Marvel has big plans for both the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers film series — and it turns out that the two shall finally meet. Vin Diesel casually shared the news today on his Facebook page, dropping the very intriguing tidbit into a Facebook live video meant to announce that he had received an award from the social media company for his more than 100 million fans.
Diesel took the chance to recognize his fans in the almost 30-minute message before getting to the really exciting part: After thanking them for supporting the Fast and Furious franchise, and clamoring for him to join the MCU in the first place, he revealed that he will now be a part of Avengers film history.
“The Guardians will be included in Avengers: Infinity War, and that’s incredibly exciting,” said Diesel. The action star called the news “surreal” and reminded fans that he had posted a photo on Facebook in January 2014 of him with the Avengers behind him, adding that it’s now “going to come to pass.”
Diesel’s walk down memory lane also mentioned how he originally came to play Groot, again pointing to fan support as the reason. “That whole concept started from you all saying, ‘When are you going to be in a Marvel movie’?” he said.
The actor will play his humanoid Marvel character again in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 alongside Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Dave Bautista, which opens in theaters on May 5, 2017. Diesel didn’t clarify whether the entire gang would appear in the Guardians-Avengers crossover or what role they’ll play, but the news is exciting nonetheless. The cast will be especially star-studded as the film unites superheroes from the two series.
Avengers: Infinity War is slated to open on May 4, 2018.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.