Batsy isn't the only one who has witnessed, and done, some dark deeds in the DC Universe, because the Flash has quickly become one seriously dark dude!

(If you watch the CW show then you probably know some of these storylines already, but if not be warned there are spoilers ahead.)

Barry Allen has had his psyche damaged by a past he cannot escape (the death of his mother) and the earth shattering results of his actions (Flashpoint) but nobody got in to Barry's head like his nemesis Zoom.

Zoom made it his mission in life to take down the Flash no matter the cost, and as far as super villains without a conscience go Zoom ranks up there with the likes of Darkseid and the Joker in terms of body count.

But one kill in particular caused Barry to forego his heroic ethics and kill Zoom with impunity- the death of his wife Iris West.

Zoom murdered Iris because he was in love with her too, and because he had a psychotic infatuation with watching Barry suffer, but despite his anger the Flash let Zoom live- so Zoom showed up a few years later to kill Barry's new fiance on their wedding day.

Barry couldn't bear to see another woman he loved get killed by Zoom, so he took matters into his own hands- by snapping Zoom's neck before he could deliver the killing blow. It was a justifiable homicide, but it still took its toll on Barry's state of mind...

See 6 Flash Comics Way Darker Than Any Batman Story here

You don't have to be a cinematographer to notice that soap operas always looked a bit different than the other shows on TV, and while most people chalk this up to cheap production values there's more to it than that.

Soap operas had to deal with a lot of problems other TV shows didn't have, such as evenly lighting an entire set so the characters can move around, and multiple cameras can be used, without resetting the lights.

They also shot soaps on videotape instead of film, which made the whole show look "off" when combined with the lighting:

Backlighting, part of the three-point lighting setup often used in television production, helps "lift" actors out of the background. This is especially useful for productions that are shot on a lower-quality medium and in small interior sets, which soaps often are. The problem is that shooting on videotape on a small set can reduce the subtlety of the lighting technique. Actors in the foreground often wind up very noticeably backlit, something that doesn't happen on shows with larger sets, or shows that are recorded on film.

Read Why Did Soap Operas Look DIfferent From Other TV Shows? at Mental Floss

Black metal fans aren't known for their sense of humor, and they seem like they'd be too busy applying corpse paint to their faces and adding spikes to every article of clothing they own to read comics.

But it turns out black metal fans laugh, cry and have hearts that bleed just like the rest of us, and they even form little black metal families that pray to the dark gods of metal before sitting down to supper.

Or maybe these black metal families only exist in the panels of these Belzebubs comics by Finnish artist JP Ahonen, because a real-life family of black metal fanatics would get far too many visits from social workers...and exorcists.

See more from Embrace Your Dark Side With These Awesome Black Metal Comics here

George Lucas made a little movie back in 1976. You may have heard of it. Star Wars was unwatchable to the few filmmakers who got to see it. But it was an important project for Lucas, one he'd already poured his best efforts into. So they went back and re-edited the entire thing. When I say "they," I mean the production team, but the magic that took place in the re-edit was due to the talents of Marcia Lucas, George's wife at the time.  

(YouTube link)

David Welsh of RocketJump Film School goes through how the rough cut was changed into what we now know as Star Wars: A New Hope. You'll see a lot of the rough footage that was either deleted or changed -and even more important, why it was changed. You can see why Marcia Lucas won an Oscar for editing the movie (along with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew). -via Metafilter   

Cracking up at the thought of someone pooping may seem a bit juvenile to most, but the image of a dragon crapping a brick of gold is just plain funny no matter your age or maturity level.

Seeing a centaur poop on a human toilet is similarly hilarious, especially when they struggle to wipe, but a merman sitting on a toilet is anticlimactic because they don't have a butt.

However, put all of these mythical poopers together and you've got the making of one fantastic commercial for the Squatty Potty!

(YouTube Link)

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

The Simpsons' home is one of the most iconic houses in television history, and the fact that the house is featured so prominently in every episode makes it instantly recognizable to anyone who's ever watched the show.

Which is why the Fox network decided it would make a great grand prize for some lucky Simpsons fanatic out there, so they hired homebuilders Kaufman and Broad (now KB Homes) to make an exact replica of 742 Evergreen Terrace.

The replica Simpsons house was built in Henderson, Nevada in 1997, but when the winner Barbara Howard was offered either the house or $75k cash she took the cash because the house was too far away from her family farm.

The original Simpsons replica home featured rooms decorated to look just like the original, a replica of Bart's Treehouse in the backyard and an El Barto tag on the side of the house painted by Matt Groening himself.

Sadly, the fact that Barbara didn't take the house meant it became just another piece of commercial property, and the new owners took it from totally toon-tastic to bland and boring when it was sold in 2001.

Here's a fun video via AV Club showing pop culture archaeologist Adam The Woo visiting the formerly fun home back in 2015:

(YouTube Link)

-Via vt.

(Via lycoris_collective)

Comic book nerds dream of having super powers because we believe these powers will make our lives better in some way, but when we really analyze what it means to have certain powers the cons far outweigh the pros.

(via Rosetti)

Now I wouldn't exactly call bone claws a super power, but I also wouldn't call them a practical thing to have around at the flick of a wrist, especially if you have pets or small children in your home.

Nightcrawler made teleportation look like a really cool power, but there would be too much pressure to get your jumps just right for it to be practical.

(Via AntiparticleCollider)

And the classics super speed and super strength seem like they'd be handy on paper, but the human body isn't built to handle that kind of stress so using your power would mess you up but good.

(Via OrangeJosh)

Read the AskReddit thread "What is a popular superpower that would actually be quite impractical if you tried using it in the real world?" here

-Via Dorkly

Anthony Daniels is 71 years old, and still playing the droid C-3PO in the Star Wars saga. C-3PO is one of the few elements of the series that never changes, since he is mechanical and is as good as new with replacement parts (even if his new arm is red). And while his creator Anakin can grow up, rule the galaxy, die, and then be called "Grandfather," C-3PO is still there to be all fussy about protocol and translate what R2D2 says.

In 1976 Daniels was appearing in a London stage production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and was determined not to take a job on a trivial sci-fi film. Then he saw Ralph McQuarrie’s concept sketch for C-3PO. He saw something in that face. The first three Star Wars films (1977, 1980, 1983), all narrative drive and swashbuckle, still hold up. Fast-paced and funny, they repackaged an archetypal quest for revenge and reconciliation as an outer space western. Good versus evil, dark against light. Simple. R2-D2 and C-3PO are the mismatched comic relief, an intergalactic Odd Couple as Greek chorus: Threepio the neatnik Felix to R2’s slovenly Oscar, reminding the audience what’s at stake and how the principals really feel.

“You need a balance of elements in all these films. It’s a fairy story, it’s a romp. So there’s serious bits, the dangerous bits, whatever, and then occasionally the refreshment of a character who doesn’t really fit into the environment,” Daniels says. “That was another brilliance of George [Lucas], that you come back to the protocol and etiquette thing, these are the last skills ever to be required in a horrible desert surrounded by ghastly people.”

Read more about Daniels and the droid he's inhabited for 40 years at Smithsonian.

Most children lead very well-ordered lives thanks to the adults who have control over them, and since adults deem kids unfit to make important life decisions on their own we make our children do whatever we think is best for them.

Kids quickly learn to fall in line as they wake up, get ready, go to school, come home and do homework each day, but after years of lining up and doing what they're told some kids just can't help but lose control.

(YouTube Link)

CHILDREN is a creepy animated short by Takuya Okada that reminds me of segments from Pink Floyd's The Wall and makes you think about how regimented the lives of some children can be, and how this can affect their state of mind.

'Ever had one of those friends who was constantly making fun of you for enjoying the geeky side of life?

It's like they're afraid to embrace their geeky side because they might end up looking less "mature", which someone important to them claims to be the most important thing in life.

But, as this For Lack Of A Better Comic comic shows. people who spend too much time worrying about being "mature" and don't stop to have any fun often end up bored, alone and utterly boring to be around. How mature of them!

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

Living alone can be hard on your head and your heart, as loneliness takes its toll on your state of mind and leaves you feeling like a shadow of your former self.

But it's especially hard during the winter when you long for the warmth and the light provided by the company of another human being, even if you couldn't stand them before they moved away and left you alone with your overactive imagination... (NSFW language)

WINSTON from Aram Sarkisian on Vimeo.

WINSTON is a creepy yet poetic animated short created by Aram Sarkisian for his senior project at CalArts. The mature storytelling and great looking animation style prove once again that CalArts is a cut above the rest!

-Via Laughing Squid

Sci-fi movies make living on another planet look like a great big adventure, but when your planet is barren and boring those sci-fi stories sound like nothing but baloney.

And when you're bored and lonely on a barren planet you look to the stars for entertainment, hoping sometone or something will drop down and give your life meaning again.

(YouTube Link)

Nova is a fun CGI student film from The Animation School in South Africa which I've nicknamed "Life, uh, finds a way".

It's easier than ever for people to distract themselves and stay distracted by their smartphones and tablets, because looking around means facing the fact that the world is becoming more dystopian by the day.

But you can only hide from the truth for so long, and if you spend too much time hiding your head in the digital sand you're likely to miss the moment when you go from being a flesh and blood human to a tech zombie.

(YouTube Link)

Are You Lost In The World Like Me? is a dark and disturbing animated music video drawn in an old timey style by the amazingly talented animator Steve Cutts, created for the song by Moby & The Void Pacific Choir.

If you've never played a "civilization" game but you enjoy games like SimCity, Roller Coaster Tycoon or The Sims then I encourage you to check out one of the original Sid Meier's Civilization games and see what you think about building an empire from scratch.

But, as this Arcade Rage comic shows, you should know you're gonna wait for hours for units, resources and structures to be built- until your carefully constructed kingdom is destroyed by invading armies in mere minutes. But then you get to start all over again so...yay?

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

Cosplayers become ever more resourceful as they master the art of costuming and fabrication, and as their skills progress they discover shops in town are full of materials that can be used to create badass costumes.

Cosplayer Nina Mkhoiani has all the skills but few of the supplies available in her home town of Tbilisi, Georgia, so she has to craft her costumes out of whatever is available at her local  "construction material shops or shoemaking markets".

Her ability to use odd materials like insulation foam covered in magazines, paper mache and PVC scraps to make such amazing looking costumes and props is an inspiration, proving where there's a will there's a way- even in cosplay.

See I Spend Hours Creating Cosplay Costumes From "Nothing" here