Many Star Wars fans are not particularly happy about the new movies, and some feel that Disney threw out the baby with the bathwater when it came to the expanded universe. See, before Disney took over, Star Wars had a huge amount of extra material (novels, comics, etc.), referred to as the expanded universe, or EU.

It used to be that all of the EU was considered canon unless directly contradicted by a movie. However, when Disney came along, they declared that the EU was all just “legends” told within the Star Wars universe. While they can still use elements of it of they so desire, they have chopped the whole thing to pieces, and there were a lot of good reasons why.

10 The ‘Big Three’ Were Far Beyond The Age Of Most EU Stories

One of the biggest reasons that Disney had to go ahead and just throw out the baby with the bathwater is that a huge wealth of the EU stories involved the “big three” (Han, Luke, and Leia), and the actors were advancing in years. Most of these books were written back when the three were still in their prime and were quite popular as depictions of the characters go, but it’s hard to imagine how you could change a lot of the stories enough to make up for such an age gap.

The truth is that what the fans wanted was something fairly shortly after Return of the Jedi—as close as could be plausibly done—and a story that had a young Han, Luke, and Leia simply could not work. For this reason, an incredible amount of EU story lines already had to be scrapped. People simply wouldn’t have been able to suspend their disbelief. Unfortunately, no one would have believed that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, or Carrie Fisher were in their thirties.^[1]

9 Anakin Solo’s Entire Existence Was A Sore Point For George Lucas

In the Star Wars expanded universe, Han and Leia get married and have three kids.^[2] Two of them are twins named Jacen and Jaina, which some fans wished had been replicated at least in some form in the new movies. In fact, it is for this reason that many fans really like the idea of Rey and Ben secretly being brother and sister—it would fulfill the fan wish for Han and Leia to have had twins. However, the Solos also had another child, and George Lucas kind of wished they hadn’t.

In one of the crazier comics, Leia has her womb touched by the cloned Emperor Palpatine while she’s pregnant—another reason to ax the EU—and is worried about how it may affect her son and make him dark in the future. In order to honor her father, and somehow try to show that the name can be overcome, she names her third child Anakin, after her murderous cyborg father. George Lucas was never happy about this character, if nothing else, because he felt fans would confuse him with Anakin Skywalker. Lucas was reportedly pleased when the kid was finally killed off later on in the New Jedi Order series.

8 Many Of The Most Popular Characters Had Already Been Ruined Or Killed

As we mentioned above, in the EU, Anakin Solo was killed off in The New Jedi Order, but they killed a wealth of other characters in that series and since as well.^[3]The New Jedi Order killed off mostly side characters apart from Chewbacca and Anakin Solo, but after that, the purge really got going. Jacen Solo went to the dark side and was eventually killed by his twin sister. Meanwhile, Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker’s expanded universe wife, gets killed by Jacen Solo, her own nephew, when she tries to confront him and bring him back to the light. Han becomes a washed-up wreck, and Luke goes into exile; Luke’s son Ben gets killed as well.

In the end, nearly every main character that was remotely interesting either dies, loses all the people close to them and becomes a sad sack, or first experiences the second one and then the other—kind of like most Game of Thrones characters. By the time Disney got its hands on the franchise, you could practically count on one hand the amount of interesting characters left whose stories hadn’t already been driven into the ground with incredible force. In the end, Disney felt they needed to be able to go their own route with old characters and be able to feel more free to introduce new ones as well.

7 The Ssi-Ruuk Would Have Given Awkward Questions For Kids To Ask Their Parents

In Star Wars‘s early days, there were a few novels that just kind of left everyone wondering what kind of drugs the author was using. This was mainly because back then, the people in charge, Bantam Books, were basically just letting a lot of sci-fi authors try their hand at the universe and see what they came up with. Still, it is kind of hard to figure out how this one not only made it past the editors but even got a reprisal years later in the form of multiple appearances in The New Jedi Order—a 19-book series.

The Sii-Ruuk are a species that shows up in The Truce at Bakura, and they use a process called entechment to suck out your soul, slave it to a piece of machinery, and use your life energy to power it.^[4] You are stuck in a nightmarish state, powering their desk lamp or whatever until your energy finally fades, your soul passes on, and you die. This is a terrible, horrific thing that really belongs in the most disturbing sci-fi horror novel, but instead, it makes multiple appearances in the Star Wars EU. This is an example of killing it with fire not even being nearly enough.

6 The Yuuzhan Vong Made Such A Mess That A Hard Reset Was Almost Necessary

The Yuuzhan Vong were introduced largely in The New Jedi Order.^[5] This series focused on the invasion of the Star Wars galaxy by a group of extragalactic invaders called the Yuuzhan Vong. This species was largely humanoid but was a black hole in the Force. You could not feel them in the Force or use Force powers on them, but they could not use the Force at all themselves. They came in great numbers and swarmed through the galaxy, almost taking over and destroying everything. Using great organic machines, they reshaped entire worlds to their will.

What made the entire thing so bizarre, and almost ruined the universe from that point forth, is what they left behind. These invaders eschewed all conventional technology and pleasure and thought it evil. They worshiped pain and were extremely sadistic and masochistic. All of their weapons and technology were actually living, which was extremely bizarre and otherworldly. Their shapers, a group of their species responsible for massive genetic engineering, changed entire worlds and left their ridiculous organic matter and other invasive organisms littered all over the universe. The entire thing was simply too crazy for the Star Wars universe and ruined it forever—a hard reset was almost necessary after the horrible disaster of the New Jedi Order series, which never should have been and whose creators should still be ashamed by the existence of.

5 The EU Is So Complicated That One Man’s Entire Job Is Keeping It All Together

One thing many people who are only casual fans (not that there’s anything wrong with that) are unaware of is just how mind-bogglingly huge the entirety of the Star Wars continuity is. There are so many stories throughout so many comics, role-playing game write-ups, novels, short stories, video games, movies, cartoons, and so much media that some may consider it impossible to keep track of. However, there is actually one man whose job it is to do just that.

His name is Leland Chee, and his official title is “Keeper of the Holocron.”^[6] He has been at it for decades now, and even with the EU no longer official canon, they still want someone to keep track of the old continuity as well as the new timeline, so he still has a job. It is an incredibly staggering task, but he has managed to keep a comprehensive timeline updated over the years, with levels of “canon” for every single story for decades. However, this was all just one more reason that Disney felt they needed to tell people to just enjoy the old stories and stop worrying so much about actual continuity in a fictional universe. While Disney still has its own new continuity now, it is a much less crowded galaxy to work in with the old EU now being legends.

4 The Next 30-Odd Years After Return Of The Jedi Have Basically No Breathing Room

Another big problem facing Disney wasn’t just the big three but that even if they did want to cast them in a story, they had already been written into a corner. The period in the 30 years or so after Return of the Jedi has been by far the most popular era to write stories for in Star Wars, so that period is incredibly congested.^[7] Nearly every single moment is filled thick with story, and there really isn’t much of anything you can do to fit anything significantly new in anymore.

The fans wanted new movies in the period after Return of the Jedi, but that period is glutted with stories, and many of them are, quite frankly, terrible. A clean slate allows the writers a chance to simply write a good story and allows for new, young fans to get into Star Wars without needing to go read several dozen to a couple hundred books to get up to speed with everything that is going on in the universe.

3 Changing Anything From One Medium To Another Often Just Disappoints Fans

When Harry Potter was transferred to the big screen, some fans really liked it, and some were incredibly disappointed. Some of the later movies, especially, have been criticized as feeling rushed, and many feel in hindsight that it wasn’t just movie seven that should have had two parts to properly tell the story. However, while it is understandable that Harry Potter and its prodigious length made it especially difficult, it is always hard to translate a book into film. Books are told in an entirely different way, where everything is told to people. On the other hand, movies are a medium where everything is shown to people.

This is why the powers that be are likely reluctant to use book stories from the Star Wars expanded universe for new Star Wars movies. One medium often doesn’t translate well to the other, so it really makes more sense, if you can, to just write an original story rather than trying to translate a preexisting one from a book to a movie. It also creates an air of expectation that can be hard to live up to. If you say you are taking heavy inspiration from a particular book, certain fans will get upset the more you deviate from the source material,^[8] and that disappointment can lead to long-term lost revenue streams.

2 It’s Hard To Have Suspense When People Know The Story Already

Probably the biggest reason of all, though, one which many fans do not tend to think as much about, that Disney decided to go ahead and throw out the EU is because they want to be able to surprise people. The truth is that if you go with story lines that most people already know and don’t deviate from them much, there really isn’t going to be that much surprise, just you bringing a previously told story to the big screen.^[9] While there are plenty of people who will enjoy it, it just won’t spread through word of mouth as much or fuel as much excitement for the next movie.

If you already pretty much know what is going to happen, there really isn’t anything at all to speculate about or talk about, so there is little discussion surrounding the film. This means little to no hype and hardly anyone but the really big fans going to see the movie. The writers know that if you really want a large, general audience, you need a new story that will give people something to talk about for sometimes years to come while they wait for the next installment. For this reason, using preexisting EU stories simply weren’t practical, so Disney decided to go in a different direction.

1 They Can Still Use Characters Or Elements From The EU As They See Fit

The final reason Disney got rid of the EU is because while they did need it gone, it is never really gone if they do need any of it. The EU still has a wealth of existing planets, characters, aliens, organizations, technologies, and all sorts of other things to draw on. While all previous story lines may be axed, they can borrow if they want and bring out fan favorites all the same. For example, due to the way they were written, without even knowing how the prequel trilogy would go down, the first Star Wars expanded universe trilogy by Timothy Zahn will never be adapted into film.

However, the character Grand Admiral Thrawn, a blue alien who uses his knowledge of art to analyze his opponents, is a fan favorite, and Disney has already brought him into the official canon in all new stories.^[10] The truth is that the EU wasn’t truly destroyed; it was just marginalized so that Disney could make sense of the entire mess. All of the old content is still there and can and will be drawn on as needed, but there is simply no benefit to continuing the old continuity system—sometimes you need to start fresh.

About 100 years ago, our galaxy was thought to encompass the entire universe. A century later, we’re observing things more than 13 billion light-years away, nearing the moment of creation.

These following 10 discoveries come from the actual edge of existence. They show us just how much the early universe was a surprisingly happenin’ and amazing place.

10 A Galaxy From The Beginning Of Time

The beloved Hubble Telescope stole an image from the birth of the universe, just 400 million years after the big bang. It captured the bright infant galaxy GN-z11 as it was a whopping 13.4 billion years ago.

At this point, the universe was only 3 percent of its current age and just a few hundred million years had passed since the first stars burst into life.^[1]

GN-z11 probably grew into a proper beast. But here it only had 1 percent of the Milky Way’s mass in stars packed into a structure 25 times smaller than our galaxy.

9 Colliding Starburst Galaxies

Superluminous starburst galaxies shine stupendously with the birth of countless massive blue stars. They’re a rarity, but astronomers just spotted two of them colliding right on the big bang’s doorstep 12.7 billion years ago.

The swirling, bi-galactic entity is about 12.8 billion light-years away and known as ADFS-27. Each of its components is a dozen times larger than the 100,000 light-year-wide Milky Way.

Separated by 30,000 light-years, the two bodies are zooming at hundreds of kilometers per second relative to one another, setting up a crazier merger than anything yet witnessed.

The resulting elliptical mega-monster will probably be substantial enough to establish an entire galaxy cluster, snagging hundreds of thousands of other galaxies with its gravitational might.^[2]

8 The Most Ancient Black Holes

Scientists scanning the early universe for quasars have just come up with a bunch, confirming 83 new black holes to supplement the 17 known to exist during this era.

These things are millions or billions of times more massive than our Sun. They were already thriving when the universe was less than 10 percent of its current age, just 800 million years after the big bang.

Researchers calculated that if you took these known quasars and parceled the universe into cubes, each a billion light-years per side, every cube would get one black hole, accounting for one black hole per “giga-light-year.”^[3]

7 Fat And Dusty Galaxies

The gargantuan galaxies of the big bang era are saturated with dust and debris and can emit the radiation of a trillion Suns. But they’re invisible because their light is absorbed by all that dust and reemitted at submillimeter wavelengths.

With abundant materials and few bodies to gobble them up, researchers pinpointed a structure that was exceptionally fat and dusty. The galaxy possesses a whopping gas mass of 330 billion solar masses. Comparatively, the Milky Way only has a gas mass of five billion solar masses because most of its mass is already locked away in stars.^[4]

6 Whirlpool Galaxies At The Edge Of Space

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is so finely tuned that it peered through 94 percent of the universe and detected the rotation of two fetal galaxies.

They’re some of the oldest galaxies on record and five times smaller than the Milky Way, according to the ALMA snapshot that captured them as they were 800 million years after the big bang. Even though the view is nearly 13 billion years old, its color gradients indicate the motion of the gas and the galaxies’ rotation.^[5]

Like modern galaxies, they swirl like whirlpools, birthing from that chaos thousands of stars per year. They’re surprisingly ordered, say researchers who marvel at how quickly the universe organized its resources and propagated itself.

5 The Earliest Black Holes Were Surprisingly Monstrous

A fortuitously positioned, six-billion-light-year-distant galaxy acted as a cosmic magnifying lens, redirecting and amplifying some of the oldest photons in existence.

Those photons were expelled by quasar J0439+1634, which (thanks to the lens effect) appears 50 times brighter and lights up the early cosmos with the apparent light of 600 trillion Suns.

The quasar-powering black hole contains the mass of 700 million Suns and dates to 12.8 billion years ago. During this Epoch of Reionization, the first light sources pierced the opaque hydrogen and helium fog that cloaked the young universe.^[6]

4 A ‘Fossil Gas Cloud’

The universe is a big witch’s pot of chemicals, and there’s generally a lot of mixing going on. So, heavy elements are seemingly everywhere, but scientists have identified a pristine relic fossil gas cloud.

It’s only the third relic gas cloud discovered so far discovered, and it managed to remain uncontaminated even 1.5 billion years after the big bang. It’s also supremely wispy, indicative of its status as a primeval puff from the earliest days of existence.^[7]

Like a fluffy, cosmic 3 Musketeers bar, it has a proportion of heavy elements less than 1/10,000th that of the Sun. That must mean that it’s a leftover from a far-gone era in which stars hadn’t yet pumped out heavy elements like metals.

3 An Unexpected Twist On A Star With Two Planets

Astronomers found a souvenir from the beginning of time that was only 375 light-years away. HIP 11952 is a star full of hydrogen and helium but very much lacking in metals. Such a star could only exist at the dawn of the universe.

With an age of around 12.8 billion years, it formed when our Milky Way “was still a baby.” In 2012, scientists were shocked to discover that the star was harboring something even more amazing—two incredibly ancient planets.

Scientists are debating the origin of planets during the days of the first stars as planets may not have been able to form with the lack of heavy elements. They thought that the discovery of HIP 11952 was painting a clearer picture of when the first planets were finally able to form.

But then the story took an unexpected twist. Using the new high-resolution spectrograph HARPS-N at the Galileo National Telescope in Spain, astrophysicists took more measurements of HIP 11952 over a 150-day period from August 2012 to January 2013.

Instead of detecting two giant planets in the system, they found . . . nothing. Ultimately, they concluded that the previous discoveries of two ancient planets had been incorrect and occurred due to instrument errors.^[8]

2 A Stupendously Bright Quasar

P352-15 is the early universe’s brightest radio quasar by a factor of 10. It looks like three orange splotches, but those splotches reveal a 5,000-light-year-wide galaxy as it appeared 13 billion years ago. Though the universe was less than a billion years old, P352-15 is already a quasar with a supermassive black hole vomiting radiation at relativistic speeds.

That spewing, supermassive monster probably resides in one of the splotches on either side. The two blots opposing it are actually huge, lethal jets being ejected at near-light-speeds from the maw of a feasting black hole.^[9]

1 A Galaxy Full Of Old Stars

Astronomers have recently detected the faint wisp of ionized oxygen across 13.3 billion light-years of space.

It belongs to galaxy MACS1149-JD1, and it’s extremely red because the light has been stretched during an epic journey that began just 500 million years after the big bang. The existence of oxygen means that MACS1149-JD1’s stars had been shining for a long time—long enough to have produced said oxygen.

Not only that, but MACS1149-JD1 is already full of mature stars. Astronomers say these stars were shining just 250 million years after the big bang, a period not too distant from the birth of the very first stars.^[10]

Ivan writes about cool things for the Internet. You can contact him at [email protected].

Unlike Earth, every new planet we have discovered has been hostile to us. Some could become habitable if we figure out the answers to a few problems, like the unavailability of oxygen and water. Others would still be unsuitable for human life.

These deadly planets are ready to kill any creature that strays too close or tries to develop on them. Most of the planets on this list are not just too hot or cold. They have more terrible conditions that will never support life.

10 HD 189733b

In 2005, astronomers discovered a Jupiter-sized exoplanet, HD 189733b, with a distinctive Earthlike blue tint 63 light-years away. However, unlike Earth, HD 189733b was not blue because of its seas and oceans. Instead, the color came from its silicate-rich clouds.

HD 189733b is also deadly. The first problem is the 8,700-kilometer-per-hour (5,400 mph) winds that blow across the exoplanet. That is seven times the speed of sound, which is insanely fast. For comparison, peak sustained winds of the notorious Hurricane Katrina blew at 280 kilometers per hour (175 mph).

Then there is the rain. The silicate-rich clouds of HD 189733b cause rain of molten glass to fall from the skies. That rain does not fall straight down because of the superfast winds we just talked about. Instead, this strange precipitation falls sideways.^[1]

Even if we somehow found our way around that, we would still need to deal with the high temperatures on the exoplanet. HD 189733b is so close to its star that it is ridiculously hot. To put that in better perspective, it is so near to its sun that HD 189733b completes a revolution around its star in just 2.2 Earth days. Interestingly, a day on this exoplanet is also 2.2 Earth days long.

The gravitational interaction between a planet and its star can cause a planet to have a day and year of the same length if the planet becomes tidally locked to its star, just as our Moon is tidally locked to the Earth. This means that the planet rotates on its axis in the same amount of time that it takes to complete one revolution around its star. (Rotations cause days and nights, and revolutions cause years.)

A tidally locked planet always keeps the same side toward its sun. So, one side is condemned to nonstop daytime while the other has perpetual nighttime.

9 CoRoT-7b

In February 2009, astronomers operating the Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits (CoRoT) satellite discovered a new exoplanet in the Monoceros constellation 480 light-years away from Earth. They called it CoRoT-7b.

CoRoT-7b is a rocky, Earthlike exoplanet even though it used to be a Saturn-sized hot Jupiter—a term used to describe the huge, gas-filled planets outside our own solar system with tight orbits around their stars. Despite having a rocky surface that could support life, CoRoT-7b is not the place to be.

For starters, its atmosphere is filled with minerals that form rock clouds. These clouds send pebbles and small rocks falling from the skies as if they were rain. Even if humans managed to survive that, they would be destroyed by the insanely hot surface temperature of the exoplanet.

Our own Earth is 60 times farther from our Sun than CoRoT-7b is from its star. In the daytime, the star in the skies of CoRoT-7b appears 360 times bigger than our own Sun looks from here on Earth. Talking about daytime, CoRoT-7b may also be tidally locked to its star. A day and a year are just 20.4 hours long.^[2]

As you may have guessed, this means that half the exoplanet permanently faces its star. The surface temperature of that side is between 1,980 degrees Celsius (3,600 °F) and 2,300 degrees Celsius (4,220 °F), which is enough to melt rock. Astronomers believe that the rocks on the side facing the sun are molten because they can’t remain solid at that temperature.

8 KELT-9b

Exoplanet KELT-9b is the hottest planet we have ever found. The temperature of its star is around 9,700 degrees Celsius (17,500 °F), which is almost two times the 5,480-degree-Celsius (9,900 °F) surface temperature of our Sun. The daytime temperature on the exoplanet hovers around 4,300 degrees Celsius (7,800 °F), which is still insanely hot. Most stars in the universe do not even come close.

As you read this, KELT-9b is so hot that its hydrogen-rich atmosphere is boiling and escaping into space and right into star KELT-9, around which the exoplanet rotates. Star KELT-9 is huge, reaching three times the size of our Sun. Exoplanet KELT-9b is two times the size of Jupiter and three times heavier.

The extreme temperatures are caused by the relatively short distance between KELT-9 and KELT-9b. Both are so close that the exoplanet completes an orbit in just 1.5 days. Mercury is 10 times farther from our Sun than KELT-9b is from KELT-9.

Astronomers believe that exoplanet KELT-9b will lose its entire atmosphere to star KELT-9 in just 200 Earth years. By that time, KELT-9 will have become so big that it could be touching the exoplanet. However, astronomers do not think that the exoplanet will slam into the star.^[3]

7 WASP-121b

WASP-121b is one weird exoplanet. To begin, it is not spherical but looks more like a football. We mean American football and not the more popular one that Americans call soccer. But the shape is not what makes WASP-121b deadly. Instead, the problem is the exoplanet’s nearness to its star.

WASP-121b is so close to its star that temperatures hover around 2,540 degrees Celsius (4,600 °F). Solid or liquid objects cannot form there, and everything just remains in a gaseous state. This includes its metallic atmosphere, which is filled with iron and magnesium gases. Worse, the exoplanet is losing this atmosphere to its star, just like KELT-9b.

Curiously, the closeness to its star is the same reason that WASP-121b is stretching out of shape. The star is able to exert a heavy gravitational pull on the exoplanet. WASP-121b cannot resist the pull because it has a weak gravitational force. It manages to partly resist, though, causing it to bend out of shape.^[4]

6 Upsilon Andromedae b

Upsilon Andromedae b is one strange exoplanet that rotates around the star Upsilon Andromedae A, which is 44 light-years away from Earth. The exoplanet is too close to its sun, completing an orbit in just 4.6 days. As you may have guessed, this suggests that it is tidally locked, with one side permanently facing the sun and one unbelievably hot.

Interestingly, the hottest area, the “warm spot,” does not face the star. Instead, it is on the side that never receives sunlight. This discovery puzzled astronomers because the side facing the star should be hotter. Astronomers believe that things are a bit different here because the wind transfers the heated air to the opposite side of the exoplanet.

Here is one theory as to how that works. The heat from the star Upsilon Andromedae hits the side of exoplanet Upsilon Andromedae b that is facing the sun, causing the air to heat up. When that air becomes hot enough, the wind transports it to the opposite end of the exoplanet.

At the same time, the wind transports the cooler air at the opposite end to the side facing the sun. Then the process continues. The continuous switch means that the side shielded from the sun has a reliable flow of hot air while the side facing the sun has much cooler air.^[5]

5 OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb

OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is a rocky exoplanet with a very thin atmosphere located right in the middle of our own Milky Way. All three factors made astronomers suspect that it could contain life when it was discovered. However, they now believe that it does not due to the exoplanet’s super-low temperature.^[6]

The surface temperature on OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is around -220 degrees Celsius (-364 °F), which is too low to support life as we know it. For comparison, by some accounts, the lowest temperature ever recorded here on Earth is -97.8 degrees Celsius (-144 °F). The temperature was recorded in an area of ice-cold Antarctica that has never seen sunlight. An attempt to breathe in that area will destroy our lungs and cause instant death.

4 TrES-2b

TrES-2b is the darkest planet out there. It is so black that coal will appear lighter if both were ever placed side by side. TrES-2b is the size of Jupiter and located in the Draco constellation 750 light-years away from Earth. Its star is GSC 03549-02811, which is almost like our Sun.

TrES-2b is black because its atmosphere absorbs over 99 percent of the light it receives from the sun. Astronomers believe that the exoplanet reflects so little light because its atmosphere is filled with vaporized sodium and potassium or gaseous titanium oxide.

Nevertheless, being black does not mean that the exoplanet is cool. In fact, its atmospheric temperatures reach over 980 degrees Celsius (1,800 °F). This extremely high temperature causes some parts of the exoplanet to emit a red glow, just like burning coal or electric stove coils. Astronomers also suspect that the exoplanet is so close to its star that both are tidally locked.^[7]

3 OGLE-TR-56b

Planet OGLE-TR-56b lies in the Sagittarius constellation 5,000 light-years away from Earth. It is one of the “hot Jupiters” we talked about earlier. Hot Jupiters are often formed farther out in their stellar systems and later move closer to their stars.

Planet OGLE-TR-56b has already moved too close to its own star.^[8] It is so near that a year is 29 hours long, and the exoplanet’s surface temperature reaches 2,000 kelvins. Over there, the clouds are not made of water but of vaporized iron. Rain falls to the ground as hot liquid iron.

2 Venus

Deadly planets do not only exist outside our solar system. We have one lurking nearby, too. Without a doubt, Venus is the deadliest planet in our solar system thanks to its sulfur dioxide–rich clouds. Those clouds prevent useful sunlight from reaching the planet’s surface and stop deadly carbon dioxide from leaving the atmosphere.

The surface of Venus is filled with volcanoes that emit large amounts of heat and carbon dioxide. The large deposit of carbon dioxide makes Venus poisonous for humans. The thick clouds also trap heat and gas, making the planet lethally hot. Temperatures reach a hostile 467 degrees Celsius (872 °F).

The hot temperature remains constant all over the planet—even at the poles. Other hot planets are often cooler at the poles. Venus also retains this high temperature every day of the year. Even the nights are as hot as the days. Researchers think that Venus would be similar to Mercury if Venus did not have these clouds.

Interestingly, it also rains and snows on Venus, although things are quite different than what occurs on Earth. The snow is not made of liquid but of galena and bismuthinite metals. Rainfall is composed of deadly sulfuric acid. However, the high temperature on the planet means that rain never touches the ground. Instead, it evaporates midway to form another cloud.^[9]

1 Proxima b

Proxima b looked promising when it was discovered. It orbits Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star 4.24 light-years away from Earth. The exoplanet interested astronomers who thought that it had water and Earthlike properties. However, they soon discovered that they were wrong.

Proxima b is so close to Proxima Centauri that the exoplanet completes an orbit in 11.2 days. It is also tidally locked, leaving one side deadly hot and the other fatally cold and frozen. Between the two is a middle ground that is more temperate. However, that region is unlikely to support life because of Proxima Centauri.

As we mentioned earlier, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf. One characteristic of such stars is their tendency to release solar flares every two to three months that strike the planets orbiting around the stars. Those flares would destroy the ozone layers of those planets, making them vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation from the stars.

We observed one such event on March 24, 2017, when Proxima Centauri released a solar flare toward exoplanet Proxima b. The flare was so intense that the star became 1,000 times brighter within 10 seconds. Proxima b received 4,000 times the radiation that reaches the Earth from solar flares. That is bad for anything living on the exoplanet.^[10]

As many of you would have heard by now, the universe is huge. So insanely huge that if we were to take a break from our mundane lives and just think about the sheer scale of things out there, we’d likely go crazy. That’s the reason most of us don’t bother with anything outside our immediate surroundings, as our brains are simply not equipped to handle thinking about stuff like that.

If we did think about it, as many people – like scientists, astronomers and stoned college students – do, we’d realize that the universe is full of scary things you’d probably never put in a children’s book. If we ventured into its darkest corners, we’d find it hiding many fascinating – and concerning—mysteries we’re yet to uncover.

10 The Higgs Boson Doomsday

We have a lot of doomsday scenarios going around, depending on where you are in the world. Many cultures believe that the end of the world would be dramatic, which is cool by us as long as we get to see some cool visuals.

The most dangerous and plausible doomsday scenarios, however, come from actual scientists themselves, the Higgs Boson Doomsday being one of them. Many of them – including Stephen Hawking – believe it could happen, or is already happening. It’d start with a bubble filled with fluctuating Higgs energy, which should remain consistent for the universe to stay stable. The bubble would spread like the vacuum, fundamentally reprogramming – and in some cases, disintegrating – atoms as it goes.

Some scientists think that it has already started, and the bubble may be on our way from the dark parts of the universe soon. Though others say that it’s well into the future, and we may be long gone before it makes its way here.^[1]

9 Galactic Cannibalism

Galactic cannibalism is the last type of cannibalism we want to hear about, even if general cannibalism is pretty gross, too. Just the idea that there are some bigger galaxies out there gobbling up other, smaller ones, and the possibility it may happen to us, is quite scary. There’s nothing to worry about, though, as it’s not going to happen in the near future. Many other galaxies out there, however, are currently being eaten up by a bigger one just because it had nothing better to do that day.

It’s not that far away from us, either. Andromeda – the galaxy most familiar to the layman and a part of our Local Group –actually devoured a sister galaxy of the Milky Way around two billion years ago. It’s also expected to do that with the Milky Way in around 4.5 billion years, but by that time humans would hopefully have developed travel between galaxies, or would have long died out. Whoever decides to stay, though, would be subjected to one hell of a light show.^[2]

8 The Outcast Supermassive Black Hole

If we knew about all the massive things going on in the universe, our lives may start to look a bit tiny. Some of those things, though, are so massive that they truly demonstrate how insignificant we actually are. One of them is a supermassive blackhole ejected from its galaxy.

Scientists calculated that it would have taken the same amount of energy as 100 million supernovas to throw a black hole into space. It’s not just any black hole either, but by far the biggest black hole on the move we’ve ever recorded. The energy came from the merger of two black holes at the center of the galaxy, because of course that’s a thing that keeps happening in space, too.^[3]

7 Rogue Black Holes

Out of all the things that can potentially go rogue, a black hole seems to be the worst. Black holes, as we all know, are super dense parts of space with unimaginably-high gravitational fields, so much so that even light can’t escape them. They eat up everything in their gravitational field, which is why it’s a good idea to stay away from them.

It’s a problem, though, when it starts moving. You see, much like everything else in the universe, black holes can find their own motion trajectories. In some instances, they start moving at immense speeds, eating up everything in their path.
It’s not a distant phenomenon, either; a black hole as big as Jupiter is currently dashing across the Milky Way. It was earlier assumed to be stationary, though according to some recent research, it’s really not.^[4]

6 Zombie Stars

Whatever is alive has to die at some point, something that applies to everything in the universe. The death of stars – as you may remember from science class – is one of the most interesting phenomena in the known universe. Every star we see in the sky is already dead and the light hasn’t reached us yet, or will die at some point in the future, including our sun. That’s the natural way of things, except when they decide to not do that.

In rare cases, stars may die and come back to life like nothing happened, something that baffles us as well as the scientists. They recently discovered zombie stars that should have died in their supernova stages but somehow survived, and are now hurtling across space with a renewed sense of life and adventure. We don’t quite understand them, which is why we hope they stay away from us.^[5]

5 The Galaxies Without Dark Matter

If you’ve spent your fair share of time on the internet and science forums, you’d know that the visible universe is a tiny fraction of the whole thing. An overwhelming majority of it is made up of something called dark matter. We could have come up with a more scientific name, but as we know absolutely nothing about it, ‘dark’ matter is the most accurate description of what we think it is. We know that it permeates through everything, and huge swathes of the universe are made up of it, though that’s about it.

Even more mysterious, however, is the galaxy without any dark matter. It was earlier postulated that whatever dark matter is, the universe needs it to keep things together. The galaxy, along with others like it, proves that dark matter isn’t essential to keep galaxies glued together, further deepening the mystery of the whole thing.^[6]

4 The Triple Galaxy Collision

No matter how boring our lives are, we can take some comfort in the fact that something interesting is going on in the universe at all times. From massive shows of light to dying stars, it’s certainly not a boring place. Some of those events, though, are so mind-bogglingly humungous that we’d rather get bored on a lazy afternoon here on Earth than find ourselves anywhere near them.

One of them is the rare collision of three galaxies, like the one we observed in 2007. While two galaxies collide with each other more often that we’d think, it’s rare to see three of them do it. What looks like just a blob of light in the photos is three massive clusters of stars merging with each other, all the while forming stars at a rapid rate (around 200 solar masses per year at the center).^[7]

3 The Mystery Of The Biggest Black Hole Ever Found

There are quite a few things in the universe we don’t understand, which is cool, as we can’t know everything. It’s a real setback, though, when we think we have figured something out, only to later find out that we hadn’t figured it out at all. Case in point; the brightest and biggest black hole found in the early universe.

It’s at the center of a quasar (bright huge thing with a black hole at its center) scientists only recently discovered. Known as SDSS J0100+2802, it’s as bright as 420 trillion Suns, and by far the most massive quasar we have ever discovered. We don’t know how it formed, as nothing in the early phase of the universe should have got so big, which also makes it the most mysterious black hole we know of.^[8]

2 The Coldest Place In The Universe

The universe is quite a cold place, as the heat of the stars is only enough to affect a tiny part of it. We know that it’s cold, though we don’t know the extent of how cold it can get. According to some scientists, the absolute coldest place in the known universe is the Boomerang Nebula (a nebula being a giant mass of gas and dust in space).^[9]

It’s so cold – clocking in at -457.87F on an average – that scientists have been trying to understand exactly what happened to it for a while now. And as per a recent study, there’s a perfectly good explanation for it. Apparently, it was ejected out after a star threw itself into another bigger star going through the last stages of its life, causing most of its matter to be ejected out as a cold burst. While it’s still quite a bit away from us to be of any danger, it’s one place we should all agree to never explore in case we do figure out interstellar travel.

1 Strange Matter

For something named as inconspicuously as ‘strange matter’, you wouldn’t think that it’d mean much. It sounds like something scientists came up with when they couldn’t explain something and wanted to keep it for later. Look it up online, though, and you’d realize it’s by far one of the weirdest parts of theoretical physics.^[10]

In essence, strange matter – which may contain a lot of types of particles – isn’t like anything we have seen before. You see, usual matter is made up of atoms with a nucleus, which contains the protons and neutrons. They’re in turn made up of quarks, which stay neatly packed in, give everything around us their unique properties. In strange matter, though, the quarks run free, with seemingly no boundaries or rules on what they’re supposed to do. It’s a completely different type of matter, and scarily, could turn everything it comes in contact with to its own properties. Yes, a tiny lump of strange matter anywhere in the universe could be on its way here now, completely changing – and essentially destroying—the very nature of matter around it.

Fortunately, strange matter hasn’t been proven to exist anywhere in the universe, so it’s only on paper for now. Unfortunately and more recently, though, scientists did find something very similar to what they think strange matter would be like.

To quote the late Douglas Adams (the beloved author of “The Hitckhikers Guide to the Galaxy” books): “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” Truer words have never been spoken, as the universe itself is so big, it is incomprehensible, even to the most knowledgeable and open minded individuals. With a diameter that extends more than 93 billion light-years across, many very large objects are just lurking out in space, waiting to be found. In this list, I’ve gathered up the most massive and bizarre structures found in the universe. Many of them are actually a collection of objects, held together by the immense force of gravity. And since space is so big, none of our Earthly means of measuring distances will suffice, so for the sake of this article, we’re going to use light-years, the rate at which light travels through space in one year, as a unit of measurement.

Light travels at 186,000 miles [300,000 kilometers] per second, which equals out to 5,878,000,000,000 miles [9,461,000,000,000 km] each year. Therefore, at this rate, it would take light more than 4 years of traveling at top speed to reach the Alpha Centauri triple-star system, the closest celestial neighbors of the sun. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is so long, it would take light over 100,000 years of traveling, before making its way across the galaxy, coming out on the other side.

We hope all of you enjoy this brief trip to the great beyond.

Top 10 Scariest Things In The Universe

10 Swift J1357.2

We start this list out with the closest structure found from Earth (and the only one actually located in our galaxy), formally known as Swift J1357.2 — located almost 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Virgo. The structure itself is one of the least understood of this list, but physicists believe that it is based around a binary system containing a star and a stellar-mass black hole. The companion star in the system makes a complete orbit around the center of the system’s mass in the shortest orbital period known of at this time, just in 2.8 hours.

Contrary to popular belief, black holes are not cosmic vacuum cleaners that siphon all material located within the general vicinity of them. Instead, black holes only consume matter that dwells too close to them (coming within the so-called “event horizon,” which is basically the point at which nothing, not even light, can escape from). Gravitational perturbations can be the catalyst for this, causing an object (or a collection of matter) in a stable orbit around a black hole to veer off course, sending it spiraling inward. Because of this, it’s not uncommon that more material can collect than the black hole can consume at any given time. This material is known to build up and form something called an accretion disk.

The structure known as Swift J1357.2 is likely similar in design to one of these disks. Unlike its normal counterparts, this particular one has formed in the outer layer of the accretion disk and acts like a wave (traveling in an outward vertical direction instead of horizontally) which has resulted in a systematic “dimming” of the companion star every few seconds.^[1]

9 Hanny’s Voorwerp

Pictured at the top of this image (linked to below, for whomever actually decides which lists get published) is IC 297, a spiral galaxy located about about 650 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Leo Minor.

Located just under the galaxy (separated by thousands of light-years in reality) is Hanny’s Voorwerp — one of the strangest structures in existence. (and that says a lot, given how many mind-bogglingly strange some of the things Hubble [and several other groundbreaking telescopes] has unveiled are). Besides being strange, the structure is also very massive.. coming in at a diameter that exceeds that of the Milky Way. (More than 100,000 light-years)

The most likely origin of the structure is a no-longer active quasar once located in IC 297’s central core. Sometime, in the distant past, the quasar spat out all of the ghastly green material that twisted into filaments comprising this unique structure.^[2]

8 The Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster

This behemoth structure, containing more than 350,000 separate galaxies (30,000 large galaxies, 5,000 galaxy groups with more than 300,000 dwarf galaxies), is located about 700 million light-years from Earth. At least, the closest part of it is. This thing is literally so large, we aren’t entirely sure where the farthest end is, but it’s believed to be at least 1.2 billion light-years away from us — stretching across more than 550 million light-years in total.

Included in the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster, is Abell 3266, one of the most massive regions in our local universe. Incidentally, a huge cloud of gas, stretching out more than 5 million light-years along, is quickly approaching the cluster, which will reignite an era of star formation for the galaxies that will be impacted.^[3]

7 The Newfound Blob

Not only is the “Newfound Blob” one of the largest structures in the universe, but it’s also one of the oldest and most distant. For a time, it actually was considered the largest, until modern astronomy came along, when we began to build more powerful telescopes that were capable of taking us back to the dawn of time.

The Newfound Blob is comprised of large bubbles of gas, with several galaxies thrown in for good measure, which are called “Lyman Alpha Blobs.” (gotta love the creativity!) This particular one, the largest known blob, is located about 11 billion light-years from Earth, stretching more than 200 million light-years across. Some of the individual bubbles are 400,000 light-years across, which is FOUR times longer than our galaxy!

Its vast distance essentially means that the blob came into existence only 2 billion years after the big bang occurred. Factoring in the accelerating expansion of the universe, it’s safe to say that the blob is now much, much farther away from the location it was in when the light first left the region, beginning its journey traversing through space to reach our planet.^[4]

6 The Great Attractor

What is a list about space without a little bit of mystery? This entry will most certainly hit the proverbial spot, as it’s the grand poobah of unsolved cosmological mysteries.

When astronomers were observing one of the closest super-clusters to us, the Norma Cluster (located about 220 million light-years away), they noticed something strange and frankly perplexing. Something, which has been called “the great attractor” is gravitationally tugging on galaxies located in the region, pulling the galaxies toward it at speeds exceeding 200,000 miles per hour.

The mass needed for the structure (or an object, which is unlikely) to exert the needed force on the galaxies is immense, leading some astronomers to believe that dark energy, the force driving the expansion of the universe, is to blame. If not, this could mean we are missing key components needed to determine how gravity behaves on a macro-scale. (OR, I am rather fond of the notion that this is where all of the missing socks go.)^[5]

Top 10 Deadliest Planets In The Universe

5 The Sloane Great Wall of Galaxies

Whilst looking at the universe at large, we see that many galaxies (each generally containing billions of stars) tend to clump together, forming galaxy clusters. These clusters are in turn, separated by stunningly large voids. We call these structures ‘filaments’ and boy, do we have many of them. Among them, one of the most massive is called “The Sloane Great Wall.” This structure is more than 1.38 billion light-years in length, located approximately one billion light-years from Earth. The length is particularly impressive, as it makes up almost 1/60th (or about 5%) of the diameter of the observable universe. (The part of it that can actually be detected. The actual universe is much larger than that)

Even more interesting is the fact that this region contradicts the very basis of modern cosmology, which relies on the universe being only 13.7 billion years in age. Many noted physicists believe such a huge structure would take from 100 billion to 150 billion years to form to completion. To put it into a different light, if it took one week for the entire Earth to form, it would take more than two quintillion years for the Great Wall to form. Needless to say, it’s incomprehensibly large.^[6]

4 The Eridanus Supervoid

Most of us likely consider space to be empty. For the most part, it is. Over 99% of the universe is empty. That does not include how empty matter itself is. (Again, atoms are comprised mostly of empty space) However, with the discovery of quantum physics, we know that even empty space is not really empty, but contains negligible amounts of gas, energy and virtual particles, which pop in and out of existence.

So it’s still rather surprising to find areas of space that are almost entirely devoid of all kinds of matter, which include stars, planets, galaxies, clusters, interstellar materials and even dark matter itself (the mysterious substance we can’t see directly, but we know it makes up a large portion of the universe’s overall mass). The largest one of these voids can be found in the constellation of Eridanus. It stretches over an area of space that is equal to one billion light-years. Many physicists have came up with some very interesting theories about the origin of this void. One of them postulates that the void is an imprint of a parallel universe, which rubbed elbows with our own in the distant past. Another says that the region could be home to a universe-in-mass black hole.^[7]

3 Large Quasar Group

Next, we come to LQG (Large Quasar Group), the most massive structure in the known universe. This region of space is more than billion light-years across, containing more than 73 active quasars (Quasars can generally be found surrounding active black holes. Some of them are capable of emitting more light and energy in mere moments than all of the stars in our galaxy can combined!) in multiple galaxies. This relatively new find is not only mindbogglingly large, but it also challenges some deeply held beliefs, primarily something we call the “cosmological principle.” It says that no matter where we look, the universe should be homogeneous on a macroscale (or to put it simply, it should look the same everywhere).

Obviously something this large (and unmatched in size) is problematic from a cosmological principle perspective. This is not the first, nor the last, find that proves we know much less than we think we know.^[8]

2 The Observable Universe

Now, we get to the super awesome, difficult to comprehend part of our list. The universe is basically divided into two parts. First, we have the observable universe and then we have the actual universe. Both indeed qualify as structures, as you can clearly see the interconnectedness of the filaments and voids.

We are seriously hindered by the laws of physics, as far as how much we can see of the universe is concerned. As we know, light generally travels at a constant speed whilst traveling through the vacuum of space. Therefore, we can not see the light from any object located beyond the “light horizon;” An area of space close enough for the light from these objects to reach us. This area has a radius of 13.7 BILLION light-years (the age of the universe). While the area has a diameter of a staggering 93 billion light-years. This is possible because after the big bang, when the universe was only a fraction of a second old, it began expanding at a very, very rapid rate, called “inflation.” This expansion continues on to this very day, albeit much slower.

To summarize: The observable universe contains an estimated 10 million super-clusters (a few of which, we have discussed today), 350 billion large galaxies like the Milky Way, 25 billion galaxy groups, 7 trillion dwarf (or satellite) galaxies with about 30 billion trillion stars.^[9]

Which brings us to the last on our list:

1 The Actual Universe

First, I must stress that we really have no idea how large the actual universe is. Many physicists believe that our universe is actually infinite in size (I won’t even go into the possibility of our universe belonging to a multiverse, with potentially an infinite number of universes), but the truth of the matter depends on the overall shape of spacetime. Regardless, the actual universe is at LEAST 14 trillion light-years in diameter (excluding some speculative factors). Try multiplying the estimated number of stars in each galaxy by the number of estimated galaxies in the universe, you’ll get a rough estimate of the total number of stars the universe COULD contain. (The numbers go into the septillionth digits, depending on your source.)

Lets put that into perspective, in this scenario:

Each atom is comprised mostly of empty space (about 99%) with one very tiny nucleus. Estimates say that the actual universe could be ten BILLION times larger than the nucleus of an atom compared to the actual atom. (With the nucleus being the observable universe and the true universe being the rest of the atom.)

The most unusual part? Due to the expansion of the universe (which I briefly mentioned earlier), there will come a time in the distant future when the observable portion of the universe begins to shrink, before freezing and fading out of our view forever. Any light emitted from galaxies beyond this so-called “light horizon” (or the Hubble Volume, if you would prefer) will be too far away, traveling too fast for the light to ever reach us.

So yes. Even though the universe is growing, it will eventually shrink. (At least that’s how it will appear to living observers.) The night sky will be dark, featureless and devoid of all of its defining features. Not to worry though. Long before that, our sun will transition into a red-giant, engulfing our planet and anyone unfortunate enough to still be living here. Enjoy your day!^[10]

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About The Universe

About The Author: Jaime devotes every spare moment of her time toward writing for various science organizations online. However, the field of astrophysics is where her heart lies.

D.C. comics began in the 1930s, and over the last century, has grown into an entertainment empire that spans comics, television, animation, movies, and oh-so-much merchandise. It has built a vast and fervent fan base who tend to be both heavily invested and outspoken. As a result, D.C. fans created a veritable anthology of fan theories designed to explain and connect every single facet of D.C. continuity, no matter how small or otherwise easily explainable.

As true as this is for the comics and animated shows, it is especially true for the movies. Because the D.C.E.U. has brought some of the world’s most popular characters to the big screen in a… less than consistent way, fans have taken it upon themselves to fill in Warner Brothers’ gaps and build their bridges for them. Here are ten D.C. fan theories/conspiracies that, whether true or not, are worth reading.

10 Wonder Woman and the Native American God

In Wonder Woman, the titular Amazonian assembles a ragtag crew of soldiers and spies to help her navigate through war-stricken Europe, mainly because Captain America had already done that, and it seemed kinda fun. One of the colorful characters she collects is a Native American nicknamed Chief. Chief later reveals his real name is Napi.

Napi is a god in Blackfoot mythology who shaped the entire world. A demiurge. That makes him in one sense analogous to what the Christians would call God with a capital G. As the film’s antagonist is the Greek god of war Ares, gods are not off the table, and Napi’s actor Eugene Brave Rock has confirmed he is indeed the Blackfoot god.

9 Lois Lane has Psychic Powers

Some fan theories, though clever and comprehensive, are essentially just fan apologies for filmmakers’ mistakes. These big tentpole movies are made by committees overseeing more committees, so it’s natural that some continuity is lost and some disbelief fails to be suspended. One such theory is that which posits that Lois Lane is herself a metahuman.

The theory states that in “Batman Vs. Superman” (BvS), Lois Lane has superpowers of her own, most notably psychic powers. It’s the only way to explain, for example, Superman saving her from the terrorists, from being pushed off the skyscraper, and from drowning (boy, she really is pigeon-holed) despite not being aware of any of these situations. She had to have psychically alerted him to her distress. That, and she heard a dying Superman whisper to Batman to save Martha, even though she wasn’t in the room. Plus, she knew about the kryptonite spear and how to use it despite no one explaining it to her. She may be a two-dimensional plot device, but at least her mind-powers can explain it.

8 Aquaman Used Whales to Save Superman

In “Man of Steel,” while Clark Kent is out traveling the globe to grow the perfect grief beard, he is forced to save the crew of an offshore oil rig after it catches fire and collapses. After Clark holds up a portion of the rig so the workers can escape, he falls in the ocean below, unconscious. The sequence, by the way, includes a close-up on his sweaty abs but not a shot of him ever going in the water because… Zack Snyder.

Clark awakens in the water and sees two whales float towards him. The next we know, he emerges onshore. Again, no explanation. Naturally, due to, well just the presence of water, fans think of Aquaman. They theorize that he was watching and used his whale friends to give Clark a ride to shore. Aquaman himself, i.e., Jason Momoa, has confirmed that this theory is true.

7 Watchmen is DCEU Canon

The 2019 conclusion of D.C. Comics’ “Doomsday Clock” series canonically connects the D.C. Universe and the Watchmen universe. In the D.C.E.U. movies, the two worlds are at least spiritually connected as the architect of both is the same person, Zack Snyder. And Snyder has been sure to include easter eggs in the films that hint at the two worlds being connected. As a result, several fan theories have arisen to officially establish a canon connection.

For one, many have pointed to the anti-metahuman populace in the D.C.E.U. movies being potentially caused by the actions of earlier heroes who were darker, more flawed, and failed to prevent catastrophe, i.e., the Watchmen. Another hypothesis is that the Watchmen’s omnipotent Dr. Manhattan is pulling the D.C.E.U.’s strings,-resetting canon and establishing/curating the multiverse. The theories are more plausible than ever, thanks to their source material backing.

6 Marvel Bribed Rotten Tomatoes

Instead of canon and lore, this conspiracy is about real-world critical reactions. When “BvS” came out, its review scores on aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes quickly plummeted. Many fans expressed their belief that Marvel parent company Disney paid off critics to give the competing “BvS” a low score. This was a widely circulated news story and trended on Twitter for a bit.

The problem is that the trend was most vocally started by screenwriter Max Landis, notable controversy-magnet and purveyor of poorly-written sensationalism. When critics confronted Landis, he quickly backtracked, but the damage was done. D.C.’s fanbase, which at times can be a tad bit *ahem* Ayn-Rand-ish, seized on the idea as a way to explain why their movie wasn’t universally adored. After all, that is easier than acknowledging its glaring problems with writing, directing, acting, editing, tone, structure, internal logic, pacing, and consistency.

5 Alfred Only Dreamt that Bruce Survived

Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy ended with Batman seemingly dying in a sacrificial explosion. He is mourned and commemorated, and Gotham moves on, presumably with a spandex-clad Joseph Gordon Levitt prowling its rooftops. But we’re left with a treat. When a grieving Alfred visits his favorite cafe in Florence, Italy, he sees Bruce Wayne alive and well, having a nice day out with his partner-in-brooding Selena Kyle, aka Catwoman.

However, many fans think this is just Alfred dreaming as a way to cope with the trauma of Bruce’s death. Earlier in the movie, Alfred indeed said that he had a fantasy of finding Bruce there, and in addition, never told Bruce which cafe it was. Christopher Nolan has said that the sequence is not a dream. I posit here that Nolan saying that was part of the dream, too. That could theoretically mean we’re all a part of Alfred’s dream, and I, for one, am okay with that.

4 The Joker is a Robin

At one point in “BvS,” we see an empty, vandalized Robin suit and are left to assume that the Joker murdered Robin. For comic fans, that naturally brings up Jason Todd, the second Robin, who the Joker indeed murdered back in the 80s due to a reader poll. But director Zack Snyder said that the dead Robin was “Richard,” meaning the first Robin, Dick Grayson.

This led many to question if the Joker, the Jared Leto version, was himself, Jason Todd. It would explain some of the Joker’s tattoos, which appear to be feathers and birds; the ‘J’ tattoo under his eye, which would stand for ‘Jason’ instead of ‘Joker’; Batman’s extreme cynicism and world-weariness; and Batman’s line “20 years in Gotham. How many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?”

3 Future Injustice

In both “BvS” and “Justice League,” we see visions of the future, dubbed by fans as “Knightmares,” which is a pretty cool name. They are bleak and show a dystopian hellscape in which Superman has turned evil, and Batman has to collect metahumans to stand against him. Fans have wondered if this is a possible setup for the popular Injustice storyline.

In that comic series, the Joker tricks Superman into killing Lois Lane, which causes Supes to spiral into evil and totalitarianism. That does seem pretty close to the visions. Zack Snyder has said coyly that the Joker is in some way responsible for the Knightmare future, which lends support to the idea that the Knightmare future is the Injustice future. We may still be able to see it play out if the #Snyderverse is ever #restored.

2 WWII Never Happened

“Wonder Woman” is odd in that, despite its protagonist and antagonist being characters from Greek myth, its setting is very real—the front lines of World War One—and some of its characters very real. For this theory, the character that matters most is Erich Ludendorff, a very real German general from that era. In the movie, Wonder Woman stabs Ludendorff and kills him, but in real life, Ludendorff survived World War One and went on to play a major role in turning Germany into a fascist empire. He took part in two attempted coups of the German government (called putsches), worked with the Nazi party, and helped perpetuate anti-Semitic ideologies.

The theory, which is a logical assumption, says that because Wonder Woman killed off Ludendorff in WWI, it prevented him from exerting his influence on German society in the 20 and 30s, thereby weakening the Nazi cause. Removing this gear from the Nazi machine may have caused it to lose enough steam to never initiate World War II.

1 Batman is in Arkham

This is one of the oldest comic book theories there is, and though it almost certainly not true, it makes for a fun discussion. It states that Bruce Wayne, not his villains, is a prisoner in Arkham Asylum. His inability to cope with the trauma of his parent’s death drove him insane, and he ended up a permanent inmate at Arkham.

The Batman persona is just one of Wayne’s psychoses, and his villains really just his doctors. Adding to the theory is the fact that many of Batman’s rogues are, in fact, doctors. Further, the villain Scarecrow, who is able to provoke the most fear in Wayne with his chemical injections, is an actual psychiatrist. It is funny to imagine the Batman comic ending at some point with him waking up in a straitjacket and realizing it was all a hallucination. Naturally, there would be riots in the streets.

Science is all about discovery. Uncovering fascinating new truths about the world around us. Finding original ways to explain some of the universe’s biggest mysteries.

Even in this technological era, there is still so much that modern science cannot explain. Are there unknown forces that we cannot detect? What is dark energy? How does quantum physics work? Some of the most intelligent minds on Earth are trying to solve these elusive riddles. And, once in a while, they make a breakthrough.

In recent years scientists have made a number of incredible discoveries. After scouring the world of subatomic particles, researchers at CERN uncovered the Higgs boson in 2012. Three years later, astronomers made another spectacular breakthrough when they captured a burst of gravitational waves from two merging black holes. From dark matter to fourth dimensions, galactic cannibalism to quantum hyperchaos, here are ten astonishing new findings that could change the way we view the universe.

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About The Universe

10 Potential New Force Discovered at the Large Hadron Collider

We live in a world of mysterious forces. According to particle physicists, there are four known fundamental forces underlying the universe: gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the strong and weak interactions. But now, researchers at CERN reckon they might have discovered a new kind of force. If they are correct, it could alter their understanding of the quantum world.

For the past ten years, scientists have used the Large Hadron Collider to create B meson particles. A ‘B meson’ is a type of subatomic particle with an incredibly short lifespan. It quickly breaks down into other tiny particles, forming electrons and muons. First discovered in the 1930s, muons are similar to electrons only heavier. In theory, the B mesons should decay into electrons and muons at the same rate. But the CERN team found something rather different. Instead of decaying at the same rate, the B mesons were more likely to break apart into electrons.

This unexpected behavior hints at a new kind of quantum force. The researchers say they feel “cautious excitement” about their potential discovery. But they stress that more work needs to be done before they can present their findings with authority.

9 Massive Gravity Theory Could Explain Dark Energy

For years, cosmologists have been stumped by the expansion of the universe. The universe is swelling at a growing rate. No one is quite sure why. Scientists believe that dark energy is responsible for cosmic expansion. But, to this day, nobody has been able to explain exactly what dark energy is or how it works.

But that could be about to change. Swiss physicist Claudia de Rham has developed a trailblazing new theory that she reckons could shed light on the mysteries of dark energy. De Rham has put forward the idea of massive gravity—a theory based on Einstein’s general relativity.

Some particle physicists believe that gravity is controlled by tiny particles known as gravitons. Unlike regular particles, gravitons are thought to have no mass. But de Rham and her colleagues say this might not be quite right. They believe that gravitons do have mass. This might sound like physicists splitting hairs, but her theory could have radical repercussions when it comes to dark energy.

“One possibility is that you may not need to have dark energy,” de Rham explained. “Or rather, gravity itself fulfils that role.”

Right now, massive gravity is just a theory. But, as scientists develop more sophisticated ways to detect gravitational waves, they may be able to find some evidence to support their cosmic speculation.

8 Magnetic Field Photographed Swirling Around Black Hole

The Event Horizon Telescope is redefining astronomy. In 2019, the project made history when they released the first image of the outskirts of a black hole. Two years later, they updated their photo to include swirling magnetic fields circling the galactic giant.

The Event Horizon Telescope consists of a network of eight telescopes from around the world. Scientists combine data from all eight detectors to peer into space in a way never done before. In 2019, they produced an image of a supermassive black hole at the center of a nearby galaxy, 55 million light-years from Earth.

Electrons circle the black hole, emitting polarized light as they spiral around the edge of the cosmic whirlpool. By measuring the light, scientists calculated that the black hole’s magnetic field is 50 times stronger than the Earth’s. Certain black holes like the one in the photo are known to spit out jets of matter. But scientists have a limited understanding of how the process works. Analyzing the magnetic field gives astronomers a greater insight into black hole behavior.

“The polarized light has these curved swoops like a spiral,” explained Sara Issaoun, an astrophysics researcher at Radboud University. “This tells us that the magnetic field around the black hole is ordered, and this is really important because only an ordered magnetic field can launch jets – a scrambled magnetic field cannot do that.”

7 Dark Matter and Galactic Cannibalism

In the depths of the cosmos, 163,000 light-years from Earth, lies Tucana II. Tucana II is an ultrafaint dwarf galaxy. Scientists believe it was created in the early stages of the universe. A global research team recently discovered a cluster of stars near the fringes of the galaxy, which has provided a striking insight into its formation.

The team found nine new stars around 3,500 light-years from the core of Tucana II. This discovery confirms that the galaxy is much larger than they originally thought. Researchers observed the stars using images from the Australian SkyMapper telescope and data from Europe’s Gaia satellite.

The newly discovered stars are thought to be considerably older than the other stars in the galaxy. The scientists offer two main explanations for this. Either, they posit, the dwarf galaxy was formed by two younger galaxies merging. This process is known as galactic cannibalism. Or the stars are kept in position by the gravitational pull from Tucana II. If this is true, it means there is around four times more dark matter lurking in the galaxy than previously thought.

6 Quantum Hyperchaos

Quantum physics is known for being confusing and chaotic. Nobody quite understands what is happening in the miniature realm. But researchers have made a breakthrough discovery about the chaotic nature of quantum systems that could one day revolutionize quantum technology.

Their remarkable finding is known as quantum hyperchaos. In 2021, scientists discovered that quantum data storage systems become increasingly chaotic under laser light. Energy from the laser causes the system to behave haphazardly. But the scientists were surprised to learn that the extent of the chaos remains the same, no matter how big the system is. The team reckons that this could be used to improve the processing power of quantum computers.

5 Does Time Flow In Two Directions?

As children, we were all taught that time moves forward. But what if it moves backward too? It sounds like something from science fiction, but a handful of scientists believe it could explain the fundamental structure of the universe.

British physicist Julian Barbour has developed a model of the universe in which time moves in two directions. Most cosmologists would say that the universe originated with the Big Bang. But Barbour disagrees. He reckons that, rather than the start, the Big Bang is a midpoint from which time flows both forwards and backward.

Barbour is the first to admit that his ideas are unconventional, but then history is made by radical thinkers. Who knows, perhaps one day we might find signs of a separate time stream where time moves in reverse. A world where people age from old to young and have fond memories of the distant future.

4 Synthetic Fourth Dimension Helps Scientists Understand Quantum Physics

Over the past few years, scientists have begun to create their own completely new dimensions. In quantum labs, researchers are building synthetic realms that open up all kinds of reality-bending possibilities.

Scientists say these man-made dimensions are so odd that they are near impossible to imagine. Researchers have observed what they call the “ghostly effects of four-dimensional space.” Some have incorporated the extra dimension into electric circuits. There are now plans to go further, potentially making a fifth or sixth dimension, with scientists speculating that they might discover exotic new particles.

3 Ultracold Atoms Manipulate Light

In the 17th century, an incredible scientific idea was born. Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens thought up a way to manipulate light using a thin electrical surface. Now, four hundred years later, scientists have brought Huygens’ theory to life.

Researchers at Britain’s Lancaster University have shown that certain elements like ytterbium and strontium can be used to maneuver beams of light. The team began by cooling the atoms down to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. They then used lasers to manipulate the ultracold atoms, which affected the way they interact with light. By controlling the atoms with the laser, the scientists were able to direct and reshape beams of light. They say this remarkable discovery could help with the study of quantum mechanics.

2 Astronomers Find Traces of Early Universe Stars

In 2018, astronomers announced that they had picked up signals sent out by some of the earliest stars in the universe. They caught a faint radio buzz that is thought to have emanated from stars formed 180 million years after the Big Bang.

This might sound ancient, but in cosmology 180 million years is incredibly young. In fact, it is thought that the celestial bodies formed in a period known as the cosmic dawn, when the universe first emerged from total darkness. Scientists say this primordial buzz could provide clues about the nature of dark matter.

“Finding this minuscule signal has opened a new window on the early universe,” explained Judd Bowman, an experimental cosmologist at Arizona State University. “It’s unlikely we’ll be able to see any earlier into the history of stars in our lifetime.”

1 Ghost Particle at the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is one of the most remarkable scientific instruments in the world today. It forms rare particles by accelerating subatomic protons to nearly the speed of light, then forcing them to collide. This high-speed particle smash produces all kinds of weird and wonderful creations – although they often only survive for a split second.

In 2018, researchers found hints of an unanticipated new particle in the collider’s data. They say it appears to be around twice the mass of a carbon atom, although nobody can properly understand what it is. The team started to speculate about a mysterious ghost particle after detecting an unusual excess of muons during their analysis. Muons are minuscule particles that are similar to electrons but heavier.

15 Fastest Things In The Universe

Better Call Saul finished its six-season run earlier this year, making its mark as one of the few TV prequel shows to be considered as good as (or better than) the parent show. Whereas Breaking Bad was a thrill ride of non-stop action, cliffhangers, and plot twists, Better Call Saul was one of the finest character dramas of its era. Not that Better Call Saul didn’t occasionally ratchet up the tension to Breaking Bad levels, but it was mostly lauded for its slow and contemplative pace that allowed for details of the Breaking Bad universe to be painted in.

Even with all the background and character development we saw over 14 years of Breaking Bad, its sequel movie El Camino, and Better Call Saul, there are still some things we’ve been left to wonder about. Here are 10 of those plot points that weren’t explained, leaving the viewer free to theorize about what happened.

A couple of notes before we get started. Bob Odenkirk’s character will be referred to as both Jimmy and Saul, depending on the persona he was using at the time. And spoiler warning—if you’re not caught up on the Breaking Bad universe, major spoilers are to follow.

Related: Top 10 Real-Life Crimes Inspired by the Hit Show Breaking Bad

10 What Happened in Gus Fring’s Past?

Introduced as the ultimate supervillain in Breaking Bad, Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) was at first a business partner to Walter White (Bryan Cranston) but later his mortal enemy. Once Gus was done with Walt, he expressed no qualms about eliminating him, leading to a cat-and-mouse game that left Walt victorious. One of Better Call Saul’s greatest accomplishments was humanizing Gus and getting the audience to root for him in his war against the Salamanca family. But even though we got to know Gus a lot better in the prequel, his past in his home country of Chile is still a major mystery.

The lack of information about Gus’s past was first established in Breaking Bad when the DEA brought him in for questioning. Agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) questions Gus why there’s no record of his existence before the mid-1980s. Gus plays that off as a side effect of Chile being war-torn and in disarray during the Pinochet regime, but Hank remains suspicious. We later find out that Gus fought in that war with Peter Schuler, the German man who is the head of the fast food division of Madrigal (and that the two use Madrigal resources to distribute meth worldwide). A scene in the Better Call Saul episode “JMM” made clear they faced death together in the war, and making it out alive together forged a lifelong bond.

Fans theorize that growing up in poverty (which Gus did confirm in a few lines of dialogue) and the war turned Gus into the calculating criminal mastermind we came to know. But as far as details, we know as much as the DEA.^[1]

9 What Happened to the Kettlemans?

Appearing in the very first episode, white-collar criminals Craig and Betsy Kettleman (Jeremy Shamos and Julie Ann Emery) were major players in the first season of Better Call Saul. Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), the lawyer later to be known as Saul Goodman, hopes to break away from the low pay of public defender work and start his own practice by convincing the Kettlemans to retain him. In the end, Betsy declines because Jimmy seems like the type of lawyer “that guilty people hire.” This line, and its effect on Jimmy’s self-esteem, set in motion the series of events that leads to Saul Goodman becoming the most notorious “criminal lawyer” in America.

Given their importance to the birth of the Saul Goodman alter ego, fans were thrilled to see the Kettlemans return early in the final season. After Craig has served his prison sentence for embezzlement, he and Betsy are now running a tax filing service (and scamming seniors out of their tax refunds). One of the most striking things about their place of business is the giant Statue of Liberty inflatable on top of the building, which would later find a home at the law office of Saul Goodman and Associates.

So, how did Saul acquire the Statue of Liberty? Were the Kettlemans busted again for their financial crimes, leaving the inflatable up for sale? Or did Saul take them on as clients to keep them from getting caught and take Lady Liberty as payment? Something happened, but we’ll have to guess just what it was.^[2]

8 How Did Saul Acquire His Cadillac?

With vanity license plates reading LWYRUP, Saul’s white Cadillac was one of the props most closely associated with him. For the majority of Better Call Saul, Jimmy drives a decidedly less-glamorous and run-down Suzuki Esteem. In the classic season 5 episode “Bagman,” Jimmy goes on a dangerous trip into the desert in the Esteem to collect $7 million of cartel money so that Lalo Salamanca can be bailed out of jail. The Esteem never makes it out of the desert. In the same episode, at the Salamance headquarters, a blood-stained white Cadillac is cleaned up.

It seems reasonable to assume this Cadillac will eventually become Saul’s, perhaps as payment for representing the cartel in court at some point. However, Better Call Saul never filled in any more details on this. The first time we see the Cadillac with the LWYRUP plates is a scene set after the events of Breaking Bad when the FBI seizes the car.^[3]

7 How Is Skyler and Marie’s Relationship These Days?

A lot of the tension in Breaking Bad came from the fact that Walt was DEA agent Hank’s brother-in-law, with Hank spending much of the series just about to discover that Walt was the meth kingpin he was looking for. They were related by way of being married to sisters: Skyler (Walt’s wife) and Marie (Hank’s wife). The relationship was always a bit fraught between the sisters, with a sibling rivalry ongoing through much of the series.

In the Breaking Bad finale, Walt gives Skyler the GPS coordinates where the bodies of Hank and his work partner, fellow agent Steve Gomez, can be found. Walt encourages Skyler to use the information to secure a deal that will absolve her of her prosecution for her part in Walt’s crimes. Near the end of Better Call Saul, Saul’s legal assistant, Francesca, mentions that Skyler did indeed get her deal.

So one is left to wonder just how well Marie took hearing the news of this deal. In the final episode of Better Call Saul, we see that Marie was not happy that federal prosecutors were willing to negotiate a deal with Saul. One can only imagine how she felt about her sister getting a deal by trading the location of her dead husband.^[4]

6 Does Kim Ever Return to Practicing Law?

The breakout performance in Better Call Saul was by Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler, the smart and savvy lawyer who starts the series as Jimmy’s friend and later girlfriend, wife, and finally, ex-wife. While spending much of the early run of the show as the moral counterpoint to Jimmy’s cutting corners and skirting the boundaries of the law, Kim eventually finds herself wrapped up in the scams and misdeeds that gave birth to the Saul Goodman persona.

That is, until someone gets hurt. After Kim and Jimmy work a convoluted scheme to discredit their colleague Howard Hamlin, Howard ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time and is murdered. Unable to cope with this guilt, Kim gives up being a lawyer and breaks up with Jimmy.

Given Kim’s passion for the law and how good she was at being a lawyer, fans naturally rooted for her to return to practice. But by the end of the show, the closest she came was volunteering at a legal aid center. Still, it’s hard to believe that she wouldn’t try to join the bar again at some point.^[5]

5 Will Howard’s Wife Pursue Legal Action?

As part of Kim’s atonement for Howard’s death—which saw her giving up her law license—she also confessed to Howard’s wife, Cheryl. This included the schemes she and Jimmy perpetrated to sully Howard’s reputation and how Lalo shot and killed Howard. While confession is indeed good for the soul, Cheryl accurately pointed out that her confession opened the door for Kim to be held legally liable for her misdeeds.

But will she actually pursue legal action? The last we hear is in the final episode, when Saul’s standby counsel, Bill Oakley, informs him that word on the street in Albuquerque is that Cheryl is looking for a good lawyer. So maybe we’re meant to think Kim will be taken to court. But whether this does happen, or if there will be any consequences for Kim, is left to our imagination.^[6]

4 Does Jesse Stay on Track in Alaska?

While the entirety of the Breaking Bad universe could be described as a neo-Western set in modern times, that description especially applies to the sequel movie El Camino. The film follows Walt’s old meth-cooking partner, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), as he tries to avoid his enemies and law enforcement while raising enough money to pay identity broker Ed (Robert Forster) to set him up with a new life in Alaska. It’s a real “loner hero on the run in the American West” story like many classic Westerns.

In the end, Jesse is successful, and Ed gets him to Alaska. But we have to wonder, what’s next? It’s entirely conceivable that Jesse will do his best to avoid breaking the law and make the most of his new life. But at the same time, the Better Call Saul scenes set post-Breaking Bad show us that living under a new identity in a new place without falling into old habits can be hard. Given Jesse’s history of drug abuse, we hope he can stay on track, but we do wonder.^[7]

3 What Happens to the Albuquerque Criminal Underworld?

Across two TV series and a sequel movie, we really became acquainted with the criminal underworld in Albuquerque. When we were introduced to Saul Goodman and his PI, Mike Ehrmentraut (Jonathan Banks), in Breaking Bad, it was clear that they had all the connections. Better Call Saul gave us an interesting backstory here, showing that Mike first made a lot of those connections via the veterinarian Dr. Caldera. In the final season, Dr. Caldera lets Jimmy know he will retire from his post as an underworld organizer, and his “little black book” full of criminal contacts is up for sale.

This is the same little black book that we see Saul use in Breaking Bad, so we know he did acquire it from Dr. Caldera at some point. And in Better Call Saul, we find out that the FBI tossed the book into a box when they raided Saul’s house and seized his property. With Dr. Caledera, Saul, Mike, and most of the other criminal elements we got to know all gone by the end of the Breaking Bad timeline, this leaves an opening for a new criminal ringleader. But as to who that could be, any guess is as good as another.^[8]

2 What Became of Lyle?

Gus Fring’s front for his meth empire was his chain of chicken restaurants, Los Pollos Hermanos. And he had no more loyal employee than Lyle. When Gus was called out of work to handle more unsavory business, he was always sure to turn over running the store to Lyle. And unfortunately for Lyle, this also meant that Gus would occasionally take out his frustrations on his most loyal employee.

Lyle never seemed to mind, his dedication to Los Pollos Hermanos and Gus never wavering. So one has to wonder… after Gus died and the chicken franchise was no more, how did Lyle recover? Did he go work fast food somewhere else? Was he even able to recover from the loss of Gus? We’ll truly never know.^[9]

1 How Did Jimmy Get Chuck’s Time Machine Book?

The final episode of Better Call Saul heavily featured a time machine motif. Jimmy/Saul is seen having conversations in flashbacks with three of the most important associates in his life, all discussing regrets and what they would do if they could go back in time. His conversations with Mike and Walt directly pose the time machine question; his talk with his brother Chuck (Michael McKean) dances around the topic until we see Chuck is reading a copy of H.G. Wells’s novel The Time Machine.

Earlier in season 6, we see that Jimmy had this exact same copy at the apartment he shared with Kim. This leads us to wonder how he acquired it since Chuck died in a fire that destroyed the entirety of his house. So just how was Jimmy able to retrieve The Time Machine book? He clearly hung onto it to remember Chuck, but how did the book survive the fire? Did Jimmy actually have a time machine all along and go back to get the book? It’s just another of those details that we’ll never have an answer for.^[10]

The Harry Potter universe captured the imaginations of children and adults around the world, and continues to do so with spin-off material. The idea of a world where magical people not only exist under our feet, but use their own way of doing things and eschew most modern technology is certainly a novel idea. However, it also raises a lot of interesting questions about the world itself due to the way they interact with magic and technology, and there are some fascinating unanswered questions around many of the characters as well. 

10. Would A Gun Be Something Lord Voldemort And Other Wizards Are Prepared For? 

This is something that has bugged many fans for some time, and is a question that may never be entirely put to rest. We all know that Voldemort hates technology of all kinds, despises Muggles, and thinks them stupid and incapable. However, the question is: how much he has researched how to protect himself, even though he thinks them that idiotic? In Prisoner of Azkaban, a man named Sirius Black escapes, and an ad sent out to the Muggles calls a wand a “gun.” Later on in the book, someone from a wizarding family refers to a gun as “a kind of metal wand Muggles use to kill each other.” In other words, he has absolutely zero clue how it works. 

Now, this leads people to wonder if Voldemort, or for that matter any wizard of consequence, is prepared for this kind of threat. A bullet fires very quickly, so many people would argue even a prodigious wizard would hardly even be able to get off a nonverbal spell with a quick hand gesture in time. However, if Voldemort knew about the threat properly, he may have some kind of spell that keeps him constantly shielded from such Muggle threats. It’s also possible he simply underestimates Muggles and does not imagine ever being in a situation where he could be threatened by them, or their technology. 

9. Did Dumbledore Hide His Homsexuality Because It Was A Stigma, Or For Other Reasons? 

In an interview after the seventh book had already been published, J.K. Rowling shocked much of the world by telling the audience that the wizard who wore high-heeled boots and flamboyant purple robes was gay. Many parents were upset because it challenged their personal views, and others were simply upset because they felt she was changing a character after the fact. Now, the truth is that Rowling always planned for him to be gay — we know now that he was in love with the dark wizard Grindelwald. 

However, you don’t need that as evidence to know this was not a retcon. All of the hints were already there long ago, and many of the more well-read fans were not at all surprised. The question many fans had was why Dumbledore seemed to keep it a secret in the books. Now, some might suggest it simply wasn’t brought up, but Dumbledore seems to take flirtatious comments from women occasionally in the books, and he tries to politely deflect without being too flirty back. This would suggest these women were not aware. Now, the question is whether wizards have an issue with homosexuality, or perhaps Dumbledore just hid it because he didn’t want anyone to ever realize his romantic connection to Grindelwald.

8. Did Professor Umbridge, Being Evil In Every Other Way, Also Torture Her Cats? 

Professor Umbridge is one of the most evil characters introduced in the stories. She starts out abusing schoolchildren and making one of them repeatedly scar his hand by writing in his own blood, and eventually graduates to a point in the series where she is in charge of an inquisition to root out people who are not pureblood wizards, and have their souls sucked out by dementors. She takes absolute joy in this job, and has a dark and vicious glee in her voice as she repeatedly mocks people and claims they “are not really wizards” and never have been, because they are not pureblood. At the end of the series, she was apparently tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity, but some people may wonder more about the fate of her cats. 

In the Harry Potter stories, we learn that Umbridge has a lot of cat pictures, and likes to display them regularly. This is a woman who likes to keep her surroundings absolutely pristine, and has a nasty personality that can be both passive aggressive — and just plain aggressive — depending on her mood and the situation. It’s hard to imagine such a woman being kind to animals, or putting up with any mess they might make. And according to secondary sources Umbridge hated the cleanup and mess. However, if she learned to hate the mess, did she at one time try to care for live cats? And what kind of horrible person would she have been to a live animal? 

7. Were The Dursleys Evil Because Of The Piece Of Voldemort Inside Harry? 

Some people have pointed out that, in the final book, Ron got upset and awful because he was wearing a horcrux, and that even Hermione and Harry got more irritable while it was on them for an extended period of time. We also know that Harry himself was a horcrux. This has brought some people to speculate that the Dursleys were so evil, and so mean, because Harry — being a horcrux — brought out the worst in them. 

To its detriment, the house was supposed to be well defended magically to protect Harry, so it is hard to imagine how much even seeping influence his presence could have over time. It also begs the question of how the horcrux didn’t turn Harry’s dorm-mates evil or nasty, over time, simply by being around him. In support, though, it is possible it just amplifies existing traits. If Harry’s roommates were normal people it would have no undue influence on them; however, Ron — in a state of heavy resentment while wearing one regularly — could not take the pressure. And the Dursleys were already said to be pretty nasty people, but it does seem plausible that Voldemort’s presence within Harry could have helped amplify their already evil traits. 

6. Should Hermione Have Really Gone With Ron, Harry, Or Someone Else Entirely? 

Not long ago, J.K. Rowling both shocked the world and made a lot of people facepalm by suggesting that Hermione should not have wound up with Ron because she would simply never be happy longterm with him, and should have gone with Harry instead. Now, Rowling is being a little silly here because, well… she already wrote it one way. And also, if Harry goes with Hermione this kind of leaves Ginny out in the cold. Even sillier, it was Rowling herself who used to adamantly be against all of the ‘shippers who kept claiming it should really be Harry and Hermione up until the end. 

Now, she claims she wants to change the outcome of her own story, but just like Rowling herself not being happy with the ending, perhaps the real answer here is that Hermione would not have been truly happy with either of them, or perhaps anyone in the books. Hermione likes being around people to an extent, and she likes having friends and she can talk up a storm, but overall she is a loner and a bookish type. She likes to study, learn and succeed on her own and she is incredibly invigorated by working alone. Such an introverted person, who would also run circles around most people in the room in terms of intelligence, would likely find it difficult to really get along with anyone long term as a partner. Perhaps somewhere deep down, Rowling knows this, because there are a lot of similarities between her and Hermione. 

5. Can Anything Ever Really Redeem Severus Snape For Being So Unapologetically Evil? 

Some people like to romanticize Severus Snape, partly because he was played by a man who was truly kind and charming in real life. Also, people tend to see Snape’s final memories in the story and come away with a touching picture, while many of us just see the sad, wasted life of a messed up person. The memories show Snape knew Lily from a young age, always loved her, and fought Voldemort all along (in secret) in order to keep his love of Lily alive, and even sacrificed a few times to protect Harry himself. 

However, the truth is that Snape was not just a tortured lover — who “lost” a girl he never even had — and used that love to bring him back to the “good side.” He was nasty, and Dumbledore used him to get as much good out of him as he could, but he was never a “good” man. Rowling herself has been pretty clear on this, but some people do not seem to get it. He claimed he loved Lily, but it was a selfish, evil, possessive (and extremely one-sided) love, because he did not truly care about her wishes or her memory. No one could say a mother would want her son abused in such a way, simply because his father was a different man than the man who once courted her. This doesn’t mean he was pure evil, though, and Rowling has said as much. But can any sacrifice make up for so much awful behavior? 

4. What Exactly Happens To The Soul That A Dementor Eats, And What Is Your Afterlife Fate? 

In Harry Potter, we learn in the third installment about horrible beings called dementors. They suck the happiness out of the air around them, and it slowly makes you weaker and weaker. They feed on your despair and sadness, and if they manage to get close enough to you and truly grab a hold of you with their rotting hands, they can give you something called the “dementor’s kiss” where they literally suck out your soul. Now, perhaps to not scare children, Rowling doesn’t really go into details here, so we are left to speculate. 

We know that the afterlife exists in Harry Potter — Sirius Black accidentally enters it through a one way curtain in the fifth book, but that still leaves a lot of details unclear, especially when it comes to dementors. Is the soul “killed” and sent on to the afterlife? Or is it somehow consumed and actually destroyed? Is the person in question killed, their body now just being a husk, or is there some kind of life to it now, being only an animal existence? While it is a kids’ series, and we cannot expect Rowling to address these things in too much detail, it would be interesting to know how it is all really supposed to work. 

3. Did Snape Hate Neville For Being Weak, And A Gryffindor, Or For More Insidious Reasons?

In the early Harry Potter books, we quickly notice that apart from picking on Harry for being himself, and picking on Hermione for being a know-it-all, Snape really seems to enjoy tearing Neville Longbottom into tiny little bits and dissolving him into tears on a regular basis. Now, most people always assume that this was just because Neville was clumsy and stood out as an annoying and awkward Gryffindor, and many of us went through the entire series believing this. But some have read more closely and noticed something interesting that makes Snape even more despicable as a human being. 

In the fifth book, we learn about a prophecy that caused Voldemort to think Harry would have the power to destroy him, so he attempted to murder Harry and his entire family. We also learn this prophecy could have also applied to Neville, but it ended up applying to Harry instead because Voldemort essentially chose Harry as his nemesis. Snape was always well aware of this, and it may have driven his insane hatred of Neville. If Neville’s parents had been attacked, Lily would never have been killed, and if Harry hadn’t been born, Lily wouldn’t have been killed either. According to this theory, as far as Snape was concerned, Neville and Harry were both to blame, with the bonus of Harry being half the kid he wanted to have with Lily, but looking so much like the man who got to be with her instead. What this meant to Snape, of course, was that both boys needed to be systematically punished for as long as they were in his power. 

2. Does The Ministry Know, Or Care, How Ridiculous Their Underage Magic System Is?

In the second Harry Potter installment, we find Harry dealing with a visit from some people Uncle Vernon is trying to get a big drill contract with, and Harry himself being hustled out of sight. A house elf who wants him to stay away from Hogwarts gets him into big trouble with both his aunt and uncle, and the Ministry of Magic as well, by making it look like he used magic in the house. The Ministry warns him that if he uses underage magic again without permission, they will boot him from school. This makes things even worse for him, as he then gets punished severely with his aunt and uncle knowing he cannot retaliate against them with magic. 

Now, Harry is aggrieved because he did not actually use magic, and wonders if the system is not actually very well designed. He later finds out that he is entirely correct. It turns out that the Ministry’s system cannot actually tell who used the magic, just that it was used in the household. That means — presumably — if it was a wizarding household, you could get away with underage magic all the time and no one would ever know. The only people who would get caught are orphans, and they are the ones most likely to panic and use magic because they are vulnerable and have no one to protect them. Instead of sending a Ministry representative to ask why an underage child in a non-wizarding household was using magic, they just send a letter and threaten expulsion after just one little levitation charm. 

1. Is There Any Way To Force Someone To Make An Unbreakable Vow?

In the Harry Potter novels, we learn early on about something called the unbreakable vow. Two people clasp hands while holding their wands and go through an oath about their actions. The vow is literally unbreakable, in that if you cannot find a way out of the wording and you break the oath, you simply die. Ron mentions once that when he was a little kid, his older brother Fred almost got him to do one, and then his mom noticed and came and gave his older brother a spanking he would never forget. We are never told what he wanted him to agree to in this oath. Snape also takes an oath in book six, agreeing to kill Dumbledore if needed instead of Draco — something Snape had already agreed to with Dumbledore in the first place. 

However, apart from these instances, we don’t really know much else about it. It seems unlikely that using the imperius curse would work to force someone into an unbreakable vow, but other methods seem plausible. A big question would be how much the vow “understands” intent, as it talks about Ron being almost tricked into it as a very young child. Also, we don’t know how smart magic is, and whether the spell would recognize conditions of duress or not. Obviously the imperius curse would not work or a dark wizard would have tried that one, but what about simply waving a gun in someone’s face, or threatening their family? Would the unbreakable vow allow such threats to work, and give you life and death control over another human being?

The Pokemon world is a universe that has captivated the imaginations of countless children, and likely will continue to do so for many decades to come. While the cartoons and games are fun and innocent, at least in terms of presentation, when you look at the nature of the Pokemon universe, there are a lot of disturbing implications about the world in which they live. The Pokemon world is a dangerous and unsettling place, which we will explore below…

10. 11-Year -Old Children Are Routinely Sent Out On Their Own To Do Dangerous Things 

In the Pokemon universe, it is perfectly routine to send small children out on their own to have an adventure and start growing up. According to popular games, your character usually starts out at the tender age of 11, gallivanting all over the region capturing Pokemon, battling some very, very bad people, and just generally riding a ruinous path through the whole area. 

The strange part about this is that no one seems to find this at all strange or inappropriate. In fact, everyone thinks it’s perfectly normal for children who haven’t reached puberty to be, instead of going to school, heading out into the wilds attacking animals and putting them in cages — with no supervision, adult or otherwise. It would seem that either these parents are remarkably foolish, or they simply don’t care that much about the well-being of their kids. While some may suggest it’s simply a different universe where the same rules don’t apply, it is established that there are plenty of very bad people and dangerous situations. 

9. Their Enemies, In Groups Like Team Rocket, Are Actually Also Just Children As Well 

When many people watched the anime, they first assume that Jessie and James are adults, perhaps in their mid-20s, trying to terrorize this kid and steal his Pikachu. We learn in one of the later episodes that they are actually just about 17 (although there is some debate as to their actual ages, most sources suggest they started out with Giovanni as children, whatever age they are when we meet them in the anime), and have been tricked by Team Rocket into doing their dirty work — and there is reason to believe they are not the first underage Pokemon trainers he used for his own purposes. The truth is that Giovanni, the mysterious leader, seems perfectly content using runaways, orphans, and the like, such as Jesse and James, to do the worst of his deeds. 

Giovanni is quick to criticize, but offers little praise, something that is common among abusive fathers. He positions himself as a parental figure to vulnerable teens, and then uses that influence to get them to steal Pokemon for him, so that he can become more powerful. Giovanni is all too happy to use child soldiers, and law enforcement doesn’t seem to have much power to stop him. 

8. The Most Prized Occupation In Their Universe Basically Amounts To Legalized Dog-fighting 

Many people have pointed this out before, but it is still important to bring up anyway. Some people try to explain it away by saying that the Pokemon only faint, and that the nurses are able to revive them later. However, despite this, the Pokemon still go through a lot of pain and suffering to battle for their trainers’ ego, profit, or both. The anime (and all material) glosses it over by simply not mentioning the comparison at all and acting like the whole thing is perfectly normal, but in the real world, the entire thing would be considered insane. 

If Pokemon were real, people would likely keep them as pets, teach them to be guard animals, research them, put them in zoos, and basically do all the other things we do with animals today. However, just like today, our societies around the world would likely not condone pitting animals against each other in combat, and those who wanted to do so would likely have to be underground. In the Pokemon universe this type of cruelty is publicly aspired to, praised, and allowed and encouraged by law. 

7. Trainers In The Game Capture Gods And Guardian Protectors And Stuff Them In A Tiny Ball 

While we can sort of accept a lot of things about the Pokemon universe within their own rules and logic, such as keeping the Pokemon in tiny balls in the first place — they have science fiction technology of course — what can be harder is accepting some of their own story themes, which upend a lot of common sense and logic. In nearly every game, there are legendary Pokemon which guard various important points or shrines. In the many movies, these Pokemon are established as basically being either gods or demigods, and being the creators and guardian protectors of the Pokemon universe. 

And you plow ruinously through their shrines, upend all of their protections, beat them to a pulp, and then force them into a tiny ball, only allowing them out to fight for you. The idea here is just kind of absurd, not only that you could catch a god in the first place, but that the game acts like the entire idea is so commonplace and normal. In fact, in the newest Pokemon games for Nintendo DS you can fly through ultra wormholes, and go hunt for legendary god Pokemon to squash forcibly into a tiny sphere. 

6. Pokemon Were Once Said To Have Sat Down At The Same Table And Ate With Humans 

In one of the more recent Pokemon games, there is a throwaway line that left a lot of people speculating, and that the creators agreed did mean what people thought. Essentially, the line claimed that Pokemon and people once sat down and ate together, more like friends than a master and servant relationship. This brings up some disturbing questions, such as how smart Pokemon were at the time, and where their IQs are now in comparison. 

We know that Pokemon are sentient enough that they are much smarter than animals in the real world, but not generally really that smart — perhaps as smart as very young children. However, if Pokemon were slowly relegated to subhuman status and enslaved over time, and discouraged from human speech if they are capable, would they have slowly lost some of their intelligence, and become more like child slaves, unable to even fully comprehend the horrors they are now forced to live, day in and day out? 

5. Alakazam Has An IQ Of 5,000, But Is Still Expected To Obey An 11-Year-Old Child 

There are a lot of Pokemon where the implications of owning them make little sense at all, but Alakazam in particular really boggles the mind. He is a very slim Pokemon, fragile physically, but incredibly powerful mentally. To this day, even with a mind boggling amount of Pokemon, he is still one of the most powerful psychic Pokemon in the game. However, more to the point, his pokedex entry states that he has an IQ of 5,000. Now, this is just an absolutely insane IQ, and makes us wonder what exactly is going on in the Pokemon world. 

With an IQ like that, Alakazam should be running the entire world, fixing everything and telling people the solutions to their problems. His intelligence is off the charts. Instead, Alakazams routinely end up in the hands of 11-year-old trainers who boss them around, and even end up causing them to get beat up and faint in trainer battles. This Pokemon should be smart enough to understand the indignity it is suffering and do something about it with its awesome psychic powers, but it does not. 

4. The Pokeball Is Basically An Incredibly Tiny Cage, Meaning Pokemon Are Almost Always Crated 

One of the more disturbing things about the Pokemon universe that we don’t think about much of the time, is just how much time Pokemon really have to spend locked inside that pokeball. Now, the creators have said the pokeballs are comfortable, but they have also said the Pokemon are conscious inside. So, even if it is comfortable, they are still in a cage and conscious of that fact. Now, anyone who has ever owned a pet knows how animals get the longer you keep them caged, even if you give them food and water. 

Except for coming out to train, battle, and an occasional bit of fun, Pokemon spend most of their time crated and don’t get much fresh air. From this perspective, Pikachu’s stubbornness makes a lot of sense, as no one wants to spend all their time in a cage. This could also give yet another reason Pokemon like Charizard disobeyed so much in the anime — they felt resentful at not having enough time spent outside, to enjoy the real world and move around freely. Nobody has ever liked being caged long-term, and nobody ever will. To their credit, the game designers state that it would be very comfortable and like a high end hotel room, but it is still a cage — just a very fancy, extremely comfortable cage. To put it in perspective, locking a human in a high end hotel room would still be locking them up in a cage. 

3. Mewtwo Is Smart And Seems To Learn A Valuable Lesson, Then The Idea Is Abandoned

In the first Pokemon movie, Mewtwo steals a bunch of Pokemon from trainers, makes clones, and then makes them fight each other… to death. In the end they don’t actually die, but only because Mewtwo learns a valuable lesson. Mewtwo learns the values of love, peace, friendship and not beating each other to a pulp for no reason, and frees everyone from his psychic control and goes off to live in Mewtwo peace. However, the entire plot of the movie looks incredibly silly in hindsight considering the anime and game creators have completely stomped over that entire message. 

The message of the movie was basically that Pokemon fighting was ridiculous and wrong, and then the movie ends. This would be fine if they intended to end Pokemon forever, but obviously with its popularity that was not in the cards. This means that Pokemon has continued on since, with Ash and the gang being there for Mewtwo’s dramatic actions and speech. And they learned… nothing. Well, we suppose this shouldn’t be too surprising. Humans do not seem to respect Pokemon much in this universe, so the fact they don’t seem to care what Mewtwo had to say is just par for the course. 

2. The Healing Systems Are Seemingly Godly, But People Still Age And Die 

In the Pokemon universe, someone needs to answer for their incredibly godly medical technology. Even in the anime, where things are a little more “realistic” than in the video games, your Pokemon are healed almost effortlessly after getting beat up pretty bad. Pokemon can be near death and summoned back to full health before you know it. However, while Nurse Joy and her Blissy can seemingly fix anything that has happened to a Pokemon, the anime and game don’t really seem to get in depth as to whether humans have it as good or not. 

Part of the question would lie in how the technology is supposed to work. It could be that it simply uses some kind of advanced sci-fi healing ray, but it could also be using some kind of digital technology. Some explanations say the Pokemon are turned into data when they go into a pokeball, so perhaps the nurse simply returns the Pokemon to the pokeball, and restores all of their data. This would raise the question of if you could keep your Pokemon alive almost forever in that manner, and whether a pokeball could potentially be used to digitize a human. 

1. Was There A Genetic Bottleneck Somewhere? Why Are There So Many Joys And Jennys? 

We learn that the reason there are just Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys isn’t because they are the same person, but because they are all distant cousins of some kind. Now, we know in real life that the real reason behind all of this is that the artists wanted to make things really simple, and they were just being silly. However, if we take it seriously in universe it has disturbing implications. For starters, it seems that this family must be some kind of powerful cult, because it has a stranglehold on two very important professions. We see seemingly nothing but the two of them working in law enforcement and the medical field, so why is no one else in those fields? 

The possibility is that there simply aren’t that many people to fill the jobs, so an influx of people who all knew each other and had similar backgrounds good for the job helped fill things up nicely. However, that would suggest that at some point, there was a mass extinction event where a lot of people died, and people had to inbreed in order to survive, creating so many almost identical Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny cousins. This could also perhaps explain how the Pokemon became enslaved. Perhaps many of the Pokemon died, and a lot of the rest went into hiding. In that environment, many humans may have forgotten how the two used to live together, and eventually things became the way they are in the Pokemon universe today.