You Heard It Here First: The 15 Biggest, Exclusive Stories We Broke In 2022

There have been a number of attempts at reviving the Snake Plissken character over the decades, but we were the first anywhere to report that the directors behind the recent Scream would be tackling a new entry in the series. It only took a day before the report was confirmed by other outlets. We proved that our scoops are ahead of the curve.

Speaking of being ahead of the curve, we had the exclusive about Vision getting his own Marvel series years before it hit any of the trades. Our report was confirmed and now we are just waiting for the series to hit Disney+. Hopefully, it can be as good as its predecessor, WandaVision, and we can see Paul Bettany stretch his acting capabilities even further.

We are big fans of Blade Runner and its sequels and spinoffs, so we were happy to report that there was a live-action series in the works for streaming. We later got confirmation and found out that it will be called Blade Runner 2099 and will be premiering on Amazon Prime Video. If it is anywhere near as good as Blade Runner 2049, we are in for something truly special.

At the time they said we were crazy when GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT was the first anywhere to report that Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ characters would appear in live-action. But we weren’t crazy, we were right. As we reported months in advance, Star Trek: Lower Decks characters will indeed cross over into the live-action series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. There is no question that this will be our most anticipated episode of any Star Trek show ever. Well, maybe after that one Deep Space Nine episode.

Nearly 6-months before anyone else had wind of it, we exclusively reported that Jon Bernthal would return as the iconic Punisher. Eventually, Rosario Dawson herself confirmed our scoop while being interviewed at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.

Brett Goldstein became something of an overnight sensation thanks to his role in the smash hit series Ted Lasso. Fans were hoping he would make the jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and we were the first anywhere to report that he would show up as none other than the son of Zeus, Hercules. After he popped up during a post-credits scene in Thor: Love and Thunder, fans and us here at Giant Freakin Robot rejoiced.

Rachel Zegler made a huge impression in Steven Spielberg’s take on West Side Story. It didn’t take long for our investigations to discover that she had been cast as the lead character in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It was confirmed only a few days later, proving that we had the inside track on this important bit of casting.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a ton of wild appearances and we were the first outlet in the world to confirm five of the most surprising. Our reporting revealed that Patrick Stewart was showing up as Charles Xavier, Charlize Theron had jumped into the Marvel fray, Hayley Atwell would don the Captain Carter role, Anson Mount would get another shot at playing Black Bolt, and Bruce Campbell would get to work with his pal Sam Raimi again. There is no denying that we knew a lot about this Marvel installment before most people!

Ryan Reynolds has been wanting Hugh Jackman to join him in the Deadpool franchise since it began. It was only after we reported that Reynolds was insisting on Jackman being in Deadpool 3 that it was revealed we would see Wolverine and Deadpool on screen together. Folks have been waiting a long time for this one and we were the first outlet to stress that Deadpool 3 wasn’t happening without Jackman involved.

Some of our scoops aren’t necessarily about projects that are going to happen but are more focused on the behind-the-scenes dealings in Hollywood. A good example of that is when we reported on Taron Egerton meeting with Marvel about taking over the role of Wolverine. Although it doesn’t look like he has been cast at this point, the actor himself confirmed the meeting took place and we chalk that up as another bit of proof that our inside sources know what they are doing.

The Righteous Gemstones is one of the funniest shows of the last few years. One of its biggest strengths is its ensemble cast, and we were the first to announce that Steve Zahn would join the series in its third season. We still don’t know who he will be playing, but we were over the moon to be the very first outlet on the internet to reveal his involvement in the excellent show.

Marvel continues to mine its vast canon of characters for more movies and streaming shows. One character that has yet to appear in their cinematic universe is Simon Williams a.k.a. Wonder Man. We can lay claim to being the first outlet to reveal that a Wonder Man series is in the works for Disney+. Although we do have confirmation on this report, we are still waiting to find out when we will get to watch it.

Everyone was thrilled when Liam Neeson finally made his return to Star Wars in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but we actually reported his return earlier and in another project. We revealed he would be voicing Qui-Gon Jinn in an episode of Tales of the Jedi and that was proven true in the episode, “The Sith Lord.” As far as we are concerned, the more Liam Neeson in Star Wars, the better.

Stranger Things had a momentous Season 4 and a huge part of that success was due to its villain, Vecna. We were actually the first on the scene to give out a detailed report about the character and the role he would play in the show’s future. We always keep our eyes and ears peeled for the kind of info fans crave about their favorite franchises.

One last bit of spot-on casting news that we broke first was that Fred Hechinger will play the dastardly Chameleon in Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff, Kraven the Hunter. It took only a few hours before another publication did the leg work to catch up and confirm our report.