Apple is reportedly planning to launch a new subscription service to provide another option for customers looking to buy its products, such as iPhones and iPads.

In a new report by Bloomberg, Mark Gurman notes that the new subscription service could arrive by next year and will let members acquire an iPhone or other Apple hardware with a monthly fee rather than an outright purchase. Gurman notes that the new service would be "Apple's biggest push yet into automatically recurring sales."

Over the last several years, Apple has expanded its subscription services portfolio, such as Apple TV+, AppleCare, and Apple Arcade. The company has even consolidated several of its subscription services into Apple One bundles.

The report of a hardware-focused subscription service is interesting. Outside of AppleCare, the other hardware-centric subscription service it currently offers is an iPhone Upgrade Program, which bundles an iPhone plus AppleCare into a monthly price. This allows customers to pay off their phone long-term instead of shelling out all the money all at once while also providing an extended warranty should the phone get damaged, with the option to get a new iPhone every 12 months.

Although Bloomberg's report does not clarify how the new subscription service would work, the service could take form in several ways with all the subscription services Apple currently has, such as a bundle that includes a new iPhone, Apple One, and AppleCare under one monthly price.

To be clear, Apple has not officially announced anything, though Gurman says that the service could launch anytime between the end of 2022 to early 2023.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Apple is reportedly planning to launch a new subscription service to provide another option for customers looking to buy its products, such as iPhones and iPads.

In a new report by Bloomberg, Mark Gurman notes that the new subscription service could arrive by next year and will let members acquire an iPhone or other Apple hardware with a monthly fee rather than an outright purchase. Gurman notes that the new service would be "Apple's biggest push yet into automatically recurring sales."

Over the last several years, Apple has expanded its subscription services portfolio, such as Apple TV+, AppleCare, and Apple Arcade. The company has even consolidated several of its subscription services into Apple One bundles.

The report of a hardware-focused subscription service is interesting. Outside of AppleCare, the other hardware-centric subscription service it currently offers is an iPhone Upgrade Program, which bundles an iPhone plus AppleCare into a monthly price. This allows customers to pay off their phone long-term instead of shelling out all the money all at once while also providing an extended warranty should the phone get damaged, with the option to get a new iPhone every 12 months.

Although Bloomberg's report does not clarify how the new subscription service would work, the service could take form in several ways with all the subscription services Apple currently has, such as a bundle that includes a new iPhone, Apple One, and AppleCare under one monthly price.

To be clear, Apple has not officially announced anything, though Gurman says that the service could launch anytime between the end of 2022 to early 2023.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Spoilers for The Batman Below

The Batman director Matt Reeves teased it, and finally, it’s been revealed. The latest Riddler website update has unveiled a deleted scene featuring an encounter between Batman and his greatest villain.

For weeks since the release of The Batman in theaters, Warner Bros. has been dropping new content on its ARG website rataalada.com. The website previously announced a new Riddler comic written by Paul Dano, but today was the big one.

At the end of The Batman, The Riddler is defeated and locked away at Arkham Asylum. But he meets a friend in a neighboring cell who is almost certainly the Joker played by Barry Keoghan. While the cameo was short, director Matt Reeves said he filmed a now-deleted scene where Batman goes to Joker for help early on in the Riddler investigation.

That five-minute deleted scene featuring Batman meeting Barry Keoghan’s Joker in Arkham Asylum has officially been released. The scene is reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs where the investigator turns to a killer for help, and in this case, it’s The Batman asking Joker who the Riddler might be.

While we never get a full, clear view of Keoghan’s Joker, he’s certainly looking rougher in Reeves’ version of Gotham. His face is scarred, and he features bald patches on his head and scabs on his hands. It’s unclear if he’s injured or diseased.

And Joker, going full Hannibal Lecter, uses the opportunity to play Batman’s psychiatrist rather than help him find out who the Riddler is.

Despite filming this scene and including a tease to the Joker at the end of the movie, Reeves hasn’t fully committed to a villain for the sequel. Reeves has teased other potential sequel villains including Mr. Freeze and Two-Face while Pattinson said he’d like to see Batman take on the Court of Owls.

Check out Matt Reeves’ full explanation of what inspired his version of Joker in our interview, and read our review of The Batman here.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Spoilers for The Batman Below

The Batman director Matt Reeves teased it, and finally, it’s been revealed. The latest Riddler website update has unveiled a deleted scene featuring an encounter between Batman and his greatest villain.

For weeks since the release of The Batman in theaters, Warner Bros. has been dropping new content on its ARG website https://www.rataalada.com/. The website previously announced a new Riddler comic written by Paul Dano, but today was the big one.

At the end of The Batman, The Riddler is defeated and locked away at Arkham Asylum. But he meets a friend in a neighboring cell who is almost certainly the Joker played by Barry Keoghan. While the cameo was short, director Matt Reeves said he filmed a now-deleted scene where Batman goes to Joker for help early on in the Riddler investigation.

“He likes little puzzles, doesn’t he?”

Batman goes to Arkham and asks Joker for help in this creepy deleted scene from The Batman. pic.twitter.com/aJhIkrBDs8

— IGN (@IGN) March 24, 2022

That five-minute deleted scene featuring Batman meeting Barry Keoghan’s Joker in Arkham Asylum has officially been released. The scene is reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs where the investigator turns to a killer for help, and in this case, it’s The Batman asking Joker who the Riddler might be.

While we never get a full, clear view of Keoghan’s Joker, he’s certainly looking rougher in Reeves’ version of Gotham. His face is scarred, and he features bald patches on his head and scabs on his hands. It’s unclear if he’s injured or diseased.

And Joker, going full Hannibal Lecter, uses the opportunity to play Batman’s psychiatrist rather than help him find out who the Riddler is.

Despite filming this scene and including a tease to the Joker at the end of the movie, Reeves hasn’t fully committed to a villain for the sequel. Reeves has teased other potential sequel villains including Mr. Freeze and Two-Face while Pattinson said he’d like to see Batman take on the Court of Owls.

Check out Matt Reeves’ full explanation of what inspired his version of Joker in our interview, and read our review of The Batman here.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Marvel is reportedly adding Nova to the MCU in an unknown project.

According to Deadline, a Nova project currently being penned by Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada, but it’s unknown whether it will be heading to the big screen as a movie or as a TV series for Disney+.

There’s also no hint as to who will take the leading role… or how Nova will fit into the MCU.

A Nova project has been rumored for a long time. In fact, Marvel boss Kevin Feige noted back in 2018 that the character has “immediate potential” when it comes to Marvel Studios properties.

“Nova is… if we have a big board with a bunch of characters that have more immediate potential, Nova is on that board,” he said. “Because of the connection to the Guardians universe, because there are more than one examples to pull from in the comics that are interesting.”

Feige also confirmed that Nova was originally in early drafts of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Nova first appeared in The Man Called Nova #1 in 1976 as a space-faring superhero who takes his powers from a cosmic energy source known as the Nova Force.

Real name Richard Rider, he’s a member of the Nova Corps – an intergalactic peacekeeping force that has already appeared in the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

In the comic books, he’s a New York high schooler who’s chosen by a dying Rhomann Dey to take over as the head of Nova Corps. Given a Corps uniform and the powers of a centurion, he takes up the mantle ‘Nova’ and becomes a superhero in his own right – teaming up with Spider-Man, Thor, and later, The Avengers.

His powers include the ability to fly, super strength, speed, endurance, and the ability to absorb energy directed against him and release it as gravimetric pulses and beams.

Whether or not Nova gets a movie or a TV show remains to be seen. But considering his potential when it comes to the MCU, it sounds as though he’s going to be getting the red-carpet treatment, regardless.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Marvel is reportedly adding Nova to the MCU in an unknown project.

According to Deadline, a Nova project currently being penned by Moon Knight writer Sabir Pirzada, but it’s unknown whether it will be heading to the big screen as a movie or as a TV series for Disney+.

There’s also no hint as to who will take the leading role… or how Nova will fit into the MCU.

A Nova project has been rumored for a long time. In fact, Marvel boss Kevin Feige noted back in 2018 that the character has “immediate potential” when it comes to Marvel Studios properties.

“Nova is… if we have a big board with a bunch of characters that have more immediate potential, Nova is on that board,” he said. “Because of the connection to the Guardians universe, because there are more than one examples to pull from in the comics that are interesting.”

Feige also confirmed that Nova was originally in early drafts of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Nova first appeared in The Man Called Nova #1 in 1976 as a space-faring superhero who takes his powers from a cosmic energy source known as the Nova Force.

Real name Richard Rider, he’s a member of the Nova Corps – an intergalactic peacekeeping force that has already appeared in the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

In the comic books, he’s a New York high schooler who’s chosen by a dying Rhomann Dey to take over as the head of Nova Corps. Given a Corps uniform and the powers of a centurion, he takes up the mantle ‘Nova’ and becomes a superhero in his own right – teaming up with Spider-Man, Thor, and later, The Avengers.

His powers include the ability to fly, super strength, speed, endurance, and the ability to absorb energy directed against him and release it as gravimetric pulses and beams.

Whether or not Nova gets a movie or a TV show remains to be seen. But considering his potential when it comes to the MCU, it sounds as though he’s going to be getting the red-carpet treatment, regardless.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

NASA has now confirmed that more than 5,000 planets exist outside our solar system, which is "just a fraction" of the likely hundreds of billions in our galaxy.

The planetary odometer turned on March 21, as NASA officially added 65 more planets to its Exoplanet Archive, bringing the total number of confirmed, detectable planets beyond our solar system to over 5,000 — with 35% of these planets being categorized as Neptune-like, 31% identified as "super-Earths," 30% as gas giants, and only 4% terrestrial.

The percentages represent the variety of planets that have been discovered so far, with some being similar to those in our solar system, and others vastly different. There are "small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and hot Jupiters" as well as "super-Earths, which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and mini-Neptunes."

"It's not just a number," said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech in Pasadena, in a statement accompanying the announcement. "Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don't know anything about them."

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory shared a video to celebrate the cosmic milestone, which was largely achieved by using powerful telescopes, both in space and on the ground. The first confirmed planetary discovery arrived in the 1990s when astronomer Alexander Wolszczan and his colleagues published a paper showing evidence of two planets orbiting a pulsar.

"To my thinking, it is inevitable that we'll find some kind of life somewhere–most likely of some primitive kind," Wolszczan said, noting how the "close connection between the chemistry of life on Earth and chemistry found throughout the universe, as well as the detection of widespread organic molecules, suggests detection of life itself is only a matter of time."

Thousands of planets logged in the archive were found using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, and there are likely hundreds of billions more to discover with next-gen instruments. The James Webb Space Telescope was recently launched to assist research into habitable conditions, while the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to launch in 2027.

Astronomers previously discovered 139 new "minor planets" in the far reaches of our solar system, just beyond Neptune's orbit. The vast expanse of the galaxy also plays host to a free-floating world without a host star, a "hell planet" that is strangely similar to Darth Vader's lava homeworld of Mustafar, and a Super-Earth that's nearly as old as the universe itself.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Thumbnail image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Stephen Wilhite, the computer scientist who created the GIF, has died aged 74 following a battle with COVID.

He passed away on March 14 surrounded by family, and his wife Kathaleen told The Verge that "even with all his accomplishments, he remained a very, humble, kind, and good man."

Wilhite won a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering work on the GIF (graphics interchange format) in the 1980s.

Though he was working for CompuServe at the time, Wilhite worked on the project at home and only brought it into work after perfecting it, and his wife said this was his greatest achievement.

Thousands took to Twitter to honour Wilhite, acknowledging that the internet would not be what it is today without his influence, and one comment on his obituary page reads: "You changed the way we converse as a society, and immortalized countless moments that would otherwise be fleeting.

"In this, you cemented your legacy as a pioneer of modern communication. Rest in peace, and thank you for everything you worked so hard to give to us."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

A "bidding war" has begun for a live-action Voltron film that already has Red Notice's Rawson Marshall Thurber attached to co-write and direct it.

As reported by THR, Warner Bros., Universal, and Amazon are among the "six or seven" studios and streamers that are fighting for the chance to bring Voltron to live-action. Despite Thurber directing Red Notice and Voltron: Legendary Defender calling Netflix home, the streamer is said not to be in the running.

This so-called bidding war began about two weeks ago and came complete with pitches and a teaser reel. Thurber himself created the story and Ellen Shanman will join him to co-write the film. According to THR's sources, a deal may be signed by the end of the weekend.

In addition to the Voltron film, Thurber is writing and planning on shooting two sequels to Red Notice, which Dwayne Jackson said was Netflix's biggest movie of all time. Shanman adapted the fantasy book series Crave for Universal and is also writing Ruby for Amazon.

Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman are set to produce the film alongside Bob Koplar, the head of World Events Productions, the company that currently owns the Voltron property.

A live-action Voltron has been tossed around since 2005 or so, and it was reported in 2016 that Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter was scripting a film with Universal.

For more on Voltron, check out our look at why Legendary Defender is a surprisingly complicated update off the classic cartoon and why we said Netflix's Voltron got a bittersweet ending.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

James Gunn successfully wrapped the first season of Peacemaker and it ended with a pretty surprising cameo. But according to Gunn, there was a lot of unused leftovers from this scene.

Spoiler warning for the first season of Peacemaker below.

A fun cameo scene connected Peacemaker to the wider DC Universe when some of the Justice League’s biggest hitters showed up in the John Cena-starring DC vehicle. While this included Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and The Flash, only Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller actually appeared in person.

And while the two were used to great comedic effect, Gunn says Miller riffed the scene and produced nearly 20 minutes worth of material.

“I have tons of stuff I didn’t use,” Gunn tells Total Film. “Ezra went on — and I’m not kidding — for 16 minutes about Aquaman having sex with fish. It was really funny.”

During the scene, the Justice League shows up to save the world, but Cena’s Peacemaker has already finished the job. Peacemaker then tells Aquaman to, uh, go back to the fishes which Aquaman angrily says is just a rumor.

Miller’s The Flash says otherwise, however.

“It was done through pure force of will on my part, or really pushing it to happen,” Gunn says of the scene. Luckily Gunn also says the next season will keep Peacemaker connected to the DCEU through the movies and other HBO Max shows.

Check out IGN’s review of Peacemaker for our take on one of the most surprising, and fun, outings in the DC universe.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.