Oh, April Fool’s Day. Somehow, it seems like the sci-fi offerings get both better and worse with each passing year.
What started as a funny little tradition in print publications decades ago has grown into a full-on hellscape of bad jokes and wishful thinking in the Internet age: April Fool’s Day headlines. They pop up every year and scare folks half to death for a few seconds until they actually take a moment to look at the calendar.
From a new Wonder Woman movie to Leonard Nimoy performing the end credits song for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, here are the best (and worst) headlines and pranks the Internet has to offer for sci-fi fans today:
- WB Announce THE BATMAN & WONDER WOMAN For 2017; JUSTICE LEAGUE For 2018: This one plays on the heartstrings, as fans are still waiting for word on a potential Wonder Woman standalone film.
- Fox finally releases their Marvel franchises for 1.8 billion plus royalties back to Marvel Studios: Though a good contingent of fans would like to see this one become a reality, there's no way Fox would give up all the potential revenue from decades of additional Wolverine films and X-Men prequel-sequels.
- Rosetta Stone® - Learn to Speak Klingon: You can always depend on ThinkGeek to cook up some cool fake products — and this Klingon language-learner suite is among the coolest.
- Darkmage LED Spellcasting Staff from ThinkGeek: Another nifty ThinkGeek offering that we would totally buy.
- Leonard Nimoy confirmed to perform end credits song for The Hobbit: There and Back Again: C'mon, world. This is just too weirdly awesome to be a prank. Right? Right?! On the other hand, any chance to revisit this is a good thing.
- George Takei announces plans to host Saturday Night Live: This one isn't all that far-fetched, and honestly, we'd love to see Takei as a guest host one day. Let's make it so!
- Google Maps Pokemon Challenge: The folks at Google have embraced the absurdity of April Fool's Day the past few years, and this ambitious little real-life Pokemon bit is one of their best efforts.
- Amazon Set-Top Box REVEALED: It’s an Indoor Drone!: Well played. This joke plays on Amazon's plan to use drones to deliver goods, plus rumors of a new set-top box. Absurdly enjoyable.
- 20th Century Fox Scrap Plans For FANTASTIC FOUR Reboot: This one actually taps into a lingering rumor that briefly made the rounds. A bit too close to potential reality for a good prank.
- Company builds real-life invisibility suit: This little prank, executed by an established costume company, actually managed to fool a few people until it quickly unraveled. Well played.
- HTC Gluuv Beta: What would happen if a modern-day tech company essentially attempted to remake the Nintendo Power Glove? This, and it's glorious.
Were you fooled by any of these stories drifting around out in the wild? What were some of your favorite April Fool's Day pranks this year?
