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The Devastation DLC pack didn't just add new maps, it let players suit up as the Predator himself as a playable character, complete with cloaking and that unmistakable clicking sound. It wasn't the franchise's first nod to the Predator films either; the base game already had a sign reading 'Slackjaw Tobacco' on the Warhawk map, a reference to the character Blain.
Near Braithwaite Manor there's a chained-shut outhouse that's easy to walk straight past. Get close enough and you'll hear a woman inside muttering gibberish to herself. Switch to first-person and peer through the gaps and she might just lunge at you. The game never tells you what, exactly, she is.
Colin Farrell's prosthetics were made up of six distinct pieces glued together for every shooting day, and the crew would shine harsh flashlights directly at his face before he was allowed on set, just to make sure none of the seams were visible on camera.
That minigame everyone does for easy experience isn't just a random cave with glowing rocks. According to the lore, Guthix wept over the devastation left behind by the God Wars in a cavern under southern Misthalin, and the surrounding rock supposedly wept with him — which is where the Tears of Guthix are said to actually come from.
Before Cartoon Network ever touched it, Pendleton Ward actually pitched an Adventure Time pilot to Nickelodeon back in 2008. They passed on it. It wasn't until the original short blew up online that Cartoon Network came knocking a year later, and the rest is history.
The soundtrack is officially credited to Klaus Badelt, but it was produced under Hans Zimmer, whose fingerprints are all over that big, driving adventure sound the franchise became known for.
Infinity Ward talked up Ghosts as running on a brand new engine, but dataminers and analysts who dug into the game found it was really the same engine that powered Modern Warfare 3, just with a heavy round of upgrades and new rendering tricks bolted on rather than a ground-up rebuild.
Marvel actually had to go back to the MPAA three times to lock in a PG-13. The sticking point was Coulson's death - the first cut had Loki's staff bursting clean through his chest, which was way too gory. Whedon dialled it right back to just a stab sound effect and Thor's reaction selling the horror of it, and honestly it hits harder for being left to your imagination.
Cameras started rolling on the series back in June 2022, with filming spread across New Jersey, New York, and Utah. Some of the earliest behind-the-scenes shots that leaked online were from a Super Duper Mart set built on Staten Island, a location name that longtime players will recognise instantly.
Casting Christina Ricci as Miss Thornhill is a lovely bit of stunt casting when you remember she actually played Wednesday Addams in the 90s films. Watching the old Wednesday teach the new one is one of those details that only lands if you grew up on the movies.
