ABILENE, Texas, May 30, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Chike Nutrition is welcoming the Summer months with their newest flavor, Chike Sweet Cream Protein Iced Coffee, launching May 30 — a refreshing protein iced coffee to sweeten each moment.
Chike Sweet Cream Protein Iced Coffee was introduced as an exclusive, seasonal flavor for grocery store customers last summer. After vast popularity and many customer requests to make it available everywhere, Chike Sweet Cream Protein Iced Coffee officially joins the list of flavors that Chike Nutrition offers online.
Each sip offers a sweet but balanced flavor of rich creaminess with a buttery vanilla finish and an unmistakable kick of creamy protein coffee. Every serving has 20 grams of non-GMO whey protein, two real espresso shots, two grams of sugar, and an irresistible taste. Chike Sweet Cream Protein Iced Coffee is perfect for breakfast, a pre-or post-workout boost, an afternoon snack, or in recipes.
"We love meeting our customers where they are in their health journey, and every new flavor gives us a new opportunity to do just that! We're pretty obsessed with Chike Sweet Cream, and it's exciting that it's now available everywhere. Chike Sweet Cream hits the (sweet) spot, and is the perfect addition for Summer," said Mac Mascorro, Brand Manager of Chike Nutrition.
One of the perks of being a part of Chike Nutrition's Subscribe & Save program is that every subscriber receives a sample of each new flavor before it is released. Jaime N., a verified subscription customer, commented, "This is my favorite flavor! I've never downed an iced coffee THAT fast."
Warmer days are upon us and ahead of us, so cool off and sweeten each moment with Chike Sweet Cream Protein Iced Coffee. Chike Sweet Cream Protein Iced Coffee can be found in grocery stores and online.
About Chike Nutrition
Chike Nutrition is based in Abilene, Texas, and proudly manufactures and produces all nine (and counting!) of their current flavors, ensuring the quality and consistency that Chike Nutrition demands in their products. You can find all the flavors on Chike Nutrition's website and follow new and exciting recipes, flavor launches, and more on Instagram and Pinterest. Learn more about Chike in their exciting new overview video.
ATLANTA, May 30, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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U.S. New & World Report recently recognized 28 Arbor Company locations as 2023-2024 Best Senior Living Communities.
To select recipients, U.S. News analyzed consumer survey data from more than 250,000 residents and their family members at almost 4,000 senior living communities nationwide. Communities that were top-rated by consumers were then awarded Best Senior Living.
"We are extremely honored to earn this recognition from U.S. News," said Judd Harper, President of The Arbor Company. "I'm in awe of our employees' dedication to exceptional resident care, and we are thrilled that the hard work of all Arbor people is recognized by our residents and their families. This award is a trusted validation and provides support and encouragement for families navigating the complexities of senior living."
In addition to The Arbor Company being selected as a Great Place to Work and listed on the Fortune Best Workplaces in Aging Services list, several Arbor Company communities have held the distinction from U.S. News since 2022, when the award was created. The Best Senior Living Communities from The Arbor Company, as selected by U.S. News & World Report are:
The Arbor Company is an Atlanta-based operator of more than 45 independent living, assisted living, and dementia care communities, serving seniors in 11 states. With more than 35 years of dedication and experience, The Arbor Company strives to deliver the highest quality care and service to residents and their families. The Arbor Company has been designated a Great Place to Work and is listed on the Fortune Best Workplaces for Aging Services list. More information about The Arbor Company is available at www.ArborCompany.com.
If you’re one of the many folks who flocked to see Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3, you no doubt wiped away a tear or ten when you watched Rocket Raccoon’s tragic backstory play out. But, is his origin the most traffic MCU Original of them all? Indeed, the MCU has dominated cinema for the past decade and a half and has given audiences some of the most memorable on-screen moments in history. Fans have developed close personal relationships with the heroes and characters to the point that they feel as if they’re real people existing in the real world. While that may not be true, it’s still a testament to how emotionally powerful the MCU has become that it allows audiences to empathize and care about completely fictional beings.
In that light, part of being a hero (and part of what we love and empathize the most with them) is that it inherently comes with sacrifice, and because of this some heroes end up having rougher upbringings than others. That reality especially holds true for the heroes of the MCU as the majority of them have all suffered through hardships in order to become the heroes that fans love. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at which of our beloved MCU heroes have had the hardest journeys right from the very beginning.
Honorable Mentions
As mentioned, the vast majority of MCU heroes all have some sort of tragic origin story – again, being a hero inherently comes with sacrifice. Remarkably, nearly all of these tragic origin stories can be broken down into four specific categories – captured/kidnapped, tortured/experimented on, loved ones dead/killed, and mind-controlled. Because of this system, we’ll be breaking down the worst scenarios of these categories that have happened to MCU heroes rather than covering every last one of them.
Spider-Man – everyone’s favorite web-slinger may be the epitome of “being a hero requires sacrifice” due to his being an orphan and the inevitable death of Uncle Ben, and it absolutely is a tragic origin story. But the reality of the MCU is that there are several other characters who have for more tragic beginnings than Peter Parker, a child genius who was given access to Stark tech at age 15.
America Chavez – the multiverse jumper could have also potentially made the list, but unfortunately we still don’t know a whole lot about her origins – all we know is that she got stung by a bee and it scared her so much that she blasted her parents through a multiverse-portal. However, if her parents turn out to be alive and well, her origins become far less tragic.
Eternals – super-powered beings that were created for the sole purpose of protecting planets that were ultimately doomed in order for more Celestials to be born. Say what you will, but being created and forced to live for thousands upon thousands of years, making countless relationships with people you protect on a daily basis, all for the sake of that planet being destroyed because of your efforts, is indeed tragic.
Tony Stark – to be fair, Tony could have easily made this list. He was captured and tortured and forced to build the very first Iron Man suit from a box of scraps while he watched Yinsen die while aiding his escape. That being said, he was also a playboy genius who was born into a well-off family and sold weapons that made it into the hands of terrorists and was initially only motivated by atoning for said mistake so…
Silvie – the Loki variant who is arguably the most responsible for the multiverse being completely out of whack is somehow almost justified. Sylvie may have plunged her dagger into He Who Remains’ chest, but she was also kidnapped as a child by the TVA with absolutely no explanation as to why, followed by her entire timeline (and everyone she knew and loved) getting pruned. Screwing up the entire multiverse may have been taking her revenge a step too far, but again, we get it.
Natasha & Yelena – anybody who knows anything about the Red Room and the Black Widow Program knows exactly how horrific and tragic Natasha and Yelena’s origins truly are. Add the bonus of Natasha and Yelena living the first several years of their lives acting like a happy family before being thrust into the program, and the only silver lining is that the two became the most bad-ass assassins in MCU history.
Peter Quill – the most tragic honorable mention undoubtedly goes to Star-Lord who honestly could make the official list. He watched his mother die from cancer as a child, only to be immediately kidnapped by Yondu and the Ravagers. The worst part is that Quill’s story has only gotten more tragic as he had to kill his father for killing his mother, followed by watching Yondu and Gamora die. At least Qull is finally trying to spend some family time with his Grandpa.
Scarlet Witch
The true first on our list of the most tragic origin stories shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch has been a fan-favorite character in the MCU since her very first appearance. Unfortunately, one of the reasons she became an instant fan-favorite was because audiences could empathize with the pain and suffering that she had already endured at such a young age. She and her twin brother, Pietro, were forced to watch their parents die in a firebombing that ultimately almost cost them their own lives.
Of course the tragedy doesn’t end there as Wanda and Pietro then sacrificed themselves to become weapons of HYDRA in order to stop Tony Stark and the Avengers (the ones they held responsible for their parents deaths). They were tortured and experimented on using the Mind Stone, and while they did ultimately obtain super powers, it eventually came at the cost of Pietro’s life when they chose to ally with the Avengers and stop Ultron. Wanda’s story has only gotten harder since her earliest days, but it’s easy to to understand how her origin story is one of the most tragic in the MCU.
Bucky/The Winter Soldier
A list of MCU tragedies couldn’t exist without including the Winter Soldier. Bucky Barnes was Steve Rogers best friend and second-in-command during World War II, and seemingly met his end during their missions together when he plummeted to his death in a frozen tundra. Miraculously, Bucky survived the fall, but sadly fell into the hands of HYDRA and was tortured/experimented on by Arnim Zola. These experiments did conclude with Bucky becoming a super soldier in his own right, equipped with a nearly indestructible metal arm, but came at a hefty price.
Still held captive by HYDRA, Bucky was turned into the world’s greatest ghost-assassin, responsible for countless murders since the 1940s and obtaining the alias as The Winter Soldier in the process. In order for this process to continue, Bucky routinely had his brain turned into mush so that he would be easier to control and manipulate. Horrifically this went on all the way until Bucky was finally cured from the mind-control thanks to Shuri and the Wakandans, finally allowing Bucky to shed his murderous past. While The Winter Soldier may arguably have the greatest redemption arc in the MCU, it’s unquestionable that his origin story is a tragic one.
Nebula & Gamora
Picture Natasha and Yelena, and then make it way worse. While the Black Widow sisters were close to making this list, the daughters of Thanos completely blow them out of the water when it comes to tragic backstories. Most of Nebula’s origin story hasn’t been officially shown on the big screen, but audiences got to see exactly what Gamora went through during a flashback scene in Infinity War. In essence, Thanos was carrying out his plan of wiping out half of existing life when he came across Gamora’s home planet – he took her away from her parents, made her his adoptive daughter, and then proceeded to slaughter half the population (most likely including Gamora’s parents). Unfortunately, Gamora’s origins only become worse when she ultimately is killed by Thanos for the Soul Stone, simply because she was the only thing he ever loved. Kidnapped, turned into a weapon, then killed for it – that’s tragic.
Nebula’s origins may not have appeared on screen yet, but that doesn’t mean that fans haven’t been told how graphic and horrific her upbringing was. Just like Gamora, Nebula was taken by Thanos and became his adoptive daughter. Unfortunately, Nebula didn’t make Thanos as proud as Gamora did and he eventually replaced her entire organic body with machinery to try and make her a more deadly weapon. Technically it worked, as Nebula is an incredibly formidable foe, but that doesn’t make the origin story of being kidnapped and turned into a machine any less tragic.
Rocket Raccoon
The Guardians of the Galaxy can’t catch a break when it comes to how they became heroes. By far the most tragic origin story of the MCU (and arguably any other movie in history) is that of Rocket Raccoon. Beginning life as a defenseless fury creature on Earth, Rocket was captured by the High Evolutionary, along with a surplus of other creatures, and had torturous experiments done on him repeatedly. The process evolved Rocket from a simple raccoon into one of the smartest beings in the entire universe, but obviously came at the price of being torn apart and put back together over and over again.
Not only were these procedures graphic and inhumane, but salt was just added to the wound when Rocket became friends with the other creatures the High Evolutionary was experimenting on and learned that all of them were marked for death. In an attempt to escape, Rocket nearly freed himself and his friends (Lyla, Teefs and Floor), only to watch them all die at the hands of their creator. Again, all of these MCU heroes have had rough roads to travel and their origins are all far from happy, but there’s just something about capturing, experimenting on, and torturing a poor defenseless animal that makes Rocket’s origins story the most tragic in the entire MCU.
Nintendo is no slouch when it comes to pleasing the general public with content as they’ve been one of the largest names in the video game universe for several decades, but now that success has finally transferred over to cinema. The Super Mario Bros Movie debuted back in early April and the studio-heads at Universal and Illumination held their breath as they waited to see whether or not the movie would draw crowds – they didn’t have to hold their breath for very long. The film became an instant success among critics and at the box office as it has already raked in over $1 billion worldwide making it the most profitable movie based on a video game of all time, as well as the fifth most profitable animated movie of all time, and the current most profitable movie of 2023.
Before the movie released, Nintendo was careful not to comment on any plans for future movies as they committed solely to focusing on The Super Mario Bros Movie being a success. But now that the film has already crossed the billion dollar mark at the box office, it means more sequels are coming. In fact, video game creator and Nintedo director Shigeru Miyamoto recently confirmed that there is absolutely “no doubt” that more adaptions are planned for the future.
But now the question fans will be asking is which Nintendo property will be getting a movie next? The video game conglomerate has dozens upon dozens of properties and characters to choose from and just like with The Super Mario Bros Movie the fan base is already built right in. So, all of that being said, let’s look into which Nintendo characters we’ll hopefully be seeing on the big screen in the near future.
The Legend of Zelda
This one is a no brainer. Behind the Mario Bros and Pokemon (we’ll cover them next) the Legend of Zelda is Nintendo’s third largest property with a massive fanbase and established lore. The franchise has had over a dozen games released since the original in 1986 with the most recent game, Tears of the Kingdom, being arguably the most anticipated game release of the year.
The game itself follows the fan-favorite character known as Link as he travels and traverses the kingdom of Hyrule until he’s powerful enough to save the captured Princess Zelda. With the success that the games have faced, there’s no reason that a movie couldn’t achieve the same accomplishments that The Super MarioBros Movie has, with the only potential speed-bump being that the movie would arguably follow the same plot as the The Super Mario Bros Movie (main character saves a captured princess from a force of evil).
Pokemon
As previously stated, Pokemon is easily Nintendo’s largest property. As a matter of fact, it’s the largest established IP in the entire world with the franchise stretching far beyond video games with several motion pictures over the last two and a half decades. So, logically, it would make sense for Nintendo to want to keep riding that train and quickly get a Pokemon movie into production. Unfortunately, it might not be that simple.
While a Pokemon movie made by Universal and Illumination would undoubtedly be a success, it would cause some potential collision among studios and projects. We already mentioned that Pokemon has created a few movies in the past, including 2019’s Detective Pikachu which has announced that a sequel is in the works with Legendary Pictures. Not only that, but Netflix is also making Pokemon content with plans for a stop-motion anime and a live-action series having been announced. So, while it would be a profitable and logical move for Universal and Illumination to create a Pokemon movie, the timing might not be right and it could be better served to wait a few years before attempting it.
Kirby, Yoshi, Metroid, Star Fox
After the Mario Bros, Pokemon, and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo still has dozens of potential properties and characters to choose from, but the popularity does drop off significantly after the top 3. That being said, it doesn’t mean that these other properties couldn’t head their own movies as they’ve established that they can easily hold their own when it comes to video game franchises.
One franchise that Nintendo could choose to explore is Yoshi, the green dinosaur-like character – he’s a fan-favorite and has incredibly close ties to the Mario Bros which would allow Universal and Illumination to build on the cinematic world that they already created with The Super Mario Bros Movie. A few other potential, fan-favorite options could be Metroid, Kirby, or even Star Fox as each has built up the reputation to be able to lead their own movie franchise. In fact, while it could be a little controversial and out-there, a movie about one of their more recent games like Animal Crossing could potentially appeal to their younger fan base. That said, since these properties are still on the lesser-known side, it might be smart to hold off on making them until after a Pokemon or Zelda movie, because ultimately they should all be leading up to…
Super Smash Bros
A Super Smash Bros Movie. Let’s be honest, this is what we all are hoping and praying happens, even if it doesn’t come for several years. With the resounding success of The Super Marios Bros Movie, it doesn’t just mean that fans should expect a sequel – it means that Universal and Illumination have created the next cinematic universe. With all of the established IP that Nintendo brings to the table, along with all of the fan-favorite characters that we’ve listed above, it’s only logical that a shared cinematic universe between these characters be the ultimate endgame. And, luckily, Nintendo already has a video game where these characters interact – enter Super Smash Bros.
While not following any direct lore, Super Smash Bros is arguably one of Nintendo’s most popular games of all time with the only attribute being the ability to pit all of Nintendo’s vast variety of characters against each other in melee-style arena-fights… and fans of Nintendo have been begging for a proper cinematic rendition for ages. All of this being said, if this is Nintendo’s ultimate endgame, then a Super Smash Bros movie shouldn’t be coming to theaters anytime soon as properties like The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon should get established movies first (just like Marvel did with the MCU).
Super Mario Bros Spin-Off
Even though fans might be looking to see which property Nintendo brings to the big screen next, the company might choose to just build on the success of The Super Mario Bros Movie and make a spin off based on one of the already established characters. After all, Charlie Day (who voiced Luigi) has already expressed his interest in doing a Luigi spin off movie, admitting that he’d be interested in a Luigi’s Mansion concept. Along with Day expressing his interest in a spin off, Seth Rogen (who voiced Donkey Kong) has commented on how he’d love to do a movie set around the concept of Donkey Kong Island. Last but not least could be a movie following Bowser, especially since we’re currently living in an era where movies and shows about the villains instead of the heroes do resoundingly well. So, while fans might be expecting a movie like Zelda or Pokemon to come next, don’t be surprised if the studio takes the safe route on the way to making more movies and goes with a direct spin off first.
Super Mario Bros Sequel
If a spin off is in the cards, then a direct sequel absolutely is. Again, Nintendo is an incredibly smart company that knows how to appeal to it’s many different fan bases and they probably have a very large, and very long plan for the movies they’re going to be making next. That means that, while movies like Zelda or Pokemon are definitely on their radar and marked for future projects, it doesn’t necessarily mean that those will be the next movies we see them make.
So, with the success that the first film has seen, it wouldn’t be illogical to assume that a direct sequel would be Nintendo’s next move. After all, the Mario Bros are a huge franchise with a vast array of characters that could easily fit into a sequel. In fact, Jack Black (the voice of Bowser) stated that he would love it if the studio would do a sequel with the characters Wario and Warluigi being the villains, and even went so far as to say that he wants actor Pedro Pascal to voice one of said characters. A sequel would also be a great way to bring in more established characters like Yoshi and give them stepping stones to their own solo projects. Either way, regardless of what Nintendo’s next movie will be, it’s safe to say that audiences will be lining up to see it.
