into politics. In an interview, she has stated that for now she prefers to remain active through her activism and writing, rather than through elected office and that she has to "rule a political career out entirely because of the effect of dynasties on Pakistan", referring to the Bhutto family dynasty and its ties to Pakistani politics. Although Bhutto is politically active, she is not affiliated with any political party.


title: Fatima Bhutto

text: About her religious faith, Bhutto said at an interview, that she is a cultural muslim and describes herself as a secularist. Bhutto has defended Islam on many occasions and supported Muslim women's right to wear burqa. She is fluent in Urdu, Persian, Arabic, and English.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The historical reliability of the Gospels is the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. While all four canonical gospels contain some sayings and events which may meet one or more of the five criteria for historical reliability used in biblical studies, the assessment and evaluation of these elements is a matter of ongoing debate. Virtually all scholars of antiquity agree that a human Jesus existed, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the biblical accounts of Jesus, and the only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. Elements whose historical authenticity is disputed include the two accounts of the Nativity of Jesus, the miraculous events including the resurrection, and certain details about the crucifixion.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: According to the majority viewpoint, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, collectively referred to as the Synoptic Gospels, are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and of the religious movement he founded. The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, differs greatly from the first three gospels. Historians often study the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles when studying the reliability of the gospels, as Acts was seemingly written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Among scholars, a growing majority considers the Gospels to be in the genre of Ancient Greco-Roman biographies, the same genre as Plutarch's "Life of Alexander" and "Life of Caesar". Typically, ancient biographies written shortly after the death of the subject include substantial history.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Historians subject the gospels to critical analysis, attempting to differentiate, rather than authenticate, reliable information from possible inventions, exaggerations, and alterations. Scholars use textual criticism to resolve questions arising from textual variations among the numerous manuscripts that have been discovered to decide the most reliable wording of a text as close to what the "original" may have looked like. Scholars seek to answer questions of authorship, date and purpose of composition, and look at internal and external sources to determine the degree of reliability of the gospel traditions.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: In evaluating the historical reliability of the Gospels, scholars consider authorship and date of composition, intention and genre, gospel sources and oral tradition, textual criticism, and historical authenticity of specific sayings and narrative events.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: "Gospels" is the standard term for the four New Testament books carrying the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, each telling of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (including his dealings with John the Baptist, his trial and execution, the discovery of his empty tomb, and, at least for three of them, his appearances to his disciples following his death).


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The genre of the gospels is essential in understanding the intentions of the authors regarding the historical value of the texts. New Testament scholar Graham Stanton states that "the gospels are now widely considered to be a sub-set of the broad ancient literary genre of biographies." Charles H. Talbert agrees that the gospels should be grouped with the Graeco-Roman biographies, but adds that such biographies included an element of mythology, and that the synoptic gospels also included elements of mythology. E.P. Sanders states that "these Gospels were written with the intention of glorifying Jesus and are not strictly biographical in nature." Ingrid Maisch and Anton Vögtle writing for Karl Rahner in his encyclopedia of theological terms indicate that the gospels were written primarily as theological, not historical items. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis notes that "we must conclude, then, that the genre of the Gospel is not that of pure 'history'; but neither is it that of myth, fairy tale, or legend. In fact, 'gospel' constitutes a genre all its own, a surprising novelty in the literature of the ancient world."


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Scholars tend to consider Luke's works (Luke-Acts) to be closer in genre to "pure" history, although they also note that "This is not to say that he [Luke] was always reliably informed, or that – any more than modern historians – he always presented a severely factual account of events."


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: New Testament scholar, James D.G. Dunn believes that "the earliest tradents within the Christian churches [were] preservers more than innovators...seeking to transmit, retell, explain, interpret, elaborate, but not create "de novo"...Through the main body of the Synoptic tradition, I believe, we have in most cases direct access to the teaching and ministry of Jesus as it was remembered from the beginning of the transmission process (which often predates Easter) and so fairly direct access to the ministry and teaching of Jesus through the eyes and ears of those who went about with him." Nevertheless, David Jenkins, a former Anglican Bishop of Durham and university professor, has stated that "Certainly not! There is absolutely no certainty in the New Testament about anything of importance."


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Critical scholars have developed a number of criteria to evaluate the probability, or historical authenticity, of an attested event or saying represented in the gospels. These criteria are the criterion of dissimilarity; the criterion of embarrassment; the criterion of multiple attestation; the criterion of cultural and historical congruency; the criterion of "Aramaisms". They are applied to the sayings and events as described in the Gospels, in order to evaluate their historical reliability.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The criterion of dissimilarity argues that if a saying or action is dissimilar to, or contrary to, the views of Judaism in the context of Jesus or the views of the early church, then it can more confidently be regarded as an authentic saying or action of Jesus. One commonly cited example of this is Jesus' controversial reinterpretation of the Mosaic law in his Sermon on the Mount, or Peter's decision to allow uncircumcised gentiles into what was, at the time, a sect of Judaism.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The criterion of embarrassment holds that the authors of the gospels had no reason to invent embarrassing incidents such as the denial of Jesus by Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus' followers after his arrest, and therefore such details would likely not have been included unless they were true. Bart Ehrman, using the criterion of dissimilarity to judge the historical reliability of the claim Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, notes that "it is hard to imagine a Christian inventing the story of Jesus' baptism since this could be taken to mean that he was John's subordinate."


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The criterion of multiple attestation says that when two or more independent sources present similar or consistent accounts, it is more likely that the accounts are accurate reports of events or that they are reporting a tradition which pre-dates the sources themselves. This is often used to note that the four gospels attest to most of the same events, but that Paul's epistles often attest to these events as well, as do the writings of the early church, and to a limited degree non-Christian ancient writings.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The criterion of cultural and historical congruency says that a source is less credible if the account contradicts known historical facts, or if it conflicts with cultural practices common in the period in question. It is, therefore, more credible if it agrees with those known facts. For example, this is often used when assessing the reliability of claims in Luke-Acts, such as the official title of Pontius Pilate. Through linguistic criteria a number of conclusions can be drawn.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The criterion of "Aramaisms" as it is often referred holds that if a saying of Jesus has Aramaic roots, reflecting Jesus' Palestinian context, the saying is more likely to be authentic.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: In the immediate aftermath of Jesus' death his followers expected him to return at any moment, certainly within their own lifetimes, and in consequence there was little motivation to write anything down for future generations; but as eyewitnesses began to die, and as the missionary needs of the church grew, there was an increasing demand and need for written versions of the founder's life and teachings. The stages of this process can be summarised as follows:


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The New Testament preserves signs of these oral traditions and early documents: for example, parallel passages between Matthew, Mark and Luke on one hand and the Pauline epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews on the other are typically explained by assuming that all were relying on a shared oral tradition, and the dedicatory preface of Luke refers to previous written accounts of the life of Jesus. The early traditions were fluid and subject to alteration, sometimes transmitted by those who had known Jesus personally, but more often by wandering prophets and teachers like the Apostle Paul, who knew him through visionary experiences. The early prophets and leaders of local Christian communities and their followers were more focused on the Kingdom of God than on the life of Jesus: Paul for example, says very little about him beyond that he was "born of a woman" (meaning that he was a man and not a phantom), that he was a Jew, and that he suffered, died, and was resurrected: what mattered for Paul was not Jesus's teachings or the details of his death and resurrection, but the kingdom.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The four canonical gospels were first mentioned between 120 and 150 by Justin Martyr, who lived c.100-185. Justin had no titles for them and simply called them the "memoirs of the Apostles", but around 185 Iraneus, a bishop of Lyon who lived c.130–c.202, attributed them to: 1) Matthew, an apostle who followed Jesus in his earthly career; 2) Mark, who while himself not a disciple was the companion of Peter, who was; 3) Luke, the companion of Paul, the author of the Pauline epistles; and 4) John, who like Matthew was an apostle who had known Jesus. The scholarly consensus is that they are the work of unknown Christians and were composed c.68-110 AD. The majority of New Testament scholars agree that the Gospels do not contain eyewitness accounts; but that they present the theologies of their communities rather than the testimony of eyewitnesses.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they share many stories (the technical term is pericopes), sometimes even identical wording; finding an explanation for their similarities, and also their differences, is known as the synoptic problem, and most scholars believe that the best solution to the problem is that Mark was the first gospel to be written and served as the source for the other two - alternative theories exist, but create more problems than they solve.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Matthew and Luke also share a large amount of material which is not found in Mark; this appears in the same order in each, although not always in the same contexts, leading scholars to the conclusion that in addition to Mark they also shared a lost source called the Q document (from "Quelle", the German word for "source); its existence and use alongside Mark by the authors of Matthew and Luke seems the most convincing solution to the synoptic problem.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Matthew and Luke contain some material unique to each, called the M source (or Special Matthew) for Matthew and the L source (Special Luke) for Luke. This includes some of the best-known stories in the gospels, such as the birth of Christ and the parables of the good Samaritan (apparently an invention by the author of Luke) and the "pearl of great price".


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The Hebrew scriptures were also an important source for all three, and for John. Direct quotations number 27 in Mark, 54 in Matthew, 24 in Luke, and 14 in John, and the influence of the scriptures is vastly increased when allusions and echoes are included. Half of Mark's gospel, for example, is made up of allusions to and citations of the scriptures, which he uses to structure his narrative and to present his understanding of the ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus (for example, the final cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is an exact quotation from Psalm 22:1). Matthew contains all Mark's quotations and introduces around 30 more, sometimes in the mouth of Jesus, sometimes as his own commentary on the narrative, and Luke makes allusions to all but three of the Old Testament books.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Tradition holds that the gospel was written by Mark the Evangelist, St. Peter's interpreter, but its reliance on several underlying sources, varying in form and in theology, makes this unlikely. Most scholars believe it was written shortly before or after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70, and internal evidence suggests that it probably originated in Syria or Palestine among a Christian community consisting at least partly of non-Jews who spoke Greek rather than Aramaic and did not understand Jewish culture.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Scholars since the 19th century have regarded Mark as the first of the gospels (called the theory of Markan priority). Markan priority led to the belief that Mark must be the most reliable of the gospels, but today there is a large consensus that the author of Mark was not intending to write history. Mark preserves memories of real people (including the disciples), places and circumstances, but it is based on previously existing traditions which have been selected and arranged by the author to express his understanding of the significance of Jesus.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: In 1901 William Wrede demonstrated that Mark was not a simple historical account of the life of Jesus but a work of theology compiled by an author who was a creative artist. Among the works that the author of Mark may have drawn from include the Elijah-Elisha narrative in the Book of Kings and the Pauline letters, notably 1 Corinthians, as well as the works of Homer.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Advancing a minority view among scholars, Maurice Casey argued that Mark's gospel contains traces of literal translations of Aramaic sources, and that this implies, in some cases, a in the lifetime of Jesus and a very early date for the gospel.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The consensus of scholars dates Matthew and Luke to 80-90 AD. The scholarly consensus is that Matthew originated in a "Matthean community" in the city of Antioch, located in modern-day Turkey; Luke was written in a large city west of Palestine, for an educated Greek-speaking audience.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Scholars doubt that the authors were the evangelists Matthew and Luke: it seems unlikely, for example, that Matthew would rely so heavily on Mark if its author had been an eyewitness to Jesus's ministry, or that the Acts of Apostles (by the same author as the gospel of Luke) would so frequently contradict the Pauline letters if its author had been Paul's companion. Instead, the two took for their sources the gospel of Mark (606 of Matthew's verses are taken from Mark, 320 of Luke's), the Q source, and the "special" material of M and L.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Mark has 661 verses, 637 of which are reproduced in Matthew and/or Luke. Matthew and Luke share a further 200 verses (roughly) which are not taken from Mark: this is called the Q source. Q is usually dated about a decade earlier than Mark; some scholars argue that it was a single written document, others for multiple documents, and others that there was a core written Q accompanied by an oral tradition. Despite ongoing debate over its exact content - some Q materials in Matthew and Luke are identical word for word, but others are substantially different - there is general consensus about the passages that belong to it. It has no passion story and no resurrection, but the Aramaic form of some sayings suggests that its nucleus reaches back to the earliest Palestinian community and even the lifetime of Jesus.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Identifying the community of Q and the circumstances in which it was created and used is difficult, but it probably originated in Galilee, in a movement in opposition to the leadership in Jerusalem, as a set of short speeches relating to specific occasions such as covenant-renewal, the commissioning of missionaries, prayers for the Kingdom of God, and calling down divine judgement on their enemies the Pharisees. A large majority of scholars consider it to be among the oldest and most reliable material in the gospels.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The premise that Matthew and Luke used sources in addition to Mark and Q is fairly widely accepted, although many details are disputed, including whether they were written or oral, or the invention of the gospel authors, or Q material that happened to be used by only one gospel, or a combination of these.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The Gospel of John is a relatively late theological document containing little accurate historical information that is not found in the three synoptic gospels, which is why most historical studies have been based on the earliest sources Mark and Q. It speaks of an unnamed "disciple whom Jesus loved" as the source of its traditions, but does not say specifically that he is its author; Christian tradition identifies him as John the Apostle, but the majority of modern scholars have abandoned this or hold it only tenuously. Most scholars believe it was written "c". 90–110 AD, at Ephesus in Anatolia (although other possibilities are Antioch, Northern Syria, Palestine and Alexandria)


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: and went through two or three "editions" before reaching its final form, although a minority continue to support unitary composition.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The fact that the format of John follows that set by Mark need not imply that the author knew Mark, for there are no identical or almost-identical passages; rather, this was most probably the accepted shape for a gospel by the time John was written. Nevertheless, John's discourses are full of synoptic-like material: some scholars think this indicates that the author knew the synoptics, although others believe it points instead to a shared base in the oral tradition. John nevertheless differs radically from them:


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Textual criticism resolves questions arising from the variations between texts: put another way, it seeks to decide the most reliable wording of a text. Ancient scribes made errors or alterations (such as including non-authentic additions). In attempting to determine the original text of the New Testament books, some modern textual critics have identified sections as additions of material, centuries after the gospel was written. These are called interpolations. In modern translations of the Bible, the results of textual criticism have led to certain verses, words and phrases being left out or marked as not original.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: For example, there are a number of Bible verses in the New Testament that are present in the King James Version (KJV) but are absent from most modern Bible translations. Most modern textual scholars consider these verses interpolations (exceptions include advocates of the Byzantine or Majority text). The verse numbers have been reserved, but without any text, so as to preserve the traditional numbering of the remaining verses. The biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman notes that many current verses were not part of the original text of the New Testament. "These scribal additions are often found in late medieval manuscripts of the New Testament, but not in the manuscripts of the earlier centuries," he adds. "And because the King James Bible is based on later manuscripts, such verses "became part of the Bible tradition in English-speaking lands." He notes, however, that modern English translations, such as the New International Version, were written by using a more appropriate textual method.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Most modern Bibles have footnotes to indicate passages that have disputed source documents. Bible Commentaries also discuss these, sometimes in great detail. While many variations have been discovered between early copies of biblical texts, most of these are variations in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. Also, many of these variants are so particular to the Greek language that they would not appear in translations into other languages.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Three of the most important interpolations are the last verses of the "Gospel of Mark" the story of the adulterous woman in the "Gospel of John", and the explicit reference to the Trinity in 1 John to have been a later addition.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The New Testament has been preserved in more than 5,800 fragmentary Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Ethiopic and Armenian. Not all biblical manuscripts come from orthodox Christian writers. For example, the Gnostic writings of Valentinus come from the 2nd century AD, and these Christians were regarded as heretics by the mainstream church. The sheer number of witnesses presents unique difficulties, although it gives scholars a better idea of how close modern bibles are to the original versions. Bruce Metzger says "The more often you have copies that agree with each other, especially if they emerge from different geographical areas, the more you can cross-check them to figure out what the original document was like. The only way they'd agree would be where they went back genealogically in a family tree that represents the descent of the manuscripts.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: In ""The Text Of The New Testament"", Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland compare the total number of variant-free verses, and the number of variants per page (excluding spelling errors), among the seven major editions of the Greek NT (Tischendorf, Westcott-Hort, von Soden, Vogels, Merk, Bover and Nestle-Aland), concluding that 62.9%, or 4,999/7,947, are in agreement. They concluded, "Thus in nearly two-thirds of the New Testament text, the seven editions of the Greek New Testament which we have reviewed are in complete accord, with no differences other than in orthographical details (e.g., the spelling of names). Verses in which any one of the seven editions differs by a single word are not counted. ... In the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation the agreement is less, while in the letters it is much greater" Per Aland and Aland, the total consistency achieved in the Gospel of Matthew was 60% (642 verses out of 1,071), the total consistency achieved in the Gospel of Mark was 45% (306 verses out of 678), the total consistency achieved in the Gospel of Luke was 57% (658 verses out of 1,151), and the total consistency achieved in the Gospel of John was 52% (450 verses out of 869). Almost all of these variants are minor, and most of them are spelling or grammatical errors. Almost all can be explained by some type of unintentional scribal mistake, such as poor eyesight. Very few variants are contested among scholars, and few or none of the contested variants carry any theological significance. Modern biblical translations reflect this scholarly consensus where the variants exist, while the disputed variants are typically noted as such in the translations.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: A quantitative study on the stability of the New Testament compared early manuscripts to later manuscripts, up to the Middle Ages, with the Byzantine manuscripts, and concluded that the text had more than 90% stability over this time period. It has been estimated that only 0.1% to 0.2% of the New Testament variants impact the meaning of the texts in any significant fashion.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Authors such as Raymond Brown point out that the Gospels contradict each other in various important respects and on various important details. W. D. Davies and E. P. Sanders state that: "on many points, especially about Jesus' early life, the evangelists were ignorant … they simply did not know and, guided by rumour, hope or supposition, did the best they could".


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The genealogy, birth and childhood of Jesus appear only in Matthew and Luke, and are ascribed to Special Matthew and Special Luke.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Only Luke and Matthew have nativity narratives. Modern critical scholars consider both to be non-historical. Many biblical scholars view the discussion of historicity as secondary, given that gospels were primarily written as theological documents rather than historical accounts.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The nativity narratives found in the Gospel of Matthew () and the Gospel of Luke () give a genealogy of Jesus, but the names, and even the number of generations, differ between the two. Some authors have suggested that the differences are the result of two different lineages, Matthew's from King David's son, Solomon, to Jacob, father of Joseph, and Luke's from King David's other son, Nathan, to Heli, father of Mary and father-in-law of Joseph. However, Geza Vermes argues that Luke makes no mention of Mary, and questions what purpose a maternal genealogy would serve in a Jewish setting.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Both Luke and Matthew date Jesus' birth to within the rule of King Herod the Great, who died in 4BC. However the Gospel of Luke also dates the birth ten years after Herod's death, during the census of Quirinius in 6 AD described by the historian Josephus. Raymond E. Brown notes that "most critical scholars acknowledge a confusion and misdating on Luke's part."


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: According to John P. Meier, only a few of the parables can be attributed with confidence to the historical Jesus, although other scholars disagree Meier argues that most of them come from the M and L sources (rather than Mark or Q), but marked by the special language and theology of each of those gospels; this leads to the conclusion that they are not the original words of Jesus, but have been reworked by the gospel-authors.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem recalls the entry of Judas Maccabeus; the Last Supper is mentioned only in the synoptics.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: There is a contradiction regarding the death of Judas Iscariot with the account of his death in Acts differing from the one given in Matthew. In –, Judas returns the bribe he has been given for handing over Jesus, throwing the money into the temple before he hangs himself. The temple priests, unwilling to return the defiled money to the treasury, use it instead to buy a field known as the Potter's Field, as a plot in which to bury strangers. In Acts 1:18 Peter says that Judas used the bribe money to buy the field himself, and his death is attributed to injuries from having fallen in this field. Some apologists argue that the contradictory stories can be reconciled.


title: Historical reliability of the Gospels

text: Archaeological tools are very limited with respect to questions of existence of any specific individuals from the ancient past. According to Eric Cline, there is no direct archaeological evidence of the existence of a historical Jesus, any of the apostles, or the majority of people in antiquity. Bart Ehrman states that having no archeological evidence is not an argument for the non-existence of Jesus because we have no archaeological evidence from anyone else from Jesus's day either. Craig Evans notes that archaeologists have some indirect information on how Jesus' life might have been from archaeological finds from Nazareth, the High Priest Caiaphas' ossuary, numerous synagogue buildings, and Jehohanan, a crucified victim who had a Jewish burial after execution. Archaeologists have uncovered a site in Capernaum which is traditionally believed, with "no definitive proof" and based only upon circumstantial evidence, to have been the House of Peter, and which may thus possibly have housed Jesus. Some of the places mentioned in the gospels have been verified by archaeological evidence, such as the Pool of Bethesda, the Pool of Siloam, and the Temple Mount platform extension by King Herod. A mosaic from a third century church in Megiddo mentions Jesus. A geological study based on sediments near the Dead Sea indicate that an earthquake occurred around 31 AD ± 5 years, which plausibly coincides with the earthquake reported by Matthew 27 near the time of the crucifixion of Christ.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, also called Kartarpur Sahib, is a gurdwara in Kartarpur, located in Shakargarh, Narowal District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is built on the historic site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, settled and assembled the Sikh community after his missionary travels ("udasis" to Haridwar, Mecca-Medina, Lanka, Baghdad, Kashmir and Nepal) and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: The gurdwara is also notable for its location near the border between Pakistan and India. The shrine is visible from the Indian side of the border. Indian Sikhs gather in large numbers on bluffs to perform "darshan", or sacred viewing of the site, from the Indian side of the border. The Kartarpur Corridor was opened by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on 9 November 2019, the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and just days before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. This historic moment officially allowed Indian Sikh pilgrims rare visa-free access to the site in Pakistan. It is also claimed to be the largest gurdwara in the world.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib is located in the Shakargarh Tehsil of the Narowal District in Punjab, Pakistan. It is a top tourist attraction for people visiting Pakistan. The shrine is located five kilometres from the Indo-Pakistani border.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: The gurdwara was built to commemorate the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, settled after his missionary work and did farming. Guru Nanak founded the Kartarpur town by Ravi River in 1504, plowing the fields and setting up a community kitchen, or Langar. He assembled a Sikh commune there, and lived for 18 years until his death on 22 September 1539. The gurdwara is built where Guru Nanak is said to have died. It is therefore the second holiest site of the Sikh religion after Gurdwara Janam Asthan – the birthplace of Guru Nanak located in Nankana Sahib, Pakistan.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: Here, Guru Nanak gave the three principles of "Kirat Karo, Naam Japo, Wand Chako," which means work hard for a livelihood, keep remembering the God and share your bounties with the world. Guru's teachings have been peace, harmony and universal brotherhood. Guru Nanak believed in equality between castes, religions, and genders and gave the word "Ik Onkar" meaning there is only one God.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: According to Lahore-based art historian Fakr Syed Aijazuddin, the shrine houses the last copies of the original Guru Granth Sahib. A Sikh pilgrim remarked, "every step here reminds us of the Guru's life". Indian Sikhs gather in large numbers on bluffs on the Indian side of the border to obtain "darshan", or sacred viewing, of the site.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: As per popular legend, after Guru Nanak died, there was a dispute between the local Hindus and Muslims. Muslims, who saw him as their pir, wanted to bury him while Hindus, who claimed Nanak as their guru, wanted to cremate his body. But the legend follows that Guru Nanak's body was turned into flowers, which were then divided between the two communities.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: The Shrine is located at Kartarpur, a small town beside the River Ravi in Punjab and it is one of the holiest places for up to 30 million Sikhs around the world. The main shrine building was built in 1925 at a cost of Rs. 1,35,600, donated by Sardar Bhupindar Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala. It was repaired by the Government of Pakistan in 1995, and fully restored in 2004, at a significant cost. In May 2017, the US-based NGO "EcoSikh" proposed establishment of a 100-acre "sacred forest" around the shrine. The Gurdwara was further expanded in November 2018 with the construction of a new courtyard, museum, library, dormitories and locker rooms spread across an area of 42 acres (17 hectares). There is a 20-foot well, made of small red bricks which is 500 years old and believed to have been built during the lifetime of Guru Nanak Dev.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: The call for a visa-free Kartarpur Sahib corridor was an old, strong, persistent demand from the Sikh community. The move was mooted first during the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus ride to Lahore in 1999, while Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf approved the idea in 2000, and issued various tenders for construction purposes. India, however, maintained that the two-decade-old request has been lying pending with Pakistan. As the shrine lies only 3 kilometers from the border with India, Pakistan, in the year 2000, agreed to allow Sikh pilgrims from India to visit the shrine visa-free by constructing a bridge from the border to the shrine.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: In May 2017, Indian parliamentary standing committee members announced that no such corridor would be established, given the poor state of India-Pakistan relations. Instead, it was said that the government of India might install four binoculars for viewing the site from Dera Baba Nanak situated close to the India–Pakistan border in the Gurdaspur district of the Indian state of Punjab.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: In August 2018, then Tourism Minister of the Government of Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu was invited to the oath-taking ceremony of his friend from cricketing days and newly-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. After facing criticism for receiving a hug from General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of the Pakistan Army, Sidhu claimed that Bajwa had assured him of opening the corridor before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: The Government of Pakistan in September 2018, unilaterally decided to open the corridor before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak for visa-free entry of 5000 Indian Sikhs per day from India to Pakistan. The Government of India approved the building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International India–Pakistan border. The long-awaited Kartarpur Corridor is taking shape and has been termed a “Corridor of Peace. The step was welcomed by Sikh community across the world. After the corridor opening was confirmed by Pakistan's information minister Fawad Chaudhry, Navjot Singh Sidhu appreciated the friendly gesture of Imran Khan. Kartarpur Corridor was welcomed by United Nations and United States Department of State.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: Ahead of Guru Nanak Dev's 550th Prakash Purab celebrations the Kartarpur corridor, connecting Sri Darbar Sahib Dera Baba Nanak in India's Punjab with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, was thrown open on 9 November 2019 (the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall) facilitating the first Jatha (batch) of more than 550 pilgrims to travel to the last resting place of Guru Nanak Dev. On Indian side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan for respecting sentiments of Indians and flagged off the pilgrimage and handed over the flag of the Jatha to Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Harpreet Singh.


title: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

text: Under the leadership of Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, the Jatha traveled through the corridor into Pakistan to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur. On Pakistan side, Imran Khan received the pilgrims and formally inaugurated the Kartarpur corridor by removing a curtain that was lifted by hot air balloons to reveal a huge Kirpan (dagger). Giani Harpreet Singh, speaking at the occasion, thanked both governments for corridor and requested corridor access to Pakistani Sikhs to pay obeisance at Sri Darbar Sahib Dera Baba Nanak on Indian side. Poetry about Guru Nanak, from Muhammad Iqbal's Bang-e-Dara was read by former Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and also by Pakistani speakers at inauguration.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Vishen Lakhiani (born 14 January 1976) is a Malaysian entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker, of Indian descent. He is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley and the author of two books: "The Code of the Extraordinary Mind" and "The Buddha and the Badass".


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Lakhiani attended Malaysian government school. After graduating from high school, he moved to the United States and attended the University of Michigan where he received a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 2001, he moved to Silicon Valley.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Mindvalley is an educational technology company co-founded by Vishen Lakhiani and Michael Reining that publishes products focused on personal spiritual development and lifelong learning, such as the meditation app Omvana. Founded in New York City in December 2002, Reining and Lakhiani were forced to relocate Mindvalley to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2004 when the United States declined to renew Lakhiani's work visa. Mindvalley is an education company that offers teaching programs on mindfulness, meditation, personal growth, fitness, and health.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: In late 2020, Mindvalley added a course on accessing altered states of mind and intuition called the Silva Method hosted by Lakhiani.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Dealmates was a Malaysian-based e-commerce site that Lakhiani founded on 1 November 2010 with Patrick Grove as part of a joint-venture between Catcha Group and Mindvalley. Dealmates allegedly offered discounts from fashion, beauty, cosmetics, electronics and other vendors with allegedly over 30,000 visitors a day.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Blinklist was a social bookmarking service, allowed users to organize their bookmarks based on keyword tags, see how others rated their bookmarks and view recently added, popular, or hot public bookmarks. The site has been turned into a tech-related blog featuring stories about startups and apps.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Lakhiani has also founded A-Fest, an invite-only conference offering training in entrepreneurship and mindfulness.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: In May 2016, Vishen Lakhiani published the self-help book "The Code of the Extraordinary Mind" through Rodale, Inc. In the book, Lakhiani argues that a person's outlook on life is shaped by conditioning and habit, and offers 10 laws to help readers break free of this mindset. After its release, the book reached No. 10 on the "New York Times Bestseller List for Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous".


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: In 2020 Vishen's second book "The Buddha & the Badass<nowiki>"</nowiki> was published by Penguin-RandomHouse. The book peaked at number No. 1 on the Wall Street Journal Business Hardcover List and No. 9 on the New York Times How-To list.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: At XPRIZE's Visioneering Event in 2015, Lakhiani was a member of the team that won the audience's vote for the best new XPRIZE Idea, involving housing for refugees.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Lakhiani was named "Most Strategic Entrepreneur" in the SME & Entrepreneurship Business Award, Malaysia, in 2017. The Award is an annual recognition program organized by Yayasan Usahawan Malaysia.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Lakhiani is an AIESEC alumnus who speaks or advises in active support of both AIESEC and AIESEC Alumni International endeavors.


title: Vishen Lakhiani

text: Vishen Lakhiani was a recipient of two awards at Estonian Startup Awards 2020 for his work on Mindvalley. Foreign Founder of the Year and Bootstrap Badger of the Year for scaling Mindvalley with minimal venture capital. The Foreign Founder of the Year award was presented to him by Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: "What If... Ultron Won?" is the eighth episode of the American animated television series "What If...?", based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores what would happen if the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film "" (2015) occurred differently, with Ultron using the Infinity Stones to kill virtually all life in the universe after successfully transferring his consciousness into Vision's body. It also serves to set up the first season's finale, as Ultron finds a way to traverse to other universes (established in the previous episodes), threatening the balance of the multiverse. The episode was written by story editor Matthew Chauncey and directed by Bryan Andrews.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Jeffrey Wright narrates the series as the Watcher, with this episode also starring the voices of Jeremy Renner, Lake Bell, Toby Jones, Ross Marquand (Ultron), Josh Keaton, Mick Wingert, Alexandra Daniels, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The series began development by September 2018, with Andrews joining soon after, and many actors expected to reprise their roles from the MCU films. Animation for the episode was provided by Flying Bark Productions, Squeeze, and Stellar Creative Lab, with Stephan Franck serving as head of animation.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: "What If... Ultron Won?" was released on Disney+ on September 29, 2021. Critics praised the episode for its visuals, action, high-stakes storyline, and the vocal performances of Wright, Renner and Bell, but criticized certain aspects of the story.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Tony Stark creates the "Ultron" global defense program to keep the Earth safe and create world peace. However, Ultron goes rogue and concludes that rather than peace, the Earth needs an evolution, leading him to have the body of Vision created for himself and transfer his programming into Vision. Now with a new body, Ultron proceeds to kill Stark and most of the Avengers before launching nuclear missiles around the Earth, eradicating most of humanity.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Shortly after, Thanos arrives, seeking the Mind Stone to complete the Infinity Gauntlet, but Ultron bisects him and takes the Infinity Stones for himself, becoming aware of the wider universe. Using the Stones, Ultron builds an army of Sentries and a teleporting spaceship before proceeding to destroy several planets and kill most of the universe's remaining life. With his mission complete, Ultron is left without a purpose until he hears the Watcher's narration and becomes aware of the Multiverse's existence.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Meanwhile, surviving Avengers Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton fight to survive Ultron's forces, though Barton is losing the will to live. Arriving in Moscow, they search KGB files in the hopes of defeating Ultron, finding one for Arnim Zola, a Hydra scientist whose consciousness was uploaded into a computer after his death.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Romanoff and Barton travel to a Siberian Hydra laboratory and coerce Zola into helping them, intending to upload him into Ultron's programming to delete Ultron. They lure in a group of Ultron's Sentries and upload Zola's consciousness into one. However, Zola cannot upload himself into Ultron as Ultron had left their universe. Barton sacrifices himself so that Romanoff and Zola can escape.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Upon locating the Watcher, Ultron fights him across multiple realities and emerges victorious, but the former flees before he can be killed. Ultron assumes control of the Watcher's observatory, now having countless universes to attack. With no other options, the Watcher meets with Doctor Strange Supreme, whom he had previously left to his fate, and requests his help in stopping Ultron.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing an animated anthology series based on the "What If...?" comic books, which would explore how the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films would be altered if certain events occurred differently. Head writer A.C. Bradley joined the project in October 2018, with director Bryan Andrews meeting Marvel Studios executive Brad Winderbaum about the project as early as 2018; Bradley and Andrews' involvement was announced in August 2019. They executive produce alongside Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Story editor Matthew Chauncey wrote the eighth episode, titled "What If... Ultron Won?", which features an alternate storyline of the film "" (2015). "What If... Ultron Won?" was released on Disney+ on September 29, 2021.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: In the episode's alternate storyline, Ultron successfully transfers his consciousness into Vision's body. The merger between Ultron and Vision first appeared at the end of the previous episode. This episode begins to tie together elements from all of the previous episodes of the season, while the Watcher "learns a few important lessons about what it means to be a hero" and that the various stories and worlds he witnessed mean more to him than he realized. A "major source of tension" within the episodes is whether the Watcher will interfere in events. Though the events of the episode can be viewed as standalone, it establishes a story that continues in the season finale. It was discussed at the writers room to write the first season's last two episodes as "one giant story" that would eventually bring back most of the heroes from previous episodes. Early on the show's development, before the creative team conceived the episode's story, the idea of having Ultron winning was always present in the team's minds.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Ultron was chosen as the main villain of the episode and the first season overall due to his popularity among Marvel Comics readers and his lack of potential in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films due to only appearing in "Age of Ultron". Feeling that Ultron didn't have the screentime he deserved and acknowledging that by now the filmmakers have reached the MCU's , Bradley and the writers decided to take the opportunity to show what Ultron was really capable now that they were involving the Multiverse and the Infinity Stones in their stories, speculating what would Ultron do with the Infinity Gauntlet. Concurrent to Ultron's victory, the concept offered the opportunity to show the human side of the tragedy by focusing Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow and Clint Barton / Hawkeye and their relationship; before the episode's pitching, Andrews always had in mind featuring Hawkeye or Black Widow, at least the former, living in the post-apocalyptic Earth dealing with the loss of his family and friends. He felt that the pair's lack of godly powers like those of Thor but their "gritty and hard core" capabilities gave hope to humanity.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: In one of the alternate universes seen during the Watcher's fight with Ultron depicts Steve Rogers / Captain America being sworn as President of the United States. Bradley and writer Matthew Chauncey had discussed early on about writing a political episode starring Captain America inspired by Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing", with characters fulfilling similar roles to those of Josh Lyman and C.J. Cregg in the show, but the idea was left on the "idea-room floor" due to being an episode with a lot of dialogue and little action.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Jeffrey Wright narrates the episode as the Watcher, with Marvel planning to have other characters in the series voiced by the actors who portrayed them in the MCU films. The episode stars "Avengers: Age of Ultron" actor Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye. Toby Jones reprises his role of Arnim Zola from previous MCU media and Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as Doctor Strange Supreme from the fourth episode. Lake Bell reprises her role as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow from the third episode, in which she replaced Scarlett Johansson, while Josh Keaton, Mick Wingert, and Alexandra Daniels also reprise their roles as Steve Rogers / Captain America, Tony Stark / Iron Man, and Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, respectively, from previous episodes, in which they replaced Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Brie Larson.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: James Spader does not reprise his role as Ultron with Ross Marquand voicing Ultron and the Sub-Ultron Sentries, having previously voiced the character for the virtual reality experience "". This version of Ultron was marketed as "Infinity Ultron". In casting Ultron, the production team led by Louis D'Esposito apparently tried to bring back Spader to reprise his role first, but when that didn't work out, they decided to cast Marquand in the role, allowing him to deliver an "incredibly chilling" vocal performance. Bradley and Andrews considered the possibility of having Paul Bettany, who played J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision in the film series, take on the role, but they desisted due to their desire to make the character "terrifying" and feeling that Bettany's voice would be too much of a "disconnect" for the audience to believe that Ultron was inside Vision's body. They reasoned that Ultron could choose whatever voice it suited to him so his voice would not necessarily need to resemble that of Vision.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Several MCU characters appear in non-speaking roles, including Thor, Hulk, Thaddeus Ross, Thanos, Peter Quill / Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Korg, the Grandmaster, and Ego, as well as inhabitants of Wakanda and members of the Skrull species.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Animation for the episode was provided by Flying Bark Productions, Squeeze, and Stellar Creative Lab, with Stephan Franck serving as head of animation. Andrews developed the series' cel-shaded animation style with Ryan Meinerding, the head of visual development at Marvel Studios. Though the series has a consistent art style, elements such as the camera and color palette differ between episodes.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: To depict the fighting styles of both Ultron and the Watcher in this episode and its successor, the animators used the Kirby Krackle, which helped to showcase the immense multiversal power both characters have. Bradley was adamant to adopt this artistic convention for the show due to never being used in the franchise's live-action films.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: A soundtrack for the episode was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on October 1, 2021, featuring composer Laura Karpman's score.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: After the episode's release, Marvel released a poster for the episode, featuring Ultron and the Watcher together with a quote from the episode. Marvel also announced merchandise inspired by the episode as part of its weekly "Marvel Must Haves" promotion for each episode of the series, including apparel, accessories, and a Funko Pop based on Infinity Ultron.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Kirsten Howard at "Den of Geek" believed the episode to have the best animated sequences of any episode released, which she attributed to fewer characters and a simpler story, and said the visual style suited this episode more than others. Howard praised Ultron in "near-Galactus form" as a "sight to behold", along with other moments she considered "truly a joyful experience". She gave the episode 4.5 out of 5 stars. "io9" Charles Pulliam-Moore considered the episode to be the show's "most exciting story yet," praising how it built upon the original story of "Age of Ultron". Pulliam-Moore complimented Bell's and Wright's portrayal of Natasha Romanoff and the Watcher, respectively, but criticized Carol Danvers' appearance, saying it was part of a broader problem of not giving the character a developed personality. He also praised the fight scene between Ultron and the Watcher, which he compared to "Dragon Ball Z". Karen Rought at "Hypable" commended the fight scene as well, and called the episode "the most interesting and high-stakes so far". She explored the importance of the episode, with "insane" implications to the broader continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: "IGN" Tom Jorgensen thought the episode was "one of the clearest displays yet of "What If" strengths and potential for extrapolating worthwhile stories out of MCU canon", praising the story divergences from the films while "keeping the themes of "Age of Ultron"" by focusing on more grounded characters like Renner's Barton and Bell's Romanoff, whose performances he praised. Jorgensen also considered it "the most cinematic of any "What If" installment yet", and praised its visuals. However, he was critical of the action sequences. Amon Warmann at "Yahoo! Movies" also praised the interactions between Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, calling it a "smart move" to focus on the "two most human Avengers". Warmann also praised the fight scene between the Watcher and Ultron as the series' "best action sequence yet" and the visuals as "stunning" and "ripped right out of a comic". Nevertheless, he considered the episode had "sloppy storytelling", and criticized the trivialization of Thanos' power as "sacrificing story and character" to serve the needs of the story. Sam Barsanti from "The A.V. Club" was more critical of the episode, giving it a "C". Barsanti praised the concept of Ultron getting the Infinity Stones and the character's design, comparing it to the "" comics storyline, but he criticized the conclusion of Romanoff and Barton's story and the episode breaking the series' anthology structure. He also criticized the fight between Ultron and the Watcher, considering it uncreative, and added that the appearance of Strange Supreme, treated as a twist ending, "fell a little flat" after being spoiled by the mid-season trailer for the series. He also thought the voice acting was "disappointingly bland", and compared both Bell and Marquand negatively to original actors Johansson and Spader, respectively.


title: What If... Ultron Won?

text: Joel Fisher, Graham Fisher, Sharia Davis, Basuki Juwono and Adam Spieckerman won the award for Best Editorial – TV/Media at the 49th Annie Awards. Wright was nominated for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance at the 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Graham Fisher and Joel Fisher was nominated for Best Edited Animation (Non-Theatrical) at the 2022 American Cinema Editors Awards.


title: Break My Stride

text: "Break My Stride" is a song performed by American recording artist Matthew Wilder. It was released in October 1983 as the lead single from his debut album, "I Don't Speak the Language", and became a major worldwide hit single for him in late 1983 and spring 1984, reaching number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number two on the "Cash Box" Top 100.


title: Break My Stride

text: The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years, including Unique II in 1996 and Blue Lagoon in 2004 (whose versions both charted highly in various places) and, in interpolations, Puff Daddy with his 1997 hit "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" and Aaron Carter on the song "Stride (Jump on the Fizzy)" from his 2001 album "Oh Aaron". In 2009 it was interpolated by Matisyahu in the song "Jerusalem".


title: Break My Stride

text: Industry executive Clive Davis signed Wilder to Arista Records in 1981 or 1982, but Wilder was not getting the results he or the producers wanted with finding the style of music that worked for him. Poor and near the end of a frustrating period with the record label, he recorded "Break My Stride" on his own dime in the early hours of the morning at the studio of producer Spencer Proffer. "My relationship with Clive Davis was precisely the impetus for my writing the song. There are lyrics in there that are indirectly referring to the circumstances that were governing my life at that point," said Wilder. They threw a party after the recording, and had the music production team sing the chorus, which can be heard at the end of the song. However, Davis did not see potential in the song or any of the others, and his label let Wilder go. Since Arista had not paid Wilder for any of the songs, he was free to shop them around.


title: Break My Stride

text: Wilder managed to connect with record promoter Joe Isgro, who had a history of doing legally questionable things to promote and chart certain songs. Isgro released "Break My Stride" off his new record label, Private-I, and created the illusion that it was a massive hit, prompting other radio stations to start playing the song, and propelling Wilder's single into the top 5 of the US "Billboard" charts.


title: Break My Stride

text: Included on his 1983 album, "I Don't Speak the Language", the single went to number five on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and number four in the UK in January/February 1984. On the US "Cash Box" chart, Wilder's single reached the number two position, where it remained for two weeks in early February.


title: Break My Stride

text: A remix version reached the top 20 on the dance chart, and the song additionally hit the "Billboard" Hot Black Singles chart, staying there for four weeks. Though "Break My Stride" was Wilder's only UK hit, he also reached the US pop chart with his next two singles, "The Kid's American" (#33) and "Bouncing Off the Walls" (#52), before turning to behind-the-scenes work on other artists' recordings.


title: Break My Stride

text: In 1996, Austrian duo Unique II had its most successful hit by covering "Break My Stride". This dance version of the song was the first international success for the band, peaking at number-one in Austria and New Zealand, and at number 2 in Australia. The single also charted in Ireland, Italy, Canada and Scandinavia.


title: Break My Stride

text: Larry Flick from "Billboard" wrote, "Yep, this is a dance-leaning cover of the Matthew Wilder '80s pop chestnut. It has already saturated radio airwaves throughout Europe, with a number of programmers here already giving it positive feedback. Highly videogenic Viennese songbird Jade Davies chirps her way through the track's Ace of Base-like reggae-inflected groove with engaging energy. She'll have little to no trouble successfully carrying this one into the hearts of folks who prefer familiarity over adventure." Australian music channel Max placed the song at number 903 in their list of "1000 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2013.


title: Break My Stride

text: "Break My Stride" was very successful on the charts on several continents, peaking at number-one in Austria and New Zealand. It managed to climb into


title: Break My Stride

text: the Top 10 also in Australia, where it hit number 2, Czech Republic, Denmark, and Ireland. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it went to number 33 in September 1996. "Break My Stride" was also a big hit in Israel, where it peaked at number 6 and in Canada, it reached number 18 on the "RPM" Singles Chart and number 19 on the "RPM" Dance Chart. The single was awarded with a platinum record in Australia and Austria, with a sale of 70,000 and 30,000 units. In 2002, a new remix of the song peaked at number 55 in Austria.


title: Break My Stride

text: In 2004, "Break My Stride" was covered by German band Blue Lagoon and became a hit in several European countries, including Austria, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, where it reached the top ten.


title: Break My Stride

text: The song was featured in the closing credits of the 2011 film "Cedar Rapids". It was featured in a 2012 television commercial for State Insurance of New Zealand. In 2019, it was featured in a U.S. television commercial for Santander Bank. The song gained more notoriety in 2020 on TikTok, as it was frequently used in TikTok videos - where users would text their friends the lyrics of the song. Matthew Wilder was thrilled at these memes, saying that the results are often bizarre but hilarious. Afterwards, Wilder posted an official lyric video that featured text messages of the song's lyrics.


title: Break My Stride

text: The song has also been considered the unofficial theme song of the Thomas & Friends fandom, with many content creators having used the song for 'Thomas' content since it became popular in 2004.


title: Jeddah Corniche Circuit

text: The Jeddah Corniche Circuit () is a motor racing circuit built in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. The circuit staged the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 5 December 2021 as the penultimate race on the Formula One season calendar.


title: Jeddah Corniche Circuit

text: Named as the 'fastest street track' on the Formula One calendar with Formula One cars simulated to have average speeds in excess of , the track is the second-longest track on the Formula One calendar, with only Spa-Francorchamps being longer.


title: Jeddah Corniche Circuit

text: The circuit is located on the Jeddah Corniche adjoining the Red Sea. The circuit was designed by Carsten Tilke, son of the famed circuit designer, Hermann Tilke.


title: Jeddah Corniche Circuit

text: On November 2022, Jeddah hosted the season finale of 2022 World Touring Car Cup and also the last race of WTCR history. Instead of the grand prix layout, shorter layout was configured for that race.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali Douglas Newman (born Jason Douglas Newman, July 30, 1977), better known by his stage name Brother Ali, is an American rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective. He has released seven albums, four EPs, and a number of singles and collaborations.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He has albinism, a disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes. He moved with his family to Michigan for a few years and then settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1992. He attended Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope, Minnesota.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali is Caucasian (white American), but he has spoken of feeling more accepted by Black classmates than white ones: "It's not like black kids didn't make fun of me, but it was different. It wasn't done in a way to exclude me. It wasn't done in a way to make me feel like not even a human being, not even a person." He could relate to them because they were also judged by their skin color.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali began rapping at age eight. He has stated that he was influenced by hip-hop culture at a very early age. In an interview with "Huck" magazine, he stated "Ever since I was a little kid, I've always been into hip-hop. I started beatboxing when I was about seven years old. Eventually, that led to me falling in love with the words." He has named Rakim, Chuck D, and KRS-ONE as early influences.


title: Brother Ali

text: On August 13, 2007, Brother Ali appeared on "The Late Late Show" and performed his single "Uncle Sam Goddamn" from "The Undisputed Truth". On October 19, 2007, Ali appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and performed "Take Me Home" from "The Undisputed Truth". On December 16, 2009, Ali appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and was featured with late night band The Roots.


title: Brother Ali

text: On July 24, 2013, Brother Ali appeared on the Maximum Fun podcast "Judge John Hodgman" as an "Expert Witness".


title: Brother Ali

text: On April 4, 2017, he appeared on "The Combat Jack Show": "The Brother Ali Episode" and on October 19, 2017, on BuzzFeed's "See Something Say Something" podcast.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali has a son, Faheem, from his first marriage, and a daughter, Stacy, from his second marriage in 2006. His music frequently addresses his role as a father, parent, and husband. The song "Real As Can Be" off his 2009 EP "The Truth Is Here" refers to the impending birth of his daughter, and on the song "Fresh Air", which is on his 2009 album "Us", he goes on to say "Just got married last year/ treated so good that it ain't even fair/ already got a boy, now the baby girl's here/ Bought us a house like the Berenstain Bears."


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali often makes fun of the media's constant urge to mention his albinism in the first lines of their reviews or newspaper articles. He is also legally blind, a condition which is caused by his albinism.


title: Brother Ali

text: In an article titled "The Art of Mourning in America", Brother Ali said his favorite food is sweet potato pie. The interview was conducted during the month of Ramadan and Ali performed a freestyle: "Lifelong starvation, every month is Ramadan / Walk in the crib and I'm surprised that the power's on."


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali converted to Islam at age 15 and followed Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. During this time, Ali was selected to join a group of students on a Malaysian study tour, in which they explored ways that a more liberal Islamic society could peacefully coexist with different religions.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali credits his conversion to Islam to KRS-ONE, whom he met during a lecture at age 13 at a local Minnesotan university. When asked about his faith, Ali stated, "KRS-ONE was actually the one who told me I should read Malcolm X. He assigned "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" to me; I read it, and that's what led to me becoming a Muslim."


title: Brother Ali

text: Many of Brother Ali's themes of social justice are incorporated into his lyrics, though he also takes part in activism outside of the music. He primarily focuses on themes of racial inequality, slavery, and critiquing the United States government, though overarching themes of hope, acceptance, and rising from sorrow are also often present. Much attention was garnered through Ali's album "The Undisputed Truth", as it heavily criticized much about the United States' political system. After the music video for "Uncle Sam Goddamn" was released in 2007, it quickly gained much attention, and shortly after, the United States Department of Homeland Security froze a money transfer to his record label.


title: Brother Ali

text: In 2012, Ali was arrested along with thirty-seven others while occupying the home of a Minneapolis resident to fight the house's foreclosure. The goal of the protesters was to block the eviction of the family through their assembly and occupancy, but they were unsuccessful. Ali ended up using his celebrity as a platform to discuss these events, and bring them to the attention of his audience.


title: Brother Ali

text: Ali deals heavily with the notion of privilege. He stated in an interview with "Yes!" magazine that "The best definition of privilege I've heard is anything you don't have to wrestle with, that you don't have to think about." Ali feels a certain obligation to act politically, as he is unwilling to sit aside after experiencing all he has. He states, "I feel like that's my job, and I feel like within the last few years I fully woke up to that, found the courage to understand that, and stepped out like that."


title: Brother Ali

text: While performing at a concert in 2015, Brother Ali endorsed Bernie Sanders for president of the United States, as a candidate in the upcoming 2016 presidential election. He praised Sanders for saying "Black lives matter" at a presidential debate, a reference to the social movement. In November 2019, Brother Ali performed at a Bernie Sanders rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside Representative Ilhan Omar.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Tomb Raider II is a 1997 action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was first released on Windows and PlayStation. Later releases came for Mac OS (1998), iOS (2014) and Android (2015). It is the second entry in the "Tomb Raider" series, and follows archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft hunting the magical Dagger of Xian, which is also hunted by an Italian cult. Gameplay features Lara navigating levels split into multiple areas and room complexes while fighting enemies and solving puzzles to progress, with some areas allowing for or requiring the use of vehicles. An expansion pack subtitled "The Golden Mask" was released in 1998, containing new levels focused on Lara's quest to find a golden mask in Alaska.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Production began in 1996 immediately after the success of the original "Tomb Raider", being completed in between six and eight months, a short development period which was physically and emotionally stressful for the team. Original staff members Toby Gard and Paul Douglas left over creative differences with the publisher, though many remained including composer Nathan McCree. A Sega Saturn version was scrapped due to both hardware limitations and a console exclusivity deal signed between Eidos and Sony. Critics praised the game at release, with many noting its expanded gameplay and smoother graphics. It went on to sell nearly seven million copies worldwide. A sequel, "Tomb Raider III", was released in 1998.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: "Tomb Raider II" is an action-adventure video game in which the player assumes the role of archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft, exploring a series of locations including ruins and tombs in search of ancient artefacts. The game is split into levels: the Great Wall of China, Venice, an oil rig and shipwreck in an unspecified ocean area, and the foothills of Tibet. Lara's home of Croft Manor can be accessed from the start menu as a training area, and is used in the final level.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Much of the gameplay is carried over from the original "Tomb Raider". The game is presented in a third person perspective focused on Lara, with levels and movement built around a grid-based system, with Lara's movement built around tank controls. Progress is based on puzzles revolving around finding keys and completing platforming sections, avoiding traps and environmental hazards in the process. Lara can run, walk (which prevents her from falling off ledges), look around areas, jump forwards and backwards, shimmy along ledges, roll, swim through bodies of water, and move blocks. In addition, Lara is able to walk through shallow water, use flares to light dark areas, climb ladders and other designated surfaces, turn 180 degrees while jumping or swimming, and during the Venice and Tibet levels drive a speedboat and snowmobile respectively. Zip lines in some areas can be used to traverse large gaps, and flares can be used to light dark areas for a limited time.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: By default in combat, Lara uses two pistols with infinite ammo, with her unable to perform actions aside from jumping and rolling while her weapons are drawn. Supplementary weapons with limited ammunition can be found during the game; these are a shotgun, dual automatic pistols, dual Uzis, an M16 rifle, a grenade launcher, and a harpoon gun used in underwater combat. In some urban areas, windows can be shot out to create new routes. During exploration, Lara can find supplies such as medipacks which heal damage, flares and ammunition for weapons both from defeated enemies, and around the environment. Each level contains three secret collectables−a silver, jade and gold dragon−which reward supply cashes and sometimes weapons when all three are collected. Players can perform saves anywhere in-game. If Lara is killed, the player must restart from a previous save.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Lara Croft is searching for the Dagger of Xian, a magical weapon once used by an ancient Emperor of China to command his army; by plunging the weapon into its owner's heart, the weapon has the power to turn its bearer into a dragon. Having tracked the Dagger's chamber to beneath the Great Wall of China, Lara is accosted by a member of the Fiamma Nera, an Italian cult obsessed with the Dagger. Before killing himself, the cultist reveals that his master Marco Bartoli seeks the Dagger, and she tracks the Fiamma Nera to an abandoned opera house in Venice. Stowing away aboard a plane leaving Venice with Marco on board, Lara overhears Marco discussing the Seraph, an object key to retrieving the key to the Dagger's chamber that was with his father Gianni when his luxury liner "Maria Doria" was bombed and sunk.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Lara is found on the plane and captured, being imprisoned in a repurposed oil rig above the "Maria Doria" ship. Lara escapes and encounters a monk of the Barkhang Monastery in Tibet, who originally defeated the Emperor and sealed the Dagger away. The monk was there to prevent Marco from salvaging the Seraph. Marco kills the monk, and Lara narrowly escapes and dives alongside a submersible to discover the shipwreck, and searching throughout the remains she eventually retrieves the Seraph. Using the plane, she heads for Tibet and reaches the Barkhang Monastery, which is under siege from the Fiamma Nera. Using the Seraph, she opens the way to retrieve the key to the Dagger's chamber, killing its monstrous guardian in the process. Escaping the Fiamma Nera, she unlocks the Dagger's chamber, but is plunged into the catacombs beneath before she can reach it.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Making her way back, she witnesses Bartoli stabbing himself with the Dagger and being carried through a portal by his cultists. Following them through, Lara navigates a magical space of jade islands and animated statues, finally confronting Bartoli as he transforms into a dragon. Lara renders the dragon unconscious and pulls the dagger from Bartoli's heart, killing him and escaping back into the real world just as the area starts to collapse, causing part of the Wall to explode in the process. The Fiamma Nera launch a final unsuccessful attack against Lara at Croft Manor; the final scene is Lara about to disrobe for a shower, then breaking the fourth wall as she shoots at the camera.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Upon its release in 1996, "Tomb Raider" was a huge critical and commercial success for developer Core Design and publisher Eidos Interactive. According to one report, a sequel was being planned two months before the original was released. Co-designer Heather Gibson called the prospect of not making a sequel "unthinkable" given the work done on the original and its commercial success. Due to creative differences surrounding Lara's portrayal and the decision to make a sequel rather than an entirely new game, her credited creator Toby Gard left the company alongside designer Paul Douglas, prompting mixed feelings from the other team members. Programmer Gavin Rummery had been working with Gard and Douglas on a planned original title, but disagreed with their attitude towards the heads of Core Design and rejoined the "Tomb Raider" team shortly before Gard and Douglas left.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: The production schedule, estimated at between six and eight months, was extremely taxing for the team both physically and emotionally, with team members later describing the entire production as a prolonged crunch period. Rummery described its production as "insane". Alongside Rummery and Gibson, co-designer Neal Boyd, producer Troy Horton, writer Vicky Arnold, and composer Nathan McCree also remained. The team was also expanded so the game could be produced in time; among them was future designer Andy Sandham, transferred over from production of "Fighting Force 2" to work on the CGI cutscenes. Also new to the team were animators Stewart Atkinson and Joss Charmet. A team of six playtesters worked on the game throughout production right until it was sent for Sony's approval, playing through the game repeatedly to pick up bugs.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: "Tomb Raider II" was originally planned for PlayStation, Windows and Sega Saturn, the same platforms as the original. Core Design had been planning for a Saturn version of "Tomb Raider II" to use the 3D accelerator cartridge designed for the Saturn conversion of "Virtua Fighter 3"; this cartridge was cancelled before "Tomb Raider II" was completed. The Saturn version was officially cancelled in mid-1997, with Core Design staff member Adrian Smith citing technical limitations of the console to program an adequate conversion. It was reported that the more detailed 3D graphics of "Tomb Raider II" were too much for the Saturn hardware to handle, as the original game was already known to perform worse than other versions. In September 1997, Eidos signed a deal with Sony, making the console versions of "Tomb Raider" exclusive to the PlayStation until the year 2000. The Windows version was built for the Windows 95 system. The team described the two versions as having few differences beyond their graphics; the Windows version allowed for high resolution display, while the PlayStation version used "neat transparencies and other effects".


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Lara's appearance in "Tomb Raider II" was given a make-over by Atkinson. The number of polygons used for her character model was increased, adding more realistic curves to its design, and giving her more outfits for different levels. Core Design producer Andrew Thompson estimated that her character model used double the number of polygons. She was also given a free-flowing ponytail to make her more realistic. While Gard had been unwilling to populate the game with human enemies, "Tomb Raider II" put a greater focus on combat with armed human opponents, alongside a greater variety of animal and supernatural enemies. This was also done in response to player complaints about a lack of combat in the original. The final shower scene, with Lara breaking the fourth wall, was a response from Core Design to the notorious "Nude Raider" fan patch. They similarly included a secret code that blew Lara up rather than its rumoured function of stripping Lara.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: While the higher combat meant there was more focus on action, Smith noted that the exploration that was a focus of the first game remained important. There were also more boss-like battles compared to the original, and the enemy AI was improved so they could pursue her onto raised platforms. Rather than starting over from scratch, the team used the same engine as the first game, focusing on tweaking and including new features such as climbing and wading. Adding in all the new elements, both graphical and gameplay-related, was described as challenging as the team wanted the game to be seen as its own game more than a sequel. Grenades were originally planned for the first game, but were not finished in time for release, so were included in "Tomb Raider II".


title: Tomb Raider II

text: A new level editor tool was designed so areas could be put together quickly, speeding up the level creation and allowing for quick detection of bugs. There was a greater variety of level environments created, including a number of outdoor areas. The in-game camera was also adjusted to correct awkward camera angles that could occur in the original. "Tomb Raider II" was described as similar in length to the first game, but with more detailed environments and expanded gameplay elements. Atkinson attributed the inclusion of vehicles as his suggestion. Three proposed actions that did not make it into the final game were crawling through narrow spaces, swinging on ropes, and a "hand-over-hand" gymnastics move with an unspecified application. Planned section riding a motorbike and a horse had to be cut. The game was to have ended with the dragon battle, but this was felt to be anticlimactic, so an epilogue level was added. Due to time constraints, the team set the epilogue the existing Croft Manor level.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: McCree was allotted much more time to score the game than he was with the original "Tomb Raider", allowing him to not only write twice as many tunes, but also plan out ahead of time how his music would be used in the game and generally become more directly involved in the game's development. He worked on the game's music and sound with sound designer Matt Kemp. McCree enjoyed finding ways of arranging the main theme, with its simplicity making variations after the first game easy. One of the pieces he remembered fondly was "Venice"; describing it as "an exercise in stylistic writing", he wrote it to sound like a piece of Baroque music such as Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach, with the major challenge being to make the violins sound real. He spent three months working on the score for "Tomb Raider II". McCree and Kemp later called their work on the game stressful due to not knowing the space they had available, and needing to cut and rearrange the music and sound up to the last minute. The team considered incorporating interactive MIDI sampling, but discarded the idea due to poor sound quality.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: While Lara's original voice actress Shelley Blond was offered the chance to reprise her role, she was unable to do so due to other commitments, but she gave permission for her effort noises to be kept. Judith Gibbins became the new voice of Lara. Gibbens, who had worked in amateur dramatics, was recommended to audition by her brother Martin Gibbens worked at Core Design. Her role in the game was kept a secret, though she did confide in her son. The secrecy was part of the marketing strategy that Eidos was employing to make Lara seem like a real person. Voice recording took place in London and lasted months due to the need to re-record due to frequent script changes. She would voice the character only once more in the following game.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: "Tomb Raider II" was announced early in 1997. An early demo based on the game's alpha version, later leaked online, was shown at E3. Beginning in October, Eidos launched what was described as a "multi-media dollar" extensive marketing campaign including radio commercials, print and television ads, cross promotion with MTV and the drink brand Pepsi, and a direct mail campaign. The push ran parallel to an increased media presence for Lara as a character. The exclusivity deal with Sony meant that extra funding was made available for the game's marketing, alongside making the "Tomb Raider" series an icon for the console. Due to the deadline pressure, PlayStation demo discs were mistakenly sent to Sony with expired copy-protection timers, making them unplayable. After Sony "went nuclear", Core Design quickly created a fix and recalled the discs.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Both versions of the game were released in North America and Europe on 24 November 1997. The PlayStation version was published in Japan by Victor Interactive Software on 22 January 1998. A version for Mac OS was developed by Westlake Interactive and published by Aspyr in North America in October 1998. "Tomb Raider II" was made available for download for the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network store on 7 September 2012. The game was released for Mac OS X and sold via the Mac App Store in October 2011. The PC version was re-released digitally in 2012 by GOG.com. A version for IOS was published by then franchise owner Square Enix on 3 December 2014. This version was released for Android the following year on 28 October.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: An additional set of four levels, alternately called "Tomb Raider II Gold" and "Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask", began release in 1999. The story follows Lara exploring a hidden realm in Alaska in search of a magical golden mask. The levels were first released as downloadable content through the game's website starting in April 1999. The full version was released as an expansion pack alongside a reissue of the main game on 30 May. The levels were offered for both versions as a free download for those who already owned "Tomb Raider II". While the levels were original, they were built using the existing engine and technology of "Tomb Raider II". Phil Campbell, designer of the "Gold" editions of the "Tomb Raider" games, noted that the levels and stories were designed based around references more than having any connection to the main game. The level set was originally going to have an opening cutscene introducing the narrative. Lara was originally given a more revealing leopard skin jumpsuit outfit for the level "Nightmare in Vegas", but was vetoed by Eidos and Core Design as not fitting the character. Another dropped concept for the level was having the scenery mostly in black and white, and human enemies being different versions of Elvis Presley. While released for the Mac in January 2000 and included in the mobile ports, several re-releases of "Tomb Raider II" excluded "The Golden Mask" due to licencing issues.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: "Tomb Raider II" received positive reviews from most critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100, the game received a score of 85 for the PlayStation version based on 13 reviews, which indicates "favourable reviews". The majority commented that while the differences from the original game are relatively small, "Tomb Raider" was a strong enough game that these differences and the consistent execution were enough to make an outstanding game. "Next Generation", for example, stated that despite its forced development and having little additions in the game, the magazine felt the second game was superior to the original. Glenn Rubenstein was one of the few to disagree, writing in "GameSpot" that the improvements were cosmetic. He opined that both installments of the series to date are uninspired games which sold largely on the stardom of Lara Croft. "IGN"s Adam Douglas concluded that compared to its predecessor, the second game is inferior to the original despite being entertaining. Crispin Boyer of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" drew the comparison even more favourably, considering "Tomb Raider II" a superior game.


title: Tomb Raider II

text: Among the changes the sequel made, the ones which received the most positive mentions were the addition of vehicles and the ability to climb walls. Many critics also compared the game's massive length favourably to that of the original "Tomb Raider". Both "GameSpot"s Tim Soete and "GamePro" highly praised the timed traps, saying they induce a greater sense of panic and engagement than the traps in the original "Tomb Raider". Rubenstein, despite his generally negative assessment of the game, agreed with Douglas that the greater number of human opponents in the sequel was a welcome improvement. An overwhelming majority of critics described "Tomb Raider II" as extremely difficult right from the beginning levels, with "Next Generation" stating that Core had clearly designed it with players who had completed the original "Tomb Raider" in mind. "GamePro" likewise described it as "for experts", but suggested that novices could learn the game given a good amount of patience and practice.